SHOE OF DEATH

heels dont just provide height

PIXEL VIOLENCE

BAMBOO HIGHRISE

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

NEW USES FOR JUNK FOOD

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

DEEPLY THINKING...LITERALLY

SCHWA DRAMA

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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

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

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

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

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

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

CABBITY DOO DAH

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

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

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

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???

Guess who I shot on tuesday.

WHAT SHE SAID

DA LADEEZ IN DA HIZEEEE

THE GREAT WHITE NORTH

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.

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