Under the direction of Rob Reiner (Meathead!), the movie Flipped continues filming in the Ann Arbor area with scenes being filmed in downtown Manchester, MI on Monday, July 27th.  Aidan Quinn, Penelope Ann Miller, John Mahoney, Anthony Edwards, Rebecca De Mornay and Kevin Weisman are among the actors.

“Flipped” is based on a book by author Wendelin Van Draanen. It tells the story of a young girl growing up in the late 1950s and early1960s and her friendship with a boy.  The movie is scheduled for release sometime next year (2010).

I was able to get downtown during my lunch hour to snap a couple of shots as staffers, crew and extras staged some basic outdoor scenes.  Period antique cars lined the street today.  The quaint, relatively untouched, ‘town that time forgot’ must have lured the movie maker here.  Although some store front signs were replaced with more nondescript business names, many were not (“Frank’s Place” a local eatery was left alone  – how much more generic can you make that?).  The movie takes place in the late ’50’s and early ’60’s.

Small crowds of onlookers gathered on both ends of the block.  Local shops were open for business, and some light pedestrian traffic was allowed in-between ‘takes’.  Several ‘extras’ loitered near their allocated spots.   A man in a brown fedora, green suit and carrying a matching green briefcase stood ready to cross the way when needed.   Along with some filming of car traffic, this made up ‘basic shots’ (without the main characters) to establish locale, time period and backdrop to the area where the main scene is being shot.  The hub happened to be the recently transformed Whistle Stop restaurant.  For interim it’s an ice cream parlor replete with comic book racks, gumball dispensers and a Stroh’s Ice Cream cooler.  The local pizza joint now has antique appliances in the window.  I was unable to get close enough to shoot any pictures of the inside (today).

I could watch this kind of thing all day.  A lawn chair and a cold beer and I could soak up the logistics of movie making for hours.  It takes A LOT of people and planning to make it all come together.

Below is a shot of  “Main Street USA”

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We went out for a Sunday drive today and saw a plume of dark smoke pushing its way up through an overcast sky just north of Manchester.  Turning the corner, we saw a mix of fire trucks (with no lights on) and cars parked on both sides of the dirt road.  As we pulled alongside a small clearing we saw what presumed to be a “controlled” burning of a house.

I have never seen such a blaze up close before.  This is a good thing.  We were only 500ft away and when I rolled down the window we could feel the heat instantly.  It was one of those times I wished I had my camera with me.  I tried to take a picture with my cell phone but it was weak, unable to capture the leaping flames and rolling smoke.  The firefighters picked the right day to do this – very wet and rainy with no wind.  Our little boy was enthralled.  Which is why we kept saying, “…and that’s why you should never play with matches.”

As a side bar, this was a house that had been on the market for some time.  A foreclosed, empty building set on several acres of land.  It wasn’t a pretty house.  Apparently someone’s architectural brain storm – heavy on the storm, light on the brain.  It was for us, however, 20 minutes of ‘wow’.

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New tool to put in your “keep up on web stuff” arsenal. inBlogs is indeed (for now) ad-free and promotes bloggers who blog about the Web (vs. blogging about their cat or a smelly co-worker).  They even have a Twitter account so you can follow updates while simultaneously tweeting about waiting on your laundry to dry. Remember: inBlogs is an ORG not a COM.

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I was taking notes on my 2 hour conference call [webinar!] today when I noticed a peculiar verbal oddity that the speaker had.  He was showing us the many features of an H.R. Information System.  As he walked us through the myriad data fields, showing us the boundless possibilities, he would periodically finish a sentence with, “or, whatever – whatever.”  This is akin to the famous Seinfeld, Yada-Yada-Yada episode.  Basically a glorified, emphasized “etc.”

I pulled out one of my index cards and started a gate tally.   Much to my surprise there were variations to this theme!  There was the “what have you – what have you”, and “who, who, who” and one lonely “quick, quick, quick” (which almost went by me).

Here is my index card replete with a sketch of the “who, who, who” owl.  By the way, “whatever – whatever” was used six times.

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I was hoping for a bit more when I clicked on the “Enlarge” button at Office Depot’s site.  While looking at office chairs, I came across a model that just wasn’t giving me the visual detail I needed.

The enlarged image is in the window to the right of the original picture below.

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Woah-ah! Look who hasn’t posted in 14 decades… M E !

I’ve been inspired to write about a brownie pan. Yep, this cookin’ concoction will surely appeal to the sweet tooth in all of us. But only if you like the chewy corner pieces that cook longer and secretly hold the best flavor of any square in the pan.

The BakersEdge.com brownie pan promises to deliver every morsel as if it were gently lifted from that slightly overdone cornice.

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…well, it COULD have. I didn’t realize how much velcro was on my laptop bag until I sat down to unpack at Chelsea’s new McKune Memorial Library. Crrruuunch. RRrrriiiipp. I had to make the decision to go quickly rather than prolong the deafening sound – due to a strip that is about 12 inches long on the front flap. I at least had enough mind to leave the flap UN-done, so as to not go through the ordeal when I pack up again.

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