holy shit - i haven't updated in a week? time flies when you are swamped by the real world.

been shooting a lot:

clutch at irving


andrea at a recent shoot-out in queens


Juliya (hopefully for magazine cover)


got the bike back to nyc and have been riding into work the last 2 days - have to get back into city riding headspace - "they can't see you, they want to run you over"

the Cherry Blossom Festival is this weekend at Brooklyn Botanical Gardens...woo-hoo!

cheers!
steve

arrrgh! lots of pictures taken, not enough time in the day.

more later...shooting clutch tonight!

one for jimmyjoe for the bad-ass guzzi shot on his journal last week:

fun busy weekend - 300 shots from Ritual to go thru...the motorbrands stuff went well:




more later - i wept today when i had to put away the snowboard gear and bring out the motorcycle/skateboard gear.

cheers!
steve

hi there

i am doing a personal info quiz that seaceeme posted in her journal yesterday. i dug up a list of books i loved that i did for someone else...well, after a bit - i realized i was taking up a whole lot of space in CC's world. so, in most of it's glory:

Book List (not complete...will try to do a part 2 later):

MUSIC
England's Dreaming - Jon Savage
a brilliant look at English Society, the rise of the Sex Pistols and beginning of the Clash...not as anal retentive as Last Gang in Town or as goofy as No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs.

Hitmen - Fredric Dennen
Who made who, who screwed who...why you pay so much for CD's today.

SCIENCE AND FUN
The Mathematical Tourist - Ivars Peterson
an almost (but not quite) Layman's look at Knot Theory, Koch Snowflakes, Prime Properties and other truly fucked-up math stuff...

The Universe Below - William Broad
a Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times Science editor takes us down in *DEEP* sea exploration - very well written view of the world we will never tame

FICTION
Feast of Snakes - Harry Crews
i love this book so much, i would probably buy it back from you if you didn't like it! Gritty Southern Gothic with a strong finish.

Grey Matter - Will Self
The british counterpart to Tom Robbins - twisted with a iron firm grasp of the Mother Tongue.

The Basketball Diaries - Jim Carroll
a true classic in every sense of the word. Fast fast read...

High Fidelity - Nick Hornby
well written novel showing at the end of it all - everything can be related to your record collection.

TRAINSPOTTING - Irvine Welsh
you've seen the movie - now experience heroin the way it was meant to be - read. Beware heavy Scottish writings aboot...allow yourself to be immersed by the language

Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
pure classic bit o' the ultraviolence, me droogies - make sure to get the edition with glossary as an appendix...same warning as TRAINSPOTTING

Anything by Raymond Chandler
The big Sleep, The long Goodbye...classic american detective noir

Anything by Jim Thompson
The Grifters, The Killer inside me, After Dark My Sweet...classic American Pulp fiction

"Repent Harlequin!" Said The Tick Tock Man. - Harlen Ellison
his most famous short story - you can find it as a beautiful trade hardback or in The Essential Ellison Anthology

My Pretty Pony - Stephen King
The MOMA edition of this short story with Barbara Kruger photos and art direction add the edge that is missing from the Nightmares And Dreamscapes...

Anything by William Gibson
creates amazing detailed believable worlds with a few paragraphs...the man is a genius - i keep re-reading his novels over and over...

(i have many more, but i will stop here for now...)

GRAPHIC NOVELS
The Dark Knight Returns - Frank Miller
This is what comic books are all about - the gothic, dark view into batman's soul...no relation to the goofy campy tv series. here lies the torture of Bruce Wayne's life - couldn't save his parents, can he save everybody else?

The Watchmen - Alan Moore
a comic book in a comic book - twisted entangled plot lines weave in and out among stark art and exposed nerves. asks the immortal question: "who watches the watchers?"

SOCIAL CRITICISM AND NON-FICTION
The Art of War - Sun-Tzu
be careful of which edition you pick up - footnotes are important here.

I Ching - Kerson and Rosemary Huang
Make sure you pick up this edition - written by a prof of Particle Physics at MIT...concise, to the point and doesn't get tripped up in all the schism on translation like some other books...i was throwing coins on the plane trying to predict if my snowboards would show up in time for my week on the mountain in BC!

Speed Tribes - Karl Taro Greenfeld
a detailed, but not fawning or judgemental look at the fringe cultures in Japan - the money-drinkers, the Othau and others...i can't wait to go!

The Invisible Dragon - Dave Hickey
"Four Essays on Beauty" from El Greco to Mapplethorpe...what is art?

The Redneck Manifesto - Jim Goad
a searing semi-satirical look at the positive virtues of middle class white trash...one's gotta respect one's roots, right? Fuck Jeff Foxworthy - this boy is pissed and well-read. writing as release.

Storming the Reality Studio - ed by Larry McCaffery
a thick and detailed look at Cyberpunk fiction and "post-modernist" lit crit...all the usual cyberpunk authors and discussions on society, music and SF writings...the Clash, Willam Gibson and Suvival Research Labs

As you can tell - i like british authors, hard science, Japanese culture, cyberpunk leanings and good writing above all else.

long wicked week of work...brain still reeling from finishing a big project for a company that i am leaving...yay! down to only 2 jobs plus freelancing!

