BEN POPKEN WRITES

Inside dino bbq brooklyn, new gowanus location, set to open June...

popcornundone — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:17:33 -0400

Inside dino bbq brooklyn, new gowanus location, set to open June 14 manager told me as he took me on a sneak peak tour. I was walking by outside and took a few pix and when he found out I might post them online he said l, well don’t use that, come on in and get a good picture!
Capacity: 238 patrons
Smokers: 4 old hicks
Hired: 154
Biggest issue holding back opening: getting hooked up to gas lines
How they catering to local Nets stadium crowd: installing a few morw tvs than normal
Secret menu items: are secret
Ceiling beams: licked by fire, they decided to keep
Best quote: “that’s too nice, bang it up more” - manager Jay Williams to working installing decorative metal sheets on wall

How Airbnb is growing up

popcornundone — Sun, 12 May 2013 13:16:48 -0400

I interview Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky on the future of designing trust in the shareconomy http://t.co/rML3wtgsR6

mediareporter: Watergate: The Video GameJournalists: It’s the...

popcornundone — Sat, 11 May 2013 12:41:08 -0400

mediareporter:

Watergate: The Video Game

Journalists: It’s the game you’ve always wanted to play. Forget finding Carmen Sandiego. In Watergate: The Video Game, you’re on the hunt to expose Richard Nixon’s corruption. Here, the real sleuthing happens through interviews, document acquisition and hard-hitting reporting. This is the best way to celebrate the Pulitzer Prize that the Washington Post received 40 years ago today for its coverage of the Watergate scandal.

Gowanus Brooklyn Dinosaur BBQ opening mid-may, worker told me...

popcornundone — Sat, 04 May 2013 12:41:00 -0400

Gowanus Brooklyn Dinosaur BBQ opening mid-may, worker told me today as I passed by. They’ve got the neon sign up and awning installed. They’re hiring for all positions all this week out of a trailer and folding table setup in a lot two steps down. I saw a white man with a beard interviewing a Spanish man.
They installed windows in the wall that had a neighborhood mural for two dead local boys, Raul and someone else. DNAinfo says they’ll be remade around the corner by a local artists. On the anniversary of their deaths, annually a small memorial of candles and flowers would appear at the base of the brick wall. Now cigarettes and scuff marks from the loafers and sneakers on the feet of Nets fans going to games at the Barclay’s center a station stop away will decorate the sidewalk nightly.

PREVIOUSLY: SCOOP: DINOSAUR BAR-B-QUE OPENING UP BROOKLYN LOCATION AT FOOT OF PARK SLOPE

Do you

popcornundone — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 07:24:28 -0400

Ever feel like we have no idea where we’re going, and we’re getting there faster than ever?

new by me for NBC: On Sunday, Chris Guillebeau, known as the...

popcornundone — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 17:16:00 -0400

new by me for NBC:

On Sunday, Chris Guillebeau, known as the godfather of travel hacking, turned 35 in Norway, the last of the 193 United Nations member countries he visited.

More than 120 international fans of Guillebeau attended his birthday party, and most got there just as he did: for free.

Coming to the end of a journey that has defined his life for the past 10 years, “feels great in many ways, also a little unsettling,” said Guillebeau. It’s “bittersweet,” he said, but, “I’m glad I don’t have to sleep on the floor in Dakar anymore.”

The man who travel hacked the world

Man reading scanned Hebrew texts on e-reader on train.

popcornundone — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 21:43:12 -0400

Man reading scanned Hebrew texts on e-reader on train.

It’s the end of an era. This IKEA GALLANT was my blog battlewing...

popcornundone — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 08:06:00 -0400

It’s the end of an era. This IKEA GALLANT was my blog battlewing for 6 years. At 63” by 47 1/14”, plus extension, it was a beast. I don’t work from home anymore and it was taking up too much space, so I got rid of it this weekend. RIP, desky.

Judging Deadline Club Awards

popcornundone — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 08:44:57 -0500

I’m honored to have been asked to help judge the Society of Professional Journalists Deadline Club Awards next week. I’m really looking forward to it.

