DIY in Newport RI

Reflections on the People's Climate March 9.21.14

On September 21st, Scott & I joined approximately 400,000 people in the People's Climate March, the largest climate march in history.



Neither of us had participated in a demonstration before, but I gave Bill McKibben's audiobook Oil & Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist to Scott as a Christmas present last year and we got really into his story and his efforts with 350.org.  When we learned that this march was happening right near my apartment on Central Park West, we had to check it out.



We jumped in around 84th Street, right where the big Ben & Jerry's ice cream cone happened to be.


We were excited to see Jerry Greenfield himself there. We didn't introduce ourselves but here he is in the background of this selfie.



 

and there he is with a backpack on.



There were so many people from around the country and the world advocating different types of environmental causes. A cause with one of the most visible presences (at least in our section) was the prevention of the Keystone XL pipeline, which is largely lead by McKibben. Organizations like Tar Sands Blockade were out in full force.





 

The march didn't start moving for what seemed like hours because the crowd was so big.






Even other species joined.



The most moving part was the moment of silence, followed by the powerful roar/cheer of hundreds of thousands of people that made it's way up the streets and reverberated through the city.  Here's a pic I took during the moment of silence:



 

Here's someone's YouTube video of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9mJSGKii8Y

 

 

Overall, really cool experience. I'm grateful I got to be part of this and would definitely participate again.

NYC Bucket List Challenge: Recap

Hello from Newport, RI!

The absurdly stressful process of moving out of New York was of course chaotic and I haven't been able to blog in a couple of weeks. Special thanks to my friends Brian & Tim and my neighbor Chris who helped me move a queen sized bed and box spring and a gigantic oak dresser down four flights of stairs, then take them to the corners in the middle of the night to avoid a fine.

I may be the only person in NYC who wasn't in the know about the particulars of New York's waste collection rules, but I see weird, large things abandoned on the curbs of NYC seemingly every day, so I didn't even think there were rules around it. In case any readers are moving out of NYC sometime soon, here is a pro tip: read up on Bulk Collection and get an understanding of the schedule in advance of your move. Otherwise, your landlord (and then you) can get fined.

Now that the craziness is over, here's a quick recap of my NYC Bucket List Challenge. I was only able to complete 31 out of 40 challenges because the end of September brought a wonderful wedding in Maryland to attend, a beautiful new baby to visit, and the largest climate march in history happening a block away from my apartment! All awesome reasons to miss a few challenges if you ask me.

Below is the final list. It's hard to pick, but I think my top 3 favorite challenges were going to AquaGrill with a few friends & ordering 3 dozen oysters, exploring Red Hook, Brooklyn and seeing my friend Kristen teach a geometry class in the South Bronx.

You can check out the hashtag #NYCBucketListChallenge on Instagram to see photos from some of my favorite challenges.

Thanks to everyone who joined me for these. It was a lot of fun and a great way to get to see people before leaving New York.

 

