August 31, 2007

Farm Porn

The Minnesota State Fair has a building full of baby animals called "Miracle of Birth." Well, they should call it "Miracle of Porn" instead.

Please, don't let your children catch you watching this. Have a good weekend.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 04:51 AM | Comments (7)

August 30, 2007

Crop Artist Lillian Colton

The secret to having a good time at the Minnesota State Fair is finding those lingering connections to its rural roots. That means clog dancing, baby farm animals, and of course crop art. Rumor has it, you can see Bjork and Al Franken rendered in seeds this year. But it's not quite the same without legendary crop artist Lillian Colton, who passed away earlier this year.

This video is one of a series produced by Mike Dust for Colton's 2004 exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

RELATED LINK:
Twin Cities Daily Planet: State Fair: Crop art continues

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 03:36 AM | Comments (1)

August 29, 2007

MN State Fair On A Stick

Just how many foodstuffs can you eat on a stick at the Minnesota State Fair? A lot. Fifty-nine, in fact. This video by TKordonowy documents them all.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 01:04 AM | Comments (1)

August 27, 2007

MN State Fair: Robot Wars

Sure, you've got a lot of the same whatever-on-a-stick every year at the Minnesota State Fair. But wait, there's more! Recent Minnesota transplant and longtime MN Stories fan Honeybunny caught some Robot Wars on camera. Let's hope flames and robots become a new tradition.

If you've got any State Fair videos of whatever-on-a-stick, or things blowing up, drop a line to story@mnstories.com.

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

August 24, 2007

Real Reality TV

This is a behind-the-scenes video from SPNN's Real Reality TV. St. Paul High School Students work with filmmaker Jenny Hanson and Joanna Kohler through the Connections Program to create three short documentary films.

Check out the press release and the Real Reality TV blog to watch the full documentaries, starting Saturday 8/25.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 02:19 AM | Comments (1)

August 23, 2007

The Fon of Barfut at the MIA

I heard from inside sources that the King of Cameroon visited the Minneapolis Institute of Arts on Wedesday. His title is actually the Fon of Bafut, which is really "fon" to say. (Sorry.)

Apparently, after his visit, he switched into civilian clothes and made a bee line for the Mall of America.

YouTube video by Jay.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 12:57 AM | Comments (2)

August 22, 2007

Sound Unseen 2007

The SOUND UNSEEN film festival kicks off tonight (Wed, 8/22) at the Riverview Theater with 7 Nights in the Entry – a concert film shot in 1981 featuring performances by Husker Du, The Replacements, Fine Art, The Dads, Things That Fall Down, Hypstrz, and more.

Find all festival films here and festival events here.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 12:59 AM | Comments (1)

August 21, 2007

PZ Myers Interview

"What is life?"

University of Minnesota biology professor PZ Myers talks with Michael Koppelman about the big questions facing biology, evolution, atheism, and most importantly: How the heck do you pronounce the name of Myers' blog, Pharyngula?

Myers is making unfortunate news this week. An author is suing Myers for libel over his unfavorable book review. Surely an act of desperation, or at least pure dickishness.

Here's an MP3 of the entire interview from the lolife.com podcast.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 12:53 AM | Comments (0)

August 20, 2007

Winona Flood

Youtube user Phil Haney documents some of the destruction from the floods in Southern Minnesota that have claimed 6 lives. Here's another video about the flood (with music).

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 01:24 AM | Comments (1)

August 17, 2007

Just Plain Big: MN State Fair 1988

Are you ready for the State Fair... from 1988?

Chris from Matchbook Films shares this gem.

Nineteen years ago, Christa Dahlstrom--a college sophomore and Minnesota native--rented a VHS camcorder and brought it and two friends (Ted Johnson and Brian Glenn) to the Minnesota State Fair. Back at school she spent weeks learning the dorm's linear video editing system, with the help of her film-major boyfriend (i.e. me), and cutting together this irreverent and loving overview.

Food-on-a-stick, Ye Old Mill, beauty queen butter sculptures, tractors, and bull semen.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 06:19 AM | Comments (6)

August 16, 2007

Localize It!

