The last round of Banksy work that cropped up had me a little bit disenchanted. But I have to say that I’m a fan of the Olympic commentary that popped up this week. I love the mattress placement in the one below.
[via]
weekend recap
There weren’t many bloggable events that occurred over the last weekend. I have been in a bit of a slump. I think that maybe part of it is the lack of exercise catching up to me from the protracted period of being sick, and having rain every day. It is a vicious cycle. The less I workout, the harder it is to get motivated to workout, the deeper in the slump I fall.
Anyway, I had kind of exhausted all excuses not to run, by the time Sunday afternoon rolled around, and decided to pick back up with my training. I looked at the wrong week on my chart and ended up running 13 miles when I was only slated to do 8. I’m not upset about it. I was able to get some sun. I let my mind wander. It would have been a lot more enjoyable if I didn’t have so many heavy topics on my brain right now. But it was still a really good run.
Sunday evening I attended a get-together in the Yard at the SoHo Grand. It was a kickoff event for one of the men’s fashion trade shows that is happening this week. I snapped a couple of quick iPhone images (keeping it gritty), which are basically the only shots I took all weekend. The photo at the top is a video presentation that Lacoste had looping at the party. The image below is Trixie tied up outside of the SG, with two girls smoking in the background. Hoping for a good week.
happy friday
Not really a happy Friday at all, actually. It is dreary out. The weather, coupled with the news of the tragedy in Aurora CO last night has cast quite a gloomy shroud over this Friday. It’s days like this where you just kinda have to be grateful for those who are close to you. I thought it was appropriate to post an image of my favorite Steve Powers (ESPO) prints, above. The sentiment there just kinda sums things up sometimes.
happy b-day jm
Happy birthday to Jake’s Mag. Since the first post on this blog was of my bleeding foot, I thought it would be appropriate to post another pic of my bloody foot on JM’s birthday.
yep
Some bad news: it is already Wednesday, and I haven’t really done anything this week. In fact, I have been so lazy that I just sat down last night and ate wings while watching “U-571,” on AMC with commercials and everything. I have seen that movie like 8 times. It’s one of those films that is on permanent AMC rotation. I did manage to make it the rest of the way through the Bridget set though. One of my faves, above.
Some good news: the rest of the week (starting tonight) should be very productive. I plan to pick up again with running tomorrow morn. Heavily looking forward to that. Other good news is that one of the sponsors of the US Open surfing comp in LBC has invited me to tag along a shoot it. Pretty stoked about that as well.
audio goodness– xx
If you are like me, then you have been waiting with baited breath for The XX to release some new music for quite a while now. Their self titled (and first) album was released in 2009.I was pretty stoked to see this vid today from the forthcoming album “Coexist.” The track is entitled “Angels” and features only Romy’s vocals. Check it–
weekend recap
The past weekend ended up being a bust for the most part. I started feeling a cold coming on Friday night. By Saturday morning I could barely breathe. The only productive thing that I did all weekend was snapping some test shots (above) with my friend Bridget who was in town from California. I slept basically all day on Sunday and did zero running. I am feeling a bit better this morning. I ended up riding my bike to work. But I don’t want to press my luck. So I’m going to hold off with the running until at least Wed. One more shot from the weeekend–
happy friday
Oh, man. It has been a rough week. I’m still getting over the lag from last week. It doesn’t help that I have had something scheduled every night this week. Last night I shot a party at the Burton store in SoHo. It is closing for renovation, so they were trying to dump inventory. It was a good time, except for the fact that I am also starting to come down with a cold or something. So, I was sneezing my face off. I’m hoping that it is short-lived and that I can feel snappy again tomorrow morning, especially since I have a race in CP. A couple more images from last night–
Have a great weekend!
ketchikan vid
I slapped together a little vid from the footage that I shot in AK last week. I wish that I would have been more proactive about shooting video while I was up there. Alas, I didn’t. So, here is what I came away with:
nike+ sportwatch maiden voyage
Marathon training officially started for me Monday. Thk goodness it was only a 3mi. jaunt. I’m not sure that I would have been up for much more. I’m logging the next 17 weeks over here. What’s more, is that I’ll be reviewing the Nike+ SportWatch side by side with the Garmin Forerunner 410. Yes, I will be wearing a GPS device on each wrist 6 days a week for the next 17 weeks. I’m sure that I’m going to get some interesting looks. I should also make it very clear from the get-go that neither Garmin or Nike is giving me any incentive to write this review/comparison. I should also say that everything that I write is going to be my opinion based on my experience with the devices, and there is no scientific methodology involved.
Let’s get started with a few of the things that I really liked about the SportWatch right off the bat. As you might recall from this post, I have become slightly obsessed with Nike Fuel. As I also stated in that post, the Nike+ SportWatch also measures Fuel. I also love the display on the SportWatch. Oversized numbers are boss. I have always been a fan of the Nike+ user dashboard. I like it even better since it was recently redesigned. Checkout the screenshot of the new Nike+ running dashboard below:
audio goodness– bombay bicycle club
Switching things up a bit today with a video for AG. I posted a one of BBC’s videos on Ear Full of Gold, last year. It from from their 2011 album, “A Different Kind of Fix.” They have already released a couple of singles in 2012. I came across this video earlier this week, and love it almost as much as the one that I posted on EFOG. Check out Bombay Bicycle Club’s “Beg,” below:
weekend recap
I’m a bit lagged and still winding down from the trip to AK. There was so much to look at up there. I’m not sure if I will ever make it through everything that I shot. These images are from a sort-of buoy boneyard. I loved the way that they were just stacked on the side of the road.
