Reenatype

It's simple and sweet and i don't know who wrote it. I found it in a collage of photos Jarrett sent me for inspiration. Sometimes a photographer can find inspiration in the words surrounding the photos.


Take it all back.
Life is boring, except for
flowers, sunshine,
your perfect legs.
A glass of cold water
when you are really thirsty.
The way bodies fit together.
Fresh and young and sweet.
Coffee in the morning.
These are just moments.
I struggle with the in-betweens.
I just never want to stop loving
like there is nothing else to do,
because what else is there to do?

It's takes about 2 hours and 15 minutes to get 18 miles within NYC to get to my dad's house. From Manhattan to Staten Island on public transportation. The downfall is the amount of time it takes and quantity of transferring among the various forms of transportation. The plus point is that it only cost $2 and if you have an unlimited metro card, the city is your playground...

I thought this was appropriate reading material for the long ride.


I start out on the 6 train...


To the 4/5


To Bowling Green, the stop to catch the ferry.


I got there before the boat was going to leave, so I grab a pretzel from the ferry vendor to curb my hunger before eating a humongous meal. Normally, pretzels are not fried, but this was a new species, something I have never seen before. A fried pretzel? I shall call it a donutzel. It looked like a pretzel, but tasted like a donut. Gross.


Having taken the Staten Island Ferry a million times, I know the different types of boats. Since it was a nice day, I was really hoping for one of the outdoor ferries. YES!, I got on the best of the ferry fleet, with 3 levels and 2 out of the 3 are outdoors. This is what it looked like when i got on. Beautiful day for a boat ride with some great views.


This is my wonderful view of the Statue of Liberty from the top of the ferry. Good thing I've seen this scenic view enough to know what it looks like already because I would have felt a little claustrophobic. At least I got some shade....


Almost to the other side.


My little 1/2 bro, he's so cute!


High contrast + relaxing = nice skin! Lounging in the backyard...


On the way home, I take the express bus, which is $5 in change and enjoy the view.

My amazingly talented friend Jarrett is an awesome make up artist and invited me along to assist him at a photo class being held at the International Center of Photography. I took photos of Jarrett's work as it progressed. He had this idea right before we got there and it was inspiring to see his vision realized.

Stage 1, he used tape on top and bottom to get a straight line. nothing like the little details to make it look perfect.


Stage 2, out of the many color glitters, he makes his choice and even covers the rest of her face as not to get the glitter everywhere.


Stage 3, the lips. After peeling of the tape, there is a perfect edge on top and bottom of the design. The lips were done with magenta on the bottom red on top.


The finished product, HOT!


The artist and his creation.


Next, he did this older women and took 20 years off her face!


Complete with fake eyelashes, red lipstick and the beauty mark under the left eye.


WoW! It's like the TLC show, 10 years younger, but better.


There were suppose to be 3 models, but one didn't show up, so I was called to duty for modeling. Jarrett snapped some of these photos while the students were taking photos. Pure comedy, I have to say, i do have an animated face.













It was nice to be around the studio again, around aspiring photographers and see how much things have changed in only a short amount of time. The photo world has now gone fully digital.

One of my favorite episodes of The Simpsons is when Marge discovers the internet. It's such a time encapsulated theme that it will showcase what our society was for many years to come. I still watch and learn from this "American Family" drawn up and watched for over 20 years, one of the longest running shows ever.

I remember doing a case study on The Simpsons in a psychology class during my last year in High School. Watching The Simpsons for school? Now that's what I was talking about. Not only is the show is entertaining, humorous and enjoyable to watch, but each episode is a satire wrapped in a metaphor directed right at our society. The show openly mocks everything going on in the current day and society.

The particular episode shows Marge become an internet addict (i know how she feels!!). After waiting for an email from her friends and not receiving one, she begins to press refresh on the browser, hoping something has JUST come in. She didn't get any new emails, but she says, "the only thing that keeps changing is the banner!". Marge then sees a banner she likes, and clicks on it! This is showing the actual interaction with the banner, making her one of the millions who are tracked by their interests. This leads her to create her own character (an avatar) and join a community of other gamers, playing and interacting withing a game...."Earthland Realms".

The Simpsons are our comic relief, a way to mock and laugh at society while trying to laugh at ourselves. Each episode is filled with lessons to be learned and to be a reminder of our current events, a witness to ourselves. I encourage everyone to watch and try to dissect what they are REALLY saying. It's all about us.

Having a strong interest in science, I am often reading articles on how things work, how species live, and our newest advances in space. This morning I came across this article and was blown away. In all of my research and readings, I have never seen anything like this, killer ants turning into zombies by flies. Wasn't there a horror movie about this?

