At Samovar, a tea bar on Valencia Street in San Francisco, white ceramic mugs line white walls, and the seating is one long bench, also white. Behind the counter, attractive men sport bespoke canvas aprons while tending to elegant glass contraptions that look like tall, thin French presses. Heaps of scones and croissants sit under glass domes in front of the tablet registers. It has the reverential air of many neighboring third-wave cafes in the Mission: Four Barrel, Ritual, Sightglass. advertisement advertisement People often come into Samovar looking for a cup of pour over coffee (although none is available–only tea). That it’s frequently mistaken for a place that sells a particular grade of coffee is no accident. Jesse Jacobs, who has a tiny tea empire that spans three locations throughout San Francisco, calls his six month old Valencia Street spot the “Blue Bottle of tea.” “Coffee has become cool,” says Jacobs, at a quick clip for … [Read more...] about Giving Tea The Blue Bottle Treatment
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How “Frozen” Director Jennifer Lee Reinvented The Story Of The Snow Queen
The fact that Jennifer Lee is a woman isn’t the only thing that makes her one of the most unorthodox directors at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Lee, who co-wrote and co-directed the blockbuster Frozen, is the very first female director at the studio. But unlike most of her peers, who earned their degrees at places like CalArts and have spent years in the animation trenches, Lee started out in book publishing before getting her master’s in film at Columbia University, where she was more immersed in New Wave and independent cinema than Dumbo or Shrek. advertisement advertisement It was this unique background, as well as Lee’s vision for an epic film that is as engaging and sophisticated as any live-action project, that made her perfect for the job and helped Frozen become the highest-grossing Disney animated film of all time with nearly $1 billion at the global box office, beating out the long-reigning Lion King. The catchy musical about two orphaned … [Read more...] about How “Frozen” Director Jennifer Lee Reinvented The Story Of The Snow Queen
The Future of Media is Podcasting
Let’s start with a simple fact: More people have downloaded Serial than have watched Girls, Mad Men, or Louie. advertisement advertisement But enough about Serial: the podcasting world will produce bigger hits in the years ahead. What’s most interesting about the series is that it is but the most prominent example of an experiment that could reshape business models throughout the entertainment industry. “We’re at the very beginning of how [podcasting] is enabling innovation,” says Alex Blumberg, a This American Life veteran who struck out on his own in 2014 with a venture-backed startup podcast network, called Gimlet Media. Adds Jake Shapiro, CEO of PRX, which distributes popular podcasts such as the design show 99% Invisible and Criminal (a nonserialized true-crime program): “Content production, marketing, the technical distribution, the audience experience, and then the business model: There’s innovation at every one of those … [Read more...] about The Future of Media is Podcasting