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Technical.ly
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Technical.ly
Artscape 2025 brings tech and talent downtown
Baltimore's beloved free arts festival is switching things up for 2025 — and not just with its art. Artscape has moved downtown and takes place earlier in the year than usual, over Memorial Day weekend on May 24-25. The new timing and location come with a message: The festival, produced by the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts (BOPA), isn't just about creativity. It's about innovation. For a large part of its nearly 40-year run, Artscape has spotlighted creative collisions, putting Baltimore painters and poets alongside coders and gamers. This year's festival continues that fusion, alongside other new additions like the Scout Art Fair curated by the acclaimed Baltimore-born visual artist Derrick Adams and the Baltimore Beat's arts editor Teri Henderson. Think augmented reality maps, immersive installations and a statue that turns into digital art when you scan it with your phone. These aren't just gimmicks. They're signs that Baltimore's tech scene is increasingly woven into its cultural fabric. For instance, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County is helping bring the interactive vision to life, according to organizers. Thanks to a collaboration with the local design firm Raunjiba, QR codes scattered throughout the festival footprint will unlock a 3D AR map to help attendees explore the newly reimagined layout. And when you find the fest's statue, scan it, and watch the sculpture go 3D. Panels that bridge the creative and the scientific Over at Baltimore Center Stage, the 'In Conversation' series dives deeper into the art-tech crossover. In 'Science & Dance: Orbiting the Self,' CEO Andrew Parlock of Space Phoenix moderates a discussion connecting choreography with the science of motion and identity. Prefer fashion to footwork? 'The Science of Beauty: Styles by Science' breaks down how AI, design and smart tools are rewriting industry norms. Entrepreneur Keisha McClain leads this talk on how algorithms and innovation are fueling your next look. Spotlight on the next generation 'In Conversation' is one of two new Artscape tracks this year, both taking place at Baltimore Center Stage. The second, 'Beyond the Reel,' focuses on cinema and features a mix of screenings and discussions. As part of it, on Sunday at Ikonic Live, middle and high school students from the region will participate in a showcase and affiliated panel curated by Wide Angle Youth Media. Beyond that and the annual Kidscape programming track, the Baltimore Underground Science Space will showcase another bridge of science and art — that is, art made up of living organisms, like yeast. Will you be taking in tech at this year's Artscape? If so, send us your photos at baltimore@ and you might get featured in our next Baltimore newsletter!
Business Journals
24-04-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
Downtown Baltimore Comfort Inn fails to sell at auction
THE REMAINDER OF THIS ARTICLE IS FOR SUBSCRIBERS The 97-room tower at Lombard and Calvert streets is blocks from the Inner Harbor. Story Highlights Comfort Inn & Suites failed to sell at auction, reserve not met. Hotel is vacant due to broken elevators, can't take bookings. Property was shut down in August 2023 for code violations but reopened. A well-placed downtown hotel in need of major repairs failed to sell at auction on Wednesday. The 85,000-square-foot Comfort Inn & Suites at 120 E. Lombard St. did not hit an undisclosed reserve benchmark during an online auction where bidding hit nearly $6 million. The auction was held on the online auction platform Ten-X, which hosted the sale in partnership with Colliers. The 97-room hotel is currently vacant and can't take bookings because of a broken elevator system, the latest struggle for the property in recent years. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events The top bid was $5.95 million, but the Ten-X listing stated "reserve not met," which ultimately denied the sale. The hotel last sold for $8.24 million in 2019. Colliers broker Matt Gannon did not return a request for comment after the auction closed. The hotel hit the auction block this spring. It was formerly the three-star Brookshire Suites Inner Harbor, and a Ten-X flyer said new ownership could restore the building back to its glory days, when rooms were 70% booked, mostly with waves of sports fans, convention-goers and tourists. The hotel was set to be auctioned "as-is," and a Ten-X disclaimer stated that "due to the non-operational elevators, the seller is unable to rent rooms at the property. The buyer acknowledges this limitation and accepts all associated risks." Bidding opened at noon on April 21 with a starting bid of $1.5 million, with bidding increments set at $250,000. But during the final minutes of the auction, that increment decreased to $100,000 and then $50,000, and more time was added to the auction to accommodate a flurry of bids from an unknown potential buyer or buyers who sought to break through the undisclosed reserve. The hotel auction came after city inspectors shut down the property in August 2023, due to a rash of code violations that included a lack of operational life safety systems, no primary or emergency power or operational emergency generator and a malfunctioning automatic sprinkler system. The violations were corrected about a month later and the hotel reopened. The 12-story hotel is owned by Shree Vaishno Devi LLC and BHK Realty LLC, according to state records. The group acquired the property at an auction in September 2019 and rebranded it during the pandemic from the Brookshire Suites to the Comfort Inn. Prior to that, the hotel had been owned by Modus Hotels, which bought the property for $7.85 million in 2012 and pumped $2.3 million into upgrades with an "urban playground" motif, complete with guests rooms honoring Baltimore-born music legend Frank Zappa and colorful, graffiti-like murals. The Comfort Inn & Suites sits on a corner within walking distance of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, M&T Bank Stadium, the Baltimore Convention Center and Harborplace, now being reimagined by MCB Real Estate under a $500 million private redevelopment.
