I have a present for you: it’s a blog post that isn’t about the RNC!

This last weekend, I was invited to attend an event called Solutions Volume 3. The idea was to have a bunch of Twin Cities-based speakers give six-minute-forty-second talks on what they are doing to make the world better. “Great,” I thought, “Hippie Fest 2008.” But I was given free cover and was promised beer, so I couldn’t just skip it. And yes, it kind of was Hippie Fest 2008. But not in the way I thought it would be.

First of all, the event was, according to the email I received:

going to use the space at Intermedia Arts like nobody else ever has. The main program will take place in the Intermedia Arts parking lot, where we will seat about 350. Overflow seating for 120 will be provided in the theater where we will be streaming live video of the event outdoors. This will also be streamed into the lobby/ cafe area for those who’d like to enjoy the event in a less formal setting. The whole facility will be abuzz during the event, providing space for roughly 500 people to experience the event in a multitude of different ways.

At first I rolled my eyes at this, but then I realized the potential: the event is taking place outside so people can enjoy the weather (which was absolutely perfect), but there is also space inside set aside for discussing the ideas (or anything else, really) at the same time as the talks are going on without bothering your fellow audience members. That is a really clever idea.

And I was really looking forward to taking advantage of that (especially as an observer), because I was not only interested in the presentations, but in the reaction of the audience. Unfortunately, this is what awaited me in both indoor spaces for the entire program:

This was a huge bummer. It also glaringly points out that nowhere near 500 people showed up. But it should be pointed out that this is the first year they’ve done it with this setup, so that can be forgiven. Besides, they reached just about 300, enough to fill up the outdoor seating. It did not ruin the event at all!

There were lots of cool things outside. My favorite was a special phone number you could send a text message to and have your text message projected onto the side of a building. Not surprisingly, people used it to voice their political beliefs:

But the award for Most Hilarious Text on the Wall goes to whoever texted “a/s/l”. Classic!

I’m not sure if it was intended to be this way or not, but once they got the text setup working, it was only going for about five minutes. Honestly, I would have had WAY more fun at this event had it just been a text on the wall event.

Ok, so there were speakers as well. Here is a list of projects and organizations presented at this event:

Each speaker was supposed to talk for six minutes and forty seconds. Supposed to. This was the case for the first person only. I’m a big fan of keeping people’s speeches to a minimum length. I think if you’re giving an overview of what you’re doing, five minutes is enough. 6:40 is a generous allowance. But, of course, many speakers blew right past their time allotment, and not with charismatic bluster. Basically, for all the good ideas there was not one ounce of charisma.

Public speaking aside, my favorite was Finnegan’s Irish Amber, which, if you don’t know, is a for-profit beer company that gives 100% of its profits to charity. They also make really tasty beer.

You may be asking yourself, “100% of their profits to charity? Why not just be a nonprofit?” Well, apparently the IRS won’t let you have a non-profit beer company. I think it has something to do with there being so much profit in beer that it would be un-American not to take a slice of that sweet money pie.

My overall reaction to all the speakers’ ideas is a positive one. I’m left scratching my head, however. These are all excellent private sector solutions to public problems, but conventional political thought says hippies (and most of these people did exude “Look at me, I’m liberal!”) are all about Big Government and Government as Solution. But no, these are all people subverting the system, rolling up their sleeves and getting things done on their own with no help from The Man. It was quite heartening.

There was a reception afterwards, which I was unable to stick around for (I’m a popular fellow, after all). Next year I think I’ll keep my schedule open to accommodate that.

[PS: All the photos came from here.]

Well, not Georgie or Cheney or Cainey; so certainly not I. 

Besides, I know the real reason no one has time for the RNC. 

 Before I left for vacation I posted a challenge at MnSpeak about out-K.K.-in’  K.K. ”You love her, You need her, but . . .“ and all too few few took up the challenge.

Now look!

 K.K. took it up and out done herself with Heteroflexible: Girls kissing girls is the latest trend.

I can attest to this, today as I was driving home from Duluth, the wife popped the latest Islands release Arm’s Way in the C.D. player and commented “This C.D. has chick on chick action.”

It’s true.

Though, that C.D. was released  May 20′th 2008 which in Internets time is like 8000 years, so I have question “the latest”.

In the mean time I do have some great Northern Mn stories, video, and news and we’ll see about this “RNC” thing.

In the great tradition of Overheard in Minneapolis and the rest of the Overheards…

Overheard at the RNC, which now has one post:

Woman #1: So, I was watching the Democratic National Convention last night…
Woman #2: Oh, is that here?

Saint Paul, Women’s restroom just a few block from where the RNC will be next week…
Overheard by Amazed and saddened.

Definitely add it to your RSS feeds for the next couple weeks.

In an news story turned odd from the Strib ”This Friday, lots of people from across Minneapolis are expected to attend a block club-style gathering in the Hawthorne neighborhood to talk about crime, homelessness, community and citizenship. ”

According to Terry Collins of the Star Tribune Dyna Sluyter, a North Minneapolis resident, has “Flip flopped” on a party to show support for the Hawthorne Neighborhood.

