Moroccan nights
Lower Sukhumvit has one more hip place to eat, dance and make merry
A year ago, the rooftop bar Gazebo around the corner from Gulliver's on Khao San Road caught on as a new hot spot for dancing. The funky night-spot features Moroccan decor, and a well-balanced combination of food, drinks, music and shisha. But you don't have to go all the way to Khao San to enjoy that. Its sister property with the same name opened four months ago right in the heart of the city.
Gazebo attracts a lot of attention from BTS travellers commuting past Phloenchit station. The top of Building 1 at the mouth of Sukhumvit Soi 1 renders itself to a spacious, airy lounge with low padded stools and wooden tables. Dimly lit Egyptian chandeliers drip from the ceiling. It looks so much better than other seemingly similar joints in town, where overdone interiors feature a lot of junky antiques just thrown up on the walls.
Gentle breezes and soft chill-out music pervade the whole area, which offers a great view of downtown Bangkok by night. Once you throw yourself on the seat with puffy pillows under your back, it feels like sitting in a Moroccan living room.
"The weird thing is, Morocco is the only place I've never been to," Benjamin Baskins, Gazebo's co-owner and CEO says. "I want to do it from my imagination, from what I think a Moroccan bar should be like. I don't want to get the fixed ideas of what Morocco should be like. This is all from what's inside my head." While most hard furniture was made locally, all the accessories were brought in from Cairo. "But you know, I'm planning a trip to Morocco in a few months to see the real thing, to see if I got it right. Just out of curiosity, though. I'm happy with what I've done with Gazebo so far."
The fashion entrepreneur from Los Angeles started working on this whole building just a few months ago, hoping to turn the four-story tube into a lifestyle complex with spas and restaurants on the second and ground floor and a hip hotel on the third floor. The whole premise is expected to be open for operation some time in March.
There's much more to Gazebo than partying. It's actually a bonus pack of a restaurant, lounge and shisha bar. Come early for a tasty dinner.
There are many Thai, Indian, Italian and Spanish dishes to choose from. Stay on for a relaxing night with a long list of refreshing drinks and cocktails to choose from. Try It's My Life (Comfort, Galliano, Amaretto, orange juice, lime, sugar and Grenadine), Miss Gazebo (vodka, Midori, coconut liqueur, lime, pineapple juice and sugar) and the signature drink for a group of four, Nightmare (Midori, pineapple juice, lime and Sambuca), where they put fire on it before you take a gulp. Neither too strong nor too sweet, the cocktails are here are pleasant and easy to drink.
If cocktails are too fancy for you, they also have a range of beers, and a good selection of wines and whiskies. Small beers are priced at Bt150, cocktails are Bt180 to Bt220 while full bottles of big whiskey are between Bt600 and Bt2,700. Soft drinks, tea and coffee are Bt50 to Bt90. Shisha comes in many fruity flavours for Bt350.
Live bands take turns performing contemporary English songs every night. But if you're too energetic to sit back in the lounge tonight, go over to the next room, The Harem, and get the groove on on the dance floor with more upbeat, danceable music. Watch out for the steps, though.
Gazebo
Rooftop, Building 1
Sukhumvit Soi 1 (BTS: Phloenchit)
Daily 6pm till late
Call (02) 655 2471-6
Manta Klangboonkrong
Source : http://www.nationmultimedia.com
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Sunday, May 4, 2008
I'm crazy about Casey
Casey is the founder of the Couchsurfing project and I've met him in person.
Real Name: Casey Larkin Fenton
Age: 29;
Birthplace: Conway, New Hampshire
Cover Profession: Computer programmer, political consultant
Current Mission: Taking folks on the ride of their lives
Location: Hawaii
Equipment: Laptop, Understanding, Imagination
Mission Interests: Northern extremes, being a stranger in strange lands, uncharted waters
Attractors: philosophy, psychology, difficult situations, mind blowing incidents, BM 1999 - 2006
Irritants: lack of time
"The CouchSurfing Project has been my dream for some time. I've always wanted a way to get right to the heart of our culture, to seek out knowledge and to locate the most interesting people and situations this world has to offer. As a means of doing this, I started this project over four years ago. By following my dreams, I hope to enable you to do the same. Won't you join me?"
Casey Fenton
My Story
Sometimes people ask you, "What's your story?" Well, this is it.
Born in Conway, New Hampshire in 1978, I was the first of 5 children. My parents were hippies and consequently didn't believe strongly in western medicine. I think that's why my mother brought me up vegetarian and birthed me in our home. Most of my memories were of growing up in that small mountain town, skiing, playing soccer, hiking and so on. When my parents divorced, I was in the third grade.
