Paint The Town Red

Last night in Brooklyn’s “Digital District”...

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:21:00 -0500

Galapagos Art Space, DUMBO

Kaitlin Villanova on stage

More of Galapagos Art Space

Last night in Brooklyn’s “Digital District” (which is what Carrot Creative’s Mike Germano calls DUMBO), I attended Digital DUMBO #11: Purple Sangria Digital Festivus. Organized, as always, by Carrot Creative’s Kaitlin Villanova and JAR Group’s Andrew Zarick, this particular Digital DUMBO, held at Galapagos Art Space, was also welcoming party for Purple, Rock, Scissors, an Orlando-based digital agency that now has a office in DUMBO. Purple, Rock, Scissors also sponsored and as a result, there was purple sangria, giveaways of purple skatedecks and t-shirts based on the most clever response to the question “What do you think of purple?”, and a brief presentation called, “What is Purple?”

I was joined at the party by Pepsi We Inspire’s Nichelle Stephens, Carrot Creative’s Colin Murphy, HUGE’s Audrey Boguchwal, Coach’s Julia Roy, Brooklyn by Bike’s Anita Singh, and Pollock Spark’s Michael Pollock. (If I missed you, which I probably did because I had another event to attend, please feel free to let me know here.)

Yesterday evening, I caught the tail end of the lighting of the...

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:54:00 -0500

The Christmas tree

The plaza

The Marriage of Figaro set

Hansel & Gretel costumes

Hansel & Gretel costumes

Yesterday evening, I caught the tail end of the lighting of the Christmas tree at the Metropolitan Opera House in the Lincoln Center complex on Manhattan’s Upper West Side (By “tail end,” I mean that I arrived just in time to grab a cup of hot apple cider after the tree had been lit) and got to take a guided tour of the house thanks to Ketchum.

This was the first time that I have ever been inside the house and although brief (it was just slightly longer than the 45 minutes advertised), it was quite the tour. We were told about:

The ceiling, which is covered in 23-karat gold leaf to guard against having to close down production for repainting
The chandeliers, which are comprised of Swarovski crystals and can be raised and lowered during seating and for performances
The size of the stage, onto which a three-story set for The Marriage of Figaro was rolled out while we were seated about 20 rows away from the stage
The wood paneling for each of the house’s box seats, which was made from one tree
How the house uses no amplification given its acoustics
The sub-titles for foreign-language operas which appear in front of each seat
How the house does all of its own carpentry and costume design (costumes are even distressed on site to make them look older) on site
That the house pretty much runs 24 hours a day through its season, which begins in September and lasts through May
That originally, all sets were stored on site, but because the house does about 28 different operas each season, they now operate a warehouse in New Jersey to store sets
Child actors are tutored on site and have to keep up their grades in order to continue being included in performances like Hansel & Gretel
The stage managers’ control panel, off to one side of the stage, is outfitted with numerous video displays, even one which allows them to see what’s going on when it’s totally dark on stage
Live animals used in productions are older so that they’re timid and the house hires animal-rights workers to ensure that the animals are well-treated
Each “sculpture” used in a production is made out of styrofoam
The back of each set is painted in a different color to help distinguish it from other sets while in storage

At the end of the tour, since it was so close to when seating was scheduled to begin for the evening’s showing of The Marriage of Figaro, we were escorted out through the back, a rather long and twisting passageway where we passed by some of the copies of the jewelry used in productions, which I didn’t get a chance to photograph.

[Editor’s Note: Thanks to Ketchum, I’ll also be seeing Hansel & Gretel next Monday and if you’d like more information about that show and how to get tickets, you can check out their multimedia press release about it here.]

Publicist Matt Caldecutt, blogger Sarah Merion, and programmer...

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:25:00 -0500

Publicist Matt Caldecutt, blogger Sarah Merion, and programmer Jon Lazar at the Boxee Beta event last night at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood. [Editor’s Note: Photo courtesy of Random Night Out. For their complete photo gallery, please click here.]

“Internet-video-on-the-television service” Boxee...

