#thank you very much to lynn and the team for inviting me to the project this was an amazing experience!

[silvermun]

The King’s orders are absolute ⚔️

my full illustration for the @shadow-zine!

[derekklenadaily]

Synopsis/Review of Derek’s Solo Concert at Feinstein’s 54 Below

Monday night on January 18th, I had the opportunity to go to see Derek’s solo debut concert again but this time, it was at Feinstein's 54 Below in New York City. The place was bit larger than Cafe Carlyle and the place had an old-kind of feel to it with copper tin tiled ceiling and small lamps lit aglow at the booth at the back of the restaurant. We had to arrive at 5:00 and the show started a little bit after 7. Derek arrived in his gray pin-striped suit attire with a casual gray shirt and dark pants. He opened the show by singing ‘Some Kind of Time’ by Pasek and Paul’s Off-Broadway Dogfight, then he greeted the audience, thanking us for coming. In a prelude, before singing a beautiful mashup of “Go The Distance” (Disney’s Hercules)/“Out There” (Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame) He told us about the memories of him growing up, watching a lot of Disney’s films and singing their songs with his younger sister, Lauren and brother, Dillon. Before he got to sing  “Lady” by ‘Styx’, Benjamin stopped him because he had something for all of us to see; with the simple click on two television screens - suddenly, a clip of America's Most Talented Kid appears with Dave Coulier as a host. A young 14 year old Derek comes out onstage, he had a neck length long hair and wearing buttoned down shirt and black pants, giving that 90's vibes to it. And I gotta to say that he seriously had the pipes at that age! Goodness! And what was very sweet that we could see his family members including younger siblings in the audience, Dillion and Lauren holding poster signs saying "Go D!" or "Derek Klena rocks!" During the clip, I took a quick peek over to the stage and under the dim lighting above Derek as he stood next to Benjamin, I could see his adorable reactions; laughing and blushing. After his segment ended, he sat with his mom Lynn and the host Dave, while the kid judges (Daryl Sabara - 'Spy Kids', Scarlett Pomers - 'Reba' and Bobb'e J. Thompson - 'So Raven') gave their review. They gave positive accolades about his segment and Scarlett pretty much had heart eyes emoji look on her face the whole time. After that, Derek continued on his journey with his performing, giving us an insight of his small, baby starting steps to his career; by doing regional shows in LA, battling back and forth whether to stay in baseball for UCLA or continue on to become a performer, getting the golden ticket in American Idol which he end up making it to Hollywood Week. He sang “Come Home” by ‘One Republic’.

Last September, Derek married his longtime girlfriend Elycia who he met during the first week of college. He sang a mash up of Maroon 5′s “Sunday Morning”, “Your Song” by Elton John and “She’s Got A Way” by Billy Joel to her. It was really sweet! Before singing “Goodbye” from Catch Me If You Can, he told us the story where Marc Shaiman heard him sing this song and asking Derek to send a recording for as Aaron’s standby before coming to Broadway. Went off to sing “Dreamer in Disguise” from Carrie the Musical which was lovely to hear! I feel like this song is a bit underrated on the Carrie the musical score. Then he introduced about his time on Dogfight with Tony Winner and a great friend of Derek’s Lindsay Mendez. For the upcoming piece from Dogfight, Benjamin collected a girl who sat behind me, named Abby. During that song, it was really sweet to watch and she did a fabulous job reading/acting as Rose while he sang "Come To A Party"! As he tells us about the decision of whether going back to school or continue to pursuing with performing - he goes into sing “Dancing Through Life” from the show. Then he went off to talk about his Broadway debut in Wicked as Fiyero, doing the special tenth anniversary of it, and his life-long friendship with Lindsay who was Elphaba. A sudden memory comes up when Derek went up to the director, Joe Mantello on how he should have his haircut for the character Fiyero. Short or long? Joe replied, “Bieber, baby.” Then the production still of Derek as Fiyero came on the television screens. He had his long bangs swifted to the side, like the younger days of Justin Bieber. He had Fiyero's one of infamous outfits; green shirt with dark overalls while holding the lantern in the mist. Suddenly, a head of Justin Bieber appears next to Derek's Fiyero to show us the comparison in between the two. It lead him to sing the Bieber medley, which was really great to watch him to sing that again and having fun, swinging the microphone around and dancing a bit on stage.

