Tampa Is…?

Just a real quick note to Sticks of Fire readers who use the Facebook:

Sticks of fire has it’s own Facebook fan page now!

Caleb lives and works in St. Petersburg. He has been slinging paint and pixels for a number of years over on the peninsula, without great result, but he manages to feed his dog and cat and pay rent. When not creating images or difficulties for his neighbors, he preaches the gospel of Wordpress and social media to the slightly interested.

Below is the pretentious artist’s bio he is contractually obligated by his agency, Seven North, to include with each painting or print. It has the virtue of being almost true in some respects.

Caleb came to painting as a result of his inability to get cameras to record his unique emotional response to his surroundings. “Apparently, I see light and lines somewhat differently than film or CCD’s do. Go figure.” He has used just about every media known to western man, and although pastel is his first love, and oils his longest romance, he now employs acrylic paints, to take advantage of their ability to mimic pastel chalks.

Although Caleb cites the early-twentieth century Regionalists as his major formal influence, he says he is more governed by aesthetic preferences that are rooted in his childhood experience and perception. “In childhood, perception and preference are unfiltered, raw and honest. I notice that I am drawn to the scenes, colors and shapes that surrounded me before my fifth year. I did not consciously make choices then; I do better work when I do not make conscious choices now. But there is always choosing.”

Caleb says that he can describe his work his work as being closest to Fauvist in appearance. He says that the Florida climate is very influential. “During the winter, my paintings are relatively cool and sober. By August, I’m laying down wild colors that hatch in my poor heat-addled head. I guess I’ll never really get acclimatized…”

Caleb spent his youth in the Midwest, New York and finally the Los Angeles basin. As a young adult he moved to Oregon, where he spent a good chunk of his adult life. He has been on the Pinellas peninsula on Tampa Bay for nearly a dozen years.

Caleb lives and paints in St Petersburg, which he is sure is the best place on the Gulf Coast of Florida. He cohabits with Toulouse the dog and Bonnie the cat.

The extremely bored, or those to whom he still owes money, may access Caleb’s lifestream by Googling “Calebism”.

BlogOrlando 2008 is set for September 25-27 at Rollins College in Winter Park.

Voce Communications, in partnership with Rollins College will host the third edition of this FREE event that was open to bloggers and non-bloggers alike from Florida and anywhere else. We bring together a good cross-section of folks to discuss blogging, podcasting, public relations, social media, citizen’s journalism and other related topics. The event was as much a social/family gathering as it is a ‘work’ gathering.

BlogOrlando is held in the “unconference” format, which is a participant-driven conference centered around a theme or purpose. A “session leader” simply begins the conversation on a given topic, and the “audience” drives the direction of the discussion.

Hyku’s Josh Hallett brings together a good cross-section of folks to discuss blogging, podcasting, public relations, social media, citizen’s journalism and other related topics. The event is as much a social/family gathering as it is a ‘work’ gathering.

For BlogOrlando’s third annual event, I have again been asked to co-lead a session, this time with Chuck Welch of Lakeland Local. Our general topic will explore the meaning of “hyperlocal,” and attempt to find out what it is, how to find it, and why it’s important. Depending on audience requests, subtopics may include working with various media people (TV, radio, newspaper, websites), mining government and media data, creating maps (crime, business, etc.), ethics, and more.

Other sessions at BlogOrlando include Business Marketing with Social Media, New Tools for Journalism, Monetizing your Website, Online Professionalism, Politics, and many, many more. Take a look at BlogOrlando 2008 Sessions for the lineup thus far.

In past years, Journalists, PR folks, website managers, and bloggers have gotten much out of the unconference. Those of you who have any interest at all in the future of internet communications may also want to check it out - after all, it is FREE.

Locals already registered to attend include Ashli Cooper, Michael VanDervort, Michael Bishop, Tribune food guy Jeff Houck, WordPress Developer (and Brandonite) Mark Jaquith, Jim Johnson, Dustin Mooney, David Risley, Derrick Daye, Cathalain Carter, Darby Critendon, Carrie Currie, Aaron Bates, Lakeland Ledger’s Barry Friedman, and more.

I hope to see an even larger contingent of Tampa Bay area bloggers, journalists, and website enthusiasts out there this year, so please go register for BlogOrlando 2008.

