It’s a good time to get the snow tires organized and ready to be installed.  Make sure your AAA membership is up to date, find the battery charger and make sure it’s working, and maybe take the snowblower in for an oil change and general maintenance before the shops get overwhelmed with procrastinators.

And speaking of @MinneapolisSnow, be sure to follow their Twitter feed so that you’ll get timely notices of Snow Emergencies.  I had my car towed last winter and, believe me, you don’t want to go through that nightmare.

The show in question is called “New Tricks”, which revolves around a special unit that primarily investigates cold cases.  The squad is made up of three “old dogs” – retired detectives with ages of experience and an uncanny ability to suss out the missing pieces of the cases they’re handed.  They’re old pros who know where all the bodies are buried, and who buried them – whether the good guys or the bad guys.  It’s a textbook example of a show that’s mentally challenging, character-drived, and often funny as hell.

The cast (from left to right) consists of: Brian, the emotionally troubled detective with a near-photographic memory for cops, crooks, and crime statistics; Sandra, the smart and sassy leader of the squad who turned a no-win situation into an amazingly effective team; Jack, the clear-thinking anchor of the team who often talks out cases with his beloved late wife Mary while standing over her grave in his back patio; and Gerry (down front), the thrice-divorced cowboy with a sketchy history, whose not afraid to bend a rule here and there.

It’s showing at 9PM on Saturdays on TPT Life – channel 2.3 over the air, channel 13 on Comcast Minneapolis, and channel 17 on Comcast St. Paul.

Another little gem from the British Isles has returned to TPT called “Black Books”.  This is definitely not your conventional sitcom.  These folks are well and truly bonkers.  From the BBC’s blurb:

“Bernard Black is grumpy, very grumpy. He does not understand the ordinary world and has created his own safe haven within the grubby confines of the shop. Bernard is driven by his own alcohol-fuelled logic and anyone attempting to buy a book from him is more likely to meet with the full force of his foul temper than they are to leave his shop with a purchase. Bernard loves his books and hates his customers. Bernard’s devotion to the twin pleasures of drunkenness and willful antagonism deepens and enriches both his life and that of Manny, his assistant. Bearded, gentle, sweet and good, Manny is punished by Bernard relentlessly for the crime of existing. They depend on each other for meaning as Fran, their oldest friend, depends on them for distraction. Bereft of her loathed business concerns, Fran struggles to find significance in between struggling to find her cigarettes and reasons for another drink.”

“Black Books” is showing on TPT Channel 2 at 10PM or 10:30PM on Mondays and Thursdays.

Myrna Loy and William Powell

For those not going out on the town tonight, there’s one of my favorite movies playing on PBS (Channel 2, locally) – “The Thin Man”, starring the dashing William Powell and the beautiful Myrna Loy.  Based (loosely) on the novel by Dashiell Hammett, the story revolves around Nick and Nora Charles.  Nick is a former private detective who retired when he married Nora in order to handle the businesses she inherited which made her stinking rich.  Produced in 1934, Charles examplify the country’s Depression-era vision of the lifestyle of the wealthy class, living in a luxury apartment, travelling incessantly, and never missing an opportunity to have a drink, but they are both very down-to-earth.  “Earthy” sort of says it all, as a matter of fact, when it comes to the dialogue between Nick and Nora.  The couple’s clever banter in the screenplay is often risque for the time, and Nora gives as good as she gets.

The story revolves around an eccentric inventor, Clyde Wynant, who leaves town to do some work in isolation, but doesn’t tell anyone where he’s going.  Wynant is divorced, and is seeing a gold-digging vamp, Julia Wolfe, whom he suspects has been stealing his money.  When Wynant doesn’t return, his daughter Dorothy asks Nick to investigate.  Nick refuses, saying he’s retired, but gets dragged into the case when Wynant becomes suspected of murdering Julia Wolfe and Dorothy tries to protect him by confessing to the crime.  Nora convinces Nick that he has to solve the case, if only to protect Dorothy, and naturally does her best to help him in his sleuthing.

