5chw4r7z:: the ethos of downtown Cincinnati

Parker Flats Friday

After the storm.

[where: 45202]best place to learn how to live downtown cincinnati ohio the ethos of Cincinnati
comments?

Genius of Water

[where: 45202]best place to learn how to live downtown cincinnati ohio the ethos of Cincinnati
comments?

The lowly hotdog, not very impressive, no one would expect it to change the world or even anyone’s life. but, add a few quality ingredients to replace the filler. Add an unexpected topping or two and you may end up with a dog that changes minds about the hotdog, or even one tiny part of the world.

photo credit Mandira Jacob
Social media, if you believe the skeptics is not very impressive. A place to post what was had for breakfast. or lunch. Not exactly something that will change the world or even anyone’s life.
Until it does. Replace a few posts about lunch with a valuable link. A link to your favorite gastro pub in an up and coming neighborhood. You may have just changed a tiny little part of your world, and maybe the way someone looks at the world. In effect their life.

photo credit Mandira Jacob

photo credit Ms 5chw4r7z
Last night i was invited to weigh in on a college journalism class, my thoughts on social media, blogging and where it’s taken me and some bumps along the way. Winemedineme also contributed so I hope between the two of us the students found some value in what we had to offer.

As an example of the power of social media Tom Callinan, the instructor, brought up a place that does no advertising but relies instead on word of mouth, Senate. Those guys are riding a wave of social media success. If I had a dollar for everyday someone did not talk about the poutine at Senate, I wouldn’t have enough money for a senate hotdog.

Afterward after all the Senate talk we could not not go to Senate so we went. Ok, it has been too long since we've been there, I swear the dogs are better than I remember. The memory fads with time. And the hotdogs aren’t just any Oscar Meyer, oh no, think 1/4lb gourmet dog that melts in your mouth.
Don’t laugh at my selection, it doesn’t sound masculine, but I got the Hello Kitty2.0.
Cole slaw, bacon and a few other Asian ingredients. With every bite I thought, why do I feel like I’m eating sushi? Halfway through, a realization.
Wasabi!!

Of course you can get other American fare there too, they're just known for the hotdogs.
If you haven’t given social media a fair chance, or Senate, you need to give them both a try. You’ll be surprised what happens.[where: 45202]best place to learn how to live downtown cincinnati ohio the ethos of Cincinnati
comments?

Painted Fish

Kicking around a couple Fridays ago we ended up with more time than we expected in the Northside.
Thank Steve Jobs and Groupon (product placement) for an iPhone app as we rolled into Painted Fish in the the Northside which some friends have been raving about. And I can see why, the food is high quality and flavorful.
The Groupon app really comes in handy, letting you be more spontaneous, no need to print out and carry around groupons anymore.
Painted Fish is decorated dramaticly inside, heightening the anticipation of sushi to come. The outdoor deck looked nice too, but, if you live in or around Cincinnati you know its been raining this entire year.

Interestingly, the more relaxed we are and the more fun we're having, the less questions we ask, which can really bite you when what you order is nothing like what you expected it too be. Usually I'm the one this happens but hey, nothings bringing us down and we went with it anyhow. In our mind this was going to be a stir fry.

lots and lots of fried stuff, chop sticks away

[where: 45202]best place to learn how to live downtown cincinnati ohio the ethos of Cincinnati
2 comments

a flight of fancy, making Ohio cool

How cool would it be on Rt71, way up north of Columbus where the rock stations thin out they could engrave the road with music. Rock in one lane, I vote the fast lane and classical in the slow lane. A nice hum you could hear and feel to break up the miles heading home to visit family.
A cool secondary effect of this, if they tune it so it plays at 65mph, everyone will drive the speed limit or go crazy.
Except maybe the punk rockers who would zoom along at high rates of super charged music speed.
Why stop there though, what if as you drive across 5th and you pass Fountain Square you hear Jake Speed's "Lady in the Fountain".
Driving up Main St in OTR you'd hear something from the band Over the Rhine.
75 to Dayton maybe something from Emily Strand?[where: 45202]best place to learn how to live downtown cincinnati ohio the ethos of Cincinnati
comments?

Happy Easter

[where: 45202]best place to learn how to live downtown cincinnati ohio the ethos of Cincinnati
comments?

