Maria Sharapova in NYC

Maria Sharapova in NYC,
originally uploaded by Michael Surtees.

A friend of mine moved to NYC a little while back... check out his picks by following the link.

I love this shot... it exudes power and control; passion and intensity.

Have a nice long weekend y'all. I'm off to Atlanta in the morning...

Welcome to Dragon*Con!

Welcome to Dragon*Con!

Sept. 1st - Sept. 4th.

Atlanta, GA.

All Your Base GENESIS original


For those that may not get the classic 'all your base' reference below... here it is. Bad engrish translation and all. ;-)

All Your Snakes Are Belong To Us

ah, the classic 'all your base' meets... snakes. :-D

Weekends are supposed to be Crazy-Busy, right?

Shooting people on the weekends is always a lot of fun, and certainly I think that I filled any conceivable quota on Friday and Saturday.

In all, I think that I took about 2000 images inside those two days. This is actually not as much fun as it sounds, as creativity can be quite draining at times… and certainly trying to get 6 women on the beach to focus was not an… easy(!) task. *grins*

The first shoot was on Friday (I've all long weekends, this month). A good friend of mine that I had worked with several times had asked that I refresh her portfolio for a magazine article that she has coming up. It was win/win really; on Friday Jennifer and the Makeup Artist (MUA) Giordana show up at my place and after 1.5 hrs in the make-up chair, we got started.

The first set was my backyard… I had refrained from cutting my lawn for a good three or four weeks to get the length that I wanted… and then we got started. I'm always going to be my own worst critic… but still and all, I was not unhappy with the shots that we got. :-) The red-hair makes a great contrast with the lush verdant green tone of the grass.

After a decent (though rushed!) lunch, we went down to a local lounge to shoot the second set. We had the place from about 1 pm to 4:30 pm, as they didn't open up until 5:00. It worked out well, though I could certainly tell that I need to get a softbox in addition to the umbrellas that I'm using.

We finished off right on time, and called it a day. I was exhausted and I'm sure that Jenn wasn't as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as she would no-doubt claim. I'm sure she's doing much better now though as her bfriend from England is in town (finally!) for the summer. :-) She has simply got to get moved over there or vice-versa. Long distance relationships tend to be hell on people.

Saturday dawned cloudy… and getting up at 7:00 on a Saturday seem to be a form of barbarism that I hope to avoid as much as possible, in my life. I loaded up the gear and headed down to the Beach, where I was to meet Amelia (friend), Andrea (the bride), and the rest of the platoon gaggle coven… er, rest of the Bridesmaids. ;-)

Just kidding! They were all very nice, and very easy to work with, if a bit distracted. Getting six people going in the same direction regardless of if they are girls or guys is an accomplishment, at any rate.

Running around, all over the beach, climbing on rocks, and shooting about 1300 photos that day… exhausting work. Sunday, I slept. In. And then did nothing. Blessed, wonderful nothing. :-)


Ciao beautiful peeps; go out and play in the sunshine.

Emptybottle.org - The Web 2.0 Bullshit Generator

Emptybottle.org - The Web 2.0 Bullshit Generator

***

Nice. (makes mental note to forward to Marketing)

Ciao, beautiful peeps; go out and play in the sun.

Germans may face Jews in combat | News | The Australian

Germans may face Jews in combat News The Australian

That's what the newspaper's headline reads; provocative to say the least.

However, if you read the details...

"We have to do this, not in spite of the Holocaust, but because of it," Werner Sonne, a leading commentator, said on German state television. "If German troops guard Israel's borders, they are there to protect Jewish lives. Frankly, there has never been a better reason to bring in soldiers in German uniform."

Yep. I'll give him that.

Ciao, beautiful peeps; go play in the sun.

Shipwrecked fishermen survive nine months...

Shipwrecked fishermen survive nine months World Wide Weird The Australian: "Mr Videna said he and his friends got through their ordeal in good health, although... "

***

Nine months of sushi and sea-gull sashimi... must have been hell.

There are some incredible stories from over the years from people that have drifted... and drifted and drifted...

Ciao beautiful peeps; go out and play in the sunshine (and if you're on a boat, maybe take a satellite phone... just in case).

Cool ap for my Mac friends...

Disk Inventory X: "Disk Inventory X is a disk usage utility for Mac OS X 10.3 (and later). It shows the sizes of files and folders in a special graphical way called 'treemaps'.

If you've ever wondered where all your disk space has gone, Disk Inventory X will help you to answer this question. "

***

My sister has gone over to the darkside and purchased a Mac. This summer while I was out in Alberta, I got a chance to really use one for the first time... I have to admit, that after the first five minutes... I wasn't horrified.

