Aspen Content Films

Since writing a blog on Aspen/Snowmass and Vail, I have continued to follow their marketing presence. While I was researching the two resorts I found that they both have amazing content videos and I can't help but post a couple of my current favorites.

The first one below is Aspen's opening day video. It is well made and features the song "Feel I Bring" by AER. Personally I think it is the perfect song for a happy go lucky opening day film. I makes me excited to go ski!!!

Snowmass Opening Day 2013

The second video I like is the last of a video series that Aspen started this year called #OurStory. It is an excellent campaign that tries to capture the local feel of Aspen. They make an excellent choice of music for the whole video series by playing only Michal Menert songs. Michal Menert is a Colorado local and his music fits very well to the style of the videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5he9JWJ3Hg

Hope you like these videos as much as me!

12 days till I go home to Colorado!!!

Chomp and Stomp

Chili, bluegrass, friends, banjos, community and beer. What could be a better Saturday afternoon. Chomp and Stomp is an annual chili cook-off and bluegrass festival in Cabbagetown, Georgia. This was the 11th year of the festival and it did not disappoint. Banjoes were playing, people were dancing and I was eating chili. Lots of chili. I never expected to find myself at this festival this weekend as it is during the georgia florida weekend. Usually I would be down in St. Simmons on the beach with my friends. Unfortunately, I could not get work covered so I was forced to stay in town for the weekend. That is until I found out about Chomp and Stomp. I was scrolling through Facebook when I noticed an event posted by my good friend Joel. He is always doing something weird or different so I decided to click on it and see what it was all about. The Chomp and Stomp Facebook page was very interactive, featuring photos from past years and info about this year's festival. I liked what I saw and called up Joel. He said he has been to the festival for the past 3 years and is going again this year. So we gathered a group of friends who weren't going to georgia florida and we cruised down to Atlanta.

We arrived at the festival a bit after noon (the starting time) and it was already packed! Shoulder to shoulder lines for chili tents. Everyone hoping to get a taste of the winning chili. I thought I would be able to eat chili all day but after about 20 small cups of chili I was feeling full. We decided to make a base camp and put down out things so we could explore the festival more. After getting settled I noticed a guy wearing a chili necklace. I asked Joel about it and he said it is a special necklace for people who eat a whole habanero. For some reason that sounded like a great idea to do. So we went in search for the habanero eating contest.

Upon finding the tent we realized that these guys took their peppers seriously. They picked me out a large orange habanero and said 'bon-appetit'. Before he could finish speaking those words I had chewed the pepper up and down the hatch. I dont even thing I thought about it but I did it. I was shocked I had just done it as I used to HATE spicy food. They judges seemed just as shocked as me as they looked on wide eyed at how quickly I popped it in. One of the female judges quickly took off her chili necklace and gave it to me saying "you are the new chili king!". I smiled as much as I could as my face vibrated with heat and I became light headed. My insides were flaming through every pore on my body and my eyes, nose and mouth began to run uncontrollably. The other judge grabbed some cornbread for me but it was no use. I was on for the ride and just had to endure. I said thank you to the judges and walked away in a happy painful weary state of being. The pain finally subsided 20-30 minutes later and I was able to continue enjoying the festival.

The face of a champion

Although I won the chili necklace, my body hated me for over 48 hours. I'd say it was worth it.

Rocky Mountain Showdown

Last week I did a report on the strategic social media strategies of Vail and Aspen/Snowmass. I compared these two mountains across all of the social platforms they are on to fully understand their social presence.

Here is the link to my results.

Rocky Mountain Showdown

Let me know what you think.

-R

Finger Pointing

Social networks were a buzz today as people woke up to find that their government has been "shutdown" due to lack of funding to pay it's debts. Everyone has an opinion and they made it known today. Republicans are pointing fingers at the Democrats and the Democrats are pointing right back.  Scrolling through my Facebook News Feed and Twitter I read tweets such as:

These tweets are simply doing the exact same thing as congress. They put the blame on the other guy. Both sides need to swallow a little bit of their ego and step up to the plate for the American people. We need to set down the short term politics and think about the long term here. The inability of the house and the senate to negotiate like adults is unacceptable. I am not saying I know the answer but I sure as hell know it doesn't start by pointing a finger.

-R

Instagram Connections

I recently got an Instagram account, involuntarily I might add, and it has begun to grow on me. I originally got an account because my class required that I did. I always saw Instagram as a platform for girls and artsy hipsters to post pictures that no one really cares about. In my class I was told to post pictures and tag it with a hash-tag related to the class. This was the first instance where I realized a practical use for Instagram. with the class hash-tag, we were able to communicate pictures and ideas in a common area. I was able to see live feed of my classmates projects and this fueled the creativity of the group as a whole. 

So now that you know why I got an Instagram. I want to talk about how it helped me find my friends in europe. While I was in europe I only had cell phone data. I couldn't text or call people so I relied on social media to communicate. one afternoon I was walking through Prague's old town and I decided to check Instagram. I scrolled down and saw a picture of the clock tower that I was standing next to. I was initially confused because it said the picture was posted only 3 minutes prior. I saw that the post was made by my friend Kate Fuller. I started to put 2 and 2 together and realized that she had to still be in Prague. I made sure to keep my eyes pealed as I kept walking around the city with my brother. About 10 minutes later I see Kate and her group of fellow classmates walking across the street toward the John Lennon wall. I was able to get her attention and say hello. It was so cool finding such a close friend in such a random place on earth. It is seriously such a small world, but social media like Instagram makes it even smaller.

