So Far So Good

new post

2009-07-12T00:09:00.001-07:00

new post. Ha!

behind the scenes on the Yoga Buddies shoot

2009-01-28T13:29:00.001-08:00

2008-10-28T11:17:00.000-07:00

school

2008-10-18T01:39:00.001-07:00

is hard.

Music fun

2008-08-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

Most of you know I love playing and recording. I don't do it much these days. BUT... I just got a new piece of equipment that's challenging a different muscle. I got an MPC1000 and I'm learning to sample. Its a lot harder than it looks. Kind of like beach volleyball.

But if you want to check out some of my tunes, I'm going to post them on my myspace music page. The Heartbeats cover and We're Human song aren't MPC tunes. Those are from scratch.

4th of July

2008-07-04T23:52:00.000-07:00

So awesome. Greg, Shanna and I went to Laura's place in Echo Park. Everyone apparently comes down to the park to light all their illegal fireworks. I had no idea it was going to be so amazing. Down at the park, on the grass, their is so much going on and so many random explosions and colors and craziness. This video really doesn't do it 2% of the justice it deserves. And the cops don't even care until about 10:30 and then they just break it up, no tickets, no hassle. Just "okay, no more fireworks. Move along."

IMDB is a sucker

2007-10-27T23:30:00.000-07:00

first look at this: http://pro.imdb.com/name/nm0944890/ and look at my last credit.

Now look down two blog entries and watch what I actually did on the show. Awesome! Its true though, ain't it? I was on Hell's Kitchen and I played myself. Boom!

Photos from Sea Ranch

2007-09-17T10:49:00.000-07:00

Click on this to check out photos from our latest vacation to The Sea Ranch. My grandparents are awesome and build a cabin in this amazing place called Sea Ranch. Google it to see more. This was one of my childhood vacation spots. We'd go here every other summer.

Sea Ranch

Hey look!

2007-08-07T12:55:00.001-07:00

Yep, it was good.

This post is for Laura.

health care

2007-05-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

American health care sucks. SUCKS! I hate American health care. Fine for you people who work for employers and keep the machine oiled, but what about me? Am I less of a citizen? I don't work for a company. I work for myself and have to pay for my own health insurance. You know what I pay? 115 bucks a fucking month. You know what that gets me? Shit. Absolute shit. If my doctor so much THINKS I need a test I can expect a bill for some amount of money on top of what I already pay just to see his fucking face, on top of what I pay per month. Fuck you, American health system, you fucking suck. You're the shit under my shoe that sticks up the fucking house and I don't know where its coming from. You're the asshole neighbor that leaves his dog's shit on the lawn. Fuck you!

Follow this link for PROOF that American health care sucks.

http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html

Helmet Screening!

2007-05-17T00:01:00.000-07:00

Helmet will be done tomorrow and screened on June 3rd! More info to come.

youtube blog

2007-05-02T01:05:00.000-07:00

I starthttp://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifed a separate blog for stuff I like on youtube.com because Shanna said youtube is like picking through trash, or something like that.

Advances in Helmet

2007-05-01T23:25:00.000-07:00

See here:

HELMET BLOG

Web site

2007-04-28T01:21:00.000-07:00

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!

I snatched steveyager.com

I made the previous owner an offer of $10 about 5 years back and NOOOOO, he didn't want the money even though he never did anything with the site. Now I have the site, and I have it for TEN years. HAHAHAH! Take that all you other Steve Yagers! I'm google #1, and I have steveyager.com. Next... THE WORLD!

P.S. eat it.

I love this kid

2007-04-26T00:32:00.001-07:00

Isn't this amazing?

2007-04-11T16:15:00.000-07:00

Not only does she deal with him and his ideas in a fashion that is completely unloving (which really is the foundation for Christianity and just being a mother), but she tries to leverage X-mas against him. What kind of horrible mother does this? I love how the whole x-mas thing doesn't even phase him. Hard core Christians like this woman, meaning, Christians who don't practice the values but instead just latch on to choosing sides, are the scariest people in the world. I'd rather hang with an atheist than a freak zealot like this bitch any day.

stock photos

2007-03-31T01:43:00.000-07:00

The business that runs itself. Sometimes I check in to see how many downloads I've had in a month. Its usually not very many if I'm not constantly uploading new photos. Its still fun to think that I made about 275 just taking photos of stuff around me. I really should get out there are take more snaps, but I'm too damn busy. Maybe I'll have a snap day on spring break.

