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.