Bob Collins
In this week’s episode of comedian Bill Murray’s Facebook show touring minor league ballparks, we learn that the University of St. Thomas Freshman Immersion Program taught the kids how to do ‘the wave.’
Oh, UST, how could you? Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Arts & Culture
A Rochester brewpub’s beer label is intended to show that the perception of women is not what it may seem. Or so Grand Rounds Brewing CEO Tessa Leung tells
KIMT, defending the label against an assertion by a local pastor that it’s offensive. Read more →
It’s been awhile since we’ve had a good obituary to ponder but Mariel Kinsey has provided us with one, even if she had to go to extreme lengths to do so. She died in Ashfield, Mass., last Friday, but not before writing her own obituary. Read more →
The end-of-the-year awards season is usually fairly predictable stuff but the Comedy in Wildlife Photography award is certainly an exception.
We have our winners in the 2017 competition!
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The students walking to McNally Smith each day were a constant reminder that people still chase dreams despite the odds and despite the cacophony from the 2017 economy that says those days are over; chase dreams on the side. What kids need are jobs that can support them. Passion is so yesterday. Read more →
This year’s ads are again dominated by firms in the UK. The ads are better and richer there for some reason. Do we Americans not have the ability to imagine that a carrot would take a bullet — the role is played by a pea — for another carrot?
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Amber Hennlich, of Allen, Texas, is pretty sure that this is the last Christmas that her 7-year-old son, Aluxton, buys into the whole Santa Claus thing. So she was pretty set on finding the Santa Claus that used to appear at a local mall in Dallas until 2015. On Saturday, she did.
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A good rule of thumb for consumers is when you’re dealing with concert tickets, you’re probably getting ripped off. Just ask some fans of Taylor Swift, who think they got suckered into her Ticketmaster-run Verified Fan program. They can be forgiven; they believed what Swift was telling them. It’s no shock how a fan moved Read more →
Comedian John Oliver pretty well nailed it while participating in a panel he was moderating about the 20th anniversary of the film ‘Wag the Dog’ when he asked Hoffman about allegations that he groped a 17-year-old intern on the set. Read more →
There is no part of American culture where you can escape the civil war of politics.
The latest example is what happened at a Minnesota Orchestra concert on Saturday night. Read more →
The passing of the generational torch is often uncomfortable, but Garrison Keillor’s rapid exit from the stage when Minnesota Public Radio cut business ties with the man who built the operation is going to leave wounds beyond the allegations leveled against him. Read more →
He’s lost the Daily Show’s Trevor Noah, who, on last night’s broadcast, inspected Franken’s assertions that if he grabbed women during the many photographs he’s taken with them over the years, it was accidental contact.
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What we have learned from the spate of sexual allegations this week is this: they do not make us introspective. Perhaps it will take time for the shock of them to dissipate and take the worthlessness of visceral reactions with them. The problem is it’s the shock of them that provides the opportunity for progress. Read more →
Sexual harassment isn’t usually a joking matter but late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel gave it a shot last evening, what with the allegations against NBC Today host Matt Lauer and A Prairie Home Companion host Garrison Keillor erupting on the same day.
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Nearly 200 square dancers once did the bowing and circling and twirling with the Turkey Trotters square dancing club in Worthington. Now, once the snowbirds head south at this time of the year, there are only three. You can’t do much square dancing with three people. Read more →