GTA: Sex is Worse than Cop Killing

What kind of a society do we live in? This is fairly old news with a new development. Rock Star Games, the makers of the Grand Theft Auto series it getting sued for hiding a pornographic mini game in the latest GTA game. And THIS is what the US government has a problem with?????? I've seen screenshots of the mini game. The dude even has his clothes on, but you make him have sex with a girl, while you're no doubt yelling expletives. The ridiculous thing is, if you haven't played or are not familiar with the game, GTA games are filled with cop killing, drug dealing, people killing of all kinds, you can run over people, stab them, shoot them, set them of fire, saw them apart, and you can do this to cops or civilians. You constantly use the N word, F word and a myriad of other slang and "bad" language. And SEX is what gets the lawsuit? Wow. Granted, they hid the mini game so when hackers found it and then spread the word, little Timmy got on the internet to find out how to access it. Honestly though, its no worse than Timmy hearing his own parents. Its just sad how oppressed the US is about sex. I'm all for games that push the limit, and I have no problem with the GTA series. Its purely entertainment and ultimately, parents are responsible for not letting M rated games get in to their underage kids hands.

Dinner Date

These are Shanna's and my good friends, John and Ali. We had some tasty gnocchi and garlic bread and salad. We discussed everything from how being a pathological liar will get you everywhere in your career to John's brother's harem in high school. It was a great evening and we must return the favor sometime soon! Oh yeah, also John whipped up a cocktail of brandy, milk, and Kahlua. That's what he's holding. I can't remember though why Ali's sleeve is rolled up.

Real Beauty

LA's real beauty. Not the faces filled with plastic and rat poison.

Where we live

This is where Shanna and I live. Its a pretty typical Valley style complex. Our neighbors hardly talk to each other. Our manager is dealing with some emotional instabilities. Our parking set up is conducive to frequent collisions. But this place is cheap (for LA). And when you find that cheap place to live, its hard to leave.

Sink

I took this with mostly the light from the nightlight in the bathroom. I flicked the regular light on for just a flick. This is a 15 sec exposure.

Tennis

Man. I'm really awful. I used to be good. Some skills you can get back so fast, like the riding the bike one. That one is easy. The playing tennis one, its going to take like months. Arg. And my serve! Geez, that's all over the place. It doesn't matter though. Its just nice to get out in the sunshine and get some exercise and hang out with Eric. He's the goofy looking guy with the racket.

Happy Birthday Swami!

Awesome Car!

Wow. This is a modern marvel. I mean, seriously that is a lot of effort. I didn't know one could purchase this many reflectors. And check out the antennae on this guy's car. There are six total. He's gotta be running some spy operation in there. How many car phones does one person need. Either this person has some kind of car decorating OCD or was on some public access version of Pimp My Ride. Can you imagine the look on his date's face when he picks her up for the first time.

iPod ad over the city

I try not to post rants. But, here's a good one. And don't get me wrong, I'm an apple lover. Mac is everything to a creative individual who's doing production at home, but this ad is crazy. Look how huge it is. I really don't want to look over the city I live in and be bombarded with ads. Its not like that yet, but I hope it doesn't come to that. Buildings erected just to place an ad on it. A beacon of consumerism viewable anywhere in the city. *shudder*

get the shot!

Click HERE then save the file "landscape2small.jpg" to view the panoramic shot of LA. Make sure you view it at 100% to get the full effect!

Glorious hike

It was such an amazing day in LA today. The rain and wind pushed all the smog out so we went hiking on Runyon Canyon.
We got this amazing panoramic shot of a rarely seen LA landscape. It was so clear that we could even see Catalina Island. Serious! It was beautiful. You usually can't even see the ocean, let alone the island.

The love lamp

Shanna and I painted this lamp a while back. I wish I had a before picture. It was a dull slate grey lamp and tan shade. We were considering throwing it out, but then we decided to paint it instead and make the theme our love. Sounds cheesy, I know. But, everytime I come home from work around 1am and I see the love lamp welcoming me home, I'm reminded of the love that fills this house and the wonderful woman I'm with.

domino!

When dirk stopped by for a chat about The Helmet, a short film we're making together, Shanna and Dirk and myself played some dominos. We put on Luke's Hall of Fame to make the mood right for this classic early 90's gangster past time. I realize the shot is not of us playing dominos and I apologize for that. You can imagine though.

new years

Shanna and I had a great new years eve celebration. We played dominos (thanks to Roman and Tati for the set), drank wine, and watched Dick Clark's new year's show. I'm still baffled about how these bands get so famous. There are so many other bands out there that are so much better. The bangles were good though.

landscape1

taken today at 3pm. I used a program called stitch assist.
With it you can piece a number of photos together and make one panoramic shot.

My town

Some long exposures from Mulholland Drive

Photo experiments

All photos taken with a Canon Powershot S80