At 17, I graduated form high-school a year early. I was fed up with teachers and doing what other people wanted me to do. I needed to start my own life journey. Everything I owned was packed into my old Saab, including an over-stuffed glove compartment with $2000 in 5 dollar bills. I was off on a 3000 mile journey to Olympia Washington, where I attended school at Evergreen State College. That adventure didn't last too long though. To make a very long story short, it was a time when I was in love with my high school sweetheart. Near the end of my first year in school, I decided to move back to New Hampshire to be with her.
Upon returning things didn't work out between she and I. For a number of reasons I ended up walking away with a sad and heavy heart. Lost in my life, I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going. That's when I started to travel. Initially traveling was a means to distract my mind and heart, but as I grew and learned, travel became a way for me to discover the gigantic world around me, and the even bigger world within me.
One early adventure that comes to mind was a trip to Egypt, just after American tourists were machine-gunned to death outside of Hatshepsut's Temple, near Luxor. In a country devoid of tourists, I was able to discover Egypt in my own way. Powerful experiences on that journey molded me. Experiences like climbing the Great Pyramid Kephran at 4am, or sleeping in the King's Sarcophagus, or even spending the night with a family in a dirt hut. My eyes opened even further to the amazing world around me.
Other adventures soon followed. I spent Christmas with a family in Trinidad. I drove across the United States more than 20 times. Went to Europe for a weekend. Drove to New Foundland in the dead of winter. Stopped in Black Rock City on a whim. On and on. I just couldn't get enough of these adventures.
This was a time when the concept of the CouchSurfing Project started to form. It solidified when I decided to take a weekend trip to Iceland one May. I'd gotten a cheap web-special from Boston to Iceland on a Monday and would fly that Friday. I only had one problem though. What would I do when I got there? Stick it out in a hotel? A hostel? I thought about the idea of contacting someone on the Internet and seeing if I could hang out with them and maybe sleep at their house.
It wasn't easy. I emailed a couple Icelanders who had personal websites asking if I could crash at their place. No dice. Then, eureka! I stumbled across the University of Iceland's student directory. After a bit of sherlocking, I harvested 1,500 names and email addresses from the directory. I then wrote a nice letter explaining that I was coming to Iceland and that I was looking for a place to crash. Using a database and an email program, I mail merged the letter with the list of names and emails. Each personalized email was then sent to each student saying, "Hey Bjorn, I'm coming to Iceland..." In 24 hours I had between 50 and 100 people saying, "Yeah, come stay with me!" At that point I had the opposite problem. Who should I stay with?
To make yet another long story short, I went to visit Yoa and her friends. They showed me 'their' Iceland. I had a ball too! Great stories, great fun, and amazing friends were discovered that weekend in May. When I was on the plane back to Boston, I thought to myself, "That's how I want to travel... every time." And thus, the CouchSurfing Project was born.
But it wasn't that easy! I got side-tracked during the dot-com boom in another company I started. It was the best of times... it was the worst of times. The particular dot-com was a Monster.com competitor that provided staffing technology and services. Originally it started as a website for freelance programmers to pick up extra work, but it metamorphosized into a headhunter website after the other founder and I gave up part of our ownership to a large headhunting firm. I was working over 100 hours a week, programming my ass of. I'd go to work at 9am, program lines of code through the day, then all the way through the night... and then all the way through the next day and finally leave work at 9pm the following day. Rinse, wash, repeat. That happened for months on end. No matter how fast we programmed, it wasn't fast enough and it wasn't exactly appreciated. The situation was not how I'd imagined my life or my dreams materializing. An opportunity eventually presented itself for me to sell my additional stock and leave in the summer of 2001.
I learned a lot starting that company. I learned what it is like to go from a couple of guys in a back room to 20 employees. I experienced what it's like to burn through several million dollars in venture capital in just over a year. I also learned some personal lessons. All in all, I learned so much that I'll forever cherish from that experience, the good and the bad.
Fast forward to the a stormy night on January 4th, 2002. I was disembarking a flight in Anchorage, Alaska on one of the coldest, darkest days of the year. The following morning I boarded a ferry, the Tustemena, in Seward and headed out into the open ocean with dark clouds quickly rolling in. For three days I experienced the Gulf of Alaska during a winter storm... huge rollers... wind, fog, rain, waves crashing over the bow of the boat... and then we arrived... in Juneau.
My life was now taking a sharp and pronounced turn. I'd come to Alaska's state capital to work as a legislative aide to the Minority Leader, Ethan Berkowitz. Can you imagine that when I arrived, I barely knew the difference between a Democrat and a Republican? My family never really talked about or followed politics, so I was diverting from that path and learning about Alaska politics from the inside-out. At first it was a difficult job due to my lack of experience, but with a lot of talking, reading, and watching, I was able to figure it out. Seeing the legislative process in action really changes one's perspective. I was able to see how people's lives are directly affected by public policy. I knew that I'd stumbled into something important. I knew that this was where I'd want to spend a lot of time in my life, simply for the fact that there's no other place where you can help so many people with such small actions.
