Two Duluthians were guests at Chapel Con in Albert Lea
This past weekend was Chapel Con, a comics and pop culture convention in Albert Lea, Minn. Two Duluthians were guests — two of our favorite comics creators.
This past weekend was Chapel Con, a comics and pop culture convention in Albert Lea, Minn. Two Duluthians were guests — two of our favorite comics creators.
Duluth’s 10,000+ sq. ft. cooperative member workshop is in full swing this month. Duluth MakerSpace offers a different class or event every night in February — everything from welding to electronics to soap making. Wednesday nights are also free demo nights with a different demonstration each week.
Paid membership is not necessary to take classes or attend demo nights.
For the first edition of DuluthiLeaks — Perfect Duluth Day’s new feature in which public documents are released as if they contain secret information leaked from an anonymous whistle blower — we take a look at the development of Duluth’s Gateway Plaza. The “landscaped plaza with a concrete sculptural element shaped in the form of a sail” that sits on the western edge of Duluth’s downtown was envisioned and built in the 1970s as a “landmark entrance” to the business district. Below is a look at early plans and sketches for the “well landscaped triangle.”
Local artist and design teacher Darren Houser presents on his work, among other presentations at the Martin Library at UMD, organized by Pat Maus.
A recent event at UMD spotlighted comics as a scholarly and artistic pursuit.
In the fall of 1995 I tossed a tape in the VCR and somewhat indiscriminately recorded while I flipped channels over a few different nights. The above video is the result. Most of it is not locally relevant, but there are a few clips from Duluth Public Access Community Television, including two excerpts from Colleen Shannon’s In My Room.
Some of the transitions are edits I made in 2015 for the purpose of cutting this down to under a half hour, but many of them are just what naturally happened in 1995 when I paused the tape, changed channels and resumed recording.
Yes, I know how geeky this is. Yes, I’m proud of myself.
USA Today reports Google Fiber is considering three new cities for its high-speed Internet service: San Diego, Irvine and Louisville.
Don’t worry, Duluth is in line for a new project: Google Chopped Liver.
Exhausted. Weeks of nerdery behind and ahead.
Last Thursday, I went out to dinner with authors who grew up on the range — Roy C. Booth and Cynthia Booth. Roy will be at CONvergence in a few weeks celebrating his new book, Orphans.
Sunday, I went out to dinner with Tim, a central fixture in Minnesota comics life, at the Buffet at the Bear. OMG, I love that buffet — and on Sunday, Lutefisk.
Monday night was game night — we met first for dinner at 7 West Taphouse. It’s a diverse, fun crowd, including one of the back stage masterminds from Game Show at the Underground and the owner of 8 Bit Classic Collection. See this play. Shop this shop.
Tonight, I am home from the opening of the new art by Patricia Canelake at the Red Herring. This follows a great Nerd Nite last night.
The Canelake opening was awesome.
My friend Robert, who is originally from the Iron Range and went to UMD, has lived in Japan for over a decade. He lives the costume, sci-fi loving, geek dream! Although not too creepy, I thought this was a good post to share in homage to the PDD of the past where Creepy Japanese Things ran riot.
P.S. Robert is Frankenstein, vote for his creepy costume.
Note to fellow nerdwads:
We have reached an era of unprecedented technological advancement and far-reaching anti-bullying campaigns. The mission of Geek Prom is complete. The prom committee is disbanding.
We now enter a state of complacency, no longer planning our defenses against the hideous Fleckuloids of the Mineculon, though geekprom.com remains in tact should we need to summon our forces due to reemerging threats.
May you all live long and prosper, be you dill-weeds, spazzes, dorks, doofuses, dweebs, Einsteins, pizza faces, brainiacs, space cadets, mathletes, meteorologists, gamers, Trekkies, disc jockeys, zeros, gaywads, hobbyists, greenies, weaklings or any other form of misfit.
From the heyday of Monopoly comes … Pride of the Twin Ports Area Game! It doesn’t appear to be something local marketing geniuses came up with, but rather a product of a company called Citipride of America, which probably made different versions of the game for different cities across the country. Perhaps the local Chamber of Commerce sold sponsorships on the game board to various businesses to raise money to have the game made, and then sales of the game raised money for the chamber … or something. That’s all conjecture; there doesn’t seem to be any info online about the game or the company.
So, does anyone else have this game? Can anyone put a year on it? It’s no older than 1978, because the instructions contain historical info about the sponsoring local businesses and mention that Northwest Office Supply expanded in 1978. It’s no more recent than 1982, because the Normandy Hotel was taken over by Holiday Inn & Suites that year.
I’m a filmmaker new to Duluth. I started a new Meetup so I could wrangle all the film enthusiasts in the area into one location. The group covers people interested in making films and those who just enjoy watching them. Only a day old and already growing, with our first meeting coming up Sept. 4. Hope to see you there!
Doctor Who, which is $2,800 for Series 7, may be still coming to Duluth TV, but your involvement is needed! I would like to form a group of volunteers who are willing to work to make this happen! This group would likely meet every other week.
A popular science fiction series could be airing on Duluth televisions soon. I am in the process of trying to raise money for the purchase of Doctor Who Series 7. The series would be shown on WDSE-WRPT PBS, channels 8 and 31, though it should be noted that the station wants no involvement or association in the fundraising process.
UPDATE: I am not proceeding with the fundraising campaign. The cost of Series 7 of Doctor Who is $2,800, and there is no workable way to deal with the donations.
