Hey it ain't unusual!

Tom Jones, singer and man who quickens many a woman's pulse is now Sir Tom. That's what's new, pussycat.

You and your pussycat nose.

Friendster spam

I have been on Friendster for over a year and the only letter I get telling me I'm hott is spam. Thanks Friendster. I reported the person. The profile is for a twenty-three year chick named "Laura". The only problem is that the link in her message is a webcam page for "Ann". Idiots. There isn't even a pic on the Friendster

Needless to say, I'm crushed that the only people that think I'm hott are Ukranian spammers.

Finally saw:

So, I finally saw Garden State, on cable, while visiting my folks for Christmas. All I have to say is that there's no one I'd rather "bury the hamster" with than Natalie Portman.

This joke would have been funnier last year, when the film first came out.

What do you get your Reality TV crew for Christmas?

I'll be expounding on this later, but yeah, you gotta tip your reality TV camera and sound people. More so, you want to tip the post production people,so they leave in all of your explanations for why you're such a shit.

Gotta run, going to a meeting at the Mayor's Office of Film and Tele.

That went well. I'm back. So I've sent out a note to a friend who DP's a reality Tv show and I'm curious to hear what he says.

I was in the shower the other day when , like a bolt of lightning, the idea popped into my head: "What do you get your reality TV crew for Christmas"?

Probably have a nice meal for the crew. Don't orget to invite the editor.

Merry Christmas

To all my friends and family, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Love to you all. Thank you for your faith, help and good wishes.

It's been a great year, let's crank it up to 11 and go over the top in 2006!

XOXO,

-M

Strike Ends!

When we were coming back from lunch, the bunch of us, shooting a Sony Z1 HDV camera tutorial, we found out that the strike had ended. We were all very happy.

Me especially, because I had resigned myself to driving into Manhattan before the 5am no car curfew and then sleeping a few hours in my car, before shooting. I have to get all my lighting and camera gear out of the studio we're shooting in and get it back to Flushing. So, lucky me I will be able to drive into town and not wake up at three am.

Thanks God and the Transit workers and everyone else. Whew!

Transit Strike, Day 2

I had a shoot in Manhattan today, so I spent some time last night online, looking at my options for getting into town. I can't drive because: unless I have four humans in my car, I can't enter Manhattan from 5 am until 11am. Lucky for me the LIRR has a Hub at Main Street, Flushing. I was on the phone twice, at around one in the morning. The first time, to make sure I could get a ticket. I was pretty worried because according to the website, the ticket booth is closed for six weeks. Cue Tim Allen/Moto "HUH!??". WTF MF?

I wait for about fifteen minutes and finally talk to a human and he reassures me that I can get tickets from the ticket machine. Okay, great. Thanks.

A few minutes later, while looking at schedules, I click on the box in the schedule window that is flashing in red "Special Message". It opens and informs me that there is no service to Manhattan during peak rush hour, 6 am to 9 am. HUH!??WTF MF?!

I call again and fifteen minutes later, finally talk to a representative and find out I have to go EAST, to Bayside, get out and then get back on a WESTBOUND train, in order to go to Manhattan. WTF?

So, I wake up at about quarter to six in the morning, trying to get out of bed. Finally do, get in the shower- did I blog about my shower? No? My shower sucks! The water temperature is always going up and down. I'm freezing, or I'm getting scalded. I finally get out of the shower and get dressed, check email etc and head out the door a little before seven.

I walk down my street, west, towards Main street, it's about four blocks, but they're long blocks. I stop at one of the little coffee 'n' bagel carts on the way and get a croissant and a large coffee and make the next block to Main Street and the LIRR platform.

Thankfully, there is a ticket agent there, by the ticket vending machines helping people and he helps me get my round trip tickets and I'm all set, no transfer, no extra fare to go east before going west to Manhattan, I'm all set. I walk up the stairs to the elevated platform and mill about in the morning chill. The wind is pretty good and cuts any part of your body that isn't covered.

Finally, after about twenty minutes, a train finally comes and everyone gets on. It's pretty full, but not packed. The train goes to Bayside, everyone files out and walks up the stairs to the street and then walk back down the stairs on the other side to a waiting train.

I ended up sitting next to a nice woman, named Janice, who works as an archivist and proof reader for an advertising agency. I gave her one of my cards, she tells me that her boss could use someone like me for their video department. We'll see. Nice talk and a pleasant way to pass the time. Unfortunately her job is slowly being downsized, so she figures that she better hustle in to work, even though she's part time, but she wants to make a good showing, lest they scale her hours back even more.

I talked to her about going freelance and that she could make better money by being a freelancer, she was worried about healthcare. I told her to join the Chamber of Commerce. Then she remembered that there was a Librarian organization that had benefits. I hope I planted a seed of entrepreneurship in her that will expand her current situation. I will also pass her info on to my sister who works in publishing.

We get out at Penn Station and slowly slog our over the platform and up the stairs to street level. I feel like chattel, moving with the herd as we slowly approach Seventh Avenue. I bid Janice goodbye and we wish each other Happy Holidays.

I walked the few blocks to the studio where we were shooting and find that it's just a little after eight. I don't have to be in 'til nine and I'll probably arrive early, but I still have a lot of time to kill. So I read the script for this feature I might shoot in January.

But that's another story...

Oh Holy night the Tampon's brightly shining

Tampon Crafts. What more do I have to say?

