Month: December 2013

10 Things I Did This Year

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1. I Sold Beer… in Japan

I was in a Suntory beer commercial!! Yes, like THE Suntory, made famous from Bill Murray’s character in Lost in Translation. If that wasn’t cool enough, I starred alongside Ken Watanabe!!! (Inception, The Last Samurai) I played a reporter- shocking, I know- and made some funny faces. If you’ve seen any of my Key of Awesome stuff, you can probably guess where I got those from.

This was one of those moments where I thought, “I can’t wait to tell my grandkids about this”… which is also the first time I ever thought about having grand kids. Go figure.

2. Media Makeover

I upgraded with new headshots, website, demo reel, and boobs. I’m just kidding about the last part. These B’s are real.

3. And We’re LIVE

This was the year of performing on Live TV, which is basically an adrenaline rush equivalent to sky diving, but without all the potential bodily injury and stuff. I had major live projects for Ultra, SOS Island, and covering the Thor: The Dark World red carpet for Yahoo! and Marvel. It’s fun and I can’t wait to do more. img_3577 fotor

4. Call Me Feczko-pova

I learned how to play tennis! I went to Mexico, and after finding the perfect margarita, I decided to start taking tennis lessons! As one naturally does in such circumstances. Now this is a tequila decision I don’t regret, because now I play tennis a couple times a month with friends. Did you know LA has free tennis courts?! One more reason why I love LA… and the Nike Outlet store. I don’t know which came first: the desire to play tennis or the desire to have a place to wear a tennis skirt.

5. The Launch of How 2 Travelers

Since creating my YouTube channel in 2010, I had a vision for it to be an edgy, inspired, travel-based channel. This year, I finally made that vision into a reality by teaming up with travel expert Rachel Rudwall and re-branding as How 2 Travelers. H2T is a how to guide for everything travel: from tips, to adventures, to reviews of places you want to go. The response has thus far been amazing, with Vagabondish regularly featuring our videos.

6. We Broke Twitter… and some Records

We all knew Ultra Miami was going to be big for its 15th anniversary, but at UMF TV we didn’t realize just how much of an impact our livestream has on artists and the fans. Due to a 10 minute interview that was completely spontaneous thanks to technical difficulties (hey, it’s live TV!), we broke Goldfish Live’s website. Hardwell’s mainstage performance that aired on UMF TV was so insane that Twitter shut down his account, because, according to Robbert, his name was taking up 30% of the bandwidth! And, our finale, Swedish House Mafia’s last set as a group, brought in over 200,000 concurrent viewers, which is the most amount of viewers for a livestream of a North American music festival. I feel so blessed to be part of this awesome team. I must say, the Dutch do it better… with an American host. 😉

7. I’m Gold!

My frequent flyer status is officially 14K on both American and Delta airlines, which makes all the difference when it comes to flying: short lines for security AND customs, random upgrades, and your luggage is always the first to come down the carousel. Basically, I travel like a 45-year old male businessman. And if I must say so, I look good for a dude.

This is a huge thanks to Ultra, which has me traveling all over Asia, South America and Europe hosting the livestream of their music festivals. In 2014 we’ll be adding South Africa, Tokyo, and maybe other locations that haven’t been announced yet. Stay tuned…

8. Close Calls

2013 was the year of getting on the proverbial podium. I tested for a network game show for Freemantle (aka my dream job) and a Discovery travel series, made it to the top three for an NBC travel show, and was the runner-up in the nationwide search for FX’s DVD on TV replacement. In Hollywood, it’s usually considered a big accomplishment just to get a call back, but luckily for me, I was cast in other shows based on these auditions: SOS Island with Survivorman’s Les Stroud and FX’s Hershey’s Sweet Cinema.

9. I’m Home Alone

I put my big girl pants on this year and am now living in total freedom with my own place in the heart of Hollywood. You don’t want to know what goes down when a girl has a place to herself… or maybe you’re going to find out. My princess pad was decorated by Frugal but Fabulous‘ Georgie Smith. The Webisode on the Feczko photo(14)Residence Makeover will arrive early 2014.

10. I fell more in love with Ibiza

I mean look at it! I went there for the second year in a row, which means this could just be the start of a serious relationship. And seriously, why can’t Ibiza be man? Because then he’d be blue and perfect… and things just got weird.

 

 

Can’t wait for what’s ahead in 2014. Looking forward to seeing your sexy selves in the new year!

Catch Me On FX

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Time to set your DVR’s! This face will be popping up in between your favorite movies for FX Presents Hershey’s Sweet Cinema.

