Last night I watched High Tech Soul: The Creation of Techno Music, something I’ve been eagerly awaiting since I found the movie on Netflix and added it to my queue. Let me say to begin with that I really enjoyed this documentary. First off, it’s about techno and I am (of course) very into electronic music of most forms. Techno in particular has a special place in my heart because of the second reason: it originated in Detroit and I am (of course) very into Detroit.

Given my interest in both topics there was a lot that the documentary discussed that I knew. For instance, I know about the Belleville Three and I know about Electrifying Mojo. I know about the Music Institute (which was just a couple blocks from where I work now) and the reasons why the music has such a life here in this city.

But there was plenty that I still learned. I think most interesting was just learing about a lot of the personalities directly involved and more detail about the moods at the time and how it built up to this sort of creative outlet. It’s not a particularly long flick, but it is arranged well and has a nice flow to it. Some people might criticize that there isn’t more music, but frankly this is a documentary about the creators and the time period just as much as it is about the music itself.

Here’s the trailer if you’re interested in checking it out.

After an extremely painful Game 5 loss and a close ending just now, I can very happily say that my beloved Detroit Red Wings have won the Stanley Cup yet again. I can’t wait for the parade.

I have a lot to catch up on! The Wings are (despite last night’s tough loss) still leading in the Stanley Cup Finals, the Red Bull Air Race came to Detroit this past weekend and played to the biggest crowd it ever has and the Pistons managed to blow it against Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals.

But this all too brief post is going to try and give you a little taste of what DEMF was like this year. Some have accused it of straying from its roots and going too “mainstream.” While it’s true that some more mainstream artists performed this year to say it sold out would be kind of an exaggeration. The fact of the matter is they needed to make the festival sustainable into the future, and Movement 2008 proved that Paxahau can do that and do it well.

First of all, the event was well organized. The last couple years have definitely shown improvement and this time it really showed that they knew what was going on. Beyond all stuff that festival-goers would see you could tell they had their act together by virtue of the fact that they were attracting more sponsors who were eager to jump in and take on a big role.

Second, I think the lineup speaks for itself. Despite the “mainstream” influence there were plenty of people representing the original sound. Pulling down names like Moby and Girl Talk is icing on the cake I think, not a reformulation of the festival itself. Richie Hawtin’s set was probably one of my favorite that he’s done at DEMF in the last few years. Deadmau5 was exceptional, as were Kenneth Thomas, James Zabiela, Magda, Mark Farina, Kevin Saunderson, Josh Wink and so many others that I haven’t mentioned. Beyond that there were plenty of acts I didn’t even get to see.

Third, the crowd was great. I met people from around the area and all over Michigan but from at least twelve other states, Canada, Mexico, Japan, China, Australia, Brazil, Germany (lots of Germans actually), the UK and Russia. Seriously. It wasn’t like I was even going out of my way to try and find people from out of town, it’s just cemented itself as an international event.

All in all it was an amazing weekend. The weather was perfect, the sound was fantastic and plenty of good friends were around to enjoy it with. As in years past, I can’t wait till the next one.

I’ll have to do a follow up DEMF post, but here’s just a little video I recorded with my phone of Moby’s performance, which was mindblowing. Honestly I wasn’t expecting much, but he may have been one of my favorite acts of the entire festival. If only my stupid phone had recorded longer. It cuts out right as he dropped the beat and everyone lost their mind.

I don’t even need to say much else, just read this quote from the Detroit Institute of Art site.

From 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., boxers from Detroit’s famed Kronk gym duke it out and Mexican masked wrestlers, Revolucha, hit the mat in a ring taking center stage in Prentis Court. Ann Arbor’s The Bang! provides the backdrop with a dance party adventure mixing everything from rock’n’roll to ‘60s soul, from BritPop to HipHop.

Yes.

(That’s on a Thursday night by the way.)

Last night after Aikido I headed into the city and enjoyed the late-night portion of the first day of the Winter Blast. I met up with several friends in the lobby of the Compuware building and we quickly made our way to one of many heated tents to check out Echos of Pink Floyd (a Detroit based Pink Floyd tribute band). The tent was packed and everyone was really digging it. These guys were good, no question.

