My friend Autumn happened across a film crew in Northeast Minneapolis last week. Here’s her account of what she saw.

The film is called “Nobody” and it’s being written and directed by Rob Perez, who wrote 40 Days and 40 Nights. He moved here to shoot the film, apparently. It’s about an artist trying to find inspiration while attending art school. The lead is a guy named Sam Rosen, apparently a friend of Josh Hartnett. The film is being produced by someone named Christine Walker, who we saw yesterday on the set.

The film is supposedly a “low budget indie film” but as someone Tiffany works with pointed out, low budget these days just means it costs less than 50 million dollars. On site yesterday were several rental trucks, a couple of semis, a trailer or two, a giant pile of snow, and lots of Prius’ and SUVs lining the surrounding streets with city obstruction permits on their windshields.

There was quite a large crew. Camera men, site techs, costume people, interns shoveling snow into a wheelbarrow and wheeling it over to the bus stop, and kids in orange vests making sure no one ran over the crew as they crossed back and forth on the street. It was windy out, so it was even one girl’s job to hold up the corner poll of a rented tent over the director, so that it didn’t blow over. They took over an entire office building, two blocks for crew parking, a small stretch of road, and the church across the street, which they were using as a home base for bathrooms and crew lunches.

More from the set of the movie “Nobody”

“BREW 52.com–sampling a different Minnesota brew each week for an entire year. Oh for fun!”

Oh my god, yes.

I signed up last week. I was honestly reticent to make another commitment. Especially a year-long one (quality, not quantity, whatnot). But I could not pass this up. Because I am a beer snob picky. I’m all about the locally brewed stuff, but I also don’t actually drink that much and I am not trying to blow through a six-pack a week trying to figure out what I like, since there’s a pretty good chance I won’t like much of it.

Rett Martin is the man behind Brew 52. He’s also the proprietor of Overheard-for-Metro-Transit site Bus Tales.

Rett made it even easier to participate by organizing a brewpool. He (or possibly another volunteer) buys the next several weeks worth of beer and divvies them up so each person doesn’t have to buy their own six pack (or 24-pack, yikes) of each one. Head to Rett’s house, give him your money, and you can take home a mixed box of your next several weeks of beers to review. I believe there are a few stores in town that will let you do that yourself, but I couldn’t tell you what they are. I also know that not one liquor store in Eden Prairie carries anything from Flat Earth. Bastards.

I drank my first beer (Schell Snow Storm) last night. It’s week 2 and I’m already a week behind.

You can still sign up if you like. It’s not the end of the world if you miss a week here and there. There are also fun things like a facebook group and flickr photos.

I know of plenty of places to go to get coffee and beer and wine. If you ask someone for a recommendation, they’re going to rattle off a few of their favorite coffee shops, liquor stores, bars with walls full of taps, etc. These are things that, even if you’re not a connoisseur, you know what you like and what you don’t or at least where to ask if you’re not sure.

So I imagine it’s the same for tea. Except I have no idea where to go or who to ask about buying tea.

I have a newly formed tea habit. I love my tea ball, because I can keep a stash of loose tea at work and brew it up in my go cup. Warm beverages are soothing - especially in the winter - and by all measures it’s better for me than coffee, which I can’t drink without loading up with sugar and flavors (yay pumpkin!).

My tea-buying prowess is pretty much limited to Traditional Medicinals from the “organic” aisle at the grocery store (yay Throat Coat!) or ordering loose tea online from Stash. I’ve had great success, but I’d like to go somewhere I can browse and sniff before selecting.

Tea is supposedly “bigger than wine” and that MinnPost article mentions Tea Source with St. Paul and St. Anthony locations. Is that all there is? There’s got to be more than just two tea shops in all of the metro. Where do you go to buy tea?

(P.S. There’s a “specialty tea think tank”?! The definition of think tank must be getting loose. Ha! Loose. Like tea, get it? Anyway.)

*CAUTION: Minnesotan about to whine about the weather ahead. You’ve been warned.*

Will it ever stop raining in our fair city so we can enjoy autumn? Anyone else considering moving somewhere tropical (like, perhaps, Seattle?)

It sounds like one of my favorite events of the fall, the Autumn Brew Review, is going to sell out this year. If you are interested in an afternoon at the magnificent Grain Belt Brewery complex in Northeast trying some of the best craft brews you’ll find — period — get your tickets now.

I just got Surly’s newsletter this morning and they aim to please —

BAD - Barrel Aged Darkness, BAO - Barrel Aged One, Double Bender
(experimental-brewed just for ABR), COAF - Cask Oak-Aged Furious, Coffee
Bender, Bender, Furious, Cynic and SurlyFest.

Oh. It’s all too much to dream about when you’re stuck in the office, isn’t it?

Social obligations led to a second visit to Fair, and eight more brief write-ups of the food.

ITEM: Battered cheese curds

SUMMARY: We got these from one of the more permanent-looking buildings, as opposed to a food cart. They weren’t the fine cuisine cheese curds of Town Talk Diner, but the Fair is a completely different venue and audience, so all we really can ask for is warm, cheesy, and a nice balance of crispy exterior and gooey interior. Check, check, check.

GRADE: A-

ITEM: Swedish Egg Coffee

SUMMARY: The theory behind this stuff is that when you brew coffee with a raw egg, the egg moderates the acidity and gives you a smooth, delicious brew. In reality, the stuff tasted like weak diner coffee and/or slightly tainted hot water. Either the brewers were terrible or the idea is terrible, and the Norwegians win yet another point in the Norway versus Sweden hatefest.

GRADE: FAIL

ITEM: Deep Fried Oreos

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As promised, I spent a recent $100 windfall on local beer.

How much beer is that? I could have stretched it further, but I ended up with eleven different varieties, essentially chosen on random impulse. Most were six-packs of bottles, but there was a 12-pack of cans, a 12-pack of bottles, a 4-pack of tall boys and a growler in the mix.

The breweries we sampled included James Page, Surly, Summit, Barley John’s, Grain Belt and more.

Keep reading if you’re curious as to how they stacked up.
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Thanks to everyone — except for the “give it to the needy!” guy, who is no doubt at this very moment lecturing the St. Patrick’s Day parade sponsors on how they should’ve spent their money to fight AIDS in Afghanistan — who replied to my earlier post about spending $100 in a crazy manner.

I’m going with the plan that involves buying $100.00 worth of local brew and conducting an exhaustive — and potentially exhausting — taste test to explore the ups and downs of what people drink around here.

Police found a still in a man’s apartment with fermenting corn in it. The official word: it “may or may not be moonshie,” according to the Strib.

I know several people who produce their own home brew, and it doesn’t seem like a big deal. I’ve never heard of police busting the door down and yelling into their walkie talkie “they’re makin’ beer!” But I suppose there are different beer and liquor laws for establishments. Is it the same for the underground side of drink production?

Is Saturday! 1-6 pm. Peavey Plaza. I went last year and it was pretty cool. Weather forecast says upper 70s and windy.

100+ beers. 30+ regional craft brewers. Tickets are $25 in advance for general admission or $35 for VIP tickets (so you can start drinking at noon). Order tickets at mncraftbrew.org (not sure if you can still get them at this point). You can still get in at the door for I think $30 (I did last year), but those tickets are limited.

Proceeds benefit the Minnesota Craft Brewer’s Guild. MNBeer has the complete scoop, including the list of participating brewers.