Check out the dates and times:

December 18th at 8pm for Real Steel

December 28th at 8pm for Thor

February 10th at 8pm for Crazy, Stupid, Love

This Hershey’s Sweet Cinema is a little different from the rest as it’s part hosted segment and part skit. Yes, I get to use my acting chops in these… now you really want to set that DVR! I went really method on this one, and by that I mean I ate a lot of candy to get in the zone. It was awesome.

Enjoy the movies!

xoxo,

Andrea

And the Winner of SOS Island is…

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GRAHAM HUGHES!!!

Congratulations! Graham is already a seasoned survivalist, going down in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the first person to go to all the United Nations countries without flying.

And now.. he is the winner of Samsung’s SOS Island: Survival of the Smartest and has $100,000 in the bank toward his very own private island!

What was interesting about Graham’s win was that he was an excellent source of knowledge for contestants on the island, building fires without knives or flint, but had a difficult time translating those skills into challenge wins. He finished his time on the island with a modest two coconuts (wins), but then put his social media efforts into high drive. With a well received TED Talks speech and articles in the highly respected The Guardian, Graham was able to garner an incredible amount of votes, which made up 40% of the overall score, that ultimately made him the winner.

I am so proud of all the contestants and crew on SOS Island. Everyone pushed their physical limits on what could be done on a deserted island, and the results were outstanding. I won’t be cheesy and say we all walked away winners, but we definitely all walked away with a once-in-a-lifetime experience we will never forget.

Here’s a look back at my favorite episodes from SOS Island:


Down with the Ship” – This is my favorite challenge. It was the most fun to participate in- as well as the most fun to watch!

 


Food Forager” – Graham’s first, and very impressive, win on the island.

 


Survival of the Smartest” – This challenge caused many injuries, greatly effecting the rest of the time on the island.

 


Fish Food” – Graham’s second win. Do you sense a theme with the challenges he won?

 


SOS” – This was the most difficult challenge both physically and mentally. The ending was a surprise!

 


Gift From Above” – This was inspired by the Hunger Games: Catching Fire. As a huge fan of the book, it was fun to let my inner Katniss out for a day.

Paul Walker Dead at 40

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I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. — Maya Angelou

 

I met Paul Walker how most people did: falling in love with those crystal clear blue eyes in the movie theater (Skulls, to be exact).

 

I met him for the first time in real life when I was a senior at NYU. I was interning in the Development Department at Fuse, when my boss told me that I was able to sit in on a pitch meeting… with Paul Walker! My all-time celebrity crush!

The meeting was an intimate affair: Paul and his business partner, my two bosses at Fuse, and myself. It was so intimate that I don’t believe I ever made direct eye contact with him. Yes, I really took advantage of that moment. I didn’t make a noise. I didn’t ask a question. I believe my voice cracked when I said my name. It was a highlight of my charismatic skills.

 

Two years later I sat down in the chair above for the Fast & Furious IV junket. Before the interview started, I told him that I had actually met him before (does being in the same room count as meeting?) at Fuse when I was an intern… “Yeah, and I was pitching the skateboarding show,” Paul said, finishing my sentence.

“You remembered me?” I asked. Shocked.

“Of course,” he replied, like it was no big thing, telling me details about that meeting and what I was doing that I didn’t even remember. He asked me how I was finding life after graduation. Him, the star, asking me, the newbie reporter, about my life. And he genuinely wanted to know.

 

I will never forget the feeling I had in that moment.

Flattery. Giddiness. And above all, that I was important.

 

I always imagined I would interview him at the next Fast & Furious junket and tell him how important that moment was to me… but time flies by… and so do those opportunities.

 

Paul paid attention to people, even the intern. Gawker called him a “Goddamn Saint”. I have to agree.

 

Rest in Peace Paul Walker. You were truly someone special.

How Two Travelers on Vagabondish

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This year I went for my passion: travel.

I partnered up with seasoned travel expert Rachel Rudwall and re-branded my YouTube channel from my namesake to How Two Travelers (H2T). It’s been really fun working with a fellow female traveler who is as passionate as I am about seeing new places- and most importantly, making it fun for everyone!

 

So here’s what you can expect to see on H2T:

A Travel Tip is uploaded on the first Monday of the month.

A Food and Drink is on the second Monday of the month.

A Bucket List Adventure is shown on the third Monday of the month.

And a Go or No Travel Review is uploaded on the fourth Monday of the month. It’s basically a movie review, but for travel destinations. I especially like these videos!

 

We launched in October, and thankfully have had a great response. Fodor’s and the New York Observer are following us on twitter, and Vagabondish, one of the most popular travel websites, is now featuring our travel tip videos!

Check out the featured tips below: