So I lied, I did have a shoot this week.

Everyone knows I love mail and what's better than getting a large package of things I can photograph? Not much, but for the record, large sums of money, music and world peace stuffed in an envelope are good too.

My dear friend Ms. Kelly McStay, didn't send money, music or world peace, but something that's still pretty cool. A bunch of bracelets to be photographed for her non-profit, Until There's A Cure.

To paraphrase the information in the above link, "Until There's A Cure® Foundation is a nonprofit organization that raises funds and awareness about HIV/AIDS through sale of The Bracelet.

Until There’s A Cure is committed to:

• Funding innovative programs which promote AIDS awareness and prevention education for our generation of young Americans.
• Providing financial support for care and services for those living with AIDS.
• Actively supporting AIDS vaccine development which offers the best hope for reducing the spread of HIV."

Since it was introduced in 1994, the Bracelet has been showcased at The Body Shop, Kenneth Cole, Ben Bridge Jewelers, and Virgin Megastores and worn by dozens of celebrities including Jessica Alba, Kevin Bacon, Tony Hawk and Kerri Walsh. So far, over one million bracelets have been sold.

I'll be posting another series pretty soon, but if you'd like to purchase any of the bracelets, please visit: http://until.org/order.shtml

Please also check out Kell's blog at http://www.untiltheresacure.blogspot.com for news and more information.

Kell, feel free to add anything else.

Gesundheit!

After being prompted by my late night viewing of The Beach, (oh heyyy Leo), I took a nice dive into my external hard drive, only to stumble upon this little gem of a picture.

Having no shoots slated for this week and not feeling compelled to write about much, I decided it was a good time to post something totally irrelevant to my present work.

After "working" on the lovely Thai island of Koh Lao Ya all day, my production manager and I were naturally goofing around until the speed boats returned to take us back to the ship. And really, there's not much of a story to this photo, but I do need to ask you one question: have you had your boss try to pick your nose?

Haha, and that being said, Yuri is one of my most favorite story-tellers/pains in the ass probably ever. If he's as funny in his primary and secondary tongues (Russian and Hebrew) as he is in English, think how funny he could possibly be! If I spoke Russian, I certainly don't think I could ever eat meals with him, but if I had to choose, I'd prefer laughing to eating... believe it or not.

Despite what it looks like, I did not sneeze and he did not hold it for me... but that's why it's funny! This picture about sums up the positives of my stint in Asia. Three, no no, I'll go with six straight months of absurdities and silliness. Kinda right up my alley after all.

Oh, Pittsburgh. How I love thee, but cannot stay.

For at least some period in your life, comfort zones are best put to use when put out of use.

The trick to this, of course, is that the farther away you get from that existence, from the people and places you know, the closer you are to the things that really matter when you come back. Journeys become not so much about old perspectives in the new place, but about new perspectives in the old place.

Take this scenario, for example. You are standing alone on the bow of a ship in the middle of the South China Sea with the most brilliant lightning storm to the West and the most pristine starry sky to the East. You look to your right and you flashback to many an August night on the back porch, waiting for the Perseids to peak with your dad. To your left, the awe of light effortlessly illuminating a dark horizon brings you to past conversations solely about the grandeur of the universe with those whom you have let into your heart. Neither party is present, but then again, had you stayed, you would never have witnessed what is before you now.

Time passes and you eventually come to telling those people about that moment. The way they look back at you when you say, "and then I thought of you..." will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about true love. Love of your family, love of your friends and, uh, that other kind of love.

So, go away on your own for awhile, try it out and see how you feel about your life when you come back home.

Oh, and let me know how it goes.

PS - The Perseids peaked on 8/12 this year, in case you missed them.

"If I didn't have my films as an outlet for all the different sides of me, I would probably be locked up."

"I wish I could find people who just would fight me, who would break through to me and hold me down and scream their life into my face."

"We come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly."

"I'm getting a wrinkle above my eyebrow, because I just can't stop lifting it and I love that, you know..."


I could have easily pulIed about 55 more quotes (this obviously isn't my photography), but as I meet new people every day, I convince myself more and more that I don't know if there's anyone else on the face of the planet who is more stunning, strong, well-spoken, poised and accomplished than the woman pictured above. A balancing act of flares and personalities that tie together into one beautiful conundrum that, for whatever reason, makes perfect sense.

Media perception? True, I've never met her, but all you need is a photograph. Eyes reveal, hands define and words confirm. Frauds pop up left and right and it takes about 30 seconds to spot them. The give away every time is that you can't fake something like that. There is no mistaking self-interest for selfishness. There is only an individual who is willing to take responsibility for her actions as an individual. A rare thing, if you ask me.