My latest images for sale at
Shutterstock:

My most popular images for sale at
Shutterstock:

some pics

2007-03-25T17:30:00.000-07:00

So like I said, I've been printing photos in school and it's totally kick ass. Here's some of the prints. I wish you could see them in person. I don't have a scanner so I just shot them with my digital.

Mel: Yeah, I get to come in anytime the lab is open. The downside: I don't get to use the lab if I'm not enrolled in a class. So I might have to take another one next semester. Or just sneek in.

By the way, the lint is on the picture, not in the picture

Wow

2007-03-07T18:56:00.000-08:00

Black and white printing where have you been all my life? I'm taking a beginning photo class at Valley College and part of the class is developing and enlarging your own prints. Holy shit, this is so awesome. This brings my love for creativity to a whole nuva level. Last semester it was shooting a commercial on film, this semester its shooting and printing B&W film. Oh my God, its so beautiful. No wonder there are so many people who avoid digital. Being in there, smelling the chemicals, touching your prints, adjusting the contrast, dodging, burning... its glorious. I wish I had a way to post my print up. I'll try to take a good picture of it tomorrow in the sunlight. Hooray for film!

I make people famous

2007-02-21T15:00:00.000-08:00

See! This is Ursula Taherian. I cast her in "Helmet", and now she's famous.

New Gig

2007-02-20T11:14:00.000-08:00

I'm doing this gig for the Geffen Theatre and I really wanted to add a 3d effect to the photos but didn't know how to do it. I'd seen it a few places though. I went through a lot of the tutorials for this new software I got, Shake and finally figured it out. I think it looks so hotness. The youtube.com clip got super stretched though.

DKLA rips it up again

2007-01-28T14:27:00.000-08:00

DKLA party 1/27/07

There's nothing like an after party with good ol' Dynamite Kablammo

I can't stop touching it!

2007-01-25T09:58:00.000-08:00

Look out JT, cause someone else is bringing sexy back. I've been wanting to kill it all for a while, but haven't had the motivation until recently. But I came to a point where I could've either went to go get a hair cut or clip it all off. And going over to Greg's sounded like more fun. So we had male bonding and cut hair and sang karaoke revolution. I have to go see my agent in an hour about my hair. I hope she's not pissed. If she is, oh well, I consider myself more of a filmmaker now anyway. Hey Greg! Thanks for the hair cut. Also, post those gnarly pics!

Xmas pics

2007-01-16T12:31:00.000-08:00

Xmas 06

click on the album

Boom!

2007-01-09T18:06:00.000-08:00

Nutha round of A's, ya'll.

drugs

2007-01-05T23:53:00.001-08:00

When you hear that New Yorkers are cold people...

2007-01-05T23:47:00.000-08:00

All my Xmas woes solved

2006-12-18T20:48:00.000-08:00

This is why J.T. is the man, and why The Lonely Island can't be stopped.

CBS and Dr. Phil

2006-12-17T17:06:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure I understand this. Dr. Phil fakes like he's going to have a guest on and then fakes "stopping the tape" when clearly its the end and asks the guy to leave. All Dr. Phil wants to do is show the footage and then kick him off the show (which feels very rehearsed) just so American housewives can say, "You go, Dr. Phil." And what's worse is that he says he can't have the guy on because he can't promote the Bum Fights series of videos when in fact that's all he's done because they never have any type of discussion, so all he did was pure promo. AND cbs put it up on youtube.com and now its one of the most watch clips this week. Not promo? I wouldn't be surprised if the guy paid 100k to get on the show then get kicked off. That's street cred, son. The media is ridiculous. I do love how the guy shaved his head and tried to grow a Philstache. Don't get me wrong, I hate the Bum Fights guy and think he should be prosecuted.

