27 January 2009

Spreading 'joy' and a little bit of fame throughout the land

While this is not directly a Cleveland related posting, it does have at least some representations While listening to NPR (what else do I listen to) this past weekend, I heard a fantastic story about a man and an idea. He had a friend who was sick and eventually yielded to his sickness. As a memorial, Jeff Woodrow, Founder of Joy t-shirt, decided to sketch out his friend'sface and wear it on a t-shirt. As he wore his shirt around town, people starting inquiring about his shirt, wondering who the person was...an idea formed. What is Jeff was able to take people's photos, sketch them out and put them onto t-shirts? Well, it has worked. Currently, you can purchase a t-shirt on his site. Once you have purchased a shirt you can send him your photo to sketch and your face will likely end up on someone else's body..er...I mean shirt.

You can pick from different continents, or do a keyword search for specific people, places and passions. While the shirts are not the cheapest thing you will ever buy ($29.95 for a t-shirt and $31.95 for a bamboo tank - Canadian dollars), they are different, certified organic and probably the most unique thing you will ever own...that is until this amazing venture takes off and random faces are adorned throughout the land.

For more information you can visit the store at: http://www.joytshirt.com/

Enjoy!

26 January 2009

Cleveland International Film Festival and Film Feasts

Remember that little film festival called Sundance? Yeah, it came and went with a little less fan fare this year due to...oh, I dunno...the inaguration! Well, anyway, Cleveland has their own special film festival. The 33rd Annual International Film Festival runs March 19-29 at the Tower City Theatres in downtown Cleveland.

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of attending the Cleveland Film Fest's, Film Feast titled Food for Thought. It is one of many Feasts hosted prior to the festival opening. The event kicked off in the studio of Barney Taxel of Taxel Image Group. My comrade (Erika) and I were a bit late due to a tire blowout on the way (another story another day) and unsure what to expect. We walked in to a vivacious crowd, of all ages, chatting it up and enjoying both food and drink.

Around 8, the meat of the program began. As everyone got situated, Laura Taxel, food critic for Cleveland Magazine (and blog) began to MC. The Feast, and it definitely was a feast, featured three of the Cleveland area's top chefs: Jonathan Sawyer of Bar Cento (and soon to be Greenhouse Tavern on E. 4th St.), Rocco Whalen of Fahrenheit and Jill Vedaa of The Wine Bar at Rocky River. The program began with a brief introduction of each chef and then the mike was turned over to them to discuss favorite movies and whatever else they fancied.

Jonathan kicked it off with his Top 5 movie choices as follows:
5. Big Night
4. Scotland P.A.
3. Babette's Feast
2. Mostly Martha
1. Spanglish

Rocco followed with a much more robust, meandering list of his top picks (in no particular order):
Out for Justice
Fargo
L.A. Confidential
Drugstore Cowboy
National Lampoon's Vacation
Silence of the Lambs
Pulp Fiction (the $5 milkshake)
The Shawshank Redemption
Sex, Lies & Videotape
Two Days in the Valley
Raising Arizona
Stand By Me
The Big Lebowski
The Shining
Platoon
The 10 Commandments

Jill rounded out things with adding her three favorite food related movies:
Ratatoulle
The Cook, The Thief, The Wife and Her Lover
The Wizard of Oz

And lastly, as Laura took back the mic, she added a few of her own:
Vital
Waitress

The Q&A portion was lively with some great questions (themes of the Film Festival) and some more obscure ones (comparisons of CL to Ontario). A nice, unexpected highlight was Bill Guentzler coming up to talk about his recent excursion to Sundance. He said it was interesting, this year, while all the tickets were sold out, there were not as many people there, specificially it seemed, celebrity spotters. His guesstimation was that it's due to the economy and, of course, the inaguration. He gave us a great tidbit, in this year's film fest, be sure to check out Dean Spanley...while I did not see it on the film fest list, if you see something like it, be sure to check it out!

Lastly, before they set up free to more fantastic conversation and great food we were left with this: To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time. -Leonard Bernstein

06 January 2009

'Ice' skating at the Wade Oval

Ice skating takes most everyone back to their childhood days, and you can do it for free in the heart of Cleveland.

The Rink at Wade Oval is highlighted as the only free rink in the region. What makes this rink really spectacular is that it is not acutally made with real ice, but instead a composite. Cool, right?

If you don't own your own skates, you can rent them for only $3.

The rink is only open through February 16 so get your skate on while you can!


Rink Hours of Operation
January 9-February 16Fri & Sat, Noon-7:00 pmSun, Noon-5:00 pm

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Noon-5:00 p.m.
President's Day, Noon-5:00 p.m.

Rink hours are subject to change. Call 216-707-5033 for daily information.

http://www.universitycircle.org/uci.aspx?page=112