Urban Eola

New Year's 2006
Saturday, December 31, 2005

Happy New Year, Urban Eola readers! Here's to a happy, healthy and enjoyable 2006. Remember to take a minute, sit back and enjoy it.

In the meantime, below are some interesting facts about New Year's from GoalsGuy.com.

Auld Lang Syne

The song, "Auld Lang Syne," is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English- speaking country in the world to bring in the New Year. In spite of the popularity of 'Auld Lang Syne', it has aptly been described as the song that nobody knows.

Written by Robert Burns in 1741, it was first published in 1796 after Burns' death. "Auld Lang Syne" literally means "old long ago," or simply, "the good old days."

Top 10 Most Common New Year Resolutions

1. Lose weight
2. Stop smoking
3. Stick to a budget
4. Save or earn more money
5. Find a better job
6. Become more organized
7. Exercise more
8. Be more patient at work/with others
9. Eat better
10. Become a better person


posted by Michael Tavani @ 6:47 PM | |

Do iPods contribute to loss of hearing?
Friday, December 30, 2005

Interesting topic that many people don't consider when using their iPods. Read the article below about what the iPod does to your earbuds. And to think I had my iPod blasting for 5 straight hours while running the NYC Marathon. Excuse me, what'd you say again?

Limit use of iPod earbuds to protect your ears - Reuters


posted by Michael Tavani @ 11:26 AM | |

SuburbanEola.com?
Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Here I am thinking that urban living is back as the lifestyle of choice for arts, entertainment and culture lovers.

To my disbelief, the Atlanta Journal -Constitution ran an article today about suburban theatres ticket sales growing at a better rate than similar style urban playhouses in Atlanta. I would have thought the exact opposite with the influx of yuppies, emptynesters and recently retired upscale urbanites.

Established intown theatres "attribute the empty seats to higher gas prices, slower traffic and competition from upscale restaurants and new technologies such as TiVo and cable on demand. Thespian flight - who'da thunk it?"

I believe that as urban areas begin to grow in previously suburban cities like Atlanta, that these cultural outlets like playhouses will regain their stronghold. For now, urban areas are caught at a crossroads. These cities are nowhere near as culturally urban as New York City, yet there is enough of an intown market to justify maintaining the intown theatres.

I hope to see them come back strong. Or maybe people are just holding out for the UrbanEola entertainment project coming to a city near you.

I'll close with the Top 10 museums in annual memberships in 2004:
1) San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (124,166)
2) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (118,038)
3) Art Institute of Chicago (104,768)
4) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (80,896)
5) Los Angeles County Museum of Art ( 67,047)
6) Philadelphia Museum of Art (48,355)
7) Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (46,555)
8) Detroit Institute of Arts (35,312)
9) Denver Art Museum (34, 587)
10) High Museum of Art, Atlanta (33,828)

Source: Association of Art Museum Directors


posted by Michael Tavani @ 12:43 PM | |

Santa's got a gut, doesn't mean you have to
Saturday, December 24, 2005


Staying fit over the holidays is about as tough as finding a parking space at the mall in December.

Some people think their "holiday sweater" will cover the fat. Some people think the extra baggage keeps them warm during the holiday months (my dad).

The International Health, Racquetball and Sportsclub Association in Boston predicts that more than 1 million Americans will join a gym in January alone to combat the "holiday fat".

Don't gain a small child over the holiday. Get a leg up on your New Year's resolution. Here's some tips from MSNBC and Forbes:

  1. Work out as early as possible, preferably first thing in the morning. If your schedule is really hectic, wake up early and get training done, if possible, right before you go to work so that nothing else interferes with your workout. On days off from work, definitely get the training done as early as possible.
  2. One very simple rule of thumb to combat overeating at a party: Don't arrive at any celebration on an empty stomach. Eat a light snack or meal before going to parties, so you don't indulge in the bad stuff at the party. Only go to the dessert table one time, and split the dessert with a friend. Also, have only one to two cocktails at any party, preferably red wine.
  3. Schedule workouts just like appointments.
  4. When times are hectic, redefine your workout. It doesn't need to be 45 to 60 minutes. Do a quick total body workout in 15 minutes, don't waste time and move quickly through each exercise, doing one set for each major muscle group.
  5. Scan the buffet table. Make sure you fill your plate with high-fiber nutritious foods and lean protein. Minimize the amount of treats you eat by enjoying a healthy and delicious buffet selection first.
  6. Start every morning with a brisk, consistent paced walk of 30 to 45 minutes prior to eating breakfast. You will lose weight even if you continue to eat everything that you normally did prior to implementing this simple walk. Try it.
  7. The ten-minute rule: You know you should work out, but you're feeling sluggish, lacking energy and thinking you might as well skip your workout. Don't. Give it ten minutes. Start nice and easy, giving yourself ten minutes to "reevaluate." After the first ten minutes, you'll feel energized and want to continue--guaranteed.
I just incorporated #7 into my regimen today and it worked. The hardest part about working out is putting on your workout clothes. Once you do that, you'll do the workout.


posted by Michael Tavani @ 1:12 PM | |

Listen to this
Tuesday, December 20, 2005

In January of 2004 at my cousin's orthodox Jewish wedding in Queens I first saw Matisyahu perform. He was a surprise to the wedding as he was a big underground star among the Orthodox community.

From the second he got on stage I knew he was a star. In fact, I snapped this picture of him along with a short video, which I accidentally deleted on the airplane home.

Immediately this "Jewish Bob Marley" made an impression on me. I remember unsuccessfully e-mailing my cousin right after the wedding and asking for this guy's name. I wanted to learn more and buy a CD. Close your eyes and he's Bob Marley. Open them and he's a Hasidic Orthodox Jew complete with tophat and long beard.

Fast forward to summer 2005 and my mom sees him on CNN and gets his website info for me. Ever since then, I have seen him three times on national TV on MTV's 10 Spot, CBS' Late Late Show, and on VH1's Jewtastic.

He is on the verge of becoming mainstream. If he becomes big-time it will have been cool to see him in his early days. I'm almost guaranteeing he'll become huge in the next year. Right when you see and hear him you can just tell.

Watch this video of his single, King Without a Crown. It's hott with two T's.


posted by Michael Tavani @ 6:56 PM | |

The best athlete in the world?
Saturday, December 17, 2005

Is this guy the best athlete in the world? (not the one in the blue shirt)

Common water cooler conversation is who is the best athlete in the world. Some people say Michael Jordan, some say Lance Armstrong. Without a doubt in my mind the best athletes in the world are marathoners.

Why? Because they run 26.2 miles in just over 2 hours. That's insane. That means they're running each mile in roughly 4:50. Try going out to the local track and sprinting (running as fast as you can) 4 laps around the track (4 laps = 1 mile). Running a 6-minute mile is impressive and would require someone like me (a respectable athlete) to go as fast physically possible. And these guys are doing that for 26 miles at much faster speed.

The picture above is of Khalid Khannouchi a former Moroccan turned American who held the record for the marathon in for almost 4 years with a time of 2:05:38 in the 2002 London Marathon. He's only about 5'5", but he can light up the road. I bet he could make a three pointer or catch a touchdown or hit for a single, but I bet not one basketball, baseball, or football player in the world could run a 2:10:00 marathon. Case closed.


posted by Michael Tavani @ 5:31 PM | |

Webroll

If you like Urban Eola, we think you'll love this list of our favorite stuff on the web. It's one of the most comprehensive lists of cool stuff anywhere on the web.

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posted by Michael Tavani @ 2:41 AM |

Rent this space

..and be a part of the freshest stuff out there

The Urban Eola "space for rent" is a new marketing area that gives you, your company or your website the opportunity to be affiliated with the latest and freshest stuff out there. Urban Eola's readers tend to be young urban professionals that are in-the-know, computer-savvy, entrepreneurial, creative, cultural, physically fit and interested in the latest trends worldwide. They come to our site seeking interesting content and expecting a good read. Don't you want them to notice you?