Please enlighten me if you've found otherwise. If so, I would love to hear about it.


Disclaimer: According to data collected today by "1/4 Dr." Jeff Stambough, I have 37 hours of opinions. To put that on his scale, I have 32.5 more hours of opinion than the average human. I think his scale needs calibrated.


Image courtesy of vanityfair.com

Just to make sure we are all on the same page, it says:


Poison

LIVE RAW & UNCUT

STAGE CREW

To further clarify, or rather, if you are confused, this shirt belongs to me. Every rose has its thorn, baby.

And now for the $0.01* question... is Bret Michaels badly balding or does he wear a bandana 24/7 because he owns one in every color, in and out, of the rainbow?

Personally, I think he just likes the wide array of choices the makers of bandanas (whomever that may be) offer him.

*In case you were wondering, some worth was assigned to the question because Mr. Michaels rocks a Poison shirt while performing. Pretty gutsy. And stupid. But still, pretty gutsy.

This....

I cannot cross off my list of things to do. In fact, I'm pretty positive it was never actually on that list. Just for the record, these bikes and the gentlemen on them were not kind of awesome, but totally awesome.

And on a completely separate note: over the past 9 months or so I've been experiencing communication overload (as I'm sure everyone has), but it's finally getting to me now. It's absolutely ridiculous that I've been continuing and completing conversations in about 10 (in-person, cell (call and text), Skype, AIM, blog, gmail, gchat, Facebook, Myspace) different ways.

And I really can't do much about it. I mean, face-to-face communication is obviously still the best with the phone in close 2nd, but I can't neglect the fact that I've made my peace with Facebook and Myspace, that Skype is possibly the greatest thing ever for long-distance relationships/friendships/businesses, that AIM is like my favorite pair of slippers that I just can't get rid of, that texting still drives me crazy, but I believe my last monthly text total was 543 (thank you, NYC) and that gchat/gmail has been my love for the better half of a year. And well, the blog is the blog, but that doesn't mean that I like to admit any of the above.

What I would like to know is... where does etiquette come into the picture? Why is it okay to relay meaningful information via a text message or the internet? In light of all of these other options, why has it become so hard and/or intimidating to pick up a telephone or to look someone in the eye?

I mean, come on! I'm not saying to do anything drastically silly like ditching internet communication, but what happened to the glory of snail mail as a form of secondary communication, where the recipient recognizes the time and thought put into such a note? When was the last time any of you guys took the time to write a letter? It's been awhile for me too, but I can say that it's under 3 years.

I should probably stop writing now, but I'd just like to note that I'm confident E.T. wouldn't have text-messaged home and not just because he had awkward fingers.

Most importantly though, I almost ate a whole box of rosemary and olive oil triscuits while writing this. They were delicious.

Have YOU ever been in a Slipknot mosh pit??

I know I can cross it off of my list of things to do.

Rooooxxxxxxxxxannne.

Now, if I were to go through with my initial plan, the above would be all that I would write, but per the usual, my initial plan was totally foiled

by:

1) Sting's devestating blue eyes and wonderfully scruffy good looks
2) a wonderful crew
3) a live show that was waaay bettter than anticipated.

I love when I'm sooo wrong in such a right way. They sounded fabulous, slow and trite at some points, but it's the Police, X number of years later on a reunion tour, so what do you expect? A new school of harmonic brilliance? IIII don't think so. But the fact that they have a giant gong on stage makes up for it in some way that I can't actually validate.

Oh and please disregard the fact that when not shooting, I'm usually at the soundboard, so that may have something to do with my surprising positivity, especially with these guys. For those of you that aren't so into the music scene, that's the closest you can get to hearing a show as it's meant to be heard a.k.a the best seat in the house. Really, my only complaint through the whole thing was that that stupid "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" song was on the set list. If that's all I wanted to say to you, I would have slapped you and walked away way before I got to "de do."

Now, let's not forget how this day started: me blazing down the highway in a white Chevy 15-passenger van, rockin' out to Van Halen's "Jump" at about 5:30 a.m. - hey, don't judge... Like David Lee Roth says, "I get up, and nothing gets me down." How 'bout them apples?

Haha, ignoring the above fact, I wish I could say a bit about the opener, Elvis Costello, but I was running around like a nut during his set and only had time to give him a smile and a nod backstage. Never really have been a fan, but was quite curious.

So since this is supposedly the last Police tour (again), I will end on the note that I am truly glad that I got to hear "Roxanne," "When the World is Running Down," and "Every Breath You Take" (shut up and let me be a sap) live.

And wait... did I just quote Van Halen??

P.S. - Sting is still stunning.