Screaming for Vengeance!

In a world where Republicans are breaking the law and control the government, one woman, from a small New York town, is doing something about it.

In the fall of 2008, The Republicans have a another thing comin', because Hillary Clinton is:

Screaming for Vengeance!

The world is a manacled place.



Hey listen don't you let them get your mind
Fill your brain with orders and that's not right.
They're playing at a game that draws you closer
Till you're living in a world that's ruled by fear.

Always takin' baby out that's o.k.
What they're givin' maybe it's out of phase with me.
Told you one you're never gonna win the race
Same old no tomorrow kicked in the face.

We are screaming, screaming for vengeance
The world is a manacled place.
Screaming, screaming for vengeance
The world is defiled in disgrace.

Tie a blindfold all around your head
Spin you 'round in the torture before the dread.
And then you're pushed and shoved into every corner
Then they lead you out into the final slaughter.

As the sweat is runnin' down your neck
All your praying for's to stop your body breakin' up.
Oh your heart is pumpin' gonna soon explode
Got to fight the horror of this mental load.

So you wait it out and bide your time
Rip off that straight jacket gotta break that line.
Everyone who wins in the great escape
Leaves a thousand more who suffer in their wake.

I don't talk about it but that's alright
Table's turned now there's a revenge in sight.
If it takes forever babe I tell ya I can wait
Send them screaming back through their hell's own gate.

Stop the FCC!

Send a letter to prevent the FCC from Killing Public Access!

The new House Commerce & Telecommunications Subcommittee meets on Thursday, Feb. 15th, also to review the FCC.

This annual Q/A of the FCC by the House Subcommittee is an important moment for us to respond to the December 20th FCC Ruling on Video Franchising. That FCC ruling went far deeper than the failed Congressional legislation of last year in attacking Public, Educational, and Governmental (PEG) Access channels and facilities. It also threatens local municipalities ability to exercise control over their 'rights of way" and provides little protection against the red-lining of entire communities. Worse of all, the FCC hearing on the matter was rife with inaccuracies and half-truths that even the phone companies backed away from. Such behavior by a Federal agency is reprehensible and we demand full accountability now!

Personalize your letter and find your House Rep, by going here. Type in your Zip+4 to find your Congressman/woman

Click here > TAKE ACTION - SEND THIS LETTER TODAY!

Thanks Bill! Public Access rules!

At a Mexican Restaurant.

We were at a Mexican restaurant in Brooklyn after spending all day at a large corporation shooting products. Chris was DP, I was Gaffer/Grip/Dolly Grip and Jessica was in the basement editing and getting footage from the client.



Chris and I do a lot of important but small gigs like this, where it's just he and I and we're running around like crazy doing all this stuff. I got to do exciting things like set and level dolly track and rig the lighting. Not hard, but busy, though. Laying dolly track is always tedious.





I forget the name of the restaurant we went to afterward, but it was nice. I forget what I had, but it was really, really, good, I think it was tacos, or something.

Superdeluxe.com is LIVE!

Inhuman resources, Part I

Turner's new website, Superdeluxe.com is up and running, YAY! I blogged about the webisodes I shot earlier and the theme songs of the shoot.Inhuman Resources, can now be viewed.

Please check them out, sign up and vote for the episodes. It will take a few minutes to register, but it will be worthwhile, you can create your own profile and coolest of all, YOU CAN UPLOAD YOUR OWN VIDEOS! That means you Bill, Alexis , Mat and Rob! To vote there are a row of hearts in the box to the left of the viewer box. To vote: click on the last heart and that should give it the full five hearts. Thanks!

Here's Rob Kutner's page on Super Deluxe. Rob wrote the script and was making changes as we were shooting that long crazy weekend that we shot. There are links to both episodes on his page.

Spring Roses

I photographed this beautiful flower last May.


I was walking up Sixth Ave with my sister, Ellen, when I spotted all of these pinkish-white little heads stretching through the wrought iron fence. As if they were trying to escape, or perhaps they were trying to see the basketball games across the street. Tall, muscular men playing three-on-three, sweating, waiting for their chance to score, or pass the ball to an open teammate.



