Erika Dufour Photography

COME TO THE OTHER SIDE!

2011-11-21T17:37:00.001-08:00

After much trial and tribulation, or maybe just trial, less tribulation, or vice versa, I have had to change my blog URL. I have been so appreciative of the feedback and enthusiasm for my writings and life nuggets on my blog, and sincerely hope that you follow me to the other side, which is a bit more esthetically pleasing, and hopefully easier to read. Slowly but surely I am transferring posts from his blog to the new one.Any and all honest feedback on the new design, look, readability is welcome! so without further adieu, voila my NOUVEAU BLOG

http://erikadufourphotography.blogspot.com/

MONK

2011-11-01T09:49:00.000-07:00

Tai Chi - The strength and intent of every movement is a powerful thing.

This is Zhou Xuan Yun, a taoist monk I met in China in 2006, teaching me kung fu in the mountains.

I shot this video as a little taste n sampling of Xuan Yuns focus and determination.

Untitled from erika@erikadufour.com on Vimeo.

ITSY BITSY THOUGHT

2011-10-21T06:24:00.000-07:00

It takes courage to care

WANT TO SEE MY UNDERWEAR?

2011-10-11T21:25:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, my bud Sonia, my pup Ninja and I were chillaxing in Wicker Park soaking in the unusually warm sun for an October day, observing people tossing footballs, people walking their dogs, dudes doing pushups, and little kids having sad moments as well as moments of sheer joy.

A little little girl, couldn't be taller than 3 feet scampered over to us and asked if Ninja (my dog) was friendly and happily started petting her and having a good time doing so. A few minutes later, a little blonde fellow, about a foot taller than the little girls sauntered over and with a serious pontificating look set in his brow said to us "she can be so annoying sometimes, she just goes up to people to get attention." this kind of sentence made me think, wow, this little fellow heard some of this kind of talk from a parent.

the little girl danced and twirled and was having a joy of a time while the little boy started up a conversation with Sonia and I about this little girls behaviour. I then noticed that he was wearing the same kung fu shoes that i was wearing which is pretty rare, I proclaimed "hey! your wearing the same kung fu shoes as me, do you do kung fu??" he had a stunned and pleased look in his eyes and said, "no, I do Karate!" I asked him if he took lessons and with all seriousness and earnestness in his eyes he said "no...I just happen to know it", this made me smile on the inside because I could see him glowing with esteem. he started showing us his moves flinging around kick punching, chopping and twirling, making psshhh and pppkkrrckrrr noises while he let loose on his super karate moves. we applauded and told him how awesome he was (cause he was).

The little girl with a juicy smile looked at me and told me she had invisible shoes on, I looked at her cute dirty toes and said, well yeah!!!! the boy said in a tone "shes not wearing invisible shoes, shes barefoot" the girl ignored him and kept dancing and twirling with joy.
She then ran up to my face and in all innocent earnestness said "do you want to see my underwear?" Before I could answer, she did a cool handstand in the splits and her underwear was smack right in my face, i said, well, there it is! she must have loved her underwear to want to show me.

meanwhile this boy continued in his dialogue and demonstrations of karate/kungfu and explanations of what the power rangers do. before the parents wisked the kids off the little boy asked Sonia and I if we were Ninjas, we told him yes and that we met at Ninja school (which is true) and he asked us if we had a teacher, we told him we did, he once again put his serious look on his face and sid "well, you can show your teacher this move and teach it to him" he then went in to precise demonstration on the hand positions and the options of hand positions to use. He said "you can show your teacher that and teach it to him" We both agreed that we would definitely do so.

His mother then came over and put his little red suspenders on and he wandered off to play and show the world his moves.

IM SORRY

2011-10-06T07:46:00.000-07:00

For about a year and a half now I have eliminated the word "sorry" out of my vocabulary. In this word elimination diet, I have noticed more and more how and when I used the word and realized that it was just a filler to say what I really meant.

Every time I would say "Im sorry" , it felt like I was apologizing for myself repeatedly, leaving a feeling of inadequacy inside me. During the beginning stages of this word elimination, there was a pause when I was about to utter "sorry" and not know what to do instead.

I noticed a shift inside me more and more and felt less sorry for myself, less sorry for my actions, and more of a realist of my actions and behavior.

The challenge is, what words fill in the void left from this word removal? Acknowledgement and ownership. below are examples of what it looks like.

-I totally blew you off by not calling you back which is disrespectful to you.

-of course you would be mad! I changed plans at the last minute without telling you which is so unfair.

- I totally bumped into to you and made a huge frikkin mess!

-of course your mad! I hit your car and made a huge dent in it which is frustrating and maddening because its expensive.

-of course you'd be pissed, makes total sense, my dog just took a shit on your property and I didn't pick it up, how disrespectful of me.

-It makes sense why you would feel ignored becasue I am totally ignoring your emails and not responding to you which is disrespectful to you.

-I said mean and hurtful things which makes sense why you wouldnt trust me or want to talk to me

-WOW! I totally messed that up!!

BEAUTIFUL BODY AT REST

2011-10-05T11:28:00.000-07:00

FUR FLESH AND FLOWERS

2011-10-04T13:24:00.000-07:00

Model - Erica Miramonte - Ford

Hair/Makeup by Beth Follert - Timothy Priano

SECRET PONG

2011-09-27T22:20:00.001-07:00

Today a friend told me about a place on Chicago Avenue near my house that is a dollar store in the front and in the back, a ping pong court filled with tables to play on until 10pm. So... tonight I investigated and its true! This dollar store is run by this thai couple and in the back is what you see in this photo.

The city is such so filled with gems like this. My mind is blown!

THIS NEEDS NO EXPLANATION

2011-09-21T22:26:00.000-07:00

Videos By : Kyle Frere

CLICK N CLACK

2011-09-20T18:29:00.000-07:00

About a month ago I went to get my tires fixed at a new auto repair place highly recommended by a friend. As we all know, finding a car repair place is like finding a needle in a haystack. So I walked in and told em about my tire woes, and they told me to sit while I wait. I looked across the room and I saw these fellas sitting there. Admittedly I shot this without asking them (I couldnt resist), but later emailed to see if it was OK to post on my blog.

Meet Todd and Craig

I had the great pleasure of chatting with these fellas for at least an hour and half. The conversation started about how women should have long hair and shouldn't cut it short, to a disagreement (between craig and todd) that heath is better than any hair style, to theories on how to make women happy (I think an expensive purse is part of the equation). The the conversation migrated to their love of cars. Craig recounted how he rebuilt a Corvette from a burnt up wreckage and gave it to his wife, painting it yellow way before yellow was a fashionable color in sports cars. These guys have a long history of relationships with cars and they mean business. Talking to them felt a bit like the NPR talkshow "Car talk".

This was one of my most pleasurable experiences at a car place, as I listened to these two friends converse about life, their love of cars, and pontificating on theories about the world and people.

HAND CANNON

2011-09-11T18:50:00.001-07:00

A little weekend adventure to get over a cold. I think it worked! This last Friday I had a hankering to learn the proper way to shoot a gun, and the opportunity presented itself to me, so...continuing on with the fuckit philosophy, I embarked on an other Erika adventure.

I learned that you have to keep your shit together when your handling this chunk o metal, I am not a huge proponent of just any Tom DICK and Harry, or should I say Harry Dick Tom owning one of these things, because I am sure not everyone who ones one keeps their shit together. I am frightened of hot tempered douchebags owning guns, I am frightened of angry people owning guns, I am frightened of people who believe the solution to getting things done is to point a gun at stuff. This aint no toy for sure.

I am glad to have experienced holding and shooting this thing as I now know what it feels like. It is definitely an addictive feeling of power, combined with a "dont fuck with me, and I mean it" feeling, with a big helping of different flavors of fear, with short doses of adrenaline pumping through the veins. Kind of a stew of conflicting emotions that I cant quite put into words.

