Happy Birthday, Malcolm and Michael

Today we celebrate two birthdays. First, Malcolm Roberts who would have been 65 today.

Malcolm Roberts

3/31/44-2/7/03

And, then I decided I couldn't let the day go by without honoring Michael's birthday. He is not in Everybody I Shot Is Dead but the amount I hear from him these days I sometimes have to wonder if he packed it in so he could be in the sequel. After all, he is a rock star. If for no other reason than having appeared on my blog before. He was also the first person to make a comment on my blog, although I'm pretty sure he hasn't visited since. That makes 427 posts that you need to catch up on, M.G.

He is also a rock star because he's an amazing musician and he writes great songs. But he's mostly considered a rock star because I took pictures of him onstage at the Universal Amphitheater back in 1977. Oh, did I forget to mention he's rock star hot?

And who is that back-up guy?

The tour was in support an album he did with ex-bEagle, Bernie Leadon. Their band was called The Leadon/Georgiades Band and the album is Natural Progressions and it still holds up...so check it out.

I went looking for Michael on youtube and only found two. At first, I thought I'd put up the one called As Time Goes On, since it is a song from the Natural Progressions album. But then I figured it might piss him off because even though it's a song he and Bernie did together, the visual is a "This Is Your Life" compilation of Bernie, without a single frame of Michael. So, it's just best if I don't post it in case he sees it and never speaks to me again (which would not be so far from how it is these days)...



So, in an effort to keep our deep friendship, I'm going with this other track off the album. Although Bernie has the lead vocal, at least the visual is the album cover with Michael included so it appears as if he had something to do with the project...



Happy Birthday, MG...with lots of love.

Sorely Lacking...

...in so many ways. But I'm especially lacking in a post idea to keep up with my post-a-post-everyday New Year's resolution. Which, by the way, I have managed to do and have to say that most of those 88 posts have been pretty substantial. Fuck. Can you believe we have already eaten 88 days this year? Somebody really needs to put a stop to this. Who's got the nukes?

Anyway, I'm sorely lacking blog inspiration today because I was up at 6 am and on my way to LAX by 6:30 am. Did I ever mention I'm not a morning person? Then I came home and an hour later I was at the very busy Beehive trying to knock out 5 acts of our first episode for the potential reality show (as in we're hoping it will sell so you all can actually see it). Knocking out 5 acts is an enormous feat on any day but when you're asleep at the wheel, it's like climbing a mountain barefoot. Anyone besides me notice all my brilliant rock'n'roll references in that sentence? Maybe I should stop right here and go back to working on the show. Back to the reality show, being a full disclosure kind of girl, I have to admit that I only managed the cold open and two thirds of the first act. Sad. Sad. Sad. I should be throttled.

Again, being sorely lacking in post ideas, I first asked Tyler. He said I should post something for Eric Clapton's birthday. And say that he's the only 3-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. All that suggestion did was remind me that I have yet had the opportunity to focus my lens on Mr. Clapton. If you're reading this Eric, Happy Birthday and please call me. Soon.

Then I tweeted my conundrum to my Twitter followers. All 27 of them. How sad is that? Only 27 followers when Demi Moore has 345,363. What the fuck does Demi Moore have that I don't have? Besides Ashton Kutcher? Okay, I may have only 27 but my 27 are quality. And you know the saying, so I don't have to type it. Much to my surprise, within minutes...seconds even, I heard back from three of my 27. That's over 10%. Hey writers, try getting that kind of response when you send out a query to agents.

My first response was from my new friend Paul. Thanks again for that delicious dinner. He suggested I write about the 200 people that Google laid of today. My response...Who's Google? Then he offered up Astrud Gilberto's birthday...even after I checked out her website I still didn't know who she was...I'm obviously lacking culture.

Next I heard from my longtime screenwriter friend David Anaxagorus (try saying that ten times after you've had a few margaritas) who is famous for his blog, and even more famous for winning my Robin Gibb Photo Caption Contest back in May 2006 (here's the original post with all the entries). He thinks I should write about the worst creative advice I ever got. How about the day someone told me I should quit my day job? In all seriousness, that's a question I would have to ponder, and it's pretty deep for my present state of consciousness (like it just took me 2 minutes to figure out which word I was looking for there - it started out as conscien before I realized my brain was wondering into La La land). But not to avoid the question, off the top of my head I would say that I'm not sure because I only listen to the good advice.

