June 30, 2006

Toxic Shockers

Kickball is hot hot hot in Minneapolis these days. Alexis got me out to see her team Toxic Shockers do battle with Uptown Ballstars. Ice beer, yelling, and smoking are strongly encouraged.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 06:17 AM | Comments (12)

June 29, 2006

Life in Rural MN, 1850's-style

NOTE: This piece originally ran on July 8, 2005. Hey it's summer - of course we have repeats!

Take a walk back in time with Herbie Theis of Cold Spring, Minnesota. Herb recalls the difficulties his great-grandparents faced living on the banks of the Sauk River in a sod shanty, including many encounters with Native Americans demanding flour. I wonder what they were baking that they needed flour so bad?

CONTRIBUTOR: Duane Kuss, My Stories of Life

If you're interested in personal history, be sure to check out the Minnesota's Greatest Generation project from the Minnesota Historical Society. More on that soon.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 03:42 AM | Comments (5)

June 28, 2006

Band Malpractice

"I remember how it felt, and how things seemed, the first time I got drunk." We had to use that sentence in this 24-hour film, much like the 48 Hour Film Project. This was the first silly video I made with my friends back in the day. As you can see, my production value has improved not at all since 2001.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 02:39 AM | Comments (7)

June 27, 2006

Gay Pride

Twin Cities GLBT Pride Celebration! Did you go?

My awesome dentist was there, J&D Dental. I helped work on their web site, including this little office tour video. This has been a sincere, unpaid testimonial. Thank you.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 11:55 AM | Comments (10)

June 26, 2006

Film Film

Film Film was made by Media Mike with people of all ages at IFP Minnesota’s open house last year. Media Mike is also offering a Video Adventure at IFP Minnesota’s Center for Media Arts for kids ages 12-15, July 10-14, 2006. For more info, call Allison Herrera at 651.644.1912 or email her at aherrera@ifpmn.org or visit http://www.ifpmsp.org/.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 02:43 AM | Comments (3)

June 23, 2006

Isaac's 40

Here's a pretty brillant idea: 40 Art 40s brings together 40 local artists to transform 40 bottles of malt liquor into works of art. It's all a fundraiser for mplsart.com which is relaunching its web site and spreading the good word of Minneapolis art far and wide.

This video is all about one of those 40 artists, Isaac Arvold. (Note his name is spelled correctly here, but not in the video. Oops!) Isaac makes some really cool shit. Dark pop art. You may have seen his stormtroopers around town, or perhaps his current Dunn Bro's exhibition. His 40 is called Clipped wings knees. If you drink it, you'll burn in hell. Not really though - you can totally drink it.

Check out photos of Isaac making art by my man neongreen, who is the preeminent photographer of Minneapolis graffiti.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 05:49 AM | Comments (5)

June 22, 2006

Scott Lynch: Fantasy Author

You may recognize Scott Lynch from Night Gamers, a documentary about vampire role players wherein Scott plays "The Margrave." Now he's published his first novel, The Lies of Locke Lamora, which is already on it's way to new life as a Warner Brothers film.

This video comes to us from Juliah Rueckert, a Minnesota documentary filmmaker making her way in Los Angeles. Juliah promises more video dispatches about Minnesotans making good in Hollywood. Right here on Minnesota Stories, where everyone's a movie star.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 02:05 AM | Comments (3)

June 21, 2006

Northeast Parade

The Northeast Parade is the second-oldest parade in the state, full of marching band drums, Shriners, mayors, and unicyclists. Unfortunately, your intrepid vlogumentarian is under the weather and slept right through it. However, fear not! Here's a video of the 2005 parade. Just pretend it's the 2006 parade, and everything will be just fine. (Or better yet... send in a video of the 2006 parade.)

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 01:28 AM | Comments (0)

June 20, 2006

All Hail Summer

After seeing An Inconvenient Truth, I can't help but view our backyard as a microcosm for global warming. Everything sprouted and blossomed earlier than ever, only to be decimated by the biggest hail we've ever seen in our lives. Now, if we can only get the squirrels to stop driving those little gas-guzzling Hummers...

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 01:17 AM | Comments (9)

June 19, 2006

Duluth Lynching Memorial

On June 15, 1920, three black men were lynched by an angry mob in Duluth, Minnesota. 80 years later, the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial Committee was formed to create memorial to the three men at the intersection where their lives were taken. Here, CJM Board members Maureen Booth and Carl Crawford speak about how the memorial came about and why they are committed to continuing work against racism after the Memorial has been built.