Thanks Candleblog and Silly Old Bear

The good brother

So, this is day one of the New York Transit Workers Union strike. The city is in pretty bad shape, no buses, no subway. I talked to Nick, the shish-kabob guy, on Main Street in Flushing and he's suffering. Most of his business is foot traffic from people getting on and of the buses on Main street as well as the bus drivers and route managers. A lot of bad shit in general. I got two sticks and a Coke, plus I gave him a little Christmas tip. He's a good guy and there's usually a few regulars around to shoot the shit with, when I stop by. I didn't see Tommy, but I'm sure I'll see him soon enough.

That was around five O'clock, pm. Earlier, I called my sister, Ellen, who lives in BK and works in Midtown. I called her house, left a message and then called her office. No answer, so I figured she was en route. Boy was she ever- she walked the two miles from her apartment to Brooklyn Heights to get the LIRR (Long Island Railroad) which was running, but she had to wait in line for an hour, just to get inside. There was a line to get on the train so she did that and would pay the extra charge for getting on the train without a ticket. They never charged her. There were so many peopoe, that the LIRR system was overwhelmed. They just decided that it would be easier to just let people on and go. So she got a free ride, but it took her a long time to get into work. I think it was around 11 when she finally got to Rockefeller Ctr, taking the train and then walking from Penn Station.

She called me back and took me up on my offer to come into the city and pick her up. It would also be a good time to see each other, catch up and talk before she went to Mexico to see Karen for Christmas and I would go to Boston to see the parents for Xmas.

I left Queens at around 6pm. Normally at that time of day it takes about forty-five minutes to an hour to get to Midtown. I made pretty good time, until I hit Queens Plaza, the area before you get onto the 59th Street Bridge (Feelin' Groovy, if you're a Simon & Garfunkel fan). Traffic came to a screeching halt, so I got off the main road and took a shortcut to get closer to the bridge. That took a while, but I think I still got ahead of the game. I called Ellen to let her know I'd hit a snag, but I figured I'd keep pushing onward and see how far I got. that was about 6:39, according to my cell phone.

Things picked up. Initially I was going thirty feet every ten minutes, once I got back onto Queens Blvd, and the approach to the bridge, things were slow, but moving steadily. It was about ten after seven when I called her again to let her know I was on the bridge. A car had died in the middle of the bridge and was the reason traffic was so f-ed. I was on the phone with Ellen when I passed it and told her that I was speeding up to 45mph and heading over to the other side.

It all worked out. I waited for her while she got the last of her stuff done. Good thing I brought some work with me, I waited for about forty minutes, but it wasn't a big deal.

Ellen brought me some cheese cake and some hot cocoa from her office. The cheesecake was from a party and was very yummy. I pulled over next to Radio City to eat it and then drove off.

I had to take a hair cut, so I dove over to the side of 5th Ave in front of a McD's and went inside. there was a crowd of people in the men's room, apparently some girl was puking, so I knocked on the door of the ladies and entered, when no one answered. Moments later, I was back in the car and was able to drop Ellen off at her house in good time, maybe a half hour, forty minutes. It was about nine, so traffic was pretty much back to normal.

She would have had a hell of a time trying to take the LIRR. Apparently they closed parts of Penn Station because there were so many people. Even at that late time, I think there were still people waiting to get on trains.

Before dropping her off, Ellen gave me some cash for gas, which I tried to refuse, but she insisted and a blueberry Krispy Kreme donut, which I just ate and it's REALLY good. I'm such a lucky guy. She also gave me my Christmas gift. I can't wait to open it!

Addendum:

Weird thing I saw at Queensboro Plz: an MTA #7 subway train rolled by, on the elevated tracks, no passengers in it, but who was driving it and why? Very strange.

Traffic in town was about normal. I was surprised at how easy it was to get around.

AM radio, 1010 WINS, reported the Brooklyn Bridge being bumper to bumper and not moving, yet when we got there, it was flowing nicely and even the BQE (Brooklyn Queens Expressway) was flowing well in both directions.

I headed back to Queens from Brooklyn around 9, or 9:20 and traffic was pretty fast, no snags, seemed more like sunday traffic.

heh

heh, I was so tired I turned the radio off and slept for about an hour. I'm watching Yahoo streaming (go to Howard's site and click on the crowd photo 12- 16- 05) and Howard is driving around Manhattan in a bus.

Early

Oh, I'm up so early because I took eric to the airport. We awoke at 4:30.

Thank you K-ROCK

WXRK, the Alt Rock station here in NYC and home of Howard Stern.

Dead Air Dave, gave his farewell speech and Howard's show just started. I'm going to miss the station, but I'm curious to see how the new format sounds. Penn Jillette will have his own show, David Lee Roth will take over the morning drive time slot and Booker and his crew will be on 7pm to 11.

I'd like to go to Howard's rally, there'll be strippers, hookers from the Bunny Ranch, horny females, but I just have way too much pre-pro work for Jess Furman's music video-I'm shooting this weekend and I am talking to some other folks about a shoot in January. It sounds like the rally would be a crazy fun time, alas, duty calls.

I'm sure both Howard's site and the K-Rock site will have lot's of photos.

Rally goes from 8am to 10 am, I'm a bit late blogging this, but WTF. Go to West 56th St. between Fifth and Sixth enter on fifth Ave.

Black Slime and the Marshalls. Oh, wait they're the same thing.