Then my new New Zealand friend, Jay (AraneaNZ on Twitter) suggested I check out this website for inspiration, warning that it might take a while to load. It didn't, but this is what I got...

Even though I suck at Spanish (is that Spanish?), I'm going to take a guess that it says I need Flash. But, amigos, I already got zee Flash. So I ain't clicking the link. Jay, please explain what I missed in the comments section. I was, however, inspired to use the website window as my photo for the day so that was a huge contribution. Thank you. And, as a bonus, everyone gets to see what other things I've been doing today. You'll notice I did look at the Astrud site. I was also reading the Mr. and Mrs. Smith treatment earlier today for inspiration on writing the reality thing (it's a must-read for any screenwriters out there). And I was on Virgin America looking for an escape route. Obviously, since I'm still here, that didn't work out.

Would you look at that... There I was sorely lacking a post idea but just by putting the fingers to the keys, PRESTO, a post to post.

Now I can sleep in peace. Hopefully for the whole night. Without interruption. Please...

I Got Nothin'

I just wrote this whole thing about working on the reality show today and being tired and having to get up at 6am to go to LAX and then I wrote this:

Wow...this is a really crappy post. It's not really that I have nothin'. It's just that somethin' feels like it would take too much effort at this particular moment. So, how about I just put up a couple of photos...

After I scrolled through some pictures on my iPhone to see what I could find...and pulled a couple, I decided to erase my long-winded crappy crap post in favor of a little game called--

What Is This Picture? Times Two...

Hopefully, I'll have something better for you tomorrow...but you never know.

In the meantime, for those who don't have my book, please check this out and consider placing an order for yourself or as a gift.

Lights Out...

...aka Romantic Blogging.

Yes, it that weird Earth Hour thingy that everybody has been posting on Facebook. At first I thought it was pretty cool...until I went to the Earth Hour website and found out we only have to turn off the lights. So we can watch TV, make spaghetti on the electric range and blow dry our hair, so long as it's done by candlelight. And they encourage live blogging. You see, when I first heard about this I thought we were supposed shut off all our electricity...do the full rolling blackout thing (is the term rolling blackouts known anywhere outside of SoCal?)

But even though I think this whole thing is retarded, I'm still doing it. The people who live behind me have their lights on. Hang on while I check and see if the rest of the street is Earth Houring....

N-O spells no. We're the only house that is completely dark. This is L.A. people...the City of Angels...the place where everybody eats friggin' tofu and organically grown veggies...headquaters of famous actors and musicians for kabbalah...home of the Scientology Celebrity Center. Shit. Even the catholic high school across the way is completely lit up. What the fuck? You think the brothers, fathers or whoever they are over there could dig an hour of candlelight. Get with it people!! We're trying to save the planet here.

Counting down...one minute to the end of the hour. No one can say I didn't do my part.


P.S. Don't even ask me about the tennis shoe on the table.

TGIF

The title of this post is for you, the reader. Fridays are the same as every other day for me. I don't have a regular 9 to 5 job. My job is pretty much 24/7 because most of my job takes place in my head. It's a lot of thinking, inventing, creating and then executing. Sometimes the executing is hard because the idea has gelled in my head it's as if I have already done it, making the execution mundane. My job is also a curse because it's always there. It is impossible for me to leave my work at the office. Unless I can find a way to remove my brain and eyes without harm or side effects.

I was checking some of the referrals I got today and I found something that surprised me. I had no idea that you/I can use Google to translate an entire blog. Check this out...

I love it! I’m thinking I should change the blog title to Todo el mundo me està Muerto a tiros. I'm just wondering why Dead is the only word capitalized after the first word?

Once I was in the translated version of my blog I could navigate to other pages and it was still in Spanish. It was fun to read what I myself wrote and not have any idea what it says. Even yesterday's post...

Although I was able to translate the friend's friend's death at the hands of a drunk driver. I like it better in English. Un amigo, amigo de la muerte a manos de un conductor ebrio sounds way too romantic. I opened yesterday's post because I think I used a swear word and I want to see how google translated it. Okay, does mierda mean shit? And why is Downer capped?

And now I need to find a post with fuck. I want to see what Google spanish does with that...and maybe the rest of George Carlin's seven words. Sheesh, I have a potty mouth...I only had to go back to last Sunday. Wow. They use the same word for fuck that they use for shit. Mierda. In my world there's a ginormous difference between fuck and shit. Other than the fact that they're both on George's list.