It’s hard to write a post about Choxotica, a new chocolate store on Dale Mabry and Ehrlich, without it turning into a love letter. The small store sells exotic chocolate bars from all over the world and offers a small cafe setting to enjoy the above mentioned bars with chocolate drinks so strong they should carry a warning.

I’m not too proud to mention my chocolate addiction. Out of all the addictions to have, chocolate’s one of the most tame. I’ve been known to hide Mounds bars in my office at work and buy a Hershey’s bar on the way home. But, these are mass produced chocolates diluted with wax and milk. The chocolate offered at Choxotica is pure chocolate art.

The truth is, Choxotica isn’t for the casual chocolate consumer. At $5 or more for drinks and bars, it’s a store made for real chocoholics. The kind who look at percentages and prefer their chocolate imported from obscure countries with hard to pronounce names. Sure, there are white (blasphemy) and milk chocolate bars on sale next to the rest. But, the real draw is the store’s selection of real, dark chocolates from all over the world.

Have you ever wondered what chocolate would taste like with curry and coconut? They have a bar for you. (In fact, it’s my favorite and always out of stock.)

Has the organic craze hit you yet? You can buy an organic stone ground bar in a plain brown wrapper. There are chocolates with pepper, chocolates with ginger, chocolates with nuts. Basically anything you can imagine dipped in chocolate is offered, even in the drinks, which are created by melting chocolate in a saucepan and pouring fresh milk or filtered water over the hot liquid bliss.

Curry and coconut doesn’t translate as well in their iced drink, but hazelnut and coconut is a winner when added to iced chocolate milk. And, their Mud Shake tastes just like an ice cream bar. They even offer a Wasabi Ginger hot chocolate for the brave of heart.

They also offer an email list with coupons they send out for special promotions, which makes the price a little easier to bear.

In short, Choxotica is an oasis for chocolate lovers who are tired of the fare offered in drugstores and supermarkets. But, if you don’t get the urge to bite into a few ounces of a high quality, bittersweet confection every once in a while, Choxotica isn’t for you.

The Red Bull Flugtag was presented here on Saturday, for the first time in Tampa Bay, and I attended with a group of friends along with another 110,000 people or so. The arrow in the photo indicates roughly where I was. See me? I’m jumping up and down and waving! Hello!

In case you’re not familiar with it, Flugtag, a German term meaning “Flying Day”, consists of teams of people building homemade, human-powered flying machines and piloting them off a 30-foot high deck in hopes of achieving flight. They never do, though.

So it’s basically the Superbowl of putting on ridiculous costumes, building stuff and pushing it off a ledge into water. And yes, this is as funny and entertaining as it sounds. When it comes to free entertainment, it’s hard to beat people falling into water. Include costumes and flying machines that don’t - just adds bonus points.

Tampa is one of three cities to host the event this year, the others being Chicago and Portland, Oregon later this summer. Red Bull has sponsored about 40 of these so far and we (Tampa) set an attendance record, more than doubling the 50,000 that had been projected. I’m not surprised; literally everyone I spoke to for the last two weeks was planning on going. I think event planners were caught off guard:

• It was scheduled to begin at 1:00 and we got there at 11:00 when gates were supposed to open. But it was obvious that a lot of people had gotten in and set up camp much earlier than that, as evidenced by us ending up where we did.
• In spite of previously published warnings about things that wouldn’t be allowed in, there weren’t even cursory bag searches taking place, at least not at the gate where we entered (right outside the convention center).
• Food and beverage locations were few and far between, which was a matter of major concern because with that many people packed in that tightly, smack in the middle of the day, smack in the middle of July (why didn’t they schedule it for later, like around dusk?), remaining hydrated was of vital importance. Just because we were closer to the hospital than the launch pad doesn’t mean I wanted to go there. Eventually, even though we drank plenty of fluids, our group just couldn’t hang so we left around 2:00 and watched the rest of it from The Press Box. We had a good time but it was just too hot and too crowded to be enjoyable after a while.
• A group of people who were probably a little put out would be those presenting and attending METROCON which was taking place simultaneously at the Tampa Convention Center. Some of the more elaborately costumed anime fans might have had legitimate concerns about being mistakenly tossed into the drink by overly lubricated enthusiastic Flugtaggers.
• I don’t think there were nearly enough police officers on hand to handle traffic. We left well before the end and we still wound up stuck in pretty thick traffic on the way out. I can’t even imagine what it was like when the event was over.
• Lastly, I don’t understand why the city didn’t take advantage of the event to publicize the Riverwalk. After all, that’s really where it took place. For all the publicity the event got leading up to the big day, there was never a mention of Mayor Iorio’s legacy project and it’s proximity to the convention center as well as all the exciting cultural/dining/retail shopping opportunities offered in downtown Tampa…or will be some day…hopefully. I don’t know. It just seems like somebody in marketing would have thought of that, that’s all.

