In August of 2009, 6 short films were created in a heat wave at the Roger Smith Hotel. The 2009 Roger Smith Shorts Directors are Daniel Brothers, Sean Cunningham, Sherng-Lee Huang, Jacob Mendel, Dmitry Povolotsky, and Ted Wallach. During the Roger Smith Shorts Film Festival Workshop we hosted several industry workshops, panels, music events and parties to celebrate this week long film festival. It was an epic week of blitz creations hosted at the Roger Smith Hotel in Midtown Manhattan.

Meet the Filmmakers

The 2009 Roger Smith Shorts are;

“The Honeymoon Killer” by Shreng-Lee Huang

“Suite 15″ by Jacob Mendel

“Clean The Room” by Dmitry Povolotski

“Rabid Rocky” by Daniel Brothers

“Hotel Genius” by Ted Wallach

“On the Rocks” by Sean Cunningham

Be sure to check out the Live release of the Roger Smith Shorts on Wednesday March 10, 2010 at 7 pm @RShotel. The Shorts will be available online after the release in case you missed it so be sure to watch them and share them with your friends.

Thanks for watching.

John Knowles

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The New York team, NYChaos, has four other people in addition to Brian: Jessica Randazza, Sarah Simmons, Nick Mcglynn, and Khayyam Wakil.

Stay in touch with the teams trip and adventures here: http://nychaos.tumblr.com/

Also become a fan of our Facebook Fan Page NYChaos

…and to all of our NYC friends coming to SXSWi please support us and help us win! There are bragging rights at stake here and we know none of you want to lose to Detroit, Chicago,
North Carolina, Florida, Atlanta… need we say more

GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF THE SEVEN OTHER TEAMS !!!

1. Team North Carolina: @jakrose @waynesutton @theRAB @nikisnotes
2. Team Detroit: @balanon @bchesnutt @walkerau @davemurr
3. Team Atlanta: @tessa @kimber_regator @linneamc @scott_regator @chris_regator
4. Team Chicago: @timjahn@michaelcourier @pragerd @TheScottBishop
5. Team Lansing: @betsyweber @callkathy @snagit @mulka
6. Team San Diego: @brassfield @briandrandles @venesslynn @stolenumbrella @jessiemarcel
7. Team Florida @tammycamp

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Like the Spice and the Roger Smith Hotel are pleased to announce that they have joined creative forces to present a group show featuring Like the Spice artists Jason Bryant, Allison Edge, and Ross Racine. The Roger Smith Hotel, a positive, open and friendly spot in Midtown Manhattan, nestled amongst the skyscrapers, is not just a hotel, but also a location for guests and visitors to get a taste of the up and coming New York arts scene. Located at 501 Lexington Avenue with its Solarium Gallery on the 16^th floor, has had a long history of hosting creative and entertaining exhibitions that stimulate thought and conversation. Like the Spice is extremely excited to be invited and why we think our artists will fit their style perfectly.

In the lobby of the hotel you will find the shapes of spirals, explosions and clouds that mirror the strange psychology of Quebec-born artist Ross Racine’s fictional suburban developments. Ross has shown extensively across the United States and Canada. His “digital drawings” are hand-drawn directly by computer, creating communities that could be taken from some otherworldly Mapquest. They are in no way photographs, yet still carry a convincing feel, leaving you with the assumption that someone, somewhere, has been to see these communities in person.

Come join us on opening night, March 19th, as we begin our very exciting month-long stay at the Roger Smith Hotel! And please come to view more of these artists’ works and more at Like the Spice as we will remain open and will be hosting our own exhibition on site!

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Here is the tweet sent out by Roger A.K.A. @yaysarcasm to @SuzanneVara Owner of Kherize5 Advertising & Social Media Agency and my response:

Roger quickly responded with a tweet leading me closer to the truth:

I instantly looked up “Heavier Than Heaven” on-line continuing to track down the truth behind Roger’s tweet… its not that I didn’t believe you Roger but afterall it is twitter…right?!

Here is what I found next:

page 205 Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain By Charles R. Cross

I have walked into work today feeling a little bit different. Call me corny but in a Hotel that has built a reputation on story telling and people this to me is a damn good one. Kurt Cobain, Nirvana… fan or not you have to admit the history and nostalgia behind this discovery is a story to be repeated and shared.

I end by thanking Roger @YaySarcasm and @SuzannaVara for having a social conversation and sharing your insights with us here @RSHotel ! I will always remember this… its just cool.

R.I.P.

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OUR ROGER SMITH FAMILY

We were honored to be a part of The Shorty Awards and be listed in the Customer Service Category alongside:

thinkgeek

Team McLaren

Shani Sammons

Mike Johansson

and of course, and big congrats to, Winner  ComcastBonnie

Thank you again to all that have supported us and make our jobs here at RSH more fun because we are surrounded by greatness everyday!

