People in Minneapolis Don't Believe These 5 Locations Are the Best in Minneapolis

Can you believe that some people actually compare the Minneapolis Skyline to the Oz skyline from the Wizard of Oz? It is remarkable what people think these days. This blog writer thinks a place called Boom Island is a good spot to see that Minneapolis Skyline. Take a look at this view and tell me what you think:

The writer goes on to state other places to view the skyline from. You have to check it out to believe it!

In America on the 4th of July

I wanted to share something on this 4th of July weekend. This is a song I wrote over 20 years ago (with some help from Paris), and recorded with our old band Galen Paris and the Critical Mass.

The song is actually a composite of two different songs I had written. The music is from a song called Angel, and the lyrics are from a song called In America. Paris was listening to Angel while reading the In America lyrics and had the idea to put the two of them together. I thought he was bat-shit crazy, but we gave it a shot and sure as hell, it worked.

We then worked on setting up the song for how the band would play it, and in the process for that, we came up with what could be considered the 2nd bridge (the Having picnics on the 4th of July part). The thought was we needed something to break up the song a little bit, so I stripped down the drum track a bit. Paris worked out the piano part, and after fumbling over lyrics for that part, the idea smacked me in the face that since most of the song is about America's ills, we could put in some of the traditional good ol' American imagery into it. And thus was born the 4th of July picnics, apple pie, and fishing down by the stream part of the song. I remember us both being kind of giddy about how it all worked out.

The song helped get us to where there were talks of a recording deal that also included a movie. Which came with the dubious task of Paris and I (well, mostly Paris) working on a movie treatment. I still have that treatment down in my basement somewhere. The song features Paris on lead vocals and guitar, and Lisa on backing vocals and bass.

Anyway, 21 years later, I have the audio of the song up on youtube. So go give it a listen.

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Prince and WB Sitting in a Tree...

There is a little something I want to get off my chest. It was recently announced that Prince signed a new deal with Warner Brothers. As I am a somewhat smitten fan of Prince, I saw hundreds of posts about this, and on almost every one of them there were people talking about how greedy Prince is and that it is all about money money money. This is my attempt to educate the masses. Yes, Prince is gonna get paid. It's his music, he should be getting paid. But this deal wasn't anywhere near being just about the money. The reason Prince and WB got into their spat 18 years ago is when an artist pours their heart and soul into recording a new song, the record label then claims it as theirs. The song writer/artist has absolutely ZERO rights to the song anymore. THAT is what drove Prince nuts and drove him to write slave on his face and get out of his deal with WB in the first place. This deal Prince just signed gives him ownership of his songs again. Here are a few other details about the music biz that 99% of you do not know. When you, as a fan, purchase an album from your favorite artist, do you know who gets that money? The place you got it from get a couple bucks. The artist/band gets around fifty cents to a buck, and the record label gets the rest. That's right, the band gets the short end of the stick. And in most cases, out of that buck the artist gets, they will then have to pay back the studio for the recording time to make the album, and pay for most of the production marketing costs. The artist will also have to pay for most of the music video expenses. For a good story on this, check out how TLC sold over 10-million albums, and had less than $100,000 to split between the tree of them to show for it. So, yes, part of this new deal with Prince and WB is about money. More of it will be going to the artist instead of the record label. And hopefully this is something other artists/bands will benefit from down the line. You may now go back to your regularly scheduled Easter festivities.

Twin Cities Headshot Photography Price Sheet

Click on the image to get a bigger view of the price list. This is my current pricing sheet for doing Headshot photography in the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul, including all of it's suburbs.

Wedding Photography Pricing List for the Twin Cities area of Minnesota

Click on the image to see the full sized version of this price list. This is my current price list for wedding photography done in the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul, including all of its suburbs.

Indiana's Headlight

This is a bit of an abstract shot that will bring back memories for a lot of people. As I was walking around Echo Lake, something about the car display out in front of the Indiana Jones show caught my eye. I then took this shot that features just the headlight of that car, while the billboard for the Indiana Jones show is blurred in the background.

You can click on the image to see a larger version and get a free download of it.
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William Drew Photography
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Approaching Magic

This photo is full of the Disney Magic. Taken while crossing the Seven Seas Lagoon on my way to the Magic Kingdom, this photo features Cinderella's Castle, the Main Street Train Station, and a crossing monorail. In the back ground you can see the new Beast's Castle that sits above the Be MY Guest Restaurant.

You can click on the image to see a larger version and get a free download of it.
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William Drew Photography
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New Cityscape and Skyline Gallery!

I have a new gallery on my photography website that features all of my best and favorite Cityscape and Skyline photos! This gallery contains my favorite cityscape and skyline photos that I have taken over the years. You will find beautiful photos of skylines, bridges, rivers, reflections, city parks, city festivals, and even some fireworks thrown in. So come in and take a look and if you like it, share it and buy it!

You can find my new Cityscape gallery by clicking here.

Below are a few highlights of this gallery.

New Landscape and Nature Photos!