After that, he talked about his run in Bridges of Madison County with Kelli O’ Hara and Hunter Foster as his parents in the show, which couldn’t be any better than that. He goes to sing Steve's solo piece which placed in Act Two in the show, “It All Fades Away”. Next, he talked about Anastasia, he talked about how it was an embarrassment of riches, working with the creative team, Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flahtery, Darko Tresnjak and Terrence McNally who wrote the book. Also, working with the cast of Anastasia especially the main lead actress Christy Altomare (Anya/Anastasia) who he called a 'Wonder Woman'. With that note, he suddenly gave us a special surprise to all of us in the audience; he announced Christy's name and invited her to join Derek onstage. "My face hurts from smiling so much! Your singing and acting is insane! You heal the soul!” Christy praised after watching him. Derek went 'Awww!' and hugged her in thanks. Christy and Derek reminisced their audition day for the Hartford run; Derek said that Christy was there earlier in the day (she had auditioned before), she told him that she had to come back to audition to read and sing with her "old boyfriend", meaning their respective roles as lovers, Sue Snell and Tommy Ross in Carrie. They both sang "In A Crowd of Thousands" as their audition duet. Derek said that he didn't know the lyrics as much as Christy did. But, thankfully once the creative team saw them, they knew Derek and Christy were it. So, when they sang "In A Crowd of Thousands"  for us, it was so incredibly beautiful and magical to watch them in front of me because it was like going back to the Broadhurst and seeing them on stage as Anya/Anastasia and Dmitry all over again. On that little stage, it was not Christy and Derek, they became their characters. Their chemistry was just sparking so vividly - there's nothing like it on stage. But offstage, you can tell their friendship is so very special and unique after knowing each other for so long.

One of the highlight/favorite parts of the concert was Derek giving such a small inspirational speech about how you may stumble in life, you have to grow and learn from certain experiences. And one of his most known quotes, “Seize every opportunity” is the most important part when going through an experience, because you never know where, when or what will lead you. For him, it went from doing regional theatres, television singing competitions to BWW's random review that got his foot in the door to New York City to do auditions then performing in shows on the Great White Way. This led to “You Learn” from Alanis Morrisette's Jagged Little Pill (the musical is coming to this fall on Broadway), and I can't get enough of listening/watching his acoustic rendition of it on Feinstein's/54 Below's Facebook, it's absolutely gorgeous! For the finale or encore; Derek sang songs from “Always Remember Us” from the recent film, A Star Is Born was lovely to listen to again which was and “You Will Be Back” from Hamilton the Musical which led him to ask the audience to sing with him and show off his silly side once again.

I was so glad that I got to enjoy Derek's solo concert again! I thought he seemed alot more comfortable and relaxed than the concert at Cafe Carlyle. It was absolutely enjoyable, funny, intimate and personal all at once as he shared with us audience about his life experiences and career. If you want to see or follow more updates on Derek, you can follow him on social media: on instagram: @Derek__Klena, on twitter: @derekklena And if you want to follow us to keep an update on his projects and career, we are on twitter and tumblr: @DerekKlenaDaily | tumblr.com/derekklenadaily 

 Sincerely, Dani One of the admins of DerekKlenaDaily

[plogan721]

Facebook Week Part 2: Groups

Hello, and welcome to part 2 of Facebook and the ins and out of one of the world’s biggest (and sometimes the baddish) social media in the world.  It is so popular until television shows will have Facebook-type social media for their show’s platform.  For example, the soap, Young and the Restless, calls it FacePlace, because maybe they have not gotten Facebook’s permission to use the name, Facebook. Another subject for another Friday.

Anyway, last week, I introduced to some and reintroduced to others, Facebook, and gave the lowdown of the social media and how to conduct yourself on the site.  Sorry, if I stepped on some toes (maybe even broken a foot or two, LOL), but I had to say this to sort of getting it off my chest because I have seen a lot of ugly stuff lately on this site, and frankly, I am not too happy about it.

Now, today, I will be talking about groups.  I am talking about groups before pages because this is where the most interaction a person without a business is going to get, other than from friends.  Now, I am going to put this out front this disclaimer, and this is: YOU DO NOT NEED A GROUP TO INTERACT ON FACEBOOK.  You are perfectly fine with a business page and that’s it.  I will tell you later in next week’s post.  There are three things that Facebook groups are, and that is:

1. Menu 2. title to the group (c) 2018 Facebook.com

1)      They are a community of like-minded people who like the same thing.  Say you are a crafter, and you work with a Cricut Electronic Die Cutting Machine.  You have a question about how to print then cut on the machine feature because you have been having some problems with this feature.  Now, you can ask this question on your normal newsfeed, but how many of your friends are going to know what you are talking about.  If you have friends like my Facebook friends, no one hardly crafts, and do not know what an electronic die cutting machine is, let alone know how to use one.  You can always call Cricut customer service, but who has the time to sit on the phone or in Live Chat to ask one possible, simple, little common question.  This is where a Cricut group on Facebook can help.  Some of the members are online right now to answer your questions, you can cut and paste the answer for future reference (I like to use MS Word and make a file of the answer), and you can continue with your project, some craft group member like to show off the project they have made. If you have a hobby, a business, or a lifestyle, there is a group for you  If not, you can always create one.