Our readers will no doubt become your most captive audience as the "space for rent" is, and will always be, the only advertising on this site. Our site is not bogged down with advertisements. Savvy web browsers tend to disregard advertising on websites that contain multiple pop-up ads and text links. Who reads the last 20 pages of a magazine that contains all ads? With the Urban Eola sponsorship space, you're on the front cover!

Urban Eola:
The image specifics for the ad are: W 129 x H 510 pixels

Put your logo or message in the center of it all with a link to your site.

Contact Urban Eola regarding sponsorship:


posted by Michael Tavani @ 2:40 AM |

Categories
Friday, December 16, 2005

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posted by Michael Tavani @ 4:25 PM |

Archives

Browse through Urban Eola's full history of content.

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posted by Michael Tavani @ 3:21 PM |

Quick reads

12.10.2006
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11.27.2006
11.22.2006
11.21.2006
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posted by Michael Tavani @ 4:14 AM |

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Got something to say to Urban Eola -- send your thoughts, suggestions, story leads, comments, pitches, sponsorship ideas, etc...

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posted by Michael Tavani @ 2:24 AM |

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posted by Michael Tavani @ 2:22 AM |

"You're hired!"
Thursday, December 15, 2005

The Apprentice season 4 finale is on tonight. This Randal Pinkett (check out his web page) guy is my lock to win. Here's his quick bio:

Randal, 34, is the founder, president and CEO of his fifth venture "BCT Partners," a multi-million dollar management, technology and policy consulting firm based in Newark, N.J., that works with corporations, government agencies, philanthropic and nonprofit organizations. Born in Philadelphia and raised in Hightstown, N.J., he holds five academic degrees in engineering, business and technology including a B.S. from Rutgers University, an M.S. from the University of Oxford in England as a Rhodes Scholar, and an M.S., M.B.A. and Ph.D. from MIT. A former college championship track and field athlete, he has received numerous awards for his accomplishments as an entrepreneur and technologist.

I like his presence. He demands respect. Not by being loud and type-A personality like most of the others on the Apprentice. You can tell he's smart and extremely competent just by looking at his demeanor. He is not quite as creative as some of the others, but in a large organization like Trump you can get away without it.

The highly-successful show was picked up for another two seasons. Season 6 will reportedly be the first one to take place in L.A. Should be interesting.

Quick comment on the "Apprentice concept" of locking a group of young, creative, driven entrepreneurs in a room with a task and letting them go to work. I think this approach to coming up with unique strategies could realistically work in a real-world business setting. it has the potential to be a very successful business approach that I might someday employ.

I'm just picturing sitting with my most creative, outgoing, personable, funny and savvy friends, putting them in a room and asking them to come up with a plan for a business. I think we could do well. Very well. People that are young and not jaded sometimes don't know any better. Older corporate types tend to be lazy, and complacent while settling into the default mode of life = average.


posted by Michael Tavani @ 11:49 PM | |

About

Urban Eola (urbaneola.com) is a lifestyle blog that was launched December 15, 2005 by Michael Tavani. The site is an online lounge providing intellectual entertainment for creative, young urbanites by profiling popular culture | trends | sport | urban life | art | fashion | web 2.0 | humor | the environment | lifestyle | and creative business. The content includes original perspectives, the best of the web, articles and stories, unique photos, and other interesting facts. UE's diverse content has attracted an audience of loyal site visitors. Come back often as there are usually 1 to 3 new posts daily. 35-second teaser // 1-year recap // 1 year in logos


Contents

1 // FAQ's
2 // Contact
3 // Credits

1 // FAQ's

Q: What does Urban Eola mean?
A: The name Urban Eola was derived from combining our zest for urban culture with the beautiful, scenic Lake Eola Park neighborhood in downtown Orlando, our original headquarters. The combo of the two names sounded so cool that we purchased the domain name. In fact, the first time the words "Urban Eola" were ever spoken steam rolled off my tongue.