Confession time. So, I have been busy, lazy and depressed. Needless to say much of the housework hasn't been getting done. I take out the trash, do some basic bathroom and kitchen cleaning, but not much. Laundry. I do shower daily, in case you were wondering, I'm not a complete pig.

So, dishes. Yeah, a big pile of 'em. Sitting, for months, not moving, pools of water, sitting. Getting brackish. No mosquitos, but unfortunately, black slime.

Where ever the water has been sitting, it eventually fouls and black slimey, furry mold grows. So I'm a dirtbag, what can I say. No excuse.

Cups, plates, glasses and silverware have been sitting there for a number of months. But, with the impending arrival of my nephew, who will stay overnoight so he can take an early morning flight, I've been cleaning. A bit.

Oh, I had big plans: clean up, do laundry, get the boxes out of the apartment and thrown away, or put in storage. Yep, gonna clean house. But that didn't happen.

Between meetings for upcoming projects, various errands and now with my car getting towed, my plans have been blasted out of the water. I know it's mainly my fault for not keeping to my plans, but I have also been busy, with more things piling on as the days progress.

I have vanquished to dishes and the sink is finally clean, mostly. There are a few glasses that are not slimey, but they are dirty, so I'll get to those later. But I'm feeling pretty good about having cleared that up. Small victories, baby steps.

The bathroom is clean and I've gotten rid of a bunch of stuff and taken some equipment to storage, but the place is still a complete wreck and I'll just have to keep the momentum up. As Mommy says, do a little each day. That's the hardest part.

Now off to the f-in' Marshal's to pay my tickets and get my car back. As soon as I'm behind the wheel, I go up to West Point to get my Nephew. Pray the towers didn't f up my car. We'll hang here in Frushing and get dinner, but we'll crash early, since he's got to be at the airport at 5:45 am. He'll be heading home to ABQ for the holidays. I'm thankful that at that early hour, Laguardia is only a ten minute drive.

Then, the rest of Friday, I run around and get ready to shoot a music video over the weekend, read a script for a January shoot, return a camera, teach someone about cameras and go and get supplies for the weekend shoot. All in one day. Sure, no prob.

But what I really want to do is go and see Vena.

HTML help and color scheme

Well she was an American Girl
Raised on promises
She couldn't help thinkin that there
Was a little more to life
Somewhere else...

Sorry, I'm listening to the radio. Poor Ben Harvey, Thursday is his last day on WXRK. January 3 WXRK goes from Alt Rock to All Talk. But I digress.

Ah, yeah, I need some help with HTML and colors. Is there a chart that tells you what number corresponds to what color? Is it arranged by hue value and chroma? It's a three number code, so I'm not sure WTF. I've been messing around, but not getting any suitable colors. I'd also like to make the main area wider, but I'll get to that in a couple of weeks.

And now back to the Petty-Man:


...God it’s so painful
Something that’s so close
And still so far out of reach

Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy baby
Make it last all night
American Girl Lyrics

Bush hates the Constitution

Dipshit, says of our Constitution: "It's just a goddamned piece of paper".

That comment keeps in place his mantle of Worst President EVER!

First place to look second place that has this info. I'm sure there's more. You folks may have already seen/read this, but I just found out and I'm pissed.

Why hasn't anyone started the impeachment proceedings against this lying thief? Do I have to everything myself?

Via AgnostoLibertarianTechnoGeek

Busy

Luckily, I have been quite busy. At this time last year, I spent most of my time surfing the internet, making prank phone calls and staring at the walls. For the past few weeks, I have been filling in for Ramin, who is a friend of a friend, who is in demand, so I've been shooting a lot. YAY!!

I like gaffing and I like when people rent my lights, but I want to be shooting and that's what I've been doing.

I'm also shooting a music video for Bengt next week, should be fun. I'll be using my camera, lights and dolly. Woohoo! The week after, I'm doing my laast fill in gigs for Ramin. I thnk. I don't know when he's returning, but I hope it's later rather than sooner. No offense, I just want to be shooting.

Thursday-

11:30am - 9pm Scout locations for a few hours with Bengt, go home get things together and then go to my storage unit and get lighting and grip gear ready for my shoot on Friday. Plus get gear ready for the Friday night trip to Boston for a shoot with Ted on Saturday.

Friday-

5:30am - 6:40am wake up get a few things together for the gigs

6:40am - 7:00am drag all my camera gear and monitor down to the car garage. No elevator to basement, building super hasn't woken up yet to unlock elevator. Negotiate gear on cart down several sets of stairs and into the garage. Load up car.

7am - 8am- Go to Storage, get gear for shoot and then load up car.

8am - 9am- Go into Manhattan, to shoot.

9am - 7pm- Unload car, take gear up freight elevator to 12th flr, go back down to car and go down 2 blocks and park car. Return and set up lights and camera Shoot all day in a tiny HOT, stuffy, airless room. Fun shoot, good people, but the space wasn't designed properly and really sucks, not enough space and no A/C. Tear down set up, pack up gear, go get car. Take stuff down to lobby and pack up my car. Go home.

7pm - 8pm- Driving through Manhattan always sucks, this is no exception.

8:00 - 8:30Meet Ted and Irin, the sound guy, in my garage to load up the minivan with all my camera and lighting gear. Remove the two way-back seats from the van and stash them in the back of my car, until we return. Requires another trip up to my apartment to get the last bit of stuff and we're off.

8:30pm - 1am Drive to Boston, Framingham to be exact. We're just a few miles from my parent's house.