HAND CANNON 2

2011-09-11T18:43:00.000-07:00

EAT ME

2011-09-08T15:32:00.000-07:00

Eat fruit - its sexy

MY NEW HOBBY WED NIGHT

2011-09-07T16:49:00.000-07:00

here is my advanced studio lighting class at columbia college!! we had a lovely ice breaker learning about each others preferences and hobbies. what I learned the most is that most people dont think shit is a bad word and that Christmas is not peoples favorite holiday.

NINJA PONDERINGS

2011-09-02T11:17:00.000-07:00

EEE EYE EEE EYE OOH

2011-08-31T10:11:00.000-07:00

And on that farm there was some cows, eee eye eee eye oooh!

Last weekend I had the great fortune to open my door to a fundraiser for raising the awareness of our innate human right to consume what is good for our bodies, RAW UNPASTEURIZED MILK!! This stuff is illegal, and farmers are being violated by the government and law enforcement raiding their farms without warrant and being held at gunpoint for producing raw milk and distributing it to people who are in need of this life saving nectar.

How this event came to be was a fascinating fluke. 5 years ago I was researching and becoming aware of the great health benefits of raw milk and how our intake of store bought milk skims the levels of health benefits raw milk has. In my research I plopped my name down on an email list and moved on with my life. I was forgotten and never hear any updates since. Two months ago I began receiving emails about a movie that would be aired at the Gene Siskel film center.

Farmageddon - Movie Trailer from Kristin Canty on Vimeo.

I payed attention but in moderation. I then glanced at an email and it read as follows

"Hello Chicago Farmageddon (Raw Milk Movie) promotional Team,

We are in desperate need of a venue for an "after the movie" event. If you have a connection for a venu anywhere in Chicago, please email us with your phone number so that we may call you to ask further questions. In your response please give the address of the venue. After movie event with be from 5:30pm - 8:30pm on Saturday, August 27th.

We are seeking a Venue to accommodate 70-150 people with ample parking.

Please respond asap with your venue connection.

Thanks!

Max Kane

My left eyebrow raised and there was a twinkle in my eye. I wrote back immediately without further thinking that I had a 2500 square foot empty space and that I would be glad to donate my space to such an event.

As you now probably know, if you read my blog at all, I am an advocate of the "fuckit" philosophy, sometimes it pans out well, sometimes, not so much. this time, it exceeded my expectations.

Before people started arriving, my stomach was hiccuping a bit wondering WTF have I gotten myself into, but yet also thinking that this would at least a great study of human behavior. The amish farmers showed up, the dietitians showed up, the politicians showed up, the filmmakers showed up, all people from different walks of life showed up, with a common thread of frustration and passion for what they believed in. I was overwhelmed with joy as I am a great admirer of people who have conviction, passion and love of life and will do anything to retain their integrity.

The lecture started off with Max Kane who delivers raw milk from the farmer to the customers who already have paid for this product. He is in battle with the supreme court of Wisconsin for not divulging the names of farmers who are producing raw milk for the customers who demand it. This was the complete lineup and there was more on top of that.

Sheriff Richard Mack,Constitutional Rights Advocate http://sheriffmack.com/
Michael Badnarik, Libertarian Presidential candidate 2004 http://www.constitutionpreservation.org/
Elizabeth Rich, Attorney Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund VP http://www.ftcldf.org/ *invited not confirmed
Vernon Hershberger, Wisconsin Dairy Farmer
Jim Marlow, Expert Nutritionist

I met fascinating people I wouldn't have ever dreamt of meeting, I am now an even bigger advocate of the "fuckit" philosophy.

I cant help but wonder what will arise next on the docket, BRINGIT !

NEW PHOTOS

2011-08-24T11:54:00.001-07:00

Here is an other successful shoot with the fantasmical ladies at twentythirtyforty.net

Hair n makeup - Maggie Kerr - Ford

Model - Stacia -Ford

THE ANTIDOTE TO THE BULLSHIT

2011-08-10T11:55:00.000-07:00

This list is the truths about work, revealing why the prior list about work is false (SEE BLOGPOST - "A BIG FAT LIST OF BULLSHIT")

-the amount of time you spend in work doesn't equate to the quality of your work
-give your life to your life
-work is secondary to life
-money amounts do not reflect the quality of your life
-working as a bartender, repair person makes you an equal to anyone
-having a hard time at work does not reflect your quality of life
-you are a winner if you work only 3 days a week
-you are a winner at work if you are not working 60 hours a week
-you are wonderful no matter how much cash you make
-you are wonderful no matter what kinds of things you have or don't have
-success is having valuable friends
-it is inexcusable to use work as an excuse for not being there for your family
-emotionally supporting your family is by far more valuable than any amount of money you make
-downing gobs of alcohol after work to decompress is dysfunctional
-ignoring your children because you have "too much work" is inexcusable
-people care more about who you are more than what you do
-you are interesting no matter what your job is
-working until you are exhausted is abuse to yourself
-life can be fair if you choose to make it so
-giving your respect and attention to people who respect you is important
-your own opinion of yourself is more valuable than anything else
-kissing your bosses ass is undignified and sad
-if you aren't perfect at work, you are human
-skipping a day or two of work is fun and well deserved
-if you aren't making enough money, you are trying hard but just need a bit more time
-if not enough work is coming in, it is doubtful that it is your fault
-women are very hard workers just like men
-a woman in the workplace showing boundaries and clean communication will be respected
-a softer personality woman is as intelligent as any other kind of woman
-your ranking at work has no relevance to your intelligence
-your financial gain has nothing to do with your intelligence
-you being the top dog in your company doesn't mean that you are smarter than others
-if you are not working, you are working on other things
-if you have financial distress, it is normal
-no matter what you do or who you donate to, being an asshole means being an asshole
-being an asshole to your coworkers is just being an asshole
-being an asshole means low self esteem
-being an asshole to other people means you will gain distrust from them
-being an asshole to your coworkers is inexcusable and is abusive
-if you are not better than your competitor, who cares
-you need to be whomever you are and that is enough
-being number two doesn't exist
-having friends, family and support is as crucial to life than work
f-riends and family support you in your life and help support you to achieve your goals
-your families love for you shows your success
-burying yourself in your work is lonely, sad, and isolating
-your soul and being is what defines you as a person
-your personality is your passion

MEOW MEOW

2011-08-08T15:54:00.000-07:00

shoe....art....shoe....art....shoe....art.........

DANGLING PARTY LOUBOUTIN

2011-08-07T16:11:00.000-07:00

HOW OLD I BE???

2011-08-01T16:14:00.000-07:00

If you know me and have heard me talk, you will know that I look like I am 25 and sound like I am 16. People tell me how lucky I am to be so young looking and sounding and i should be thankful for this gift.

I agree very much most of the time, and am very happy to be so young and spirited I know that when you allz iz wrankly and raisiny, Ill be all smoooooth like a a babies booty, and when I'm 75, I'll be dancin around with you 55 year olds.