See you next year… with a lead image photo from behind the podium

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Wokai is off to an incredible start in 2010. We’re keeping up the momentum with a global campaign for the 2.0 launch of our site (www.wokai.org). Please join us for our New Year kick-off to learn more about Wokai’s fresh new look and to rally in a good year for the impoverished in China.

Date: Thursday, March 11th, 2010
Time: 7:30 – 10:30pm
Venue: The Roger Smith Hotel, The Solarium (top floor)
Dress code: cocktail attire / smart casual
Ticket price: $60* (purchase tickets online ASAP: www.wokai.org/tickets)
*Ticket includes: a donation, full open bar, food and entertainment

A big thanks to our sponsor Cathay Pacific!

Mark your calendars today and don’t miss your chance to participate in this meaningful/fun event (space limited).

Thank you for your continuing support for Wokai.

If you are interested in learning more about Wokai, we invite you to watch this presentation that Wokai’s Co-Founder and CEO, Casey Wilson, gave at Google or click on the logos below to check out some of our recent media features.

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“A Spectrum Of Jewels” will feature what Maslanka calls a ‘Dodecaorthogonal Space Poem’.  This type of ‘mathematical poem’ is constructed with twelve ‘orthogonal space poems’ arranged contiguously within a Cartesian coordinate system.  Orthogonal space poems are always in the form of ‘A’ equals ‘B’ multiplied by ‘C’. What is different in this new work is that one of the variables in each poem is a fabricated word whose meaning comes from the mathematical operation applied to the other two variables (words). The words were carefully chosen to point to a spectrum inspired by Zen teachings. Thus, the aesthetic value of the piece is derived from visualizing the meaning of all the concepts spread throughout the entire three dimensional space.

The following statements are to help navigate the installation:

The yellow ball is the point of origin for the entire system. The green balls are points in space which represent the meaning of a concept which lies on one of the ‘word axes’.  A word axis is a one dimensional line drawn between two concepts in space.  In a three dimensional space you may have three ‘word axes’.  The three word axes in this installation are “Emptiness/Thinking”, “Existence/Non-existence” and “Monasticism/Urbanity”. The red balls are points in space to delineate the coordinate pairs for which the orthogonal space poem starts.  The poem lies on the planer space that lies between the red ball, the two adjacent green balls and the yellow ball. For a better understanding of visualizing these poems you may want to Google “verbogeometry” and “Orthogonal Space Poem”.

The twelve orthogonal space poems are:
Emptiness times Urbanity = Socrastival
Emptiness times Monasticism = Apecksuval
Emptiness times Existence = Doalldoxuval
Emptiness times Non-existence = Nonalldoxuval
Thinking times Urbanity = Selcrasaval
Thinking times Monasticism = Taoodoxuval
Thinking times Existence = Wastconditival
Thinking times Non-existence = Dreemholeval
Existence times Urbanity = Natucrasaval
Existence times Monasticism = Onkeval
Non-existence times Urbanity = Boidasval
Non-existence times Monasticism = Onkeval

For more information, or to schedule an interview with the artist, please contact Danika Druttman 212.339.2092

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Cents of Relief (501c3) was founded by John Raser’s highschool buddy, Anup Patel and his fiance Rina Patel to help provide healthcare to women and children caught up in human trafficking / sex trade. John says “Anup is one of the most brilliant, hard-working, and compassionate people I have ever come to know.”
He credits his fiance, Rina, as being the driving force behind the organization. “She is such a strong, sweet, and dedicated woman.” says Anup. I’m happy to help such unselfish and deserving friends.

If you live in New York City, or will be there March 11, 2010, we would love it if you came out to support this worthy cause. I mean it’s at Jay Z’s 40/40 Club and tickets are only $25 bucks in advance ($30 at the door). Not to mention there is a free vodka hour and free Aveda mini day spa included! Need I say more?!?! I’ll be there with some friends from Orlando and would love to throw back some Cristal with you!

You can buy tickets here

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Half-to-Help teamed up with the Roger Smith Hotel, Panman Productions, and Action Against Hunger | ACF-USA to bring you our first Haiti relief art show and concert. Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys played in the Penthouse of the Roger Smith Hotel with video accompaniment of Freakcast.

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@highville on twitter, Marc is a Roger Smith Super Star. The quote below was recently posted to his tumblr.com account and provides a bit of insight into his sensibilities.

“Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteers be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.”

—

If You Can Raed Tihs, You Msut Be Raelly Smrat

(via bcnnyc)

You should follow Marc and engage with him online. By participate in the growing culture that is Roger Smith you are contributing to its global buzz. Post a comment and share with a friend. Thanks for engaging.

John Knowles

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