If you haven't been to a Brainerd Warriors boys basketball game in a while this would be a year to head back to the gym and take a peek. At the midpoint of the season Brainerd is 8-4 overall for the first time since Jan. 16, 2007. On Tuesday the Warriors scrapped back from a 14-point first-half deficit to nip Little Falls 80-78 on two Jagar Hanson free throws with five-tenths of a second remaining. It was Brainerd's first win over the Flyers since March 5, 2010. This year's team can go 10-deep, can shoot the three, bang underneath and plays chest-to-chest defense.

Movies are just better on the big screen. That’s if the person next to you isn’t checking their smartphone every 5 minutes (they better be a brain
surgeon waiting for a call to the ER). For some reason they don’t think lighting up a dark room disturbs anyone around them. Seriously? How did
people make it through a 90-minute movie before mobile phones? Must have been a tougher breed of cat in the old days. They were willing to be
off-line to actually munch some overly priced popcorn and focus on a film. That’s why the theater can beat the comfort of the living room. It has your

Entertainment options are exploding as the New Year begins. After a few quiet weeks where we had time to celebrate the holidays, meet and greet family and friends, and ring in a New Year, we now have an abundance of choices to entice us out of our warm houses and mingle with the local folks. It's opening week for many new shows in the Twin Cities. I've been invited to two at the Guthrie and one at The Children's Theatre in Minneapolis. Check back next week for some reviews.

The Crossing Arts Alliance (TCAA) invites you to submit your photographic images for Picturing 2012. The deadline for submissions is March 6, 2012.

Please contact TCAA 218-833-0416 or info@crossingarts.org for a submission form PDF via email, or a hard copy.