2)      You can make new friends.  I see what you are thinking, “Great, just what I need, more friends.”  Think back to the first one.  It is a community, and if you are in the right group, meaning that the administrator does not get flippy on you, should you decide to talk about what your two-year-old did 5 minutes before asking your question or replying to someone else’s post, you can kick off your shoes and relax.  There are some groups who are not that catty about other things besides that subject.  Follow the instructions on the group leader or owner, called an admin, and you will do fine.  Just do not post before your comment or post, “ I hope it is OK to post this here” or my personal favorite, “Admin, please delete if this is not appropriate”.

3)      They cause you to think about your hobby, business, or whatever you are into.  You are not alone in this situation.  Someone has had a similar situation like yours, and this is how they solved it.  Back to the community thing.  So, you are not getting views to a new recipe you wrote about two weeks ago.  In a blogging Facebook group (and I am on several), the administrator or another member of the group can give you pointers on how to get those numbers up and popping to where you see revenue from your blog if you want to.  So, they are also a problem solver.

Keep these things in mind if you are thumbing your nose to the idea of not joining a Facebook group.

Can I complain in a group?

The answer, my friend is simple, NO, and here is why.  Although the purpose of an administrator (or admin from now on), is to keep peace in the Middle East or to make sure everyone is happy.  Other things that an admin does are:

·         Maintain the membership

·         Invite people to the group (you do not have to accept the invite)

·         Remove ugly-acting members (keeping the trolls at bay)

·         Approve the membership (I like you to stay and play with us)

·         If they are the owner, issue rules and regs (regulations)

·         Approve other admins

·         Control the group (I threw that one in since I owned a group)

The group I had two years ago (It’s been that long-yikes), was a direct selling group.  On this group, a member could advertise their business, providing that you were a consultant for a direct selling company.  I was, of course, an Independent Longaberger Home consultant at the time, and I did not like some of the direct selling groups I was part of.  Some of the groups basically forced you to buy from each other, and if you were not interested in the company or you did not have any money to buy a product from that consultant, you were kicked out from some of these groups and considered a flaker. They came up with ladder games to get you to buy (such as the $100 group, meaning your order had to total $100 or higher before sales tax and shipping). 

Anyway, I did not like that concept.  I wanted customers who were not forced to buy a Longaberger basket or pottery.  Yes, I wanted sales, but not that bad.  I did not want someone to be stuck with a purchase they did not want to make in the first place.  This is why I created the group.  There were games, but I was only going to issue that game once a month, and it was not the basis for joining the group, either.  Stick to the end of this post to find out the problems that lead me to close this group.

This leads me to explain to you the don’ts of being a group member.  Keep this in mind as you decide if joining a Facebook group is right for you.  I have learned some things, both as a member and as an admin, and I think you will be happy when you read them.  Some of them are:

Sidebar:  1. Menu 2. Title to group A group will have either Closed to new members. Secret to new Members or Open to new members.

1.       Read all rules and regs BEFORE you join a group.  Do not let “sticker shock” hit you in the face.  Admins and owners of these groups prefer that you do not join, instead of you writing them back with the “I did not know” message, trying to get back in the group.  The little Nastygram that I was going to issue on my Facebook status back in August would have been one of those “I did not know, well guess what I really think of your so-called group” messages.  It would have kept me banned.  The best way I handled it was the “I will wait until I am able to be a willing participant in the group”.  I can always rejoin at a later time.

2.       Please be a willing participant in the group.  Even if you are replying to a post of another member, you are participating.  No question is stupid, and no answer is stupid either.  It is a matter of opinion, and as long as you exercise the right to “agree to disagree”, then there should be no problems. If there are challenges to do in the group, check to see if you have to do them in order to stay connected with the group, if you do, see if you have the time to do them.  Spending a lot of time in groups can be a time waster if you let them.  If you do not have the time, leave the group and rejoin when you have time to spend in the group.

3.       No Nastygrams in the group, and most definitely outside of the group.  I am going, to be honest with you.  No one wants to hear your beef about how the admin banned your post.  So, what? Get over it and move on.  You are lucky you were not banned from the group.  Keep the peace and you get to stay longer.