Fret not, the party is still going to happen and is being called the “Dyna-mite Party” despite these words by Dyna Sluyter

”
I don’t believe I invited y’all to have a picnic in my yard, which happens to be your preferred location,” she said in a recent post. She threatened to leave the area for her outstate retreat.

“So, if your group of do-gooders want to come ’slumming’ up here and put some lipstick on the pig that is North Minneapolis crime, please wait for an invitation instead of imposing yourselves,” 

I guess not everyone wants to be Johnny Northside.

Ofcourse, if you really want to try and put some lipstick on a pig there are other options.

Are these a bunch of do gooders gone awry?

Our beloved local filmaker and citizen journalist Chuck Olsen — from The Uptake, Blogumentary, Minnesota Stories — just sold some exclusive video to the Associated Press of Rielle from his time with the Edwards campaign. Says Chuck:

I was with the Edwards campaign, similarly filming behind-the-scenes video, when he launched his campaign in New Orleans in December 2006. After NOLA we went to Iowa where Edwards drew a huge crowd. There was a celebratory mood in the air as we got back on the Edwards jet to fly to New Hampshire.

On that flight, there was a lot of booze and elation, excitement and hope. Edwards was in the back of the plane with Reille, and a couple of other campaign staffers. I remember Edwards turning on his iPod and grooving his head around. I went back to use the bathroom and when I came out, decided to chat with Reille. She was very outgoing, maybe even flirtatious, but really nice. I asked how she got the gig filming webisodes, and she said she met him in a bar and they clicked, and she proposed some online documentary showing his authenticity. She told me about some Hollywood sitcom writing and other weird projects she’d been involved with - nothing I’d ever heard of.

As an aside, check the comments on that post, where Robert Scoble leaves comments telling the AP he has a photo, too (when just 5 hours before he told Valleywag any footage he may have was jumbled in with Podtech’s assets). Chuck pwned Scoble!

Anyway, Chuck only had a few seconds of Rielle (what a stupid way to spell Reilly, btw), but the AP reported paid more than $100/second, which is not too shabby. It’s pretty cool to see Chuck’s byline in the photo caption on an AP story.

Am I surprised to find local citizen-journalism prophet Chuck Olsen in the midst of a National Enquirer-spurned Presidential candidate affair scandal holding some of the only known footage of the mistress filming Edwards? Well, I guess not. Chuck continues to insert himself into venues where traditional mainstream media have typically played alone, and for that, Minnesota is proud.

Chuck’s Flickr screenshot.

First weekend is over. Hope the numbers looked good. I kept seeing Minnesota Fringe Festival Executive Director Robin Gillette appear in places. I don’t think she moves from the neck. I think it’s all in the waist. Just sayin’. You’re doing a great job, Robin! *pinch your cheeks*

Local dance community stalwart John Munger, writing at the Daily Planet, gives his take on the “catastrophe” at the Southern Theater that has “precipitated an incandescent crisis in the dance community.”

Pub-style trivia at Fringe Central (the Bedlam), Tuesday night, 11pm.

Sortable audience review data.

On to the reviews.

Sex, Love & Vomit by Story Tapestries
Christopher Kidder already has described it pretty well, so I won’t repeat. I’ll just say that I was bored. Katie Knutson’s “faggot” story was kind of funny, in that earnest good kid sort of way. I feel like a bad person for saying this, but I found the fact that Arianna Ross is (very) pregnant to be distracting. They had different styles but I didn’t find them to be complementary. It was a little jarring transitioning between stories. It felt disjointed. Still, I gotta give props to someone who can get up there and tell such deeply personal stories in the first place. It’s decent, but don’t go out of your way.

Get It OFF YOUR CHEST!!! by Mary Helena
I cried! Holy crap, this is one of the best shows I’ve seen so far. So the theme is “If you have excess stress, get it off your chest.” Mary Helena goes through a series of stories, in character, about women dealing with stress. She sets up each scene, neatly transitions into character, portrays the character with simple costume and accent or pidgin, transitions back out, and then has an astute observation on each which is usually some variation on “Ain’t that some shit?” It flows easily from scene to scene as she pulls each costume from a trunk. It’s clear watching each character who she’s speaking to and where she’s coming from. Each story is a clear display of sympathy or empathy, except for the very last one which is from her own point of view. I loves me a sassy black woman. Armitea made me cry. I won’t spoil that story, though. MUST SEE. Seriously. Wednesday at 8:30 or Saturday at 7, at the Mixed Blood.

adjective by Megan Dowd
Two words: Dawson’s Creek. Skip the first season where the surprisingly mature dialogue was still a novelty and fast forward to the part where it just got annoying. In fact, Brandon Sommers looks kind of like Pacey. So the story is about an inappropriate student/teacher relationship. The student is both manipulative and naive. The teacher’s a dumb ass. In the scene where they finally — finally! — kiss for the first time, the guy sitting behind me actually snorted out loud. It was a train wreck of a show, because it was terribly predictable, and you know it can’t end well. And then some other woman who I think may have been the director/producer actually came out to give the standard post-Fringe-show speech, which I’ve never seen given by anyone other than a perfomer. Must avoid.