One of today's search word referrals was an old favorite of mine..."sexy male crotch pictures." I think those search words used to go to a Maurice Gibb post that contained this picture...

Yup, that's pretty much a no-brainer. But now it links those search words to a very fun post I did back on May 27, 2006 called Google Me This, Google Me That. Click it. I've heard it's worth the read.

Yikes...I just realized my blog will be three years old next Thursday. Who's planning the birthday party? Anyone?

The Tale of Two Realities

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Of course that is the opening from The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, but it could have easily be written to describe the state of my reality at this very moment...and possibly the state of yours or someone you know. I've had "It's the best of times, it's the worst of times" rolling round my brain on a daily basis for the whole month of March. And if I'd remembered the whole quote, the wisdom/foolishness part would be right up there too.

I've never had a month like this before...where I literally got the best news ever and worst news ever on the same day, and on one occasion it was within an hour. I'm not talking about someone calling and saying, "I've got good news and bad news. which do you want first?" I'm talking about getting great news from one person and then later getting crap news from someone else.

The result of this has been almost a negation of events. A period of not being. Despite all the great news I've been unable to jump for joy and do cartwheels around the house (although I accidentally sort of did a cartwheel last night when I tripped in the middle of Ventura Boulevard while jaywalking), and at the same time most of the bad news hasn't had me in tears writhing on the hardwood floor (except for news of a friend's friend's death at the hands of a drunk driver).

In times past my experience has generally been a bad day or a good day, a bad week or a good week so I could feel stellar on the good days/weeks and miserable on the bad days/weeks. I really don't like it when I get the Charles Dickens version and they're all muddled together. I don't want my periods of pure elation muddied with the downer shit.

So it's time to rewrite the master. Do an adaptation if you will. I'm calling it The Tale of My Reality and changing the opening. It now goes like this:

It was the best of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the epoch of belief, it was the season of Light, it was the spring of hope, I had everything before me, and could celebrate the joys of my success.

Good news only from here on out. For me. For you. For everyone.

Agreed?

A Little Help From My Friends

I'm reaching out for a little help from my friends. Since I consider every person who stops by my blog a friend, that means you. And you. And you.

I need to sell 150 copies of
Everybody I Shot Is Dead
in the next 6 days.

Here's the deal. You have to purchase the books directly from my website - don't worry about security 'cause all the orders go through Paypal and they don't let me see any of your personal information other than your name and shipping address. All the books will be signed by the author. Oh wait, that's me. Yeah, I'll sign the books and even personalize them to whoever you want if you put a note on the order.

And as a bonus, since this is A Little Help From My Friends, I will include a special edition 8.5x11 signed inkjet print of Ringo for your framing pleasure.
For those friends who already own a copy of my book, I hope you'll consider buying another as a gift for a friend or even your local library (and you can keep the print).

If you can't help directly, I would appreciate it if you could link this post on your blog or facebook it or send it to all your friends and ask them to send it to theirs or twitter it or viral it the old fashioned way - you know, just open your window and shout it out to the masses.

Click to check it out:
Everybody I Shot Is Dead

And I thank you very much in advance.

Mighty Joe Young

Today is the 10th anniversary of the passing of the great bluesman, Mighty Joe Young.

Mighty Joe Young

9/23/27-3/24/99

Last year I searched and searched for MJY footage (it's hard when you have to scour through all the gorilla movie youtube vids) and found only one thing. And it's now been taken down. The only thing I could find now was this song with no footage:



Anyone out there who has footage on this fine, fine musician, please share it so we can get Mighty Joe Young the props he deserves and a new generation of fans.





You can see more pictures and learn about Mighty Joe Young and the 47 other musicians in my tribute book, Everybody I Shot Is Dead.

iBuds

Check this out...

They're the latest thing in iBuds for your iPhone.
Apple Krinkle iBuds.
They're so new, you can't even get 'em yet.
But I got 'em.
And I'm gonna tell you how you can get 'em too.


Apple Krinkle iBuds Recipe
Crunch your iBuds into a ball.
Put your iBuds in your jeans pocket.
Forget they're there.
Put a load of dark clothes in the washer.
Include your jeans.
Add soap.
Wash on 'cotton sturdy' with 'warm/cold' water.
Put clothes in dryer.
Dry on high for 60 minutes.
Open dryer door.
iBuds will immediately fall out.
If done correctly your iBuds will function perfectly.
And you'll be stylin'.
Just like me.

