Photoshoot with Mister E

Today Everett nearly destroyed me with his superhuman cuteness. I couldn't get over how good he was, and so cheerful & smiley the ENTIRE time! I was at their house for over 3 hours! I do think it really helps that his parents are such fun, laid back people. I had a great time today - who wouldn't with an irresistable and charming model like this?!?! Ashli & Brandon, thank you again for letting me shoot your kid :-)

Here are some of the pics from today. Warning: this blog post may contain some seriously pinchable leg rolls!!!

What's wrong with this picture?

Here is the current Yahoo! home page. This page is the result of months, nay, years of careful research and testing.



And here is AOL's prospective home page design. It is still in beta. I guess if you can't afford the resources to come up with a good design, the next best strategy is to rip somebody else off. I'm embarrassed for them.


See what they have to say on Valleywag

Geeks Do It Better

I married one. Geeks, nerds, technies, dweebs, whatever you want to call them, they make great partners. Here is a short list demonstrating why I love Geeks:

1. Our house is networked and we have 1.5 terabytes of storage. What does that mean for me? Infinite storage space for shooting and storing photos to my heart's content. Mwahahaha.

2. Mr. Evil studied Mechanical Engineering. He had a total of 2 females in his classes while we were in college (one of them looked like Walter Matthau). By default I was the cutest girl on the planet. Well, his planet.

3. I wiped my memory card last week and lost my mind, running around the house cussing, threatening hari kari. Mr. Evil sauntered in and calmly recovered the missing docs with one hand, lime popsicle in the other. He then retired to his nerd lair for a long session of W.O.W. (if you know what that is then you're a geek too).

4. Geeks appreciate good design and engineering. We invested in a Dyson, the world's most amazing vacume cleaner, which never loses suction. Mr. Evil *actually* seems to enjoy vacuming the house with it! Hands off ladies, I'm keeping this one.

5. Physics, Chemistry, Calculus, blah blah blah. I hated these classes and therefore retained nothing. Sorry mom, its true. If you ask me, everything happens by magic or tiny elf wizards. Mr. Evil is a walking encyclopedia of scientific information. With all of that info on demand from his head I am freed up to absorb superficial garbage. Perez Hilton and Cute Overload come to mind.

6. Science Fiction: adventures in. I probably never would have given Battlestar Gallactica or Firefly a chance otherwise. I am pleasantly suprised to find the acting decent and the plots well thought out. There I said it. Are you satisfied now, husband? Frack.

7. Geeks dont' necessarily look like geeks. Remember your mom telling you that the quiet, studious boys in high school would some day be cute and successful? It's true!!! Now they're good looking AND they have well developed personalities. Shhhhh, don't go telling everybody.

8. The latest gadgets and electronic baubles. I am up to my ears in all the technology a girl could ever want. I even have a new pink Nano that says EvilKate on the back. Le sigh.

9. Geeks attract other geeks. Mr. Evil has a large circle of friends with varied nerdly pursuits. By combining their awesome abilities they could probably hijack North America. Or at least Canada. Ipso facto, I become Queen of Canada.

10 Geeks are efficient and often perfectionists. They will always find the *best* way to do something. This includes driving places, assembling furniture, and most important of all, kissing.

For the record Mr. Evil prefers the term "Well Adjusted Technical Professional" instead of Geek.

While we're on the subject...
How to be the type of nerd that girls love
10 Reasons Why Geeks Make Better Lovers

Barbizon Model(s) of the Week

Too cute for Hell

I finally received my Purple Felony from KidRobot! His name is Skumbo and he is my little vinyl friend. I actually know somebody who fits this exact description...

"Satan's evil pet elephant! Dont be surprised if you see him painting your walls, eating your candy and stealing your car! Way too cute to be really evil, Skumbo left the fiery depths of hell to pursue a simpler life of booze, sleep, and well, more booze. These days he's roaming the earth, getting into adventures and living up to his reputation for being too cute for hell and too drunk for heaven!".

Friday Foto Day

Today I attended a digital photography workshop put on by Augie Chang, which was really fun. Brushed up on stuff I'd learned but forgotten and learned a lot of new skills. He was great about sharing his tricks with us. In the afternoon we went out and shot in downtown Pleasanton then came back and had a critique. Each of us chose a theme - mine was round objects: I highly recommend his workshop because its great for shooters of all levels. Auge is good at explaining things and does so in a straightforward manner. A day well spent!Ham.

