Minneapolis - tell me what to do

And what urges can be satisfied in Minneapolis?

This:

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/assets_c/2009/12/Frozen%20Jack%20Nicholson-thumb-250x187.jpg

So civic pride isn't really a thing there

Just March is ... the wrong time of the year to ask.

Minneapolis is awesome, just make sure you visit between April and September

haha yeah ppl in the Twin Cities generally love it there except for March/April when everyone is completely done with cold fatigue and just wants summer to happen

we've had a supremely shitty march.

everybody talks about the weather. you'd figure that out quickly on arrival tho.

Really, there's a ton to do in Minneapolis, no doubt. Weather aside, it's an ideal pocket-sized metropolis.

idk where you'd go to find a nicer city of this size. marseilles or some shit

If you think of it as a city of 400,000, it's amazing.

If you think of it as a metro area of 3.7 million, it's unique and somehow underwhelming.

well jeez, when you put it that way...

Hahaha yeah this time of year is def the time when you are going to get the most seething anger out of people in this state, but eh its because the promise of spring/summer are tangible and thus frustration is high.

idk, its not exactly a secret how pro MPLS/STPL i am on this board, but yeah i think you would like it here. when you plot us out on arts activity vs cost of living vs all that other stuff, i think we grade pretty high. if you live in the cities or the proximal suburbs yer likely to have a good chance of having left leaning peeps around you (there are a couple of exceptions, but lets not jump the gun) - lots of bands/music venues, lots of art, lots of theater, and a pretty high proportion of independent businesses and people that want to dodge all that walmart shit. and yeah, depending on the year, the weather will fuck you up sometimes, but holing up during a blizzard alone or with peeps boozing it up is one of the great pleasures in life imo. also key, if you are down with outdoorsy shit, theres a ton of green space in the city, and srs woods within an easy 45 minute drive. big bike culture. dont move here if you need to stare at an ocean tho, unless you can make lake superior work for you and are willing to put a day trip in to do it.

i think the visual art scene here is crap fwiw

nice people tho

people that want to dodge all that walmart shit.

what about the target shit

holing up during a blizzard alone or with peeps boozing it up is one of the great pleasures in life imo

That's part of the problem for me. The joy of snow days has been robbed by a) home ownership, and b) working in the media.

what about the target shit

― iatee, Wednesday, March 27, 2013 10:50 AM (45 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that's in plymouth

target has def lost some footing thx to playing both sides on various political donation games, but yeah, peeps do have an affinity for it as a hometown business (although you'll get more daytons mourners than that, and other local juggernaut best buy has pretty much been thrown under the bus by most of us).

The rep-house movie scene here is also about as good as can be expected for a town this size, thx to the competing efforts of Take-Up Productions and what remains of the Film Society of Mpls.-St. Paul (which admittedly used to be a much bigger powerhouse back in the Oak Street days).

yeah the trylon is the shit

have they finished remodeling the uptown theater yet?

i have hilarious entitled go-getter target employee stories if anyone wants

xp yeah and it's GORGE

zomg, just saw the pictures, amazing

fuck i havent been to the uptown in like 8 years

I haven't been since... 1992?

insane airline-style ticket check-in system too.

xps

fuck i havent been to the uptown in like 8 years

― My Chemical Romance did 9/11 (jjjusten), Wednesday, March 27, 2013 10:56 AM (34 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it were all ragstocks round here

http://www.landmarktheatres.com/market/minneapolis/uptowntheatre.htm

for ref, as this is mind-blowingly not at all what it looked like when I was last there

I sincerely hope the Uptown remodel job wins this year's City Pages "best of" award for Boondoggle of the Year.

btw speaking of things that remind me of ilx, lol lagoon cinema

xp What a travesty that is.

IIRC the last time I was at the Uptown it looked like a vodka blur

they should have a memorial broken taped off seat in the front row to keep the history alive

lol tough year for that (xp re boondoggles)

speaking of which have you dutifully played a round of digital pull tabs yet

i dont know why i dont go to the riverview 4 times a week honestly

I'm already giving that stadium I'll never enter enough of my money.

Would love to see the ILX list of Twin Cities boondoggles of the year, actually. Too preoccupied with Uptown remodeling to consider what else is out there.

incidentally adamrl, why do you ask?

Oh yeah I should mention, I guess - I may have a job opportunity that could bring me to Minneapolis. Still in the early stages of possibility, but I can't say it isn't tempting. I probably shouldn't say much more about it for now but am trying to get a feel.

Obv the visual arts are important to me and yr comments above are a little worrisome. That said I am as much into working my own stuff as consuming other people's product, so maybe this is the sort of place where one can hole up for the winter and create, have studio space? Finally be able to pay my bills?

What is the housing situation like there for people with decent full-time employment who are not looking to live like yuppies OR to hole up in suburbia? Having a decent house/apartment (preferably house) is important to us, I guess.

I don't really have much of a feel for the weather as I'm sure the winters I experienced growing up in London are like paradise compared to whatever subzero hell one endures there. But my wife is from Northern Indiana and knows a little about cold. That said, 6 years in SoCal may have made us a little soft...

House prices are low but rising, and the inventory is sparse.

i think you'll be fine re: housing, given your criteria. TCILX can give neighborhood rec's if/when the time comes.

not east st. paul, not frogtown, no western suburbs

admr1 there's lot of of neighborhoods in south mpls that you would like

dont count out mpls scrappy cousin st paul imo

maybe i spoke too soon about the art here. i go to openings with some regularity but i'm not deep into the scene at all. i feel like it's been a long time since i've been to a good one. maybe that's how it is even in cities where things are more high-powered and popping? idk

again i'm no expert but the regnant style looks like a juxtapoz-y skewed illustration kind of mode, it's been that way forever, and i don't like it!

another way to look at it is that there is a ton of visual art going on and lots and lots of art events/openings/wacky gallery hijinks, but yeah im not about to say most of it is good per se. that also is kind of how art works tho

From what I can tell, I would probably have to live on the North/West side of town, though I've never lived in a city this size, so maybe things work differently? Also how are jobs in general? My wife would be looking for work in tech/marketing/media.

our unemployment is crazy low (5.4?) but glutted in some areas. theres a pretty accessible network of tech marketing types up here tho.

i just went to an opening where all the art looked like it was out of a dentist's office and all the people there looked like 45 year olds about to get on a school bus to burning man. so maybe i have a bad taste in my mouth.