Weekly Round-Up

Here's the this and that of what I can remember from this past week, or maybe just today...

1. For some reason I feel really tired. Maybe I actually worked hard. Or didn't get enough sleep. Or both.

2. As a former competitive skier, I was very disturbed by the death of Natasha Richardson. So sad. So tragic. So unreal. When I was 12 there was a really sweet blonde girl on our ski team named Laura. She was standing at the bottom of a slope (not a bunny one, mind you) waiting for everyone to congregate. She didn't realize that some teenage show-off boys had created a make-shift ski jump of packed snow a few yards up the slope. Some jackass kid came flying down the hill, went over the jump and clipped Laura in the side of her head with his ski tip. It was the first funeral I ever attended. Her casket was white. It was petite. Just like her. I will never forget.

3. I've been considering other services my company can offer. Been thinking about focusing a section of my website on services I do and want to provide. It's taking me forever to assemble the materials/content...I wish I had someone that could help. I'm taking a special interest in the photography portion, offering services in all areas - film production stills, music, parties (only cool one) etc - and had to quickly throw up (not vomit) some of my production stills for a potential client. I could only find some from one movie I did...I think the ones I shot on another movie are stuck on a hard drive I can't mount. Anyway here are a few of my faves from the 20-some I put up.

Seymour Cassel

Seymour and Shawn Andrews

Desi Lydic

These photos are from Big Heart City and you can see more of them here (click "production stills"). And to E.C Henry, that's where you can also check out my key art/movie poster design work.

4. I'm beginning to get the hang of Twitter, although there's this really weird feeling surrounding the actual doing of it. Can't really describe it...maybe it's the idea of putting myself out there and not knowing who's watching or reading. Wait a sec, that's what I do on here. Except I'm not limited to 140 characters - I can blather on and on.

5. This week's favorite search words used to arrive at my blog were "hippy dippy mop" which landed the person here.

6. This week's least favorite search words used to arrive at my blog were "dead fuck daughter". It doesn't surprise me that they used a search engine called Web Ferret. What kind of a freak searches those words? Whoever it was landed on my It's Brain Surgery Pt. 1 post. I see how they ended up there...I'm going in there to change what I wrote right now (it wasn't what he searched). And btw, I only show these vile ones to illuminate my readers to the fact that there are indeed a few scumbags trolling the world wide web, and to let you know this particular one lives in San Paulo, Brazil. Lock your doors if you have a daughter.

7. This weekend I watched a movie that I hadn't seen since I was a kid. It was one of the movies that had a profound effect on me. As a matter of fact, I think it's responsible with my interest in death (like knowing it is the last thing I will experience on Earth and my waffling about what's on the Other Side, or if the Other Side even exists) and the fact that I like to take pictures of graveyards and I like to imagine the lives of the people buried and what it would have been like to know them. And I mourn them....I better shut up now. Anyway, this was the movie...



It plays a little cheesier now but I still think it's great. Didn't realize it was a Roger Corman picture. So, thank you, Roger Corman, for giving me my dark side.

Enjoy what little is left of your weekend.

Salsa

I have done a ton of key art designs aka movie posters. Call it my bread and butter over the past umpteen years. I've posted a few random things here and there but this one is different. Yesterday for some reason I got to thinking about a poster I did a really long time ago. Maybe it was because I was looking something else up on IMDB when I got irked at the fact that this certain design is no longer used on the movie's packaging.

Why should that bother me? For many reasons. Which I shall get off my chest via a list:

1. It's one of my best.
2. I worked my ass off to convince the Cannon owner/execs to use my original design and not fuck it up with clutter images (they liked to have helicopters on every poster).
3. It was put up on billboards around LA and also backlit bus shelters several weeks before the movie was released.
4. Several of the bus shelters were broken into and the posters were stolen.
5. The head of Warner Brothers (Terry Semel at the time, I think) and other studio heads called my bosses and complimented them on the great artwork (first and last time that ever happened).
6. The movie was #1 at the box office it's opening weekend, but it tanked the second weekend once the word of mouth got out.
7. I won an award for it.

I believe those items in part and as a whole mean that the art was great and therefore should be used on everything thereafter. But instead, somebody over at MGM (they now control the title) decided to use a version of the key art that was done before my version. A version that I think looks classless and skanky.