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:29:00 -0500

The line outside

The Boxee demo

Clicker's presentation

The Escapist presentation

Brooklyn Bowl, the afterparty

The Gregory Brothers

“Internet-video-on-the-television service” Boxee unveiled the beta edition of it platform and its long-anticipated box last night to a capacity crowd at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood (Attendees who got there early enough and checked in got a Foursquare badge; those who couldn’t make it past the door got a ticket for a drink at the event’s afterparty venue, the nearby Brooklyn Bowl.).

Since I did a much more extensive write-up on what was demoed elsewhere, I’ll stick to do what I do best here, the snark and the social aspect. Some thoughts:

The upstairs “VIP section” was a bit too large and given the number of RSVPs, it might have made more sense to allow some attendees up there rather than confining them to the main floor. Also, the downstairs area was largely empty throughout. With a few monitors down there, guests could have watched while grabbing a drink.
Not much has been made about the Boxee Beta crashing onstage, but to be honest, CEO Avner Ronen recovered rather gracefully from that with little to no audible reaction from the crowd.
The content partners’ presentations ran a bit long and we could have used a bit more music from The Gregory Brothers (who, despite their numerous television appearances, hung out with afterparty attendees and even danced with some of them).
Why only show attendees the box? If 650 people started tweeting about how it worked and its features, would that really have precluded Boxee from making a splash at the upcoming CES?

Joining me for this apparently “not to be missed” event were Attention PR’s Yuna Park and Kristin Maverick, NewTeeVee’s Ryan Lawler, blogger Sarah Merion, programmer Jon Lazar, HS Dominion’s Damien Basile, Ripple6’s Katie Morse, Foursquare’s Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai, the “Internet’s music teacher” Walt Ribeiro, Launchsquad’s Miko Mercer, Baveo’s Ari Greenberg, Aviary’s Michael Galpert, publicist Steven Melfi, Mobile Behavior’s Jeannette Arrowood, Ketchum’s Katharine Ricci, and VaynerMedia’s Leora Israel. (If I missed you, please feel free to let me know here.)

(adeandabet & nyminute) Apparently, while I have been living...

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:42:07 -0500

(adeandabet & nyminute)

Apparently, while I have been living there, my neighborhood, Hamilton Heights, has consumed Manhattan’s Manhattanville neighborhood.

Publicist Matt Caldecutt, Wired’s Jenna Landry, and Unit...

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:12:15 -0500

Publicist Matt Caldecutt, Wired’s Jenna Landry, and Unit 7’s Meredith Berke at the Tck Tck Tck cocktail reception last Friday. [Editor’s Note: Photo courtesy of MediaPost’s Kelly Samardak.]

(via youngmanhattanite & andrearosen) For more information...

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:27:00 -0500

(via youngmanhattanite & andrearosen)

For more information about Good for the Jews, click here.

Apparently, the photographer who agreed to snap a shot of us...

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:22:39 -0500

Apparently, the photographer who agreed to snap a shot of us before we left worked for GuestofaGuest, making this my second appearance on that Web site in one week. Pictured are me and Unit 7’s Meredith Berke at the Tck Tck Tck party this past Friday.

My friend Marcy hosted her annual holiday party last night at...

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:29:55 -0500

My friend Marcy hosted her annual holiday party last night at her home in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood. Thought my readers would be interested in the view from her balcony.

View from one of the Roger Smith Hotel’s terraces during...

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:24:27 -0500

View from one of the Roger Smith Hotel’s terraces during the Cupcakes Take The Cake anniversary party.

The Consortium List Recommends (Week of December 7)

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:09:00 -0500

It’s the second week of holiday-party season. Had enough yet? Kidding. Here are a few after-work options for this week.