Still and all, to ditch WinTel and move over to MacTel, I would have to replace about $1,500.00 worth of applications... running Parallels or Bootcamp isn't really something that I want to have to do. I remember having dual-boot with Windows/Unix at one point and it wasn't a lot of fun.

Ciao, beautiful peeps; go out and play in the sun. ;)

what the hell... today's funny ha ha.

I always get a chuckle whenever I see this one... though I suspect that it may not be as funny to people in the exotic entertainment industry or those that cannot read.

I would appologize for it, but all who know me know that my sense of humour can be quite low at times... ;-)

And hey, I didn't photoshop it.

Ah Monday... blessed Monday.

I'm in danger of not taking my own advice and posting something rantish, negative and irritating... but that feeling is probably fairly normal for a Monday. lol

And alas, I cannot take a page from Marcus Atrocious and post links to booty, porn and booze. Well, I could, but the student rarely attains those rarified heights reserved for the Master. ;-)

Short version: We're probably about 2-3 months out from having to worry about getting right-sized, RIF'ed, or otherwise become the victim... I mean enjoy the benefits of the blessed-synergy...

Shorter version: What in the hell is taking them so long? ;-) I've got plans for my severance. Bastards.

But, while the Work-Thing promises to be a cast-iron-pain-in-the-4ss, I can truthfully submit that the personal life is accelerating far too quickly. Well, on the photography front anyways.

1) Bridesmaids Beachshoot this Sat; including all white, all black, and bikini as clothing options.

2) I have two muse projects starting up; one oriental (tentitive) and one petite blonde (enthusiastic).

3) I have a DJ's album cover to shoot, this month.

4) Late this month or in Sept, I have a family / extended family shoot up in Cottage Country to shoot. Freakin' co-workers anyways.

5) Another photographer-buddy and I were going to do another model shoot; themed and MUA'ed. Condo common room, seamless, the usual.

6) I have a pool shoot to do sometime in the next two weeks too...

Gaaaaah!!!

(roughly translates to: I need to learn how to say no... or at least, maybe next month).

Ciao, Beautiful Peeps. Go out and play in the sunshine.

IBM agrees to buy FileNet for $1.6 bln

UPDATE 1-IBM agrees to buy FileNet for $1.6

Yep, the industry is a changin'. ;-)

Happy Freakin Birthday...

... to me.

:-)

Regards,

Mark

Because English is a precise language...

globeandmail.com : Comma quirk irks Rogers: "A grammatical blunder may force Rogers Communications Inc. to pay an extra $2.13-million to use utility poles in the Maritimes after the placement of a comma in a contract permitted the deal's cancellation."

Blog Maps in 30 seconds...

How to add a google map to any blog in 30 seconds...

Call the Future.org

Call the Future.org

The possible uses of this could just be... diabolical.

Mwah ha ha ha ha™ (patented eeevil laugh).

Regards,

Mark

EarthshatteringKaboom.

Yep.

The old Ominous Humm™ has proven true.

And so begins a new conText... and also the waiting.

*sigh* 7 yrs was a good run. We'll see what happens.

Worst case scenario, I could shoot pr0n for food, I suppose.

Ciao, peeps.

Fuck Hair and Makeup - a photoset on Flickr

Fuck Hair and Makeup - a photoset on Flickr

What an awsome idea for a series. :-)

Day by Day

Free Text Messaging - Send Free Text Messages to Any Provider.

Free Text Messaging - Send Free Text Messages to Any Provider.

Because I'm cheap, and like the bug the heck out of all my friends...

Don't let these disasters happen to you: The top five engineering hints you'll rarely hear

I'm in sales... from the other side of the fence:

Don't let these disasters happen to you: The top five engineering hints you'll rarely hear

In theory, theory and practice are the same...

Heat Wave

Heat Wave,
originally uploaded by The Imp;-).

What fun... Toronto in the summertime.

Humidity is 95%.

Temp will be in the 30's, with the humidity feeling like it is in the mid to high 40's.

I think it was cooler in Tennessee!

And now things return to 'normal'...

Back from Alberta. Back from Tennessee. Back to work.

I need a vacation to get over my vacation. ;-)

Spent the past five days in Tennessee. Well… three days, with two travel days tagged onto either side. I was a dumbass; I drove down instead of flew.

Got home at 6:00 pm last night, after starting out at 3:00 am. Eeek.

Good time though. Visited with some of my really good American friends.

We drank too much. Shot shot lots of amo (before the drinking part, sheesh. We're not morons.)

Good times had by all. Or at least most. ;-)

C'est la vie.

And now, it becomes Hunker-Down-mode. This summer seems to have an Ominous Hum…

Ciao, peeps.

Mark