Cutting on Film

2006-12-07T22:39:00.000-08:00

Yikes. This is an orginizational nightmare for someone like me. I've been editing on a non-linear system (a digital system that doesn't actually "cut" any film, just 1's and 0's) for 6 years now and cutting actual film for the first time has opened my eyes. First off all, I usually edit by the seat of my pants- one frame here one frame there, undo, trim: all of this takes a nano-second to do in Final Cut Pro. In linear film cutting these things take HOURS. Literally. And you really think about each cut and if its in the right place and how it affects the story. In a NLE (non-linear edit) you can just "try it out" and if its not good, just hit undo. Undo in a linear world is actually taking the tape off the splice, finding the piece of film you cut off (probably on the floor) and re-splicing it back into the reel. Fuck that. Now I'm all about shooting on film- God, its gorgeous- and then editing on an NLE. THAT'S the way to go.

That's Greg Kaczynski pictured in the Moviscop viewer.

day after t-givin

2006-12-03T20:31:00.000-08:00

The day after Thanksgiving Shanna and I went for a hike to soak up some nature and sun. This place was very cute. It was right off a residential street and was cute as a button. It was a very small hike but I really loved the trees and wilderness right in the middle of the city. It ain't central park, but you probably won't get stabbed at night here either.Y

T-Givin'

2006-11-24T14:29:00.000-08:00

It was awesome. I've never cooked a big turkey before. I heard a couple days ago on local NPR station, KCRW, that you should brine the turkey overnight. This is basically soaking the turkey in salt water and herbs to saturate the meat. It also helps the turkey retain the moisture when its being cooked. Holy poultry, it totally worked. It was so good. I'll venture to say that it was better that any turkey I've had at my family gatherings. Maybe they'll let me make them a turkey for XMas and I can show them what I did.

We had pals, Melli and Alan over for dinner. They stayed for like 7 hours. I was great. We ate, played dominoes, looked at clips on youtube, listened to music. It was the best Thanksgiving in like 4 years. There was a domino that had some schmutz on it. We called it the booger bone. There's a picture of Alan holding it up. Shanna made some bomb pie that was so delicious. She also made some dope chocolate pecan cookies. Damn! Yummers. So tasty was this feast. We also had garlic mashed patitters, cran sauce, greenie beanie cass., stuffin, gravy, rolls, wine, stuffed olives wrapped in prosciutto, and laughs.

Paintin'

2006-11-13T14:26:00.000-08:00

I was recently inspired to buy a piece of art and ever since, I've been wanting to paint. Shanna and I bought some new accrylics and canvases and I've done two pieces now, Zap Cat and AK-47 Ray Gun. Its fun to paint.

holloween

2006-11-03T02:24:00.000-08:00

I was Earl from My Name Is Earl and Shanna was a Don't Care Bear.

karaoke

2006-11-03T02:01:00.000-08:00

Down at Rae's tonight. Had lots of fun.

officially...

2006-11-03T01:52:00.000-08:00

I collect art. I bought my first piece from artist Rik Catlow. Check him out. Very sweet stuff. I like his soda can stuff a lot, but it was too expensive. I bought this little 4x4 for 50 bucks plus shipping. It feels good to be contributing toward someone's creative life.

seattle

2006-10-03T13:35:00.000-07:00

Shanna and I took a trip to Seattle for Leslie and my birthdays. We helped her clean her new house before we threw a big birthday bash. I had my doubts about getting the house in order before people came but we pulled together and it looked awesome. We bought a crud-load of drinks and food and nearly %70 of it was still outside of people's tummies when they left. I think we over-estimated the amount of food we needed. The next day we went to Seattle and did the underground tour. You can goooogle this if you want, but basically Seattle burned down and the city decided to rebuild everything one story higher because they were having sewage problems anyway. But the business owners didn't care for it, so the streets were a story above the businesses. Weird stuff. Wasn't incredibly interesting, but the stories were cool. We went out for bday dinner that night and Shanna and Mom both had one plate of all you can eat crab. The cute little girl (not Shanna) in the picture is my cousin Kaylynn (sp?).

2006-09-27T02:13:00.002-07:00

'Nuther weddin'

2006-09-27T02:13:00.001-07:00

My friend Lucas got married over the weekend and I traveled out to Oklahoma City to see this event go down. Very fun. I met up with some old friends. Chrissy Johnson, who's married now, and Billy Heck from 3rd grade. That was awesome. And we found out we have the same birthday and it just so happens he's visiting his girlfriend who lives in LA for his birthday. So we hung out tonight at the Dresden and had a few bday drinks with Liz and the gang. Fun times. Thanks for the drinks, Liz. Here's some pics from the weddin.

