Triple Fun Thursday: STARMAKER, NYX Professional Makeup, & NYLON's Cover Girl, Jenny Slate.

By Laura Medina

https://www.nyxcosmetics.com/masterclass.html

There's a reason Thursday is called "Glam Slam." That's the day all these launches are popping up all over the place and industry insiders are running the "Glam Slam" marathon from one end of the city to another.

Obviously, the first one is the earliest one.

Maurico and Roger Padilha, Manhattan's premiere fashion publicists, throw a culturati book/cocktail party honoring Disco Seventies/New Wave Eighties "Interview Magazine" illustrator, Richard Bernstein.

If you weren't in Manhattan-based Interview Magazine, you were a nobody.

If you were in Interview Magazine, you made it.

STARMARKER book is a who's who of Seventies and Eighties' celebrities.

For all you fashionistas, it's a good fashion history reference book for clothes and makeup during those eras.

Famous Eighties celebrities dropped by early Thursday night, such as Billy Idol.

Ok, onto the next and second event of Thursday night.  This starts at 7pm, whereas STARMAKER cocktail book party started bright and early at 5pm in Thursday afternoon...

NYX Professional Makeup did an instructional cocktail party to launch their online educational content library featuring a group of professional makeup artists and top beauty influencers. 

To help kick it off, the brand is hosting an in-person masterclass/cocktail party with two of this year’s Masters – celebrity makeup artist, Patrick Ta, and digital beauty influencer, Karen Sarahi Gonzalez (@iluvsarahii).

Just in time for Halloween, NYX did a live demo with experienced makeup artists...

While interviewing Patrick and Karen, the current makeup trend, appropriately for Halloween, metallic orange...

If you're pissed that you can't make it to the cocktail launch party for Masterclass, you can go to https://www.nyxcosmetics.com/masterclass.html

NYLON Magazine's  It Girl Party was the last and the longest, went well past midnight.

Celebrities and influencers and tastemakers, all alike, were lining as early at 7p for the 8pm party that lasted to 2am, the next morning.

Honoring comedian and award-winning actress Jenny Slate, Aldo's trendier-line, Call It Spring throw an October digital cover/issue party, with NYLON, to celebrate October issue release party.

NYLON & Call It Spring transformed The Ace Hotel's rooftop pool into a shoe garden.

“It girls” and “It guys” as well as tastemakers, entertainment mavens, influencer and VIPs cheered on at the release party.

Actress Christina Milian attends NYLON's annual It Girl Party sponsored by Call It Spring at Ace Hotel. 

Chantel Jeffries attends NYLON's annual It Girl Party sponsored by Call It Spring at Ace Hotel. 

Actress Anne Winters attends NYLON's annual It Girl Party sponsored by Call It Spring at Ace Hotel. 

If Interview Magazine was the zeitgeist defining the moment of the Seventies and Eighties, NYLON Magazine is the arbiter of the 2000s and of today's 2010s.

"High Hopes" at Consumer Discovery Show by FounderMade in Santa Monica.

By Laura Medina

It makes sense that the crème de la crème of all-natural, holistic, homeopathic, and just plain organic, at an high-tech level, will converge at conference/trade show, https://www.foundermade.com/

The summit brought together 200+ top consumer brands and key industry players in the areas of beauty, wellness, and food looking to accelerate growth and exposure while introducing consumers to the latest products. The event consisted of six different panels, fireside chats, and key notes in one marketplace while creating networking opportunities for businesses to build distribution, sales, financing, and strategic partnerships. Among the panels, the highest attendance came from High Hopes: The Future of Cannabis where panelists Emily Dougherty (Editor in Chief, New Beauty), Michael Bumgarner (Founder + CEO, Cannuka), Clement Kwan (Co-Founder, BEBOE), Jessie Stanley (Co-Founder, CW Hemp), and Derek Thomas (Vice President of Business Development, Veritas Farms) discussed ways in which they are responding to demands for weed-based products as the legalization of marijuana becomes accepting in more states, technology and innovation amplifies, consumer curiosity grows – and how others can invest in these new markets

What's pleasantly insightful is what used to be underground has become normalization, it's the cannabis industry and farming for health and wellness, through better extraction and distillation technology.

Charlotte’s Web, founded by Stanley Brothers, is the industry leader and category pioneer in the hemp-based CBD movement. Right now, CBD is on the lips of health and wellness devotees and reaching a fever pitch in the broader supplement market for its ability to help to support a sense of calm, focus, and sleep in a crazed world.* It also helps to supports recovery from exercise-related inflammation and active lifestyles.

The 2018 Hemp-Based CBD Industry Brightfield study** touts Charlotte’s Web as the industry market share leader.

Recently, the successful completion of the Charlotte’s Web IPO is a historic one for the cannabis industry. Charlotte’s Web groundbreaking hemp-based CBD extracts started with one revolutionary little girl that’s grown into a massive community of people who are taking charge of their health through full-spectrum, non-intoxicating cannabis solutions.