Slipknot rocked on monday, but Fear Factory was amazing, nice to see them back on the road and getting shit done.
going to see HIM tonight in a smallish venue - should be fun.

Saturday is Motorbrands Night at Ritual - Johnny from Type O, Acey from Murderdolls and Joey from The Fuzz will all be there and i will be shooting the May Calendar Girl Contest. if you see a tall, tattoo'd guy with a car shirt and a camera - make sure to say hi.

i did get a giggle out of
seaceeme's "mad face" hope your week got better...

SGMC has been fun lately as well...still waiting for the Duck story, though.

cheers!
steve

just got back from PA, like jesus on easter sunday...the ducati lives:




2 more in the stuff folder in my pics.

lots of trials and tribulations...but in the end - i won...

things i learned about motorcycles this weekend:
- no matter how smart you are, there's a motorcycle part this is smarter.
- using a large bastard file and a large hammer will ensure that the install will go smoothly.
- figure out the most stupid, complex and asinine way to do something - then look at your motorcycle...if this makes sense - then you are working on an italian machine.
- there are NO auto stores open on easter sunday
- if there is one part that truly cannot be fucked up or incomplete for you to finish your work...it will be.

got a couple shoots this week and shooting motorbrands night/calendar girl contest at ritual on saturday (say hi if you see me!) ...hope every one had a great easter!

just got sent this joke (from a duke grad), as a NC State grad and follower of ACC basketball...i sprayed coffee on my keyboard when i read this:

Two boys in Raleigh were playing basketball when one of them was
attacked by a rabid Rottweiler.
Thinking quickly, the other boy ripped a board off a nearby fence,
wedged it into the dog's collar and twisted it, breaking the dog's neck.
A newspaper reporter from the News &Observer witnessed the
incident and rushed over to interview the boy.
The reporter began entering data into his laptop, beginning with the
headline: "Brave Young Heels Fan Saves Friend From Jaws Of Vicious
Animal."
"But I'm not a Heels fan," the little hero interjected.
"Sorry," replied the reporter. "But since we're in North Carolina, I
just assumed you were."
Hitting the delete key, the reporter begins again, "NC State Fan
Rescues Friend From Horrific Dog Attack."
"But I'm not a State fan either," the boy responds.
The reporter says, "I assumed everybody in this state was either for
the Heels or the Wolfpack. What team do you root for?"
"I'm a Duke fan," the boy says.
Hitting the delete key, the reporter begins again, "Arrogant Little Yankee Bastard Kills Beloved Family Pet.

cheers!
steve

couple more shots from monday below - my last studio class was fun last night. i learned some stuff and looking forward to taking a street photography class in late spring.







sadly, this monday night shoot will have to be a tuesday or weds night shoot - SLIPKNOT is playing roseland! manly show...must go.


thehedgehog's last journal entry was interesting - highly recommended...and anytime seaceeme adds pics is a good day indeed.

off to tie up one last project and start packing up tools and parts for my bloody knuckles weekend in back-assward PA...

steve

np:Clutch-Blast Tyrant

got a couple of the johnny rockstar pics finished and re-did the color on the liah pic - tonight is my last studio photo class and i have to bring some in for homework:







i feel like a suicidegirl hopeful waiting to hear about SGMC...no matter what...i will look like a traveling italian billet salesman heading down to philly on saturday morning to pull the ducati out of storage and start puttiing on all the parts i have been picking up all winter...

cya...and thanks for looking.

hmmm...waiting to hear back from SGMC. i'm sure every rider is busy getting ready for the season - i know i am.

last night was the first night of the monday night shoots at my office - i have a long white hallway and with my one flash and lightstand i am shooting friends for practice after my office/floor clears out. here's my friend liah from last night:



i have my drummer friend johnny as well...i'll try to post them later. it's fun and good practice for studio photography.

cya
steve

i had to post some random trivia about myself at another website and figured it would apply well here:

personal trivia:

- thanked on the last 4 motorhead cds
- has sung on stage with iron maiden twice
- didn't drop his $600 honda motorcycle, but managed to drop his ducati..not once, but 3 times at either dead stop or at walking pace.
- snowboards at least 25 days a year
- broke collarbone last year at the age of 34 while racing on a skateboard
- as a mac boy, thinks microsoft is the devil but semi-forgives them for Win2k pro
- counts smokey and the bandit, dazed and confused, blade runner, spinal tap and akira in his top 5 movies
- almost went to school for library sciences
- feels that even jesus hates the lead singer of creed
- thinks there are few things sexier in this world than a cute tattoo'd girl in glasses
- spent 14 years in nyc so far and my yankee friends tell me i can call myself a new yorker only to people who aren't from new york.
- has owned 1 car with cup holders and fuel injection.
- able to tune up a 1977 firebird
- feels that when kyuss broke up was a sad sad day in music

there you go - a quick tour of steve trivia...