Q: How is Urban Eola set up?
A: The site is set up in a standard blog format with the most recent post on the top of the front page. The previous 13 posts are in reverse chronological order on the front page. After that, the rest of the posts can be found by clicking "view all posts" at the bottom of the page or the monthly archives at the top. You can search the whole site by specific keywords that you're interested in reading about on the search bar at the very top left of the site.

Q: What the hell is a blog?
A: A "weblog" is page with dated entries in reverse chronological order, so that the latest updates are always at the top of the page. Blogs have allowed small, yet creative concepts with limited startup funds to generate large and captive audiences through the viral internet. In many instances blogs are competing with, and often surpassing traditional forms of media (newspaper, TV, etc.) in audience sizes.

Q: How often do you post?
A: We're not one of those anal blog sites that gets flustered if there's not a post up every day at 9 AM or anything like that. Instead, we post when we run into something interesting enough to share with the UE readers. Usually, it works out to 1-4 posts a day, which is perfect for you short attention-spanned readers out there. We've spent enough time in front of a computer to decipher the good stuff from the average stuff. Trust us, it'll be like a highlight show of our best ideas, thoughts, sightings, and content.

Q: Why read Urban Eola?
A: You know that feeling that you have when you walk into a nice Starbucks or Borders with your laptop in tow knowing you have an hour of relaxing and "intellectual entertainment" in front of you? That's the feeling Urban Eola is trying to replicate with this blog. Our inspiration for the urban lifestyle comes from a couple places we have spent some time: New York City, Europe, Orlando, and Atlanta. Come check out the Urban Eola lifestyle because we think you'll have a good time doing it.

Q: Sometimes I click on a link and the link does not work. Why?
A: We guarantee that at the time we publish each and every blog post all links are up and working. However, after time certain links are no longer good due to link rot, which is the process by which links on a website gradually become irrelevant or broken as time goes on, because websites that they link to disappear, change their content or redirect to new locations. Usually a quick Google search will yield the same results of the rotted link.

Q: How much does it cost you to run the site?
A: Not much. Urban Eola is hosted for free using Blogger and the domain name urbaneola.com was purchased for $7.20 on GoDaddy. The template is a combination of things we found on the internet along with our own design. The thousands of unique visitors that have enjoyed an Urban Eola blog post have done so via a whopping $0 spent on advertising and marketing.

Q: You stole something from my site. How dare you!?
A: The beauty of blogs is that they are such a fast-moving and efficient form of media/ entertainment. Having to obtain proper copyright permission for every story, image, etc. would defeat the purpose of blogs. To that end, Urban Eola does not intend to infringe any copyright laws with the production of this blog. If you want any content taken off this site, please request so via email.

Q: Couldn't someone else start the exact same blog?
A: Yes. But it wouldn't be as good because we know where to consistently find original content that our readers are interested in. Plus, Urban Eola's diverse... meaning the site does not focus on one specific subject but covers a spectrum of stuff that you guys are interested in.


2 // Contact

Got something to say to Urban Eola -- send your thoughts, suggestions, story leads, comments, pitches, sponsorship ideas, etc...

Contact Urban Eola at:




3 // Credits

Labels: ,


posted by Michael Tavani @ 10:24 PM |

Take a page out of Europe's fashion catalog

I just watched an episode of Fox Soccer Channel and they did an excerpt on clothing trends in London. All the lads, guys and gals, were saying that military garb (jackets, especially) is the latest trend.

This reminds of when I did study abroad in Europe in 2001. I noticed all the guys wearing retro, bowling-type shoes. Also, LaCoste polo shirts were everywhere along with some other brands popularized in the '80's. About a year after that, I noticed the LaCoste polo shirts were flying off the shelves in the U.S. despite their hefty $75 price tag. Bowling-style men's and women's shoes became a big hit for fashion trendsetters in the States as well. I still see people wearing them now.