It was still quite warm at six O'clock and the late afternoon light was lovely. Long shadows created pools of soft blue light, countered by reflections of the sun off the windows of nearby buildings; their brown and red bricks imparting a warm sheen to the greenery.


Grandfather was a Professor First Class of Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging. He was summoned to the Court of Emperor Hirihito in 1985, to receive a medal for his contribution to Japanese culture. While living in the US, he taught the Ikenobo school of flower arranging. From after WWII, to the day he died, some fifty years. He became a mechanic after his eyesight failed while at Caltech, working on his engineering degree. He wasn't blind, but he always haad to wear very thick glasses. Popsey, my mother's father was an engineer at Black & Decker. I like to think that I inherited both of their engineering skills and mechanical abilities as well as Granpa's love of flowers and aesthetics. Thankfully, I inherited Dad's thick hair and Mom's artistic abilities.

So, a small breath of light and warmth from a church garden, to brighten up your winter.

Vero Beach

Love is a double tap to the head. Me and the AR-15

I forgot I had these pix from a shoot I did for Court TV's Psychic Detectives, last October. We were shooting re-enactments of a double murder that happened near Vero Beach, Florida, in the late 70's. Phil Jordan, a psychic who lives in upstate NY, helped the Indian County Sheriffs Dept. solve the crime. It's pretty amazing. We were down there for five days and had a really good shoot. We also ate very well for dinner every night. I think I gained about ten pounds.

One of the Indian County Sheriffs let me play with an AR-15. Nice, light weight. Didn't get fire it though. Darn.



Producer Vanessa, prepping the lead car, before we roll tape on an exciting sequence of police cars racing out of the station with sirens wailing. I'm futzing with the tripod, or something. I'll have to teach Mat, our PA/Everything Man to photograph me looking iconic, or at least heroic, not moronic.

One of the best parts about the shoot was that I actually got to shoot real film. Woo hoo! While it was only an Arri-S, it was still fun. Steve, the owner/Producer of Superfine Films, the production company, gave me carte blance to do pretty much whatever I wanted. The film parts were when Phil, the psychic, was having his visions, so I got to get funky. Really fun. Bizarre closeups, out of focus, twisty-dutch, funky stuttering motion, all kinds of fun things. I still haven't seen any of the footage, but I'm told everyone loves the episode. Or, so they tell me.

The episode will air in a little while. I'll be sure to alert y'all.

Thanks to Mat B for shooting these and sending them to me.

The Real Thing?

And there's also Wenger "Maker of the genuine Swiss Army Knife". Both Wenger and Victorinox can be called Swiss Army knives, since they both have contracts to provide knives to the Swiss Army. Actually, looking on Victorinox's History page they bought Wenger in 2005.


Wenger has the rounded square with the cross inside. Wenger also have a broad range of knives & tools, plus cologne, bags & backpacks for travel and business, watches, etc.


Victorinox has the shield with the cross. "The Original Swiss Army Knife". They have a range of knives, tools- for the hand and the household, cutlery -for the home and professionals, biking tools, flatware, etc.

Wikipedia has nice entry about the two manufacturers.



Leatherman New Wave Tool. I had v1.0, the "old" tool.

Someone stole my Leatherman Wave Tool this past summer. So, I've been using my Victorinox Cyber Tool until I get another. I'm going to B&H tomorrow to finally get a replacement, plus I'll get a groovy LED flashlight for my troubles. The 15th is the last day of the special. I hope they still have them. I got the Cybertool and Wave when I worked at Peregrine Oufitters.

Victorinox Cyber Tool 34


I also got a really sexy Ken Onion Blackout, a spring assisted knife. A legal swithblade. I've always been fascinated by them. Again, stolen. I guess I'm not meant to have nice things *Sniff, sniff* :~( .


That was an intersting time. I first started working there part time to fill in the income gaps that came between film and photo shoots, when I was in VT. I remember getting a citation on the first anniversary of loyal Peregrine serfdom. I realized that the stop-gap employment had become a full time gig and that I really needed to get out of there and get my ass down to New York City. I also had a girlfriend that worked there and that was a complete fucking mess.

