Links, originally uploaded by s4xton.

I normally don't shell out links in my posts but there's some cool new stuff from some friends in the last couple months that I think should be shared:

David Loomer started Twin Cities Live, a video podcast where he goes to a ton of shows (which isn't anything new), tapes them with a cheap camera and posts the best bits. If you missed Andrew Bird last weekend, check out "Why?" Such a great night that was. The site is very happy with your RSS reader or iTunes too. He hits good shows.

Taylor Carik has been, under the radar, running a new site with no name, no about page, no navigation, no comments and really nothing except for the generous sharing of what he sees and reads while he has his finger on the pulse of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. If you don't read many local blogs and don't plan to read a ton of them, this is the one local blog you need. If you're still reading MNspeak, you might as well switch to Taylor Carik's new site.

If you need your staple of the Bartel Cartel after you stopped reading MNspeak, Cristina Córdova (of Chasing Windmills fame) has been the editor of The Rake's Secrets of the Day for a couple months now and has become a regular morning read for me and serves as one of my primary "what's going on today?" feeds.

Tricia Foo-Ying, who runs the humorously long Minnesota List started a new ambitious project where she interviews Rhode Scholars. I can't wait to see how this pans out.

Although the next two aren't friends, they're worth mentioning...

reviewsby.us is starting to come of age and is apparently getting a redesign from the folks at timeforcake. There's a ton of restaurant review sites around for users to publish their own reviews, but reviewsby.us is run by locals here in Minneapolis and you can even review specifics of the menu. Their back-end is there; it'll be cool when they get their design and UI cleaned up.

Merlins Rest is my new neighbor a couple blocks away on 36th and East Lake. They opened a couple weeks ago. As far as I'm concerned, it's pretty much the same crowd that came from Molly Quinn's Irish Pub and then hung out at the Lake Street Garage for a bit. They serve some good pints. A major upgrade from the dive that was there before.

East Lake Street commuters and Longfellow residents that don’t keep up with their local news or the Lake Street Reconstruction and Streetscaping site got a really rude awakening on their evening commute today if they travel westbound across the Lake Street bridge into Minneapolis. Starting at East Lake Street and West River Parkway it is now one lane each way and there are no left turns for over ten blocks. Did it stop some people from making left turns? Of course not. As a result of people wanting to make left turns, traffic was backed up all the way back into Saint Paul as we waited for people to make them, most of which were onto West River Parkway southbound. The frustrating part was that if you wanted to go southbound on River Parkway, you can easily make two right turns and go under the bridge instead of making one left turn that holds up everyone else. Things would be much more smooth if there was a sign that said “Right Turn for West River Parkway.�? After River Parkway, traffic was fairly clear but I still got held up by people wanting to make left turns on side streets even though there is this sign that sits next to you on every intersection: But you know what? When I found an opening, there wasn’t anyone behind me and I knew I wouldn’t negatively affect any other traffic, I snuck a left turn at 40th Ave S. I wonder how they will start enforcing these no left turns; this could end up being a real mess. I’m glad I wasn’t in a rush and was relaxed about it.