Over the course of the next couple years I fluttered between Alaska and other international destinations... all the while working in politics in one form or another. I tried my hand in managing some winning campaigns. Marrying my technical abilities with campaigning seemed to be a great match. There are so many efficiencies that can be realized. In the last half of 2003 I started working as the Director of Internet Strategy for the Tony Knowles for US Senate Campaign. The race was one of the most important and most contested races in the United States this year. I'm thankful to be a part of this piece of history.
So, what about The CouchSurfing Project? Well, during that time I was fluttering around, outside of Alaska, I ended up making my way to Europe, Mexico, Canada, and Brazil. I'd often find myself a stranger in some strange city, longing for cool people to hang out with. I'd walk down the street and say to myself, 'I know that there are interesting people, all around me... people with interesting stories to tell.' I'd wish that there was a better way of making contact with these folks. I remember sitting in the back of a bus in Dublin with my laptop, programming the website hour after hour. Every time I was forced to stay in a hotel, it renewed my efforts to program and see the website to fruition. In the beginning of 2003, I bought a $1,200 database of 3 million world cities and launched the website in beta. A few friends signed up and I took the year to work out some of the bugs. This was also the time when I invited my closest friends to help me found The CouchSurfing Project. In January of 2004 we launched it to the world and never looked back.
I will be CouchSurfing all over the United States, Canada and beyond during 2005. Please invite me to come visit you in your part of this small world.
Side Note: On the personal side, the CouchSurfing Project also represents an inward journey...
Some of References people left for Casey
From Cole Miller
Berlin, GermanyFrom Cole Miller
Berlin, Germany
May 2
Extremely Positive
Casey is hard to describe in a Box. I was happily surprised by the person I meet. Most of all intuitively I sensed an integrity and honesty about the guy. He's a magnificent people person and by that I mean he clearly cares about people. It's inspiring to see someone so dedicated to his well thought out ideals about CouchSurfing and about the World. I was also impressed by the fact that he was so gracious with all the things he ordered. All of us basically ate all his fries and a good piece of his Chocolate brownie. Very nice guy who I look forward to having intriguing discussions in the future with and that I also look forward to helping in whatever way I can.
Just remember, 43 pieces of rust don't make a baloon. (Dali' smiles)
*********************************
From Miss. Moneypenny
Phoenix, United States
Apr 19
Extremely Positive
Casey is a gentle soul. He genuinely cares about learning; learning about people, places, and experiences. He's grown to be a good friend for me and I recommend anyone that gets a chance to meet him, does; you're guaranteed a great experience and even better conversation. Safe travels my friend, I look forward to the next time we get to spend time together.
*********************************
From ---
Bangkok, Thailand
Apr 13
Extremely Positive
I didn't even know what to expect from Casey,considering he's the founder and all that.It turned out he was so down-to-earth and made you feel ike,pep,I'm just one of the CS members too.After his speech, I have no surprise how he could make this couchsurfing thing happen.He is enthusiastic, eager to learn,polite and modest.What else can i say about you Casey? :)
*********************************
rom Nick Casias
San Francisco, United States
Mar 31
Extremely Positive
I consider Casey to be a role model to me over the past few years. He has guided me in many fashions. Once he sent me on a mission that pushed & challenged me in every way. I wasn't strong enough to finish. But I finished anyway and became a better person because of it. Another time, he motivated me in the right direction to be more of an honest and upfront person with my words towards others. I too responded to this and again came out ahead. I consider these to be among two of life's many great lessons. 2 years past meeting we have come a long way as much as I changed I too see continual evolving within himself. He dreams big, critical thinker, & my favorite politican. Fenton/Stone in 08! Let's do a write in vote on the ballot : )
********************************
From DEENA
Los Angeles, United States
Mar 1
Extremely Positive
What an honor and a privilege it was to meet Casey at the Thai CS Collective- especially after spending the past year couchsurfing in 34 different countries. It was amazing to be able to thank him, in person, for all of the work he has done for all of us over the years! Wow! What I found in Casey was an extremely intelligent, friendly, fun guy who is also very humble and down to earth. He truly loves to live life to the fullest. He has an easy smile, and is so welcoming and kind. He also knows how to get down in his fuzzy pink bear outfit. :)
Casey is constantly doing whatever he can to make CS even better- wearing countless hats and working countless hours to make the site, and the community- which is the heart of CS, even better.. always looking at all of the angles. The thing is, that he's able to do all of this both calmly and wisely while keeping the atmosphere fun and open. Thanks, so much Casey! I'm glad to call you a friend. :)
*********************************
From Debasis Sil
Kolkata, India
Jan 10
Extremely Positive
I was really my Honour to meet the Founder of Couch Surfing! He is actually one of the very few people on Earth who has made this World a Better place to live in.
