This week's roundup includes a chandelier made of octopus in Toronto, drones for aerial video production in Orlando, a mural made of lettuce in Philadelphia, and Ben & Jerry's new eco-friendly ice cream truck.
More than 800 gathered in Manhattan's Lower East Side for Thrillist's third annual Best Day of Your Life, celebrating the longest day of the year on June 21. The many attractions included Samsung's "Museum of Instagrammable Moments," which allowed guests to have their photos taken with live-artist exhibits, including a moving backdrop of an aerial view of New York City that prompted guests to jump on a trampoline.
In keeping with the positive vibe, event staffers meant to look like grannies handed out birthday cards with money and Prohibition Bakery's Beer & Pretzel cupcakes.
Guests walked through an interactive hallway entrance that previewed the content to come at Refinery29's "Driven, Not Distracted" event, the second in the media company's "Her Brain on Digital" series. Held at Industria Superstudio in New York City's meatpacking district on June 3, the event's theme focused on how technology is mobilizing and strengthening the community of millenial women. Refinery29 partnered with Glymmer to create software that took content from the presentation and added it to the interactive, multisensory video wall lining the entrance. Using Microsoft Kinects, motion tracking allowed guests to trigger custom animations, quotes, and videos from the research study.
The Power Ball, held at the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto on June 4, did not have a typical bar setup. Instead, bartenders sat in theater chairs, wearing tuxedos and holding bottles that were ready to be poured. There were also staffers throwing potato chips from the rafters, and guests threw back pieces of bread, cheese, and meat. Partygoers could also snip pieces of octopus from a chandelier hanging overhead.
Instead of a traditional plated dinner, V.I.P. guests got an entirely different experience: an interactive experience from food artist Jennifer Rubell. Hands appeared through holes in the table, serving guests one morsel at a time.
The 2015 Wall Ball, a fund-raiser supporting the City of Mural Arts Program that was held on May 21 at Philadelphia's Electric Factory, gave guests an opportunity to make their own salad by ordering from a salad mural. Catering by Design created a mural wall of salad greens using an existing railed platform. Men dressed as painters used garden shears to cut down baby heads of lettuce, which were transferred to clear paint cans that guests could take to a salad bar to add toppings.
In the Unmanned Systems and Drone Pavilion at InfoComm June 13 to 19, held at the Orange County Convention Center, more than a dozen manufacturers demonstrated their products inside a 30-foot enclosed cube. Stampede Presentation Products introduced three xFold multi-rotor drones intended primarily for aerial video production with multiple cameras.
Ben & Jerry's recently kicked its gas-guzzling, boxy ice cream truck to the curb, trading it in for a set of hot wheels. As part of its Save Our Swirled campaign, which kicked off in April, the eco-conscious, Vermont-based ice cream company souped up an electric Tesla Model S for its 8,000-plus-mile road trip. The brand is currently touring the country, offering free scoops and spreading the word about the effects of carbon pollution and clean energy solutions.
At this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, popularly known as E3, Disney Interactive showcased Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition, the latest in the hybrid toy-game series. Attendees of the event at the Los Angeles Convention Center, held June 16 to 18, passed into the booth through a custom-built illuminated entryway known as the Disney Infinity Figure Arch, which displayed all of the figures that have ever been released.
The Activision booth promoted Guitar Hero Live, allowing attendees to journey from fans to performers. As guests got ready to go on stage, staff pretending to be stagehands and groupies pumped them up. They were guided to center stage—prominently at a visible and heavily trafficked area of the booth—where a live audience cheered them on. A green-screen stage dive was also part of the experience.