So that poses the question...is Europe a year ahead of us when it comes to fashion styles and trends? If so, look for those military jackets coming to a store near you.


posted by Michael Tavani @ 4:12 PM | |

Introducing Urban Eola

For years now, I have been thinking about building websites. It seemed like a great idea - a creative outlet for the whole world to see. Plus, I spent countless late nights on the internet so I knew that coming up with content wouldn't be a problem. However, I had no clue how to design one, nonetheless get creative and artsy with it. Actually I remember my first attempt at a website which actually occurred during office hours while working for the Atlanta Hawks in winter 2002 (sorry Hawks). I found a free site online (tripod) that would let you create a basic site from a weak selection of templates. It didn't allow you to get too funky, but it let a non-techie like myself get something on the web.

From that point on, I was hooked on the concept that you could be sitting in your skivvies in front of your computer and publish something online that could actually develop a following. It's such a bad ass concept. It barely costs anything. Yet the potential audience is the whole world. Think about it - I can sit here at my computer and whip something up and some dude in Austraila can pull it up in between kangaroo rides.

After more experimentation in building websites with my family's soccer camp, Tavani Soccer, I felt like I had developed enough of a background to get by. I'll admit, my site's not going to blow you away with flash intros and pimp high-end graphics, but it's going to be solid enough to get by. I'll just rely on beefing up the content to reel 'em in.

Now what to write about? In my short time doing this stuff I realized that the key to a frequently visited website is innovative content that is constantly being updated. But most importantly the website has to offer something of value to the reader that they can't find anywhere else. As a person that loves to surf the web I realized the sites that I check the most regularly are the ones that give me new info, are updated daily, are helpful, enjoyable and cannot be found anywhere else. I use the internet as my newspaper, my entertainment, my answers to questions, knowledge on things I'm interested in, and as my random information grabber.

So with that in mind I eventually stumbled upon the idea of doing a website about things that I know best. But what the hell do I know best? Well, I realized that there is one area where I know more than anyone else in the world - being a level-headed, down-to-earth, twentysomething who's into the urban lifestyle, pop culture, sports, culture, fashion, humor, the arts, entertainment, the environment, web 2.0 tech stuff and creative business. So that's what I'm an expert on. I'm convinced that no one in the world knows more than me about these things because it's not possible. I am living them all right now.

Alright, so urbaneola.com is going to be my informative blog on all things that young people like and enjoy. Non-young people should get a kick as well as I have interests that span the spectrum. I have some tricks up my sleeve for every crowd. My numerous interests will force the blog not to be limited to just one topic. Hopefully, I'll hit subjects that interest you. I'm just confident that there's good stuff out there. If I touch on nothing that interests you at all, then you are not from earth. You're probably from somewhere else. My bad.

What is a blog? Good question because despite hearing about it for a year or so I just found out last week how powerful it can be. It's really a simple web technology. The word comes from the expression "web-log," which simply means a live, real-time, online personal diary. Blogger.com - pioneered the concept and sold it to Google for $300 trillion.

Here's the concept: within minutes, you can have a website and post to the universe any random, brilliant or outrageous thought that comes into your mind. Blogger even provides a template so that any schmo can build their own. No computer knowledge is necessary except basic working knowledge of power on and off.

Some people are calling it the Napster of the journalism industry. Just as Napster by-passed the record companies and brought music to people all over, blogs by-passed established magazines, newspapers, editors and proprietors, and allowed direct peer-to-peer journalism to flourish. The number of "blogs" is growing by tens of thousands a month, and Blogger itself boasts of over 150,000 users. In January 2005, 41,000 new blogs were created on Blogger. The vast majority of them are quirky, small, often boring reads, and reading them is like reading someone else's diary over their shoulder. By empowering individual writers, by reducing the costs of entry into publishing to close to zero, the blog revolution has only begun to transform the media world. And urbaneola.com is hopeful to be a part of it.

Let me know your thoughts.


posted by Michael Tavani @ 2:16 PM | |



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