I always thought the idea of zombies was both fascinating and completely illogical. How can someone come back from the dead only fueled by the passion to eat brains? Well, maybe that original thought came from whoever discovered this much smaller, "Alien" like battle on Earth. The flies are like the facehuggers, implanting an their egg into the host, the ant until it takes over the body. Just like in the movie, the fly egg then beomes like a Chestburster, eating the brains of the ant, taking over it's body and then busting out of the host. This originally malicious red ant is now just an incubator, not even in control of it's own body. So this is the real zombies verses aliens. Is there a movie like that yet?

Ever since I was young, I was fascinated by the emotion: fear. Some hate it to feel it, and some love it. Horror movies, science fiction books, and the media...all things to induce fear and make our adrenaline pump faster. Roller coasters, driving fast, extreme sports and hearing bad news all give you that feeling, the hot that hits you quickly and travels from your head down your spine, shaking you to the core.

I guess when you know the source of the fear, it's easier to control. In controlled environments, the adrenaline excites you and gives you just enough to have fun, but still be a bit scared. Sometimes in phobia situations, people are so deeply disturbed by one specific thing that even their rational mind can't reason with them. I consider myself a rational person, so people turning into zombies didn't seem very reasonable to me. However, seeing that this CAN happen on a much smaller scale, right here on earth leads me to believe that even human zombies may be possible.

Sometimes I get extremely nervous at the way the way we are progressing. The economy is falling, the environment is changing and the world will always be at war. I try to look at the bright side and remind myself that there is always balance, so where there is war, there has to be peace as well. In our advancements, we have just completed the first spacewalk to fix the Hubble telescope so we can see further into space than ever before.

I can't even imagine being an astronaut, hanging out in the middle of space connected by only a thin umbilical cord to another object just floating in space. It must be both breathtaking and frightening to be looking at Earth as if it were something distant, rather than the only planet you know to be home. If you think you feel small on earth, chew on that for a while.

Here I was scrutinizing over my resume and cover letter wondering what would be the kicker that would land me that perfect job. I search everyday on job boards, forums, and websites on how to "make yourself stick out". I know I'm unique and have a lot of great qualities, but how do you make that come through a stack of papers (or emails rather) and make the employer even call you back?

After changing the format of my resume, writing long thought out cover letters, NOTHING. Years of not getting that job. Some of them, just a job, but a couple of them through the years have been a job I really wanted. However, I just couldn't get to the finish line.

This morning, as part of my daily ritual, I sit down with my coffee to search for jobs and now the additional research necessary to do on blogs and social media sites. These blogs offer something very valuable, almost priceless, for FREE! INFORMATION, real, unadulterated, and mostly honest info that everyone can use. If you have a problem, most likely someone out there has the same thing. These are real people speaking their mind, finally exercising their freedom of speech and making themselves heard. What a country!

Now on to the real issue at hand. On one of the blogs I read, unemploymentality, I saw an interested story on how a man got his dream job. Now, this was the advise I was looking for! Always getting excited about everything, so hopefully that it's going to work out, I dive into the article thinking, now i'm definitely going to get a job. After reading the article, it left me wondering what people are really doing these days to get work and how many of us are out there. (just 1/2 million jobs were lost in April ALONE) People are going to start to get desperate in their job hunt. So many people in need and so few jobs. Some people, like the man in the article may get cute and smart with just a touch of cunning with it, but what I'm worried about is what the people that aren't at the very top of the intellectual food chain will react.

I'm having trouble deciding whether I think what this man did to get the job was morally correct or not. The goal was achieved, he got the job. He did it with research and wit, but in doing so, he deceived some people, but it didn't hurt anyone. So all good right? In this day and age, we're back to survival of the fittest and the smart/strong will prevail, but it's a rough world out there. People will paint their faces to show you and the world as they secretly plot to step all over you. I only hope we remain a civil society in our economic downfall.

Lots of luck to the unemployed!

Here are some more of my hand made journals I've made in the past couple of years. I wish I had taken photos of them before using, but at least they withstood all the wear and tear.

I went to the The music Hall of Williamsburg for second time in one week. This time to see, Lady Sovereign, an English rapper who is unique and is one of the only white female artist in the primarily black British grime scene.

It was my first time seeing her live and I enjoyed it very much. Good beats, good dj, a drummer, and this cute little rapper chick.

I woke up with the most delicious weather outside my window yesterday morning. The sun was finally back and the air felt crisp, clean and calm. That's why I don't mind the rain, even for days on end, because when it's over, it's as though the earth experiences a rebirth. It awakens fresher and with more life than before. A good day to start fresh again.