Localize It! is a new show from Bretton Jones of Minneapolitics which will focus on "localizing political economy."

In this show, Bretton has a wide-ranging conversation with Mark Muller of the Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy. Among the topics of discussion: Markets, the farm bill, and ethanol. You may not be familiar with the IATP, but you may be familiar with one of their subsidiaries, Peace Coffee.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 04:35 AM | Comments (0)

August 15, 2007

Lawn Mower Racers

From the Mankato Free Press:

The Minnesota Lawn Mower Racing Association brought its machines to the Nicollet County Fair in St. Peter Sunday. Watch founding members talk about why they enjoy the nationwide sport..

Video by Dan Nienaber. Thanks to Tom Elko of Sky Blue Waters Report for the tip.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 05:04 AM | Comments (0)

August 14, 2007

Karl Rove Resigns: Reaction

Karl Rove resigned... Chuck is devastated.
This breaking news brought to you by The Uptake

DIGG it

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 12:14 AM | Comments (0)

August 13, 2007

Slow Motion Storm

Check out last Friday's storm at 59 frames per second. Slow motion lightning sure looks cool. This was filmed by Bretton Jones of Minneapolitics.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 02:48 PM | Comments (1)

August 10, 2007

35W Memorial Service

There are lots of 35W tributes popping up on YouTube, both touching and cheesy depending on your taste in music and religion. Like this one, or this nice short tribute set to Buffalo Springfield. This tribute was created by a Minneapolis videographer. This popular tribute was among a few featured by KSTP news.

The video featured here is a simple snapshot of the memorial service for victims of the bridge collapse. Filmed by Kevin O of Video Haiku.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 03:19 AM | Comments (0)

August 09, 2007

Battle Buddies

Filmmaker Andrew Govier made a 3-part documentary about life in the Buffalo, MN-based 353rd Transportation Company of the U.S. Army Reserve. This is Part II, where the group heads to Iraq.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 04:02 AM | Comments (0)

August 08, 2007

YearlyKos Report

Today's video simulcast on Rocketboom.

Hillary and Obama, lefties and geeks. They were all at the YearlyKos progressive blogger convention, along with new journalism movers and shakers like Jay Rosen. There was a strong MInnesota contingent, including Mark Gisleson from Norwegianity, Robin Marty and Abdi Aynte from Minnesota Monitor, and Rob Levine of Cursor.org.

Jason Barnett and I were there videotaping everything and everyone we could for The Uptake, a new video citizen journalism project. There you'll find lots of full-length interviews, my travel diary video, and more to come.

If you're interested in picking up a digital camera and covering political events, shoot me an email.

Oh, and do us a favor? Add The Uptake to your blogroll and help spread the word. We're in the mood for link-love. Oh, yeah.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 04:15 AM | Comments (6)

August 07, 2007

Stephanie talks about the bridge

stephanie4567 says we shouldn't be pointing fingers right now, and "My thoughts and prayers go out to the families affected by this tragedy."

However, if you'd like to make a full-on finger-pointing video, send it to story@mnstories.com.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 04:14 AM | Comments (5)

August 06, 2007

Advice for MnDot

From Luke, aka eluko79: "Just in case the folks at the MnDot forgot how to build a bridge. These are all 30 levels in the Bridge Building Game."

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 05:01 AM | Comments (0)

August 01, 2007

35W Bridge Collapse

A few snippets of footage near the 35W bridge collapse. David Howell has some footage as well. If you caught any video or photos, please leave a link for us in the comments. I hope you're all safe.

MORE LINKS:
Noah Kunin's harrowing first-person account
KSTP live report (taped off tv)
Mike Mcintee probes possible causes and politics

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 11:39 PM | Comments (7)

Chocolate Rain

Chocolate Rain. Some stay dry and others feel the pain. Minneapolis-based Tay Zonday has a bona-fide YouTube hit on his hands! Here's an interview that reveals the manchild behind the music.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 03:40 AM | Comments (3)