On the downside, this youngness doesn't work in my favor when I am talking to clients on the phone. I know that if I were talking to me on the phone, a little voice in the back of my head would say "uh...how old is this chick, and is she for realz??"

here is the nuts n bolts folks. Im 38!

iz old by erikaninja

ENERGY SQUARED

2011-07-25T17:31:00.001-07:00

here is an other

ENERGY

2011-07-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

heres a little watercolor painting

A BIG FAT LIST OF BULLSHIT

2011-07-20T05:41:00.000-07:00

This list is a compilation of lies about work :

the more time you spend at work the better worker you are
more work is best
give your life to your work
life is secondary to work
more money means better life
working as a bartender,repair person makes you a lesser person
if you fail at work, your life is a failure
your a loser if you work only 3 days a week
you are failing at work if you are not working at least 60 hours a week
you are a failure if you don't make gobs of cash
you are a failure if you don't have quality things
success is having expensive things
not being there for your family is an excusable side effect of working a lot
making more money for your family is more valuable than emotionally supporting your family
downing gobs of alcohol after a work day is normal
using your work as an excuse to ignore your children is fine
people care more about your financial success than your personality
if you don't have an interesting job, you are not interesting
if you don't work until you are exhausted, you are not working hard enough
life isn't fair
giving more attention to your coworkers is more important than giving it to your friends and family
your coworkers opinion of you matters more than anything
kissing your bosses ass is dignified
if you aren't perfect at work, you are a failure
skipping a day or two of work is failure
if you aren't making enough money, you aren't trying hard enough
if not enough work is coming in, you must have done something to deserve it
women aren't as hard working and are complainers
a woman in the workplace is to be a hard ass to be respected
a softer personality woman is not as intelligent
your ranking at work directly reflects your intelligence
if you aren't making a lot of money, you are not as intelligent as people who are
whomever is the top ranking person at a company is the most intelligent
if you are not working you are failing
if you have financial distress, its your fault
donating to charity makes up for being an asshole
being an asshole to your coworkers is how you get shit done
being an asshole means power
being an asshole to people means you will gain respect from them
being an asshole to your coworkers is excusable, in fact commendable
if you are not better than your competitor, you are a failure
you need to be better than everyone
if you are number two, you are a failure
having friends is unnecessary if you have work
friends don't get you higher up on the ladder of success, neither does your family
your family should be physically perfect to show your success
burying yourself in your work is a dignified way of living and dying
work is what defines you as a person
your personality is your work

VIETNAM IN CHITOWN

2011-07-06T13:27:00.000-07:00

Get your fish sauce, get your pho, get your baked bean buns!! Rebecca Wheelers food tours get you immersed into certain cultures of different cChicago neighborhoods. Last weekend was Argyle street, not only was I stuffed with deliciousness, but we learned about the history of the neighborhood and its shifts and turns through the last fifty or so years.We also perused the local grocery stores stocking up on vietnamese staples, feasting our eyes on strange fruit. My mission on ending fruit racism has become a little more complicated now :)

BLONDE BADASS

2011-07-05T13:44:00.000-07:00

I shot this right before I left for my meditation excursion (stand by for super long post)

worked with the fabulous women (Brandon Frein, Arlene Matthews) from 203040.net, some fantastic hair n makeup by Chrisondra Boyd (ford), and the intelligent, funny and fun model Kel (factor women)

The concept came to fruition because I had to go out of town and didnt have much time to fart around with retouching and studio setup and niceties (yep, the lazy approach works sometimes). so we decided, shoot it raw, punk rock, black and white, gritty, put a little "fuckit" in it, et voila!!

BLONDE BADASS

2011-07-05T13:31:00.001-07:00

MEDITATION BOOT CAMP

2011-07-04T07:32:00.000-07:00

In usual Erika manner, I hurled myself into a petri dish of experiment of self-determination and exploration, a thing in which I now call... meditation boot camp. It seems like life, or at least mine, is a culmination of experiences quantifying to a now 38 year portfolio of experiments defining who I am.

Last month I decided to sign myself up for a doozie of venture , which I now call, meditation boot camp, formally known as Vipassana meditation.

Heres the deal ... 10 days - no technology whatsoever (cell phone, computer, ipod, etc. etc) no journals, no books, nothing whatsoever, on top of this, no exercise, no skipping, no running, no yoga. and the cherry on top is NO TALKING. yep, thats right, no speaking in any way shape or form the entire time, no gestures, no eye contact, no sign language, just plain no interacting with any other human being on any level. This actually felt refreshing to me. no need for social graces, no apologies, no excuse mes, no listening to someone babble on, no listening to myself babble on etc etc. fuckin silence!!

In my trusting manner, I said OK. I didn’t really think really hard about the schedule that was presented on the website that I would be meditating for about 11 hours a day and getting about 5-6 hours sleep. This rigorous schedule didn’t hit home until day 3 when I was transforming into a walking zombie.

Upon the first sitting at 4:30am, I settled myself on my little pillowed spot I was assigned to and thus the meditation began. We were given instruction on where to direct our mind for a few minutes and one of the directives encourages you to move as little as possible, as moving distracts the mind and also is a sign that you are succumbing to your inner chatter.

It is quite an eerie feeling to be in a dimly lit room with about 40 people sitting in silence. It becomes a little less eerie when you start hearing the sounds of humanness. Burps (a guy burped every ten minutes) , farts (less sound, more smell), swallowing (I couldn’t stop swallowing), coughs, knees cracking, ankles popping, shifting fabric, nails scratching skin became the soundtrack of my 10 day enlightenment. Partnering these sounds was the visual representation of peoples pain created with piles of carefully arrange pillows in order to support knees, back, hips, etc etc. After day 3 I decided to scan the room after a sitting to see what each persons stations looked like, as mine looked like a mini nest. Amongst the little pods of pillows peol had towered a 3 foot sculpture of pillows stacked to look like a sort of demented couch, this poor woman was suffering indeed!

Like a good little girl, I didn’t budge for an hour and a half for my first sitting, then a recording of a froglike chanting man came on, chanting incomprehensible croaks, which seemed like an eternity, not stopping going on and on and on. I forgot to mention the side effects of sitting still for that long. It is the most excruciating pain I have ever experienced in my entire life. My knees were going to explode, the muscles in my back to pop out and that I was carrying a cannon on each shoulder.

The culmination of the croaking and the searing pain in my body lead to a building noxious feeling. i thought OH SHIT! IM GONNA VOMIT, then the black curtain of passing out was creeping in,I thought JESUS! IM ABOUT TO FAINT! An intense sound filled my head, sounding like waves crashing with the volume cranked to maximum, and suddenly my body was covered with clammy sweat from head to toe, I was drenched, an finally my innards started to turn, I thought, OH FUCK! IM GONNA SHIT ALL OVER THIS MEDITATION HALL! then everything stopped and I felt and heard nothing and sat there in a complete and still void.

WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!!?!! I immediately signed up to talk to the teacher where you have a mere 10 minutes a day for a private talk. I was ushered into a tiny room where the frail and nun-like teachers assistant sat cross legged on her pedestal. In my most polite and held back way as possible I asked WTF just happened she said "ah, it is working already" I thought, uh what’s "it". Well, It turns out that this wasn’t “it” working, it was actually a panic attack.

Like a clan of drones, we would silently convene 3 times a day in the cafeteria room which was the highest form of entertainment, EATING!!! Like a bunch of mutes, we sat at our table ignoring each other as the cacophony of utensils clinking on plates and crunching sounds of teeth moshing on apples filled the room. I felt like I was in an insane asylum as I folded my lipton tea wrapper into random origami shapes observing the eating habits of the woman sitting across from me, watching how she made piles of rice, and sections of veggies, and how she would get a second helping of rice and then use her spoon like a knife to push the food onto her fork and dip it into her concoction for soy sauce and cayenne pepper.

In the evenings was an hour discourse from Mr S.N. Goenka was played to us on two screens at the front of the room explaining the Buddhas philosophies and how this particular meditation is the technique that the Buddha taught himself. Many great positive life lessons about being in the moment were talked about, but every now and again I would hear messages discerning that if we didn’t practice this particular meditation, wed most likely die in misery. Or messages like, “if you leave now, you may suffer the consequences” or “the more you move, the more you are succumbing to the negative parts of your life” or “you must practice this two hours a day at home or you will not be on the path” or “ you should donate your time to the vipassana meditation center and volunteer to serv on others retreats” these little tidbits were fed to us with more frequency as we became weaker and more vulnerable due to the lack of sleep and interaction with the outside world and sitting still for 11 hours a day. These little nuggets stood out to me and I became defiant and angry. I realized OH SHIT!!! THIS IS A CULT!! Just like other very successful cult of Landmark Forums, Scientology, and basically religion itself, laced with nuggets of fear and threats about having a life of misery... Sigh, I JUST wanted to learn how to meditate goddamnit!!

