iPhone video: "An NYC vacation, or whatever."!! (Travel!!)
I've never really shot video before, never edited it either. Never had a reason as I wasn't too into carrying around a Flip or even a video enabled point and shoot. And I really didn't think getting the new iPhone would change that much. Wrong. It did. Super impressed with how easy it is now. So I was in NYC for a vacation with my friend Neil - and instead of my usual uploading a photo to Flickr to document the scene - I shot like a 120 short videos, 22 minutes worth, and made this in iMovie:
I haven't taken a vacation in a while - this really isn't an actual vacation as I'll be doing a bit of Boxed Water business while in town, etc, but I'm hitting the museums this time. And eating better too. And hitting Topman's. I'm headed out there with a good friend of mine here in town, Neil Hubert (check his work), he's never been to the Big Apple so it should be a good look. And, and!! Virgil and I's friend Gabe is opening his new restaurant Joseph Leonard too, check the link below. Crazy - I can't even wait for the behind the scenes look on that one. So yeah, I'm going to be somewhat busy - but hit me up on twitter or here hello@thebrilliance.com and we'll see what's up. We'll be staying in the Lower East Side so we'll be around all those spots, etc. Yeah - direct flights from Grand Rapids, kind of excited about it.
"So Sweaty", my favorite blog right now! (Travel!!)
"Coffee on the menu was 47 cents." So a good friend of mine/riding partner, Geoff Holstad and his lovely girlfriend SarahDarnell set off on a trip from downtown Grand Rapids, MI all the way to Portland, OR on their bikes. They started about a month ago and they've been steadily updating their blog, So Sweaty, along the way. I love how Geoff puts it all together on the blog, seriously, love the short quips, little details, tone, etc. Funny, its one of those things, how do you update a blog about riding a bicycle across the country? Seems like you either write a book when you're done or you do a blog just as Geoff has with the simple and super fun to read updates. Well done my man. So yeah, check the blog out and get inspired to do your own trip/adventure. And to: Geoff and Sarah: we miss you guys here downtown, and yes, I'm riding the Madison often, seriously!! Have fun, ride safe, can't wait to hear all the stories.
I love water parks man. And why not - they're super fun, right? I need to have more fun. I haven't been to one in forever, but I was just watching some show on the travel channel and it reminded me how I used to doodle water park designs when I was in like 6th grade - I wanted to open a water park. And this was pre-indoor water parks too I think, which is what I wanted to do being from the midwest. As much as I love really beautiful natural parks - the idea of like a Willy Wonka/Peter Pan water-land stirs the imagination a bit. And actually, another true story, my good friend Kevin (Boxed Water operations) and I are planning on a water park tour as a bit of a vacation as a bit of celebration once we get national distribution. No trips to the Four Seasons in the islands, etc, for us. We're hitting like Orlando, the Wisconsin Dells, and a bunch of the Schlitterbahn locations. Popping corks on the lazy river!! So yeah, thats my post. Super random. Catch me at your local water park with the short Vilebrequins on! ***Why are water park websites always so terribly designed??
So I am broadcasting from The Standard Hotel aka the crazy building that spans the High Line in NYC's Meatpacking District. The Standard is seriously my favorite brand of hotels to stay in, in the world. Ritzy-fancy-old-hotel have too much of a generational gap for me and most boutique hotels over do it on the wrong details. The Standard does it right on all the details. Their logo is written upside down on everything. I love it every time. First off the design of this building is one of the best in NYC, period. It looks like it should even stand up properly. The entry/lobby is a smash...mirrors, marble and interesting lights. The experience of the stay is where The Standard keeps winning. The reality priced liquor bar makes it actually make sense to partake. I really dig the layout of the room, my glass boxed in shower is dead center in the room and separates the bedroom & bathroom. Free wifi (note to all hotels, get with the times). Free breakfast room service! Awesome views no matter what room you got. And icing on the cake is the iHome iPod stereo thing that actually charges my forever dead iPhone while blasting Sebastian Tellier all day long...and yeah...tons of 'real' magazines, like Fantastic Man, V, Art in America, TAR, etc. All in all I think you get the gist, I am raving about this place. It's that good.
Have you ever taken a "45 minute vacation?" I just did! (Travel!!)