A few beverages later we found ourselves outside toasting marshmallows downtown over roaring fires. The place was packed I was happy to see. Everyone was very friendly and having a good time. We even took turns holding a giant chunk of ice meaning it was your chance to talk.

All in all it was definitely a good time. I’m looking forward to going back tonight and checking out the DEMF preview.

Opening weekend of the NAIAS to the public is always busy, but this one seemed particularly packed. Maybe it was just because I had more exposure to it, being in the city all three days. The charity preview on Friday evening (a black tie affair) brought out a good deal of glitz and glamor. It’s a pretty big deal around here. In fact, it’s the biggest restaurant night of the year in Detroit. I however was not at the charity preview. Instead I went to a party that my good friend Dan was having at his place in midtown. What an awesome building with a fantastic view of the city from the roof.

All that aside, I did go to the auto show on Saturday; the first day it was open to the public. As expected the show was packed with all sorts of people, young and old. Some go to look to see the concepts and technologies that they might be driving in the future, some shop for the next car they’re looking to buy and some go to drool over cars they’ll never have. I personally enjoy the show for the concepts, the technology displays and just the overall atmosphere. I also like talking cars with some of the people working for the various companies, although some are better for this than other. (Guy from Cali who races and was working at the Lincoln/Mercury booth, it was a pleasure talking with you. Guy working for Lexus, it was not.) And yes I might snap a shot or two of a Lamborghini or Ferrari, but I assure you it’s just for completeness. Plus they’re beautiful machines.

I have to say I continue to be impressed with the direction that Ford is managing to take their products. Besides the GT500KR (one of my favorite cars of the show) models like the Verve and even the Flex were very interesting. I hope they do well in the market. The Edge and Fusion drew quite a few visitors; both are pretty sharp cars. I was disappointed they didn’t have one of their EcoBoost direct injection engines on display though. They did have some marketing displays about the technology, and the figures I’m hearing from people in the know make it sound like it’s going to be a huge step forward in engine technology for Ford in terms of fuel efficiency, power output in smaller displacement engines and emissions.

Speaking of beastly engines, I think my favorite car of the show was the new Cadillac CTS-V they were showing off with the Corvette ZR1 engine crammed in it. 550 bhp and 550 ft-lb of torque in a really refined and luxurious package? Sign me up. It’s big 6.2 L supercharged engine is thirsty though I’m sure, so as nice as the CTS-V is I’m more excited about Lincolns coming out with the EcoBoost. The more efficient, smaller engine puts out some serious power, while saving weight, so from a performance standpoint there should be some amazingly quick Fords. Remember all that stuff I said about engine knock? Direct injection is a good way to counter that in lower octane fuels because the fuel is injected straight into the cylinder just later in the compression cycle (just before spark). That means they can run regular gas engines at higher compression ratios, so you get higher efficiencies. And if they ever come out with an EcoBoost tuned for ethanol? We’re talking serious compression ratios and that works even more to counteract the fact that you have to run ethanol richer than normal gas. Think that its pointless to focus on gas engine technology right now? Take a look at this:

“Compared with the current cost of diesel and hybrid technologies, customers can expect to recoup their initial investment in a 4-cylinder EcoBoost engine through fuel savings in approximately 30 months. A diesel will take an average of seven and one-half years, while the cost of a hybrid will take nearly 12 years to recoup – given equivalent miles driven per year and fuel costs,” [Derrick Kuzak] said. (source)

Anyway, back to the show. Diesels definitely do seem to be coming back into fashion, with many of the automakers announcing new diesel powertrains or that they would be bringing their overseas diesels stateside. Despite the fact that I think Ford’s GTDI engine is great, we do need a diversification of options right now, if only to help stimulate innovation across the board and lead to the “next big thing.” BMW in particular was showing off their fancy new clean diesel, and they do a pretty good job at them, so I’m sure it’s a great (if overpriced) engine.

As an aside, the BMW 1 series is a waste of time. For the price it’s too small and underpowered. The only BMW I really think offers something that resembles value is the 335i, and even then it has a base price of around $42,000. You could get a Volvo S40 T5 AWD optioned all out for $10K less than that, and while the 335i is more powerful and luxurious, I’m not sure it’s $10+K (with options) more powerful and luxurious.

