John Beck

Athlete. Artist. Agnostic. Humanist. Skeptic. Unfinished.

Bowery Lane Bicycles

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A little over a month ago I bought my first bicycle. I’ve ridden many bikes as a kid but this one is mine! For almost 2 years I’ve had my eyes on the bikes from Bowery Lane Bicycles. Not sure what took me so long to get one. They’re incredible bikes, excellent design and handmade in NYC using American steel. I’ve been following them on Twitter and saw that they were heading to Philadelphia. I asked them if they would drop me off a bike while I was working at DeLorenzo’s and they agreed. I offered them some pizza but unfortunately they arrived during the off hours (I still owe you guys). So, the 2 owners of the company, Mike and Patrick, hand delivered the bike to me at work. These guys are the coolest, we chatted for a bit and then they headed back to NYC.

Bowery Lane Bicycles offers 3 bikes, all single speed cruisers. I chose the Bronks Raw. I love the raw steel look and the visible welding plus it comes with a bell. I upgraded my seat to a Brooks B67 saddle. I got a Bern Macon bike helmet. I got the Beamer 3 headlight and the Superflash taillight both from Planet Bike. I also got the Kryptonite Series 2 KryptoLok U-Lock bicycle lock. I threw a cheap handlebar iPhone mount in there also, mainly for tracking my bike rides. I’m looking for a way to transport the bike in my little Honda Civic. Any suggestions? Here’s a picture of my bike, that’s my portable radio in the crate:

bowery

So, if you see me out on the roadways give me a friendly wave!

Desk Space

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I had posted this picture of my desk space on Facebook recently asking what other people’s desk spaces look like. What’s yours look like?

deskspace

To the left of my desk (not pictured, left of my headphones) is a small table that houses my scanner and other light gear. Above my desk is a shelf with my large format printer and negative/slide scanner.

Happy New Year!

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Happy New Year! 2010 was a great year and here’s a few of my favorite things that were released in movies, television and music!

I haven’t seen many new films this year. I still haven’t seen Tron: Legacy which I have been wanting to see. My three favorites were Enter the Void, Black Swan and Toy Story 3. Enter the Void was fantastic, but it’s not something I would recommend to everyone (anyone?). Visually and aurally amazing though. The opening credits were amongst the best all time. Black Swan was excellent although I feel like they could have pushed it more. Very good film but I just felt like there could have been more. Still, some scenes gave me chills. Toy Story 3 was just nearly perfect. Enough said. Some other films I really liked that were released this year were Life During Wartime, Kick-Ass, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Animal Kingdom, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Social Network.

As always I watch a whole lot of television. I don’t really have a favorite this year but I’d like to say good by to one of my favorites which had it’s final season this year, 24. 24 completed an excellent series on a great note. However, I have a feeling that he’ll be back! Of course one of my favorite shows every year is Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe. Funny, entertaining, educational, the show has everything! Some other TV shows that I loved this year were It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Parenthood (that pilot episode was amazing), Fringe, The Office, Breaking Bad, Dexter, Eastbound & Down and Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!

A great year for new music from new bands and established ones. My favorite album of the year is “Teen Dream” by Beach House. Absolutely love it. Much more complex than their previous 2 albums. After that I would have to say “High Violet” by the National and “Odd Blood” by Yeasayer. 2 fantastic albums.

Some other great albums that were released in 2010, “Strange Weather, Isn’t It?” by !!!, “Stridulum” by Zola Jesus, “Contra” by Vampire Weekend, “My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky” by Swans, oOoOO, “Returnal” by Oneohtrix Point Never, “Am I Real?” by Nite Jewel, “Tomorrow, In A Year” by The Knife, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” by Kanye West, “CMYK” by James Blake, “Love Remains” by How To Dress Well, “That We Can Play” by Games, “There Is Love In You” by Four Tet, “Dagger Paths” by Forest Swords, “Does It Look Like I’m Here?” by Emeralds, “Hide” by Foetus, “Baalstorm, Sing Omega” by Current 93, Crystal Castles, “Jet Set Siempre 1°” by Clive Tanaka y su orquestra, Broken Bells, “The Effective Discontent” by Brian McBride, Autre Ne Veut, “See Birds” by Balam Acab, “Before Today” by Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti and “The Suburbs” by Arcade Fire. I also love the Tron: Legacy soundtrack by Daft Punk and the Social Network soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

According to my Last.Fm account. My top 5 most listened to artists of the year were; Arcade Fire (259 plays), Beach House (239 plays), Animal Collective (175 plays), The Knife (161 plays) and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (146 plays).