BUT… the meditation technique rocked. Basically, your mind becomes more and more sharpened to sensations and you begin scanning your piece by piece, part by part, creating these vibrations of sensation wherever your mind is focusing. These body scans felt very relaxing and soothing. Most of the times though, the mind became so loud with thoughts, repeating, growing , going down dark roads, pornographic roads, creative roads, creating scenarios, reverting back to your childhood, propelling forward to the future, and theses thoughts became more and more exaggerated as the days went on. I realized how loud our minds are when we shut up.

On the morning of the last day, the veil finally lifted, and we were able to speak, but yet we weren’t allowed to touch anyone. I found this to be a tease and absolutely silly. We all chatted for hours about our experienced, some people were bleary eyed and had drunk the koolaid fully having a haunting smile that looked like they were brainwashed, some were more realistic like myself and had a sense of humor about the whole thing. I formed some close bonds with certain people and I am proud to say that I gravitate towards healthy minded people. (at least I think so).

I did come away with a great epiphany form this entire adventure. I saw in the entirety of my life as a series of extreme tests of pain and difficulty, ranging from being a dancer, to choosing one of the more intense yoga practices for 5 years, to attempting to be a kung fu artist for 7 years, and them pushing myself to perfection in my work then signing myself up for this intense meditation seminar, fearing failure, fearing inferiority, fearing myself as I am.

I come away with a new compassion and tenderness for myself, I don’t have to put myself through this kind of extremeness. I am fine, I am good just right now as I am. I can exercise and meditate and dance and kung fu, but but I don’t have to ACHIEVE, I can just be.

YUMMEROO

2011-07-01T14:28:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back I went to my friend Sonias house and she made me a fennel salad and it was the bombdiggity. She marinated a red onion in lemon juice and shave a ton of fennel in there with cracked pepper and salt , was that it Sonia???

I forgot about this ignored veggie, at least I was ignoring it. I must be a veggie racist as well.

Apparently it is great for the intestinal tract, it reduces bloating and intestinal problems and intestinal stress. It is also said to help eyesight and it an effective diuretic. WOW!!

And guess what?? Its delicious!

I made this salad yesterday and had it with sauteed scallops breaded with roasted seaweed and breadcrumbs.

FENNEL SALAD

1/2 - fennel bulb

2 celery stalks

1 apple

1 green onion

the juice of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon of lemon rind

1 tbspn olive oil

salt

pepper

Cut the fennel into thin shavings - if you have a mandoline, even better!!!

Do the same with the celery and apple and green onion.

Put in a bowl. Add the lemon juice and lemon rind, oil, salt pepper.

Toss

Thats it!!!

I imagine this would be delicious on a pork sammich too!! wooo. or serve with fish, or whatever man.

YOU CAN COOK STUPID!!

2011-06-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

You may be stupid, but dammnit, you can cook!!
You don't have to be a foodie, you don't need tons of ingredients, or special tools! Just a sock puppet, a captain america mask and a little profanity!

Lil Erika puts on her super hero mask and lil Marc slaps on his chefs hat to make a simple and healthy cabbage slaw.

It was such a joy working with my brother on this short skit as it is the first project that he and I have worked together on in our adult life. I am so proud of us being so close and and making hilariousness together!

We hope to make a gazbillion more!!

An infinite thanks for Brian Schilling for directing and assembling a crew to make it come to fruition. and of cours a great thank you to all the contributors! LIL ERIKA LOVES YA!!

jellooo

2011-06-13T14:39:00.001-07:00

I AM THE UNEDUCATED

2011-05-24T06:41:00.000-07:00

I recently witnessed a conversation that made me ponder. Basically the gist of the dialogue was a dicussion of why each party reads the paper and the inner turmoil of getting the newspaper and not reading it and then canceling subscriptions and then having a great pull to know the news etc. to reengage a subscription. the statement that caused an internal reaction was this "I dont want to be one of those uneducated"

well...it turns out that I am one of these uneducated. YAY ME!!

this is what I am going to say about this.

I have spent so many years listening to people talk politics, debate, go back and forth, sitting at a coffee table with long dissertations of whos doing what, who killed who, why this is doing what to who, how much we are surrounded by our own gluttony, how fucked we are environmentally, how much we are destroying the planet, what corrupt asshole has taken over whatever country, what other corrupt asshole has managed to pull a financial fast one thousands of peeps, what laws are fucking us now, how much quicker we are going to die, what movies star fucked which and is now having a baby with whomever else, which country will kill us all first, how many thousands of people are dying of starvation or are dying of diabetes, how many guns we have, how we are overpopulated, how fat we are, whose sexier and skinnier than you, who has more money, and then the cherry on top how much anxiety we have.

Witnessing this dialogue being incessantly volleyed continuously makes me wonder, does sitting around this table comparing notes and dropping names and headlines help? what benefit is this dialogue doing? are solutions being made? are plans being drawn up to work on this? NO i dont think I have ever heard of any solution-based political discussions. This is my observations, as the conversations escalate, voices raise and speech speeds up, faces turn red, people interrupt to get their snippet of knowledge in, then more interruption to counter that interruption, volume goes up more, then an overall sense of weakness, helplessness, and then exhaustion and resentment of the world. then you go home and try to sleep.

If only I could have heart rates measured during these discussions, it would be a fascinating experiment.

if being uneducated means not reading the news, well, this retard is happy to be uneducated.

an added bit of feedback from a wise soul : only people who are affraid of being uneducated or seen as stupid feel a MUST NEED to keep up with current events

NINJA SPEAKS

2011-05-19T12:02:00.002-07:00

NINJA INVITES YOU TO SAY HELLO

FRUIT RACIST

2011-05-13T10:51:00.000-07:00

Are you a fruit racist?

I bet you are. I bet that you would never dare buy that fruit who you havent bothered to find out what its name is, and take it home with you and sample some of its tastiness. I bet you sneer at that fruit as you passby it, and go for that safe banana or apple.

I know I have been, and still am a fruit racist. I am afraid of these foreign fruit. what if they smell like fart when I cut into them? what if i take a bite and its disgusting? I will be sad also if I buy this foreign thing and had expectations of greatness and it wasn't what I thought, or i didn't know what to do with it. and I ate it the wrong way and have deep shame.

I declare that I will try to sample a fruit before I dismiss it.

END FRUIT RACISM!

MELTING IN MY CHAIR WITH CUTE

2011-05-11T12:07:00.000-07:00

Stream videos at Ustream

TEENY MESSAGE

2011-05-09T21:26:00.000-07:00

smile with your brain

NINJA BELIEF

2011-05-03T18:07:00.000-07:00

FILTERAGE TEST

2011-04-27T17:35:00.000-07:00

I cant decide what I like. just puttn it up.

MCDUFOUR TAKIN OVAH

2011-04-22T12:22:00.001-07:00

this one is where Grand and Chicago meet - spotted by moi - I get a hug

Ashland and Augusta spotted by Brian Schilling - I now owe you two hugs

Heres some mOOOOOOre!

WHATS OPERA DOC?

2011-04-21T17:15:00.000-07:00

Just finished shooting the beautiful Opera singer Nicole Cabell. What a treat indeed, such an elegant, lovely, kind woman.

I added the type, just to envision it as an album cover.

here she is on the tube of you so you get an idea of her awesomeness.

PEEPEL COMEDY

2011-04-20T22:42:00.000-07:00

Tonight I was driving home and I had to stop and stare. I was at the corner of Grand and Leavitt overlooking Grand Street Gardens and I noticed movement that didn't seem like it fit in that place....

There was a dude with a red hoodie rolling round on top of the stacked bags of mulch/dirt/whatever. he then stood up and hurled himself on top of the bags like a pro wrestler and rolled around, face downward smooshed into the stacked bags. this happened for five minutes and I just watched.

I tell ya, life is like a movie sometimes. perfect comedy placed in the perfect moments.

MCDUFOUR IN THE HIZZY

2011-04-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

spot a McDufour billboard, take a photo n send it to me, tell me where you saw it, and Ill give you a .... a...a HUG!!!!

Spotted by Renne Delgado at Montrose and Pulaski

this ones on Pandora -submitted by melinda Meyers (my intern)
Submitted by Brian Schilling

this ones on Western and Logan

thanks to and insanely fun set of clients at Burnett - seriously laughed my ass off repeatedly

thanks to the faboo crew

Producer: Monica Zaffarano

Digi Tech: Brian Schilling

1st Assist: Bob Wolgemuth

2nd Assist: Ben Rodig

Wardrobe: Liz Klafeta

Hair N Makeup : Cindy Adams

Manicurist: Cenita Scott

DJ: Eric Hillman (fig Media)

ZIPPITYDOODAH WOOO

2011-04-18T10:37:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, I was a fortunate passenger in a Zipcar. I was puttering around, scoping out the innards of this rented auto, keeping myself occupied, whereupon, I opened the glove compartment. In there was a pair of glasses, and a TGI Fridays coupon folded in half, and behold, there was a mini ZIP lock baggie with substance that looked like oregano. I said out loud "is this what I think it is??" upon further investigation, it was indeed a sac of Cannabis, TGI Saturday!!!! We both looked at each other and said "duuuude".

I zoomed back in my mind to the last time I smoked this substance, I clearly remember the feeling of paranoia, fear, insecurity, shame, wanting to get the fuck out of wherever I was, and also the inability to speak in words, and the oddest feeling of a smile on my lips but the feeling of utter panic inside. I also realized that my self image wasn't super duper intact back then, a little wobbly on the self esteem legs, like a newborn lamb.

We decided to put the zippy from the zip in my bag, considering pitching the stuff, but had to marinate on it for a moment.

I hadn't realized that I could laugh so hard where my stomach would hurt and I would lose the ability to use my legs from such laughter. I had the epiphany that this was a great marketing ploy for Zip cars, pretty genius actually!

This little gem from the Universe was a test, to prove to me the transformation of my self esteem from rocky to rock solid, I passed the test with flying colors.

THANKS ZIPCARS!

BEAUTY

2011-04-11T15:08:00.000-07:00

sometimes it takes a little help to keep your branches healthy

WISHMAKING

2011-04-11T13:28:00.000-07:00

oh great ones of the universe, send me on more magnificent missions, to magnificent places, continuing this magnificent experiment

BLABBER MOUTH

2011-04-08T20:04:00.000-07:00

Do you find yourself confronted with people that are cronic advice givers?

Do you find yourself bewildered by the lack of compassion and understanding from these people and their inability to just shut up and listen?

Something to notice about these people that is consistent without fail.

THE CRONIC ADVICE GIVERS HAVE THE MOST FUCKED UP LIVES

FACE PAINT

2011-04-06T13:01:00.001-07:00

Meet Amanda, she likes to look soft and pretty, but also, she likes to let loose and go bananaz. witness the faces of Amanda. Thanks to Sharon Casey for the bombastic makeup transformations.

FAREWELL

2011-03-30T22:31:00.000-07:00

Today I learned the a young neighbor of mine at work died in a car accident. this stopped my innards to a halt and created a wash of a void inside. It is so finite , there was no big grand music crescendo, there was no big hoopla, she disappeared into the night and that was it, she was gone. Of course she left her impact on others, her loved ones, her friends, her foes, her work companions, all of the people she shared her vibration with on this planet, and now she left the remaining impact of her death.

For me, the impact is of course great sadness, a chill of reality of how really fragile we are, the realization of how easy the warmth of life turns off, the gratefulness I feel for still being warm, and also the joy I feel for having such a crazy awesome life.

so abby, you had great courage for being a human, for being here, for being, i bid you farewell, you did a great job!

YOUR A SPEC

2011-03-30T18:37:00.001-07:00

Carmeleeyezed

2011-03-29T15:30:00.001-07:00

Carmelised onion and carmelised tomato soup with curried croutons.
1 large onion
8 vine tomatoes
1 red pepper
1/4 c vermouth
1/2 c heavy cream
1.5 c chicken broth
Olive oil
Grapeseed oil
Stale bread
Curry
Sea salt
Pepper

Cut up the onion and sautee in a pot on low heat with grapeseed oil.
Slice the tomatoes into 1/4" slices. Heat up the olive oil in a large nonstick pan. Lay the tomatoes so each slice lays flat. Do not stir. Sautee until one side browns then flip. You may need to do two round of this since theres alot of tomatoes.
Dont forget the onions! Give em a stir. Theyll take 30 mins to carmelise. Meanwhile, burn/roast the peppr on an open flame aka put the red pepper directly over the burner flame and let it burn baby! Turn it till its black all over then put it in a plastic bag and seal.
Once the onions are carmelised, deglaze the onion pan with the vermouth aka put the vermouth in the onion pan and scrape the brown bits from the pan with a wooden spoon. Dump the tomatoes in with he onions. Do round 2 of tomatoes if necessary. Deglaze tomatoe pan with half of the chicken broth. Dump that with the onions n tomatoes. Oh yeah! The red pepper! Take that dude out of the bag and scrape off the burnt black, cut him open amd scrape out the seeds. Chop into rough bits. Dump tomato/onion/red pepper/and remaining chicken broth in a blender. Pulse 2-4 times to keep some texture and not to puree completely. Put everything back in the pot, add the cream salt n pepper to taste.

SHOE OF DEATH

2011-03-20T16:21:00.000-07:00

heels dont just provide height

PIXEL VIOLENCE

2011-03-17T16:17:00.000-07:00

BAMBOO HIGHRISE

2011-03-04T17:26:00.000-08:00

This is scaffolding in Hong Kong. It's all bamboo. Technology n cranes, meh, dont need em.

NEW USES FOR JUNK FOOD

2011-03-03T17:04:00.000-08:00

YES! I ADMIT IT! I TASTED THE TWINKIE! SO WHAT!! ... the zinger too ... my head hangs in shame.

DEEPLY THINKING...LITERALLY

2011-03-02T17:56:00.000-08:00

SCHWA DRAMA

2011-02-24T11:04:00.000-08:00

MORE PHOTOS

Last night I went to Schwa. If you dont know about this place, it falls in the same camp as Alinea, but its a more punk rock underground version of such, decore is raw and gritty and not much time and energy was wasted on the rooms looks. I dig this, I dont need to be floated on and interior decorated cloud of luxury.

I couldn't help but watch the human behavior and interaction between clientele and staff in this evenings celebrations. heres what I saw:

waitstaff - aloof greasy haired dudes that give off the air of "I dont give a fuck about what you think", this immediately reminded me of high school days when my brother took me to these weird punk rock parties in someones basement and people milled about acting cool and shaving each others heads and getting high. This aloof attitude triggers something in the customer, which is a desperate plea, "please like me, Ill start saying fucked up things to seem cool and get your attention".

The food comes, interesting stuff, interesting ingredients. I get thrown a bit by the aloof naming of the dish example "pork belly infused with .... you put it in your face, whatever"

Theres a window to the back and you see the dudes back there drinking shots, walking quickly with a look of fear and utter exhaustion in their eyes and a thin glaze of nervous sweat coating their pale grey faces. this is fascinating to me.