The movie’s plot hardly matters, it’s the characters that make this movie a treat.  Nick is constantly running into minor villains that he’d had sent to jail, and they all treat him like a long lost friend, much to Nora’s amazement.  Between the villains and the Wynant family, there’s no shortage of suspects.  The mystery ends when Nick gathers them all together and cross-examines them until one of them slips up in classic detective fiction style.  The movie was so popular that they made a total of six “Thin Man” movies, and Powell and Loy were so popular that Hollywood paired them in no less than twelve movies together.  The movie shows tonight at 8PM on Channel 2 and PBS stations around the country, followed by one of the sequels.  If you watch the first one, I guarantee you’ll watch the second.

Our first stop was the Fine Arts Building.  A friend had won an award, so we wanted to be sure to cover the entire exhibit.  The Fine Arts Building always has an amazing collection of paintings, photographs, scuptures, and art in other media by local artists.  We spent nearly an hour there just in awe of the array of talent displayed there.  As a photography buff in days gone by, I focus on that area.  The photographs themselves showcase the combination of artistic vision and technical prowess required to produce these powerful images.  I get a kick out of noting the various printing processes used to make the prints because they bridge the gulf between the new world of digital photography that still challenges me and the old world of chemical printing processes – some that I recognize and many that I do not.  This year’s winner will have been shown in everyone’s Sunday newspaper by now – the “Fire in the Belly” sculpture.  It fascinates me to think of the effort required to create an all-metal sculpture like that – the bending and shaping, not to mention all of the welding.  Throw in the finishing touches like the wear spot on the toe of the leather workboot that lets the metal shine through, and you’ve just got to admire the person behind it.

After the walking workout at the Fine Arts building, we took a break for a quick snack of a very pedestrian bratwurst and a small vat of Diet Coke, and made a fairly quick pass through the Education and Creative Activities buildings.  The crafts are a particular interest of my sister, who was the recipient of all of the artistic genes.  She does some really clever and attractive mosaics, courtesy of the nearby home of such things,  Mosaic On A Stick, located near the Fairgrounds at 595 North Snelling.  Just tell them Donna sent you.  As with the metal sculptors, I am always struck by the patience and dedication of the people who make all of these elaborate creations.

Between my sister being a Virgo and my being a bit obsessive about planning, we had done a bit of homework before our trip, and the one new thing we were both anxious to see was the “Doggies of The Wild West” show.  We’d lost track of time, though, and suddenly realized that the next show was only fifteen minutes away and we were on the opposite side of the Fair from where we needed to be.  So we made a beeline over Dan Patch, past the Grandstand and down to Carnes, and finally north on Leggett Street to the Doggies’ stage area.  It was a rookie mistake.  The bleachers were packed and the show was now SRO.  I managed a spot where I could see some of the stage through the crowd.  It was an entertaining little show, filled with cute little Jack Russels and Chihuahuas with bandanas and other cowboy props.  But don’t make our mistake – get there very early.  The showtimes are listed in the State Fair maps available at the Information Booths as you enter the Fair.

We Need To Get To That Bridge At The End Of The Street

Since my sister couldn’t see at all, we left the Doggies after a few minutes and aimed at the livestock exhibits that are longtime favorites. This was when we suddenly faced the fact that there were many people who hadn’t realized that StarTribune columnist James Lileks was joking when he wrote a “State Fair Primer” for new residents in his Friday column in which he said State Fair attendance was mandatory.    Official figures put Saturday’s attendance at some 177,000.  Hardly a record, but the crowds still made a formidable barrier to passing from one part of the Fair to the next.  It was then that a most welcome sight came into view – a beer hall.  The weather was gorgeous – about 80 degrees and overcast with some very brief sprinkles of rain, with just a hint of humidity, but I was more than ready for a tall one to take the edge off the day and fortify myself against the remaining trek.

