Holyoksterdam!

Welcome to a City of beautiful canals, elegrant architecture, cobblestone street(s), and loads of history. Let your imagination get to work as to what Holyoksterdam could be. It's cool being a "fossil Venice" but it's damn cool being a Holyoksterdam.


Just some rambling... maybe I'll put my somewhat facetious proposal sometime.

Upstarts Book Launch

I just got back from Donna Fenn's Upstarts! book launch party. It was at 7 World Trade Center in New York City and attended by many of the vibrant, young entrepreneurs featured in the book. If you haven't ordered a copy of this book, you can do so at Amazon or pick it up at your local bookstore.

Story in Boston Magazine

Young Gun: Would You Let This Kid Save Your Town? Brendan Ciecko made his name—and a boatload of money—as the music industry's go-to website designer. Now that he's finally old enough to buy beer, he's decided to take on a slightly less sexy project: remaking his hardscrabble hometown.

The story hits newsstands today but you can read it online at BostonMagazine.com. I hope you enjoy.

Innovate Holyoke

Last Wednesday, Governor Deval Patrick unveiled the next steps for the massive high-performance computing center planned for downtown Holyoke. I'm glad to say that things are moving forward, and quickly at that. The HPCC should be completed by 2011. At the press conference, I had the honor of speaking at the podium to share my enthusiasm and walk everyone through the project's online presence. The event and various details are outlined here and all the latest news can be found at InnovateHolyoke.com, which was launched by my company, Ten Minute Media. With the computing center, Victory Theatre, CanalWalk, Mountain Park, and a few other new developments, noticeable progress is definitely being made.

P.S: Holyoke has a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the Republic of France...

It's All Here

This past Thursday, I was in Cambridge at Akamai Technologies headquarters for the start of the day. I was recently appointed to the Advisory Council for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' "It's All Here" campaign and was there for the launch event. Powerful words were delivered by Greg Bialecki, J.D. Sherman (CFO of Akamai), and Robert Culver (CEO of MassDevelopment) to warm up the crowd. Soon after, the Commonwealth's communications guru, Kofi Jones took the floor and unveiled the campaign. You can read more about the initiative in the Boston Globe.

Anyways, from the invention of chocolate chip cookies, to the technology that powers the internet, endless innovations flow from this state and it's time to take another look at everything that's here... especially those cookies.

The Wodka Wars

"Vice Scandinavia correspondent Ivar Berglin travels to the front lines of the Vodka/Wodka Wars – and discovers that the tortured history of Russian-Polish relations can be saved in a bottle."



At first glance, I thought this would be a comedic piece about vodka, but as the documentary played on it revealed a powerful story of Polish nationalism, identity, history - and of course, the rightful origin of wodka. I was very impressed by this video.

Note: When I was in Kraków a few years ago, there were no people walking around in giant beer costumes. Maybe next time?

Jim Jefferies in Boston

Last Friday, Elizabeth and I headed to Boston to see emerging comedian Jim Jefferies. He has been the talk of the Edinburgh Fringe / Comedy Festival, regarded as the UK's most offensive comic, and he's also a client - I was very excited to see him live and say hello.

Before the show we had dinner at Gaslight Brasserie, a French bistro in the South End. The decor was very similar to that of Pastis in NYC (very, very similar menu) and Kingston Station in Boston - covered in shiney white subway tile, a floor of mosiac tile, antique lighting fixtures. After dinner, we walked over towards the BCA to pick up our tickets and meet with some friends at the Beehive, which was right next to the theatre.

After that, we went over the theatre to see Jim Jefferies.

I've seen lots of his older material, and recent HBO Special... I must say, his current stand-up routine tops any I've seen or heard so far. Witty punchlines, intense stories, dirty and clever, no boundries. You must hear it for yourself.

He'll be back on the East Coast in September at Carolines in NYC. I might need to experience his live show once again, it's worth it.