Have a happy and safe 2011.

Canal's Discount Liquors – October 2010

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Today I made my monthly visit to Canal’s Discount Liquors, here’s what I got:

Flying Fish Exit 4 – 6 pack bottles
Magic Hat Hex – 6 pack bottles
Smithwick’s – 6 pack bottles
Young’s Double Chocolate Stout – 4 pack cans
Murphy’s Irish Stout – 4 pack cans
Aventinus – 1 12oz. bottle
Chimay White – 1 350ml bottle

Maker’s Mark 46
Rex Goliath 47lb Rooster cabernet sauvignon

My Kentucky trip using social media

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Towards the end of last week I decided to take a little road trip out to Kentucky by myself. The main draw to Kentucky was of course the Maker’s Mark distillery. I made some reservations at a Hilton branded hotel and off I was.

I left New Jersey at 3:30 AM and got to the hotel at 3:30 PM. In entirety I was on the road for just shy of 1,800 miles and almost 29 hours.

I was armed with nothing but my Garmin nüvi and my iPhone 3G. I only programmed the hotel into the Garmin and everything else I was just gonna figure out when I got there.

The drive was long, especially through the mountains of West Virginia and Western Maryland. I drank a lot of water so I had to make frequent potty breaks. I would just type in “rest area” in the Garmin and I would know how long it would be until the next one would arrive and whether I should pit then or not. Also, the Garmin showed the closest gas stations. I felt extremely confident even out in the wilderness.

I made it to Louisville, Kentucky with no problems. I used the Yelp app to find places nearby based on my GPS location and judging by the reviews and ratings I decided on where to go and found a real good tavern/cafe. When I would get to each place I would check-in using Foursquare. Foursquare would then post my check-in to Facebook for all my friends to see. From there, my Facebook friends saw where I was and ended up recommending even more things to me that I would never have thought of by myself.

Having my iPhone 3G really helped me while I was away. It helped me find different places to go eat and it helped me stay in touch with everyone. Using the Garmin as my GPS unit was much better than using the iPhone’s map program. Not only did it get me where I wanted but helped me with the rest stops and gas stastions. Here’s a list of some of the places that I found on Yelp and were recommended to me on Facebook:

Day 1:
Zeppelin Cafe (found on Yelp)
Kentucky Exposition Center (saw from the road)
Liquor Barn (Maker’s Mark posted a list of places that carry Maker’s 46 to Twitter, I searched for Liquor Barn using iPhone’s Google Maps app and found the closest one on that list)

Day 2:
Speed Art Museum (found using the Garmin after searching for art museums)
Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory (found using the Garmin)
Muhammad Ali Center (just around the corner from Louisville Slugger)
Churchill Downs (found using Garmin)
Zanzabar (found on Yelp)
Blues and Barbecue Festival (folks at Maker’s Mark sent me a link with things to do and this was listed, used the Garmin to find it)

Day 3:
Maker’s Mark distillery (already programmed into the Garmin)
Jim Beam distillery (saw from the road)
Brown Hotel (friend on Facebook recommended it after seeing my check-ins)
The Highlands (area of Louisville, waitress from Zeppelin Cafe recommended it)
Lynn’s Paradise Cafe (friends on Facebook and Twitter recommended it after seeing my check-ins)

Day 4:
Heading home today, used my Garmin to find the Woodford Reserve distillery after folks I met at Maker’s Mark told me that it wasn’t too far off the road. It wasn’t far but the tour started too late for me to stay. Next time!