My feeble attempt at cell phone photography.

My MNfashion Week experience was everything I expected: bright lights, loud music, slender models and incredible clothing. However, I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of disappointment that I am just becoming familiar with the local fashion scene in the past year. Mainly because I haven’t been supporting and cultivating the local fashion community and I wish I had been. I grew up in the Twin Cities and went to school at the U of M, how could I not be aware of our designers?

Apparently, I’m not the only one. The studio-turned-runway was filled to the gills with bloggers, writers, fashion buyers, designers, students, models and pseudo-socialites (Kayla Humphries was down the row from where Miss Wuerffel and I stood). Where were the non-fashion-industry Minneapolitans? People interested in fashion as a hobby, a hunt and a means to craft a visual masterpiece. There was a very distinct group of people missing, the average consumer – those who buy the clothes.

It is a well-designed fluke I wound up at Minneapolis fashion week. Last December, I saw someone post a volunteer opportunity with MNfashion Week on Facebook and decided to like the page. More than two months later, I saw a posting about an exclusive offer for Facebook fans to purchase tickets to The Show and decided to pounce on them. After all, they were only 10 dollars and I was supporting my local community.

With sold out tickets to most, if not all, shows, MNfashion Week organizers are not desperate to fill seats but they’re missing an important piece of the puzzle – generating consumer hype for a collection through accessibility.

The online description of MNfashion Week is as follows, “MNfashion Week is dedicated to evolving the local fashion industry by giving independent designers, boutique owners and other industry professionals a chance to showcase their work and their brands, allowing them to establish a sustainable livelihood in the Twin Cities.”

How do designers, boutique owners and industry professionals succeed unless there is a strong push to bring creative work – whether clothing, accessories, hair and makeup styling or well-edited boutiques – to the front mind of the consumer. MNfashion Week is the perfect place to woo the Twin Cities consumer into shopping local fashion– as opposed to first spending money at chain stores like Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and Banana Republic. But, if the consumer isn’t present during events like The Show then most won’t have knowledge of the local fashion community or be able to allow “them to establish a sustainable livelihood in the Twin Cities.”

The idea of local consumer appeal to attend MNfashion Week also brought up questions surrounding inspiration for the Amanda Christine collection.

I didn’t expect to see the risks Alexandra McQueen took with shoes (think Lady Gaga-esque) but I thought there may be some risk on the stage: a loud print, an off-season hue or experimentation with texture. However, I was pleasantly surprised at the Amanda Christine collection. The gray Minnesota winter made me long for the whimsical floral prints and chunky sweater combos that graced the runway. After all, it is still winter. Interesting cuts and colors made this chic collection stand out and the pieces seemed very accessible – something anyone could pull off.

I wonder if this is a consideration for Twin Cities’ designers. Each designer wants to sell their clothes and make a living but Minnesotans are not known regionally, nationally or globally for a forward fashion-sense. Do local Minneapolis designers create with a Minnesotan in mind or are local collections designed to reflect larger trends?

All in all, attending The Show was a wonderful experience. I came away feeling inspired to search for local designer duds and be more involved in the community. I can’t wait until the next MNfashion Week… and to tell all my friends about it.

Some of my favorite looks are below. Photos courtesy of Corey Tenold Photography.

The positive reviews call attention to the bar’s lively neighborhood atmosphere, its rotating beer list, its lengthy happy hour and the friendly wait staff.

The negative reviews are more nuanced:

• “They have a good beer list, but do something with it that annoys me more than anything when it comes to ordering drinks. The prices listed on the beer menu do not include tax. This does two things. First, after I get my tab, it is a little more than I expected. Second, three beers cost something like $16.39 instead of $15.00.”

• “Between the barkeep fumbling with pronunciations of common craft beers (Lagunitas), and telling us the dark colored ones weren’t his favorite (swear to God), I was less than impressed.  To boot he looked like he was about 23 and liked to fist pump.”