Saturday-

7:15am - 8:30am Wake up.

8:30am - 10am Look for a place to have a nice breakfast. We end up going to Johnny's, in Newton Center, about a half mile from my parents house. If we just take a right turn down that street...

10am- Arrive at the location, there's lot's of snow and no one to let us in. So we wait for people to arive. Ted makes some calls.

10:15-11:45 Finally start loading in and setting up. Ted gives m a little help, but he's producer/Director, he's got more important things to worry about.

11:45 cameras are rolling! Talent is kind of a pain in the ass, and isn't letting Ted direct. Looks like it's gonna be a looonnngggg day. Dude's not letting anyone do their job. Oy!

11:45am - 6:30pm Shoot, shoot, shoot. Quick lunch break. Shoot some more, flirt with Ashley, one of the girls in the video. Shoot more. We're moving into another room, so we'll need more time for the reset. Looks like we're not moving, fine. Reset lights in sound studio. That doesn't happen because the talent decides to just keep going right into the next section. The lighting looks half assed and the camera angles are so-so. Not enough time given to do things properly. At least we're done about on time.

6:30pm - 7:30pm pack up and load out.

7:30pm - 11pm Ted drives us back home. I'm the first one to be dropped, but we also have to unload all my lighting and camera gear out of the van and put everything into my car. Ted and Irin put the seats back into the van.

11pm - 1am Drag large heavy bags up to my apartment, check email, drink beer, relax, go to bed

What Mark wants for Christmas

A girlfriend. God knows, I'm working on it.

Ba rump-a- bum, bum, bum

Googled Santa photos and found the foto below and this one here.

Mamacita, donde esta Santa Claus?

Mamacita, donde esta Santa Claus?
Donde esta Santa Claus?
And the toys that he will leave.
Mamacita, oh, where is Santa Claus?
I look for him because it's a Christmas Eve.

Go here for all the lyrics.

I'm listening to SOMA.FM Great internet radio. Usually I listen to Groove Salad, but I'm listening to the Christmas songs channel they put up at this time each year. Listening to The Alarm's version of Happy Xmas (War is over).

If you're all very good, I'll do my impression of Rod Serling singing "Silent Night".

Okay, I go sleep now.

Funniest thing I saw today

I was driving down Broadway, unfortunately through Times Square, earlier today. I was slowing down to stop at the light and I noticed the naked cowboy guy, wearing only tightie whities, strumming away on his guitar, like it was seventy and a warm breeze was blowing.

As I stop, I look to my right and here comes this throng of very intent females in their 20's and 30's marching across the street. They are all looking at their cameras, bringing them up to their eyes, changing settings, getting cell phone cameras ready and are heading across to...

To take lots of pictures of the semi-naked cowboy. I laughed so hard, clapping my hands, it was the funniest thing I'd seen all day, possibly even all week. The intensity at which those ladies were crossing the street and their concentration on getting their cameras ready was great. I wish I had had MY camera. It was so quick and there was a lot of flashing going on.

If you are in Times Square and are not sure if you are seeing the naked cowboy, it says: "Naked Cowboy" on his ass. I wish I didn't know this.

Google fun

Go to google

Type in: French military victories

Hit the I'm feeling lucky button

Laugh.

More You Tell Me

So, I'm lazy. I'm pulling more stuff out of the files. Too drunk to write, but with my one good eye, I can upload photos to a server.



We're sad we're drinking. Colin, the DP and Sherri, the 1st AD at the wrap party.


Mike the Boom Operator and Sarah on the last, or next to last day I was there. We were shooting a scene in which this guy goes through his girlfriend's underwear drawer and she has only "granny panties", proof that the fire has left the relationship. Mike though that his booming would be enhanced by wearing one of said granny panties over his head and headphones. Sarah looks a bit annoyed and has a general "don't fuck with me" look on her face. That, or she's had enough of Mike.


Tanzeel, one of the G&E people was tired after a long day. It is a funny picture, because he looks as if he has no head.





Two pix of Tim, the Gaffer. The first one of Tim with all the flags and stuff was in the really hot apartment where Pedro was sleeping. The second is from when we were in Astoria and we hung some Kinos and teasers from the ceiling




This is the view from Josh, the Writer/Director's apartment. We spent a lot of time there, shooting. I shot this with my crappy little digicam. Pic 1-I hadn't gotten the shutter timing down, not that I have since then, but it was hard to get the timing right and get the flag the way I wanted it. I wish the flag was more unfurled. But I like that the flag in the shadows is pretty straight and neat and the orderliness of the building across the street. In the second photo I like the gradation of light on the brown brick. When my PS skillz are better I may try and combine the two. Or I might do it so I can have "mad PS skillz".


Ruchi during Lunch in Manhattan, Chinatown-ish area.


Sherri Looks Mad!


Sherri Looks REAL MAD.

Not sure why she was looking at me with daggers in her eyes. I think this was the Martini and we just had to actually shoot it and everyone had already started drinking. Chip, the Producer, had brought in Champagne which everyone started to drink and Sherri was anxious to get through the shot before declaring victory. Or something like that. That was a year ago.

You Tell Me

This is a shoot I was on last summer, "You Tell Me". I met a lot of great people. I've stayed in touch with Tricia and Andrea. We sometimes work together and sometimes play together. It was my first sumer in NYC, we were shooting in tiny apartments on the Lower east side and using hot lights, so I spent a lot of time sweating my balls off.