Halfway through the dinner is when twists and turns became more dramatic, more and more sexual innuendoes are dropped, etc etc. Throughout the whole night, hiphop music and heavy metal is being played and it seemed to me as if someone in the kitchen needed a jolt of some kind of energy to continue. The volume was cranked to maximum with a lovely death metal tune with the lyrics chanting "KILL YOUR MOTHER" repeatedly for what seemed to be an eternity as I am enjoying my porkbelly with butterscotch, persimmons, and radichio. Sure, whatever, why not, I guess, really?

I understand the sentiment of the restaurant, "we are anarchists and dont want to succumb ourselves to the fine dining etiquette, and we just wanna make delicious food and we wanna do it our way, fuck the man!!" I get it, meh.

SUNDAY PONTIFFICATIONS

2011-02-20T15:32:00.001-08:00

The phrase "in the highly unlikely event" came up in my mind today and I started to think, hey, everything is a highly unlikely event, is it not? the fact that the human race exists was highly unlikely event. I believe that that phrase is bullshit. its a lie used to make people feel better that bad shit wont happen to them, a lie to make us feel better that all will be roses. If you watch the news, highly unlikely events are happening minute by minute.

I know that most of my life has turned out to be a tremendous series of highly unlikely events. Some were good, some miraculous, some bad, but all would have been predicted as highly unlikely events. I know people who have lost loved ones, who have achieved greatness, who have battled internal struggles who have lost, and some who have won, some who have risen beyond ever imagined, all unlikely events.

It is almost a comfort to know that it is likely that unlikely events are and will continue to happen, and also, it is these highly likely unlikely events that teach us the most.

BRING IT!

AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

2011-02-12T13:56:00.000-08:00

In all my years in living in the city, to be exact, since 1992, I have NEVER, used a lawn chair or crate to reserve my parking spot in the city sludges and snow drifts. This last snow explosion in Chicago was the first time ever I deigned to toss a lawn chair to reserve my spot which was shoveled out by myself and generous neighbors. I must say though, i have also NEVER taken anyones spot that was reserved.

All was fine and dandy until a few nights ago, I got home and a Honda was sitting in my dug out spot. I had a little puff of anger, but let it be. I parked in an illegal spot hoping not to get towed and just crossed my fingers. The following morning, the guilty party had left for their daily duties, but forgot to reserve the spot, leaving it open to any other parking vultures circling the block. I replaced the chair to make sure I had my spot back at the end of the day.

That night, Honda was back, in my spot again with chair once again removed and set aside.

I originally thought a little note would do the trick to let this lazy bum know what was up, but alas, a more brilliant idea came to be.

My mission was to clear a new parking spot for myself, to make a very clear and succinct point, and lastly, to get a bit of exercise. I think it worked.

Within two hours I built an igloo over Honda. Its not a very sculptural one, but a more abstract deconstructed version. I am pretty darn proud of my work as my car sits nearby in its freshly cleared spot with a view of the transplanted snow piled high on Honda.

In this photo there is one element missing. At the end of my work, I thoughtfully placed the chair on top of the heaped car to "reserve" the spot. The following morning, I watched the blonde culprit sit in her car like a lump, she stayed in her car for a while as I circled the block walking the dog, and returned to see her take the lawn chair and trudge her ass back home stealing the lawn chair as a trophy of defeat.

FASHION ASSYLUM

2011-02-12T13:18:00.000-08:00

Check out the creepy editorial fashion shoot that the ladies at TWENTYTHIRTYFORTY.NET collaborated on. Hair and Makeup done by the ever so wonderful Sharon Casey

THE OTHER MAN

2011-02-03T13:28:00.000-08:00

Maybe this is the better man?? In response to the comment about my only using Viva, that is correct. Its the only paper towel that behaves like a paper towel.

THE PERFECT MAN

2011-01-30T15:25:00.001-08:00

GEEE, I wonder who their target market is....

CABBITY DOO DAH

2011-01-28T16:09:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been fascinated with cabbies and their stories, where they came from, what brought them to the US, how they adjusted to these lands, what being a cabbie is like. On Tuesday morning I had a great conversation with this cabbie Ahmad. He was telling me the constant plight to keep his cab clean as they get ticketed $75 if they get caught with a dirty cab. I asked him where he came from.

He came from Pakistan 15 years ago and told me that his first job in the states was at Dunkin Doughnuts. Ahmad had never had a doughnut in his life and here he was being handed a sac of these fried goodies every night and was told he could have as many as he wanted. This became his breakfast, lunch and dinner and soon weighed almost 300 pounds. I could barely believe this story because this guy driving the cab was a thin 160 lb fellow. For 8 years he sold Dougnuts until his doctor told him he had to quit because he couldnt breathe and it was hard for him to move. He made a move, but alas, he ended up working at Pizza Hut, not a great change. The weight stayed on so a new plan had to be made.

Finally he got a job at Ohare and started losing weight, as he changed his diet entirely as well, no carbs, no sugar, mostly veggies and a little meat.

Apparently, that was too much moving (dont know why) and alas he became a cabbie.

I worry about this dude, he told me he drinks 35 cups of coffee every day. SOMEONE has an addictive personality, no??

This is the funny part, we traded business cards and the following day I got a call from a stranger telling me that he was in front of my building and was told by his cabbie that he would get a great massage. eh?????

so...I dont know if Ahmads story was all bullshit, but I still think it was funny.

what a funny world we live in :)

I LITE

2011-01-27T13:58:00.001-08:00

Thanks Progear for lending me new fun tools to play around with! If you photogz are interested in using a constant daylight balanced light source, these HMIs are fun fun fun! I was using the 400 jokers which were a perfect to mix with available sunlight.

WHOLE FOOD BAR

2011-01-15T19:54:00.000-08:00

Today Sonia n I went to the big ole grand Whole Foods. It was packed with weekend shoppers, hangin out, doing their thang, hunting for foods of healthy organic caliber. We got a little lunch snack and decided to sit on the upper deck overlooking the massive food bar and began observing peoples paths around this overwhelming food smorgasbord. The amount of time people take wandering and trying to figure out which delicious thing to dish up was way longer than expected, at least ten minutes. People seemed overwhelmed by the amounts of great food. I then started zoning in on the mac and cheese. This is clearly the most desired thing of all, there was a clear struggle for the health nuts to back away from this delicious creamy cheesy dish. The behaviour was as such, do a lap around the healthy cold dish bar, then then slow down the speed upon arriving the hot food bar, a long long long pause at the mac and cheese. I could almost see the dialogue going on in these peoples heads
" oh my god, that looks so fucking good I could eat the whole thing... but I just worked out and ran on the treadmill for an hour ... maybe I could just have a little, a little wouldn't hurt ... but Im trying to eat better now so I don't feel so tired and I don't wanna get fat ... man that delicious golden crust on top is making me salivate ... fuck, Ill just get a salad ... I don't want a salad, but Ill get a salad.. sigh" and then they go to the salad bar and get a boring box ful of lettuce n stuff. This behavior happened repeatedly. BUT then, a shift happened, when one person dove into the mac and cheese, then a rash of folk filled their containers with mac and cheese. is this permission? is this getting a green light? more trips to whole foods for observation sessions to figure this out.

THEN the entertainment arrived. A woman in a cheetah hat and coat prowled around the food bar, filling up a mini ketchup cup with food repeatedly and eating it right there on the spot, she was having a feast! She plopped a chicken wing in her itty bitty ketchup cup and ate the thing right in front of the employee twice. She swept around the food bar filling her cup at least ten times with no shame, bumping people out of her way. Finally, she decided to do the "right thing" and fill real container and put a little in there so she could pay for it, she sauntered over to the registers, and paid for her little salad. BUT, she then came back to the food bar and added more to her box. a bonafide food buffet robber! THEN, her friend came buy and guess what she was wearing? A cheetah head scarf and cheetah boots.

