the matthew Z project

Bay City, Michigan is located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. The city is geographically divided by the Saginaw River, and travel between the east and west sides of the city is made possible by four modern drawbridges which allow large ships to travel easily down the river. The city is served by MBS International Airport, located in nearby Freeland, and James Clements Municipal Airport. Well what’s there to do when you get here?! Heres just a few of my favorite things to do.

Daytime family fun ~ FREE

Bay City Boat Lines 

The Islander

Bay City Boat Lines provides narrated tours and private charter service aboard the excursion vessels Princess Wenonah and Islander. Free rides are offered weekdays at 10:00 a.m. during the summer season. Dinner cruises and special events are offered periodically and the vessels are available for private charters. The Princess and Islander depart from their dock on the east bank of the Saginaw River, south of Veterans Memorial Bridge. 

I have done the free tour and its a great way to spend a couple hours and you get a great history lesson of Bay City. It is kid friendly and handicapped accessible. Dress for the weather as the top is open, however the bottom is enclosed.  It is a  free (seriously FREE), roughly 2-hour tour of the Saginaw River; Narrated by local TV persoanlities.  Snacks and beverages (alcohol if you fancy that) are available for purchase as soon as the boat leaves port.  Tours are Monday thru Friday from 10am – 12noon.  Reservations needed.  I give this 2 thumbs up. Did I mention this is FREE!? 

Night life entertainment

The All-New Big House

The All-New Big House on Midland Street

The All-New Big House is an all 80′s & 90′s dance club located on Midland Street, in downtown Bay City!!! Featuring open mic night on Wednesdays,  Jedi Mind Trip on Thursdays, and Impact Sound Entertainment on Friday & Saturdays!!! Bay City’s only retro bar!

This party is totally gnarly!  The drinks are well made, cheap, and delivered by great waitstaff.  Oh yeah, NO COVER – EVER! That’s right, they don’t charge to get in.  Dressing retro is highly encouraged! 

They offer a slightly tilted pool table (believe you, me it helps), darts, neon lights, a huge painting of pac-man, and a rubix cube. Enjoy the party. Don’t forget to tell them matthew Z sent you. Read more…

fatgate 2010

I’ll admit, when I first heard this story I was sucked in and like, “WTF?”.  But then I thought.  Staged. At first glance, there wouldn’t seem to be a lot of obvious upsides to Kevin Smith’s getting ejected from a Southwest Airlines flight for being too overweight. Even if the director ranks very high among Twitter’s hottest topics currently, significantly increasing the number of media mentions for his new action-comedy, “Cop Out,” which hits theaters on Feb. 26.

However, while the incident — and Smith’s ensuing Tweetathon about the ordeal, dubbed “Fatgate” —  continues to generate headlines worldwide, it isn’t the first time the “Mallrats” and “Clerks” writer-director has suffered a shameful, weight-related embarrassment just days before theatrically releasing a new movie.  Coincidence?  I think not.

Remember that in 2008, just before the roll-out of his poor-performing, sorry attempt of a romantic comedy “Zach and Miri Make a Porno,” Smith suffered a similar disgrace: He admitted that his self-described “morbid obesity” had been responsible for the destruction of a household appliance.  And then, as now, he milked that episode for all it was worth on his blog, in tweets, and in interviews.

He told The Times, “I broke a toilet.  That’s how heavy I am. I can’t take all the credit. That was an old toilet and a very water-logged wall. But still, there’s no excuses, dude. I cannot cognitively reframe it and be like, ‘It wasn’t me. It was the toilet.’ It was definitely me! And that’s a wake-up call.”

Asked why he would volunteer such a potentially embarrassing story about himself, Smith demurred. “It’s a good story,” he said. “It’s tough not to tell even though I’m the fat clown at the center of it. Putting it out there is saying, ‘I get it. I understand.’ ” To me this is a sad way to gain publicity.  If you have to do this much to get attention to a movie, is it really worth seeing it?

Personally Read more…

Your Home of the 80s

Have you ever found yourself working at your desk and could use some refreshing tunes from your past? Or sitting around at home disgusted at what’s on the radio, and don’t know where to turn. Well, I have your solution! A free, (I don’t mean free after you sign up to 12 sponsored commercials, or free if you purchase something else), I mean a really free online radio station. It’s listener supported (using listener donations) and COMMERCIAL FREE! That’s right. Not only is it truly, completely free, it’s also commercial free. If you haven’t had the chance already please visit lost80s.com. At the time of this posting, I have just become a member of Club 15!  Doing my part to keep it free! Until anon…matthew Z