I just like this photo

I think its the colors.

Barbizon Model of the Week

Its none other than Ms. Gallagher and her lovely shamrocks.

Evilkitty poses

All I had to do was set the stage and wait...There is a world of evil and mischief behind those dragon eyes.

I shot my husband. Get it? Haha.

Today I bought myself some studio equipment. And of course I had to take some shots right away, what with all of these new toys. The only person available to be my subject was a reluctant Mr. Evil. I had to pull him away from World of Warcraft and other assorted geek activites. In the end I think he realized that if he didn't struggle it would be over faster.

Doesn't he look thrilled to be here?
Uh oh, payback for the cat on the head thing...
Mr. Sarcasm
I think he's done playing photo studio.

Waiting for Baby J

I finally uploaded pics from a recent photoshoot with my good friend, Jenelle. She is due May 30th and expecting her second boy, Jered. I had such a blast taking these photos! Jenelle, you are a such a great model. You knew how to pose...I just took took the pictures. You look radiant :-)

Yuri's Night 2007

Last night Mr. Evil took me to Yuri's Night 07: World Space Party, which was held inside a hanger at the NASA Ames Research Facility in Mountain View. Think science fair meets Burning Man. Yuri Gagarin was the first human to go into space on April 12th, 1961. Yesterday there were 126+ parties in 35 countries taking place simultaneously, in celebration of "the power and beauty of space and what it means for each of us".

I really wished that I had my camera last night -- the people watching was excellent. It was a like a big rave happening inside of the Exploratorium. There were science projects and vendors selling food and rave gear. There were people riding bikes with big light trees attached to them (words fail me here). People on stilts, artists painting up on stages, and everybody had some kind of blinking or glow in the dark accessory. There was even a big clear plastic buddha sculpture with multicolor lights inside of it. On the main stage we saw Plaid perform, which kicked off with video footage of the first US shuttle launch (saw one raver crying, overcome with emotion and Ecstasy). Space Cowboy was also there with their crazy DJ truck.

Mr. Evil said he went there to see Plaid perform. But I think he really just wanted to talk to the science guys :-)

Spreading cheer and happiness

This is one of those times when my mom would say in a suprised voice, "You've never heard of the Doomsday Clock???". Sorry Susan, I have not. Oh sure I spend a lot of time reading PerezHilton and DListed instead of noteworthy publications. However, in my defense, the Doomsday Clock was created in 1947 by a bunch of Atomic Scientists. And my mom was a kid during the Duck-and-Cover Bay of Pigs era. Anyway...

We are swiftly approaching our doom, peops. The clock is currently at 5 minutes to midnight. The number of minutes before midnight, a measure of the degree of nuclear, environmental, and technological threats, is updated periodically. The clock is currently set to five minutes to midnight, having been advanced by two minutes on January 17, 2007. Yeehaw! Other times humanity was flirting with certain peril:

1949 -Soviet Union tests it's first A-bomb. Clock was at 3 minutes to midnight.

1981 - Arms race escalates, conflicts in Afghanistan, South Africa, and Poland.
Clock was at four minutes to midnight.

More interesting nuggets. Linkin Park's third studio album is named "Minutes to Midnight", a reference to the Doomsday Clock, although Mike Shinoda said it is not a completely literal title. Also, The eighth episode of the series Heroes is titled "Seven Minutes to Midnight", which was the time on the clock at the release of the episode. Also, the villain Sylar wears a watch that stopped at seven minutes to midnight. The series was filmed and began to air prior to the 2007 adjustment of the Doomsday clock, which until then did indeed read seven minutes to midnight (Wiki).

"The fate of the planet is in the hands of a bunch of retards I wouldn't trust with a potato gun." (General Kimsey, Armageddon, 1998)

Ghost Ride the Whip

Ghost Riding the Whip: Today's Cultural Anthropology Lesson

Also known as "ghostin", it is when a person puts the car in neutral or allows it to idle and then the passengers of exit while it is still rolling and dance beside it or on the hood or roof. And I love this: Ghost riding is also known as "going Patrick Swayze," or just "going Swayze," referring to Patrick Swayze's lead role in the movie Ghost (Wiki).