Tricia in her "Butch" T-Shirt. And she wonders why poeple think she's a lesbo.


Tricia has always been "Top of the Heap, A-number one"


My favorite image of Tricia at the wrap party. Tricia's Secret Lust. Tongue-age


Andrea, breakfast in Astoria.


Andrea was Grip/electric and I was Best Boy, so when we were doing exteriors, there wasn't much to do.


There wasn't much to do on the interiors, once we had set everything up.


Key Grip Pedro found time to sleep. This was on a particularly hot August day and the set had a 2K book light and some other tungsten hot lights and it was hot as fuck. Luckily, we made Grip/Electric world in one of the back rooms which was air conditioned!! The rest of the apartment was hot and seriously muggy.


Pedro LOOOOOOVES Pikachu


The crew was hotter than the talent! I LOVE makin' movies. L-R: Sarah- 1st AC, Andrea- G&E Swing, Sherri-1st AD, Jenece- Key Make Up, Christine- Director's Assistant. Great women, beautiful, smart, talented and fun people too. I was writing on someone else's site that I'm all about brunettes. Yes, yes I am.


I'm not sure why, but I really liked Jenece. As we pub crawled around the East Village, she wore these really great Manolo stilettos.

I'll post a few more pix later. Bye for now.

I am Willard

Flushing.

Shit.

I'm still only in Flushing

Everytime I think I'm gonna wake up, back on set.
When I was home after my first feature it was worse.
I'd wake and there'd be nothing. I hardly said a thing to my boss, until I said yes to quitting.

When I was here I wanted to be there. When I was there, all I could think of was getting back behind the camera. I'm here a week now, waiting for a gig. Getting softer. Every minute I stay in this room my technique gets weaker and every minute other DP's squat behind a camera, they get stronger.

Each time I looked around, the walls moved in a little tighter.

Everyone gets everything he wants.

I wanted a gig.

And for my sins, they gave me one. Brought it up to me like room service

It was a real choice gig. And when it was over. I'd never want another.

I was shooting the worst film in the world and I didn't even know it yet.

Sometimes I feel like Martin Sheen's Captain Willard in Apocalypse Now. I'm waiting for my next gig, drinking, hitting mirrors and rolling around in a drunken haze, crying.

Good thing my sheets are crimson.

Celeb spotting

So, Lovi and I are out Tuesday, walking around going gallery hopping. We saw some really great stuff, W. Eugene Smith, VII- an agency of the world's best photojournalists, Nachtway, Kratochvil, Morris, plus others. Really outstanding stuff from Iraq, Bosnia, Afghanistan. We saw some other good stuff too. We ran into Chris' old boss and mentor, Elliot, who was also out and about. New York is a small town. Elliot joined us and we saw Clifford Ross' amazing large fomat prints.

As we were walking around, former Talking Head, David Byrne jogs by. He's wearing his iPod and cruising along, but he's moving a bit slow and tentatively, like he's making sure no one is watching. It was kind of funny. I can't jog more than a about fifty yards before I have to stop. I used to be able to run a mile in 4:28.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw Sting and his wife on the corner of Central Park West, drinking their morning coffee, or chai.

Oddly, Sting and Byrne were wearing a similar black sport jogging/exercise top.

After seeing Sting, a silly short film idea occurred to me:
Ext NY street corner, morning. It's a quiet Sunday morning, Sting and Trudie are out, they've gotten their morning cuppa and are heading to the park for a stroll.

Sting and Trudie are on the corner, Sting takes a sip of coffee and suddenly drops the cup. He makes a horrible face.

Slow motion as the cup crashes on the pavement sending coffee everywhere.

Trudie is sobbing and clawing at stings chest, slowly falling to her knees. Between sobs she just cries "No!".

Sting, now sobbing himself, looks up to the cold gray sky. The camera pulls away from a profile and goes low, circling him.

Cut back to close up "Why me"? he cries, arms spread wide, imploring.

Haven't quite figured out the ending, it's either a low angle close up on the cup and the coffee is frozen, or there's ice cubes inside, or cut to inside the coffee shop and some barista girl, with a funky wool hat on, is pouring ice into the coffee and she looks over her shoulder and smiles. I dunno.

Friday Night Out

I had been lusting after Vena all night and was surprised I hadn't thought of it sooner- body shots. Maria, wearing only a bra and frilly panties demanded that I do a body shot."You're doing a body shot with me" leaning over the bar, her face a few inches from mine.

My first inclination would have been to drink the tequila off of the yummy tummy of Vena, one of the other dancing bar tenders, but Maria grabbed Juliana and told her to lie down on the bar. Meanwhile there is a lot of activity all around, everyone, mostly men, having a good time. Earlier, one very drunk suit and tie jams his fist in the air and declares: "I FUCKING LOVE PUSSY"

Amen brother, I fucking love pussy.

The three dancing bartenders are up on the bar shaking their money makers to some country song and we are all transfixed. Maria has an especially shapely behind and when she smacks her ass, it makes a lovely slapping noise. It's almost ass good as going to a strip club, but there's no cover and the drinks aren't over priced. There's no nudity, but it's still fun and you can kiss the girls, which is how I ended both body shots.