Overall, it was fun but there is a lot of room for improvement if/when it comes back.

(Cross posted at Ridiculously inconsistent trickle of consciousness)

Major League Baseball’s second half got underway last night.  My job isn’t to recap.  I’ll let others handle that responsibility.

Nope, I’m just here to announce a quick poll (will close in a few days).  The question?  Will the Rays make the playoffs?  This season has had the Rays perform like the franchise has never before…  But can they hold on to make the wild card?  Or do what seemed implausible only last season and win the American League East?  Dare I even suggest win the American League pennant?

It’s just a yes-or-no question…  But let your vote be heard:

 Loading ...

It’s time once again for Creative Loafing’s annual Best of the Bay voting for 2008!

In previous years, we have been honored to be recognized by Creative Loafing’s readers and editors as being one of the top local websites:

• 2007 - First place Creative Loafing Best of the Bay 2007 - Best Local Blog, Readers’ Choice.
• 2006 - First place Creative Loafing Best of the Bay 2006, Reader’s choice for Best Local Blog.
• 2005 - First place Weekly Planet’s Best of the Bay 2005, Editor’s choice for Best Local Website.
• 2005 - Third place Weekly Planet’s Best of the Bay 2005, Reader’s choice for Best Local Blog.

We certainly are proud of these honors from all of you, and are happy that you are keeping Sticks of Fire on your reading list.

Alas, the time has come once again to see if we can still hang.  There have been a bunch of new blogs and bloggers started up in the past year, and some of them are simply fantastic.  We enjoy reading several of them, and any number of them could knock Sticks of Fire out of the top spot.

Of course, there is so much more to Creative Loafing’s Best of the Bay than just websites. You can vote for the best neighborhood, your favorite art gallery, the worst road, the best thrift store, and so much more.  In fact, you must vote in 25 of the categories (there are 100 categories this year, and we list them all after the jump below).

Make sure you vote for YOUR FAVORITES by Aug. 13, 2008, and CL promises to publish the results on Sept. 17.

So vote for the Best of the Bay right now, or cut & paste the list of categories below in order to give ‘em all some thought.

(more…)

As part of the 2008 North American Tour, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers will make a stop along with Steve Winwood at the St. Pete Times Forum tonight, July 16, 2008 at 7.30pm.

I think you can still get tickets for the show for only $29.50.

Or, leave a comment below telling my why I should give you a pair.  I’ll give them to the one who best convinces me by noon.

For such a simple contest, you wouldn’t think there need be rules, but some folks get excited and leave out details, or get too exuberant and ramble on.  So, there are rules:

1. ONLY ONE COMMENT PER IP ADDRESS.  Yes, I can track this, and if you leave more than one, you’ll be disqualified - no exceptions.
2. FILL OUT THE ENTIRE COMMENT FORM.  ACCURATELY.
3. USE A VALID, WORKING EMAIL.  I’ll need your email address to contact you, and you will have FIVE minutes to respond, or I’ll pick another winner.  Those of you using a lesser email service (I’m looking at you, verizon.net users), may want to use another provider - those email get lost sometimes.
4. DON’T WRITE A BOOK.  Keep your comment to 100 words or so.  I’d count them if I were you.
5. I AM THE DECIDER.  I don’t expect any confusion or trouble, but if there is, I’ll figure it out, and make an executive decision.

Again, I will email the winner around noon, and that person will have five minutes to respond.  Should they not respond in five minutes, I’ll pick another who will have five minutes to respond, and continue in this manner, until I find someone paying attention.

Please make sure you can go to the show tonight - I will meet the winner at the St. Pete Times Forum with the tickets.

If you are NOT the winner, you may want to look into those $29.50 tickets from ticketmaster - they are the ones who hooked us up.

Good luck!

Update 12.20pm: We have a winner! stop all the comments already!!