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A SPECIAL HERO OF THE DAY!
Age: 54
Occupation: filmmaker, author, jack of all trades
Last Seen: Traverse City, MI
Awarded For: doing something that Grand Rapids can't
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Sometimes, I wish I didn't trade Traverse City for Grand Rapids.
Up in TC, they don't have right-winged billionaires calling the shots. There's resorts and casinos everywhere and hey! They have an actual, honest-to-goodness strip club.
The second I moved from northern Michigan, things only got better. There's now a venue for rock concerts, radio stations started to play rock from the 90's that wasn't Lillith Fair-oriented and the back roads I grew up on got paved. A major brewery, Short's opened in my old hometown of Elk Rapids and businesses are starting to bloom up there, everywhere.
And part of it's because of a man who escaped the ravages of a town abandoned by greed and corporate corruption called Flint, MI. And that man is none other than Michael Moore.
Seven years ago, Moore - who lives on Torch Lake - started the Traverse City Film Festival, which has brought little-seen movies to the town of only 15,000 souls. His organization purchesed the old State Theater downtown, remodeled it top to bottom and is once again a year-round venue for films. His theater, with just one screen is a definite hotspot for movies in Traverse City, especially since the 19 other screens in town, owned by Columbus, GA-based Carmike are beyond outdated with stiff seats and no stadium seating.
But now, he's done something my current locale of Grand Rapids can't do: make a good lipdub video.
Traverse City Film Festival - but not Moore himself - produced the above video (and at this time, the audio's missing for unknown reasons), which is creating some popularity on the web. Yes, there's no fireworks or helicopter rides, but there's some good reasons to love it over the GR LipDub.
The top reason: it's not funded by Amway.
GR's LipDub was nothing more than an advertisement for the big, mean evil giant, featuring Amway execs and employees all throughout the video. TC's version, however, seemed to have normal, everyday people and some familiar faces.
Plus, the musical choices were a helluva lot better. I'd choose Paul Simon's upbeat "You Can Call Me Al" and Van Halen's hard-rockin' "Jump" over Don McLean's depressing "American Pie". A joyful video set to a song about people dying in a plane crash? Retarded.
While the TC LipDub shows the goodness of a city that almost doesn't have a "bad part of town" like Grand Rapids does, my sole complaint is their overuse of media people. Yes, it's nice that everybody sans 9&10 and KLT were in the video. I almost laughed when I saw both WTCM and WLDR's folks in it, given their heated rivalry, but unity is unity. I also didn't like the fact that a certain Chaz Bono look-a-like who waits half a year to add new music on his station and screwed me over on a certain message board was also in there, but that's life.
If Traverse City had good, high-paying jobs for a trade school graduate like me, I'd come back. But, I'm stuck here for now. It amazes me that I've seen so much growth over the years that I feel like I'm an omen. I come to a city and it dies, but when I leave, everything's beautiful. I think Michael Moore needs to be commended for helping to show the world that TC is a great town to live in, and if you can stand the lack of a paycheck, raise a family. One of these days, I need to see a movie at the Film Festival, and maybe shake hands with the man who made it all possible.
Thank you, Michael Moore. Keep up the good work.
Sometimes, I wish I didn't trade Traverse City for Grand Rapids.
Up in TC, they don't have right-winged billionaires calling the shots. There's resorts and casinos everywhere and hey! They have an actual, honest-to-goodness strip club.
The second I moved from northern Michigan, things only got better. There's now a venue for rock concerts, radio stations started to play rock from the 90's that wasn't Lillith Fair-oriented and the back roads I grew up on got paved. A major brewery, Short's opened in my old hometown of Elk Rapids and businesses are starting to bloom up there, everywhere.
And part of it's because of a man who escaped the ravages of a town abandoned by greed and corporate corruption called Flint, MI. And that man is none other than Michael Moore.
Seven years ago, Moore - who lives on Torch Lake - started the Traverse City Film Festival, which has brought little-seen movies to the town of only 15,000 souls. His organization purchesed the old State Theater downtown, remodeled it top to bottom and is once again a year-round venue for films. His theater, with just one screen is a definite hotspot for movies in Traverse City, especially since the 19 other screens in town, owned by Columbus, GA-based Carmike are beyond outdated with stiff seats and no stadium seating.
But now, he's done something my current locale of Grand Rapids can't do: make a good lipdub video.
Traverse City Film Festival - but not Moore himself - produced the above video (and at this time, the audio's missing for unknown reasons), which is creating some popularity on the web. Yes, there's no fireworks or helicopter rides, but there's some good reasons to love it over the GR LipDub.
The top reason: it's not funded by Amway.
GR's LipDub was nothing more than an advertisement for the big, mean evil giant, featuring Amway execs and employees all throughout the video. TC's version, however, seemed to have normal, everyday people and some familiar faces.
Plus, the musical choices were a helluva lot better. I'd choose Paul Simon's upbeat "You Can Call Me Al" and Van Halen's hard-rockin' "Jump" over Don McLean's depressing "American Pie". A joyful video set to a song about people dying in a plane crash? Retarded.
While the TC LipDub shows the goodness of a city that almost doesn't have a "bad part of town" like Grand Rapids does, my sole complaint is their overuse of media people. Yes, it's nice that everybody sans 9&10 and KLT were in the video. I almost laughed when I saw both WTCM and WLDR's folks in it, given their heated rivalry, but unity is unity. I also didn't like the fact that a certain Chaz Bono look-a-like who waits half a year to add new music on his station and screwed me over on a certain message board was also in there, but that's life.
If Traverse City had good, high-paying jobs for a trade school graduate like me, I'd come back. But, I'm stuck here for now. It amazes me that I've seen so much growth over the years that I feel like I'm an omen. I come to a city and it dies, but when I leave, everything's beautiful. I think Michael Moore needs to be commended for helping to show the world that TC is a great town to live in, and if you can stand the lack of a paycheck, raise a family. One of these days, I need to see a movie at the Film Festival, and maybe shake hands with the man who made it all possible.
Thank you, Michael Moore. Keep up the good work.
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