NYC Bucket List Challenge: Final List

1. Go rowing in Central Park (needs to happen on a Saturday or Sunday morning) done 9/8

2. Go to one more Yankee game (to see #2 play) done 8/23

3. Spend an afternoon in Dumbo

4. See Dark Universe at Hayden Planetarim  done 3/14

5. See Sleep No More done 4/14

6. Order something weird/difficult to pronounce in Chinatown  done 9/4

7. Do yoga every day for 7 consecutive days done week of 9/22

8. Go to the roof of Eataly  done 9/9

9. Walk down one street I’ve never walked down before done 9/4

10. Check out the Meatball Shop that just opened down the block from my apartment done 9/19

11. Find a Van Leeuwen Ice Cream Truck and eat vegan ice cream  done 8/22/14

12. Experience Barry’s Boot Camp done 9/23

13. Indulge in a pastry from Cafe Lalo, where You’ve Got Mail was filmed done 9/21

14. Watch Kristen teach geometry to high school sophomores in the South Bronx done 9/29

15. Venture to Red Hook done 9/6

16. See Macy’s 4th of July fireworks done 7/4

17. Hang out in FAO Schwarz done 9/19

18. Go to Smorgasburg attempted 9/19

19. Run a half marathon done 12/13

20. Use 2 Free Barre Classes coupon at Physique 57

 21. Go to a restaurant participating in Oyster Week (and eat oysters, obviously) Done 9/16

22. Volunteer for a good cause done 7/14

23. Buy a GroupOn for an out-of-the-ordinary activity in the area

24. Have brunch with a lot of friends done 9/21

25. See stand-up comedy

26. Go to Ellis Island done 9/20

27. Go to the MoMA

28. Walk over the Williamsburg Bridge done 12/13

29. Eat oysters at Aquagrill done 9/16

30. Catch up with someone I’ve been out-of-touch with done 9/16 x3

31. Discover a new trail/landmark in Central Park  done 9/2

32. Try to spot Bradley Cooper at a 6:30am Soul Cycle Class in Tribeca Done 9/16

33. Get a slice from Di Fara in Brooklyn

34. See art/ drink wine at a Thursday night Gallery Hop in Chelsea

35. Go to a speakeasy I’ve never been to before done 9/10

36. Eat at Rosemary’s

37. Finally start a blog done 6/14

38. Wait on line for bombolone/cookie/some kind of pastry at Levain Bakery  done 8/16/14

39. Drink wine at Tolani happy hour done 9/15

40. Go the the Metropolitan Museum of Art

 

The Largest Climate March in History

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUUTB2vvIlY

This wasn't on my NYC Bucket List Challenge, but I just signed up to join the People's Climate March on Sunday, September 21st.

It will be my last Sunday living in NYC and the first protest I've ever participated in. Since the meeting place for the march is just a couple of blocks from my apartment, there is really no excuse not to join other than large crowds give me anxiety. Hopefully I can keep that in check.

 

An Adventure in Red Hook

As mentioned in a previous post, last weekend was a fun time. In part because I got to go to the Daily Front Row Fashion Media Awards on Friday night, and also because on Saturday I took a trip to Red Hook and may have found the coolest bar in New York.

Venturing to Red Hook was one of my NYC Bucket List Challenges, and a couple of friends from work were down to join me for it. To get there, we took the (free) water taxi at Pier 11 in lower Manhattan which was a beautiful, quick ride with great views of the downtown skyline. It dropped us off right on Van Brunt Street, the main strip of restaurants & bars.

After walking a few blocks on Van Brunt, we spotted Brooklyn Crab, but first, I wanted to check out Red Hook Bait & Tackle. I'm so glad we went because it was SO weird in the most awesome way.

The entrance had a funny chalkboard and a really old clock out front.

[caption id="attachment_471" align="alignleft" width="189"] Entrance of Red Hook Bait + Tackle[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_434" align="aligncenter" width="190"] Entrance of Red Hook Bait + Tackle[/caption]

 

Inside, it was dimly lit and only a handful of very randomly assorted patrons sat at the bar.  The bartender is was a friendly Irish guy wearing a Hawaiian shirt and Burt Reynolds mustache twisted up at the ends.  As we walked further into the bar, the first thing we noticed was taxidermy – everywhere.

[caption id="attachment_466" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Red Hook Bait + Tackle[/caption]

There were some nautical items on the walls, but this place mostly looked like the Museum of Natural History meets a hunter's lodge, meets a bait & tackle shop meets a garage sale from the 70s. And it was all kinds of awesome.

[caption id="attachment_436" align="alignleft" width="168"] Brooklyn Bait + Tackle[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_435" align="alignleft" width="168"] Brooklyn Bait + Tackle[/caption]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got a table that was surrounded by stuffed mammals and birds. Fittingly, they had the video game Buck Hunter.  The women's bathroom is labeled "BAIT" and the men's bathroom is labeled "TACKLE" - some were confused by that.

[caption id="attachment_464" align="aligncenter" width="282"] The Trio at Red Hook Bait + Tackle[/caption]

As my friend Marshall said, it was an "Instagrammer's Paradise." Yup.

[caption id="attachment_465" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Red Hook Bait + Tackle[/caption]

After a few hours of this...

[caption id="attachment_460" align="alignleft" width="139"] Red Hook Bait +Tackle[/caption]

 

 

 

[caption id="attachment_462" align="alignleft" width="165"] Red Hook Bait + Tackle[/caption]

 

 

[caption id="attachment_463" align="alignleft" width="168"] Red Hook Bait + Tackle[/caption]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...we decided we were ready to get some food. So we walked/rode bikes through some amazing sunflowers and spotted Hometown Bar-B-Que.

