I have a M.A. in Liberal Studies from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn. I have Bachelor's degree in Media Studies from New School University, NYC. I earned an Associates of Arts degree with emphasis in Anthropology from Normandale Community College, Bloomington Minn. I was born in Duluth, Minn.
The Minnesota State Fair announced Sheryl Crow, with special guest Dwight Yoakam, is added to the 2013 Grandstand Concert Series. This will be the first Minnesota State Fair concert appearance for both Crow and Yoakam, said Solveig Hommema, of the State Fair public relations department. Their show is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 25. Tickets are $39 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Sat. Continue Reading
The Minnesota State Fair joined the online social community Pinterest as a new feature for 2013 fairgoers. “We are hoping to make Pinterest a great resource for fair guests,” said Christine Noonan of the Minnesota State Fair Marketing and Communications department. Noonan said they have 160 followers since going live June 19. The Minnesota State Fair Pinterest board categories include: New Foods 2013, New Attractions & Exhibits, Healthy at the Fair, Little Tykes, Fair on a Budget, Events on the Fairgrounds and Patriotic Cat Photo Contest. The winner of the Patriotic Cat Photo Contest board went to the cat “President Cleo.” Cleo received a winning prize package to the 2013 Internet Cat Video Festival at the State Fair Grandstand Aug. Continue Reading
The popular Sweet Corn Ice Cream at Minnesota State Fair’s Blue Moon Drive-in Theatre has a new rival this year: Comet Corn. “Comet Corn is like a science experiment. Carmel and cheese corn flash-frozen with liquid nitrogen. So it’s really fresh. Almost like dippin’ dots [ice cream],” said Brienna Schuette, the State Fair’s Marketing and Communications manager. After fair-goers eat the Comet Corn, they exhale liquid nitrogen in the form of smoke. Continue Reading
Photos of the Ice Castles outside Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. Read Barb Teed’s in-depth article about this unique attraction. Continue Reading
The City of Bloomington turned down a request from developers to donate water for constructing Ice Castles at Mall of America.In their September 20 proposal to the Bloomington Planning Commission, partners Brent Christensen and Ryan Davis asked the City of Bloomington to provide water for the giant attraction now on display.“In the past the Ice Castles has been made possible through public private joint ventures between our team and local municipalities. The local municipalities have provided water and the property on which we’ve built the Ice Castles. As part of this application, we ask that the City of Bloomington donate the water for the Ice Castles,” wrote Christensen and Davis.Bob Cockriel, Bloomington utilities superintendent, said the City is not donating the water. “They are being charged just like you at your house. We don’t make water to give it away,” he said. Continue Reading
Icicle artist Red was picking and chopping a giant icicle at Ice Castles Mall of America. Was Red sculpting an ice creation or carefully carving a frozen image? “My cell phone dropped into the ice and I am trying to get it back,” he said with a grin. Such are the hazards of being an ice sculptor. At dusk on January 5, a long line brought eager winter enthusiasts to an ice display located in the undeveloped parking lot of the former Met Center, across from Mall of America. Continue Reading
Nominations for the 85th Academy Awards were announced January 10 by this year’s Oscar host, Seth MacFarlane, and actress Emma Stone.Nominations for the 85th Academy AwardsPerformance by an actor in a leading roleBradley Cooper in “Silver Linings Playbook”Daniel Day-Lewis in “Lincoln”Hugh Jackman in “Les Misérables”Joaquin Phoenix in “The Master”Denzel Washington in “Flight”Performance by an actor in a supporting roleAlan Arkin in “Argo”Robert De Niro in “Silver Linings Playbook”Philip Seymour Hoffman in “The Master”Tommy Lee Jones in “Lincoln”Christoph Waltz in “Django Unchained”Performance by an actress in a leading roleJessica Chastain in “Zero Dark Thirty”Jennifer Lawrence in “Silver Linings Playbook”Emmanuelle Riva in “Amour”Quvenzhané Wallis in “Beasts of the Southern Wild”Naomi Watts in “The Impossible”Performance by an actress in a supporting roleAmy Adams in “The Master”Sally Field in “Lincoln”Anne Hathaway in “Les Misérables”Helen Hunt in “The Sessions”Jacki Weaver in “Silver Linings Playbook”Best animated feature film of the year”Brave” Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman”Frankenweenie” Tim Burton”ParaNorman” Sam Fell and Chris Butler”The Pirates! Band of Misfits” Peter Lord”Wreck-It Ralph” Rich MooreAchievement in cinematography”Anna Karenina” Seamus McGarvey”Django Unchained” Robert Richardson”Life of Pi” Claudio Miranda”Lincoln” Janusz Kaminski”Skyfall” Roger DeakinsAchievement in costume design”Anna Karenina” Jacqueline Durran”Les Misérables” Paco Delgado”Lincoln” Joanna Johnston”Mirror Mirror” Eiko Ishioka”Snow White and the Huntsman” Colleen AtwoodAchievement in directing”Amour” Michael Haneke”Beasts of the Southern Wild” Benh Zeitlin”Life of Pi” Ang Lee”Lincoln” Steven Spielberg”Silver Linings Playbook” David O. RussellBest documentary feature”5 Broken Cameras” Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi”The Gatekeepers” Nominees to be determined”How to Survive a Plague” Nominees to be determined”The Invisible War” Nominees to be determined”Searching for Sugar Man” Nominees to be determinedBest documentary short subject”Inocente” Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine”Kings Point” Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider”Mondays at Racine” Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan”Open Heart” Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern”Redemption” Jon Alpert and Matthew O’NeillAchievement in film editing”Argo” William Goldenberg”Life of Pi” Tim Squyres”Lincoln” Michael Kahn”Silver Linings Playbook” Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers”Zero Dark Thirty” Dylan Tichenor and William GoldenbergBest foreign language film of the year”Amour” Austria”Kon-Tiki” Norway”No” Chile”A