I say One should definitely meet Him to get the Positive Vibe he always carries with him.
I have my Best wishes, My Love and My Best Regards for Casey.
*******************************
From Benjamin Yu
Anaheim, United States
Sep 21, 2007
Extremely Positive
He's Casey (nuff said, almost). He's actually down to earth, personable, and out there engaging people. That's his best quality: to be out there amongst the community helping build those personal bridges between people. It's a great time every time we meet up.
*****************************
From Richard Jeong
Washington, United States
Sep 21, 2007
Positive
The founder and dreamer of CS. Done more by the time he's 30 then many have dreamed of in a life time and even had his impact on the world. With that said he's got a management nightmare and needs all the good help he can get and all the slack we can give him. Well done Casey, hope to see you at Burning man some time soon.
*****************************
From Walter Heck
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Aug 25, 2007
Extremely Positive
Casey is a man of true deication. Never in my life have I seen someone give so much for something they believe so much in, even to the point where they hurt themselves. Casey is also the most friendly and loving guy I have ever met. There truely is not a bit of negativity in this guy. And throughout all of the stress of keeping this show running, he somehow still manages to have conversations with you about personal things where you truely get to know one and other.
Actually, one word would some my whole experience with him up: WOW!
****************************
From Frédéric Brodeur
Paris, France
Aug 13, 2007
Extremely Positive
I was intrigued before the first time I met him... and when that's happen I discovered a wonderful person, simple, who work like nobody, totally dedicated to CS, and who like to take the time to have fun too when is the time to do that! I had to great time with Casey now... the Crash/CSC Montreal time and the gathrings in Paris where i have the chance to host him! Hope to see you soon again! ;)
----------------------------
I guess that's something about Casey. Isn't that enough for me to like someone?
Source : www.couchsurfing.com
Real Name: Casey Larkin Fenton
Age: 29;
Birthplace: Conway, New Hampshire
Cover Profession: Computer programmer, political consultant
Current Mission: Taking folks on the ride of their lives
Location: Hawaii
Equipment: Laptop, Understanding, Imagination
Mission Interests: Northern extremes, being a stranger in strange lands, uncharted waters
Attractors: philosophy, psychology, difficult situations, mind blowing incidents, BM 1999 - 2006
Irritants: lack of time
"The CouchSurfing Project has been my dream for some time. I've always wanted a way to get right to the heart of our culture, to seek out knowledge and to locate the most interesting people and situations this world has to offer. As a means of doing this, I started this project over four years ago. By following my dreams, I hope to enable you to do the same. Won't you join me?"
Casey Fenton
My Story
Sometimes people ask you, "What's your story?" Well, this is it.
Born in Conway, New Hampshire in 1978, I was the first of 5 children. My parents were hippies and consequently didn't believe strongly in western medicine. I think that's why my mother brought me up vegetarian and birthed me in our home. Most of my memories were of growing up in that small mountain town, skiing, playing soccer, hiking and so on. When my parents divorced, I was in the third grade.
At 17, I graduated form high-school a year early. I was fed up with teachers and doing what other people wanted me to do. I needed to start my own life journey. Everything I owned was packed into my old Saab, including an over-stuffed glove compartment with $2000 in 5 dollar bills. I was off on a 3000 mile journey to Olympia Washington, where I attended school at Evergreen State College. That adventure didn't last too long though. To make a very long story short, it was a time when I was in love with my high school sweetheart. Near the end of my first year in school, I decided to move back to New Hampshire to be with her.
Upon returning things didn't work out between she and I. For a number of reasons I ended up walking away with a sad and heavy heart. Lost in my life, I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going. That's when I started to travel. Initially traveling was a means to distract my mind and heart, but as I grew and learned, travel became a way for me to discover the gigantic world around me, and the even bigger world within me.
One early adventure that comes to mind was a trip to Egypt, just after American tourists were machine-gunned to death outside of Hatshepsut's Temple, near Luxor. In a country devoid of tourists, I was able to discover Egypt in my own way. Powerful experiences on that journey molded me. Experiences like climbing the Great Pyramid Kephran at 4am, or sleeping in the King's Sarcophagus, or even spending the night with a family in a dirt hut. My eyes opened even further to the amazing world around me.
Other adventures soon followed. I spent Christmas with a family in Trinidad. I drove across the United States more than 20 times. Went to Europe for a weekend. Drove to New Foundland in the dead of winter. Stopped in Black Rock City on a whim. On and on. I just couldn't get enough of these adventures.
