Brenton Netz from St. Cloud is doing brisk business reconditioning Geo Metros (or, as I like to call them, Pregnant Rollerskates) and Ford Festivas and selling them on eBay.

After buying a Metro on Craigslist in Montana and driving it back to his home in St. Cloud, Minnesota, Netz realized how rarely he was making trips to the pump.

He realized that he had stumbled upon a possible side business and began buying one-way tickets to states in the West to purchase as many of the cars as he could. Netz said he has sold about a dozen cars and has eight more sitting in his backyard…

It seems, Netz said, people are beginning to realize that their car choices need to be focused more on practicality than status and appearance.

I work in Eden Prairie. A great many of my co-workers come from farther south and west. Not just Chanhassen, Chaska, and Shakopee. Waconia, Jordan, Belle Plain, Prior Lake. One guy comes from New Ulm! And they’re all hunting and fishing types so they’re driving these big honking trucks. One guy was crying about how it cost him $95 to fill up his gigantic whatever the Dodge version of an F350 is. Boo frickin’ hoo! I’d love to see these manly men driving the Pregnant Rollerskate.

(via @aeklund)

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”

Stope the ReRoute tells the dramatic story of a community’s opposition to the State of Minnesota’s plan to drive a road through its birthplace, Camp Coldwater between Minnehaha Park and Fort Snelling - land considered historic to some and sacred to others. This inspiring film bears witness to the commitment of citizen activists to live lightly on Grandmother Earth, preserve precious natural resources, and resist car culture at the end of the Petroleum Age, as neighborhood and environmental champions, Native American activists, and young people coalesce in nonviolent civil disobedience.

Cost is $10. Doors open at 6pm, there’s “entertainment” at 6:30, and then the film screening will be followed by “honoring of activitists” and Q&A with the film’s producers.

I’m not sure if the Preserve Camp Coldwater Coalition is at all affiliated with the folks who made the documentary. A pagan activist person I know suggested that there’s not complete alignment between different groups with interest in preserving the land.

I attended a winter solstice celebration at Coldwater Spring last year.

More about Coldwater Spring

Since I live four miles from where I work, I decided that it would probably not be nearly as bad as I imagined to commute to work on my bike. I did that for the first time today and it didn’t suck! So I was all proud of myself, but then I noticed that there are prizes involved in Bike2Benefits, so I went ahead and signed up for that.

Choose any eight-week period before Dec. 31 to start commuting by bicycle. Track your trips and mileage at this website. When you complete the program, you will automatically be entered in our year-end prize drawing. You’ll also receive a Twin Cities Bike Map (while supplies last). Once your eight weeks are over, continue tracking your commutes and you’ll be eligible for even more incentives!

Bike2Benefits is open to anyone 18 or older who lives and works in these counties: Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott or Washington. There is no fee to participate.

Here’s how it works:

The State of Minnesota is sorely missing risk-takers these days. Innovation is there, but the financiers want surethings and vc’s are usually owned by very conservative investors with limited time horizons.

@GraemeThickins summing up the MinneBar panel “State of the State: Technology in Minnesota” (full audio):

[W]e’re too risk-averse here…knock down those tendencies, let’s go!

We’re hella smart and talent-rich, but we need to grow an entrepreneurial pair.

• R.T. Rybak wins the Great Commuter Challenge on his bike, beating out the Ramsey County Commissioner who walked/took public transit and Roadguy who drove a car. I did not bike to work today for Bike Walk to Work Day, but I give my potential bike commute a dry run on Monday evening and may do it yet this week, since Bike Walk to Work Day is just one part of Bike Walk to Work Week.
• Minneapolis and St Paul mayors unveil community bike program. The program is called “Freewheelin” and is sponsored by insurance company Humana. “Solar-powered kiosks will be stationed throughout Minneapolis and St. Paul during the [Republican National] convention, which will be Sept. 1-4. People will be able to take bikes from these kiosks, travel anywhere and drop them off when they’re done. The only requirements will be online registration and a credit card number — not to be charged, but to hold people accountable when bikes are damaged or go missing.” 70 bikes will be left behind to continue the program after the convention and the program may expand for the following spring. IMO, going into the winter is not the best time to fire up the program, but at least it’s there.
• Cycling in the city. vita.mn on bike culture in the TC. (via east-lake)
• Bike2Benefits is a Metro Transit program somewhat similar to the commuter challenge (but focusing on biking, obviously). (via twin_cities)

The Rest:

• You know that big bronze (kind of scary) rabbit sculpture on Minnehaha Parkway at Portland? This Saturday at 10am there will be kids out there planting clay bunnies around it. Not sure why, though… (via @nxt)
• The Rake has a new Call for Artists section. Current listings are for actors for a Fringe show and exhibitions to display at various Hennepin County Library locations in Minneapolis. (via @RakeMag)
• In case you just moved here and aren’t sure what the white lights on the traffic signals are. I find it extra confusing that the white lights also blink along Hiawatha when the train is coming. Is LRT an emergency?
• Bon Iver on Pitchfork.tv (via east-lake)
• Taylor Carik = Bon Iver (I so told Taylor that months ago.) And, yeah, they do both look like every guy that hangs out at the 331 Club.
• Least Dangerous Game, everyone’s favorite Twitter hide and seek game, starts again on May 24 after its winter hiatus.
• Living on the Minnehaha Homestead has a multimedia presentation on the May Day Parade.
• Localized job boards that are not Monster/CareerBuilder/etc.
• Strib blog: “Patent Pending will provide you the latest information and commentary on the people, companies, and trends driving innovation in Minnesota. From visionary entrepreneurs to game changing technologies, this blog will offer a window into the future of Minnesota’s economy.”
• Graffiti = Killing Puppies
• Firsthand account of the immediate aftermath of an armed robbery in the parking lot of the E Lake Street Cub Foods.
• Local crazies. Fun to discuss unless they’re actually crazy.
• Best Buy sucks the big schlong.

On sale for the first time ever will be three new rose bush varieties named after the Scandinavian caricatures Sven, Ole, and Lena.

According to [Arboretum Director of Operations Peter] Moe, Ole is a pale pink rose and Lena is a frilly pink and white flower, while Sven features fragrant mauve-to-violet-colored blooms.

That sounds much more enjoyable than an actual Sven and Ole joke.