Jesse Stanley is about as anti-"Stoner" as it gets.

He talks about the cannabis industry as farming and spent the conference discussing the Small Farmer Bill.

It isn't about "High Hopes" but the cannabis industry maturing into health and wellness.

In between the conferences, people were getting thirsty and hungry and there were plenty of healthy, clean, and satisfying protein and calcium vegan wraps, yogurts, and refreshing tonics to reenergize.

Informed and refueled, Attendees got a chance to glam up with a manicure from GlamSquad, try a detoxing armpit facial and complimentary coconuts that left them feeling refreshed from Kopari Beauty, cool down with Cryo facials from CryoZone, have their own beautiful selfie printed on a cookie from Selffee, create your own tea with foraged herbs from Fruitstitute, and keep their energy levels up with B12 shots from The Hydration Room. Some of the exciting emerging brands included: VOLO Beauty touting the first cordless hair dryer, fuel up with Navitas Organics’ Vanilla & Green plant-based protein drinks, and Acquis promoting luxe hair towels that cuts hair drying by 50 percent.  Other notable brands included: CW Hemp, Type A, Daiya Foods, and Rude Cosmetics. 

Too bad, this inside & out, head-to-toe wellness trade show and conference was one day only.  Let's bring them back for next year.

LA Ax, Axe Throwing is the new Bowling.

By Laura Medina

http://la-ax.com/

Bowling doesn't do it for you anymore.  Your big, bony knuckles getting stuck in the bowling balls?

Burnt out with the nightclub and bar rigmarole? 

The gym has gotten stale?

Get your triceps, biceps, and upper pectorals a new leash on life, by axe throwing.

LA Ax http://la-ax.com/ is giving LA's hanging-out social scene an edge, as in a new sports/social club.

What started as an informal, friends hanging out in the backwoods of Ontario, Canada, became a new form of social club and sports club in safe, regulated cages and targets where nobody gets hurt as they finesse their muscles and nerves and reflexes.

As proud members of the National Axe Throwing Federation, their leagues run under the guidelines of the NATF with specific rules available on their website, http://www.nationalaxe.com/. 

This is where etiquette is safety.http://www.nationalaxe.com/15-etiquette--foot-faults.html

The basic is how to pass the axe from one person to another.

You assume personally handing an axe, in the same way you pass over a pair of scissors, is the same.  It's polite but it's not safe.  The next person will innocently and accidently slicing fingers and palm by naively grabbing it by the blade.  Wrong.

You must put the axe down on the ground, upside down with the axe blade sitting down on the ground and the handle up.  

You must pick up the axe by the handle, never the blade.

Or, you must put the axe, blade side down, into the basket with the handle up for safe handling and picking up.

Try to start throwing as the same time as everybody else so there wouldn't be any random walking in front of a flying axe.

But at LA Ax, they have "throwing cages," protecting folks from free-flying and sideway axes.

Obviously, never walk in front of a flying axe in mid-flight or throw an axe at anyone.

Since safety is first, no one under 21 is allowed, no kids, and no drunks.  If drunk, the staff will politely escort you out.

Well, something and someone has to start from somewhere, everyone and everybody is welcomed.

The strict but friendly instructors are available to show you the ropes, in how to properly hand and handle an axe to the various stands and throwing in how to hit bulls eye!

Once you learned the ropes and get the hang of it, relax and have fun and meet some really cool, friendly folks.

They can do birthday, bachelor/bachelorette parties, corporate events, and wrap parties for sci-fi/medieval-fantasy tv series...hello, Games of Throne-sque. 

Since axe throwing is the new bowling, LA Ax does have a league.

Get your inner Thor on at...7308 Coldwater Canyon Ave., North Hollywood, CA 91605

888-979-LAAX, http://la-ax.com/

Jeff Bridges Narrating on the Evolution of Mankind and How It's Impacting the Environment, Living in Future's Past.

By Laura Medina

https://www.livinginthefuturespastfilm.com/

Narrating on how humans' evolution has greatly impacted the environment, Jeff marvels with scientists on how recent humans are and how quickly they evolved to control and rule environment, sometimes for good...sometimes for the worse...

Jeff dives deep with scientists on how new humans are.  How lucky they are to be bipedal that we conquer and rule and control the environment.

But, exploitation of fossil fuels and reliance on plastic are coming to bite us in the butt, through climate change.

Living in the Future's Past takes a look 'under the hood of humanity' beyond politics and borders to explore what it means to be human in these challenging times. Jeff Bridges shares the screen with profound scientists and thought leaders to ask audiences: "what kind of future would you like to see?" and explore how we can contribute towards shaping that future. 

Living in the Future's Past is opening in select theaters October 5-11 and nationwide on October 9 for a special one-night-only theatrical event.

Eating Evan Funke, The Maestro of Pasta, the Shape of Pasta...

By Laura Medina

Tastemade, the former foodie/restaurant review app, has grown up and away from it's roots.

They're expanding to professional studio cooking shows, the Millennial/Gen-Z answer to Food Network and the Cooking Channel.