This was a time when the concept of the CouchSurfing Project started to form. It solidified when I decided to take a weekend trip to Iceland one May. I'd gotten a cheap web-special from Boston to Iceland on a Monday and would fly that Friday. I only had one problem though. What would I do when I got there? Stick it out in a hotel? A hostel? I thought about the idea of contacting someone on the Internet and seeing if I could hang out with them and maybe sleep at their house.
It wasn't easy. I emailed a couple Icelanders who had personal websites asking if I could crash at their place. No dice. Then, eureka! I stumbled across the University of Iceland's student directory. After a bit of sherlocking, I harvested 1,500 names and email addresses from the directory. I then wrote a nice letter explaining that I was coming to Iceland and that I was looking for a place to crash. Using a database and an email program, I mail merged the letter with the list of names and emails. Each personalized email was then sent to each student saying, "Hey Bjorn, I'm coming to Iceland..." In 24 hours I had between 50 and 100 people saying, "Yeah, come stay with me!" At that point I had the opposite problem. Who should I stay with?
To make yet another long story short, I went to visit Yoa and her friends. They showed me 'their' Iceland. I had a ball too! Great stories, great fun, and amazing friends were discovered that weekend in May. When I was on the plane back to Boston, I thought to myself, "That's how I want to travel... every time." And thus, the CouchSurfing Project was born.
But it wasn't that easy! I got side-tracked during the dot-com boom in another company I started. It was the best of times... it was the worst of times. The particular dot-com was a Monster.com competitor that provided staffing technology and services. Originally it started as a website for freelance programmers to pick up extra work, but it metamorphosized into a headhunter website after the other founder and I gave up part of our ownership to a large headhunting firm. I was working over 100 hours a week, programming my ass of. I'd go to work at 9am, program lines of code through the day, then all the way through the night... and then all the way through the next day and finally leave work at 9pm the following day. Rinse, wash, repeat. That happened for months on end. No matter how fast we programmed, it wasn't fast enough and it wasn't exactly appreciated. The situation was not how I'd imagined my life or my dreams materializing. An opportunity eventually presented itself for me to sell my additional stock and leave in the summer of 2001.
I learned a lot starting that company. I learned what it is like to go from a couple of guys in a back room to 20 employees. I experienced what it's like to burn through several million dollars in venture capital in just over a year. I also learned some personal lessons. All in all, I learned so much that I'll forever cherish from that experience, the good and the bad.
Fast forward to the a stormy night on January 4th, 2002. I was disembarking a flight in Anchorage, Alaska on one of the coldest, darkest days of the year. The following morning I boarded a ferry, the Tustemena, in Seward and headed out into the open ocean with dark clouds quickly rolling in. For three days I experienced the Gulf of Alaska during a winter storm... huge rollers... wind, fog, rain, waves crashing over the bow of the boat... and then we arrived... in Juneau.
My life was now taking a sharp and pronounced turn. I'd come to Alaska's state capital to work as a legislative aide to the Minority Leader, Ethan Berkowitz. Can you imagine that when I arrived, I barely knew the difference between a Democrat and a Republican? My family never really talked about or followed politics, so I was diverting from that path and learning about Alaska politics from the inside-out. At first it was a difficult job due to my lack of experience, but with a lot of talking, reading, and watching, I was able to figure it out. Seeing the legislative process in action really changes one's perspective. I was able to see how people's lives are directly affected by public policy. I knew that I'd stumbled into something important. I knew that this was where I'd want to spend a lot of time in my life, simply for the fact that there's no other place where you can help so many people with such small actions.
Over the course of the next couple years I fluttered between Alaska and other international destinations... all the while working in politics in one form or another. I tried my hand in managing some winning campaigns. Marrying my technical abilities with campaigning seemed to be a great match. There are so many efficiencies that can be realized. In the last half of 2003 I started working as the Director of Internet Strategy for the Tony Knowles for US Senate Campaign. The race was one of the most important and most contested races in the United States this year. I'm thankful to be a part of this piece of history.
So, what about The CouchSurfing Project? Well, during that time I was fluttering around, outside of Alaska, I ended up making my way to Europe, Mexico, Canada, and Brazil. I'd often find myself a stranger in some strange city, longing for cool people to hang out with. I'd walk down the street and say to myself, 'I know that there are interesting people, all around me... people with interesting stories to tell.' I'd wish that there was a better way of making contact with these folks. I remember sitting in the back of a bus in Dublin with my laptop, programming the website hour after hour. Every time I was forced to stay in a hotel, it renewed my efforts to program and see the website to fruition. In the beginning of 2003, I bought a $1,200 database of 3 million world cities and launched the website in beta. A few friends signed up and I took the year to work out some of the bugs. This was also the time when I invited my closest friends to help me found The CouchSurfing Project. In January of 2004 we launched it to the world and never looked back.