I had left the bar with friends and decided to come back and see if one of the barmaids who was allegedly "giving me the eye" was still there. Deanna wasn't there, but Vena was. I must admit I am more attracted to Vena. I probably should have engaged Deanna earlier, but my focus was on Vena. I flirted with Vena. When she asked me: "What do you need?" I said: I need love. Pause. But I'll take a Heineken. She grabbed my hair and pulled me closer asking: "What kind of love?" "Oh y'know the usual, I said. She laughed. But I didn't tell her what the usual was and then realized I sounded boring. I'm working on my technique. It wasn't until later I thought of:"the kind that leaves you wet, tired and very very satisfied." Not sure if that would have been over the line or not.

So I got another beer and enjoyed the show. That's when Maria suggested the body shots.

Maria did a body shot on Juliana and wow it was hott. It is the Penthouse fantasy girl couple, light skinned Juliana with long blonde hair laying on the bar with the dark haired, tan skinned Maria straddling her. Watching Maria's very sexy mouth lick up the salt and then lick and suck up the tequila was so exciting. Then, Maria took the lemon out of Juliana's mouth and gave her a very long, deep, passionate kiss that had me riveted and eager for my shot.

Juliana is still lying on her back and because she's wearing low rider jeans and a very small vintage looking bikini top, her belly is uncovered. Soon I am uncovered. Part of the body shot requires the removal of my shirt by Maria.

Maria sprinkles salt over Juliana's soft pale skin and then grabs a hand full of hair on the back of my head and shoves my face into Juliana's soft belly. I obligingly lick the salt off her stomach and moments later, my head is pulled away. Then Maria cups her hand over the top of a plastic cup full of tequila and pours it all over Juliana's tummy. I eagerly begin licking and slurping up the tequila and drink all of it out of her belly button. Innies are hot. Too soon, my head is yanked up.

I then am told to be a gentleman and take the lemon out of Juliana's mouth. I do this, but with a liberal amount of tongue play and I use my mouth to retrieve the lemon from her warm lips. Mmmm, I really like kissing pretty girls.

I think I thanked her. At some point Maria used my T-shirt to rub the tequila off my face. I am getting my money out to pay for the two shots, Maria is sitting on the bar thanking me. As I give her an extra long French kiss, she is practically grabbing the money out of my hand plus extra for the tip. Um, you're welcome. I think.

It was all so quick that, while I was mostly satisfied, I was still left wanting more. Vena more.

I flag down Maria and tell her I want to do a body shot on Vena.

Vena has long curly brown hair, light colored eyes (I couldn't really tell ,the lights are dimmed), a very ample bosom in a T-shirt ripped into a v-neck to show her lovely decolletage, very short shorts with a studded white belt and very old shit kicker cowboy boots. She is very shapely, energetic and enthusiastic. I'm in lust.

Body shot time. Maria was again very sexy, straddling Vena as she lovingly licked Vena all over, for her shot. It wasn't quite as sexy as the tongue bath she gave Juliana, but it was sexy nonetheless. I'm a little distracted, by what I don't know, but I'm not enjoying it as much as I'd like to. I think I want Vena's head to be to my left and not to the right. That and the semi humiliation of Maria wiping my face with my shirt that will happen shortly.

Oh boy! It's my turn.

The ritual is repeated. Maria unbuttons my shirt and takes it off. I try putting my hand under Vena's head to support it, but one of the bouncers yells at me to keep my hands on the bar. Grrr. Once more Maria grabs my hair. I am licking salt off of Vena's soft tummy and loving every moment. I could do this all night. I would like to do this all night, sans salt.

Tequila is poured. Filling a little valley in the swell of her tummy, then spilling down Vena's waist. Alcohol coats her supple alabaster skin, making her that much more intoxicating. As I'm licking, making lazy circles on Vena's savory skin, I catch a little tequila vapor which makes me cough a bit, but I don't care, I'm licking Vena's stomach and it's soft and slippery and tastes really, really good. Vena also has an innie, so I suck the liquor out of her belly button. I am very, very happy.

Again, the admonishment to be a gentleman before the eating of the lemon. Then I eat the lemon and give Vena a very deep French kiss. Mmmm, kissing sweet Vena. Kissing is very underrated and I always enjoy kissing beautiful women. I receive another very deep kiss when I tip her.

I promise her that I'll be back soon. "You better!" she says.

Church Spires, Manhattan. 11/05

After spending part of a warm and lovely afternoon having lunch with my friend Jordan, I was walking up Broadway (I think) and the light was very interesting. Some of the church spires in light and some in shadow, with a bright blue sky and those sort of lenticular clouds.

I have to figure out how to store larger files on a separate page, because there are some really great details, but it's kind of hard to tell here. It is a nice picture, honest. Better than that shot of those
stupid barrels. Oy vey!

Detroit 10/05

I was in Detroit, with Todd, shooting a pitch tape about four moms in a rock band for a large production company and we are waiting for one of the subjects, Paige, to return home, so that we can videotape her. Not having had much sleep since arriving in the City of the Big Shoulders, Todd and I are both really tired.

It's mid October and we left New York after two cancelled flights due to a biblical deluge of rain when we flew out the day before and now here we are in Detroit, it's nice and sunny, warm and green. So we're semi dozing on Paige's lawn, waiting for her to bring her kids back from school. I must be really tired because I see this and think it's an interesting composition. I shoot it. I may be the only person who finds this remotely interesting.

I'm just a little ticked, because my crappy digicam cannot handle the contrast range, so the highlights on the sidewalk and the cans are pretty burnt out. The shoot, back in mid-October was fun, but gruelling. Not long after this photo was taken I got into a van and spent the next twelve hours driving to Minneapolis, with three "rock moms" and most of their gear, overnight. It's really hard to sleep in a van.