GM had a solid lineup across most of their brands. Once upon a time I loathed GM products (for good reason). Now they definitely have more than a few cars that I rather like. In particular the ZR1 Corvette that I mentioned is an amazing looking car. I seriously doubt that I will ever get one myself, but I am looking forward to when they get one of those on Top Gear (especially because they liked the Z06 so much).

Well I think that’s enough for this post. I will have a second one that covers some other aspects of the auto show that I didn’t touch on, like some of the wild concept cars and hilariously bad offerings.

The 2008 North American International Auto Show to be specific. In a time of the year when people are normally settling in for the post-holiday blues Metro Detroit gears up and puts on a great show that is pretty much guaranteed to keep you out of a funk. Despite the economic hardships that the area is dealing with, the Auto Show offers a real sense of hope that the future will get better.

And I have to say, despite the economic situation being what it is things are still improving. This signals to me the start of a long needed change in attitude. The product pipelines from the automakers seem to be improving nicely and now that reliability issues are behind them they can turn their attention to making their cars greener and more technologically advanced. The city itself is also working hard to better itself, and is really starting to challenge long held perceptions that the city is a place you wouldn’t want to visit. And projects like the recently announced Cadillac Center will continue to help and show that the attitude around here is starting to shift. I look forward to what people will do with those attitudes when the economic situation does shift (though that might take a few years).

But enough about that, back to the show itself. Like I already mentioned this year there is a new emphasis on green technologies, which is a good thing and a long time coming. Already we’ve seen announcements from Ford and GM that they’re not only developing new platforms, but also focusing on increasing fuel efficiency considerably by using technologies like direct fuel injection, turbo charging engines with smaller displacement. They’ve also done some great work improving the “desirability” factor as well as all the other little touches that make a good product a great one.

The NAIAS is really something you need to attend to experience. Beyond the cars and the amazing displays, extravagant events and flashy unveilings it’s good to see the crowds wandering around a city I love with smiles on their faces. I won’t even complain about all the extra traffic I’m going to have to deal with for the next two weeks.

I’m getting pretty drawn in to the yelp thing. I have to say it’s pretty fun, especially now that it looks like people are starting to read my reviews. In fact, I even got a couple compliments! One of them was from Jenn, who is sort of responsible for this whole thing, but another was from honest to goodness yelper who thought I was doing OK. Also had a few people friend me, and that’s just fine by me.

But it goes to show that hopefully my plan of wanting to energize the yelp community for the Metro Detroit region might not be so far fetched. I got Paul signed up (now he just needs to start doing a few reviews) and hopefully I can coerce a few of my other friends to as well.

Jenn has given me the task of writing 20 (or was it 25) reviews by Wednesday of next week. I think I’m up for the task…

I also put my Facebook badge on this site. While the other sites are good, I still consider this to be the hub of my internet activities, so drawing in my other public bits and pieces with badges and what not here seems like a good idea.

I don’t like the way it really flows with my layout right now. I think eventually (when I get around to redesigning and getting a proper WP template in place) there will be a special section for all that stuff, and I’ll try to make it as uniform as possible.

Most of you probably noticed the gigantic Yelp-thing on the sidebar. That’s my “Yelp Bling” as they call it. Not a whole lot there right now, but basically it is me committing to reviewing more things on Yelp starting now. I always go on and on about how much I love Detroit and how if you know where to go you can have a really great time here (something that the NY Times seems to agree with) so I’m going to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak, and start reviewing some places on Yelp.

My hope for this is 1. to instruct the masses here who don’t get out enough that they can - in fact - have a great time in their home city and 2. assure potential out-of-towners that yes there is plenty to see and do and no you will not die (as long as you don’t go looking for trouble). Interestingly enough it seems there are a few other people on Yelp who have already gotten a bit of a jump start on me, which is good!

Unfortunately the Metro Detroit area is lagging behind in terms of reviews, so this is an official call to all my friends from around here. Create an account, friend me, and review your favorite (and least favorite) spots. Hopefully that will help contribute to some positive vibes for the area.