AWESOME!! way more entertaining than TV!

ITS A CHOICE

2011-01-15T19:41:00.000-08:00

I believe that every human is radiant and brilliant, but many are either afraid of showing it, or don't know how to show it.

GUESS WHO???

2011-01-14T09:24:00.001-08:00

Guess who I shot on tuesday.

WHAT SHE SAID

2011-01-10T15:09:00.000-08:00

DA LADEEZ IN DA HIZEEEE

2011-01-06T14:07:00.000-08:00

THE GREAT WHITE NORTH

2011-01-05T14:11:00.000-08:00

For the Holidays, I migrated back to my place of origin, Quebec City Canada. A fun activity I had never done before is go snowshoeing escorted by my uncle Charles at his cabin on Lake St Joseph. We geared up with layers, snow pants, big boots, heat packs in our gloves (at least mine cause im a wimp) and off we went, crossing the icey lake. It was beautiful, peaceful, and serene.

MORE WHITENESS

2011-01-05T14:08:00.000-08:00

SEA NATURE

2010-12-27T00:55:00.000-08:00

GUESS WHO???

2010-12-13T15:22:00.000-08:00

Guess who I shot today! Here are a few hints.

THE BOYS ROCKED IT : FINALLY

2010-12-10T15:03:00.000-08:00

Here is the final story on the School of Rock featured in CS this month!
The fantastic writer Matt got us in the CS so these kids could get some mag facetime.
Thanks Matt for coming to the shoot and making these kids feel awesome. All in all, a great story!

PEACE IN THE PARK

2010-12-10T14:37:00.000-08:00

A friend who frequents Japan sent this information to me after seeing my last post of sleeping Japanese, always learning, always growing. THANKS KEN!

“Chapter Four: Communicating with the Japanese” of Culture Shock! Japan: A guide to Customs and Etiquette by Rex Shelley:

“Sleeping in Front of You”

“You will be surprised to see some of the Japanese at a business meeting with their arms folded and their eyes shut as though they are sleeping while you are talking to them. They are not doing this to insult you. The common explanation is that they find it easier to understand someone speaking in English if they close their eyes, because they can cut out the visual distractions and concentrate only on the sounds. It is of course true that closing their eyes prevents them from reading your western body-language incorrectly. If the man who is apparently sleeping is of a higher status to the others at the meeting, he may be showing his subordinates that he has confidence in them and is leaving them to handle the matter without imposing his authority on them. The Japanese generally shut their eyes when there is a need to think deeply, as some westerners shut their eyes in prayer or meditation.

“But without a doubt many an executive who has been up late the night before, entertaining a customer, drops off to sleep in the midst of his deep thinking! The Japanese seem to be capable of sleeping almost anywhere. Women have a strong sense of modesty in their sleeping position. Girls must curl their bodies into the modest dignified character Kinjo, which means spirit of control.”

SMOKING IS COOL

2010-12-08T14:28:00.001-08:00

OK, I know smoking is bad for you and it really isnt that cool, but I think this guy looks frikkin cool. I wish I could be disheveled and scruffy and be that cool.

These shots are of a chestnut roaster in Hong Kong. The chestnuts were delicious, warm, some tasted sweet, others more bitter, it was a surprise with each warm nut that was cracked open.

I SHOT VIDEO, SO THERE

2010-12-08T09:40:00.001-08:00

This is a necklace designed by the lovely Anne Chikahisa. I own this piece and it goes with everything.

PURDY PURDY PURDY

2010-12-07T13:06:00.001-08:00

Wanna look hot for the holidays and look like you have classy taste? Wanna have a beautifully decorated home that doesnt look like frikkin Ikea? Here are two good places to look at!
Here is the latest installment of pictures shot for twentythirty.net, amazing stylish clothes for the fashion freaky girl.

The location and furniture was provided by Revision Home whose entire collection are pieces from the past reworked, refinished, fixed up in order to be given a new life.

PURDY PURDY PURDY 2

2010-12-07T12:49:00.000-08:00

FOOD FREAK-OUT

2010-12-03T21:13:00.000-08:00

SONIA N I FREAK THE FUCK OUT ON AVOCADO CRACKER INVENTION. This started with a simple idea, somehow it frankensteined into avaocado cube deconstructed panko jalepano something??? see diagram.

SWEATY BEAUTY

2010-12-03T17:05:00.000-08:00

HOW YOU LIKE YOUR EGGS?

2010-12-02T18:36:00.001-08:00

I have been conducting a survey lately about what a perfectly cooked egg is. This has turned out to be a sensitive topic for quite a few people, it seems as if there is so much passion about what a perfectly cooked egg is.

Some people have great fear and aversion of liquidous egg matter, there also seems to be different levels of acceptable liquidous egg matter. One person claimed the yolk to be "liquid chicken" and cannot stand eggs in any form other than scrambled, not quiche or anything, just scrambled.

Others mention that they don't mind eggs in any form but then they passionately describe in incredible detail what texture the yolk should or shouldn't be - sunnyside with a little liquid white, over easy with a runny yolk, over medium, over hard, scrambled soft, scrambled hard, poached easy, poached medium, poached hard, soft boiled, medium boiled, hard boiled, how much butter is used for frying, how much crispiness of the whites is appropriate, yold broken or not, the list goes on!

There is also much debate over what an over medium egg is, what is the texture, what is the liquid versus solid ratio.

I was at a party and there literally was an argument that ensued. I stood by and was fascinated. I suggest if you are at party or in a situation where the conversation is as boring as fuck, ask people what a perfectly cooked egg is, be sure not to interrupt and validate why it is such perfection to them, also observe others squirming in their seats wanting to chime in to tell them how wrong they are.

What is it about the egg that triggers such a reaction?

In case you want to know, my perfectly cooked egg is a medium boiled egg, the yolk has a perfect consistency of a yellow paste with a tiny dot of liquid in the epicenter, the egg is still warm and capped off at the top, using a spoon to scoop out the perfection that has been sprinkled with cracked pepper and sea salt.

MORE WORK IN JAPAN

2010-12-01T14:49:00.000-08:00

HARD WORK IN JAPAN

2010-12-01T14:41:00.000-08:00

I was at a business conference in Japan, and this is what I saw. SLEEPY JAPANESE. I have to say that at lease half the crowd was dozing off. I asked later about this to some Japanese folk, and they told me that this was normal and almost expected, in fact, it would be weird if it didnt happen. I found it amusing in a cute way, and I felt sympathetic to these people who obviously need more sleep in their lives.

SCIENCE AND SLEEP:

Circadian disruptions through frequent transmeridian travel, rotating shift work, and poor sleep hygiene are associated with an array of physical and mental health maladies, including marked deficits in human cognitive function. Despite anecdotal and correlational reports suggesting a negative impact of circadian disruptions on brain function.

CUT LIKE A KNIFE

2010-11-22T12:47:00.001-08:00

I just returned from Japan and one of my favorite outings was on my first day to Tsukiji fish market which is the largest wholesale fish market in the world. This place was insaaane! It was a vast endless beehive of activity. restaurant owners buying fish, workers hauling fish. in this market there was also a knife shop, it stopped me in my tracks, I thought to myself, "I have been looking for the perfect knife, alas, it has presented itself to me". The owners of the shop carved my name into the blade and it is a thing of beauty.