Alright...so I got a bit of the winter blues going on. We've gotten just slammed by winter this year...like 3-4 snow storms already, super low temps for a week at a time, and its only mid January! I guess I complain about this every year, but this year just seems to be bugging me more than usual. And I have a headache today. So I decided to take what I'm now calling a "45 minute vacation." I'm kind of creating a list of things you can do to refresh and renew a bit when old man winter puts his cigarette out in your drink. We're lucky enough to have a really great conservatory/botanical garden here in Grand Rapids, the Fredrick Meijer Gardens. Conservatories, as I detailed in a post a while ago, just blow my mind. A whole mini rainforest inside a beautiful glass building...you know? So today I headed over during lunch to stroll around, enjoy humid air, smell some fresh plants/flowers, listen to the waterfalls, and even get some work done on a new project I was stressing about. As you can imagine, its the middle of the day, and very few people were there...even better. It seriously felt like a tiny vacation. Check out the photos I took!! So...the question is, does anyone else have a "45 minute vacation" recommendation or idea for me? Hit us up, hello@thebrilliance.com
A couple days at The James hotel Chicago! (Travel!!)
I haven't done a hotel review in a while...I used to do a decent amount - guess I need to travel more. So yeah, just stayed at the The James hotel in Chicago last week for a couple nights for a business trip of sorts - and I liked it quite a bit. It's one of the first 'boutique' hotels I've stayed at that didn't have some weird kitschy 'theme' they were trying to push on you. Instead, they seem to focus on good service, decent art and compliments in the common areas, nice sized rooms with cool furniture that had a West Elm kind of feel to it, large bathrooms (even though ours had one of those super basic pre-fab tubs in it), half bottles of all your favorite spirits instead of a mini-bar - which presents much better, and Kiehls toiletries which was super nice...in fact, I'm quite proud that I've grown up enough now to stop myself from just snatching a bunch from the house-keeping cart in the hall, ha. I dig the location too...about 2 blocks off Michigan Ave west from The Gap store on Ontario, so pretty centrally located to the whole 'Magnificent Mile' thing. And a Trader Joe's across the street...kind of can't beat that. But yeah, I liked it...I liked how simple it was and how they didn't have anything that felt like they were tricking you into thinking they're some 'amazing' hotel...you know, like blue neon lights under the bed. Ha, I stayed at a hotel that had those. It's just a nice, classic but modern, well executed hotel. Love the popcorn they had at the bar with the weird hot spicy stuff on it.
2/3rds of THE BRILLIANCE! is off to Asheville, NC!! (Travel!!)
A little business/vacation trip for Chuck and myself. I've never been to Asheville, or anywhere in North Carolina before...always cool to visit new places. And we're lucky enough to be staying at what looks like a pretty fantastic resort/spa called the Grove Park Inn & Spa. Yeah, looks super nice...especially the spa. I already made my appointment. I think we're hitting up the whole Biltmore Estate thing as well. Anyway, yeah, looking forward to it...I haven't traveled with Chuck (and now his wife too!) in a while, so should be fun. That's my post. And just FYI, I'm eating a 12 inch Italian BMT from Subway right now, and its delicious.
Ace Hotel announces NYC and Palm Springs locations!!! (Travel!!)
And they're at it again...first Seattle, then Portland...now NYC (!!) and Palm Springs. We're huge fans of the Ace Hotel Group and all Alex Calderwood's projects so we of course love seeing them open more locations. With these two new locations they're really living up to the comment Alex made in his interview with us:"...we're looking to open 2 hotels a year for the next 5 years..." What a serious goal. So yeah, these new spots - looks like they are continuing to progress their brand with each new spot. Kind of expected from these guys right? But what I love is their concern/focus on staying true to the original vision displayed so well in Seattle, quote from the press thing they just emailed us: "Our sensibility is democratic and inclusive." Perfect...and in only 6 words. They're both opening winter 08/09, so pretty quick here. Check out a few pictures here, sketches from their design firm of the rooms. Congrats to the whole Ace Hotel Group team, what's up Alex!!, and thanks Ryan for sending these over. I'll now have a no-brainer decision when in NYC and a great excuse to shoot down to Palm Springs for a winter weekend.
Ha, it might not be the euro-jet-setting that my man Virgil is doing right now, but I've got some family business to attend to...a family reunion actually. And honestly, isn't it fun to experience something totally different every once in a while? I think I'll do a trip photo set of some sort, document the great plains states a bit. I mean, I went there when I was a little kid, so it'll be somewhat familiar...but its been a while. Actually, its been a long time since I've been out of the 'city' environment in general - it'll be a nice break. I can't wait to check the stars at night. Anyone know of any spots I should check out in the Watertown/Sioux Falls area? ***Totally off subject, this new GLC track 'Riding by Myself' that just came dropped on the web? 'I ride my car so cold...' That hand-clap??! Love it. And hey, there you have it, THE BRILLIANCE! at it's finest...I'll reference South Dakota and GLC in the same post. Where else on the web do you get that? Ha.
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All opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of ANY of the companies/products/services/places reviewed.
