Good Morning and Hello Friday!

So many great finds for the blog this week. Especially love what Helene Heath is doing for Jenni Kayne (#4). Also recently discovered Emma Turner’s food blog, Blistered Peppers. Again, excellent. (#3).

On the food front, a new crop of speakeasies coming on the scene. The Sparrow Room, a dim sum/mahjong parlor mash up in Arlington, sounds especially fun. Boozy ice creams are also worth checking out. (#6 and 7)

And if you’re in need of some chuckles, check out Erik Griffin’s WORST movie reviews. This week’s is OLD by M. Night Shyamalan. Cracked me up. (#10)

Sadly, in the midst of all this creativity, especially on social, I feel like such a loser. People are doing such great things on various platforms and all I’m doing is watching tutorial after tutorial, getting a huge headache in the process. For more on this, check out my video (#1 below).

1. [watch] Video

2. JUNYA WATANABE MAN FALL/WINTER 2022 MINI-SHOW. trailblazing and so inspiring!

• Created in association with Jay Kay of jazz-funk band Jamiroquai (founded in 1992). Note: The name Jamiroquai is derived from the combination of a jam session and the name of a Native American tribe, the Iroquois.
• This collection was created in collaboration with multiple partners including the Secretariat of Culture of Mexico, Pendleton Woolen Mills, Levi’s, and Stepney Workers Club Hats by Benny Andallo.

Additional Credits:

• Music: Jamiroquai-Virtual Insanity (Kenji Takimi & Gonno Re-Edit)
• Choreography: Takeatsu Nashimoto (@nashitake)
• Dancers: @tetsuya_enatsu @taabow919 @rihito_ttm @elli_it
• Still photographer: @kotsuchiya
• Film director: Masashi Muto

And finally, major thanks to Matthew Higgs for being the first to put this on my radar. Follow him on IG! He’s a great resource for what’s trending in art, fashion, and style.

3. Another streetwear brand gets scooped up by LVMH.

• I’ve been keeping tabs on Aime Leon Dore since early 2017 when I first came across their pop-up store in Little Italy. Loved the elevated street aesthetic, very cool. In doing my research, I was also impressed by the founder, Queens-born designer Teddy Santis. Before launching Aime Leon Dore in 2014, he had worked at a high-end optical store which inspired him to pursue his love of fashion and design.
• By 2017, Santis had already collaborated with major brands including KITH. He also seemed fiscally sound, e.g., when a lookbook dropped, the collection was made available for pre-order exclusively through the brand’s site. They did not make items until they had the orders (paid) in hand. The brand’s drops generally sold out in a few hours. Link to February 21, 2017 ZandlSlant here.
• Under the terms of the LVMH deal, Aimé Leon Dore will continue to be headquartered in New York but will add a London flagship later this year. Its New York flagship/cafe is located on Mulberry Street (pic below).

4. Helene Heath, fabulous social-first creative content provider for Jenni Kayne

• Stumbled across Helene Heath’s sponsored videos for Jenni Kayne on Instagram. THEY ARE SO GOOD!!!!
• Unfortunately, they’re whitelisted ads… so essentially the links don’t live anywhere on her account and I can’t embed them. And that’s kind of a bummer because the appeal is equal parts the clothes (which are totally my style) and how Helene has crafted the videos, e.g., the outfit changes are done in a very cool, rapid, almost magical, way.
• I’m gaga over her content and only sorry I can’t include the link. However, if you follow her on IG, the ads show up in stories. I’ve also included some screenshots below but they don’t do it justice.

Again, disappointed not to be able to provide you her fabulous videos. But let me just add that her videos for Jenni Kayne are the only ads I absolutely look forward to seeing while on Instagram!! And that’s saying a lot.

5. If you cook, sign up for Emma Turner’s Blistered Peppers Newsletter (and follow her on IG)

I love the serendipitous way Blistered Peppers came onto my radar:

• Andrew Schulz, one of my favorite comics, recently married this really cool chick who loves to cook (he’s always raving about her kitchen skills).
• This week, she ran into some kind of tech gaffe whereby she lost all her subscribers. As any good husband would, he begged his 1.3MM Instagram followers to sign up or re-up for his wife’s newsletter. I checked it out and signed up.
• I had absolutely no idea she was a food blogger. And let me just add: HER NEWSLETTER IS FABULOUS.
• Visually, it’s great, her recipes are straightforward and sound absolutely delicious. And even if you don’t cook much (like me), it’s worth it for the food porn.
• And their story is so cute, and her background is mighty impressive. Andrew Schulz is one lucky guy. Check it out here.