Royal Affair” Denmark”War Witch” CanadaAchievement in makeup and hairstyling”Hitchcock” Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel”The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane”Les Misérables” Lisa Westcott and Julie DartnellAchievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)”Anna Karenina” Dario Marianelli”Argo” Alexandre Desplat”Life of Pi” Mychael Danna”Lincoln” John Williams”Skyfall” Thomas NewmanAchievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)”Before My Time” from “Chasing Ice” Music and Lyric by J. Ralph”Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from “Ted” Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane”Pi’s Lullaby” from “Life of Pi” Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri”Skyfall” from “Skyfall” Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth”Suddenly” from “Les Misérables” Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain BoublilBest motion picture of the year”Amour” Nominees to be determined”Argo” Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers”Beasts of the Southern Wild” Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, Producers”Django Unchained” Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, Producers”Les Misérables” Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, Producers”Life of Pi” Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, Producers”Lincoln” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers”Silver Linings Playbook” Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, Producers”Zero Dark Thirty” Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, ProducersAchievement in production design”Anna Karenina” Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer”The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” Production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright”Les Misérables” Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson”Life of Pi” Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock”Lincoln” Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim EricksonBest animated short film”Adam and Dog” Minkyu Lee”Fresh Guacamole” PES”Head over Heels” Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly”Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare”” David Silverman”Paperman” John KahrsBest live action short film”Asad” Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura”Buzkashi Boys” Sam French and Ariel Nasr”Curfew” Shawn Christensen”Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)” Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele”Henry” Yan EnglandAchievement in sound editing”Argo” Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn”Django Unchained” Wylie Stateman”Life of Pi” Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton”Skyfall” Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers”Zero Dark Thirty” Paul N.J. OttossonAchievement in sound mixing”Argo” John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia”Les Misérables” Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes”Life of Pi” Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin”Lincoln” Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins”Skyfall” Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart WilsonAchievement in visual effects”The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White”Life of Pi” Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott”Marvel’s The Avengers” Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick”Prometheus” Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill”Snow White and the Huntsman” Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael DawsonAdapted screenplay”Argo” Screenplay by Chris Terrio”Beasts of the Southern Wild” Screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin”Life of Pi” Screenplay by David Magee”Lincoln” Screenplay by Tony Kushner”Silver Linings Playbook” Screenplay by David O. RussellOriginal screenplay”Amour” Written by Michael Haneke”Django Unchained” Written by Quentin Tarantino”Flight” Written by John Gatins”Moonrise Kingdom” Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola”Zero Dark Thirty” Written by Mark BoalFor a complete list of nominees, visit the official Academy Awards website.Academy members from each of the branches vote to determine the nominees in their respective categories – actors nominate actors, film editors nominate film editors, etc. In the Animated Feature Film and Foreign Language Film categories, nominees are selected by vote of multi-branch screening committees. All voting members are eligible to select the Best Picture nominees.Official screenings of all motion pictures with one or more nominations will begin for members on Saturday, January 19, at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Screenings will also be held at the Academy’s Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood and in London, New York and the San Francisco Bay Area.Active members of the Academy are eligible to vote for the winners in all categories.Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Sunday, February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center, and televised live on the ABC Television Network. Continue Reading
Covering the Minnesota State Fair is a hidden gem for journalists. There are countless stories to discover and 2012 was memorable because of the new food choices and the return of the sideshow.Lamb FriesThe 2012 State Fair press release included the premier of “Lamb Fries.” I naively thought the fries were made from lamb meat—until I did a web search and Chevy Chase in the movie Funny Farm was the first to pop up. If Chevy Chase is involved with lamb fries, it must be good. Little did I know, as Chase learns after eating 31 of the nuggets, that the fries come from a lamb’s “undercarriage.”Walleye: great vegetarian choice—maybeSince I have family members and friends who are vegetarians and vegans, I always try to point out those choices when I write about State Fair food. A few of my vegetarian acquaintances eat fish, so I included the new food item Classic Walleye Roll as a “great vegetarian choice.” Readers quickly pointed out my error, and I admit I should have gone farther than my inner circle for vegetarian research. Continue Reading