I have a new gallery on my photography website that features all of my best and favorite Landscape and Nature photos! This gallery contains my favorite landscape and nature photos that I have taken over the years. You will find beautiful photos of flowers, coastlines, waterfalls, beaches, fall colors, and even some fireworks thrown in. So come in and take a look and if you like it, share it and buy it!

You can find my new gallery by clicking here.

Below are a few highlights of this gallery.

Check Out My New Wildlife and Nature Gallery!!!

I have a new gallery on my photography website that features all of my best and favorite Wildlife and Nature photos! This gallery contains my favorite wildlife and nature photos that I have taken over the years. You will find beautiful photos of gorillas, exotic birds, wild bears, tigers, eagles, herons, and even some thrown in. So come in and take a look and if you like it, share it and buy it!

You can find my new gallery by clicking here.

Below are a few highlights of this gallery.

Modern Contemporary Resort

This photo of the Contemporary Resort will make you wish you were there again. The Contemporary Resort is one of the resorts at Walt Disney World in Florida. This photo takes a look at this iconic resort from the front of it as you approach from the side, framing the hotel with some of the beautiful palm trees and other plants surrounding the resort.

You can click on the image to see a larger version and get a free download of it.
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William Drew Photography
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Colorful Imagination at Dusk

The Journey into Imagination building and the Upside-down Waterfall shine in brilliant color in this photo taken shortly after sunset while there is still light in the sky. The inside of the Imagination pavilion has seemed stale to me for many years, but it's beauty on the outside is one of my favorite things to photograph at Walt Disney World's Epcot Center.

You can click on the image to see a larger version and get a free download of it.
See all my Disney Photos.
William Drew Photography
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Tangled at Disney World

In a new area at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom theme park, they set it up to look like a scene from the fantastic movie Tangled. This photo captures the pennant area that has the purple pennants with the yellow sun, and some of the floating lanterns.

You can click on the image to see a larger version and get a free download of it.
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William Drew Photography
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Empire Fantasy Football League Ideas/Rules

Empire League Prospective Rules

I've spent some time scouring the internets for rules on running Dynasty leagues. The following are what I thought were the best ideas to get this Empire league going. After ingesting all of this info, add your comments below.

A 12-team, 3-division league. 14 Week season with a 3-week playoffs culminating in a championship game in week 17 of the NFL season. Entry fee will be $100 per team per season. After any league fees are taken out (should only be for paying for the leagues website), the pot will be split in half. One half will be split between the two teams that make it to the leagues championship game (80/20 split). The other half will roll-over and will be held until one team wins back-to-back league championships. Once one team wins back-to-back league championships, the winning team wins the accumulated pot and all rosters are cleared and the league will start over.

No one can be commissioner two years in a row. At the conclusion of a season, the owners will vote in a new commissioner.

Rule changes can happen when both a league majority and the commissioner agree on a rule change. The commissioner can veto any rule change voted for by the league. The commissioner has last say on approving trades.

Rosters: Each team will carry a 30 player roster. The starting positions will be as follows: 1QB, 1RB, 2WR, 1TE, 2 RB/WR/TE Flex, 1K, 3IDP(1 each DL, LB, DB). The bench has no requirements and can be comprised however an owner chooses. Each team will have 2 Injured Reserve spots that can only be used when a player is on IR in the NFL.

At the end of each season, rosters remain intact. Trades can take place only during the off-season. In-season trades are not allowed to avoid collusion in trying to win what will eventually become a large pot. During the off-season, players AND draft picks can all be traded. Draft picks can be traded only up to two years out.

During the season, free agent adds and drops can happen every week. A blind bidding session will happen every Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Owners will have a limited stash of points/dollars to use to bid on free agents. Once that pool is used up, they can not bid on any more players. After the blind bidding session, it is first come-first serve. All players lock when their game starts. The period between the rookie draft and Week 1 of the season is open and all free-agents are on a first come basis.

There will be a “No Cut List’ that will contain the leagues top 50 players.

Starting lineups lock when each players NFL game starts.

The initial draft/auction will have to be agreed upon. 30 players per team could take a long time. My preference is a serpentine draft. We could do an extended draft that starts in, say, July and continues through August. Or just pick a day and get it done with. My suggestion is to hold the initial draft in May or June, and have that draft limited to 25 picks per team with no rookies available in that draft. Then later in August have a 5-round draft where the rookies are available, along with players not drafted in the earlier draft. The 2nd draft would run in reverse order of the initial draft.

The season will run for 14 weeks. Each team will play their division rivals two times, and the rest of the league one time. At the end of the regular season, the three division winners will make the playoffs, along with the top 3 records of the remaining teams. This will make a 6 team playoff format. The top 2 teams receive a first week playoff bye and will face the winner of the first weeks playoff games. The bracket will be as follows: 1 vs bye/4 vs 5///3 vs 6/2 vs bye.

If a game ends in a tie, bench points determine the winner.

To break ties for playoff seeds, we will use the following: 1) Head-to-head 2) Points scored 3) Coin flip.

After the season ends, the free-agent pool locks up. Trades can be made between teams but no free agent signings. Free agents will be available to be drafted in the rookie draft.

March will be when league rule changes will be brought up and voted on.