First, here is my poster:

Sexy and classy, right? I must admit, it would have been nothing without the wonderful photography by the amazing Randee St. Nicholas and the beautiful actors Angela Alvarado and Robby Rosa, who by the way got married a couple of years after this was done, made a couple of kids and are still married to this day (not that I had anything to do with that).

And here is the key art they are using on the DVD:
<Skanky and classless. Same movie, same actors, different designer and different photographer. Result = Yuk. Tell me you don't agree. I dare you.

Unfortunately, I no longer have a copy of this poster. I would like to have a copy of this poster (my version, that is). I found it here in case anyone out there feels the urge to get me a present (I'm still on that spending freeze). You'll find my address in the "I Need Socks" post from a few days ago. You should probably email me first so I don't end up with a thousand posters. A thousand pairs of socks would be fine but I don't think I could handle a thousand Salsa posters...well, unless they come with margaritas.

Ronnie Barron

Twelve years ago today the great Ronnie Barron passed away. "Ronnie who?" you say? I first met and photographed him when he was playing keyboards on tour with Paul Butterfield's Better Days. I also knew him after I moved to L.A. when he was playing with John Mayall and I was working with John on my first book, starart.

During Ronnie's early days in New Orleans he created a character know as Reverend Ether. Later Ronnie bestowed the character on Mac Rebennack - Who's Mac Rebennack, you ask? - who used it to create his own onstage persona known as Dr. John The Night Tripper. And you say, "Oh, that Mac Rebennack." And if you're under the age of zero or just completely musically uninformed you can search Dr. John on You Tube...of course, after you finish reading this post and watching the rare vid of Ronnie.

Ronnie Barron

10/9/43-3/20/97

Here's a rare video of Ronnie...the only moving audio/visual representation I've found on him...



And for all you movie fans, you know Ronnie Barron as the CIA Bartender in Above The Law.



You can see lots more pictures and learn more about Ronnie Barron and the 47 other musicians in my tribute book, Everybody I Shot Is Dead.

I Need Socks

I took the dogs to the puppy park today and the only pair of socks I had to wear were a black pair of anklets that kept sliding off my heels into my tennies. I hate it when that happens.

I bought a few nice pairs of socks a few months ago, but they were the thick kind...to keep my piggies warm. Then the Pumpkin puppy and Drama dog went into my padlocked drawers and dragged one sock of almost every pair I had to the backyard to play tug-o-war (except, of course, the nasty black anklets)...and now they all have holes and/or are torn apart.

Sock Thief

Sock Thieves Playing Tug-o-War

See? I need socks.

The cotton kind. The ones that stay on over my heels. Ones without holes. New ones. The kind you get when you go to a store. Except I can't go to the store. Which means I can't buy new socks. Because thanks to the economic meltdown, I'm on a spending freeze until further notice. No bailout for me, right Mr. President? But how about a pair of cotton socks? The address is 12930 Ventura Blvd, #674, Studio City, CA 91604.

Thank you.

Rewriting

Ever since I began screenwriting.

It's the one unbreakable rule.

The adage.

Writing is rewriting.

For me it's a curse. Not because I don't like to do it. Nope. Quite the opposite. I love the rewrite. It's where you get to fix things. You get to up everything to the next level. And then the next level. And the next. I love it. Except sometimes it pisses me off because I just don't understand why I didn't figure out the best words the first time around.

Anyway, that's not what my bitch on rewriting is today. My bitch today is about the curse. No, no, not that curse...although I could bitch about that for as long as I've had it. Today, it's the curse of rewriting that's got me going. Since I wrote my first screenplay several years ago - a script that I overwrote, then rewrote, then got optioned, then rewrote several more times for the producer and director, then got it back, then hated it and rewrote it a bunch more times - yeah, since all that happened I can't stop rewriting.

The reason I'm telling you this now is that yesterday I got an email from someone and the subject line was "Great News!!" And, indeed, it was great news. Even better than great. So, I dashed off a quick reply that simply said, "That is ecstatic inducing news!!" No biggie, right? Except when I was in the shower later on I wanted to rewrite the email. I wanted it to be, "That's not great news... that's ecstatic inducing news!!" As if that would have made a huge difference.

