"Exercise", by Lucia Nimcova

Oh, oh, oh---this is the sort of documentary I want to make--catching the weird captivation of everyday life, seen just a little askew!

Exercise (Slovakia, 2007), by Lucia Nimcova

Lucia Nimcova - Exercise from sittcomm.sk on Vimeo.

Nimcova asked people to perform exercises that they used to do at home every morning--following commands on the radio--during the Soviet era.

I love that you can hear her a couple times trying not to laugh (lovingly, it sounds like), from behind the camera.

Nimcova was born in Slovakia, in a small town near the Polish and Ukrainian borders. Since 2000 she has been documenting women in Central and Eastern Europe.

Still Healing

How to learn patience?

Just wait.

I could hardly believe the O.T. that my tendons would take so long to heal, but they are not a whole lot better and it's been almost 4 months.  Plus I strained the left wrist tendons too (overcompensating for the wounded right hand doing "light duty" at the nursing home before I quit---light on the back, but not on the hands).

I am now wearing lighter fabric splints on both wrists.

WHAT I LIKE in the Twin Cities

"to find the good where I live and praise it"

ABOVE: 

Independent Filmmakers Project (ifpmn.org);

Cupcake Bakery and Coffee Shop; 

me in a mirror;

 and Claire Steyaert's Antiques, all on University Ave, Saint Paul.

(The Green Line is the coming light rail, now under construction.)

ABOVE: My neighborhood!

Election Day 2012 in Whittier neighborhood, Minneapolis

[See more of my Election Day pictures here: Phillips Whittier 365]

ABOVE: The Bookstore at the Minneapolis Central Library (downtown)
Withdrawn library books and donated used books sell for a buck or two.

ABOVE: More Public Art
Aztec warrior mural, by stencil artist Taylor Lindgren
(29th St. & Blaisdell Ave., Minneapolis)

ABOVE:
Steeple People Thrift Store, at Lyndale & Franklin 
 When I feel bad and sad, like I did yesterday,
sweet, sweet Steeple People lifts my mood, starting with their Free Box, right inside the door. (I'd like to make a sci-fi movie using only its mostly unidentifiable contents.)

At the cash register, gentle lady volunteers commiserate with the damaged and the desperate (I felt a little of both) and pack your bags so that the heavy, clever door-stopper won't break your frilly porcelain fish.

ABOVE: Sunset, seen from inside the titanium-covered Weisman Art Museum,
east bank of the Mississippi River, on the UM Campus

ABOVE:  Rainy day at the Mississippi River, 

photographed from inside the Guthrie Theater

ABOVE: The Twin Cities Marathon

People along the route help out the runners with everything 

from orange slices to live music.

ABOVE: The Thursday Farmers Market 

Nicollet Mall (downtown Minneapolis)

ABOVE: The Bryant Avenue Bike Boulevard 

A 4.5 miles long, north-south route connecting south Minneapolis (from 58th St.) to downtown (Loring Park)

ABOVE: The Pierre Bottineau Branch Library

in the restored historic Grain Belt campus (55 Broadway St. NE)

ABOVE: The Anchor Fish & Chips, "The Real Deal"
(302 13th Ave NE, Minneapolis)
 

 ABOVE: The Tin Fish restaurant

at the Lake Calhoun Pavillion (open spring–fall)

ABOVE: 

The TV comedy Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–1977) is set in Minneapolis. 

 I don't much like MTM's statue on Nicollet Mall, but I like how people pose with it. I was snapping it when these passersby stepped in and posed for me.

"Who can turn the world on with her smile?
Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?
Well it's you girl, and you should know it,
With each glance and every little movement you show it..."

ABOVE : My favorite bookstore: Birchbark Books & Native Arts

2115 West 21st St. (1 block west of Lake of the Isles), Minneapolis, MN 55405

ABOVE: Lake of the Isles

On Rosh Hashanah; fallen apples for a sweet year...

 ABOVE : Uptown Minneapolis YWCA (diptych)

ABOVE: Lakewood Cemetery Triptych

Stainless steel memorial by Gloria Tew; 

"square bar" circle in wrought iron fence; entrance gate

ABOVE: TOP: Puppy Dog Tail, Isles Bun &Coffee

BOTTOM: Coffee Bean Roaster, Dunn Bros.

___________
My Twin Cities are Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota: sister cities separated only, in parts, by the Mississippi River.

all photos by me: share if you want

USA Presidential Election, 2012

Faces in my Minneapolis neighborhood (Whittier) on Election Day 2012

 

Marriage Equality

Minnesotans vote in one week on a State amendment seeking to limit marriage to one man and one woman. Lots of creative "Vote No" art out there---I put this one together.

Later: Awesome! Minnesotans voted down the amendment.