We Were At…

by Miguel Bravo | Apr 23, 2011 | Fort Lauderdale

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Friday, April 22, Is Earth Day

by Strawberry Jam | Apr 20, 2011 | Fort Lauderdale

By Strawberry Jam

With a steady increase in pollution, toxins, and population, every day should indeed be Earth Day. Here are five hand-picked events to “officially” stand up for Mother Nature this weekend, from a gardening workshop to kids activities to cooling off indoors mesmerized by the beauty of nature on the big screen.

Check out Birch State Park’s Earth Day Everyday extravaganza of activities, food, and entertainment. Highlights include kids crafts, free veggie dogs, and a “Didgeridoo Orchestra”. The event runs from 9am-6pm on Saturday.

Learn about growing fruits and vegetables and how to turn your turf into an “Ec0-Yard” by attending the Growing Green Earth Day Workday and Lecture at Fern Forest Nature Center in Coconut Creek on Saturday.

Check out a nature flick in 3D on the extra big screen at IMAX Ft Lauderdale- Born To Be Wild or The Ultimate Wave: Tahiti.

Visit a National Park in Florida for FREE this last weekend as part of the National Park Service’s National Park Week.

Peruse the vendors at Yellowgreen Market in Hollywood for some unique artisan goodies, mostly local. Check out our blurb from October here.

Candola or Can’tdola?

by Strawberry Jam | Apr 13, 2011 | Fort Lauderdale

By Strawberry Jam

This past Saturday, Red Bull hosted their first Candola competition in Fort Lauderdale’s New River. Despite the scorching heat, hundreds turned out to watch the homemade boats launch into the water and race toward the end of the 1/3 mile route and see if they can or can’t-dola. Here are a few of the ones we caught:

photos by Strawberry Jam

Minor League Soccer Returns to the Fort

by Fat Hand | Apr 11, 2011 | Fort Lauderdale

by Fat Hand

Over the weekend the FTLC checked out Ft. Lauderdale’s newest professional sports team: The Strikers. The new NASL soccer team plays its home games in Lockhart stadium and this past Saturday was their season opener against Ft. Lauderdale’s traditional rival city: Edmonton, Alberta. Edmonton is basically the Tallahassee of Alberta. When people move out of Edmonton to try to find a little culture, you know where they move? Calgary, which is just a larger version of Davie.

A sizeable (approx. 6,400 attendance) and enthusiastic crowd filtered in after a lively tailgate to cheer on the hometown team, with much of the crowd donning Strikers colors: striker red and striker yellow. Enthusiastic supporters were everywhere, with the area behind the north goal being the focus of the stadium’s drumming and singing.

The first half featured several Strikers scoring chances, but no goals. The Strikers struck first on a header early in the second half, but Edmonton rallied with two of their own and ultimately held on for a 2-1 victory, a disappointing result to an otherwise successful opening match.

Great things about the Strikers game include exciting minor-league American soccer action, inexpensive general admission tickets, and an overall fun atmosphere.

My only complaint (other than losing to a team from that horrible craphole of a city Edmonton) is that the beer is a little overpriced, at $6-$8. These prices are not unordinary for professional sports, and concessions revenue is obviously important, but this is a Strikers game not a Dolphins game. It would be nice if we enthusiastic Strikers fans could get sloshed for our team at a more reasonable price.

But that one drawback aside, the FTLC wholeheartedly supports and endorses the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers. The next home game is Friday against another traditional Ft. Lauderdale rival, the Alberta of the US: Minnesota. Tickets can be had for about the price of a beer. So grab your drum, paint your face yellow, smuggle a couple airplane bottles of gin in your pockets, and we will see you at Lockhart.

Scope out a few pics we took, after the jump…

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Everybody’s Lookin’ Forward to the Weekend, Weekend

by Miguel Bravo | Apr 7, 2011 | Fort Lauderdale

So we’re a little late with our Rebecca Black reference in our post title (that was soooo 87 million views ago). We recommend not being late on some of the good stuff going on this weekend because it’s going to be a good one. Here’s our picks for tonight, Friday, and Saturday:

Thursday

Tonight at The Green Room, check out FTL’s go-to eccentric rock/folk/jam band band Travalonia. Rumor has it, the band is pushing an old-school gym theme for their performance. Feel free to wear your shortest middle school gym shorts and  vintage neon sweat bands. No cover, $2 PBRs. Party starts at 10pm.

