Aug 22

Photo-A-Day 2013: Top 25 Outtakes — January Through June

Since I’ve fallen behind a bit on updating my Photo-A-Day project — not behind on taking photos, mind you, but merely on working them up and getting them into the blog — I figured I’d drop this post with 25 selected outtakes from the first six months of 2013. These images were all in consideration for best photo of their given day, but fell short. They were worked up and ready to go, so I present them here in a gallery format. To see each image at full size, simply click on it in the gallery!

Enjoy!

Mar 16

#LOTD2013: February Playlist

#LOTD2013 February PlaylistAs I explained in last month’s recap post of the January playlist, along with the Photo-a-Day project I launched on Jan. 1, I also decided to take on a daily Twitter project: sharing a Lyric of the Day (hence the #LOTD2013 hashtag that goes along with each Tweet).

Here’s the list of February’s Tweets (find the Spotify playlist I’ve created from these lyrics linked at the end of the post or on the image at right), with some brief explanations (in italics) for a number of the lyrics. Remember, if you want to see the lyrics as they pop up daily, just give me a follow on Twitter!

  • “Quench me when I’m thirsty/Come on and cool me down, baby, when I’m hot. (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)” #BobMarley “Stir It Up” #LOTD2013 2/1
  • “If I look hard enuf into the setting sun/My love will laugh with me before the morning comes” #RollingStones “Paint It Black” #LOTD2013 2/2
  • “I’d like to hear a little guitar/I guess it’s time to put the top down” #CountingCrows “Raining in Baltimore” #LOTD2013 2/3 – The Baltimore Ravens win Super Bowl XLVII, 34-31, over the San Francisco 49ers.
  • “Don’t it suck about the succubi, the bloodsuckers and the parasites/They’re never funny” #TheHoldSteady “A Slight Discomfort” #LOTD2013 2/4
  • “Rampart boys with loaded rifles/Guatemalan soccer ball instant replays/Mango ladies, vendedoras” #Beck “Que Onda Guero” #LOTD2013 2/5
  • “Because my inside is outside/My right side’s on the left side/’Cause I’m writing to reach you” #Travis “Writing to Reach You” #LOTD2013 2/6
  • “Some fools love to perform/U know the type loud as a motorbike/But wouldn’t bust a grape in a fruit fight” #JayZ “99 Problems” #LOTD2013 2/7 – Dedicated to fake tough guy lifting in my building’s rooftop gym.
  • “Stranded in this spooky town/Stoplights are swaying, phone lines are down/This floor is crackling cold” #KingsofLeon “Closer” #LOTD2013 2/8
  • “Please see for me if her hair hangs long/If it rolls and flows all down her breast.” #BobDylan “Girl From the North Country” #LOTD2013 2/9 – Struck by the placement of this song in “Silver Linings Playbook,” which I saw this Saturday night.
  • “Run a mile for the cause, I’m righteous above the law/Playa my style’s raw, I’m born to mack …” #Nelly “Country Grammar” #LOTD2013 2/10 – One of my top running songs, it shuffled on to my iPod at just the right moment this morning when I was running my first competitive 10k race in Santa Monica.
  • “Poets, priests and politicians/Have words to thank for their positions” #ThePolice “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da” #LOTD2013 2/11
  • “Nothin’ much to say I guess/Just the same as all the rest” #U2 “Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms Around The World” #LOTD2013 2/12
  • “Give all of my mercy/Give all of my heart/Never thought I’d miss you/That I’d miss you so much” #TheJayhawks “Blue” #LOTD2013 2/13
  • “Cupid, draw back your bow and let your arrow go/Straight to my lover’s heart for me, for me” #SamCooke “Cupid” #LOTD2013 2/14 #HappyVDay – My favorite vaguely Valentine’s Day-related song.
  • “All day you’ve been working that hard line/Now tonight you’re gonna have a good time” #BruceSpringsteen “Out In The Street” #LOTD2013 2/15
  • “A live wire, barely a beginner/But just watch that lady go/She’s on fire …” #VanHalen “Dance The Night Away” #LOTD2013 2/16
  • “Cause I have done it before/And I can do it some more/I’ve got my eye on the score” #TheHives “Tick Tick Boom” #LOTD2013 2/17 – Experienced 11-plus amusing and rocking minutes of this tune at the House of Blues Anaheim on this fine night.
  • “When my thoughts start to feel like mine/They’re taken from me, it seems to happen every time” #TheWhiteStripes “Do” #LOTD2013 2/18
  • “Yeah, ya got plastic boots/Y’all got cocaine eyes/Yeah, ya got speed-freak jive” #RollingStones “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” #LOTD2013 2/19
  • “Motion pictures on my TV screen/A home away from home, livin’ in between” #NeilYoung “Motion Pictures” #LOTD2013 2/20
  • “Clean as a whistle/Smellin like a rose/She got no dirty little fingers/Bloodshot eyes are gone” #BlackCrowes “Twice As Hard” #LOTD2013 2/21
  • “Only a lad/Really can’t blame him/Only a lad/Society made him/Only a lad/He’s our responsibility” #OingoBoingo “Only A Lad” #LOTD2013 2/22
  • “Got the wheels, petrol’s cheap/Only went there for a week/Got the sun got the sand/Got batteries in the handycam” #U2 “Miami” #LOTD2013 2/23 – Arrival day in Miami Beach for an annual work trip. Always excited to arrive there.
  • “Glaciers melting in the dead of night/And the superstars sucked into the supermassive” #Muse “Supermassive Black Hole” #LOTD2013 2/24
  • “Feelin’ rough/Feelin’ raw/In the prime of my life/Make some music & some money/Find models for wives” #MGMT “Time To Pretend” #LOTD2013 2/25 – It’s nearly inevitable that at some point during a trip to Miami Beach, you find yourself noticing that much of it is actually closer to L.A.’s plastic reputation than L.A. really is.
  • “Hell-bent or heaven-sent/Listen to the propaganda/Listen to the latest slander” #ElvisCostello “Pump It Up” #LOTD2013 2/26
  • “All I get is these vampires and blood suckers/All I see is these ni**as I’ve made millionaires” #JayZ #KanyeWest “Monster” #LOTD2013 2/27
  • “The bus is running/It’s time to leave/The summer’s gone/And so are we” #CountingCrows “Miami” #LOTD2013 2/28 – Check-out day in Miami Beach. Always excited to leave there.

