Author Archives: Kevin Walsh

About Kevin Walsh

Kevin began MyMediaDiary.com in 2013 as an experiment that was as simple as "What's a blog?" and ended up becoming a forum for fellow writers. He's been a high school teacher for 28 years and worked as an administrator and instructor in colleges for 10 years since then. Contact him at: kevin@mymediadiary.com He is also the producer of the web-series and blog, www.DiggingDetroit, founder and producer for MMD Productions at www.mmdphotovideo.com which offers quick, professional photography, video and multimedia solutions for individuals, organizations and businesses. His high school media production text, "Video Direct," has been used in 40 states--and he occasionally still sells a few. He is the current president of the non-profit DAFT (Digital Arts Film and Television) which sponsors the Michigan Student Film Festival. He lives in Royal Oak, Michigan, is married to Patrice and is tolerated by his two kids Aidan and Abby who have all graciously allowed him to write about them on occasion.

35 Years of Lions Draft-Butchery (including 10 Missed Super Bowl QBs): A Masochistic NFL Draft-Day Guide

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* 4/30/15:  A year later, but still relevant as the Lions celebrate the one-year anniversary of drafting a (so-far) underwhelming tight-end in the first round.  Let’s hope they actually address needs over the next few days!  –Kevin

The last time the Lions won a title I was  just a few months past my negative-seventh birthday.  Sure, it would be unfair to point out that there has been only one playoff win for our sad NFL franchise since 1957–against the 1991 Dallas Cowboys who had an injured Troy Aikmann.

So instead, I’m going to celebrate on the best day of a Lions fan’s year–NFL Draft Day.  But to be fair, I’m not going to analyze their ineptitude identifying talent since the Eisenhower years–again, that would be … Read More… →

New Podcast: Making it in Detroit’s Bar Band Scene – Driving Friday

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New Podcast below!

Meet Driving Friday, a new band trying to break into the historically strong Detroit garage band/bar scene.

After 30 years playing in bands, guitarist and veteran Detroit rocker Garvin Cooper recently formed his first band.  He and keyboardist Tim Schoenherr discuss:

  • The impact/importance of Social Media
  • The Detroit band market
  • The impact of the smoking ban in Michigan
  • Capital outlay in forming a band
  • The impact of 80s music today
  • What it’s like on the stage

 

Hollywood’s Spring Training – Saturday’s 46th Michigan Student Film Festival (Great Seats Still Available–and They’re Free!)

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Two events, besides roller coasters,  when people don’t mind long lines:  movies and sporting events.  People will drive 24 hours through the night to get a glimpse…

Pitchers

Spring training.  Your team’s undefeated…

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There’s sunshine, plenty of seats available, a great overall vibe…

Autograph

And it’s the only time you can get close enough to some celebrities–some even … Read More… →

$100 by Tuesday and You Could Be a State Senator: Great Pay, Hours and Benefits!

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Do you hate those knocks on the door with people holding clipboards?  Have you thought of running for office but don’t want to be the next Avon lady?

Well, you can skip those pesky 500 petitions needed to run for state office in Michigan.  The state’s website recommends getting 1,000 signatures–just to be on the safe side in case you’ve got some bogus citizens or someone’s going to challenge you on using a #3 pencil or a hanging chad.

That’s right!  For the low, low price of only $100 and a notarized form by 4 PM Tuesday, April 22nd, you too can be on the primary ballot for the Michigan State Senate.

FilingRequirementsRead More… →

New Podcast: The Best Week in Sports–or at least most optimistic

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The Best (or at least most optimistic) Week in Sports

Kale Davidoff, Matt Moss and Aaron Lebovic join the show a week after their teams took hits on the way to the Big Dance but still find the energy to examine:

  • NCAA Weekend #2:  From 16 to 4
  • Wolverine and Spartan Nation reactions
  • Unionization of College Athletes
  • Baseball’s Opening Day vs. Mardi Gras
  • Detroit Tigers changes and chances
  • Masters without Tiger–worth watching?

Be sure to check out Kale’s blog on Opening Day at this link.

Bad Ads and Worse Puns for Rick Snyder: Inside the Koch Brothers’ War-Room

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Always a fan of strange ads, I thought I’d deconstruct the possible creation of this beauty–a close second to Rick Snyder’s scuba-diving Super Bowl ad (link).

Needless Disclaimer:  The following transcript could have been secretly recorded in a war-room–detailing the plan for the first wave of ads to re-elect Michigan’s Governor Snyder.  You never know…

[Sound of door opening and bowing and scraping.]

Koch 1:  “Okay boys, lay it on me.  Whaddaya got?”

Slappy:  “Pardon sir?”

Koch 2:  “In Michigan, son, in Michigan.”

Slappy 1:  “Oh.  Well we own most of the senate and a lot of house members.”

Slappy 2:  “And we’re taking over most of the public schools and are funneling tax dollars to Pearson Publishing for the cyber-school scam.”

… Read More… →

New Podcast: The Hoops & Hype of March Madness

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Contributing writer, Kale Davidoff, joins Kevin Walsh and media professionals Aaron Lebovic and Matt Moss to analyze the opening weekend of March Madness.

