THE AWESOME FOUNDATION!

So if you spent anytime with me, in person or virtually (blog, twitter, facebook) you know that I kind of TALK A LOT about MY IDEAS, MY PROJECTS, MY WORK, MY LACK OF WORK and MY LACK OF MONEY to fund my ideas and pay for my apartment at the same time.  I know I’m not the only one in this boat, so I’ve started to research, resources, grants, organizations and even continuing education classes.  The Internet can be a bit overwheleming at times. Where to go? Where to start? What is actually helpful? So I thought I would start testing out things and reporting on my results. Perhaps if I find something that is useful to me, it will also be useful to you. If I find out an organization is NOT helpful I will also be sure to report that as well.

First thing I am going to do is apply for a grant to the AWESOME FOUNDATION

What is THE AWESOME FOUNDATION and what is AWESOME?

“Awesomeness is often overlooked by mainstream culture, which tends to rehash the same broadly appealing but mediocre creations. Thankfully, there is the web.

Awesomeness is more the product of a creator’s passion than the prospect of audience or profit. Awesome creations are novel and non-obvious, evoking surprise and delight. Invariably, something about them perfectly reflects the essence of the medium, moment, or method of creation. Awesomeness challenges and inspires”

Do you walk around your neighborhood and find yourself nostalgic for that old favorite  bar, restaurant, coffee shop or  venue where you saw _______ band or ______ comedian for the first time. I do. Do you often wonder what your Grandpa or Grandma would say of that same neighborhood? I do.

Gallery Bar, another venue that doubles as an art gallery by day, lounge by night, unveils Sampling and Revisions: The L.E.S. deframed. This exhibit curated by Zoe Lukow opens tonight, March 3rd till March 24th and commemorates the neighborhood history through photographs of then and now.

Gallery Bar is located at 120 Orchard Street, north of Delancey.

I apologize as I totally dropped the ball. Only writing about pancakes for the month of February is shameful, unless of course I was a food critic blogger.

What’s going on this week in NYC? Tons of cool stuff!

Friday Feb. 26th

Wonderland: A Tim Burton Ball - dress up in your favorite character and learn to dance!

Dumbo Art Center: Pop Up Art Sale - Help support them and some wonderfully talent artists while also adding something to your wall. Art prices start at $50 a pop.

On Saturday 27th

The Music Hall of Williamsburg is screening UNPROTECTED, a series of 2 minute films by members of The FilmShop. For more information click here

Bike Buddy & Bike Tweetup in Brooklyn.

On Sunday Feb 28th

NYC Food Crawl Presents:  The February Pork Bun Crawl, Manhattan

Don’t forget to stop by City Bakery for the last day of the Hot Chocolate Festival! Sunday is their FINALE!!!!

What’s going on this week in Stacey Land? I was interviewed by The Film Talk two weeks ago, along with my counter part in Istanul but the interview was kind of cut out of the show and replaced with a really great promotion of Art By Chance. I guess we have to work on our audio interviewee presence…

Anyway, BIG THANKS to Jett Loe and Gareth Higgins for graciously giving our festival props on their show. If you are unfamiliar with The Film Talk and their podcasts head over to their website and hear intelligent conversations / arguments on the latest film releases.

Submissions for ART BY CHANCE are open till March 24th. Plenty of time to make a 30 second “TIME” themed film.

In other news, this Thursday at 8pm, I’ll be hosting a screening/fundraiser of  Poto Mitan, a documentary exploring the roles of Haitian women in the global economy. All proceeds go towards Partners in Health an organization that has been working on the ground in Haiti for 20 years.

How have I NOT HEARD of RunPee.com? Bladder issues, check. Hate going to the bathroom during a film, check. Hate missing out on that moment that reveals who did it or that moment when the protagonist comes of age, check.

Thanks to Dan Florio and his mom and pop shop, he tells you the best time to go to the bathroom. He’s also has a good heart and wants to help other developers with their projects. See for yourself at RunPee.com and of course you can access on your mobile device m.RunPee.com

P.S.  Thanks Mom for sharing this possible life alternating news!

So you are so over BAM’s Sounds Like Brooklyn festival, you’re in the mood for something more foreign, new or avant-garde, let me suggest the Unsound Festival that’s happening in venues throughout New York and Brooklyn starting tonight Feb 4th till 14th.

