Fireball Tim's Blog, page 651
September 6, 2013
CHICAGO Day 5 puts me on the edge… @Kimpton @TheWillisTower
Literally. The day started out just fine, but by 11am and after we had an awesome breakfast at the Burnham Hotel, I decided we needed to push the envelope.
So, we headed for the Chicago Board of Trade to see if we could check out some Traders in action… but since 911, no one but Traders are allowed in. I couldn’t even get a T-Shirt that said “SELL!” But we got a great mini-tour of the Rookery Building where architect Burnham had his office. He’s the one who designed The White City and many others. Also where Frank Lloyd Wright worked and designed as well. We were greeted by Tion who was a master at giving us incredible info on the building. He was really into it. You gotta do this tour when you head to Chicago for sure.
But, the highlight was heading to Willis Tower. No lines, no crowds… and once we got up to the 103rd floor… NO FLOOR!! What a trippy thing it is to step out into one of these glass boxes and see the street below. It was serious… Then… we headed back to the hotel and I took off home to Malibu. Kathie’s staying for a couple extra days. What a great trip…
My advice? When you travel, EXPECT to have a good time. Don’t worry about whether things are going to work out or not. EXPECT them to go perfect and just do one thing at a time. Then… it always does!
September 5, 2013
CHICAGO Day 4 brings kayaking the urban jungle… @urbankayaks
Some crazy designs here in Chicago, from buildings to furniture and everything in between. But this Radisson Blu Hotel above took the cake. This is looking up the side.
But for today, we decided we were going to grab a kayak and head up the Chicago River. And thanks to Ashley at URBAN KAYAKS, we did just that. She hooked us up with a tandem and we carved our way through boats and buildings to see some of the greatest architecture in the world. I highly recommend it, although not for the inexperienced. It can get a little hairy at times when you get squeezed between boats.
Found some great old photos of town while we were in a cool lobby also. Check ‘em out.
September 4, 2013
CHICAGO Day 3 is about chowin’ down… @chicagodiner @BobbysBikeHike
Ok, so now I feel like this is an eating trip. Why? ‘Cause it it is…
Although, here in Chicago like many cities, you walk. Walk, walk and more walking. Doesn’t mean you have to, but you choose to because it’s so beautiful. Alas, on this day, we chose to bike too.
Lake Shore Drive is an incredible place to take a spin, and thanks to Bobby’s Bike Hike, Emily hooked us up with cool two wheeled demons. Be sure to see these guys for a good deal. Thanks, Emily!
Lunch was at The Watertower Mall for some incredible stir fry at FoodLife, then hit up the Hershey Store for a small bar.
After a full day of moving through the city, we finally settled at our favorite place, The Chicago Diner for dinner at about 7:30pm. Thank God, because my feet were on fire. Literally. I had to put them out with a milkshake. But if you want an incredible meal and literally the country’s #1 vegetarian restaurant, then this is the place. Buffalo Wings and a Titanic BLT. And say hi to Ella, the manager for us. She’s awesome.
Next up? Cafe Descartes, Chicago Pads and more…
September 3, 2013
CHICAGO Day 2 reveals Legends of Chicago HipHop…
Ok, so listen up. This is gonna blow your mind…
Kathie and headed out from our hotel yesterday morning in anticipation of hitting the original site of the Chicago World Columbian Exhibition. (The 1893 World’s Fair). We were told the the 146 Bus would take us there as Chicago has the best mass transit anywhere. And off we went… Only….
That was the wrong bus and it dropped us at the Shedd Aquarium. We had to take it back to State St to re-catch the right bus, which was the 10. We did… Only… the 10 never showed up and we were told to take the 6, as it would drop us near enough that we could walk the rest of the way. This put us more than 30 minutes behind our original schedule. Dang… Only…
We got there and began to walk around the building to the lake behind it. The original North Pond where people caught gondolas to tour The White City. It was abandoned, the concrete cracked and looked totally amazing… Only…
There, right on that spot, were a group clad in black doing a photo shoot. Only, one member of what was revealed to us was Blaq Ice and his Legends of Hip Hop was taking the shots. As we approached, one of them said… “You knew we were callin’ you, right?” And I was like,… “Wow, this is interesting. Looks like it’s Picture Poppin’ time!”
So, the band got together on the steps, Kathie backed me up, and we shot away with SONY’s A65 for about 35 minutes, doin’ an amazing shoot of what was just about the coolest group of cats I’ve run across… ever. Check out some Facebook stuff here. After googlin’ them a bit, I found these guys and 1 gal to be true legends, but not only of Hip Hop, but of life itself.
I feel like a rat turd for not writing down everyone’s name, so I ask for forgiveness guys, but Blaq Ice, his partner KrispyKutz and crew were on a mission to spread love and all things positive through incredible music from Chicago, spreading the blessings of coolness across the country. And had we actually caught the 10 bus, we’d have missed them completely.
THAT’S the Universe working for you…
After our incredible time with them, we toured the World’s Fair site (which was overwhelming) and headed back into town for some Chipolte by the river. Had an awesome day in town shopping and hit up Bandera for dinner on Michigan.
A day of pure coolness…
September 2, 2013
CHICAGO Day 1 brings music and mooood… @HyattChicago @1stinservice
It was practically a blink, thanks to Virgin America for putting the pedal to the metal in getting us to Chicago liketty-split. 3.5 hours and we landed, boarded a train and were in town before we knew it.
Huge thanks to Chad (chad@firstinservice.com) at First in Service and Hyatt Regency for treating us like gold, giving us the VIP treatment and incredible views from our suite. If you’re ever here in Chicago, then this is the place to stay. Plus, Chad is excellent is wrangling those small things that make a trip worthwhile.
After some great welcome snacks, we headed out to the Chicago Jazz Festival at Millennium Park. Crazy cool with some of the best Jazz bands playing for free in a spectacular setting next to the Bean. Hung there until dark, checked out some Cop Cars and then went to Dinner at our fav pasta spot near the river. Man, my dogs were tired.
This morning? Biking, Fox & Oble and Bandera. What are those? You’ll see… stay tuned.
September 1, 2013
COSPLAY brings on the hurt… but it’s soooo gooood… #cosplay #deadpool #marvel
These ladies are into it, big time. Takes quite a bit of work to create serious Cosplay so peeps like this take it seriously. If it were up to you, what would be your Cosplay fancy…?
Inspired CONCEPT ART Sunday brings Costumes, Spaceships, Posters and Subs…
Great art this week from some very talented designers. Check out these pieces from Khang Le, Hunter Schulz, Dave McCamant and an unknown for the Transformer poster. With designers like these, visualization for movies, games and cool stuff is easy.
August 31, 2013
What the heck is that? Oh… it’s FUTURETECTURE
Fans often email me and ask if I came up with the term Futuretecture? And I always say… YES! It comes from the latin root futrticturos meaning Designing Cool Stuff that you can Walk in, Check out and then Instagram your Friends Repeatedly! Seriously. See, I’m so on the ball it’s not even funny.
No, I didn’t come up with it. I think. But, if I did, that would be cool, eh? HEY! How about some coolnesss?