• “Another reviewer is right: This place is clean. Too clean. Let it be known: Stanley’s has been neutered.”

Consumers are a fickle bunch. (Understatement much?) That’s why I don’t put any stock into Yelp or online reviews in general. There’s too many biases and foibles at play, and half the time I’m left to wonder if competing brands aren’t posing as reviewers to sully the good name of a rival company or product.

I bring it up because a Monday article in the Star Tribune proclaimed the increased relevance of social media in consumer habits based on several fancy new studies. The idea goes that online reviews are hugely influential in our consumer decision-making process, whether its searching for a place to grab sushi or comparing tablets. It’s the democratization of expertise. It’s the chance to allow your experience to shape the experience of others.

And it’s malarkey.

I don’t trust the opinions of people I don’t know, especially when they’re liable to complain about tax being excluded from a beer menu or a young bartender’s enthusiasm for fist-pumping or an establishment’s overt cleanliness. By the same respect, I don’t imagine my love for Stanley’s to influence how others feel about the joint.

I’m OK with that!

If I am interested in trying a new restaurant or, say, purchasing a pair of headphones, I’m going in blind. I might read into logistics and specifications, but that’s where it ends. Perhaps that makes me a foolish consumer. Fine. But I would rather make a poor decision on my own volition than go on the opinion of Mark S. from Schenectady.

What about you? How frequently do you rely upon Yelp and other online reviews? Do you find online reviews to be reliable? Finally, do you post your own reviews through social media?

[Photo courtesy Longman & Eagle in Chicago. The postcard was derived from a one-star review of the restaurant on Yelp.]

The Choo Choo Bob cast

In the early days of television, local TV stations used to produce a fair number of their own programs. And none were more popular than children’s shows. Nearly every major U.S. city had at least one legendary local kiddie-TV host.

In the Twin Cities, those legends included the stars of long-running programs like “Lunch With Casey,” “Axel and His Dog” and “Clancy the Cop.”

By the early 1970s, locally produced programming (except for the news) had pretty much disappeared from U.S. airwaves, a victim of the increased corporatization of the TV business.

But a St. Paul filmmaker is hoping to bring a locally produced children’s show to stations in Minnesota and its border states. Bob Medcraft is currently producing 26 half-hour episodes of “The Choo Choo Bob Show,” a train-themed program that got its start as a promotional tool for Medcraft’s hobby shop, Choo Choo Bob’s Train Store.

Medcraft plans to offer the show to local stations in the Twin Cities, Fargo, Sioux Falls, Duluth, Eau Claire and other regional markets. With financial backing from an angel investor, Medcraft plans to buy the airtime, hoping that the show catches on and the stations eventually will pay him to air it – rather than the other way around.

What makes Medcraft think that today’s kids – with their computers and video games – are interested in a technology that reached its zenith a century ago?

“Trains are big and they’re fast and they’re exciting to watch,” he said. “I think kids are naturally attracted to big technology like tractors and trains and road graders. There are some train shows already. But they are all CGI (computer-generated imagery). There’s nothing as old-school as what we’re doing.”

The show features about a half-dozen local actors, including Sam Heyn as Choo Choo Bob, Emily Fradenburgh as Engineer Emily and Paul Howe as Engineer Paul. Howe is actually a longtime employee of Medcraft’s train store.

Minnesota baby boomers remember Roger Awsumb as "Casey Jones." Credit: Pavek Museum of Broadcasting

Medcraft opened the store in 2005 after a 20-year career as a film producer. He worked on a number of movies shot in the Twin Cities, including “Jingle All the Way,” “Grumpy Old Men” and “Little Big League,” and also worked on music videos for Prince and others.

But as the new century dawned, “the whole industry here in town sort of started falling apart,” Medcraft said. “Videos collapsed, film work went to Canada.” He decided to open a retail train store after noticing how kids flocked to a Thomas the Tank Engine play table at a local bookstore he and his sons frequented.