The phrase "Ghost ride the whip" was made popular by rapper, E-40. Although I could swear the act itself was first made popular by Michael J. Fox in Teen Wolf. But what do I know? The stunt is a common practice among members of the Hyphy community. Hyphy (pronounced HI-fee) is a style of music and dance associated with the Bay Area hip hop culture.

Now you can say you learned something today.

Barbizon Model of the Week

In Brian's own words:
"So I have this idea for a great movie. Its about two gnomes who find a bracelet of power and they have to take it to the burning steps and cast it into the cauldren. They form the Brotherhood of the Bracelet..."

I'm saving it

Have you ever seen such a prosh Save-The-Date card? I just received this from my BF. I had to scan it in on my lame scanner, hence the image quality. Thats right, I'm the Maid of Honor :-)

Courtney and I worked together at the local fruit stand every summer during our "formative years". We braved dirt and goats and crazy people at the fruit stand six summers in a row. Nothing brings people closer than goats and dirt. Trust me. Being forced to wear a chicken suit in August also builds relationships based on shared humiliation. But thats a blog entry for another time...

Thank you, Easter Bunny

Good Easter yesterday with the fam. Traditional egg hunt, sangria, lots of chocolate and all-terrain vehicles (don't ask). Here are a few of my snapshots...

Bringin Burlesque Back

Isn't she fierce? The self-named Miss Dirty Martini is an international burlesque sensation. Apparently there is a burlesque revival happening as we speak. This reincarnation has been coined Neo-Burlesque and is more about the teasing than the stripping. There are a quite a few dancers out there. Who knew? The Pontani Sisters are also fabulous.

Kitty Coutour

In response to the previous post somebody sent me to Miss Glamour Puss. Holy moly, there is a whole website dedicated to cat costumery. This is really amazing to me. If I tried to put a sweater on my cat she would rip my face off in 2 seconds.

Doggy Warhol

This week's cool find is Noisy Dog Studio. Leigh Jackson, a dog lover and artist, will create an original painting of your dog for a fee. The paintings are acrylic on wrapped canvas and start at $175 for an 8x8. All she needs is a clear photograph of your boo boo bear (yes, I said boo boo bear). Some of you that know me are probably wondering why I would feature dog portraits when I am a borderline crazy cat lady. Well I like Leigh Jackson's style. ArtPaw.com also has interesting custom pet portraits but your photo is actually adhered to the canvas and then they paint over the top (see below). And then there is Jessica from Maxine&Sophie.com who paints pet portraits in more loose, modern style. And her work starts at $150 for an 8x10 acrylic on canvas.I'll stop here because I'm beginning to sound like an eccentric pet freak. Plus my cat just told me that she wants to do the NY Times crossword together. Of course I know cats don't talk, sillypants. She told me with mind waves...

Make Photos Not War

I am so used to pointing my camera at others that I forget what its like to be the subject. Today I had the pleasure of working with Augie Chang, a very talented wedding and portrait photographer. We started out at his studio and then walked around downtown Walnut Creek. You didn't think there was graffiti in Walnut Creek, did you? Augie has a great eye for interesting backdrops and puts his clients at ease. I was having such a good time that I didn't realize that he shot over 300 images! I have assisted him at several weddings and know firsthand that he is passionate about capturing moments. Thanks for the fun day, Augie!

Naughty and Crafty

For all of you wicked women trapped in the body of a 1950's housewife there is Subversive Cross Stitch. Get your anger out and make a nice keepsake for Aunt Pearl at the same time :-)

Barbizon Model of the Week

In Joseph's own words:
"I was born in 1985 but I'm a renaissance man. I loves me the older women. The older the better. Cougars, if you want to have fun then look me up."

Eddie Darling

"Sweetie, darling!" You may not know her as Jennifer Saunders because to most people she is Eddie (Edina Monsoon) from Absolutely Fabulous. She was interviewed in the latest issue of BUST and is a very likeable lady. Some facts:

She and Dawn French are the co-creators of AbFab and they disliked eachother intensly when they first met.

Jennifer has been big on the British Comedy scene since the late 70's early 80's.

She did the voice-over for the Fairy Godmother in Shrek 2.

She is the recipient of both a Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award and British Comedy Award.

She has three daughters and lives on a farm in Devon, England.

Oh yeah, and if I haven't said it before, I highly recommend BUST magazine.