Another small Renaissance City: Telč

On the same cue as Zamość, I came across another small Renaissance City in Eastern Europe by the name of Telč in the southern regions of the Czech Republic.



Telč's street scape is enhanced by dynamic gables, continuous arcades, and impressive sgraffito façades. It's a much deserving World Heritage site.




I'm eager to get over there this spring when I'm living in Warsaw.

Zamość?

On an after-work research spree, I came across a beautiful aerial view of Zamość and was excited to find a dense, miniature city plan. I never knew much about this small town in Poland, but this picture along with images of the market colorful Armenian merchant houses that line the market square, inspired to me to find out more.



According to UNESCO, Zamość is a "perfect example of a late-16th-century Renaissance town", not only in terms of Poland but for the entire of world! It's supposedly one of the only untouched Renaissance cities on the planet. It has an interesting story too: Jan Zamoyski, an extremely wealthy Polish magnate, had tremendous sums of money to burn so he hired a reknown architect to create what they considered to be an "ideal city" and a capital to bypass paying certain trade tariffs. Clever. When all was said and done: the outcome was vivid, unique and awe-inspiring.


Zamość... it might even be more adorable than Cieszyn. Hopefully on my next trip, I'll have the opportunity to explore Zamość.

Last Saturday's Voyage to NYC

This past Saturday, a bunch of friends/entrepreneurs spent the day in NYC. Instances of the dreadful flu knocked out a couple of our comrades, but Sam, Zach, Caleb and I headed on our way. We grabbed lunch at Daniel Boulud's DGBG Kitchen, where we met up with Dominic of Garment Valet, and then made our way into the depths of SoHo to see some compelling art, cast-iron architecture, and furniture design. After parting ways with Dominic, we were joined by Justin, a friend of Zach and Sam of One Mighty Roar / BuildInternet.

We then made our way uptown to Columbus Circle to explore the Museum of Arts & Design where we were enticed and inspired by the current exhibition, Slash: Paper Under the Knife. Highly recommended. After that, we walked up to Verdi Square, one of my favorite general areas in the city... as I made the claimed that coffee taste better the closer you are geographically to The Ansonia. How could that not be true?

We headed back down to SoHo for dinner at Mercer Kitchen, and were joined by Andy of One Blue Brick / Edopter. The conversation was great... the food was so/so. Come on Jean! After narrowing down to the original Pioneer Valley crew, we hit up the Upright Citizen's Brigade for the some hilarious improv. I haven't laughed so hard since Jim Jefferies. After that came to an end, we made our way back to our neck of the woods. Time well spent. Always a good time in New York City.

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...