The Choo Choo Bob Show actually began as a commercial for the train store and morphed into an idea for a public-access TV show. Then one of the actors brought a wealthy train enthusiast into the picture: Bob Vince, a University of Minnesota chemist who shares in royalties from several drugs he developed at the U. Vinceput a substantial sum into the project, allowing production of a full slate of episodes as well as providing the wherewithal to buy airtime for them. Former KSTP sportscaster Eric Gislason was brought on board to line up sponsors and broadcast opportunities.

The goal is to have the first episode on the air around June 1. Medcraft admits that he has dreams of eventually taking the show national, but he’s not holding his breath.

“Sure, that would be the Holy Grail,” he said, “but Disney or Nickelodeon can’t wrap their heads around this. This is so old-school. It’s not CGI, it doesn’t move fast.

“Kids still want to be entertained by human beings – we just don’t give then that chance anymore.”

This is John Reinan’s weekly marketing column for MinnPost.com.

This year, however, if the awards season is a true indication of the quality of movies released in 2011, it’s pretty sad. For the first time in ages, I haven’t been inspired to see the nominees, save for two (the awesome “Bridesmaids” and the very good thriller, “Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”). Sure, I could be persuaded to hit up “The Descendants” or “The Help.” But right now they’re nothing but future Netflix queue filler.

So below, I’ll share a brief thought on why I wouldn’t cough up $10 to see some of this year’s other nominees:

"The Artist" - No talking? No thanks.

"Albert Nobbs" - Not "Mrs. Doubtfire" or "Too Wong Foo," but somehow far more creepy.

"Hugo" - Umm, what the hell is this?

"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" - Self-indulgent, failed Oscar bait. Thankfully no nod for Tom Hanks. Blech.

"The Iron Lady" - I'm all for a good biopic, but Margaret Thatcher? Really?

"Kung Fu Panda 2" - Jack Black must be silenced. Including in animation.

…And on the other hand:

"Moneyball" - I haven't seen you, but don't you HAVE to be the best movie of last year?

My vote for Best Supporting Actress: Melissa McCarthy of "Bridesmaids"

I know mine could. I tend to slack a little more during the winter months, blaming the dreary weather for my lack of energy and motivation.

I decided enough was enough. I recently turned in my gym membership for a nice little change of pace, the Insanity Workout. You get the comforts of working out in your own home (perfect for those cold winter days) and don’t have to pay monthly fees. What could be better?

I’ve played sports my entire life, so I figured, how hard could this really be? I got my answer pretty quickly when the fit test, the first part of the program that tests your strengths and limits, left me gasping for air. Within a matter of days, I learned how truly insane the Insanity workouts really are.

Is it worth it? I think that may depend on your personality. If you are a competitive person, then I would say yes. If you prefer more low-key, passive workouts, then probably not. If you strictly stick to the schedule, doing your workouts six days per week and eating right, in my opinion, there is no other workout that can even compare.

No matter how hard you may think you’re pushing yourself at the gym, I can promise you Insanity pushes that much harder. I never have been one to buy into the “home workout solutions” until I came across Insanity. It actually works and is well worth it. In addition to my Insanity workouts, I have re-dedicated myself to the sport of snowboarding as an added winter exercise for myself that’s a little more on the fun side. These two small changes have left me feeling a lot more energized and motivated on the cold and dreary winter days.

Have you tried the Insanity workouts before? What did you think of them? What are your methods for keeping the winter blues away?

Tommy Keliher says hello to his baby brother Jackson.

My little Tommy is a big brother!

My son Jackson Robert Keliher was born at 7:12 p.m. Monday. Mind you, that was at United Hospital in St. Paul, and we left our house in Stillwater at 6 p.m. For real.

The boy weighed seven pounds, 13 ounces at birth. He’s 20.5 inches tall. He and Mom are happy and healthy.

Dad was lucky to find some decent coffee at United, thanks to some great volunteer staff members.