CUT LIKE A KNIFE

2010-11-22T12:22:00.001-08:00

NINJA PERSPECTIVE

2010-11-01T13:56:00.001-07:00

EPIPHANY

2010-10-24T06:38:00.000-07:00

We suffer in order to learn compassion

CHINA HAUNTS RETURN

2010-10-21T17:30:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite stories from my trip to China in 2006 is my Kill bill like adventure. During the entire trip, I kept looking for Kung Fu schools in the cities that I visited, and somehow, all of the kung fu schools had been replaced with basketball courts. Yep, basketball. WTF? right? China, the home of Jet Li and Jackie Chan etc etc. Finally after two weeks if traveling, I am in a city called Dali, which is set in the mountains pretty close to Tibet. Walking along the old streets of this town, I come across a poster with a dude doing a badass high kick, doing kung fu, and the poster indicates that he teaches kung fu. BINGO!! I go in the store and ask about where this dude is and he hand over a business card with a weeeeeeeeeee little map on the back. Doesnt look that far, so why not??

An hour later after climbing a mountain via mountain bike, which Ive given up on, there is a dude with long hair and his American girlfriend tells me that kung fu class is about to begin. I say fuckit!! My ex husband finds himself a friend that is getting high and goes to get stoned, and I attend a two hour kung fu class (remember I just climbed a frikkin mountain). I did 3-4 days of kung fu in the mountain and it was my favorite part of the trip (ex husband was happy too cause he was getting high off his gourd, and YES, I judged him and obviously still do).

I kept that tiny business card on my fridge for the last 4 years and alas, the universe has delivered me the kung fu master. He came to visit last weekend and stayed with me, here are some picks to prove it. There are a ton more, but this is what I worked on today.

Thank you Xuan Yun for the Tai Chi lessons. here is a link to his WEBSITE

UNITY AT LAST

2010-10-20T20:22:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I achieved a really important goal in my life.

The goal was for my gut feeling and my mind to operate as one. Neither one is fighting with the other any more.

I feel such peace and resolve by this union, it is like a marriage of the two that have always meant to be together.

STRANGE DAILY EVENTS

2010-10-13T17:11:00.001-07:00

I didnt realize that looking for a bookkeeper could be so comically complex and strange.

Victoria (my studio manager) and I drive downtown and are running late to our appointment with a highly recommended bookeeper and accountant. We call to confirm and tell them we are running 5 mins late, they say OK. Vikki drops me off (michigan ave) and I rush to the 15th floor. I enter and get promptly escorted to the fake leather couch, FOX news is clicked on the TV to pacify me while I wait. The baseball shaped bowl next to me is filled with chocolate mint candies wrapped with $100,000 screen printed wrappers. Surrounding the TV, which is talking about terrorist and death and good ole FOX news banter, is an array of chatchkes, a Frank Sinatra plastic doll, bears hats, tinsel, teady bears, and other random things strewn about that dont make any sense. I also must add that it smells like musty brown shag carpet.

While I am waiting I notice on the door that not only does this place provide accounting and bookkeeping services, they also do passport photos as I simultaneously notice a Polaroid tab on the couch next to me, I think to myself, "this doesn't make any congruent sense". Soon after, a group of 3 foreign people come in and are greeted by an other office person that looks like a Scooby Doo character. He is square bodied with square glasses, and has 70s style auburn hair that fits like a wavy helmet on his head.

Victoria walks in and looks at me, I look at her back and I shrug my shoulders, she does the same and squeezes next to me as the rest of the couch is crowded with passport picks people waiting their turn. In walk in 2 more immigrant-like folk. We are all crammed in this tiny couch, shag, Sinatra, fox news area. Mr. Scooby Doo pulls out a polaroid contraption attached to a long extension chord which is being pulled across our feet. Scooby Doo lines up his first victim on the wall and stands at our feet shooting polaroids, I look at the first subject and she has her finest hair and makeup job on. Bright pink lips sharply lined with maroon lip liner, a good amount of mascara to accentuate her dark eyes, and big dangly white earrings that pop against her darker complexion.

I finally think to myself or maybe out loud to Vikki (I dont remember) "What the fuck is going on?" Vikki boldly stands up and shuffles past Scooby Doo as he is passing out polaroids and collecting cash, she inquires about our appointment and why we have been sitting in this strange scenario for like 15 minutes (frankly it felt like half and hour).

We are finally informed that the person we made our appointment has not arrived in the office yet and noone knows where the fuck she is and she is not answering her phone.

so alas, we are left with no new bookkeeper, but a hell of a fuckin story!!

BIG & littles

2010-10-12T14:59:00.001-07:00

I had a burger at BIG & littles yesterday, uuuh... yeah... one of the better burgers Ive had in a long ass time. It was a protein explosion, had an egg and cheese on it, believe it or not, I ate it all, I ate all my fries, they have truffle fries there too. I highly recommend it for cheap amazingnessocity. The dudes there were totally great as well, playing some fabs ragae tunage. GO! 939 North Orleans Street.

KITCHEN CRASH

2010-10-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

small kitchen + hot oven + plastic tools + multitasking + fun cooking = dead mandoline + funny photo + lesson learned + laughter

all good things

NINJA DIATRIBE

2010-10-11T15:13:00.000-07:00

Last friday I shot for the fabulous online boutique twentythirtyforty.net

these lady's know style, they're smart, they're savy, they're funny, they kicked my ass with their coolness. Check out their wares on above linky. Ninja also had something to say as well, she was on her own trajectory though, zen dog must do what zen dog do.

AALIINEEEEAAAAAAHHHH

2010-10-06T09:24:00.000-07:00

I had the great honor of going to Alinea this last weekend. CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS What I was left with the feeling that that restaurant, or whatever it is, needs to hook up an MRI machine to read the brains activities while a person is experiencing this insane culinary explosion. HOLY SHIT! I cant stop dissecting it in my mind and trying to figure out exactly what it was that I saw, felt, tasted, smelled, all I know is that when I try to verbalize it, it doesn't work.

PARENTS!

2010-10-04T13:05:00.000-07:00

I know this is a weird blog entry, but I dont care, cause its my blog :)

If you remember when you were 11 and felt like shit, this is probably why you did. If you have kids around age 11, please read this and think about it.

When kids are young they act adoring of you, obeying you and obviously acting like they want you to like and approve of them – when they reach 11-ish on up this changes.

When kids get to this stage most parents feel:

Disrespected
A deep feeling of loneliness at the lost of the unconditional acceptance and esteem the child gave them when the child was younger
Angry at the kid’s pseudo independent behaviors
Threatened and powerless – this makes the parent do threatening things that make the child feel powerless (classic example: as long as you are under my roof you will follow my rules)
Questioned and upset because it feels to the parent like the child is challenging their power and authority

This is the stage of development – that if not understood and responded to appropriately – causes the most permanent damage to the parent / child relationship.

It is not a child’s job to understand his parents. It is not something a child can even truly do in the way we need them to. It is the parent’s job to understand the child’s developmental needs and adjust to the child’s attempts at independence, honesty (calling his parents on their actions) and asserting himself behaviors.

At this stage things need to be extremely consistent – non shaming – and the rules you set up need to be clearly defined and adhered to. The rules must be fair and easy to understand from a child’s perspective – not an adult’s.

BOYS

2010-10-01T10:15:00.001-07:00

I couldnt wait to post this, more shots to come.

Yesterday I shot for St Lawrence High Schools Rock club. These kids learn everything they can about being in a rock band, learn the ins and outs of the industry, and practice their asses off for their end of the year concert. KIDS LEARNING ABOUT SOMETHING THEY ACTUALLY LIKE!! how bout that??

SELF LOVE LIGHTING TEST

2010-09-30T16:31:00.000-07:00

I played around with lighting, havent used gels in a while.

BENBENBEN

2010-09-27T15:50:00.000-07:00

heres Columbia Colleges video of my intern BEN RODIG. hes great!

MEMEMEME

2010-09-27T15:30:00.000-07:00

Columbia College came to the studio one day, and this is what happened:

VIDEO

REISHI SCHROOM PLANET

2010-09-27T09:29:00.000-07:00