14, 27, 28. . . . . . 19

As many of you know, I will be basically incommunicado next week. So, I've been preparing myself for the 14 hr days and the lack of a healthy eating habit by getting plenty of rest and eating better. The latter has taken me almost everyday this week to Whole Foods in Union Square. See, don't tell anybody, but I have this strange infatuation with the voice-over lady in the express line that calls the numbers. She sounds hot! Maybe early 30's, well educated, used to be a painter, but gave it up to pursue her dream of calling out random numbers so that the good people of Whole Foods can buy $11 organic grapes and 'pluot's' (50% plum, 50% apricot and 100% delicious!). I guess my new thing is dis-embodied voices, I wonder if there is a forum on the internet for people with this affliction? Maybe I should call Dr. Phil?. . . . . . . . by the way, there is also a man's voice in the non-express lanes, but ladies, he sounds pretty old and is probably a smoker. Sorry.

Miss Teen USA 2007

I'm speechless.

3 Minutes Of Fame

I believe it was Andy Warhol who said "Everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame." Well in 2008, I'm gonna eat up 3 of those minutes. Let me explain. We attended a taping of Comedy Central Presents the other night, featuring 2 comedians. For some reason, one of the producers of the show decided to place our group in the front row. Now, ordinarily this would make me a bit nervous, that is until he came over to us and said the phrase, "You guys are gonna be on camera ALOT." Then I became really nervous. Now, I'm not a big fan of being in front of the camera, I prefer the other side of the lens, and when I'm shooting it's generally not seen by 30,000,000 people. But I did live in LA for awhile, so when the camera was on I pretended like what I was watching was the funniest thing I have ever seen or heard. My jaw actually hurt from smiling so much. You can see my acting prowess as 'Miscellaneous Audience Member Pretending To Laugh' in early '08. That leaves me 12 minutes remaining. . . . . . . hmmmmmmm, I wonder what Paris and Lindsey are up to, they are always good for ideas on how to embarrass oneself publicly.

Empire State

Josef Robert Rothenberger

Lets call him JR for short! The JR I'm speaking of is the newest addition to my brother's family, all 5 lbs 4 oz of him! That makes 4 so far, c'mon Fred, 1 more and you have a starting 5 for Basketball! You might want to check with Theresa first, maybe she just wants a foursome for Golf. Anyway, Congratulations! I'm just sorry I missed it by a couple days. Hey, one more reason to visit Chicago!

My Subway Stop

If you see posts like this in the future, don't worry, I don't have the shakes from heroin detox or anything, more than likely they will be motion experiments with my new camera. They are a work in progress, but eventually I might try to incorporate this type of effect into my work. That is if I can perfect it. Right now, it's all trial and error. Please be patient.

Camera Obscura

I finally broke down and purchased a point-and-shoot camera after months of research and analysis. I am very pleased with my purchase! My very first photo with this camera of a blurred NYC skyline from my terrace is depicted above. (Now if you can care less about the technical minutia of camera specifics, just stare are the photo above for a couple seconds to make me happy then go back to your productive lives and ignore the following sentences). The camera is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX2. It is 10 mega pixals, is fully manual, can shoot in RAW, shoots 16:9 ratio (see photo above) which is more panoramic than 35 mm, and is equipt with a leica lens! It has a ton of special scenic features that I'm actually finding useful and I am very pleased so far with the quality of the image it produces. You will see alot more documentation of NYC in the coming months. Hey, It only took me 4 years.

NY Model Management Must Read My Blog

They must. How else would they have come up with their new showcards for this upcoming season? Having a shot of the Empire State Building, while the sun sets directly on the NYC grid, is my nerdy/weather obsessed, idea of cool! I'm surprised some agency hasn't made their models dress like Croatian folk dancers yet? . . . . . . . . Maybe next season.

I've included Tatiana's card in this post for one reason. . . . . . well two reasons. First, she is the friendliest person I've ever met, period. And B, I asked her once backstage why she looked so down, considering she is always so happy. Her reply with a Russian accent, "I'm tired." (pronounced ty-red), was probably the cutest thing I've ever heard ever! . . . . . . . Outside of when my Aunt Mary asked my nephew Karl, who just turned 2, what the name of his baby stuffed tiger was, and he said without hesitation "Uncle Karl." . . . . . . . . . . Alright. Ready? All at once. . . . . . . . . . . . Aaaaaaaawwwwwww.

In The News

This photo of my cousin Matthew was taken by a photographer for the Chicago Tribune. You can see the black and white version in todays paper, or in brilliant color right here on my blog! It's nice to finally have a picture in the paper that doesn't involve someone from the neighborhood connected with the mafia.