My question is more subtle. When there’s a tip jar on the counter, do you make sure the barista sees you put some money in it? Or do you slip the cash in the jar while their back is turned?

I’m in the surreptitious camp. After I’ve placed my order and they’ve given me my change, I usually wait until they turn toward the machine and then put my money in the jar. To me, it seems somewhat ostentatious to put the money in while they’re watching. I figure that I get the karma of leaving a tip whether the barista sees me or not.

But I admit, there’s a part of me that wants to get credit for the tip. What if I’m going to a coffee shop regularly, and the barista thinks I’m a jerk because he’s never seen me leave a tip? I’m not saying he’d spit in my cappuccino, but it would be nice to think that the person who regularly serves me knows I’m a good guy in that way.

I brought the question to a barista at one of my regular stops, Corner Coffee in the Warehouse District of downtown Minneapolis. She pretty much sided with me.

“The main thing is that we’re grateful when there’s money in the tip jar,” she said. “So if you’ve put something in there, you can know that you’ve made us happy, whether we saw you or not.”

And she said they don’t really pay all that much attention to who’s tipping and who’s not. More important, she said, is to be a cheerful customer.

“If you’re in a good mood, talk to us, treat us like human beings — we’d rather have 100 customers like that, who don’t tip, than 100 crabby tippers.”

What do you think?

With the quiet launches of Netflix’s mobster series “Lilyhammer” (OK, they had me the second I saw the poster to the right) and Hulu’s political campaign comedy “Battleground,” two of the biggest video streaming services are making a big bet that they can attract and retain viewers with exclusive content – and these shows seem to merely be the calm before the storm.

Later this year, Netflix is debuting the David Fincher series, “House of Cards” — which it spent $100 million (!!) on for 26 episodes — and the return of the cult sitcom “Arrested Development.” Hulu is also promising more original shows, and YouTube, not to be left out, should be rolling out its 100+ niche channels soon. So what we’re seeing this week is really just the “soft opening”; the restaurant really doesn’t open up for good for awhile.

Yes, TV is alive and well, albeit in large part thanks to the rise of “second screen” viewing. Just look at Sunday night’s Grammy’s as the latest example: According to AllThingsD, the awards show enjoyed its second largest audience ever, a 50 percent ratings increase from last year, and 13 million “social media comments” – more than the previous week’s Super Bowl (!!). TV is drawing its biggest audiences ever, that’s true, but the Grammy’s are an event, not a TV show; same goes for the Super Bowl.

Actual TV shows, on the other hand, which are aplenty these days, have seen their ratings drop for years. Based on my quick research, you just don’t see a 10.0 rating much nowadays beyond “American Idol,” as the programming competition and ease at which you can enjoy content continues to increase. Perhaps Netflix and co. are pouncing at just the right time, as audiences are looking more and more to TV for “event” viewing, and elsewhere for their day-to-day content.

Below is the trailer for the first-ever video-streaming service original program, Netflix’s “Lilyhammer.” Who knows, people could be looking at this years from now as the modern-day “Twister,” which according to IMDB is the first-ever movie released on DVD (how about that for some trivia)?

At Fast Horse, we put a lot of emphasis on cultivating relationships with those looking to break into our business, and more importantly, into our agency. Over the years we’ve done countless informational interviews and tours for college professional organizations, taking time to offer a glimpse into our culture and to talk about the things we look for in candidates.

In fact, last Friday we hosted 25 students from St. Cloud State and Minnesota State University Mankato for an hour-long tour and Q&A discussion with some of our staff. We do these things because we are always looking for our next hire, and in fact, it’s so critical to our business that we’ve even set an annual goal for the number of tours and informational interviews we’d like to conduct.

But perhaps our philosophy about attracting the very best young talent is not universal among employers in the Twin Cities. Witness:

Over the past couple weeks, the resurgent Minnesota Timberwolves have run promotions on their TV broadcasts inviting people interested in working in the sports industry to an “Internship and Career Fair,” promising the opportunity to “network and speak with people from the sports industry.”