Friday

According to GoRiverwalk.com, Friday’s Riverwalk Get Downtown located in the YOLO plaza is Fort Lauderdale’s largest outdoor cocktail hour. Even though I think that every weekend at the beach is FTL’s biggest cocktail hour, I’m sure this will be an enormous gathering of beautiful people and plenty of extra tasty beverages. $25 gets you 2 drink tickets ($20 prepaid online), lots of free samplings from local eateries, and live entertainment from Funkette. The party runs from 5pm-8pm. Click here for more info.

Saturday afternoon

We recommend starting your day off downtown by the New River to enjoy the inaugural Red Bull Candola. Watch 25 teams race their homemade gondolas along the river for 1/3 of a mile, starting from Huizenga Plaza and ending at Esplanade Park (right by the Broward Performing Arts Center). Expect some super creative and unique vessels. The action starts at noon. Here’s the official Candola website for more details

Saturday night

Celebrate the re-arrivial of FTL’s storied soccer franchise The Strikers as they take on our dreaded rival from the north, Edmonton FC . Even though Miami FC has been playing in Broward all along, it’s so much cooler now with “Ft Lauderdale” in front of the team name. Tickets are only $10 (will go up to $15 for the rest of the season) and kick-off is at 7:30pm at Lockhart Stadium (just west of 95 off Commercial).

Sunday

Go watch some horse races at Gulfstream. We had a good time last weekend doing that.

No Wi-Fi at the Restaurant Inside the Library?!?

by Miguel Bravo | Apr 6, 2011 | Fort Lauderdale

Seems like every day I read about a new budget cut to the public library system. One side of me is not surprised – let’s face it, how many people do you know that regularly hang out at the library? Another side of me is disappointed because the library is an excellent place to get work/blogging done, rent free movies, see rotating exhibits, attend free classes, and of course, use really fast internet. Inside the Main Library in downtown FTL there is a sandwich eatery called Charcuterie Too! that not only serves your standard array of deli sandwiches (tuna, roast beef, chicken salad, turkey, etc) and rotating entrees, but also pours a fairly priced cup of coffee and espresso. Excited about another perk of the public library, I’ve been meaning drop in and get some work done over coffee and a tuna sandwhich, but its daytime only hours have made it nearly impossible. Since I’m neither retired or work downtown, the limited hours bother me just a tad; however, my main problem lies elsewhere.

I came to the library today for a particular reason: to get some much needed blogging done. In order to log into WordPress and do what I got to do, I kind of need the internet. Enjoying a cheap jolt of caffeine inside the library’s cafeteria seemed like the perfect way to spend my allotted blogging time. Problem is that despite the fact that the restaurant is located at the top of the escalators of the library and ten yards from the book check out, THERE’S NO EFF’N Wi-FI in the RESTAURANT! Correction: you can get maybe one bar, possibly two if you sit at closer to the entrance, but it’ll disconnect before you can say “Damn, wish I just went to Brew”. I’d be somewhat OK with this if I was allowed to walk into the library with my large coffee I just ordered. Now I’m forced to blog in Microsoft Word and chug a 16oz cup of joe that I would never have ordered had I known.

All I’m saying is, would it kill the library to extend the wireless to the Charcuterie Too? Or, would it kill the restaurant to add their own Wi-Fi connection? I don’t care either way. Even though the food is probably really tasty and the coffee is acceptable, I won’t be blogging at this sandwich shop again. It’s a shame too because a place to get a quick bite and liquid energy can only help bring more people into the library.

Side note: From the majority of reviews that I’ve read, the food is excellent at the Charcuterie Too! If you don’t need the internet, I’m sure it’ll be an enjoyable lunch spot. Also, this is no knock on the main library. I highly recommend doing work at a public library, especially on one of the higher stories. Here’s my backdrop on the 6th floor as I upload this post: