Secrets of the City

Metroblogging finds, and asks readers to name, a condom tree.
Andy dresses like a Russian girl.
Girl Friday gets henna tattoos.
Uptown Urbanist asks about Uptown chains.

Johnny Northside checks out some North Minneapolis art
Overheard introduces us to somebody who is not going to be happy this winter
Things I found at the Thrift Store looks at how to start a thrift store
SingleSpeed offers up an example of bad signage

Jason DeRusha tracks down Minnesota’s contribution to short-lived internet fads: I have been fortunate enough to stay satisfactorily employed and make the occasional headline (working with Weezer, Youtube, Intuit, and other brands) while the above events have played out. I still find myself appearing in pop culture from time to time. Last week I was a $25,000 question on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire that the contestant got right. (I guess if you’re really famous you get to be a $500 question).”

L’etoile interviews jewelry designer Martine Lizama
Minnetonkascenes looks at the bench of Mr. Jimmy, who always claimed to have inspired “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by the Rolling Stones
Ericaaaaa wonders if she is Uptown or not Uptown
Stuff About Mpls does three posts (1, 2, 3) about jazz great Oscar Pettiford

David Brauer points out a site called TCMedia Now (and points out that it’s got Mark Rosen in bell bottoms.) Also: Dave Moore’s final broadcast. So what is the site? From their home page: TCMedia Now is Twin Cities broadcasting media history and memories transmitted digitally now. News, commercials, local entertainment from WCCO, KSTP, KARE, KMSP and more can be relived instantly.

Le Petit Connaisseur de la Mode looks at designer Emily Bryngelson
South 12th talks about learning to love his ginger beard
Conner’s Blog details the Zombie Pub Crawl

Wondering how your neighbors are doing, romantically speaking? I just glanced at I Just Made Love, which allows people to check in when they’ve completed, er, coitus; looks like the University of Minnesota is where most of the action has been in the last hour. Rah rah rah for Ski-U-Mah!

Last week, a local PR firm sent out a bunch of email to local bloggers to inform them of a video of an obviously computer generated vine creeping up the IDS tower. It doesn’t look like many blogs responded, although The Deets offers his own commentary on the video, asking if this sort of viral marketing isn’t counterproductive, as it involves an element of deception: Stunts can be a fun way to get attention. Lying to people to get them to pay attention is idiotic. “PR 2.0″ messages from companies like this boil down to: “We lied to you to get you to pay attention, but now believe us when we tell you what we’d like you to hear.”

I Was Told There Would Be Bacon thinks the last Twins game was a fitting farewell to the Metrodome.
Twinkietown offer their top five Metrodome memories.
Minnetonkascenes publishes images from the marathon.
The Colu.mn tells of a hateful email chain.

It’s widely agreed on that the comments section of the Star Tribune leaves a lot to be desired; it is, in the words of David Brauer, a cesspool. Brauer now reports that the Strib is taking action to drain that cesspool by hiring freelancers to read every single comment posted to the Strib and delete the bad ones: Sauer termed souped-up moderation a “trial,” noting budgetary uncertainties as the paper emerges from bankruptcy. However, he said his superiors had pushed the move while the paper was still in Chapter 11, adding that it was an expense worth fighting for.