The March 7th event at the Target Center includes a speaker series and a “social networking mixer with executives,” according to the Wolves web site.

Sounds pretty good, huh?

Here’s the rub: It’s gonna cost you a minimum of $20 to attend, and that doesn’t even get you the speakers or the chance to hob nob with sports muckity mucks. You’ll need to fork over another five bucks to get the speaker series, and that will also get you a ticket to that evening’s Timberwolves game. A cool $30 gets you the full shebang: the Fair, the speakers, the hob nobbing and the game ticket.

The Timberwolves offered no details online about who the speakers are, or which “executives” job seekers would have a chance to rub shoulders with. Nor did they offer details on how good the game tickets are. To save you the trouble, I called to get a bit more of the skinny on this event. A nice person with the Wolves group events department told me speakers “in the past” were people like Timberwolves President Chris Wright and General Manager David Kahn. Didn’t sound like they had firmed up who you’d get to hear from this year, though. I also asked who we might get to hang with at the social hour. She offered no names, but said it was generally members of the Timberwolves executive team and some associates, which, she added, offered job seekers the benefit of hearing perspectives from all levels of the organization.

The career fair portion, I was told, is an opportunity for the expected 500 to 1200 attendees to get “a little face time” with “executives” from most of the major sports franchises in the Twin Cities, as well as a few from the minor leagues. The game ticket? Well, turns out after a long day of networking you’ll need to save some energy to climb some stairs: Job Fair attendees will seated in the upper level, but “the lower part of the upper level” according to the T-Wolves rep, who also quickly informed me that job seekers who wanted to have someone join them for the game could purchase additional tickets for $15. And, in case you get hungry after spending a full afternoon putting your sports career on the fast track, you can also get in on a pop, chips and hot dog “Meal Deal” for another $6.50.

I have to wonder what kind of signal are the Timberwolves are sending to prospective employees by charging them up to $30 for a chance to hand over their resume in person and take a peek behind the front office curtain. To me, at best, this Career Fair is a sign that unless you’re a pure-shooting two-guard who can play stout defense, the Timberwolves really don’t care that much about attracting the very best people to their organization.

At worst, it’s simply a tacky way to make a few bucks and fill a few more seats at Target Center.

We’re only six weeks into 2012 and the number of people who flooded gyms around the country to start the new year has already dwindled. It’s no surprise that resolutions simply aren’t enough to keep many people motivated. That’s the idea at the heart of a clever new mobile app that ups the stakes for people who need an extra push. Gym-Pact lets you set your goals for getting to the gym along with a dollar value you’re willing to lose each time you get lazy and miss a scheduled day.

Every time you break your pact, your credit card is charged. The interesting twist: the money people lose each week is split up among all the people keeping up with their workouts (minus the small percentage Gym-Pact takes). The creators based it on a Harvard behavioral economics class, and a pilot launch in Boston had a 90 percent success rate at getting people to the gym when they committed.

The pact is serious — there’s no honor system involved. You must check in for at least 30 minutes at a qualified gym using your GPS-enabled mobile device. And, you need to submit a note from a doctor to receive an excused absence.

It’s an interesting concept and I’m all for getting people to stick to their routine. As Gym-Pact continues to evolve, here are a few things they should consider:

Head-to Head Settings — Create an opportunity to challenge a friend. You each put up the same stakes and money goes directly to the person who works out more frequently

Group Settings — Small groups of friends or coworkers could use the app for Biggest Loser-type competitions if the money could be redistributed within that group

Charity Option — Allow participants to designate a charity their money will go to instead of other users

Gym-Pact reports that it signed up 2,300 users on its Jan. 1 launch date and has been steadily gaining members ever since. If you’re someone who never misses a scheduled day at the gym, sign up help subsidize your membership fees. And, I you need a little nudge to get you on the treadmill, maybe putting a little dough on the line will do the trick.