Miami Vice ..
Let me be the first to review the highly anticipated revival of an 80’s phenomenon. Well, if you haven’t seen it stop reading now. Spoilers galore!!

Warned ya. First of all, loved all the Miami street recognition. The shooting scenes will leave you speechless. Sound effects are very unique as well. Love story was a little bit predictable but the way it ended was not realistic at all.

Jamie Foxx truly looks like an undercover cop, has that hard look like Denzel in Training Day but he didn’t get enough lines in my opinion. Colin Farrell looked more like Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon than Don Johnson, but I think that is what he was after … he even had the little Mel Gibson swagger. Couldn’t tell which club they were in.
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Well, first the Miami Vice movie opens now it’s that time of year for “Miami Spice.” During August and September, Miami’s top restaurants offer specially priced three-course meals featuring signature dishes created by world-renowned chefs.

This is the 5th year. You may enjoy lunch for $20.06 and dinner for $30.06 The three course meals include appetizer, entree and desert.

This is a great way to try the many restaurants in the area and save money, too. Restaurants include Azul, Blue Door, China Grill, Norman’s, Shula’s Steak House, Touch and more. The list goes on. For a complete list of participating restaurants, please click here: http://miamirestaurantmonth.com/participants.htm

If you can afford it at $37.45 a pop you can see Damon Wayans perform tonight at the Improv Comedy Club. 2 Showings 8:30 & 10:45 p.m. More on Saturday and Sunday too.

We are all familiar with his In Living Color skits and hit show on primetime. Personally, I cannot afford the two-drink minimum … my royalties have not kicked in yet .. ;-)

If you want a cheaper thrill, check out Miami Vice tonight for its Grand Premiere nationwide. Can’t say for sure if I am going to go see it or not. My favorite movie theater is Netflix .. where the seats are always comfortable and the dress code is optional.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

The fifth annual Rewind/Fast Forward Film & Video Festival, takes place tomorrow through Sunday at the Colony Theater, 1040 Lincoln Rd. in Miami Beach.

You may have seen some of this on local cable channels where scenes of old Miami are shown from old news clips and such. The event is put on by the Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archive.

This weekend’s events is more than old news clips. A new restored version of Barbra Streisand’s “Funny Girl” will be shown, along with showings of award winning documentaries about the South Florida area. Also “Tell Me Cuba,” a world premier documentary asking, “Why are US citizens not allowed to visit Cuba?”

There really is something for everyone.

For a list of events, go here: http://www.rewindfastforward.org/

I took this picture on a recent flight back from Colombia. That’s Matanzas Bay ,Cuba below. Thirty minutes later we were landing at MIA. One day in the future, hopefully sooner than later ,we’ll be able to board small jets and be in Havana in 45 minutes. You can go on charter jets now, but it is an extremely complicated venture, due to politics.

Even better – driving down to Key West and getting onto a ferry with your SUV – off to explore the whole 500 mile island of unspoiled ( yet rundown) colonial cities, empty beaches and tropical mountains. The last time that was done was in 1960.

If you are like me, you live in an area with moderately affordable homes, which means somebody somewhere won’t have a car. When folks don’t have cars, they walk to the grocery empty handed and usually walk home with a “cart-full” in tow. Unfortunately, they don’t return them — instead leaving them in the street, ditches, sidewalks, parking lots, near train tracks, upside down near a dumpster .. etc. Well, guess who pays for that .. We do! They end up in traffic and the grocer may raise their prices to make up the cost.

The situation is so out of control in Kendall that Team Metro Compliance Support Director Alfredo Rodriguez said his officers have contacted property managers at several apartment complexes, informing them it’s a crime to steal private property.

When carts become a problem, the county urges residents to call 311, which then contacts the local Team Metro office. Team Metro, in turn, tells the retailer to pick up its carts.
[Read FULL article in the Miami Herald]

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President Bush is scheduled to visit Miami Monday, July 31st according to click10.com.

The president will spend most of the day in the city in what the White House refers to as an “immersion trip.” The itinerary for the visit is not yet set. Itineraries for presidential visits are often not released publicly in advance. [Read FULL article here]

Say, if you want Michael Putney to ask the President a few questions log on here.

I have a few questions!

1) Why does it take $50 to fill up my tank?
2) What’s up with global warming?
3) Who killed the electric car?

Welcome to Miami … W.

There is a temptation to read CNN’s rankings of the “Best Places To Live” in the US–they must have a group of journalists conducting research of some sort. And research, they do: they rank cities by the amount of park space, the average salary vs. the average cost of homes, etc. It’s lots of number-crunching kind of stuff.

Then you read the lists, looking for a city you like, perhaps someplace in South Florida? Miami? No. Fort Lauderdale? Nope. Not a single familiar name is there. CNN did come up with some odd winners. For instance: Wichita, KS is #9. As a person who grew up in the Midwest and who’s been to Wichita several times, I can tell you it is not a nice place. It’s not even quaint, in a “Wizard of Oz” cute-factor way. In fact, when Steve Martin and John Candy found themselves stuck in a pile of bad luck in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, the scene took place in Wichita.

Miami does appear on a recent list: the most over-priced home markets in the US.
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What happens when you throw a red carpet premier and no one shows up?

You know Miami is over when none of the stars of the new “Miami Vice” movie show up for the red carpet premier. They shut down the roads and causeways here for months, screwed up traffic and were a total menace while filming. And then they diss Miami by not showing up last night?

I won’t be going to see “Miami Vice,” Colin or Jamie. Sorry. You don’t care, neither do I. Even Michael Mann, the producer decided to be a no-show. Not cool.

It was a freakin’ Tuesday night, you all had something better to do?

The TV news people were bigger stars than the D-List actors who showed up for the event.

I remember back in the day, Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas, from the original TV show, were part of the community, they showed up at local events and gave back. They didn’t take the money and run.

We are slap dab in the middle of the two day “Mini Lobster Season.”

Starting at 12:01 am last night and ending midnight Thursday, it is now a free-for-all for all for amateur lobster hunters. As I write this, I see a lone boater scanning the bay bottom for the crunchy creatures.

Six per person, per day is the licensed limit for the Keys and Biscayne Park, which is most of the area in the bay in Miami, the rest of the state is allowed 12 per person, per day.

It is so much easier and cheaper to go to a restaurant and order the crunchy creature, but I have eaten the fresh lobster right after it has been caught, and honestly, you can’t compare it to a restaurant. There is something very fresh about cooking up and eating your own catch.

The whole idea of the “mini season” is to allow amateur fishermen to have a chance before the professionals come in and grab all the lobsters.

A recreational saltwater license and a crawfish permit are needed for harvest. Regular spiny lobster season is August 6 through March 31.