Here’s the Spotify playlist if you’d like to listen along! #LOTD2013: February

Mar 13

Photo-a-Day 2013: Week 9

As the calendar flipped from February to March, I spent just one full day in L.A. during the week. Below, you’ll see a few more from Miami, where we left off in week 8 and then a transition to much more frigid Chicago for the second leg of a lengthy bit of biz travel. Remember, like always, to see a full size version of the image, simply click on any of these below!

26-FEB-2013: After a great dinner at Casa Tua, our group enjoyed a mojito and a cooling at the Delano South Beach.

26-FEB-2013: After a great dinner at Casa Tua, our group enjoyed a mojito and a cooling at the Delano South Beach.

27-FEB-2013: A look from my hotel room balcony down the length of the cruise-ship-like Fontainebleau.

27-FEB-2013: A look from my hotel room balcony down the length of the almost cruise-ship-like Fontainebleau.

28-FEB-2013: So nice to grab an hour or so of beach time before the flight back to L.A.

28-FEB-2013: So nice to grab an hour or so of beach time before the flight back to L.A.

1-MAR-2013: Night shot of the foyer of 818 7th Street in DTLA.

1-MAR-2013: Night shot of the foyer of 818 7th Street in DTLA.

2-MAR-2013: The Lodge on Division Street. My kind of town, indeed.

2-MAR-2013: The Lodge on Division Street. My kind of town, indeed.

3-MAR-2013: Many reasons I always come back to the W Chicago Lakeshore. This is just one.

3-MAR-2013: Many reasons I always come back to the W Chicago Lakeshore. This is just one.

4-MAR-2013: Looking up State Street from the Vertigo Sky Lounge atop the Dana Hotel & Spa, home again to our annual Chicago party.

4-MAR-2013: Looking up State Street from the Vertigo Sky Lounge atop the Dana Hotel & Spa, home again to our annual Chicago party.