August 15th

August 15th, Velika Gospa, Moje (pronounced mo-gee) Feast, the festival goes by many names, but basically it is the feast of the Assumption, and an excuse for all the neighborhood Italians to co-mingle with the beautiful Croatian girls from all around Chicago. At least that was my vantage point this year as I ventured into the bar area across the street from the church, (yes bar across from the church). Throughout my 12 years of Catholic school every opportunity to was made to make fraternizing with the opposite sex what amounted to a mortal sin. However I soon learned that when you can charge $ for alcohol that benefits the church, the more you drink, hey, God Bless You.

It is always a good opportunity for me to re-connect with friends that I only get a chance to see about once a year, and I have never missed a fest. Sure, when I was younger I used to run up in my house and hide in the upstairs front room and watch the parade pass by from the front window. But in my defense it was only when the nuns passed in front of the house. It's hard to smile and wave as they pass by when your only real memories of them is when they used to beat you with rulers and paddles. This year I stayed outside the whole time and not once did I have a flashback of my 3rd grade teacher Sister Lucile. I guess all those years of therapy paid off.

As I walked through the festival I was amazed at how many people remembered me, and how unfortunately, I had forgotten half of their names and some of their faces. For instance, this guy came up to me, talked to me for 15 minutes, knew my name, where I lived, everything, and I didn't have a clue who he was. The other thing I realized, and I realize this every year, is that our neighborhood puts out some of the most attractive people per sq foot than probably any other area in the city. I think its the Italian/Croatian mix, but there are so many tall, tan, beautiful people at this fest, and they stay that way into their 50's and 60's! It's quite amazing. I think it's all the salt they put on the lamb, it must act as a preservative or something.

I've included some shots of the parade as it passes my house complete with authentic Croatian dress and a shot of the priests! (It should help me one day with St. Peter).

Lori Earley

Lori will have an exhibition of her paintings this February in NYC. Don't be surprised to see her influence in my photography in the coming months.

Chicago The Windy City? I Don't Think So

Not for nothin', but I don't remember a tornado touching down in Chicago in the last 100 years or so. And yes, once again, I happen to be away from NY and miss all the fun. So, if you don't want to take part in the next natural disaster to hit NYC, (locusts are next I believe), then keep track of my Jet Blue itinerary and get out of dodge the next time you hear I'm going to visit friends or family. A heads up? I will be making a trip out to LA in October, so board up your windows and make sure you have plenty of bottled water and batteries for your flashlights.

Saunapalooza

Sunday was the best day of the festival in my opinion, and 80,000 other Chicagoans agreed. The Music fest, which took over Grant Park along Chicago's lakefront, was packed! I saw some really cool bands like Paolo Nutini, Los Campesinos!, Rodrigo y Gabriela and of course Peter Bjorn and John. Dj Flosstradamus put on a great show although the mix seemed a bit 2002.
I must admit it was hot that day and extremely humid after the previous nights rain. Guess who was the genius who decided to wear jeans? Mental note, leave the rock star jeans at home for the frat boy khaki shorts and flip flops when temps go over 90.

Music Update

OK, you might have noticed my playlist on this blog. I will be changing it often based on my many moods (right now. . . . . . it's morning mist (Seinfeld reference)) And yes it starts out very depressing and slow, but trust me, it picks up and ends with one of my all time favorite songs, "Your Love" by The Outfield. Now you may ask, "Why is that one of your favorite songs? It totally doesn't fit with the other songs and the wonderful progression you have from somber to indie to kick ass!!!!?" First off, thank you for your kind words. Secondly, it just is. Maybe it hark ens back to the days of my youth when I kissed Jenny behind the football bleachers and that song was playing in the distance. . . . . . . No, that sounds like it was probably from a movie. . . . . . yeah, definitely a movie, our high school was a nerd school, we didn't even have a football team!, how could we of had football bleachers?! Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

All Work and No Play Makes Karl Something Something. . . . . . . All Work and. . . .

By now you are all probably sick of my Simpson entries but here's another one. Took the kids to see the movie today so I just had to make a movie poster (thanks Jonathan for the background). It was my first time with them at a movie. I thought they would be restless and want to leave after 10 minutes, but they love the 'Impsons', (as they call them), and were very well behaved. So I turned all of them into characters, now they think they're famous. How young is too young for narcissism? . . . . . . . . . Speaking of narcissism and vanity, did you notice I shaved and changed my shirt from the previous post?

I Simpsonized Myself! . . . . . . . . . sounds dirty

Complete with vintage Poison t-shirt!