I will be CouchSurfing all over the United States, Canada and beyond during 2005. Please invite me to come visit you in your part of this small world.
Side Note: On the personal side, the CouchSurfing Project also represents an inward journey...
Some of References people left for Casey
From Cole Miller
Berlin, GermanyFrom Cole Miller
Berlin, Germany
May 2
Extremely Positive
Casey is hard to describe in a Box. I was happily surprised by the person I meet. Most of all intuitively I sensed an integrity and honesty about the guy. He's a magnificent people person and by that I mean he clearly cares about people. It's inspiring to see someone so dedicated to his well thought out ideals about CouchSurfing and about the World. I was also impressed by the fact that he was so gracious with all the things he ordered. All of us basically ate all his fries and a good piece of his Chocolate brownie. Very nice guy who I look forward to having intriguing discussions in the future with and that I also look forward to helping in whatever way I can.
Just remember, 43 pieces of rust don't make a baloon. (Dali' smiles)
*********************************
From Miss. Moneypenny
Phoenix, United States
Apr 19
Extremely Positive
Casey is a gentle soul. He genuinely cares about learning; learning about people, places, and experiences. He's grown to be a good friend for me and I recommend anyone that gets a chance to meet him, does; you're guaranteed a great experience and even better conversation. Safe travels my friend, I look forward to the next time we get to spend time together.
*********************************
From ---
Bangkok, Thailand
Apr 13
Extremely Positive
I didn't even know what to expect from Casey,considering he's the founder and all that.It turned out he was so down-to-earth and made you feel ike,pep,I'm just one of the CS members too.After his speech, I have no surprise how he could make this couchsurfing thing happen.He is enthusiastic, eager to learn,polite and modest.What else can i say about you Casey? :)
*********************************
rom Nick Casias
San Francisco, United States
Mar 31
Extremely Positive
I consider Casey to be a role model to me over the past few years. He has guided me in many fashions. Once he sent me on a mission that pushed & challenged me in every way. I wasn't strong enough to finish. But I finished anyway and became a better person because of it. Another time, he motivated me in the right direction to be more of an honest and upfront person with my words towards others. I too responded to this and again came out ahead. I consider these to be among two of life's many great lessons. 2 years past meeting we have come a long way as much as I changed I too see continual evolving within himself. He dreams big, critical thinker, & my favorite politican. Fenton/Stone in 08! Let's do a write in vote on the ballot : )
********************************
From DEENA
Los Angeles, United States
Mar 1
Extremely Positive
What an honor and a privilege it was to meet Casey at the Thai CS Collective- especially after spending the past year couchsurfing in 34 different countries. It was amazing to be able to thank him, in person, for all of the work he has done for all of us over the years! Wow! What I found in Casey was an extremely intelligent, friendly, fun guy who is also very humble and down to earth. He truly loves to live life to the fullest. He has an easy smile, and is so welcoming and kind. He also knows how to get down in his fuzzy pink bear outfit. :)
Casey is constantly doing whatever he can to make CS even better- wearing countless hats and working countless hours to make the site, and the community- which is the heart of CS, even better.. always looking at all of the angles. The thing is, that he's able to do all of this both calmly and wisely while keeping the atmosphere fun and open. Thanks, so much Casey! I'm glad to call you a friend. :)
*********************************
From Debasis Sil
Kolkata, India
Jan 10
Extremely Positive
I was really my Honour to meet the Founder of Couch Surfing! He is actually one of the very few people on Earth who has made this World a Better place to live in.
I say One should definitely meet Him to get the Positive Vibe he always carries with him.
I have my Best wishes, My Love and My Best Regards for Casey.
*******************************
From Benjamin Yu
Anaheim, United States
Sep 21, 2007
Extremely Positive
He's Casey (nuff said, almost). He's actually down to earth, personable, and out there engaging people. That's his best quality: to be out there amongst the community helping build those personal bridges between people. It's a great time every time we meet up.
*****************************
From Richard Jeong
Washington, United States
Sep 21, 2007
Positive
The founder and dreamer of CS. Done more by the time he's 30 then many have dreamed of in a life time and even had his impact on the world. With that said he's got a management nightmare and needs all the good help he can get and all the slack we can give him. Well done Casey, hope to see you at Burning man some time soon.
