Bronx Zoo

I remember this day very clearly…date…well, its beyond me…but I remember this day. We went to the Bronx Zoo, like an hour PLUS on the the 5 train. All the way to the South Bronx. Or whatever…it was the Bronx.

Monkeys, lions, and whatnot…it was a great day. I recall seeing this shot (and I really remember not knowing what I was seeing) and I shot away. Can you believe it? A Nikon F4s, Fuji film, and patience…something the digital world cares less and less about.

Rainy day Hawaii

Once again, its rainy…cold and rainy. Yes yes I know you East Coasters laugh when I complain (moan) about my wet weather woes but its cold and wet! It is currently 71 degrees with a low of 66. Yes, this sounds like a great day in New York or LA in late winter/early spring but when you live in perfect temps most of the year round, you get thin skinned and thin blooded. I rarely wear long pants, long sleeves, or socks. Really, life has become slippers, shorts, and sunglasses…but not today…or rather this entire weekend…lost to the rains.

It rained really really hard last night and parts of the day. It didn’t wake me up but it surely did some damage. Flooding warnings chirped on late night tv and early this morning. I haven’t seen the news today but I know it rained loads.

We have a large bowl outside filled with sand and sea shells and odd bits found here and there. Lo to our surprise, this morning we found it filled like our own miniature ocean. The rains pour over the Pali mountains right behind us and showered our little bowl filling it half way. Our own little Pacific, a mini-sea sand and shells sans life. Yukako said we should get a gold fish.

Poor thing would die in a week.

Power, Justice, and eventual pardons…


The new penthouse…$7 million of course.

Justice was sort of done today…I guess not much more could be done. I mean if the money is gone or hidden who has the power to force anyone to admit it. We do have a constitution and it means loads, regardless if the current regime would like to erode it further.

Yet, most of the victims will not get their cash back and by anyone’s guess, ol’ Bernie will get out on a pardon and rush off to Israel to enjoy the dough. Cynical? Yes…as one would hope not but someone will pull strings to let this poor man who has suffered so much out on a pardon. Marc Rich got one…

Well…to start…might Madoff have funneled mafia (Russian, Israeli, etc…) funds through his scheme? Might he start to blab about who did and what happened? Who knows…I feel there are way too many things that will never be known, said or afraid to be said. This goes very deep.

The Ides of MARC H!!!!!

Yes, I left a space btw the c and the h.

Why? Figure it out.

Well, the ides are a few days off but you get the idea.

All is quiet on the southern most western coast. The recession is slowly sinking towards us and its scary yet all is still unknown. Will the regime of Obama pull us out of the mess Carter/Reagan/Bush/Clinton/Bush put us in? Are we sinking further? Bernanke won’t tell who’s getting the dough. Trillions of bucks are going somewhere…but are they going to us?

How does a photographer work out a bailout plan for himself? As the news drones on about ballouts, scams, and whatnot, I can’t help but to wonder about a handout coming our way in the photo industry. We, as most know, don’t make enough of an impact to foster Congressional committees, Senate hearings, and labor union strikes. We carry on, holstering our depreciating army of cameras, computers, and the likes hoping the wire services, magazines, corporations, and events will call us, raise their rates, give us more jobs, and ensure we have enough jobs to carry us on through this dipping economy.

Ha! I can hear roar of the readers in the backroom! Obama’s handouts don’t flow this way says the hands that hold the money. We had better open a bank, insurance company, or a ponzi scheme to gain any greens that are being thrown out in absolute disregard. The stock market, along with our savings and investments, are tanking. The world is sinking.

Hmmm….I wonder.

SO how do we survive, fellow bugger off-ers? I don’t know. Don’t buy anything camera related is what I think. Start lowering rates and expectations as well as don’t buy those once needed shoes, sofa, or six-pack if it means you don’t have enough for gas, grub, and rent/mortgage. If you have a non-photo degree, start dusting off your resume and get ready…

beyond that…

I’ve though of ways to get a handout from the Obama regime:

1. Start a ponzi scheme. Make sure to sell to all races and colors to ensure you don’t get called a dirty-“whatever.” Carry a Bible, wear a kippa, or grow a beard to court and declare you are an oppressed minority and ask for a bailout to save yourself and your clients. All the while, stay in your penthouse under house arrest and defy public demands to turn over your 7 million dollar pad or your wife’s multi-million dollar bank accounts (all FDIC insured, no less.)

2. Create an investment company, buy toxic debt, bundle it together (hide it) and sell it to other greedy investors hoping to make a quick buck.

3. Open a bank, make bad investments, and demand the tax payers bail you out.

4. Open an insurance company, make bad investments, threaten to sink the economy by not covering the insured, and demand taxpayer bucks.

5. Don’t pay your mortgage on a house you never were able to afford (think–flip it in 3 years before the note balloons) demand the bank help and demand a handout from the gov.

6. Create a wonderful killing weapon, bomb, or missile. War is always vogue regardless of the party. “We’ll get our troops out of Iraq and SEND 17,000 to Afghanistan!)

7. Get on Oprah (or similar talk show) and beg Obama to bail you out!

8. Pray to Jesus/Allah/Buddha or whomevah for some major help with that cell phone bill.

9. I ran out of ideas.

I guess best to just follow 8…and even then, who knows.