I've been making hand made books and my own journals for about 4 years. Here are some of the ones that started it all:

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

_______________________

__________________________________________

______________________________

________________________________

Inspired by "Army of Darkness", I made the Necronomicon, a book of the dead, bound in flesh and written in blood. It's pretty hard to come by flesh these days and I did want to book to be somewhat archival, so I found a paper that looked just flesh. Around this time is when i decided to go explore more obscure stitching techniques when I came upon the Caterpillar stitch. It looked like veins going through the board, binding it all together. Creepy, cool and perfect. Once I learned this stitch, it quickly became my favorite.

__________________________________________

A small Caterpillar stitch, pocket size. Once a stitch is learned, there are endless possibilities of what can be done. I always try to make something different, see what happens.

_______________________

This was a functional journal that I made, one of many to come. The Caterpillar stitch was my favorite for a while, still may be, but it's difficult to do.

___________________________________________

This was a gift I made for someone. That was one of the reasons i continued to make books, for giving them as special gifts. Books are extremely hard to make, they take a lot of blood, sweat and tears, but there is nothing like that one of a kind gift that leaves someone feeling completely special. It's worth it.
I worked very hard on these covers giving them a psychedelic feel while still remaining feminine with the pink velvet material. Once again I used the coptic stitch, always neat, secure and classic.

____________________________

Maybe this is how diseases are spread.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/05/090506-bird-smuggling-picture.html

The other night, I went to a new restaurant in my neighborhood with Jenn called "Hummus and Wine". It's so new that it doesn't even have a website. It's situated next door to another relatively new restaurant called Bellini, which I have never tried. I watched them both get built and remember being excited for the Hummus and Wine place. Note to self: try it!

Now, hummus is almost ALWAYS served with pita bread. It's a tradition, it's the culture, it's the way it has to be. I have NEVER seen a place that had hummus without pita. Until Now.

Had I known that this newly opened place, carrying the word hummus in right in their title did not have pita bread, it would never been an option. However, I didn't know, went there, remembering my note to self and explored something new, completely new.

We ordered the sample plate of a couple of appetizers to start and then shared an entree. I know how all the servers out there hate that, but I'm unemployed these days, so I skimp out on myself but not the tip!

We ended up waiting quite a while and then our entree comes out. When I flag the waiter over to ask where our appetizer is, he starts blankly at me and blinks in confusion. He had absolutely no idea what i was talking about. It's not like it was something quick, like garlic bread, or soup. I had to actually chose 3 different things. We ended up getting it and after the entree, which was delicious, so we really didn't mind.

When the hummus, falafel and some salad arrived, I asked for pita and he said there is not pita, they haven't had it since they opened up. No pita? with hummus, i couldn't believe it. What are you gonna do? We ate it with the bread and I felt like a thousand pounds after. The waiter also obviously wanted to get out of there because when i looked over the entire restaurant was cleared out and the tables were bare.



Over all, good food, terrible service and no pita for the hummus. I don't know if i can get over that.

My cat Monkee, started getting frisky and I see her looking around at some predator I can not yet detect. After making my vegetable soup experiment that took almost 2 hours, I sit down to do some photo stuff at the computer when i hear a buzzing, it's a fly. Now I understood what my cat was so interested in. We were now on the same page, we both wanted the same thing, it dead.

My cat's eyes dart back and forth from the fly to me. I look at her and then at the fly. It's a 3 way draw, but i don't think the fly is aware of all of this. It's the kind of fly that's all big and flies really slow. At this point, the fly is stationary and almost to the ceiling, where Monkee does not have any kind of access to. She starts making these weird cat noises and I sense her frustration. At this point we are one in the same.

This is where I earn my place on the food chain. Quickly looking around, I locate my slipper, the perfect murder weapon, granted the fly is the kind I'm pegging him to be. I start to climb my desk with slipper in hand, careful to steady myself on unsteady furniture. My cat looks on in jealousy that I have this kind of power and I'm going to get the points for the kill. A little nervous at this point, I almost fall, but regain my balance and quietly but quickly SMACK! Dead.

I look over at Monkee and she looks at me, knowing what I had just done. There was almost a sadness in her eyes. I know what she's thinking, the game was over. In the coming hour she will continue to look up to where the fly was in hopes it will perhaps be there to taunt here again. Ha Ha Wrong stupid cat! She can't even remember it's dead.

Wait what's that up there? Is the fly back?

A night out in Williamsburg, Brooklyn to see Alkaline Trio at the Music hall of Williamsburg.

The very hip scenery of Williamsburg.







We ate at this awesome little restaurant called Sweetwater. It had a nice outdoor seating area and the weather was just right.


The Music Hall of Williamsburg is a great venue to see shows, this was my first time seeing Alkaline Trio there, which rocked my socks off.