Our latest episode of #Berkeley sponsored by Buy Local Berkeley and the North Shattuck Association takes you to the 4th Annual Holiday Tree Lighting in Downtown Berkeley and guides you through some of Berkeley’s best boutiques in the Gourmet Ghetto.
Get jewelry buying tips from M. Lowe & Co., toy ideas from Kid Dynamo and the best in letterpress cards and paper gifts from Twig & Fig.
Shop small & save BIG with Buy Local Berkeley Holiday Coupons through the Chinook Book mobile appon your smartphone!
Get over 100 offers from local independent businesses for the holidays – It’s easy, just download the Chinook Book app , and your free offers will load on your mobile phone. Click the link to download the free app!
A long time ago in a neighborhood close, close by I was a holiday hire at the Crate & Barrel Outlet on 4th street. There among the discounted painted egg ornaments, pine-scented candles and glittering but slightly dinged picture frames, the Spirit of Christmas and the true meaning of Black Friday became my lifeblood.
I never expected it would lead to decorating Christmas windows at Macy’s Union Square, or filming the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade Santa in a TV studio on 34th and Broadway. (Yes, Virginia, Santa has Justin Bieber stories.) I like the spectacle of the holidays and Christmas in New York is grand, but next to the feelings of goodwill the season inspires, I appreciate the chance to indulge the people I care about in gifts from the quirky city I get to call home, Berkeley.
But I don’t consider myself an elf, I identify more as a gift Jedi urging everyone to find the presents they’re looking for at local independent stores.
Our first episode of #Berkleley’s Holiday Gift Guide, sponsored by Buy Local Berkeley, takes me back to the street where my visual design training began. A quiet industrial area in the 90’s, 4th Street between Virginia and Hearst is now home to a trendy mix of acclaimed restaurants, coffee shops, artist supply stores, an Apple store and a salon. Their Dazzling Holiday Lights show lives by its name, inspiring ooh’s ahh’s and #FourthStreetBerkeley Instagrams. 4th Street is more inspiring than ever.
But we don’t stop there. Watch the video for gift ideas from:
Berkeleyside’s story on the BPA’s toy donation shortage has gone viral and is saving Christmas!
They’re reporting, “Donations of new, unwrapped toys can be dropped off at the department at 2100 Martin Luther King Jr. Way daily from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. until Friday, Dec. 18.”
You can also donate to the Berkeley Police Association’s Go Fund Me campaign.
Games of Berkeley posted on their blog, “Anyone purchasing toys for the toy drive will get a 15% off today and tomorrow (Dec 17 and Dec 18 till 4pm). Details in store.”
Explore and shop local, hand-crafted, original works of art when 100 Artists and Craftspeople open their workshops and studios for the 25th annual Berkeley Artisans’ Holiday Open Studios. Beginning Saturday November 28th, and running through the next four weekends you can take a free, self-guided tour through the city’s creative spaces and hidden gems. Don’t miss it!
Gear up Thursday December 3rd, 6-9pm for Off Planet VR,
an evening exploring the Metaverse.
With VR and Augmented Reality projected to hit $150 billion in revenue by 2020, emerging Bay Area companies are at the forefront of building the Metaverse: a new form of presence.
On Thursday Dec 3rd, from 6-9pm Quirkeley invites you to connect with scores of Bay Area VR pioneers, developers and UC Berkeley students for a night of virtual fun and games in the heart of Downtown Berkeley at NextSpace, 2081 Center Street. Discover your next adventure. #OffPlanet
Off Planet VR is a free 3-hour exploration of virtual reality and 360 experiences from the architects, developers and dreamers of this radical new territory. Off Planet is produced by Quirkeley’s Executive Producer, Siciliana Trevino and sponsored by the Berkeley Startup Cluster.
Trevino, who’ll be showing her first VR project for Oculus Rift, Berkeley in 360,says, “It’s going to be breathtaking. Off Planet VR is a first-of-its-kind event in Downtown Berkeley where future-minded developers, creatives and VR pioneers can experience some of the most compelling new platforms and projects happening in VR today. Berkeley is an ideal launchpad to explore the out-of-this-world potential of VR.”
To that end special guests include SpaceVR CEO, Ryan Holmes, fresh from a successful Kickstarter campaign to bring a VR camera to the International Space Station to allow anyone to experience space on any mobile, desktop or VR device. Check out their mission to change the world on YouTube:
Thursday Dec. 3rd explore experiences from:
High Fidelity – Open source software for shared Virtual Reality
Off Planet VR is produced by Quirkeley, Berkeley’s fresh, local and organic video source and Griffo Project Productions. Sponsored by Berkeley Startup Cluster.
Berkeley is never short on quirky tricks and treats especially on Halloween. Our event guide has something fun for costumed kids at heart and their little dogs too! So grab your undead friends and fiends for a day and night of spooktacular proportions in Berkeley. Happy Halloween!
Gilman District’s Fieldwork Brewing Company (or should we say Booing Company) will celebrate All Hallows Eve with beer, a dog costume competition, and a little old fashioned pumpkin carving party. Carving stations will be outfitted with everything you need to make your jack-o-lantern masterpiece – including the pumpkin!