We were heading to the Twin cities for a gig. The Mydols-the rock moms have a band and that's waht they call themselves- were the between round entertainment for a Minnesota Rollergirls Roller Derby Match.


Got some great footage, Todd and I, but sadly I did not get to party with any of the Roller girls :~(( .


I did buy some nifty Rollergirl swag and passed it out to some of my sisters. I have a nice red wristband that makes a great eye piece cushion on my FU-1000 viewfinder. It matches the red on my XL2 and the Rollergirl logo looks great. I'll post a pic soon (less than a month).

Missed it by that much...

Well, I didn't make it to the Cine Gear show, I was working on a horror feature for about ten days. It's always good to get paid.

64th Street Tree Elf

I was helping Ellen with her tree counting a couple of Sundays ago, when we saw this wee Tree Elf. What's he doing?

NEW YORK CINE EQUIPMENT SHOW!!!

The New York Cine Equipment Show YES! I am a Cinephotovideo gearhead geek. I can't wait. I pray that I do not have a gig during this time. Who's coming with??

My friends from ZGC will be there. That's where I got my nifty little XL2 package.

The Mini35 would look great on my XL2.

Course, I'll need a full case of the new Arri/Zeiss Master Primes. T/1.3 and so sweet.

I want me one a these...

and one a these.

Damn! I ain't got no dollars. Shit! Oh well. I'm going anyway. I do need parts for some of my broken gear. Maybe I can cut some deals on upgrades...

More frm Big Boys

WetOhio Nasty girls, NSFW

Truck crashes on landing

Nails the landing of a 277Foot jump

Only Men will think this is funny and know that he's the smartest man in the world.

Rodney Carrington sings.

Mike Hunt's Cousin, Mike Hawk

And Many more...

My Tra-La-La

Thanks to Francis for sending me a link for a funny polar bear vid. While looking around I came upon a vid from Warcraft that uses the Ding, Ding Dong song and is pretty funny.

This is a "porno patch" kind of like the GTA one, but funnier.

Look around, there's other silly stuff.

Humans!! Ewwwwwww!

So this is what I did last Saturday for eighteen hours. I gaffed three TV spots for Dimassimo Advertising. Mr. D likes the spots. He's happy, I'm happy

These are pretty much picture locked, but the audio is temporary and the multiple rats effects are temporary as well.

These three spots were all done with Todd Broder as the Director, Matt Woolf as DP, me gaffing and Bengt Anderson Producing. All in one really long assed, hot, sweaty, 100 degree, eighteen hour day.

This weekend were doing a short film for Bengt. Luckily it's two days. I think it'll be a bit cooler too.

A Moment of silence

In other velo news, sadly, the accidental death of Australia's Amy Gillet last Monday in Zeulenroda, Germany.

Amy Gillett sped to the front of the pack at more than 70Kmh only seconds before the car that killed her hit her. Her Australian teammates say she was inspiring them to ride faster when the car swerved across the road and skidded sideways into the group.

It hit her, then collected her five cycling teammates before flipping over and into a ditch by the side of the straight road near Zeulenroda, Germany.

These recollections of Katie Brown, 22, Kate Nichols, 20, and Lorian Graham, 27, offer the first glimpse into the moments before the accident.

Gillett's husband, Simon, arrived in Germany yesterday to collect the body of the woman he married only a year ago.

Her teammates, in hospital, have told Greg Boorer, a mechanic for the national women's cycling squad, that the 29-year-old had been forcing the pace as the group practised the first stage of the six-day Thüringen Rundfahrt on Monday.

She sped past the group at more than 70kmh and was only a few metres ahead when the car struck the team.

(Excerpted from Peter Munro's report for The Age)

Full story

Related stories on the progress of her recovering teammates, etc.




Australian cyclists Kate, left, and Natalie Bates during a memorial service in the eastern German town of Zeulenroda on Tuesday, July 19, 2005. Australian rider Amy Gillett was killed and five teammates injured when a car crashed into the group during a training ride for a women's cycling race Monday.(AP Photo/Eckehard Schulz)

Lancey!

Lancey! Lance Armstrong has won the 21st and final stage of the 92nd Tour De France, for his seventh consecutive win, a first for the Tour.

Overall leader Lance Armstrong, of Austin, Texas, rear center in yellow jersey, rides with the pack past the Eiffel tower in Paris, during the 21st and final stage of the Tour de France cycling race between Corbeil-Essonnes, south of Paris, and the French capital, Sunday, July 24, 2005. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

Lance riding a bicycle somewhere in France, during some bike race the other day.(Friedman Vogel/Getty Images)


Armstrong pedals during the 20th Stage (AP Photo Peter Dejong)


Lance with John Kerry and five time Tour winner, the legendary Eddie Merckx. Eddie has more yellow jerseys than Lance. (AP Photo Christophe Ena)



George Hincapie of the U.S., foreground, pedals with his Team Discovery Channel teammates and six-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, of Austin, Texas, rear left with the overall leader's yellow jersey, during the 18th stage of the Tour de France cycling race between Albi, southwestern France, and Mende, southern France, Thursday, July 21, 2005. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

George Hincapie, Lance's faithful lieutenant won the 15th stage. I think the whole team is fantastic. They have been the wind beneath Armstrong's little wings, without which he would just be another obnoxious Texan.


