Twin Cities Real Estate Blog

A Must-See Documentary About Captive Killer Whales and SeaWorld -- 'Blackfish'

Blackfish - Tilikum - 2013 The documentary Blackfish has been one of the hottest topics since it made its rounds on the film festival circuit early in 2013 -- it crossed my path when it aired on CNN last week. The two hour film questions the morality of aquatic attractions like SeaWorld holding captive the orca, or killer whales as they are most well-known. Even despite the recent death of one of the SeaWorld trainers, the aquatic showcase is a beloved tourist attraction in Florida, Texas and California. The death of experienced...

Why You Should Never Trust Those Glamorous Photographs of Your Favorite Stars

Megan Fox - Photoshop When looking through your favorite gossip magazines or browsing your celebrity news sites, it's hard to believe sometimes just how gorgeous Hollywood's stars and starlets are -- the world's most beautiful people have seemingly grown even more beautiful over the years, both men and women looking almost flawless to the public eye. Although most know the uses of Photoshop, few know just how powerful this tool really can be -- the people idolized by so many are not perfect looking or impeccably shaped, they are normal just like the rest of us, but perfected with the use of computers. This...

What is ‘The 99’ in Lakeville?

The 99 - Lakeville

Advertised simply as, “The ultimate near-death experience,” it’s hard to glean much information about what The 99 actually is. On the surface, it almost seems like another ‘haunted’ festival in the spirit of Halloween, like Shakopee’s Trail of Terror, or even ValleySCARE. The bloody letters coupled with the black and grey image of a woman smiling sinisterly gives the impression of somewhere someone would go to get the wits scared out of them. However, the purpose of The 99 isn’t to inspire the typical Halloween-time scare, but rather a religious scare. In the style of medieval Christianity, the core message...

A Glimpse of the Twin Cities -- The University of Minnesota

MNConnected

I graduated from the University of Minnesota last spring -- in the fall, I took a photography class. For an assignment, I was tasked with photographing beauty in nature. Mission accomplished. This picture was taken on the West Bank at the U of M near Rarig Center. This gorgeous tree with multi-colored leaves aplenty is one of my favorites from the semester. Photo via: Matthew Deery FOLLOW MATTHEW DEERY...

Maya Moore's Acting Debut in New Pepsi MAX Commercial With NBA Stars

Maya Moore - WNBA - Old Lady

Maya Moore is one of the best players in the WNBA. Fresh off her second title in three years, the star decided to challenge herself to be an actor. She made her acting debut starring alongside NBA stars Kyrie Irving and Nate Robinson. Irving starred in a commercial last year as Uncle Drew, an old man who showed up to a local pick-up basketball game and dominated all the younger opponents. Of course, since Irving is not an old man, a lot of makeup was involved. Just after the first video went viral, Minnesota Timberwolves star Kevin Love joined, donning an old man costume...

Minnesota Vikings Breakdown -- "Overmatched" -- Week 8

Cordarrelle Patterson - 109 yard touchdown

Sunday night was the worst kind of Vikings game, one that starts with a resounding hurrah, giving fans false hope of a back and forth battle to come. Cordarrelle Patterson turned in one of the Vikings only highlights of Sunday night, a 109 yard kickoff return for a touchdown. After that, little else went right for the purple. They couldn't run or pass the football, they allowed a special teams touchdown of their own, and most importantly, they didn't stop Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense once all evening. Despite the score being more competitive than the previous...

'Doomtree' are back for Doomtree Blowout XI @ First Avenue

FinalGIF2

Friday December 13th, Saturday December 14th, and Sunday December 15th, Doomtree will return to First Avenue for their annual Doomtree Blowout.  This year marks the 9th year of the Minnesota rap collective's get together and tickets officially go on sale to the public, Friday at 12:00pm CST. However, if you're a subscriber to Doomtree's...

Man Charged With Killing Adrian Peterson's Son Out on Bail

Joseph Patterson - Allegedly Kills Adrian Peterson's Son On Monday, the bond for Joseph Patterson, the man charged with killing Adrian Peterson's two year-old son, was reduced to $750,000 -- today the Minnehaha County Jail in Sioux Falls is reporting Patterson is no longer being held there. It has been reported that Patterson's family posted for his release to allow the charged North Dakota man to go home. Patterson's attorney, Tim Rensch, confirmed the release and states his client intends to stay in the area to fight the charges. Patterson is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter, aggravated assault and aggravated...

A Minnesota Football Upswing -- The Gophers Beat Down #24 Nebraska

Gophers - Defeat - Nebraska - 2013

Although I am not a huge follower of college football, it's nice to see the Minnesota Gophers enjoying some success, knocking off the 24th ranked team in the country, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, at TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday. Despite starting out slow, losing the first two Big Ten match ups, the maroon and gold have beaten two straight Big Ten foes. With all the losing the Vikings are doing, it's nice to see Minnesota have some success on the football field. After the game, the student body stormed the field in celebration of the Gophers unseating a ranked team. The team...

'The Haunted Basement' at The Soap Factory Will Induce Terror

The Soap Factory - The Haunted Basement - 2013 The Soap Factory in Minneapolis is well-known for being the best spot in the Twin Cities to get the pants scared off you -- I personally will never step foot anywhere near there, I quite like my pants thank you. But I personally know so many, my sister included, who love to get terrorized by nightmarish figures and experiences. As Halloween nears, the time to experience this terror fest is now -- though tickets are unfortunately already sold out (see their website for more details). So this post is more...