-R

My Kicks

I brought three pairs of shoes with me to europe but one one pair became my "Kicks". I had a pair of Adidas sneakers, a pair of brown leather Clarks, and a pair of white low top converse. Although I had three pairs I wore my Converse 90 percent of the time. They became my go to shoe and I actually grew an emotional connection to them. Never before had i grown to love a pair of shoes so much but due to the countless miles I walked in these shoes, they became a part of me. I never washed them and I rarely wore socks with them so its safe to say they smelt ripe. They came with me through 11 countries for over 75 days and I was looking forward to having them forever. I loved them so much that I was planning on keeping them and giving them to my son one day. Unfortunately while I was in Croatia my family and I were on a kayaking trip around an island and i decided to take my cons off and put them on the back of my boat. Well, as karma would have it, I tried to flip the boat with my sister on it and ended up flipping my boat as well. I didn't think much of it and i just flipped it back over and kept going. We pulled up to shore after a 3-4 hour kayak journey and I reached for my shoes and they were no where to be found. They had sunk to the bottom of the adriatic sea when I flipped the boat. At first I was very upset. I truly loved those shoes. I had so many amazing memories in those shoes. As I continued to think about it I came to terms with my loss and I realized that maybe the bottom of the ocean is a good resting place for my shoes. They were so great to me while in europe and now they get to hang out in the most beautiful place in eastern europe. I guess I can go buy a new pair of Kicks to have even more great memories in.

-R

Prague round 2

I was lucky enough to travel to prague with my brother and his girlfriend in mid June. We stayed in a nice hostel and had an excellent few days. We explored the city as much as we could in that short period of time. I left that city to fly to valencia knowing that I would be back soon. Surprisingly I wouldn't have to wait long. A mere three weeks after that trip I found myself on a train bound for Prague with over 200 other american students. The train was mayhem with people standing, sitting, laying and doing anything they could to get comfortable on the over crowded train. Once we piled off the train into town we all dispersed to our hostels/hotels/apartments. having been in this city only a few weeks before, I knew exactly where to go and what to do. It was really cool showing my friends around the city. We also got to see the Lennon wall which my brother and I were unable to see when we went. We also went to a beautiful beer garden overlooking the city. This beer garden led to the Prague castle up the hill. This castle is like none other. It has been around for over 600 years and is still under construction. Overall this city is a hidden gem and I look forward to making a third trip back there in the future.

-R

Nordkette

One of the first afternoon activities offered by the University of New Orleans Innsbruck summer school program was a hike up the Nordkette mountain a few kilometers down river. We were informed about the hike via our group Facebook account. I did not think many people looked at it but was surprised when 217, of 278 total people in the program, showed up to hike this mountain. The power of social networking is amazing. We began the hike through a beautiful park with a few streams and a waterfall. once at the midway point we stopped and most of the group went back while a few decided to keep going. I was one who kept going. I was extremely happy I decided to keep going as once we made it to the top there was an amazing view! there was a nice restaurant that serves Austrian BBQ aka sausage turkey beef, lamb. Having been away from home for over 2 months at this point I was feeling a little home sick. However the great outdoors always has a way of making everything better. It was an excellent hike and made me feel like I was home in colorado. I came down from the hike feeling refreshed and excited for the weeks ahead in Innsbruck.

  

-R

Pay it Forward

Night one in Innsbruck Austria may have been my favorite night of my entire summer traveling in europe. I had just stepped off a train, exhausted from a 28 hour train journey from valencia spain. I came to Innsbruck a day prior to check in for my summer school program so I did not exactly have a place to sleep. So I walked the streets for a few blocks looking for a cheap hotel or a cozy bush to sleep in. As I walked I noticed a rowdy group of young men in there late 20's early 30's and I ask them if they know of a cheap place to sleep. They said yes and instructed me to hop in the cab with them to their hotel. They seemed harmless and i'm always down for an adventure so I hopped in. We drove about 3 miles and pulled up to a beautiful 5 star hotel. I was shocked when they informed me that this was their place and that they have a bed for me. I asked if I could pay them any money for the room and they simply said no, just come out with us. I obviously said yes and joined what I then found out to be a German bachelor party. Leave it to lucky me to come across a german bachelor party willing to put me up and take me out for a night of partying. We had loads of fun and stayed out late. The next morning we woke up and they treated me to a full 5 star breakfast at the hotel and then sent me on my way. I can honestly say they were the most caring and giving I met while traveling europe. One thing I will never forget was when I was leaving and I asked one of them, Daniel why did you help me out last night? he responded saying that when he traveled to USA a few years back he was treated so well by the american people that he felt that he should pay it forward. So as I left that morning to check in to my dorm, all he told me was to pay if forward. From that point on, everyday I do my best to do something kind for someone to help pay it forward.

-R