KoprivaMedia

April 1, 2013

3rd Degree Glass Factory

Glass blowing is a delicate and patient art. Coincidentally, the patience that Doug Auer applies to his art has carried over to his life in business. Just as colors and shapes might find their way into Doug’s pieces, opportunity and circumstance have meandered into Doug’s life and provided clarity for his unique mission. 3rd Degree Glass Factory, a project co-polited by Auer and entrepreneur Jim McKelvey, is now a central pillar of the St. Louis art scene and an avenue for education and discovery into the world of glass art.

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March 4, 2013

Bianchi Super Pista

Mike’s Bikes STL doesn’t care to wheel and deal Huffy’s to any sucker that will buy them. Instead, they’re a shop that takes their time building a bike that makes a statement for you. Using custom components in any color you can imagine, the final product that you roll out the door of the shop with is something uniquely yours. The shop’s latest build, however, goes above and beyond and takes a crack at being the fastest fixie in St. Louis.

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March 1, 2013

Ladies First

Indiana University-based a capella group Straight No Chaser has earned a great deal of acknowledgement, but Ladies First would like you to know boys don’t own the IU a capella scene. The unique talent of each member of the group cannot be overstated; they all are individually gifted singers whose combined talents form a vocal powerhouse.

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February 26, 2013

‘Hit’

On Monday night in October of 2010, I left my college campus on my bike bound for my house a few blocks away. I woke up the next morning in a hospital. My hand was broken, face scarred, and knee bashed. ’Hit’ is the story of my recovery from that accident.

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February 8, 2013

Game Nite

If you consider Monopoly to be a complex board game, you are sorely mistaken. The world of board games goes much deeper than you could ever know. I walked into Game Nite in St. Louis and immediately became aware of how small my gaming world was. Upon entering, a long wall stacked with hundreds of unfamiliar board game titles invited me to a world that I’d never before known: the world of the hardcore analog gamer.

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February 1, 2013

Micah and Shamira

Some couples have an unspoken chemistry, a sort of silent current that runs between them and holds them together. It’s subtle; there exists just the slightest magnetism that keeps two worlds held in orbit around one another. That’s the kind of love that I saw between Micah and Shamira. Genuine appreciation and complete acceptance between two partners is a romance all too rare in a world afflicted by sappy movies.

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January 31, 2013

Up North

I’ve been heading up to my family’s place in Wisconsin for as long as I can remember. Our refrigerator at home prominently features my young self romping around our Wisconsin driveway in a Canadian tuxedo and a red cowboy hat with my curly blonde hair poking out from underneath. I now weigh about four times as much as the kid smiling in that picture, but the unadulterated joy that he felt from life’s simple pleasures still comes back to me whenever I spend time ‘Up North’.

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January 24, 2013

South City Urban Art

On a quick photo walk with some friends in South City STL on Cherokee Street, we came across a wall full of some uniquely expressive urban art. Painted and sketched colorfully and conspicuously on an empty storefront, glaring eyes return your gaze as you look upwards at the mural. Interesting sight, to say the least.

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January 23, 2013

Christmas in Mexico

I suppose it’s a good thing when laziness becomes a precious commodity in life. That way, spending a week on a beach sipping on cervezas and margaritas in beautiful weather in the middle of winter is just that much more enjoyable.

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Mikes Bikes STL builds a Bianchi Super Pista custom bike

January 22, 2013

Mike’s Bikes Builds a Custom Fixie

All hobbyists cherish the toys of their crafts, but cyclists are especially known for their pursuit of material perfection in their rides. Carbon fiber components and shorter gear ratios scratch the surface of the numerous upgrades that bikers can slap onto their cycles. Mike’s Bikes took that fanaticism to a level unprecedented among St. Louis bike shops, putting together a $4000+ fixed-gear monster built on some of the world’s finest components.

It doesn’t have brakes, but it’s hardly a bike made for stopping.

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