Papabubble opens up in NYC

by Grant Martin on

My favorite candy store, Papabubble, just opened up an American branch in the great city of New York. In a way it’s a little bittersweet for me; I used to be able to bring this unique fun candy back from Barcelona whenever I went to share with my friends. Now all I have to do is go to 380 Broome St on my semi-weekly trip into the city. But oh well — I suppose I had to share at some point.

The fun thing about Papabubble is that they formulate, cast and prepare all of their candy in-house, in front of your eyes. It’s fun to watch them roll the huge cylinders of hard candy down to a fine bar, then methodically chop them into shorter pieces. In the end they collect the pieces into jars and bags of various sizes, ripe for sale to the salivating public.

Papabubble has several stores scattered across the world. From their headquarters in Barcelona (pictured above), they have now expanded into Amsterdam, Tokyo and of course, into New York. Give them a try next time you’re in the city.

Don’t feed the NYC pigeons — you could be fined $1000

by Martha Edwards on

If you’re going to be in NYC in the future, do not, I repeat, do NOT feed the pigeons. You could be fined $1000. New York officials are considering implementing a fine for people who feed these birds, and they’re also considering other measures like distributing birth control to the birds (seriously! Well, not birth control per se — some other type of contraceptive.) They might even bring in Hawks to scare the nasty birds away.

Why all the negativity towards pigeons? They’re a health hazard — their droppings can transmit serious diseases. That and they’re really annoying.

You might have gathered that I am not a fan of pigeons. Actually, I’m scared of birds and pigeons seem to be the worst of them. Imagine my delight when a bag-lady in Bangkok threw a pile of pigeon feed on me in some sort of bizarre attempt to get me to give her money. I tell you, I was thrilled.

But, I digress. The point is, don’t feed the birds.

Airport woes from New York Magazine

by Grant Martin on

This week’s New York Magazine covers the growing fiasco of air travel, from congested skies to travel tips to new developments in the industry — all centered around the New York co-terminals, LGA, JFK and EWR (or NYC if you’re in a hurry).

Headlining the feature is an article by Michael Idov, called Gridlock at 30,000 feet, which is an excellent (albeit sobering) look at the volume versus capacity of the New York airports and its deleterious result on traffic across the country. Indeed, it states that “75 percent of delays around the country originate in New York”

Idov does say that there are a variety of solutions and technologies in the works to alleviate the problem. But don’t plan on anything coming soon; the bureaucratic jungle awaits any changes to the flight plans or antiquated air traffic control system, hampering any improvement with red tape.

As always, when flying into New York its best to hope for the best and plan for the worst. Make sure you have plenty of time to connect or make your dinner reservations. From a personal standpoint, I flew American Airlines twice this weekend in and out of LGA. Both flights were late by almost an hour.

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UFO art-exhibition to travel the world

by Abha Malpani on


When I lived in Dubai I worked in PR so I have been witness to many a crazy publicity stunts — but this one takes the cake.

Designer brand Chanel will put a huge gleaming white “Mobile Art Container” in the sky to fly the world from 2008-2010, displaying work of 20 international artists. Brainchild of Chanel’s creative head Karl Lagerfeld, the container has been designed by Iraq-born artist Zaha Hadid and will be made of collapsible fiber glass.

The artists were given a brief to create art in connection to Chanel’s handbags and curious participants include Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono, celebrity yoga guru Subodh Gupta, and offbeat modern artist Arakinbuyoshi.

They’ve tagged the mad idea a “noble research investment”. Urrrm — no I don’t understand either, but I’d go check it out just to walk into an absurd container like that.

Not sure how it’s going to fly — but over a two year period the thing will travel form Hong Kong to Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, London, Moscow and Paris.

[Via Wallpaper]

Roller skates and Halloween

by Jamie Rhein on

I used to have a pair of roller skates with metal clamps that fastened to my shoes. No matter how I tightened them, they wouldn’t stay put. Finding out about Halloween roller skating events has made me nostalgic. Around the world people don costumes and roller skates this time of year for organized Halloween skates. These are not at a skating rink, but out on the town. I was in a Halloween run at midnight once, but roller skating sounds a lot more fun.

If you agree, then check out this list of places around the world you can skate in honor of the ghoulish holiday:

  • Pari Roller happens on Friday nights in Paris, France. This Friday, is Randoween when people dress up. This section of the Web site is in French and I don’t know how to read French all that well, so if you show up on Friday in a costume and no one else does–sorry.
  • If you read Dutch, here’s the Halloween skate event in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Part of the Web site is in English so you could probably find out where this is taking place.
  • London’s event, London Skate is this Sunday. After the skating, there’s a party.
  • Philadelphia might have the least attractive people (I don’t believe that, by the way) but they sure know how to have fun. There are two Halloween skating events mentioned on its skating club Web site.
  • The Beach Bladers in South Florida had three different Halloween skates according to its calendar.
  • In San Francisco, The Midnight Rollers‘ Halloween themed skating event is tomorrow night, Oct. 26.
  • New York City, as you might expect, also has a Halloween Skate, and it’s on Halloween. This one is a parade that starts at Union Square and heads through Greenwich Village. The photo, thanks to Edward Sudenta, was taken at a Halloween skate in Central Park in 2005. I love the dreamy quality. Check out his others.

Here’s a Web site devoted to roller skating Halloween events. The dates are last year’s, but I’ve checked links and they go to this year’s. There are even costume suggestions and other Halloween tidbits.