Further miscellaenous observations…

If you are online to read this and haven’t found out yet, you’re… well, I don’t even know.

Phone service is spotty.

Today’s the anniversary of the 35W Bridge Collapse, so I thought I’d revisit some of the liveblogging we did of the post-collapse events. Above is from Erica’s post at 6:57 p.m. on August 1. Heavy stuff when you think back to it all.

Significant MB posts covering the collapse:

• August 1
• August 2
• August 10
• March 18 (Bridge Findings Released)

What do you remember from that day?

National Geographic Traveler’s 48-Hour Guide to Minneapolis (July/August 2008 edition) lists local blogs and podcasts to check out, followed by newspapers and magazines, maps, and books and movies. We’re a design mecca on the prairie. (I didn’t know Building Minnesota had a podcast.)

TC Daily Planet: Copper Thieves at Coldwater. Exploring the effects of neglect of the Coldwater/Bureau of Mines land.

I knew there was the Minnesota Thunder, our professional men’s soccer team in the United Soccer Leagues. I didn’t know there was a women’s team, the Minnesota Lightning. They’re clearly affiliated, judging by the look of the websites. And by the extremely confusing navigation of the Lightning website, in which all of the links and even the site name up at the top of the browser point to the Thunder, but with a light blue color scheme instead of a dark blue one and a picture of women playing at the top instead of men. Boo! [twitter: @mnthunder]

Vote Yes MN implores you to protect the Minnesota you love. Everything you need to know about the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, a proposed amendment to the Minnesota state constitution appearing on the ballot this fall. If passed it will dedicate funding to protecting the environment “by increasing the sales and use tax rate beginning July 1, 2009, by three-eighths of one percent on taxable sales until the year 2034.” [web: yesformn.org] [twitter: @yesformn] [facebook: group]

While the Lynx’s Seimone Augustus is off playing in the Olympics, the team and staff will spend the WNBA league break out in the community, putting on the 33 Days of Augustus.

Common Roots is celebrating its 1st year of operation with a Summer Celebration on Saturday August 9th from 2-9pm. “Featuring grilling on the patio, an heirloom tomato tasting, local beer and wine samples, family activities and live music.” [facebook: profile] [facebook: event] [twitter: @commonroots]

Are y’all checking the late night movie schedule at the Riverview Theater?

FringeFamous is a blog covering the Minneapolis/St.Paul independent theatre scene, written by a group of quasi-anonymous “Twin Cities theater professionals.” They do year-round coverage (as of March of this year, anyway), but you can imagine how frothy they are over the impending Fringe Festival. [twitter: @fringefamous]

Community Design Group is “an urban planning and policy consulting group” touting “a people-centered, asset-based approach to urban planning, policy and design.” (via mediation)

Edina Realty now offers foreclosure searching.

MinnPost asks the best question ever: Franken’s jokes, Coleman’s digs: Do voters really care?

These are old themes: Franken’s not qualified to be a senator because of tasteless humor in the past. Coleman’s not qualified because of relationships – financial and apartment leases – from powerful groups or, in this case, a tainted senator who is tied to powerful groups.

Two questions: Are either of these SERIOUS ethical issues? Do voters care?

I have, in this blog, called Norm Coleman a “spineless, self-serving shell of a human being with no redeeming qualities and, to be fair, no offensive qualities” and I called Al Franken “a capable comedian. And that’s about it.”

Let’s be clear: Al Franken isn’t unqualified to be a senator because of the jokes he told. He’s unqualified because his ego dwarfs Paul Bunyan: he’s running for a top political post because he’s famous (i.e. because he can). Come on! Even Jesse was a suburban mayor before he was governor. Franken should take a note from a man with an ego that rivals his own. Simply having opinions does not make you US Senate material.

As for Coleman, I don’t think any pseudo-scandal about shady business dealings matters. At all. So what? He’s rich; of course he had a shady business dealing. I wonder how many shady business dealings Franken has had. Instead, let’s look at his complicity with Bush Administration policies and his lack of creativity or vociferousness on the really important issues. He’s in there already, so let’s judge him on what and how he’s actually done (or not done) as a senator… seems to me there’s enough fodder for Franken right there.

If Metblogs is a city, hub.metblogs is the playground. We kept hearing from people that one of their favorite parts of Metblogs was meeting and interacting with readers and writers from other parts of the world, as well as getting requests for more ways that readers could be involved besides just posting comments. We thought about this for a while and decided that with a network like this, a giant community area where folks from all over the world could hang out, post photos and videos, talk with each other, form groups, play games, send messages, and do about a million other things was probably a pretty fun idea. The Hub is that.

If you have any tech ideas or suggestions join this group and speak up. See you on hub.metblogs!