Anyway, I flew all day Saturday and lost 4 hours. Sunday, I was able to unpack and squeeze in a bike ride (in which my friend wrecked very hard and messed up his bike). It is definitely going to take me a little bit of time to settle back into reality.
Have a great week!
happy friday!
So bummed that today is my last full day in AK. It has been so much fun. Not really sure what is on the docket for today. But, Thursday was so nice and sunny. The image above is what I woke up to. We went to the boat basin in the morning and checked out some pretty cool hardwood fishing boats. It blew my mind that they still make boats out of wood like that.
In the afternoon we went to a local beach and caught some rays. My shoulder is actually still sore from skipping so many rocks with my nieces.
Have a great weekend!
4th of july
Nothing says says happy birthday America like parades and fishin’. Hahahaha. So, that is exactly how we spent independence day. We hit up the Ketchikan parade around noon. I think that my favorite portion of the parade was seeing the Native American wearing some of their tribal gear, etc..
After the parade, we borrowed a boat from my b-i-l’s friend Mike at Knudson Cove Marina. We headed just around the corner from the Marina and dropped in a couple of fishing lines. Things got crazy.
Yes, those are Carhartt jeans and Xtratough boots, I’m wearing. I was geared up like a pro. Even though I grew up fishing pretty much my whole life. This was definitely an excursion like none other that I had ever been on. I caught 3 different varieties of salmon, including a white king (which I’m told is kind of a big deal).
After we arrived back at the pad, we fired up the coals and grilled salmon/steak, then watched fireworks from my sister’s deck. Not a bad way to celebrate the 4th of July.
lions tigers and bears
Tuesday started off with a hike through the Tongass Forest. It is a temperate rain forest, and the largest rain forest in the world, aside from the Amazon. You’re welcome for the factoid. Hahah.
In the evening we did some ziplining with Alaska Canopy Adventures. It was bananas. We literally zipped from tree top to tree top. I felt like I was in the Ewok village or something. Here is a POV shot of my feet zipping at about 35 mph toward the final platform.
Tori, Jessie and Sarah on one of the platforms:
After zipping we went on a bear walk. We walked out to an area where we has seen some bears earlier in the week. I knew there was one nearby, because I could hear one growling. As I was hanging over some railing trying to see farther down the river, I heard my sister choking out the words “there is a mama bear and her cub right over your head.” I looked up and saw this:
I was able to snap a couple of shots as we were retreating, including this one of her manicured paw.
Sarah snapped this one of me getting the image at the top of this post.
Let’s not forget the barn cats. They followed us the whole time we were walking around this boardwalk.
Capped off the evening with some warm-up-lap fireworks courtesy of my sister’s neighbors.
misty fjords
I apologize in advance for the quantity of photos in this post, but Monday was seriously bananas. To give you an idea, we shot close to 1300 frames, and had to pair it down to this handful (top photo by Maya).
We got up bright and early and jumped a flight operated by Promech Air. Promech is a super cool outfit. I was able to meet several of the individuals that work with Promech and they are good peeps. Our plane left from the docks right in front of downtown Ketchikan, and took off past the cruise ships that were at port.
We flew over the fjords and landed at a dock to do the return trip by boat.
New Eddystone is a large rock formation that in one of the main channels. My sister and b-i-l were actually married there. Not long after passing New Eddystone, we passed a couple of orcas playing.
Even though the weather was kinda drizzly most of the morning, by the afternoon/evening, it cleared up, and the sun came out. So we went down to the beach to build a fire and goof off.
audio goodness– shins
Last week I mentioned that I would be getting back to the basics, for a bit. This week we are chatting about the newish record from The Shins. I don’t have a lot of favorites of anything. But I dare say that The Shins are one of my favorite groups. I was very excited when the first couple of singles from “Port of Morrow” were released. Even though “Simple Song” (the first single released) is not one of my faves, I am very stoked on basically the entire rest of the album. The track that I’m sharing is “Bait and Switch.” Check it.
[img]
it rains a lot here
I successfully survived my first full day in AK. It was pouring rain on and off, Sunday. That didn’t stop us from getting out on a hike to Ward Lake, among other activities. Today, we are off to Misty Fjords, in a float plane, which by the way are ubiquitous here. I snapped the one below from my sister’s living room. I’m getting pretty excited about it.
Here are a couple more snaps from the hike.
i was awake for 23 hours
Yesterday morning, I voyaged from sea to shining sea. My journey stared in the lovely Pennsylvania Station, NY. Since I was there at 4:30 AM, I had the pleasure of sharing the NJ Transit train to EWR with all of the club kids on their way home after a wild night out in the big city, hahah. It was less than enjoyable. Fourteen hours later, I was lounging on my sister’s couch watching the bald eagles fly around outside of her living room window.
We didn’t waste any time getting the party started. We went on a couple of hikes. My little nieces Maya and Sophie are fantastic hikers (above: Maya and Sophie discovering America). They weren’t afraid to break out an occasional parkour move between rocks or over a log.
Don’t forget the bears and eagles. I was greeted by both as I exited the airplane concourse. They are literally everywhere over here.
It is a lot more challenging that I had supposed, to shoot here. Since it rains so much, the light is very subdued. This means that I find myself shooting with the aperture wide open and often w/a shutter speed of slower than 1/200 (because I refuse to shoot any higher than 400 iso [noise]). Makes it tough to get a sharp image hand-held at 200mm. The low light and constant drizzle also throws off the AF quite a bit. I’m sure that I will get it figured out eventually.
airportz
Blogging w/my phone right now out of boredom. This is after I have already gone on a instagram binge and eaten two tacos. Only 2 hours left in this layover. Weighing the options: uncomfortable nap v. more magazines.