Saturday, May 16, 2015

Dinkytown Uprising Movie

   Tonight I went to see the documentary movie 'Dinky-town Uprising' at St. Anthony Main theater in Minneapolis. It was a part of the film festival last month, but scheduling wasn't in my favor then. It is just two screenings per day, so it is likely ending soon so I wanted to get there right away. It gave me a historical perspective that I didn't have before. It was about a protest and occupation to prevent a Red Barn burger place from opening, in 1970. The interviews in it were good, but the filming in it was uneven for lack of a better term. It would have made more sense to have mention of what year the footage was from if it wasn't from 1970 or this year, to avoid the impression that it was from the present time. I say this because I liked seeing some archival and recent footage showing the Varsity Theater in the background, I was there for an event recently. But some footage had another theater sign showing and I couldn't tell what it was for a while until the end. It was the Oak Street theater, not that far away, but it is no more! It was demolished for condos. I had seen a movie at Oak Street, it was called 'King Corn', a farm documentary. The one I saw tonight told the story well of what was happening in the world at that time, like the Kent State riot which was around the same time as this occupation. I liked what one interviewee said, a protest ringleader, which was asking why are we still dealing with some of these same issues? It is a valid question.
   I actually was in Dinky-town today. It was in the afternoon, I bought some books at a shop near the Varsity Theater. I liked getting plenty of pictures at the McDonald's nearby as well. I ordered an ice cream cone and had free rein getting pictures in the upper level, nobody was there. This section was closed when I was there about two weeks ago. I was impressed with how they decorated the place, giving it a local feel as it was mostly Gopher athletic art. It depicted athletes in action, like Kevin McHale playing for the basketball team. I went to this neighborhood after an on-campus baseball game had ended. The Gophers beat the Michigan State Spartans 2-1. It was a quick game, finished in just under 2 hours. Spartans scored in the 1st, Gophers tied it in the 2nd and went ahead in the 6th. I had a general admission ticket, and decided to sit near the visitors on-deck circle. One of the players even spoke to me, as in the 1st inning I said 'Isn't there one out?' and he said there was. They were slow with updating outs on the scoreboard. This was the DH, a big dude as he was 6 foot 5 and 245 pounds. I thought about asking if he played football as well.

No comments:

Post a Comment