*****************************
From Walter Heck
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Aug 25, 2007
Extremely Positive
Casey is a man of true deication. Never in my life have I seen someone give so much for something they believe so much in, even to the point where they hurt themselves. Casey is also the most friendly and loving guy I have ever met. There truely is not a bit of negativity in this guy. And throughout all of the stress of keeping this show running, he somehow still manages to have conversations with you about personal things where you truely get to know one and other.
Actually, one word would some my whole experience with him up: WOW!
****************************
From Frédéric Brodeur
Paris, France
Aug 13, 2007
Extremely Positive
I was intrigued before the first time I met him... and when that's happen I discovered a wonderful person, simple, who work like nobody, totally dedicated to CS, and who like to take the time to have fun too when is the time to do that! I had to great time with Casey now... the Crash/CSC Montreal time and the gathrings in Paris where i have the chance to host him! Hope to see you soon again! ;)
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I guess that's something about Casey. Isn't that enough for me to like someone?
Source : www.couchsurfing.com
Once
How often do you find the right person? ONCE
"The best of the best at Sundance. A gift of a movie that is absolutely worth seeing more than once"--Rolling Stone
"Close To Perfect"--New York Time
"ONCE may well be the best music film of our generation."--Michael Phillips,Chicago Tribune
Winner World Cinema Audience Award--Sundance Film Festival
Winner Audience Award--Dublin International Film Festival
For 'Once,' a rock musical with an irresistible charm
By Ty Burr
05/25/2007
"Once" is a wee slip of a movie, 85 minutes long and notably light on plot. Guy meets girl, guy writes a few songs with girl, guy and girl try to figure out what to do about their mutual attraction. We never learn their names, the movie's that basic.
Yet there are more emotions repressed and then sung out in this transcendent new Irish film than in a year of blockbusters, and in its brief running time, writer-director John Carney does something both profound and unexpected: He reinvents the movie musical as a genre of swooning rock 'n' roll realism.
Say again? OK: "Once" is the first rock musical that actually makes sense. People don't burst into song in this movie because the orchestra's swelling out of nowhere. The guy and the girl are working musicians -- or they'd like to be, if they could make a living at it -- and they're played by working musicians: Glen Hansard of the Dublin-based group The Frames and the Czech singer-songwriter Marketa Irglova .
The performances unfold in well-lit music shops at lunch hour, in recording studios, on double-decker buses, in apartments late at night. Most movies cut away after a few strums, but Carney settles in for the long take and you suddenly realize this is the musical number. This is how these inarticulate people speak.
If you know your movie history, maybe you recall that musicals started this way: as Depression-era backstagers, with Ruby Keeler kicking into a Busby Berkeley dance routine because it was part of the show she and Dick Powell were rehearsing. "Once" actually resurrects that hoariest of old genre cliches, the scene where the couple take a break from performing, sit at a battered piano, and share a tune. It's the only form of courtship the two know, and it underscores that life's already a musical if you're a musician.
The Depression analogy is apt, too, because Carney sets the film in a rough but openhearted Dublin, the sort of city where every junkie knows your name and where even the loan officer's a frustrated musician. The hero works at his father's vacuum cleaner repair shop and busks in the subway in the evenings; we first see him singing Van Morrison's "And the Healing Has Begun " to disinterested commuters.
It has begun, because the girl is listening and wants to compare notes in a literal sense. She brings a broken vacuum cleaner to their next meeting -- it trails after her like a sick puppy -- and he mistakes this for romantic interest, which it's not. Bits of their past leak out: the ex-girlfriend he's working out of his system, the husband she left in the Czech Republic and good riddance.
Eventually, though, he plays her a song he has written and kept to himself -- it has a Damien Rice feel, building from a folky whisper to a glorious scream -- and when she tentatively joins in on harmony, it's like a first kiss. The film's absurd R-rating is for language only; the vocal duets are the closest "Once" comes to sex. Although when the man sings "Take this sinking boat/and point it home/we've still got time," we're already past the carnal and into intimacy.
So the climax of the movie's not a love scene but a recording-studio sequence: the guy and the girl and their hastily assembled band try to cobble the pieces of what they're feeling into something that might convince a stranger hearing it on the radio. "Once" observes the mystery of the creative act -- the false starts, the gathering groove -- and finds within it a larger community.
After working through the night, the band and the producer (Geoff Minogue ) pile exhausted and happy into someone's automobile for the "car test" -- driving around while listening to the finished demo through tinny speakers. Suddenly the movie has become a different sort of love story, a group grope toward the sublime.
Carney shoots "Once" raw, aiming for the aimlessness of captured life. The Irish accents are thick, the lighting 40-watt, the leads dour and unpretty. If you need glamour, this is not your movie. The guy and the girl don't have much use for glamour, anyway. They're doing the best they can with what they have, aware that grace either lands when you least expect it -- in the bridge of a song, say -- or slips through your fingers. They're listening to the musical we each carry inside us and that no one ever hears. "Once" hears it, though, and it rocks the soul.
