From the Bottom of Everything

If you find yourself anywhere near Minneapolis around May 1st you'll want to head down to the portfolio school Brainco to see Luke Sullivan, author of "Hey Whipple, Squeeze This" and group creative head at GSD&M in Austin. Sullivan will give a presentation about the new chapters in the 3rd edition of his book in addition to doing a book signing. For details and to RSVP go to the Brainco website.

Never heard of Brainco? They're a portfolio school just outside of Minneapolis. I spent a weekend there in February for a creative workshop and I can attest firsthand that it's a hip little joint. For some reason it seems to fly under the radar for most people when they think portfolio school, but for some reason I think that Brainco is just fine with being a hidden gem.

Labels: brainco, hey whipple squeeze this, luke sullivan, minneapolis

While I was sitting in the Pine Cone Cottage coffee shop I got to talking to the owner and asked him where a good place to eat was. He recommended a place called "Boston Garden" so I decided to check it out. It was sort of hole-in-the-wall place, plastic plaid table cloths and the like. The menu was simple and cheap, I had the French dip. And I had only the French dip, because that's the only thing I got. No fries, no pickle, not garnish. Just the French and the dip. I guess you get what you pay for. I went from a $41 tab last night at Jimmy's to a $9 tab (with generous tip) at Boston Garden.

After dinner I headed over to Brainco to sit in on a "Creative Solutions" class. The location of Brainco is in the Wells Fargo building here in Hopkins and Brainco occupies a small office area within the building. It seems like a decent place and all the students I met were very friendly. The class was basically just the students showing some rough ups they'd done for an assignment and getting feedback from each other and the professor, Paul Swiatek. All in all everything went pretty well and I'm looking forward to the full workshop tomorrow.

Good night and good luck.

Labels: brainco, hopkins, minnesota, paul swiatek