Topics include:

– Why is this event so special?

– What non-basketball part of the event do you like/dislike most?

– Review of brackets busted and intact

– Best/Worst of CBS coverage

– What changes would you make to either the tournament itself or its programming?

Saturday Morning Marriage-Rush: Families Racing Against Their Government

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* Non-Surprising Update After 7 Hours since this original post:  “The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, after first signaling it would not intervene in Michigan’s gay marriage case until Tuesday, posted a new order late Saturday imposing a stay in the case until Wednesday.’ (link)

The Oklahoma land-rush scene from Far and Away, best illustrates what’s happening this morning in many county clerk’s offices in Michigan.  Desperate families given a brief window of opportunity to give their children the same rights and opportunities as other American kids–fully expecting the window to be slammed shut at any moment.

Free land–if you can out-run or out-wit your opponents.  Unfortunately, families in line right now are finding their opponent their own state leadership.  You need to … Read More… →

New Podcast: The Oscar Post-Op Show Starring Kim Novak, John Travolta and at Least One Mispronounced Celebrity

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Kevin Walsh is joined by Sheri Horwitz, Aaron Lebovic and Collin Ward as they dissect the  2014 Oscars, including…

  • Our Panel’s Prediction-Accuracy (and those pesky costume awards),
  • Cringeworthy Moments:  Kim Novak’s Vertigo, Travolta’s stumblings, etc.,
  • The Big Surprises:  Shutout for Hustle,
  • What Should Be Cut:  Montages of Heroes, what?
  • Ellen:  Too-low key and casual–or just right?

“Mr. Lincoln, All the Ladies Like Whiskers…” Long Beards, Nostalgia & Entrepreneurship

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Listen to our podcast with beard-entrepreneur, Doug Geiger, founder of the beard-care and philosophy website canyouhandlebar.com...[powerpress url= “http://traffic.libsyn.com/mymediadiary/MyMediaDiary_BeardExpert_DougGeiger_.mp3″ length=”10212890″ type=”audio/mpeg”]

It’s hard to find many statues honoring a fashion expert, but in Westfield, New York you’ll find one dedicated to an eleven year old adviser to the president.

GraceBedell statue3

Abraham Lincoln, in addition to his many accomplishments as a statesman, orator and joke-teller was also a bit of a trendsetter.  Grace Bedell, an 11 year-old fan during his presidential run, wrote to him and famously recommended the candidate grow some facial hair, “All the ladies like whiskers.” And while women wouldn’t have the vote for … Read More… →

Scary Chattanoogan Billboards: Swaying 86 People with Mystery Money & Veiled Threats

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The plan was simple.  Just convince under a hundred people that Detroit was once again the bogeyman, just like in Robocop.

Yesterday in Tennessee, in a narrow vote swung by just 6%, the United Auto Workers’ efforts to unionize the Chattanooga Volkswagen workers fell short, 712-626.  The “yes” votes began to fade away in the final two weeks due to a barrage of billboards like the following…

Ironically, as seen in the above typoed billboard, there was not only the threat of liberals and Obama, it also mentions the dirty “politicans” who abandon their oaths of office to all their citizens and instead conduct business for the sake of their campaign benefactors.

But it’s okay if those non-liberal representatives choose to have “Big Government” step … Read More… →

No Snow-Days at the Detroit Zoo: A Winter’s Afternoon with a Camera and a New Gadget

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Dig through your parents’ photo albums.  If you’re from the Detroit area (or ever visited someone there in your childhood) there’s probably one of these shots somewhere, for example, the bear-pit where you used to be able to toss marshmallows, in the days before ursine diabetes…

My mom was there twenty-two years earlier…

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The same day they were posing in front of the zoo’s signature water tower where my Uncle Larry (standing) perfected his sneer/smile to be seen fifty years later as a “Grumpa.”

And perhaps the most recognizable family photo-spot in the park…

In fact, you can Google “Detroit Zoo Fountain” and get … Read More… →

Then Along Came a Snyder: Super Bowl Scuba-Governor & Four Great Lake Shipwrecks to Explore Before Drowning in $30 Million in Ads

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It’s not every Super Bowl you see a snorkeling governor rising dramatically from the depths of a swimming pool. Toss in the Phil Hartman-like cheesy narrator and you’ve got a $400,000 bid for amnesia.

And while Super Bowl ads often have strange, engaging openings, they often aren’t know for their literary depth Even the press secretary of former Michigan GOP governor John Engler admitted he was a bit baffled: “Truscott initially was confused by the snorkeling scene too, but upon further reflection, he thought it worked as a metaphor.” (link)

Most Super Bowl ads don’t require “further reflection.” There’s not a lot of metaphors either, unless you count cute dogs, groin-injuries and trucks hauling cattle. This strange spot produced by Strategic Perception Inc. of … Read More… →

Making People Feel Like Dummies: Swimming the Treacherous Waters of Sheldons

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I’ve had some pretty memorable conversations at the checkout counter at Radio Shack:

  • “So you need a male-to-male connector…” (I was fourteen, buying some cables for my stereo–a bit startled by this apparent pickup line.)
  • “Can I please have your address?” (Perhaps another line, but I was just paying cash.)