Ever choked on stomach acid?

2006-09-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning at around 7am I woke up with a throat full of the most putrid stomach acid ever. The previous night, Shanna and I went out with Dirk and Michelle for some Mexican food, so the acid I tasted was from the Devil's anus. So anyway, I woke up choking and accidentally inhaled some of this nasty shit. You know how sometimes you get a little acid in your throat and you try to clear it and it gives you a sore throat for a couple minutes? This was like that but times 100. It felt like someone poured gas down my throat and lit it on fire. AND it was in m lungs too. After about 30min my throat felt okay, but I couldn't take a deep breath without my lungs being in pain so I bit the bullet and went to the ER. Luckily I still have some temp insurance that we purchased for our trip to Big Bear. The doc listened to my lungs and said everything sounded fine. Fhew. I got a prescription for an inhaler and some acid reducer. The lungs feel better today, but not 100% yet. Arg! I guess I can't deny anymore that I have GERD. I'm glad I had this experience though, because I'm finally motivated to take more steps to wellness.

Make Big Bear Make Money

2006-09-12T16:44:00.000-07:00

I've recently had some of our Big Bear trip photos accepted into my stock photo gallery on Shutter Stock. If you wanna check em out, go to the gallery and then organize by "newest first". Maybe over time (a long time) I can make back what I spent on the trip.

pics from the summit

2006-09-09T02:30:00.000-07:00

These are some pics from the summit of Castle Rock in Big Bear. Beautiful!

DKLA Party

2006-09-03T00:10:00.000-07:00

Last night I had a great time with DKLA at the nice little after party for their last show. I brought a flask over and sipped on that and had some beers that greg bought ot the $.99 store. Delicious. Lawson Creek, man. Its what they drink in the ghetto of Dawson's Creek.

Greg threw some old school caps on Dane. If you look carefully you can see them flying toward him. There's about 5 of them there.

Dana was in a vicious mood and scratched Greg. Greg smashed her face with his foot for revenge.

We played "celebrity" a game in which you mimick a celebrity and your team has to guess who you are. Candi is not impersonating a celebrity in this picture, this was simply for good measure.

I met this guy, Brett. Nice guy.

Greg and I battled on Guitar Hero and since I had the sober advantage I kicked his ass more than once.

King of TV

2006-09-01T00:52:00.000-07:00

Shanna and I went to see our friend Paul Goebel and his King of TV show at the Upright Citizens Brigade theatre tonight. He was hosting a Freaks and Geeks reunion. Awesome show, totally fun and funny. Busy Phillips, John Daley, Samm Levine, and Steve Bannos were all there. Linda Cardellini was going to come but something happened to her dog and she had to bail. Anyway, fun night. Paul, Jim, John Nelson, Ali, Shanna and I all went out for a bite afterward and the most disgusting thing happened. Some dude puked right next to our table. Shanna left the restaurant. None of the servers even noticed until I said something. Some girl slipped in it. Sick. Nasty. Oh well, it was fun to see Paul.

Sexier Than You'll EVER Be

2006-08-27T21:47:00.000-07:00

Remember this?

2006-08-25T18:50:00.000-07:00

If you haven't checked it out, or its been a while, go listen to the rap song my group, The ZookeepaZ, put out. Robot In Space
Yo, shout out to Dirk Voetberg, and John P Nelson, me other peeps in da group.

Published photo?

2006-08-24T15:16:00.000-07:00

Yes. Check THIS

Big Bear

2006-08-23T11:20:00.000-07:00

Shanna and I are in Big Bear and doing all sorts of fun outdoorsy things. We went jet skiing, hiking, rode a ski lift to the top of Snow Summit and saw the most beautiful mountain top in all of CA. We rode these toboggan things at Alpine Slide down a mountain. What else? Bought some clothes at Kmart. Small town livin. More to come. We're still here, but theres a great little coffee shop with free wifi so I thought I'd make a post real quick like. Peace!

DKLA

2006-08-16T22:46:00.000-07:00

Boom. Here's the Dynamite Kablammo. I had the honor of snap-a-lappin some hot shots for DKLA. Apparently, my photo will be in the Daily News. Not sure when though. I'll have to check online. I'm sure Greg will know when it comes out. Here's the picture that they chose. I doctored it up to make it look 70's-ish

Hooray, I'm editing

2006-08-04T17:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a sneek peek at some Helmet!