May will be when the leagues rookie draft takes place.

An 8-round rookie/free-agent draft will commence 4-weeks after the NFL draft. The draft order will be in a modified reverse order of finish the previous season. To encourage teams to keep trying to win and not tank at the end of seasons, the four teams that do not make the playoffs will be seeded best record to worst record. So a typical draft order would be as follows: 1: 9th ranked team. 2: 10th ranked team. 3: 11th ranked team. 4: 12th ranked team. 5: 8th ranked team. 6: 7th ranked team. 7: 6th ranked team. 8: 5th ranked team. 9: 4th ranked team. 10: 3rd ranked team. 11: Championship loser. 12: League champ.

Another option is to rank teams based on their total team points, with the champion picking last. This would also keep teams from tanking to get a better draft pick as if they put their better players on their bench hoping to lose a game, those points count in total team points. This would truly give the worst teams the best pick in the rookie draft.

The rookie draft will not serpentine. It will follow the same order for all 8 rounds.

We could use a 5-player taxi-squad that is limited to rookies only?

I suggest the following scoring system:

QBs: .05 points per yard (passing/rushing/receiving), 6 pts for TDs (passing/rushing/receiving), -1 pt for turnovers. 1 pt for passing two-pt conversion. 2pts for scoring two-pt conversion.
RBs: 0.1 point per yard (passing/rushing/receiving/returns), 6pts for TDs, -1pt for turnovers. 2pts for 2pt score. 0 pts per reception.
WRs: 0.1 point per yard (passing/rushing/receiving/returns), 6pts for TDs, -1pt for turnovers. 2pts for 2pt score. 1 pt per reception.
TEs: 0.2 point per yard (passing/rushing/receiving/returns), 6pts for TDs, -1pt for turnovers. 2pts for 2pt score. 2 pts per reception.
PKs: 1pt per extra point. 3pts per field goal.
IDPs: (I found this scoring system that makes all three positions similar in points, instead of the typical LB heavy scoring system) 1pt per solo tackle, 4pts per sack, 3pts tackle for loss, 1pt pass defended, 6pts interception, 10 pt safety, 6pts blocked kick.

We would have to agree to a league website to use (I personally like the myfantasyleague website, but am open to others.

We would also have to decide to use leaguesafe, or where else to stash the rolling funds that accumulate every year. If we go with a 12-team league with 50% roll-over until a team wins back-to back titles, the eventual Emperor would win the following: If someone wins the first two season, they would win the single season pot, plus $1,080. Every following year would increase by $540, so year 3 would be $1,620, year 4 $2,160, year 5 $2,700, year 6 $3,240. As you can see, the pot can get pretty substantial. So we need to make sure we agree on where to keep it.

If you are interested in doing this, let me know via facebook messenger. I will then add you to the facebook page I created for it and we can discuss the rules there.

Toy Soldier Float

This photo features a wintery Christmas day at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom theme park. Taken during the parade during a Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, this photo features the Toy Soldier float that leads the Toy Soldier band down the parade route. The shot looks right down Main Street, USA towards Cinderella's Castle, while Christmas decorations and snow falls on the street.

You can click on the image to see a larger version and get a free download of it.
See all my Disney Photos.
William Drew Photography
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Disney's Seven Dwarfs

This photo features the Seven Dwarfs from Disney's version of Snow White. The dwarfs here are marching down Main Street, USA of Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom theme park during the parade for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. If I have the right, the Dwarfs from left to right are Happy, Sneezy, Bashful, Grumpy, Sleepy, Doc, and Dopey. Right behind the dwarfs is a float carrying Snow White and Prince Charming. And behind them is the iconic Cinderella's Castle as it is bathed in purple light and it's Christmas Ice lighting.

You can click on the image to see a larger version and get a free download of it.
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William Drew Photography Get FREE wallpaper downloads of all my Disney images on my website!

Christmas Parade on Main Street

This photo features the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party Parade as it heads down Main Street, USA at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom theme park. In the photo are all of the Christmas decorations, the snow the falls during the parade, and several floats, not to mention the 7 dwarfs and Snow White and Prince Charming. In the background is Cinderella's Castle lit up in purple.

You can click on the image to see a larger version and get a free download of it.
See all my Disney Photos.
William Drew Photography Get FREE wallpaper downloads of all my Disney images on my website!

Osborne Family Lights at Dusk

This photo of the Osborne Family Lights was taken immediatelyafter the lights were turned on for the first time for the season at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Looking west, the shot also captures the sky with a little bit of light in it, bringing out the beauty of the Osborne lights even more than normal.

You can click on the image to see a larger version and get a free download of it.
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William Drew Photography

The Opening 21-Seconds of Illuminations

This stunning photo features the opening 21-seconds of the Illuminations: Reflections of Earth show at Walt Disney World's Epcot Center. I took the photo standing directly across from the American Pavilion, and framed the photo with two lamp posts and palm trees. The shot features 5 different fireworks explosions. The center white candy-cane shaped firework is the opening salvo that was fired from the American Pavilion.

You can click on the image to see a larger version and get a free download of it.
See all my Disney Photos.
William Drew Photography