My sister is a recovering horse owner, so we went to the Horse Barn first.  Even a city boy like me is overwhelmed by the beauty of these majestic animals and the amount of work it takes to prepare them for a State Fair.  And you can’t help but take some pride in the Minnesotans who do all that work, and yet are so gracious about letting kids of all ages touch and pet their horses, and sharing their wealth of knowledge about them.  The same was true, of course, with the cows, sheep, and even the pigs – although not even the little kids were petting the pigs.

I nearly forgot to mention the Food Building, which we’d gone through prior to heading off toward the Doggies.  Yes, I’m still fascinated with the bees, and yes, we had honey treats.  Lots of great apples this year, too.  But the area that I’ve been keeping close tabs on is the Minnesota Wine At The Fair.  I only recently moved back to Minneapolis after living roughly 25 years in the San Francisco area where I grew an appreciation for good wine.  I was sort of “adopted” by the Trefethen Family Vineyards, who were generous enough to declare the Trethewey’s to be unofficial cousins when we visited them up in Napa a few years ago.  Be sure to stop there and take the tour if you ever visit.  The wine is divine, but try a bottle of the chocolate sauce, too.  In the words of Nathan Detroit, “You will thank me.”

When I was growing up in Minneapolis in the 1950′s and 60′s, the only time wine was served in our house was when my mother would buy a jug of inexpensive wine to serve at her bridge club meetings.  But while living in California, I toured the Wine Country several times, and naturally started drinking wine from time to time and gained enough experience to recognize the better wines from the “Two-Buck Chuck” variety, or “Chateau Thames Embankment” as Rumpole would say.  And I’ve been having fun trying a glass of Minnesota wine at the Fair now and then.  I’m in no position to say anything more about the Minnesota varieties than to say they’re very nice and I will be serving it the next chance I get.

Sumus Quod Sumus (We Are What We Are) - Keillor

This trip to the Minnesota State Fair was too haphazard to say that I enjoyed it as much as I usually do.  I do have a small chance of making a second trip later this week and hope I can make it happen.  Forgive me for not doing the rides.  We took one look at the ten story people mangler in Adventure Park and just shuddered at the thought of being flung 5 or 6 stories into the air in a glass-enclosed coffin supported only by a very suspect metal pole.  Not after the bratwurst, honey sundaes, and beer, thank-you.  But if you’ve noticed my fondness for Disneyland in some of my other posts, it should come as no surprise to hear me say how much I love going to the Fair.  The treats are always special, and there’s so many wonderful things to see, touch, taste, and (of course) smell.  Even the crowds are a blessing, watching families enjoying themselves and the kids just having a blast.  Ever-changing, but always familiar, it is one of the things that makes me most proud of Minnesota.

Is Comcast Broken?

Is it just my house or does it seem like one of Comcast’s two hamsters died a couple of weeks ago and their signal is only about half-strength.

My sister and brother-in-law live over in St. Paul, and they’ve been having some odd issues with their cable TV service from Comcast for well over a year.  They lose sound on a channel occasionally and have to switch out and switch back to fix it, and for the past couple of months their picture keeps breaking up.  They chalked it up to a problem they have with critters crawling under their porch and chewing on the cable, but I’m not so sure.  My Internet service has always been dodgy since I got it a couple of years ago.  They say I have a very weak signal even though there’s just one splitter on the cable for my TV and the modem.  I had sound problems with my TV service back when I was still on their old analog system, too, but usually just in the early morning for some odd reason.

But lately, my picture has been breaking up all the time and I’ve started to have the same sound drop-out as my relatives in St. Paul.   And, worst of all, my cable box keeps crashing.  I mean it freezes up and reboots itself, which means it’s dead for 5 to 10 minutes until the cable system recognizes it again.

<rant>So, is it just my house or is everybody in the Twin Cities getting this spotty service?  I want to know because I’d really rather not have to call Comcast and have them send the munchkins back out.  They did enough damage the last time they were here.  </rant>