Done with shitty Starbucks

2006-07-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

My store has been going downhill for a while now. It seems that every assistant manager who gets bumped up to manager goes crazy. They become motivated by money and their fucking bonuses. They start playing politics and choosing favorites. They squeeze people out instead of telling them why they're getting fired. They put microwaves in their SUV's. Seriously. A woman named Pat Tauzin has a microwave in her SUV. So, I decided it was time to get out. It's been heaven ever since. I've got a great job with Movies By Kids, I get to spend evenings at home. I get to COOK dinner and not get it from a nearby eatery. I do miss some of the people I worked with, like Alan who's pictured here. But, I'll see them outside of work. So, so long slave corp. and SUCK IT. Honestly, the crappy thing is I worked for them for the better part of 4 years and didn't get a "so long, and thanks for the hard work" at the end of it. And I was a hard worker. One of the best. Oh well, now they can TEA BAG IT!

More shots

2006-07-11T22:01:00.000-07:00

My friend Tobi

I'm number one, you son of a bitch!

2006-07-11T17:05:00.000-07:00

Forever, I've wanted to come up number one on Google, the most widely used search engine in the world, but this other Steve Yager who owns Yager Communications and some other Steve Yagers always came up before me. However, a search for my own name on Google today (vain? Not at all, just something I judge the stature of my awesomeness by. So, then yes, okay, its pure vanity) confirmed that information on my life is more accessable than those other, probably more successful, Steve Yagers out there. Eat it, suckers! I'm the coolest with the name now! HA HA HA. In your face.

To those with the Mike Smith name, I hope you don't judge success the same way I do.

cookin' with Melli

2006-07-03T01:05:00.000-07:00

Oi, we had our good friend Melli over for some delicious salmon dinner. The "plan" was to cook for her and she could relax and enjoy the amazing smells of the kitchen. However, we realized the oven wasn't lighting. She got down on the ground and found that the pilot light wasn't lit. As I tried to light it by thrashing around and banging the oven, she pulls me aside and calmly lights it like a respectable human being. Thanks Melli Mel.

Mario Bros

2006-07-03T01:02:00.000-07:00

Man, I love this game.

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

takin some photos

2006-06-27T23:12:00.000-07:00

Boom! Some new headshots for me peeps. This is Katie and Jeff. Katie needed new headshots for her improv group and Jeff needed his first headshot because he wants to get some extra work on a daytime drama. Whatdya think?

Time to let you go, dear friend.

2006-06-11T02:28:00.000-07:00

Alan and Paul gave me this piñata last September for my birthday and its been a source of entertainment ever since. I've kicked it, wrestled it, punched it, been scared by it. But, its time to go. Some things you just gotta throw out when you clean your room. Big pinatas are one of them. Bye "CH" man. Never knew what the "CH" stood for. Must be some Mexican thang. I always called him chai man.

Boom! New video card!

2006-06-11T01:58:00.000-07:00

Oh, my! This card is fast. Its an ATI Radeon 9800xt Mac edition with 256MB VRAM. Delicious. DVDs never looked so good. Oh yeah, it also speeds up render times in my pro apps, so its productive too. I really buy to buy a sweet game to play with thoough.

John and Ali stop by

2006-06-09T15:23:00.000-07:00

Ali needed to pick up a hard drive I've had since I was editing her short for her. We convinced them to stick around for a beverage and some silliness

Boom! A's

2006-06-09T15:22:00.000-07:00

I got A's in my first semester back to school

Wicked Bedhair

2006-06-06T11:34:00.000-07:00

Yowza!

yo

2006-06-06T00:55:00.000-07:00

see greg I post a new one

Mike

2006-06-06T00:49:00.000-07:00

My friend Mike came over to log some footage of a commercial he just shot. Looks awesome. Beautiful 35mm. I can't wait to shoot something on film!