Now, they're stepping into feature film and documentary foray with releasing an in-depth journey of pasta maestro and chef, Evan Funke.

For press lucky enough to interview Evan and Gabriel at Tastemade Studios about their Evan Funke documentary, Evan treated them for lunch with his Italian Bread Salad, Panzanella…

A thrifty, humble mash-up of dried leftover Italian bread, fresh heirloom squash and meaty heirloom tomatoes, dotted with fresh burrata cheese for calcium and protein, all tossed together into something so chic, that people are paying through the nose for it.

It was from this Life and Thyme video profiling Evan when he was the hot star chef behind the now defunct Bucato.

Watching that brief video, Gabriel Taraboulsy decided to do a documentary on Evan.

He approached him, when Evan shut down Bucato then made a comeback with Felix, in old Joe's of Abbot Kinney in Venice, California.

With the protagonist regrouping and in transition, Gabriel knew now is the time to shoot a documentary.

Evan agreed, as long it truly represents him, what had happened at Bucato, his Italian journey to regroup and the financial and bureaucratic hurdles of making a comeback, with another upscale pasta restaurant, Felix of Abbot Kinney.

They hope that young chefs; hot, young, gloating chefs, and kids aspiring to be chefs, will watch this documentary as a business, financial, and the importance of maintaining the art and craftsmanship of making pasta, the original way,...made from scratch by hand, sans hand-cranked rolling pasta machines but by rolling pins, made specifically by hand-again.

Evan Funke is the Buddha of Pasta.

He stressed how the pasta lady maestras in Italy taught him the importance of directly infusing your vibe and energy into the pasta, when you make it by hand.  Machine-rolled and dried and frozen pasta are devoid of energy.  People can taste that energy.

Evan said that diners are eating his vibrations that he infuse into his pasta.  This is why this exacting, demanding chef insists on being a good mood because his diners will eat and digest his mood.

Basically, you're eating Evan Funke.

There is more to eating in this documentary.

Since Evan wants to be honestly, a warts and all documentary that will be a lesson to anyone wanting to be in the restaurant business, cooking or investing or managing, much less watching the money.

"All these LA chefs have wins.  They never have a failure," Evan Funke.

The sudden downfall and following debacle of Bucato shows the difficulty of the restaurant business.

80% of restaurants will fail in two to three years.

Having the best damn pasta isn't enough.

Bucato was a lesson in financially mismanagement, missing paychecks and missed bills, law suits, and eventually demise of Bucato, all in a mere two years.  The family and friends investors were burnt.

Evan regrouped to Italy, where he had to start from scratch, pun unintended.

Pasta making as mediation, Evan seriously exclaims he have learn 185 various pasta shapes, out of the 386 pasta shapes...that he had yet to and keen to want to learn more.

The shapes, the cupping, and the ridges determine how much sauce a pasta will hold.  The gluten from pasta thickens the sauce.  It is the deep mediation and wisdom that Evan learned and studied from Italy's maestra of pasta;..and her pasta school, in Italy, closed due of the lack of interest among real Italians.  Evan Funke was her only student.

Once he found the right investor who has a background in Italian cuisine and food importing and the Joe's of Abbot Kinney opened up, Evan decided it was time for a comeback.  His new investor believes in him that she sold her house to finance Felix, http://felixla.com/evan-funke

With Felix...and Bucato, Evan always had a pasta lab...

More than experimenting, Evan knows that his Pasta Lab is the only way he can keep handmade pasta shapes alive while passing down that knowledge and tradition to the new and next generations of chefs.

Mind you, Evan was thinking of entering the Marine Corps.  He runs Felix like a well-run army.

Upon opening on any other night, wait staff standing at attention...

Fans, from demised Bucato, have followed Evan to Felix, like a piped piper.

Lines separated into walk-ins, first come, first served...

The RSVP reservations is another line...

Ok, let's dig in on what's important, the food...the pasta...

At Felix, eat, savor, and chow down on real Italy.  The closest thing you'll get to spaghetti and meatball sans "red sauce," is Pappardelle pasta in sautéed ground veal and pork with a generous sprinkle of real Parmigiano Reggiano, aged 48 months.  A humble dish made of humble ingredients is pasta in its purest form.

There's more to Italian cuisine than red wine.  Here's authentic Grapefruit, Honey, & Lime mocktail, made from scratch Italian soda.

Ok, let's get to dessert...or Dolci!

Torta Della Nonna, olive oil cake, grappe peaches, lemon gelato, sprinkled with pine nuts.

Now to truly test a restaurant, you should taste how they treat the classics...tiramisu!

A small bowl of espresso-soaked lady fingers topped mascarpone cheese (Italian Cream Cheese) whipped so fluffy, that's the texted of whipped cream then a simple dusting of dark chocolate powdered cocoa.  Not exactly health food, but over-laden with sugar, like most sugar.

If you miss Evan Funke documentary, you can always eat his heart and soul, infused in his pasta, at Felix, http://felixla.com/evan-funke