[caption id="attachment_459" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Joe on Van Brunt Street[/caption]

Unfortunately, there was a long line. We waited for about 10 minutes then just moved on to Brooklyn Crab around the corner. Brooklyn Crab was a multi-level, multi-bar log cabin meets crab shack meets arcade meets mini golf spot.  Here is Marshall riding a rainbow colored dolphin at the end of the night.

[caption id="attachment_458" align="aligncenter" width="576"] Brooklyn Crab[/caption]

 

Overall, I love Red Hook.

Apparently he's over apparently

This kid is such. a. riot. I wonder what the adult version of him is going to be like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrIrbeoDkT0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaafK0reVzs

Love.

 

Taking Back Sundays: Why You Won't Find Me Watching Football This Year

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/09/nfl-got-ray-rice-tape-april.html?mid=facebook_nymag

Why Starbucks Spells Your Name Wrong

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPbrlNsMTg4[/embed]

Impromptu Trip to the Daily Front Row Fashion Media Awards

This weekend has been an unexpectedly exciting 48 hours!

It all started on Friday night when I got a last minute call from my friend Chris asking if I wanted to attend the Daily Front Row Fashion Media Awards at the new Park Hyatt Hotel.

Chris is the founder of CrowdFlik, a mobile video app that I've been involved with. (Check it out in the Apple Store or Google Play - it's free!) We've been capturing a lot of great mobile footage with the app for testing purposes and to use as example content. Earlier this summer, we filmed Sam Smith's performance at iHeartRadio Theater and were excited to see the app's time synching technology performing well. The app allows users to splice together mobile video from an event and create "fliks" - montages of your favorite crowd-sourced content. Chris & some CrowdFlik team members will be sharing footage and filming elevator pitches at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco this week starting September 8th. You can follow @CrowdFlik and the hashtag #TCDisrupt to see what they're up to.

Anyway - back to the FMAs! It was a pretty surreal experience to suddenly be in the same room with supermodels, actors and fashion industry icons.  I snapped a few not-so-great pics which I've shared below. I was most excited to see Claire Danes since she's my favorite actress and Homeland is the only TV show I really follow.  She spoke about Carrie Matthison during her speech.

[caption id="attachment_407" align="aligncenter" width="519"] Claire Danes[/caption]Another highlight of the show for me was watching Harper's Bazaar Creative Director Stephen Gan present the Social Media Award of the Year to Kate Upton. It was Kate's first public appearance since the photo leak scandal, and she stepped out in public seemingly unfazed/unembarrassed. It was also interesting to hear Stephan Gan talk about how much difficulty he had at first getting Kate featured and accepted in the world of high fashion. He mentioned many editors and talent scouts found her to be "too obvious" or to not have the "right look." Kudos to Kate for being unprecedented both in appearance and in the way she leveraged social media to get her where she wanted to go.

[caption id="attachment_408" align="aligncenter" width="437"] Kate Upton accepting the Social Media of the Year Award.[/caption]

Other speakers included: Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell & Tom Ford.

[caption id="attachment_409" align="aligncenter" width="565"] Christy Turlington at the FMA's[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_410" align="aligncenter" width="586"] Naomi Campbell at the FMA's[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_411" align="aligncenter" width="596"] Tom Ford at the FMA's[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_412" align="aligncenter" width="527"] Alessandra Ambrosio[/caption]

New Tech: IKEA bookbook™

Loving this satirical marketing for the IKEA 2015 catalogue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOXQo7nURs0

Stalked by an Ad

A little digital marketing humor...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sagWOUPhJgc

Into the Wild

On September 6, 1992 the body of Christopher Johnson McCandless was discovered in a school bus on the Stampede Trail in Denali National Park, Alaska. Since Jon Krakauer first published a story about his journey in a 1993 issue of Outside Magazine, McCandless has been an extremely polarizing figure - either adored and revered as a brave, honest hero, or utterly despised for his hubris.



 

If you haven't read Into the Wild, do it.  Sean Penn's 2007 film adaptation of the story starring Emile Hirsch is good (mostly because of the Eddie Vedder soundtrack) but for a deeper look at the character of Chris McCandless, the book is a must-read.