Pumpkin Carving Party, 11am -2pm ***Updated Time For The Dog Costume Contest*** Dog Costume Party Judging, 2pm – 4pm Winner Announcement, 4:30pm
Jugger is the post-apocalyptic capture the flag like game from the film Blood of Heroes, written and directed by Berkeley-based screenwriter David Webb Peoples that’s now played around the world and right here at Cordonices Park on Saturdays.
Costumes are encouraged for this match up of weapon wielding teams in a race to capture glory and the prized (fabricated) animal skull. Beginners welcome.
To find out more about Jugger California and their team the Berkeley Riot check them out on #Berkeley.
Join Berkeley Community Media for a night of thrills, chills and spills at their newly remodeled studios in the heart of Downtown Berkeley. Audience members are encouraged to dress up to enter the costume contest to win prizes.
Filmmaker prizes for Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Horror Plot, and Audience Choice Award.
Doors, 6 pm Films, costume contest and dancing, 7-10 pm
Celebrate the Mexican tradition of Dia De Los Muertos / Day of the Dead and honor loved ones who have passed on to the other side.
Local artists install altars or you may help create a community ofrenda by bringing photos, candles, breads, or flowers to add to the altar. Hauntingly beautiful violin music by Kippy Marks, Aztec dancers and drummers lead a candle light procession through the district. Food trucks, craft booths, wine & beer, free skeletal face painting, and DIY art projects. Costumes and papier maché giant heads are encouraged.
Off Planet VR is a 3-hour showcase of virtual reality and 360 video experiences from the architects, developers and dreamers who are charting this radical new territory.
Connect with dozens of Bay Area VR pioneers, evangelists and UC Berkeley students for a night of virtual fun and games in the heart of Downtown Berkeley at NextSpace, 2081 Center Street. Discover your next adventure. #OffPlanet.
CALL FOR ENTRIES!
Demo your VR platform, game, experience or gear at Off Planet. Deadline – extended to November 6th, 5pm
Confirmed demos:
High Fidelity – open source software for shared Virtual Reality
On our latest #Berkeley we geek out over a game of Jugger with the Berkeley Riot. Thanks to Valkyrie and Evan Savage, you can play the post-apocalyptic sport invented by Oscar-nomninated screenwriter David Webb Peoples, Thursdays 5pm at Cal Memorial Glade and Saturdays, 3pm at Codornices Park. 3! 2! 1! #Jugger!
Connect with California Jugger and the Berkeley Riot on Facebook
Nothing points to the start of fall in Berkeley like the Solano Avenue Stroll. Now in its 41st year, see why this mile long block party is an East Bay favorite on our latest episode. Thanks to Allen Cain and the Board of Directors, Solano Avenue Association and Stroll.
From Trash to Treasure, Reclaiming History from the Dump
(Berkeley, California) – Berkeley, home to Nobel Laureates and hotbed of social activism, sustainability, and entrepreneurialism, adds one more incredible story to its illustrious lore. New Mo’ Cut:David Peoples’ lost film of Moe’s Books –weaves together a surreal story about disparate strangers with passions for used books, filmmaking, and recycling, while reclaiming a special part of Berkeley history with footage of larger-than-life icon – Moe Moskowitz – at the grand opening of his legendary Telegraph Avenue bookstore, Moe’s Books.
From trash to treasure, this film is a philosophical musing on how beauty and value are in the eyes of the beholder, and how happenstance can occur anywhere, at any time, and interconnect lives in deeply meaningful ways.
New Mo’ Cut is an uncanny story of how Moe found his way back to his daughter Doris and their bookstore 50 years later through a salvaged film that turned out to be made by Oscar nominated screenwriter David Peoples.
The 16mm two-minute, forty-six second workprint is a time capsule of Berkeley and a peek into Peoples’ early documentary film explorations before he gained notoriety as a screenwriter rewriting Blade Runner, earning an Oscar nomination for Unforgiven, and co-writing 12 Monkeys with his wife, screenwriter Janet Peoples.
New Mo’ Cut is rooted in the Berkeley community with connections to Berkeley natives such as the Moskowitz, Peoples and the city’s venerable institutions such as Moe’s Books, Urban Ore, and Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
THE PREMIERE OF New Mo’ Cut: David Peoples lost film of Moe’s Books will take place on Thursday August 27th at The Elmwood Theater.
7pm private VIP Kickstarter screening, 8pm General Public.
Siciliana Trevino (Producer, Director & Editor), Michael Coleman (Director of Photography), Doris Moskowitz (Owner of Moe’s Books), David Peoples (Screenwriter for Blade Runner and Oscar Nominee for Unforgiven) will be in attendance for the VIP screening.
A digital copy of David Peoples’ found 16mm Moe Film will screen after Trevino’s 14 minute documentary.
Elmwood Theater 2966 College Avenue at Ashby
7pm: VIP Kickstarter Premiere followed by Director Q and A - invitation only.
8pm: General Public
GP Tickets: Adult $11 / Senior (62+) $8.50 / Child (11 and under) $8.50 /Students w ID $8.50
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS
VidCon Day 3! We survived VidCon Prom, Disney Day + filming spherical video with eleVR at their VR workshop for Creators on Saturday morning 9am!! Andrew Stack of YouTube Spaces shares tips about filming in spherical and shows us the amazing pocket-sized Ricoh Theta spherical camera. #TeamNoSleep. Farewell VidCon, thanks for the 3D memories.
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