Geffen Project

2006-06-05T20:31:00.000-07:00

So, I'm doing this project for a friend, Jeni. She works at the Geffen Playhouse and they taped themselves tearing down and erecting a new set. Here's the thing though, they didn't shoot it as a time lapse. Instead they give me 24 hours of footage to speed up. That's a lot of digitizing. So, after about 3 days I digitize all the footage. Now, what speed??? They want it to be about 2 min long. It comes out to about 70000%. After that's done I throw in some soundtrack pro royalty free music cause I'm nice and I go above and beyond the call of duty. It came out well. check it out.

greg and candi

2006-06-02T02:36:00.000-07:00

I'm assuming its with an i. We went to Rae's lounge for karaoke. Fun. I promised greg I'd post something in the blog since I haven't done it in so long. Here ya go greg

Wedding!

2006-03-24T23:45:00.000-08:00

Shanna and I went to PHX last weekend (Shanna had been there since Mon) and witnessed the beautiful union of our good friends Melissa and Ron. I kind of became the official photographer having the best camera and I was happy to oblige. Here are some choice shots. I love these kids so much, and I'm tickled pink to see em so happy!

Fun with LA

2006-03-16T01:28:00.000-08:00

Greg and I went downtown to snapalap some photos. More photos to come. This one here is Greg being rediculously risky for a great shot. Yes, he's standing in the middle of the street.

Cute Bear Alert!

2006-02-21T00:16:00.000-08:00

One of the first images taken with the Canon 10D I bought. Seriously, who needs new headshots?

My College is Poor

2006-02-18T14:32:00.000-08:00

I go to the Los Angeles Valley Community College in the valley... in Los Angeles. Redundant? And it has got to be one of the poorest colleges in the Southland. The little temp room that you see is where I attend Anthropology 101. This is a big class and we're all crammed into this little "bungalow" they call it that probably shouldn't have that many people. And people are still wanting to add the class. They don't have enough money to pay more teachers. I'm sitting at a desk that is not big enough to have a text book and a notebook on it at the same time, its got graffiti on it from '85. How do I know? It says "Led Zeppelin rules. '85." The other picture here shows the trash that has accumulated in the parking lot. My school is so poor they only charge 20 bucks for parking permits.

This is mine!

2006-02-12T01:12:00.000-08:00

Oh my. The Canon 10D digital sweetness should be here by Friday. Anyone want new headshots?

Been workin

2006-02-12T01:05:00.000-08:00

I haven't acting in a short film for a while, so it was nice to get back. This is Nora Gruber's "Burl". I play one of Burl's friends. Burl's a dorky, over confident, go-getter who gets taken advantage of by his friends. Burl has an over eager attitude that makes him an easy target. And yes, that's an actual film camera. Its nice to be on a FILM set once and a while.

GTA: Sex is Worse than Cop Killing

2006-01-28T10:27:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-24T19:28:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-18T02:01:00.000-08:00

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

Where we live

2006-01-12T02:11:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-11T01:20:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-10T00:56:00.000-08:00

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!

2006-01-08T23:49:00.000-08:00

Awesome Car!

2006-01-06T01:33:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-05T16:16:00.000-08:00

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!

2006-01-05T16:08:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-05T15:43:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-05T01:37:00.000-08:00

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!

2006-01-05T01:32:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-04T13:20:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-03T16:42:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-02T23:14:00.000-08:00