And my favorite, when I was buying a 25-foot audio cable…

  • “May I ask what you’ll be using this for?”

The guy was implying that purchasing an audio cable to run video through a non-gold-plated triple-insulated cable may not only ruin the quality of my picture but perhaps offset the precarious balance of the Middle East peace talks.

“Thank you for shopping with us…dummy.”

Radio Shack has survived, somehow, by cornering … Read More… →

Public Education Going the Way of Netscape Navigator? Common Core, Bill Gates and BATs

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Listen to our podcast with two leaders of the Badass Teacher’s Association, Marla Kilfoyle and Melissa Tomlinson…[powerpress url= “http://traffic.libsyn.com/mymediadiary/Final_BATs_Show_Jan26.mp3″ length=”13068921″ type=”audio/mpeg”]

“If you could have three wishes, what would you wish for?”

It was a typical tenth grade essay question.  I can still see the red ink circling my first wish on my returned paper; I had written “health.”

“Good health or bad health?”

“Well, duh?”  I remember my brilliant 16 year-old sarcasm so clearly.  “Who would wish for bad health?”

And as my revenge on this injustice, I used the same technique grading papers for 25 years.  I lectured that it was a lesson in being specific.  Students need to pay attention to those details where the devil hangs out.  The kids loved me … Read More… →

Hollywood with a Heart: “Brightest Star” Producer Gives Unforgettable Gift to High School Students

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Listen to our podcast with Jason…[powerpress url= “http://traffic.libsyn.com/mymediadiary/MMD_Jan20_2014_JasonPotash_Brightest.mp3″ length=”8092296″ type=”audio/mpeg”]

I was just giving him a call, being the nosy person that I can be…

“How’s your movie coming along?”

Former student and current producer, Jason Potash, was in New York prepping for the film Brightest Star which opens on January 31st.

“Great!” he answered, ever positive. “How’s the family?” ever quick to shift the spotlight back to someone else.

“Wish I could bring my class,” I joked. “It’d be a great field trip!”

“Why not?”

“Ha!”

“No really. We’ve got a few college lecture hall scenes and we need extras.”

Less than a … Read More… →

Top 10 Extremely Guilty-Pleasure Songs from the 60s and 70s … AKA “Umm…Yes…It’s On My Playlist”

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I have a very patient wife and two tolerant children–particularly if I am allowed to pick the music.

peaches_record_crate

Prior to the patient folks at home, I had a very patient set of roommates in college.  The stone-age version of a playlist was a 200 lb “Peaches” crate of LPs that I would transport every year–in and out of our van, up and down three flights of stairs at the dorm, all so that people could flip through my records and say, “Oh, my.  You’ve got this” Probably holding up either an obscure soundtrack or noticing that my alphabetical listing had Adam Ant a bit too close … Read More… →

Dumbed-Down Abbey: Mysterious Character Reboots for Season 4

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In great peril from my family and friends, I write the following on a beloved, quality show…

To jump-the-shark is a term coined from the infamous Happy Days episode when the series started heading south. There aren’t many sharks, leather jackets or jukeboxes on the moors, but Downton Abbey could use an Inspiration Point.

Granted, Season Four is only a couple episodes old (here in the States), but a passenger can still not like the way that iceberg looks looming in the distance. In sit-coms, characters are two dimensional more than three.

Norm

You don’t expect Norm in Cheers  to suddenly weep into his beer because he … Read More… →

Welcome to the Lions Den, Coach Caldwell: Challenges Facing the Future Ex-Coach

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Sadly, 20 months later, Coach Caldwell is ready to become the latest Ford recall… (11/3/15)

Today, the Lions announced their latest casualty–Jim Caldwell.

And one happy man, Ken Whisenhunt, is now in the employment of a far less-talented team but a far more talented owner.

"Congratulations, Ken, you're not a Lion" “Congratulations, Ken, you’re not a Lion”

Whisenhunt was the chosen one.  He was the reason we all were rooting for the Chargers to lose on Sunday to Peyton Manning.  But as luck (and Lions lore) would have it, Peyton did win a rare playoff game but Kenny chose the Titans over working for his former teammate and current Lions GM, Martin Mayhew.

**You … Read More… →

Golden Globes & 2013 Film Trends: What Will Be the Next “Shawshank”?

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Listen to our second podcast, a further discussion of the 2013 Movie Year-in-Review with contributing writer, Kale Davidoff.  Readers also submitted questions for this section.  Click here for more of our podcasts.

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I know I’ll remember Christian Bale’s terrible hairpiece years longer than Sandra Bullock dodging space debris.

Amy Poehler and Tina Fey will remind us, once again, why everyone secretly likes the Golden Globes better. The stars are all having fun. They’re at tables with drinks–there’s not nearly the pressure that falls on Oscar night. It’s more like the PSATs. And when a movie or show wins, everyone gets to run onto the stage–not just Harvey Weinstein who wrote the check.

But the Oscars are the Life cereal to … Read More… →