Local Sisters Invoke International Internet Interest

Question: Why is Douglaston becoming a center for fashion, wine, cars, gossip, retail shopping, current events, gay news, sports, technology, nutrition, charity, restaurant reviews, comic books, movies, food, comedy, marketing and even coffee?

Answer: All these topics -- and many more -- can be found in abundance on a multi-media website that two sisters operate from their home on 245th Street.

The simplest explanation is that TopShelf Network is a web-based information center that Demetra and Eleni Simos created earlier this year. However, it’s a bit more complex. Actually, a lot more complex.

TopShelf presently features taped content of various podcasts, videos, radio programs and blogs as well as an on-line store. When the Simos siblings kick off live programming in two weeks, they will stream their podcasts simultaneously on five channels: TSNLive.tv, Stickam.com, UStream.com, Justin.tv and Blip.tv.

During the live podcasts, viewers will be able to transmit their opinions via a wide array of modern communication devices, such as Skype, Facebook and Twitter.

As part of this cyber-potpourri, the sisters star in their own show, Sweet and Vicious, during which they opine -- sometimes sweetly; sometimes viciously -- on fashion, pop culture, relationships, music and other themes. The podcast features segments like “Creep of the Week,” when they dish on poorly behaving public figures. (Demetra says their zodiacal signs – she’s an Aries; Eleni is a Libra – are on display throughout this show.)

“We’re hitting you from many levels,” adds Eleni, 20. “We’re strong, opinionated women who have a lot to say.”

The Simoses also host True Blood: The Last Drop, an ongoing, interactive conversation about the HBO series True Blood.

Other programs include Top2Bottom, in which two gay men Harold and Freud attend high-brow, New York City social events, and provide their spin on what they experience. In The Dugout is dedicated to fantasy sports, while SHECKNews covers politics and current events, but host Benny Scheckner occasionally goes into rants about Chinese food, how to identify edible parts of a tree or whatever comes to mind.

TopShelf already has established partnerships with local retailers Earth Diet, Beauty Crisis and European Image and the internationally famous YouTube.com. The Simoses are developing a clothing line that will peddle shirts tied to New York sports teams, politics, pop culture and charities that will benefit from sales. A fashion show broadcast in Italian is also in the works.

“We hope to bring new exciting shows, voices and opinions to the masses,” says Demetra, 27. “We are always growing and evolving.”

Expect more evolving. Every morning after breakfast, the siblings meet to discuss new ideas and new ways to reach people. After all, they want to run TopShelf for the rest of their lives.

Says Demetra: “We do it because we love it.”

For more information, check out www.topshelfnetworkny.com, www.facebook.com/topshelfnetwork, www.youtube.com/topshelfnetwork or www.twitter.com/topshelfnetwork.