Boxee Beta Unveiling: Monday night, 7 PM, Music Hall of Williamsburg (Online media provider Boxee will demo the new beta version, launch new applications from the company’s partners, and provide attendees with a chance to test the beta version will in advance of CES.)
The Onion’s A.V. Club’s Inventory party: Monday night, 8 PM (Editors, writers, and comedians from The Onion and the A.V. Club will be performing; ask me about the location.)
NYC Webgrrls Holiday Celebration: Tuesday night, 7 PM, Gaetana (Join the group for an open bar, “some great Italian food,” door prizes, and drawings from their sponsors.)
Get Off Your Knees: Tuesday night, 8:30 PM, Bell House Lounge (Comedians Sara Schaefer and Kim Armstrong are hosting a free comedy show.)
Holiday Party with Social Media Club, NextWeb, and Girls in Tech: Wednesday night, 6 PM, Roger Smith Hotel (Networking and drink and food specials at Lily’s.)
Vocabularian Melee: Wednesday night, 6:30 PM, The Chelsea Market (Comedian Jen Dziura hosts a vocabulary tournament with cash prizes.)
Digital DUMBO #11: Purple Sangria Digital Festivus: Wednesday night, 6:30 PM, Galapagos Art Space (There’ll be purple sangria and the opportunity to welcome Purple, Rock, Scissors to DUMBO.)
BK Holiday Meatup’s Naughty Office Party: Wednesday night, 7 PM, Bell House Lounge (“Hot Santas,” real-life farmers from Queens County Farm and Rooftop Farms, an hour of free strong, hard drinks, free massages, a holiday photo booth, comedian Sara Schaefer, and DJ Jonny Con Carne spinning tunes.)
NYTVF Holiday Bonanza, the Second Annual Recession-Buster Holiday Party: Wednesday night, 7:30 PM, For Your Imagination Studios (It’s a “bring your own” sort of holiday party; check out the Facebook invitation for a list of recommended items.)
Obliterati’s Holiday Spectacular: Thursday night, 6 PM, Destination Bar (Sponsored by Citysearch, there’ll be an open bar early in the evening, gift bags for some “lucky” attendees, the presentation of the Obliterati Awards, and the chance to win prizes in exchange for a can of food donation.)
PRNewser’s Holiday Party: Thursday night, 6:30 PM, Libation (PR professionals will gather for drinks and appetizers to celebrate the last PRNewser party of the decade.)
Squarespace’s Holiday Party: Thursday night, 7 PM, 459 Broadway (There’ll be an “un” photo booth and a chance to rock out with their new Rock Band setup.)
darklooming - No. 8: Friday night, 9 PM, The Gutter (The bowling alley hosts an evening of music.)
BurgerTourNYC: Sunday, Time TBD and multiple locations (Sample burgers from six New York City burger joints and raise money to fight leukemia in the process.)

Not sure if I can squeeze anything else onto the calendar this week. In the meantime, hope to see you at one of these!

Wired magazine hosted a cocktail reception at its pop-up store...

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 15:56:00 -0500

Wired magazine hosted a cocktail reception at its pop-up store in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District last night to promote former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Tck Tck Tck campaign. Tck Tck Tck, according to its Web site, is a “global initiative that is calling for a fair, ambitious, and binding climate change agreement” to be made at the United Nations’ Climate Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark taking place this month.

Help to support this group, there were (not surprisingly) “eco-friendly cocktails” provided by Veev Vodka and “sustainable wine” provided by Wine For Change-St. Luke’s Estate Wines. There were also performances by “tck artists,” Mark Ronson, Dan Black, Jamie Burke’s Delilah, and Theophilus London.

Also in attendance were Unit 7’s Meredith Berke, MediaPost’s Kelly Samardak, music industry professional David Factor, and the “Internet’s music teacher” Walt Ribeiro. (If I managed to miss you, you can always let me know you were there here.)

Cucpakes Take The Cake’s founding editors Rachel Kramer...

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:37:40 -0500

Laura & Matt

Nichelle, Rachel, and Melissa

Cucpakes Take The Cake’s founding editors Rachel Kramer Bussel and Nichelle Stephens celebrated the blog’s fifth anniversary last night at the Roger Smith Hotel in Manhattan’s Midtown East neighborhood with friends, fans, and cupcakes donated from the various bakeries in the New York City area written about the blog over the years.

Guests included Mouth of the Border’s Emily Cavalier, Elizabeth Online’s Elizabeth King, Kitten Couture’s Kimmie Smith, analyst Sean Captain, LMG digitalMedia’s Andre Archimbaud, Little, Brown & Co.’s Laura Keefe, and Emily Hanhan. (If I missed you, please feel free to let me know here.)

[Editor’s Note: Photos of Laura, Nichelle, Rachel, and Matt Caldecutt courtesy of GuestofaGuest. For their coverage and additional photos, please click here.]

(via funsize & fashism) While I settled on a glass of...

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:03:51 -0500

(via funsize & fashism)

While I settled on a glass of champagne, it appears that Fashism’s Brooke Moreland used the LearnVest party as an opportunity to score what she is wearing in the above photo, one of five of “these bad boys” that the store has in stock.

The next stop was LearnVest’s holiday party which was held...

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:44:00 -0500

The next stop was LearnVest’s holiday party which was held at The Limited Pop-Up Store which is also in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood. (LearnVest, which you can check out here, is a newly-launched Web site which is geared towards users understand their finances better.)

Surrounded by the store’s clothing, Pepsi We Inspire’s Nichelle Stephens, blogger Sarah Merion, and I were offered champagne and a number of hors d’oeuvres which I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to sample given the amount of food we had just been offered at the party for Kirtsy Takes a Bow. Although arriving well after the formal start, we did get to hear The Limited CEO Linda Heasley and LearnVest founder Alexa von Tobel address the guests, Heasley talked about what her female assistants and colleagues found particularly useful about the site and von Tobel thanked everyone for their support, especially since she had dropped out of school in a recession to work on this new business venture. More photos of the event, by the way, are available at Patrick McMullan’s PmC Web site.

Also in attendance were LearnVest’s Caroline Waxler, Gawker’s founding editor Elizabeth Spiers, Web site designer Rex Sorgatz, political pundit Peter Feld, Fashism’s Brooke Moreland, drop.io’s Sam Lessin, and comedian Jacquetta Szathmari. (If I happened to miss you and you’d like to be included here, please send me an e-mail.)

Nichelle, Sarah, and I then headed over to analyst Sean Captain’s Tuesday Night Drinking Club (which was moved to Wednesday this week) and after that, we joined McKinsey & Co.’s Devin Brown, Agent16’s Jenean Chapman, and Shecky’s Pas Niratbhand for a quick bite before heading back uptown.

[Editor’s Note: In the interest of disclosure, a gift bag was given to me as a I left, but based on Sarah’s description of its contents, I can assure you that it in no way has influenced my coverage of this event. In fact, I’ll probably have to give its contents away.]

Wednesday night was jam-packed with events from...

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:02:09 -0500

Wednesday night was jam-packed with events from Manhattan’s Midtown to SoHo neighborhoods. My evening started off with the release party for Kirtsy Takes A Bow: A Celebration of Women’s Online Favorites (which includes the URL for and a description of Cupcakes Take The Cake, co-founded by Pepsi We Inspire’s Nichelle Stephens), a new book compiled by the founders and editors of Kirtsy and edited by Laura Mayes. The event was held at Meet at The Apartment, a space available for parties and other gatherings in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood.

This was my first time at Meet at The Apartment and I have to say, I was rather impressed. Two enormous flat-screen televisions lined the walls with the Web site for the book up for easy viewing, there was a bar where you could pour yourself a drink, white wine, red wine, or water, and an rather extensive selection of food, including Chinese, cheeses, and other snacks.

I was joined there by Squarespace’s Erica Reitman, Citizen of the Month’s Neil Kramer, and blogger Sarah Merion. (If I left you out because I didn’t get your card, please feel free to let me know here.)

The Niche List: Effing Cool Women

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:19:34 -0500

Under the crush of parties and events, I bring you a little something, something.

Saturday, December 5. Tina Shoulders of LaidBack Home presents the Cupcake Show. I will be speaking about cupcakes at Harmony Designs, 115 South 4th Ave Lower level in Mount Vernon, NY. 1PM. FREE.

Sunday, December 6. Do some crafty holiday shopping at the Bust Craftacular. Metropolitan Pavilion 125 West 18th Street. 10AM-8PM

Sunday, December 6. The FCW Holiday Party will be at Angels and Kings. Hosted by Yolanda Shoshana and featuring performance by Jessica Delfino. There will also be a clothing swap. 4-8PM

[Editor’s Note: The above is republished in its entirety from the personal blog of Nichelle Stephens.]

NY Tech Meetup Holds Afterparty in Chelsea

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:32:00 -0500

After the #140Conf New York Meetup, Pepsi We Inspire’s Nichelle Stephens, publicist Biana Bakman, Martha Stewart Living’s Brenda Dargan, and I headed up to Black Door, a bar in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood for the NY Tech Meetup afterparty. The front of the bar was terribly crowded when we arrived so we made a beeline for the back which, upon our arrival, was totally empty.

There, we caught up with Fashism’s Brooke Moreland, Alexander Interactive’s David Wertheimer, Horn Group’s Nate Hermes, Launchsquad’s Miko Mercer, New Work City’s Tony Bacigalupo and Ana Hevesi, Brainewave Consulting’s Mike Caprio, NewTeeVee’s Ryan Lawler, and Peter Chislett. (If I missed you, please feel free to let me know here.)

#140Conf New York Meetup: "Twitter is Like Prison"

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:48:19 -0500

Given how many have recommended I attend one of these meetups, which have been going on since the 140 Character Conference in June of this year at New World Stages in Manhattan’s Midtown West neighborhood, I decided to forgo the monthly NY Tech Meetup and headed to this at 3LD Art & Technology Center in Manhattan’s Financial District neighborhood.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to arrive at 5 PM, given how far the venue is from my office, but I was able to attend the following presentations and below, you’ll find my observations about those:

How the “real-time internet” is transforming PR and journalism: DeVries PR’s Stephanie Smirnov, New York University’s Jay Rosen, and publicist Sarah Evans discussed how Twitter especially is altering PR. Rosen, at one point, said that since “sources can go direct, it’s everyone’s responsibility to tell truth.”
Twitter for News Gathering / Insights: One half of The Today Show’s Twitter team talked about how they use Twitter and are encouraging other members of the show to use it to interact with viewers and get a jump on news stories.
Twitter, Tanzania, and the #TwitterKids: Husand-and-wife team AJ and Melissa Leon talked about using Twitter and Tumblr to help teach children English at Shepherds Junior in Arusha, Tanzania, a variant of a curriculum which Melissa first used in Manhattan’s East Harlem neighborhood. Attendees learned how the children were taught about sending messages via the Internet using index cards, how Gary Vee shipped them copies of his book Crush It!, and how Twitterkids is being launched as a non-profit. (Twitterkids, by the way, was initially funded by Epic Change, the organization which put together the Tweetsgiving that I recently attended at the Roger Smith Hotel.)
Discussion about Twitter Lists: Social media content strategist Catherine Ventura talked about Twitter lists, but an audience member put it best when he likened being on certain lists to being able to attend certain now defunct clubs in New York City.
Social Media Policies: Encouraging Skeptical Execs (and Lawyers) to Promote Rather Than Prohibit: Jonathan I. Ezor spoke about “converting” social-media skeptics into users, giving the evening a bit of a “revival” feeling, one which I spoke about extensively at the NY Tech Meetup afterparty later in the evening.

The evening ended with a talk by a former inmate who had traveled across the country with photographer Geo Geller. He compared the culture of prison to the culture of Twitter since on Twitter, as in prison, you’re only as valuable as your word. (It was an interesting comparison, one that led me later to say that “social media is prison.)

Joining me were Mouth of the Border’s Emily Cavalier, Martha Stewart Living’s Brenda Dargan, HS Dominion’s Damien Basile, publicist Biana Bakman, The Hatchery’s David Blumenstein, McKinsey & Co.’s Devin Brown, Bloom Effect’s Fiona Bloom, SavvyAuntie’s Melanie Notkin, and Pepsi We Inspire’s Nichelle Stephens. (If I missed you, please feel free to let me know here.)

(via icanseenewyorkcityfrommyhouse, andrearosen, & urdb) At...

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:14:03 -0500

(via icanseenewyorkcityfrommyhouse, andrearosen, & urdb)

At Pianos in Manhattan’s Lower East Side neighborhood on Thursday, December 10, from 7 to 10 PM, URDB.org will present the World Record Appreciation Society event where ten new worlld record will be set.