CONTRIBUTOR: The class of David Beard, Assistant Professor of Composition at University of Minnesota -- Duluth

RELATED LINK: Duluth Lynchings Online Resource

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 12:51 AM | Comments (4)

June 16, 2006

Solstice

MEDIA MIKE WRITES: Everyone is invited to the north end of Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis to see this year’s annual Solstice Ceremony, on Saturday June 17, 2006 at 11am. This video features an Aztec dance group called Quetzalcoatlicue dancing for the Solstice in 2004. The group is organized by Susana De Leon, a remarkable person making news recently. Read Paul Demko’s column in City Pages.

CONTRIBUTOR: Media Mike

Also be sure to check out the Solstice Festival on Saturday night.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 03:49 AM | Comments (2)

June 15, 2006

Prison Theater

Here's another amazing example of the good work going on in our community that not enough people know about. Multi-disciplinary solo theater artist Heidi Arneson engages inmates at Ramsey County Correctional Facility in a workshop called Direct Action. The participants create a performance piece based upon their life stories and perform it for their fellow inmates. The result? “After this workshop, I feel like a human being again.”

CONTRIBUTOR: Michael Bischoff

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 01:39 AM | Comments (5)

June 12, 2006

On Vacation

Hello friends! We just finished an instense and fun weekend at Vloggercon in San Francisco (pics) and now we're taking a little break. So go check out Duane Kuss telling the story of DigElogROCORI - one of the best (and only) hyperlocal videoblogs around. Also check out the rock action at Lo-Fi St. Louis the lovely Worcester Diaries. Local vlogs are taking off!

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 01:12 PM | Comments (5)

June 09, 2006

Brewing Democracy

A new documentary by Beth Peloff asks the question, "Are we prepared for true democracy?" A group of beer-lovin' friends decide to start a beer brewing business that they'll own and manage collectively. However, tension mounts as it becomes clear that individuals within the collective have different ideas about where their collaboration is heading.

Premieres Saturday, June 10, 7PM @ Art Of This Gallery. They're located at 3222 Bloomington Ave S. More info here.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 04:00 AM | Comments (2)

June 07, 2006

Looking at Liebling

A new video by Mike Hazard, Looking at Liebling looks at some of the photographs of Jerry Liebling now on exhibition at the Minnesota Center for Photography through Sunday June 11, 2006. For more, visit mncp.org or call 612.824.5500. For links to Liebling, zoom to www.thecie.org.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 01:42 AM | Comments (0)

June 06, 2006

Nata Village

Videoblogs, change the world? Just maybe. This is an interview with world traveller Jon Rawlinson, who setup the Nata Village blog in Botswana.

This was done for Rocketboom and is slated to appear there Wednesday. Donate to Nata if you're able.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 05:16 AM | Comments (7)

June 05, 2006

1972 Nature Rendez-Vous

Take a nostalgic trip back to Minnesota lakes of yesteryear. Aleshia writes:

My mom, Sue Mueller, tried her hand at iMovie and cut together some digitized Super 8 footage shot while fishing with some friends in central Minnesota around 1972. This clip is in narrow-screen format.

This version is edited down to 4.5 minutes. Here's the full original version.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 01:05 AM | Comments (5)

June 02, 2006

Memorial Day 2006

The historic Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis commemorated veterans of the American Civil War on Memorial Day. The First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry was on hand to bring history to life.

RELATED VIDEO:: Vlogmatic.com visited Fort Snelling on Memorial Day

MORE ABOUT THE FIRST MINNESOTA: Power Line "Every Man Did His Whole Duty"

MUSIC: Frank C. Stanley, Tenting on the Old Camp Ground (1902)

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 01:55 AM | Comments (6)

June 01, 2006

The Hungry Cyclist (R)

SORRY, TODAY'S VIDEO IS A REPEAT FROM JULY 2005. BUT IT'S A GOOD ONE! SEND IN YOUR VIDEOS TO FILL IN THIS SPACE: story@mnstories.com

"Don't be afraid to open up your world to someone else's world." Those are Starfire's parting words in this story, but they work just as well as an introduction. Starfire opened up his world - and his living room - to The Hungry Cyclist, an Englishman biking from NYC to Rio de Janeiro for Macmillan Cancer Relief. How could he resist two days of R&R in Duluth?

CONTRIBUTOR: Starfire, Starfire.tv
MUSIC: Low

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 01:40 AM | Comments (0)