6. Speakeasies with a twist are trending: Sparrow Room Mahjong and Dim Sum Parlor Opening In Pentagon City

• Chef Andrew Lo and Bun’d Up founder Scott Chung’s new business venture is the Sparrow Room, a mahjong parlor and speakeasy-style dim sum bar opening on January 27.
• During the day, fast-casual Bun’d Up serves Taiwanese-style gua bao buns. Come evening, guests head to the emerald-hued, 40-seat bar discretely tucked behind the restaurant for mahjong games, cocktails, and Cantonese bar fare. HOW COOL IS THAT?
• The name Sparrow Room nods to the game’s original Chinese name—the sound that sparrows make when they take to a tree. It reflects the sound of the tiles chittering and chattering. (Source: Washingtonian)

7. Buzzed Bull Creamery Opening in Scottsdale AZ this week

• Buzzed Bull Creamery is the first creamery in the country to infuse alcohol into ice cream using liquid nitrogen for a “mad scientist” effect.
• The 21+ crowd gets to enjoy favorite cocktails presented within elegant desserts, while kids can customize flavors and watch their dessert being created, with “smoke” and spectacle!
• They also offer monthly flights of rotating flavors. January’s look delicious. I would be torn between the Elvis and Death by Chocolate.
• Buzzed Bull is expanding rapidly. Currently in Louisiana, North and South Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas. Per their website, they will be opening locations soon in Florida (Tampa, Destin), Georgia (9 locations), Kentucky (Lexington), and several more in Texas.

8. Miami’s first crypto real estate sale of the year: $6.94 Million in Ethereum (ETH)

• Unit 5307 at the Marquis Residences sold after being on the market for just one day.
• Highlights of this 7000 sq ft unit (3 apts combined), include a movie theater, office, two laundry rooms, four elevators with direct in-unit access and four parking spaces.
• Per Ocean Drive, the buyer converted their ETH into a stable coin (USDC) for this purchase. Apparently it is preferable for purchases to be converted into USDC since it is linked to the US Dollar, thus always staying at a 1:1 ratio (I have no idea what any of that means but it makes me think I can’t go down to the corner store to get milk with it).

I obviously still don’t get the crypto thing, especially when you have to convert it back to stable coin (USDC) to actually make a purchase. But realtors, especially in Miami, are absolutely confident that 2022 is the year that cryptocurrency transactions take off. We will see.

9. Marriott Bonvoy looking for official TikTok correspondents

• Marriott is currently looking for three EXPERT content creators to become its official TikTok correspondents in 2022.
• Each TikTok correspondent gets to stay in 10 Marriott portfolio hotels over the course of 300 days. That includes brands like St. Regis, The Ritz-Carlton, Moxy Hotels, and Westin. During that time, the correspondents will share their experiences at the hotels on the company’s official TikTok.
• The Points Guy has some great recommendations for where the winners might want to stay.

10. ERIK GRIFFIN REVIEWS “Old” BY Director M. Night Shyamalan (starts at 42.25-ish)

• BIG PRONOUNCEMENT: Erik Griffin’s WORST Movie Reviews are THE BEST!!!
• Listen up media world: sign this guy up. Nobody is doing reviews like he is. They are HYSTERICAL – but also highly informative.
• And again, the review starts at approximately 42.25.

And that’s a wrap for this week

But circling back to my frustrations about feeling so inept when it comes to staying up-to-date on all the latest social media tips and tricks, here’s a perfect picture of what I’m up against. And this isn’t in any way anti-youth, it’s merely stating the obvious, i.e., creating awesome TikToks, NFTs, investing in crypto, etc., comes more naturally to people who grew up with it than it does to me. I am going to have to work long and hard to become even marginally proficient.

And FYI, here’s the deal on Animoca Brands:

• Company’s valuation more than doubled to $5.5B in the last three months.
• Their portfolio contains more than 150 NFT-related projects, including play-to-earn game Axie Infinity, Dapper Labs (the company behind NBA Top Shot), and OpenSea (the largest NFT trading platform). It also has a majority stake in metaverse game The Sandbox. (Source: Coindesk)

And in Phoenix, high schoolers created an NFT line going on sale next month (in crypto)

“I’m really excited by NFT. I truly think they’re the future. We are moving to an entirely new stratosphere for people to live in. We are moving to an online lifestyle.”

Saif Agha, Bad Kidz Founder & Senior at Brophy College Prep (Source: AZ Family)

If anyone reading this has any vetted recommendations for in-person tutorials to dial up my social media skills, please let me know. I’m inspired to get out of this rut. Onward and upward. And with that, it is indeed a wrap. Wishing you all a great weekend.