Daily Mail
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Blake Lively's ex reveals why it was a 'struggle' to date her
Penn Badgley famously dated his Gossip Girl leading lady Blake Lively between 2007-2010 while starring on The CW soap, which wound up blurring the lines between fiction and reality for him. 'It was the struggle,' the 38-year-old Independent Spirit Award winner confessed on Call Her Daddy Wednesday. 'What starts to happen when you're in this one role for a long time — the aspect of celebrity being a part of it, a huge part of it — there is not enough separation, I think, for anybody. 'You're seen as this person, you're called their name out on the street. You also constantly have to be that person at work.' Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage's critically-acclaimed adaptation of Cecily von Ziegesar's novel series about wealthy Manhattan teenagers aired for six seasons spanning 2007-2012. The series was followed by a standalone sequel, also titled Gossip Girl, which aired for two seasons between 2021 and 2023 on Max. Penn admitted he didn't possess the 'emotional maturity to understand how to differentiate' himself from his character - Brooklyn scholarship student Dan Humphrey - 'in terms of self-worth.' 'What people seemed to think of Dan seemed to be what people thought of me,' Baltimore-born Badgley noted. The Ariana Grande video star was 'starved for many kinds of intimacy' due to his parents divorcing and 'really longed for that kind of connection' with the troubled 37-year-old, who played socialite Serena van der Woodsen. Back in 2009, Blake confessed to Glamour of Penn: 'At first I was so upset that they hired him. I actually poisoned the whole cast against him. But then they noticed that he wasn't a jerk and was actually a really nice, charming person. Almost immediately I realized that too, but it took me about a week to admit it.' Lively (born Brown) is currently embroiled in a legal war against her It Ends With Us director-leading man Justin Baldoni, who happens to be close friends with Badgley. The You producer-star has even invited the 41-year-old filmmaker - who shares his Baha'i faith - to be a guest on his Podcrushed podcast in 2022 and 2023. Blake and Justin are scheduled to face off in Manhattan US District Court for a sexual harassment and defamation trial beginning March 2026, but the general public have already sided with Baldoni. Meanwhile, Penn and his wife of eight years - Domino Kirke - are set to welcome twin siblings this summer for their four-year-old son James. Badgley is also stepfather to the 41-year-old singer's 16-year-old son Cassius O'Kane from her relationship with musician Morgan O'Kane. The Ariana Grande video star was 'starved for many kinds of intimacy' due to his parents divorcing and 'really longed for that kind of connection' with the troubled 37-year-old, who played socialite Serena van der Woodsen The Lewis & Clark College drop-out - who also dated Blink Twice director Zoë Kravitz - originally met Domino at a meatball shop in 2014. Penn gushed: 'When we first met, it was immediate. And before we had time to think, I think we wanted to be together in the deepest way.' Badgley produced and stars as serial killer Joe Goldberg in the 10-episode fifth and final season of Michael Foley and Justin W. Lo's series You, which premieres this Thursday on Netflix. The small-screen adaptation of Caroline Kepnes' novel series will also feature Madeline Brewer, Anna Camp, Griffin Matthews, Charlotte Ritchie, and Tati Gabrielle.
Associated Press
25-02-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Former Georgetown and New Zealand Breakers basketballer Kevin Braswell dies at 46
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Kevin Braswell, a Baltimore-born basketballer who played for the Georgetown Hoyas before enjoying a well-traveled professional career that took him to New Zealand, has died. He was 46. Braswell's death was announced Monday by the Utsunomiya Brex, a team he coached in Japan's domestic league. No cause of death was specified but Braswell had been hospitalized after undergoing heart surgery earlier this year. 'We would like to express our heartfelt respect and gratitude to Mr. Braswell for his dedication to the development of the club and his contribution to the growth of the team over the course of two seasons,' Utsunomiya Brex said in a statement. Braswell played 128 times for the Hoyas between 1998 and 2002 averaging 13.6 points. Braswell played pre-season matches for the Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat and played for the Florida Flame and Columbus Riverdragons before pursuing an extensive playing career overseas. He played in Israel, Italy, Belgium, Poland, Russia and Turkey before joining the New Zealand Breakers in the Australian National Basketball League, winning the title in 2011. He was head coach of the Breakers in 2018. 'Today we mourn the passing of Breakers legend Kevin Braswell,' the Breakers said in a social media post. 'KB, a former player, championship winner, Sixth Man of the Year and head coach passed away overnight (New Zealand time). 'Our thoughts and aroha (love) go out to his family at this time.'