Stuffed on Vine

As the revitalization of OTR continues its march up Vine street like new shoots in the spring you have to go farther and farther north for some adventure. After Jenny's writeup on UrbanCincy a bunch of us decided we had to try Stuffed on Vine now. The concept is the burgers are stuffed with the extras, instead of asking what you want on your burger, they ask what you want in your burger. They were still dry when we went, no beer or liqueur sales, so two burgers and soft drinks got us out of there for a 20. Its a nice little hole in the wall joint with incredibly friendly and helpful staff, we all felt welcomed and relaxed.
As you can you can imagine, plenty of parking available out front, then you're only a short hop from the Lackman or Neon's when you get finished.

The original bar, they've had it refinished.

everything you want, tucked neatly into the burger

it wouldn't be a proper blog post without an awkward Jenny picture now would it?

[where: 45202]best place to learn how to live downtown cincinnati ohio the ethos of Cincinnati
comments?

Cirque Du Soleil OVO

What to say about Cirque that hasn't been said in the last 19 years.
Last night we were treated to the dress rehearsal which they warned the performance could be stopped for fine tuning. But it went off without a hitch.
The evening started off with food and drinks, but just not any food, no, it too was a circus. A circus in your mouth, hitting every spot and doing flips on your tongue.
Can I tell the story about my foot getting stepped on? Good, so my foot gets stepped on an appology is issued and Ms 5chw4r7z starts gabbing with the gentleman, introductions go around. Steve Norris. OK why does that name sound familiar, are his comercials on constant rotation? You know like Steve Norris Hyundai in Florence. No silly Ms 5chw4r7z says later, he's the WCPO weatherman. OK, he's shorter in real life than I thought he'd be.

OVO comprised of nine acts spanning two and half hours including a half hour intermission but it certainly didn't feel that long. Its amazing how far the human body can be pushed.
How long do you think you could do a one handed hand stand.
On a tight rope.
30' above the ground.
And then do a handstand on a unicycle on a tight rope. Because, you know, riding a unicycle normally on a tight rope would just be too easy. I can't even pick what my favorite act was, the ants juggling food and each other with their feet? The butterfly emerging from a cocoon? The trapeze artists or acrobats on the trampoline running straight up walls? The whole thing was my favorite part.
There were no photos allowed in the main tent, which to tell the truth I wasn't that upset with, I would have been snapping pictures like crazy instead of enjoying the show.

Right before the show started Shebar and I decide to make a cupcake run, and while we're picking out some good ones we took just a little too long and got busted by the cupcake gestapo.
Damn! We would have totally got away with it if we hadn't stopped for a minute to talk, I'm blaming it all on Kevin Dugan.

If you've been to a Cirque Du Soleil event before you don't need me telling you to buy tickets, you've undoubtedly already bought them. If you haven't experienced Cirque Du Soleil yet, don't second guess yourself, buy tickets now, you'll thank me. They have a number of different packages including some pamily packs. Get all the OVO information right here.

I want to thank Kristen Humphrey of Hadley Media, Darcy Little of Vehr Communications and Alex Shebar the Cincinnati Yelp Community Manager for hooking me up with an incredible experience and treating us like royalty.[where: 45202]best place to learn how to live downtown cincinnati ohio the ethos of Cincinnati
3 comments

Studio Tobac at the Beer Sellar

Not the usual cigar taste at the Beer Sellar where they just hand out cigars, this time they lit it up with the Studio Tobac World Tour 2011. If you haven't tried a Cain yet here's the lowdown.
Cigars are constructed with a wrapper, usually the most expensive leaf in the cigar, filler of a little lower quality and one high grade ligero leaf (idealy). This is where most of the flavor comes from. The Cain series, they pack more Ligero into their cigars than anyone else. You end up with a cigar tasting better than average for sure.
In addition to cool shirt, cigars, lighters and cutter they also had a torcedore rolling fresh cigars.
I hope Party Source does more events like this in the future involving manufactures.

The evening turned out pleasant and the sun popped out for awhile. Didn't help the Reds any.

[where: 45202]best place to learn how to live downtown cincinnati ohio the ethos of Cincinnati
4 comments

a tourist in your own town

I love getting visitors to the Queen City, seeing the city through a fresh set of eyes. It reminds me why I fell in love with it to begin with. Jackie was back in town this past weekend, and even though she spent a year downtown back in 2007-8 as you can imagine everything and nothing has changed since then.

Park+Vine was kind of the same, but different in a new location. I'm still using the original canvas grocery bags I bought when they first opened. Those things are 4 yrs old, been through the wash a bunch. Wonder how many plastic bags I've kept out of the landfill?

I really like all the plantscapes on the fire escapes in OTR.

I don't remember every walking or driving on this block of Central and if I did I was most likely looking at the SPCA, so how crazy was it to look across the street and see a building for the first time after years downtown?