4.       If the admin says no ads, no means no.  Please, do not slip a little blurb about your once in a lifetime deal for 4 lipsticks for $1 if this is not a sales group.  However, if the admin allows ads, only put them in the group that day, that week, or only under that thread.  In other words, follow the rules.  This includes NO SPAMMING!  Post once and only once.

5.       Be mindful about your posts.  This goes back to #3 and 4.  Do not back mouth a member, call names, talk about a race, nothing.  It goes back to my post from last week.

The future of groups

I am only telling you what I heard.  It is not written in stone.  Facebook is trying out a new feature in groups where admins could make some money off members.  It is a subscription service, and it allows members to get a VIP status in the group (such as files if you are a crafter or exclusive videos).  Again, it is not written in stone, and it is just a test or a thought.  At any rate, I am not too pleased with it.  If anything comes of this new feature, you will hear about it here on this blog.

The problem with groups.

If you stuck with me this far, thank you very much. I really appreciate it.  As an admin, I had my share.  Of course, I had to approve every member, but I also had another admin, who was not good at all.  I did all the work.  First, everyone who wanted to join, and the first thing was you had to be a consultant of a direct selling company.  So, no direct-owned companies.  So, as the owner of P. Lynne Designs, I would not get approved. I really did not want a travel agent to be approved to this group, but for some reason, one snuck on, by the person who I approved as an admin.  If you sold for companies like Longaberger, Tastefully Simply, Stampin! Up, Pampered Chef, those direct companies, yes you would be approved.  Second problem:  I only wanted one from each company.  Having this rule allows a person to be exclusive and have clients, without competing against a team member.  It never worked that way.  Tip Tuesday was a problem because no one had any tips to help each other grow their business.  I did not have enough members to issue Consultant of the month, where that consultant gets all the sales for that month.  I also realized that I was doing exactly what I did not want to happen in this group, forcing people to buy if they did not like the company, the products, or had no money that month.  Finally, I did not have enough time to devote to this group.  I felt like I was forcing myself to be in this group I created.  When that happened, I shut down the group and I let the members know that I was shutting it down and thanked them for being a member of the group.  So, there are some cons to be an admin to a new or established group.

Same with being a member.  If a group wants you to connect to them once or twice a week and you do not have the time, do not join.  An admin would rather you decline the invite than have you be an inactive member of the group if participating is mandatory.  I feel like that was the reason I was released from my membership of the blogging group.  When I am ready to rejoin, I will ask again.

Nuggets of information:

I hope I gave you lots of food for thought when it comes to being a member of a Facebook Group.  Again, this is not mandatory for your membership on Facebook.  Call it an extra bonus.  You need answers to your crafting needs, advice on how to start a blog, love Disney, need a new devotion, or simply need to combat global warming (no I do not belong to a global warming group), join a Facebook group.  They are free for now (I hope forever, but knowing what Mark Z has done in the past, I would not put it past him), you can make new friends who are like-minded, talk about your topic of choice, without your friend from the 8th grade saying, “Yuk, are you still into that Disney stuff?  That is so, 2nd grade”.  You can get answers to your questions, that would make a 10-minute wait for customer service look like 10 seconds.  You have to be mindful when posting to groups.  Be on your best behavior (ugh, I am sounding like my mom), and do not sweat the small stuff, if you find yourself outside of the group.  Move on.

Next week, I will talk about pages and maybe hit on games on Facebook.  Until then, God Bless You.  from Blogger http://bit.ly/2QZc7fO via IFTTT

[jovialsoulinfluencer]

Dream Big: Michele Alfano Design for DXV Design Panel 2017

Photography credit: Vladimir Weinstein

DXV by American Standard is a portfolio of meticulously crafted fixtures and faucets. For the past four years, DXV has invited designers to create vignettes to re-imagine design movements of the past 150 years to feature their products and transport us back in time. I think I'm still dreaming cuz I was one of the four! Being on the panel really is a designer's dream project giving each designer an opportunity to design without any restriction and to push the boundaries of unsolicited creativity. It was a very empowering experience. I wore a cloak of power and it felt good and it felt scary. I didn't know what to expect but I felt that DXV and Veronika Eagleson of Modenus believed in me and I was ready and confident to take on the challenge! 

It was a huge opportunity to showcase my Architectural eye on Interior Design and be a part of DXV's history in inspired design to elevate the experience of everyday living - which is in my core beliefs as a designer.