Strategy and tactics aren’t synonyms.

popcornundone — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:57:54 -0500

Strategy and tactics aren’t synonyms.

Catch me at college media association's spring '13 nyc convention

popcornundone — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 08:11:20 -0500

Hey aspiring college reporters: Learn how I went from an unknown Typepad blogger to NBC journalist, no j-school required - I’m presenting at College Media Association’s spring convention http://nyc13.org 3/10 2:30 Room K

“The ways to have impact are to produce exclusive news, write memorable stories, and evince a sense...

popcornundone — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 15:19:21 -0500

“The ways to have impact are to produce exclusive news, write memorable stories, and evince a sense of daring and fun,” says Sexton. “And if that formula fails, then we’re all in fucking trouble.”

Tinkerer-in-Chief Bolts Times: Joe Sexton’s Innovative, Profane Reign [New York]

If you haven’t read Snow Fall, do it.

Starting New Job

popcornundone — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 13:37:00 -0500

Proud as a peacock to announce my new full-time job as NBCNEWS.com Senior Staff Writer and Editor tomorrow. I’ll be heading up the Travel section from a consumer perspective and contributing reporting to special NBCNEWS.com editorial projects as needed. Very excited and motivated by this collaborative newsroom full of awesome journalists. Glad I have a chance to be a part of it!

This is how I greet the dawn.

popcornundone — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 06:56:00 -0500

This is how I greet the dawn.

Lede

popcornundone — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 06:12:00 -0500

My SuperBowl ad story is the lede on NBCNEWS.com for the next few hours.

“I don’t know what it is, but everyone finds humor in dog ads or baby ads,” John Yorke, President of creative firm Rain 43, said. “Last year, we saw lots of both – and the highest rated ads came from these categories – so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it – expect to see more of this trend.”

For Super Bowl ads, it’s go viral or go home [NBCNEWS.com]

moderatetosevere: benpopkenwrites: Groupon suspends all gun-related daily deals [TODAY] I got one...

popcornundone — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 19:48:15 -0500

moderatetosevere:

benpopkenwrites:

Groupon suspends all gun-related daily deals [TODAY]

I got one of them! I wonder what will happen with that?And Groupon can suck on some genitalia

The gun store told me they’ll be honoring all the class slots they sold.

"Someone's going to commit a crime, they're not going to... take a 10-hour class first."

popcornundone — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 13:50:00 -0500

Texas gun store owner Michael Cargill, pictured, is pissed, because Groupon canceled the deal he was running for a concealed handgun carry license class - along with all other gun-related deals nationwide - two days after they had asked him to double the number of slots he was offering because it was selling out.

Groupon suspends all gun-related daily deals [TODAY]

Hat tip to David Lazarus.

popcornundone — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:09:12 -0500

Hat tip to David Lazarus.

Subway: CTRL-C + CTRL-V = 11inch Footlong apology

popcornundone — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 11:51:59 -0500

After tongue-in-cheek images of an 11inch Subway “Footlong” went viral, Subway is copy-pasting the same apology to those posting similar 11inch photos to their Facebook wall, even to people who are just reposting the original photo.

Where’s the inch? Subway’s Footlong falls short [TODAY]

Trading camos for blue smocks

popcornundone — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:54:03 -0500

They’re not actually smocks anymore, Walmart switched to dark-blue polos years ago, but Walmart is giving them out to any qualifying military veteran who wants one.

In the Walmart’s projected hiring of 100,000 veterans story I wrote yesterday, the most interesting thing to me, and quite possibly the only part of the news that is actually any different from status quo, is that vets will get “Priority Access” over civilians. A company spokesperson told me this means that if an open job comes down to two equally qualified candidates, one a veteran and the other not, the vet gets the job.

Also note the company’s use of the word “projected,” not planned, or promised. In their fact sheet (PDF) the company says that no new positions will be created. So it’s quite possible the company, which said it hired over 100,000 vets over the past five years, is just gonna keep doing what it was already doing. That the tax credits for hiring vets, between $2,400-$9,600 per hire, were extended as part of the fiscal cliff package just sweetens the deal.

Wal-Mart plans to hire 100,000 veterans [TODAY]