And then it dawned on me. I want to rewrite everything. All the time. I swear if I reread this post tomorrow, or even five minutes after I post it, I will want to rewrite it. Heaven forbid I read any of my earlier posts...they'd all have to be rewritten. I can't read my book because I would want to rewrite it. And now I want to rewrite emails that I've already sent.

I don't limit this rewriting obsession to the written word. No. I'd love to rewrite almost every conversation I've ever had. Does that happen to you? Have you ever had an important conversation with someone, and even though you rehearsed it over and over again in your mind, within minutes of having it, didn't you want to rewrite it? Or kicked yourself when you got home from a meeting, or even a party, thinking "I could have said that so much better" or "It could have been funnier." Or am I the only freak here?

Shit, I just stopped to think about what else I have to say about this topic and I wanted to rewrite my thoughts.

I'm seriously* fucked.




*the word "seriously" was added 15 seconds after I wrote the sentence "I'm fucked." Yup, it definitely needed the extra word.

Hollywood Fats

Today is Hollywood Fats's 54th birthday.

Hollywood Fats

3/17/54-12/8/86

Most of you have probably never heard of Hollywood Fats. He was an amazing blues guitarist but cut his life and career short, leaving us with far too little music. There are also a few records floating around, including a compilation put out on Delta Groove (check out the audio clips).

Here is the lone video I found on youtube that didn't have embedding disabled...

Happy Birthday, Fats!

You can see lots more pictures and learn more about Hollywood Fats and the 47 other musicians in my tribute book, Everybody I Shot Is Dead.

How You Found Me

Most of the traffic that finds its way to my little cul de sac on the world wide web each day is -- crap, I forgot the buzz word -- is, is, is...what do they call traffic that's new?

And of that whatever-it's-called traffic, most comes through google image searches. The most popular picture that brings people to this blog has nothing to do with my book, but it just happens to be one of my favorite pictures that shows up eventually if you search headshave...

I'd say the most-searched musician from Everybody I Shot Is Dead. is Terry Kath. Then there are the waves, where there's no search on a particular musician for a while and then suddenly there's a barrage. I'd understand it if it corresponded to the musician's birth or death day but it doesn't. Today's interest fell on Tim Buckley.

But my favorite searches are the one's that are looking for something that has nothing to do with me or my book. Let me see if I can find a few examples from the past few days...

1. Pictures of Dead Babies or Baby Delivery Pictures - By far the most popular. I can't for the life of me figure out why anyone would want to see a picture of a dead baby. I'm sure they're surprised when they end up on THIS PAGE. Ha ha...bet they weren't expecting that.

2. Kitchen Mites - This is a close second. And I'm happy to report that my blog performs a service by providing extremely valuable information to those in need. This search will land you HERE.

3. Brain Surgery - It's obvious why I get this one since I have reported on Jaimie's brain surgery ad nauseum, and it comes in all kinds of forms. Here's some recent ones: if you want to be a brain surgeon do you have to work on dead people - doctor headshave - sleepy after brain surgery - what are my risks of a 5 and a half hour surgery. I sincerely hope that each and every one of these searches found something helpful.

My favorite keyword search from today was shoot every body on the suitelife. In case you don't watch Saturday morning TV, the Suite Life is a kid's show about twin boys who live in a hotel. Yes, I have watched it on more than one occasion...I have no idea why. And I get that the show could be considered annoying, but wanting to shoot everybody on the show? Well, that's just not right. Is it?

I have to say, that what's really disconcerting is that my blog is the first item that comes up when potential murders target Zac and Cody on The Suite Life...I'm not kidding...

Oh, and thanks to whoever mentioned my Rory Gallagher tribute on the rorygallagher.com message board yesterday. Much appreciated.

Photography (Things)

If I ever had a God complex it's gone as of today, because I didn't get one second of rest on this seventh day. It started with my monthly writers group from 10-12:30, then I wrote on the reality show with my cohort from 12:40-6:20 at Starbucks - straight through with no munchies...just two cups of decaf. Got home at 6:30 and scarfed down some food (you have no idea how ravenous and hypoglycemic I was at that point). Did a little organizational work, then was on the phone with my producing partner from 8-10:45 working on the budget for the movie.

I hung up with him and pulled these pictures and converted them to a manageable post size in order to complete the second half of yesterday's rant. This time it's photographs I took that focus on things rather than people so it's more about lines, spaces, movement and, of course, composition. I guess you could say it's how I see the world around me.

Again, these are all taken with my iPhone camera and are not cropped or retouched.

Apple NYC
I like pretty much everything about this photo, but I'm
especially drawn to the shadowy figures in the bottom half.

Tube Man
I like the perspective in this shot and the movement that defines
the speed to the train compared to the lack of speed of the man walking.

Palm Springs
I love the fact that when people see this on my phone they are baffled.
Maybe it's easier to figure out on here.

NYC
I like the red lights and the vertical red streaks
in combination with the horizontal streaks of white light.

Flags
I like the contradiction of the precise and static
row of lights below the free waving flags.

Mind The Gap
Best phrase ever.

W
I love the angle from above, the elegance of the lights and
the perfection of the place coupled with the imperfection that is people,
especially the blurred guy going up the stairs.
I also love the face that all the green patches are real growing grass.

This is a bonus photo that I took on my way home from Starbucks tonight. I took it very quickly through the car window so it's not a great example of anything except maybe subpar photo-journalism on the fly.

Oops
That's a pulverized motorcycle on the ground. I like the guy on the right...
I think he's kicking debris out of the lane but it looks like he's dancing.

And now I sleep.

Photography (People)

Just like movies, books, music, paintings, sculpture and any other art form you care to name, photography is subjective. And like the other arts, I believe anyone can learn the technical side of the craft but I don't believe talent can be taught. In photography I think talent represents a person's eye. Not only how one frames the picture, but how one sees things. How they interpret the world around them. And how well and often they can catch that special moment in time. Let me tell you, it ain't easy. Sometimes it's like getting the planets to align.

Now that we're in the digital, everyone thinks themselves a photographer. Okay, maybe not every everyone. It's the same as when Photoshop came out. Suddenly, everyone considered themselves a designer. That movement pretty much killed my ability to make a real living (as in making enough to live "well") because the young upstarts with a Mac and Photoshop moved into the independent film world and lowered the financial bar. Unfortunately, the clients didn't realize that just because they had tool didn't mean they could design. Just because you can hold a pencil doesn't mean you can draw.

So, just because you have an awesome expensive camera (the tool), it doesn't mean you can take great or even good pictures. And I think if you have a good/great eye, you can take a good/great photograph with the shittiest of cameras. And I don't think it's possible to teach someone how to have a good/great eye. Someone who doesn't have a good/great eye can occasionally shoot a great picture but for the most part I believe you either have it or you don't.

Here are some photos I took that fall under the people category (tomorrow I'll post some non-people shots) that I think represent use of my good eye. None of them have been cropped or retouched or adjusted in any way. They all come straight from the camera. Oh, and the camera is my iPhone. Let's see if I can give them some spiffy titles and what I like about them.

Innocence and Wonderment
I love the look in the boy's eye and the relationship between him and his father
that's expressed through their hands and the placement of their heads.

Purple Legs
Again, the hands do it for me. And of course the color combo
which I didn't create but I did capture.

Mickey's Back
I like the composition and the photographs behind him. Also how the lighting
gives him a black and white feel. Oh, and the bright light on the left.

Sad Dog
I like the dog being really sharp and the guy on the other side of the window
being soft. And the look of longing in the dog's eye . And the pane lines.

Confused
It's all about the sign coupled with the expression on his face.

Dinner
The dingy lighting, the graininess, the expression and the hand.

Self Shadow
The grates and the texture of the pavement. The anonymity of the shadow.

Feel free to disagree and rip me a new one in the comments section. After all it's subjective. Maybe you see something I don't. Maybe I see something you don't.

Weekly Round-Up

Okay, I gotta remember what I did this week. But it's a little hard because I had a small glass of red wine that gave me a very big buzz. I am such a lightweight.

I didn't get enough sleep this week. I like the nights where I close my eyes and they don't open again until I've had my eight hours. Didn't get even close to one of those this week. Maybe tonight. Or tomorrow night.

Even without good sleep, I managed to create a couple of comps for a movie poster. Turned them in yesterday and have not heard back. Wondering if they hated them.

I did a lot of communicating this week. Answered emails that were three months old. My bad. Still have some that are even older than that. I think it's a mood thing for me when I am writing a specific person. Gotta be in the right frame of mind.

Made some progress on my movie. Unfortunately, nothing I can talk about...yet.

Now that I think about it, this week was crazy.

Crazy 'cause I actually did some furniture rearranging and a mad cleaning of my house. Partly because it really needed it -- my living room was too junked up; my house (especially with two dogs) gets way too dirty, as in layers of dirt on everything from the floor up -- and partly because I had another pitch meeting at my house for the reality show I can't tell you about. This time there were eleven people including me. Figured I had to make a good impression. It went very well, thank you very much.

Now I'm going to watch Them! Not the band...these guys...

If you haven't seen you're really missing out.

P.S. If there are horrible grammatical errors and an overabundance of typos in this post it's the wine writing, not me.

Mike Gibbins

Badfinger has possibly the most tragic story in rock'n'roll history, but today is drummer Mike Gibbins 60th birthday so I choose to celebrate.

Mike Gibbins

3/12/49-10/4/05

I finally found a video that features a decent amount of face time for Mike...



Happy Birthday, Mike!

And lots of peace and love to Ellie.



You can see lots more pictures and learn more about Mike Gibbins and the 47 other musicians in my tribute book, Everybody I Shot Is Dead.

Intuition

Sometimes we forget the importance of intuition.

Today I was reminded of it in a strangely cosmic way. I was entering some receipts I dumped on my desk from my recent trip. When I got to the bottom of them there was a faded pink post-it with a dog-eared corner sticking out from under my laptop. I picked it up and stared at the barely visible handwriting (actually handprinting) on the front. On one line was "thinkexist" and a ways below it was ".com".

Curious as I am, I decided to check it out. I typed in the url www.thinkexist.com and it went to a website with the subtitle "Finding Quotations was never this Easy!" The weird part is that it opened to this page:


What's weird about that? Well, it's the sites basic url but the page has three quotes from people born on November 15th. Why would it open to a November 15th page in the middle of March? When I clicked the November 15th link at the bottom of the page it went to a different November 15th page that had dozens of pages with quotes from people born on November 15th, not just the three on the opening page. After some more poking around, I came to the realization that I was on someone's registered user page. But whose?

I checked with Jaimie since she's the likely candidate but it wasn't hers. She thought she'd heard of the site but was not a registered user. And she's only been on my computer a couple of times to check her email. Si, this whole thing is a complete mystery to me. I don't know anyone else who's been on my computer and, unless I'm completely nuts, I've never been to this site.

I will have to assume that for some cosmic reason someone wanted me to read these three saved quotes. I'm still trying to figure out what the first two should mean to me, but the third one is crystal clear and something that I should always keep at the forefront of my conscious brain. Here are all three quotes if you're too lazy to open the photograph...

1. Felix Frankfurter was born on November 15, 1882
American jurist, 1882-1965
Wisdom too often never comes, and so one ought not to reject it merely because it comes late.

2. William Cowper was born on November 15, 1731
English poet One of the most widely read English poets of his day, 1731-1800
Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon their knees.

3. Johann Kaspar Lavater was born on November 15, 1741
Swiss theologian, 1741-1801
Intuition is the clear conception of the whole at once.

I'd be interested to hear what happens when you go to www.thinkexist.com.

Have a most intuitive day.

Tony Flaim

I'm betting most of you have no idea who Tony Flaim is, unless you've read my book. Which is probably still most of you.

He was an incredible blues singer in Canada - I photographed him when he sang with Downchild Blues Band - and today is the 9th anniversary of his passing.

Tony Flaim

1948-3/10/00

Sadly, I couldn't find any footage of Tony but here's his voice...

Space Cowboy

I'm multitasking. Editing photos for a movie poster I need to get done, making dinner and scanning some randomly-picked-out-of-the-pile negatives so I can create a post for today. I hate multitasking. I also hate whoever came up with the idea that the ability multitask is an asset. It's not. It's a liability. Because if you're multitasking you're doing a whole bunch of things at once and doing none of them well. Focus, people. Focus. Start something, finish it and move on to the next thing.

Enough of my bitching. I've got the Steve Miller in the scanner. In his prime.

Here's a couple I pulled...

Some people call me the space cowboy
Some call me the gangster of love
Some people call me Maurice
Cause I speak of the pompatus of love.
People talk about me, baby
Say I'm doin' you wrong, doin' you wrong
Well, don't you worry baby
Don't worry Cause I'm right here, right here, right here,
right here at home
(Written by Steve Miller, Eddie Curtis, Ahmet Ertegün)

FYI, this post took me over two hours to create. Proving my point that multitasking is not an asset. Take it off your resume.

The dinner turned out good, though.