I decided to pick the city of Copenhagen as my city of inspiration to re-imagine the Modern movement. The Hygge Modern bathroom consummates a sensorial experience of well being integrating the Danish ritual of enjoying life's simple pleasures. The angles and organic lines of the new DXV Modulus collection fit right into this feel good landscape. Whether you are immersed in water, mesmerized by fire and nature or sipping a warm cup of coffee overlooking the water, the key to this design is experiencing the good life on a day to day basis.

Thankyou very much to the sponsors who contributed their time and material: JM Lifestyles for the beautiful customized concrete wood tub platform, KJ Tiles for the Wood floor tile, Thermador for the Builtin Coffee Maker and Built in Warmng Drawer, Walker Zanger for the Kaza Concrete wall.

THE DESIGN:  I loved the whole process from start to finish and wanted to take you a bit behind the scenes. It all started with the project being #DXVTOPSECRET! After the big announcement at KBIS in January, we had a few weeks to sketch and put together a presentation fitting  a 12' x 12' x 10' space. With nerves, I flew to Minneapolis to present my Copenhagen Modern design to DXV in February. All the designs were strong and there was a vibe of excitement in the air. It takes a village to build one of these sets. It was amazing for us designers to meet the marketing and pr team, stylist (Jim Goulet), videographer (Bret McQuinn) and the Photo Studio (Earl Kendall Studios) who ultimately built our ideas into reality. Over time, the studio director (Selena Salfen) would call with questions and send some sneek peeks along the way. The studio is impressive- their impeccable craftsmanship completed in such a short amount of time was mind-blowing! I especially loved working with Jim - so fun styling the space! Lighting the fire was hysterical. The crew set the rocks on fire with rubber cement and ducked down so Earl could get the shot!! Thank god most of my material selections were concrete based!

Kelly Kasper of DXV was getting some closeups of the fire

Below are only some of the images from my presentation- floor plan and perspectives. Part of my architecture training is needing to know how things go together and if I don't know how to build it, then it doesn't go on paper. 

THE SUMMIT: The 2017 #WorldofDXV started off with the #DXVDesignPanel summit.. We all had fun listening to: a fascinating celebrity design panel (Vicente Wolf, Jonathan Adler,  Alex Papachristidis, Alessandra Branca) moderated by Stacy Bewkes of Quintessence Lifestyle blog,  to designer presentations to a sneak peek into the future of DXV product.

Alessandra Branca, Kati Curtis, Corey Damen Jenkins, Veronika Eagleson, Jonathan Adler,  Alex Papachristidis, Michele Alfano, Alison Hebermehl.

It was an honor to have chatted with these design celebrities and learn their insights about the design business.

Vicente Wolf, Jonathan Adler,  Alex Papachristidis, Alessandra Branca, 

Jonathan Adler, Lixil's Margaret Monteleone and Jean-Jacques Lhenaff  

THE LAUNCH: presenting my design was nerve-racking at first but when I started to express the story behind the inspiration, my speech naturally flowed..

:Everyone say HYGGE!

THE EVENT: the celebration for the #DXVDesignpanel launch party had lots of surprises: amazing dancers, beautiful music , wonderful food and drinks inspired by the four DXV international cities: Copenhagen, Florence, Toronto and CasaBlanca.

DXV Design Panel 2017   Corey Damen Jenkins,Kati Curtis,  Veronika Eagleson,  Alison Hebermehl.and Michele Alfano Michele Alfano and Vicente Wolf

Loved having my men there! xox Ivan, Steve and Cory

Loved seeing some of my pals: Tina Ramchandani, Pamela Copeman, Lynne Byrne, Laurie Gorelick

Thank you Jeff Kudrick of JM Lifestyles! You rock!

DXV Design Panel Family 

Love me some SWAG! See the highlights of the DXV event in the video below:

Photography credit: Vladimir Weinstein

Thankyou for everything DXV and Veronika Eagleson! Veronika, thank you for your kind words, xoxoxol!

Working with Michele reminded me of every reason why homeowners should work with a pro. Michele's design for DXV was, from the start, a brilliant  combination of complex architecture and sophisticated materials that, together, created a balanced and serene yet edgy interior. In other words, she wowed us from day one and then managed to raise her own bar by submitting impeccable working drawings, material lists and really every minute detail to ensure that our production team could correctly interpret her vision. I guess you could say Michele made it easy for the rest of us to look good. 

~ Veronika Eagleson 

from http://www.moddesignguru.com/2017/09/dream-big-michele-alfano-design-for-dxv.html suger sweet articles: Dream Big: Michele Alfano Design for DXV Design Panel 2017