Movie type: Drama, Musical
MPAA rating: R:for language
Year of release: 2007
Run time: 95 minutes
Directed by: John Carney
Cast: Alaistair Foley, Geoff Minogue, Gerry Hendrick, Glen Hansard, Hugh Walsh, Marketa Irglova
Source : www.boston.com
"The best of the best at Sundance. A gift of a movie that is absolutely worth seeing more than once"--Rolling Stone
"Close To Perfect"--New York Time
"ONCE may well be the best music film of our generation."--Michael Phillips,Chicago Tribune
Winner World Cinema Audience Award--Sundance Film Festival
Winner Audience Award--Dublin International Film Festival
For 'Once,' a rock musical with an irresistible charm
By Ty Burr
05/25/2007
"Once" is a wee slip of a movie, 85 minutes long and notably light on plot. Guy meets girl, guy writes a few songs with girl, guy and girl try to figure out what to do about their mutual attraction. We never learn their names, the movie's that basic.
Yet there are more emotions repressed and then sung out in this transcendent new Irish film than in a year of blockbusters, and in its brief running time, writer-director John Carney does something both profound and unexpected: He reinvents the movie musical as a genre of swooning rock 'n' roll realism.
Say again? OK: "Once" is the first rock musical that actually makes sense. People don't burst into song in this movie because the orchestra's swelling out of nowhere. The guy and the girl are working musicians -- or they'd like to be, if they could make a living at it -- and they're played by working musicians: Glen Hansard of the Dublin-based group The Frames and the Czech singer-songwriter Marketa Irglova .
The performances unfold in well-lit music shops at lunch hour, in recording studios, on double-decker buses, in apartments late at night. Most movies cut away after a few strums, but Carney settles in for the long take and you suddenly realize this is the musical number. This is how these inarticulate people speak.
If you know your movie history, maybe you recall that musicals started this way: as Depression-era backstagers, with Ruby Keeler kicking into a Busby Berkeley dance routine because it was part of the show she and Dick Powell were rehearsing. "Once" actually resurrects that hoariest of old genre cliches, the scene where the couple take a break from performing, sit at a battered piano, and share a tune. It's the only form of courtship the two know, and it underscores that life's already a musical if you're a musician.
The Depression analogy is apt, too, because Carney sets the film in a rough but openhearted Dublin, the sort of city where every junkie knows your name and where even the loan officer's a frustrated musician. The hero works at his father's vacuum cleaner repair shop and busks in the subway in the evenings; we first see him singing Van Morrison's "And the Healing Has Begun " to disinterested commuters.
It has begun, because the girl is listening and wants to compare notes in a literal sense. She brings a broken vacuum cleaner to their next meeting -- it trails after her like a sick puppy -- and he mistakes this for romantic interest, which it's not. Bits of their past leak out: the ex-girlfriend he's working out of his system, the husband she left in the Czech Republic and good riddance.
Eventually, though, he plays her a song he has written and kept to himself -- it has a Damien Rice feel, building from a folky whisper to a glorious scream -- and when she tentatively joins in on harmony, it's like a first kiss. The film's absurd R-rating is for language only; the vocal duets are the closest "Once" comes to sex. Although when the man sings "Take this sinking boat/and point it home/we've still got time," we're already past the carnal and into intimacy.
So the climax of the movie's not a love scene but a recording-studio sequence: the guy and the girl and their hastily assembled band try to cobble the pieces of what they're feeling into something that might convince a stranger hearing it on the radio. "Once" observes the mystery of the creative act -- the false starts, the gathering groove -- and finds within it a larger community.
After working through the night, the band and the producer (Geoff Minogue ) pile exhausted and happy into someone's automobile for the "car test" -- driving around while listening to the finished demo through tinny speakers. Suddenly the movie has become a different sort of love story, a group grope toward the sublime.
Carney shoots "Once" raw, aiming for the aimlessness of captured life. The Irish accents are thick, the lighting 40-watt, the leads dour and unpretty. If you need glamour, this is not your movie. The guy and the girl don't have much use for glamour, anyway. They're doing the best they can with what they have, aware that grace either lands when you least expect it -- in the bridge of a song, say -- or slips through your fingers. They're listening to the musical we each carry inside us and that no one ever hears. "Once" hears it, though, and it rocks the soul.
Movie type: Drama, Musical
MPAA rating: R:for language
Year of release: 2007
Run time: 95 minutes
Directed by: John Carney
Cast: Alaistair Foley, Geoff Minogue, Gerry Hendrick, Glen Hansard, Hugh Walsh, Marketa Irglova
Source : www.boston.com
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