Opening night at Lincoln Center features Vladislav Delay, one of the most innovative musicians working in electronic music today, and Lillevan, the highly-regarded video artist who has worked with Fennesz and Morton Subotnik, continue an ongoing collaboration on a brand-new free-form audio and visual improvisation, creating their performance specifically for the David Rubenstein Atrium. There is also a special screening of Andy Warhol’s Kiss and Blow Job. You know if you want to star at one image on a screen for a very very long time. More information about Unsound Festival can be found at http://unsound.pl/en you can also find Unsound Festival 2010 lineup and music clips at though Last.fm page

When some people think of February they think of that “holiday” that start with a V and ends with cards, chocolate and overpriced dinners. February has a special place in my heart because it is PANKCAKE MONTH at CLINTON ST. BAKERY and HOT CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL time at City Bakery.

CLINTON ST. BAKERY

Chocolate & Blood Orange pancakes with candied orange glaze and warm apple butter Feb 1-3

Poached pears with vanilla bean whipped cream and warm apple butter Feb 4,5

Fresh coconute pancakes with passion fruit syrup and bananas Feb 8-9

Roasted apples with candied walnuts and warm maple carmel butter Feb 10-11

Classic Chocolate Chunk fresh raspberries and raspberry -carmel sauce Feb 12-

Brown sugar pecans, bananas and cinnamon maple butter Feb 16-17

Classic Chocolate Chunk Feb 18-22

Fresh blackberries, pecan streusel, warm maple butter Feb 23-24

Crunch Bananas with cinnamon-chili-chocolate sauce Feb 25-26

CITY BAKERY”S HOT CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL kicks of Feb 1st with Lemon Hot Chocolate

IN PRODUCTION:

We All Eat Webseries - Production start date: 1/24/2010

Art By Chance - Production started 12/1/2009

DEVELOPMENT & PRE-PRODUCTION

PapergirlNYC - August 2010 - (in collaboration with Rebels with a cause).

http://www.vimeo.com/4318007

ON-GOING

Available for work & consultation (Video Production, Event Production, Development, Social Media Marketing)

Stacey Eats: a neighborhood guide to cheap eats.

This year’s Sundance has done a lot to revamp their programming. Adding the new Next (low-budget) features and the traveling premiers of films in several different cities.

If you can’t make it to Utah, If you don’t leave in on of the choosen cities above then what do you do?

You can watch 5 Sundance Films 3 of which are 2010 premiers on YouTube (for a small price of course).

Three  American independent feature films from the 2010 Sundance Film Festival will debut on YouTube even before audiences get a chance to see the movies at the festival in Park City, UT. Launching this Friday for VOD rental online in the United States - from this year’s Sundance fest - are Michael Mohan’s “One Too Many Mornings,” Todd and Brad Barnes “Homewrecker,” and Linas Philips’ “Bass Ackwards.” Meanwhile, from last year’s Sundance, YouTube will also be renting Tze Chun’s “Children of Invention” and Louie Psihoyo’s “The Cove” online.

I LOVE food, which is evident if you’ve read my Stacey Eats: East Village or Stacey Eats: Williamsburg. Food is the one common denominator that I have with the people closest to me. Not a day goes by where someone I know isn’t sending me a picture of something they ate or commenting on a picture of something that I’ve eaten. This also explains my love and need for the gym. Without it I’d be like 400lbs.

I have been experimenting in the kitchen and reading My Life In France which lead me to do a search for cooking classes in NYC. I already tried to volunteer for Astor Food and Wine, if you volunteer your time, you can take a class for free. So far, I haven’t been selected as a volunteer. So, I started searching for alternative options and I found a few.

Brooklyn Kitchen, Offers an array of classes from pizza making to chocolate making to butchering a pig with the one you love see Date Night: Pig Butchering). Classes range from free to about $80.

I also found… Trinisoul Offers class for adults, kids and for parties. Learn to make Caribbean and Trinidadian food!

If money is no object then by all means check out Astor Food and Wine. It’s seems like a fancy smancy cooking experience ($125/class).  They theme classes (Tuscan, Wine, Green Market). You can always get on their volunteer list like me and wait and wait and wait your turn.