Tag: New Year

Best of 2013

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/masinka/11498001503/in/pool-buffalominute/player/

For me, the best thing of 2013 was, hands down, a good result from a horrible health scare in the family. Everything else pales in comparison. 

So, I asked people on Twitter to give me their best of 2013. Here’s what they said. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A protected user suggested: “BCAT opened, Start-UP NY announced, Harbor Center development, Riverbend project, and BNE made a Buffalo video people liked!”

 

 

 

Last – minute entries: 

– Bills stay (for a time).  Yeah, they lose, but we’d miss them if they were gone.

– Sabres change leadership.  No place to go but up

– Dinosaur Barbeque comes to Buffalo.  2014 will taste better than 2013

– Trader Joes comes to Amherst.  Ditto

– Unemployment rate in WNY dropping.  Good.  “nuff said.

– The Stock Market is UP.  Not bad for a Kenya – born socialist. 

– The Tea Party is DOWN.  Only took the near-bankruptcy of the US Government to do this, but hey – count your blessings.

And: 

Long Live TOY – Defending Children’s Theatre in the Nickel City is one of the most positive stories to come out of this region in years- which is why we decided to try and tell it in Documentary form.

Meg Quinn, TOY’s Creative Director and Co-founder along with others from the arts community fight the Collin’s 2010-2011 Cultural funding cuts in the midst of their 40th season.  The community rallied against Collins to help remove him from office and restore the funding.

Through the prism of a unique non-profit children’s theatre we see the impact and importance of cultural assets.

The film won two audience awards at Buffalo International Film Festival, and many were moved to tears at Sunday’s screening at the Dipson Market Arcade.

A positive story that few will probably see because it’s “just children’s theatre”.

Austin McLoughlin
Mary Beth Murray
Long Live TOY Producers

[vimeo 67359471 w=500 h=281]

Long Live TOY – Defending Children’s Theatre in the Nickel City – (Preview Trailer) from AP McLoughlin on Vimeo.

I wish you all a happy, healthy, peaceful, and prosperous 2014. If you’re going to be outside tonight for the festivities, please stay warm and safe. 

(The slideshow above displays photographs that talented WNYers have added to the AV Daily Flickr Group.)

Eating, Drinking, Being Merry

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Happy New Year, Buffalo. I hope you enjoyed some time off with family and friends, and that you begin 2013 refreshed in mind and body. 

The 400 or so of you who also happen to be my friend on Facebook might be expecting a post about restaurants this morning. Suffice it to say that some of the best inexplicable back-stabbing is perpetrated by portly weathermen – (to be a meteorologist, one needs to have credentials). 

I will write about food today, (something I usually reserve for my gig with the Spree, but I will make an exception here), but only to present to you two “year in review” food posts from different Buffalo-based food writers. 

Andrew Galarneau, the Buffalo News’ restaurant critic, gives a year-end assessment here. 

Jeremy Horwitz, the author of Buffalo Chow, exits hiatus to present a year-in-review of restaurants he’s visited elsewhere in the US and how he sees those experiences in comparison to what’s going on in Buffalo and western New York. He considers that the domestic food scene is undergoing a revolution, and that it’s largely passing Buffalo by. There’s a lot of food for thought there, pun intended. 

Also, consider that it was a year ago that we all helped to unravel the lies and cons of the fake Iron Chef who briefly ran “Valenti’s” in North Tonawanda, where a Mighty Taco now stands. Look for a “where are they now” post in the coming days.