George Hincapie of the U.S. reacts on the podium after winning the 15th stage of the Tour de France cycling race between Lezat-sur-Leze, southwestern France, and Saint-Lary-Soulan, Pyrenees mountains, Sunday, July 17, 2005. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Will he be Lance's successor?

Hott Chix

Here are some photos I shot while I was gaffing a short film with
Omarosa, last month.


She was wearing latex and I really wanted to spank her behind
bad. Real bad.

She is new to the ways of filmmaking, but fine to work with. I think all the reports of her being mean are untrue. I had no trouble with her, she was very nice and kept her good humor all through the over twelve hour day, in a very hot and cramped Manhattan photo studio. She took direction well and was an all around good sport. Plus, she's super hott. And her Mom was there, also a very nice woman and very quiet. She kind of stayed out of the way.

Free Range Lesbians

An idea searching for a concept. Lovi came up with this. Any ideas?

Back in circulation

Hey! I'm published again! I shot photos for Patricia Velasquez's Wayuu Taya Foundation last month and Style.com has a pic I shot of Edward James Olmos. There are a bunch of photos, so hit the "previous" and "next" buttons. Quite the society affiar. Fun too. I got the gig through Christopher Lovi's wife, Nancy. Thanks Nancy.

Link

The Wayuu Taya Foundation is a non profit organization that was created to help improve the lives of Latin American indigenous people while maintaining and respecting their traditions, culture and beliefs.

Olmos received an award from the foundation for his work as an activist.

Beam Me up Scotty!

Actor James Doohan is dead. Long Live Scotty!

LOS ANGELES - James Doohan, the burly chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise in the original "Star Trek" TV series and movies who responded to the command "Beam me up, Scotty," died Wednesday. He was 85.

Doohan died at 5:30 a.m. at his Redmond, Wash., home with his wife of 28 years, Wende, at his side, Los Angeles agent and longtime friend Steve Stevens said. The cause of death was pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease, he said.

Article

New York Times Article

Heres a short vid of some of James Doohan's/Scotty's best lines: The Wit and Wisdom of Montgomery Scott.
Click on the link at the left.

Goodbye, Jimmy.

Alexis is Moving to NY! YAY! And I met up with Mat...

Alexis is moving to NYC! Yay! I met up with Mat and Alexis at the MET and we had a drink on the rooftop cafe, after looking at the Roger Fenton exhibit. Pretty cool. I miss shooting 8x10. THAT was fun.

I had to get a light meter @ B&H, so I had to break away, but then we met back up for dinner. Alexis was in the mood for Italian, so we ate at some place on Mulberry Street. I had veal Marsala and it was really good. Mat had penne & chicken with a really tasty sauce. Mat didn't finish it so I did (oink). Alexis had the gnocchi also with a tasty sauce.

We wandered up past Houston and felt like having coffee, so Mat directed us to the Cafe Gitano. We both fell in love with the waitress, a lovely girl with short red hair and an even shorter blue dress. All the waitresses (both of them) there were redheads.

We then wandered up town a bit and decided a movie would be good, so we went to Union Square to see Batman Begins. Pretty good. It didn't suck. I like Christian Bale. Katie Holmes is cute, but didn't really add anything o the film. Alexis, or the waitress would have been better choices. More hotter.

*Thanks to Mat for reminding me we were at the MET.

Appliances

I have finished installing my air conditioner and MAN! I'm in love! It's a bit noisy, but that's okay. It's F-ing hot and humid and sticky outside. But, in my bedroom, in my bedroom, I have brass waterbed. I have an Italian cook, Gino Saskatcha- Sorry I was Channeling Morris Day. In my bedroom I have a 6000BTU air conditioner and my room is sooo COOL!

Yesss!

Tours are available.

Modern parent/child conversations

A relative of mine, who is a mother (M), recently told me this funny story about a conversation she had with her eighteen year old son (S).

M walks into living room to see S playing Grand theft Auto.

M
Why is the car shaking?

S
I'm having sex with a prostitute. If I kill her I get double points

M
Son, just pay her and let her out.

Well, you have to enforce moralty M told me later. I laughed my ass off when she told me this. She was a little embarassed, but I kept on laughing. I have faith in both her and her son to do the right thing.

Bollywood shtuff

Fun Bollywood record covers from Sean Ringey, via Tricia. Thanks!

Go Here

Morinaga

I love it when Japanese girls eat chocolate.

video

Click on the girl, then click on the the video in the light blue box in the center.

Better than Pocky?

I was out shopping today and stopped in to see what was new at Samurai, Flushing. I picked up a few Japanese food items to make a goodie box for my sister Karen's B-Day.

While perusing the shelves I got more Pretz Corn. Man! Those are really good and really do taste like corn. There's a funny pic of a little boy, who looks like he's from the Little Orphan Annie comic strip and he's holding an ear of corn. I'll take a pic sometime and post it.

I also found something new: Koeda Chocolate New York Brownie. OMFG!! These are soooooo gooood. I just opened the box and tried one and now they're almost all gone. These are sort of like Pocky in that they are thin, roundish, pretzel-like and highly yummy. They're made by Morinaga, not Glica. They have little bits of pecan to add a nice nutty, crunchy flavor food experience. I'm going back tomorrow and getting more!!!

Graduation

I was shooting with my little digicam and got this happy accident. I couldn't really see the LCD screen in the bight New Mexico sunlight, so I just gave it my best shot. I really like this photo.