Newport, Rhode Island & Big Moves

Here are some photos from my trip to Newport, Rhode Island a couple of weekends ago. Scott and I had a great time exploring the historic town and beaches in the surrounding area.  I am in love with all the colonial architecture and the colors of the houses.



 





One of the big highlights of the weekend for both of us was having a drink at White Horse Taven, the oldest tavern in America. It is just a little out of the way of the main town area, and that may have to do with it not being filled with tourists. The tavern has been open since 1673! It's amazing to see the centuries old flags and handwritten documents they have inside.



The other highlight of the weekend was the realization that we're actually going to live in this amazing place together!

Yep. I'm excited/bittersweet/nostalgic/feeling all of the feelings about announcing that I'm officially moving to Newport at the end of September and leaving NYC, my home for the last 6 years. I created a NYC Bucket List of a bunch of things I want to do before the big move and have been trying to tick off as many of these as possible. If one of these "challenges" sounds fun to you, join me! I would love to see you before I leave.

Local Attraction: Finding Love In Your Radius

My favorite thing on the internet right now is Local Attraction, a web series based on Tinder.

Connor Hines (who is also the show's writer) is hysterical portraying the various male archetypes of NYC. Supposedly he's aiming for 8 episodes in total and has a Kickstarter fund that is killing it.

Be sure to check out Skye & Whitney and Maeve & Trent.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSSQJ3dPPCQ&list=UUZB9ihI9dJNRg3OOVrhvVxg&index=4[/embed]

Shoe Crush.

If you follow me on Pinterest, it's probably apparent that I just discovered Swedish Hasbeens and have a huge crush on this brand.

 

Experiments in Spiralizing

After a few months of following food blogger Ali Maffucci's blog Inspiralized and Instagram account (@inspiralized) and admiring the photos of beautiful, vegetable-based dishes she makes, I guess you could say I was "inspiralized"  to buy a Paderno Spiralizer and try it out for myself.

Basically, a Spiralizer is a tool that turns vegetables into "noodles" very quickly and easily. Zucchini noodles aka "zoodles" seem to be the most popular vegetable to spiralize, but you can also make noodles out of beets, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots and other veggies.

Here's a quick demo of how it works:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3aKSoRxUwM

 

I tried out my Spiralizer for the first time last weekend on some zucchini & squash I got at the Columbus Avenue Greenmarket, a local farmer's market in my neighborhood.

[caption id="attachment_358" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Zucchini & Squash from Columbus Ave Greenmarket[/caption]

The tool comes with 3 different blades (A, B & C).   Blade A makes thick flat spirals that remind me of flower petals a little bit. Blade B (my favorite blade) makes well formed, rounded, long spiraling noodles. Blade C makes short, thin noodles that are more like shreds.




[caption id="attachment_356" align="aligncenter" width="300"] "Zoodles" from A, B and C.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_357" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Blade A cut[/caption]

I took all the noodles I created and added them to this meat sauce recipe from Nerd Fitness, but substituted ground turkey for the ground beef.  I also used my red onions instead of a regular onion. (Sorry, I don't have a pic of the finished dish.)

I love this tool so far and plan on experimenting with it a lot more. Stay tuned for some detailed recipes!

If you're interested in trying a Spiralizer out too, you can get one on Amazon for <$40.

 

Blackfish and Dollar Voting

Very happy to see the power of investigative journalism & dollar voting coming together in the case of SeaWorld. According to a second quarter earnings report released this week, SeaWorld shares have dropped 30% since 2013, a plummet directly attributed to the award-winning documentary Blackfish released last year by CNN Films.  I watched this film earlier this year and admit I was moved to tears.



From HuffPo:

"Revenue declined 1.5 percent to $405.2 million. Analysts expected $447.7 million.

SeaWorld shares dropped $8.41, or 30 percent, to $19.74 in midday trading. The stock is down 31 percent this year."

If you haven't seen the film, get in on Netflix and grab a big box of tissues.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_oLOePrjKo

Sexist Ad Saturday: Russian Edition

Unlike the last sexist ad post, these ads are not from over 50 years ago.

Apparently these Russian ads for MegaFon, the second largest mobile operator in Russia, are from 2012, which makes them all the more outrageous.

Translation: "A High-quality network is vital on your business trips…”

 

Translation: “The danger is in lack of mobile education!”

 

Translation: “Let’s make international relations stronger.”