Some long exposures from Mulholland Drive

Photo experiments

2006-01-02T03:31:00.000-08:00

All photos taken with a Canon Powershot S80

The Canal Part 2

2005-12-30T15:18:00.000-08:00

This is Chris. I see him from a distance first. My instinct is to walk up the dirt embankment and bypass him. Instead I forge ahead and decide that I'll just say a friendly hello.
"What's up man?"
"Hi. Oh, hey... can you come talk to me for a second?"
He sounds more lonely than someone needing change. I scope him out, he's got clean clothes on and looks healthy. I figure he's got some breakup or issue about losing his kids to his wife that he needs someone to talk to about. I see there's probably no harm in talking to him for a minute.
"I'm on my last two bucks," Chris tells me. "Can you spare some money?" "I'm sorry, I don't have any money to give." This is my new response when I don't get a good feeling from the beggar. I may have money, just none to give. It keeps me from lying.
"Well, could you at least sit down and talk to me for a minute, cause I'm so alone... lonely." I'm definitely not sitting. I like to be on my feet around desperate people.
"What happened," I inquire.
He tells me with this huge frown on his face that he was a checker at a 7/11 and doesn't do that anymore. He's got an electrical engineering degree from a respected college.
"Why aren't you doing that," I ask.
I've answered my own question as I glance down at his empty 40oz Mickey's bottle.
"I've got... I... a little drinking."
I think he's got a drinking problem. So what's his plan now?
"I'm going to paint curbs. I really want to give something that a homeowner can be proud of. Then you've got the keeping up with the Jones' thing and everyone in the neighborhood will want me to do their curbs."
He asks me what I do and then asks if its okay if he walks a couple feet away so he can urinate. I say sure.
"I'm a director." "Like a... what kind, like movies?" "Yeah." "Like have you directed anything that you've had a credit for, like on the credits?" "Yeah."
I don't think he is clearly stating what he means to ask. I withhold the information that I've never been paid to direct anything. Its okay, he's not buying that I make movies of any commercial value.
So, we banter for a few minutes about how the new Star Wars movies suck and how he thinks he can never be an actor because he's got a scar on his face.
"Can you get me a job as an extra?" "No, I don't control that aspect." "Then you're not a real director." "That's what they all say. Well, I gotta go, but you take care of yourself, Chris and get some help. Good luck with the curbs, and stay on the straight and narrow."
He doesn't answer back. I think he enjoyed the company, but that was overshadowed by my lack of giving.

The Canal Part 1

2005-12-30T15:12:00.000-08:00

I decided to take a walk by the canal and bring my new camera to try to find some interesting shots. I thought at least I could find some graffiti or rusty barbed wire. Little did I know what I was in for.

Home Again

2005-12-30T10:22:00.000-08:00

After a fun and relaxing vacation, we're back in our LA abode. Sometimes I feel transparent in this town.

Engagement!

2005-12-30T10:20:00.000-08:00

Shanna's Mom, Janet, got engaged to her long-time boyfriend, Ray, on Christmas day.

Bear Part 2

2005-12-30T10:19:00.000-08:00

Bored and loyal still. Notice the napping grandma in the background.

Breakfast

2005-12-30T10:14:00.000-08:00

Out to breakfast with Shanna and her dad, Jerry. We treated him this time!

Luminaria

2005-12-30T10:07:00.000-08:00

One thing I've discovered about my family over the years is that we don't plan our Christmas decorations very well. We all came to Phoenix and stayed with Grandma B. in a neighborhood called Moon Valley. In M.V. everyone is supplied with luminaries to set up and light outside their houses on Christmas eve. This is an excelent display of our care vs. the neighbors care. Obviously the first photo is us.

Ladies

2005-12-30T10:06:00.000-08:00

Two of the most important ladies in my life, Shanna and Leslie. Taken Christmas day

Wonderment

2005-12-30T09:57:00.000-08:00

Yes, I still feel this way on Christmas. Its a little different now though. When I was younger, I used to be 90% excited about opening presents, 2% excited about celebrating the birth of Jesus, and 8% excited about seeing all my family.

Current stats:
Family 70%
Jesus 20%
Presents 10%

Now, some of you may look at this and say that I love presents half as much as I love jesus. Not true. I just celebrate him everyday and its not everyday that my family gives me objects that represent their affection.

Grandma Scarf Head

2005-12-30T09:54:00.000-08:00

G-ma Y., and Leslie Christmas evening. Why was my sister compelled to wrap Gma's scarf around Grandma's head? It makes a great picture.

Lucas and Melissa

2005-12-30T02:38:00.000-08:00

My longest (about 22 years) and best friend, Lucas and his new (!) fiance, Melissa. I'm extemely excited to be apart of this wedding. This is kind of like the Christmas gift of a lifetime. I've always thought about what it would be like when one of us gets married. I love Lucas so much, and am elated that he's found someone he wants to commit to! Melissa was wonderful to meet and I'm sure the more I get to know her the more I'll see how wonderful of a person she is! Congrats you two!

X-Mas Dinner

2005-12-30T01:56:00.000-08:00

Not a very good exposure, but I love how happy everyone looks. Judging by my mom's expression, I'd say a dirty joke had been told. My parents are on the left and Shanna's mom on the right. We had a great dinner. Chicken marsala for the meat-eaters and baked tofu for the veggies.