I've been in NYC for almost three years and I'm doing pretty well, shooting things for the tellie, etc. Working my way up the food chain.


I always carry my trusty Wenger Pocket Tool Chest. I haven't pried my way out of a burning lift, but it comes in handy almost every day. I have to get a couple of replacement toothpicks, my second one broke a few months ago. I brush daily, so it's not a complete loss.

I've used the tweezers to hold diffusion on a practical light, while on a shoot. The knife blade serves as a letter opener, gel and tie line cutter. I've used the bottle opener and screw drivers quite a bit. The Cyber Tool has also stood me in good stead. I've used it on set quite a bit and the bit driver is quite handy. I even used it on my computer.

I may also get a Gerber Multi Tool, a 600, or some such, but I'm keen on another Wave Tool. What I like is that the Gerber's needle nose pliers can be deployed with the flick of the wrist, which is quite handy when you have to change scrims on a hotlight.

Oh, you know you have a real Swiss Army Knife if "Victorinox", or "Wenger" is stamped on the Master Blade's tang.


Photos courtesy Wenger, Victorinox and Leatherman

Swiss Bits and Beats

While surfing around checking out various sites, I stopped at Victorinox and happened upon the s.beat MP3player. It's a handy knife, scissor, nail file, MP3 player (1G/2G memory), FM tuner and a voice recorder. The best thing about it is that, on the Flight model, the player/recorder can be separated from the tools and carried, hassle-free, through airport security.


Included accessories: a remote, which allows for you and a friend to listen to your s.Beat, as well as to remotely control the player and an armband that allows the player to be worn comfortably while running, or jogging.

I'm lovin' it*.


The Victorinox and Swissbit got together to make knives with memory, thereby fusing the need to slice 'n' dice with technology. Some with the option to detach the media, so the pointy parts stay in your checked bags.


The whole Swissbit line of drives is pretty cool and, as you can see: wonderfully clean and simple, yet, ohh so sexy Swiss design.



The pic on the consumer page is funny, it's two girls hugging and looking at the camera. Technology for GIRRLZ! Actually it's a link for Philm. Pocket Philm appears to be a pocket sized flash drive and software so that you can have a Powerpoint presentation of your favorite photos, using the supplied music, or you own...


There's one Swissbit Flashdrive, the UnitedCONTRAST, that can read at 32MB/sec. Yes , MegaBYTES per second, via USB 2.0. It writes at 23MB/sec and there are three models with caps of 1G, 2G and 4Gigs. It weighs 10 grams, and is 68mm L x 18mm W x 8.2mm D. 68mm is 2 - 5/8 ths inches long. The have the 32MB/s read speed.



You can also get Swiss Memory for your laptop, or desktop. shouldn't it have a knife on it too?



Finally the 8Gig SWISSMEMORY s.Valigetta, the "small data medium". A nice mini hard disk.

Think I'll be getting my UnitedCONTRAST directly from their Shop.

Photos courtesy Victorinox and Swissbit

*MCd's can go pound sand. That phrase it's part of Amreican parlance and was in use long before your copy monkies decided to copywrite the phrase.

Ivy and graffitti

While taking a break on a shoot at The Foundry, last month, I went outside and shot some photos of The Foundry's exterior walls. It's a great location and Allison, the owner, is wonderful.

UHaul

I found myself at UHaul last November, or October and shot this pic while in my car, getting ready to pull out. It was very windy and a little cold, especially if you were in the shadows. In the sun it was rather pleasant.

The cement factory next door was humming away, cranes lifting gravel out of a barge and dumping it into the hopper. The wheel at the top of the conveyor belt squeeking steadily as it brought the load up to the next stage of production. The flag atop the conveyor snaps when the wind gusts, seemingly dissipating the whisps of steam and dust that emit from here and there. Noisy and unsettling at first, but soon it becomes soothing and regulating.

Clouds slowly drift by.