Posted by
in Friends, Interview on August 25th, 2010
A surge of underground dining is happening around the city. If you already know what underground dining is, you’re probably way cooler than most people and listen to better music.
Don’t worry, if you’re like me and listen on repeat to Ke$ha’s ‘Animal’ album on your MP3 player — No?
Okay, well there’s still wiggle room here for us to relate. Let’s try this:
If you’re like me and underground dining doesn’t immediately make you say aloud, “Oh, yes. Underground dining. That’s that thing I do quite often,” then follow me, dear friends, as we tunnel on a journey beneath the surface…
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in Friends, Inspiration, Interview, Uncategorized on July 13th, 2010
Tea always seemed like a peculiar concept to me: put some dried leafy stuff in hot water, add saccharin supplement, and be soothed.
Perhaps Starbucks enlisted me at too early an age with Grande Caramel Macchiatos and its many variations. How could I even compare leaf-flavored hot water to a caramel chocolaty caffeinated shake that my mom somehow allowed me to drink before school?
In the last year, though, I’ve voyaged out to discover what the big deal was, why my dad, who remembers nobody’s name remembers Earl Grey’s when he’s sick, why my roommate always makes a cup of chamomile before…
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Posted by
Ryan Nasipak
in Friends, Inspiration, Interview on May 18th, 2010
Stopping by today is Chris Theibert, creator of the soon to be world famous Choonimals Clothing Company. If you’re looking for a shirt featuring a crazy cartoon creature , he’s your guy.
Ryan: How many times have you answered the question “What is a Choonimal?”:
Chris: At least 5x per event, and roughly 2x a week, so that would be about 204.34x a year. Math.
Ryan: What is a Choonimal?
Chris: Ha! Choonimals are a bunch of rabid, gnarl-toothed, crook-eyed, kinda scary but kinda cute animals my friends and I dreamt up in high school and continue to create even though we should…
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Posted by
in Friends, Inspiration, Interview on May 4th, 2010
Dinner with one person dead or alive? Obviously, Tim Gunn.
Who’s Tim Gunn? He’s a fashion sage/life mentor to all who take his always-dead-on advice. Oh, and he co-hosts my favorite reality TV show, Project Runway. In each episode, Gunn checks in on the competing designers during challenges and says things like “this worries me” or “make it work!”
Beside the fact that I’d sit down with Tim Gunn and ask him questions that have absolutely nothing to do with fashion—Do you like Diet Coke? What do you think of this health care stuff? Can we do this again?—he’s really opened my…
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in Friends, Inspiration, Interview, Uncategorized on April 21st, 2010
Dorothée Royal-Hedinger has been a force to be reckoned with in non-profit social media advertising since she started out at See3 Communications as a new media strategist. She moved on to co-found NobleTree Media where she has worked with non-profit causes like Minds Matter Chicago and the National Association of Working Women. She created OrganicNation.tv in May 2009 and has won numerous awards including Tree Hugger’s Best Food Twitter Feed (.treehugger.com/best-of-green-food-and-health) and the Do Something American Express Grant. In addition to being a top flight social media guru, her work with OrganicNation.tv has appeared on Current TV, The Huffington Post, GOOD and TreeHugger.com.…
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Posted by
in Friends, Inspiration, Interview, Uncategorized on February 21st, 2010
Just outside Chicago’s Humboldt Park at North Central Park and Potomac Avenue, I approached a somewhat clandestine warehouse where a burly man donning all the gear you’d a imagine a Hell’s Angel to have in his closet—plus the imperative lengthy grey beard—stood outside. He tugged on his golden retriever’s leash.
I’m not a dog person (you can blame my parents for never getting me one), so I instinctively took a step back for every one I took forward as the retriever leapt toward me with thick drool flinging from its mouth.
“Hot Glass?” the Hell’s Angel asked me.
“Uh…yeah!” I answered.
The Angel opened…
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Posted by
in Friends, Interview, Marketing on January 15th, 2010
Two years ago I studied abroad in Florence, Italy where the wine is cheaper than water, and certainly cheaper than Italy’s version of my usual drink of choice, Coca Light. After four months under the Tuscan sun, I returned home somewhat plumped from copious servings of everything and teeth, to my dentist’s disdain, tinted purple from habitually making the more economical choice of hydrating myself with the house vino—a thrifty decision in terms of saving Euros. And the more fun one.
Part of this wine-drinking four month rendezvous can be attributed to the fact that I was enrolled in my Italian…
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Posted by
in Friends, Inspiration, Interview on December 17th, 2009
For full disclosure, I’ll admit, I am no comic book connoisseur. The closest I’ve gotten to reading comics are Simpson’s episodes with Comic Book Guy cameos and the most recent Superman movie. That said, I know a Clark Kent when I see one. And I met one last night. Ryan Browne is a total Clark Kent. On top of the fact that he sports way cool thick-rimmed glasses, there’s no way he doesn’t spin through revolving doors at the speed of light in order to change fast enough from his graphic design day job to super hero comic book writer…
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Posted by
charles
in Friends, Inspiration, Interview on December 7th, 2009
We sat down last week with one of America’s preeminent artists, David Garrison. Considered a master of pastel and oils, Mr. Garrison has exhibited in major galleries and museums across the United States and in Europe. He currently lives and works in Normandy, France during the winter months and otherwise lives in Iowa where he teaches pastel and oil workshops and pursues his own projects. We asked him what makes him tick, and how technology has played a part in his career and art over the last decade.
Q: Once you knew you were going to be a visual artist or…
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Posted by
in Friends, Inspiration, Interview, Reviews on December 4th, 2009
As a recent University of Michigan alumnus, I’ve actually always considered Ann Arbor a kind of Hogwarts away from home – especially come winter when white snow and shimmering icicles dangle off English Gothic buildings in combination with bountiful pitchers of butterbeer – or Long Island Iced Tea – turn the campus into a magical winter wonderland. And although by spring the snow is melted, a clever and ambitious bunch of U of M students/alumni brought that Hogwarts feeling back to campus last April with their original production of A Very Potter Musical which was produced for one fleeting weekend…
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