I’ve changed the layout of ipanemic.com to use a different theme. I like this one. Nice and clean. Simple. There are still a number of things about the way it looks that I want to change, but for the most part, I’m happy with the look.

I’m going to change the look and feel of the galleries as well. But that’s a whole complicated mess which will probably take some time.

Videos are an issue for me. I’ve been putting more videos up on YouTube lately but I have a ton of videos hosted here on ipanemic. So I’m going to gradually move stuff over to YouTube and just embed them here. Some videos probably won’t make the cut, mainly because I’m creating all of the music for videos now and don’t want to mix stuff up on YouTube. We’ll see. Not sure yet what I’m going to do.

Feedback? Better? Yes? No?

Blood

Tried to give blood last night. That didn’t work. My neutropenia apparently doesn’t allow me to donate. At least I got a free t-shirt for trying.

Video

I’m wrapping up a video today that I’ve been working on for the past two weeks. This one’s been difficult. I had the audio complete last week. Five minutes and twelve seconds of (aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh) audio bliss, but piecing together the video has been ridiculously challenging. I’ll be glad to get this out the door. Not because I’m tired of it, but because I’ll be glad to finally show it. It’s pretty frickin’ awesome. I think.

That’s All.

That’s all. I’ve really had a lot of different topics I’ve wanted to talk about lately (losing social networks, smoking, photography, etc.) but I just haven’t had the time to sit down and write here. Hopefully soon, I’ll get back into a normal groove.

It’s freezing today so I naturally decided to try and stay warm. Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem. I live in South Florida and I have a pullover. And that’s pretty much all I need.

But then I remembered as the first brisk wind blew across me this morning that Salome has my pullover. Doh. (No rush, Salome. Stay warm! )

So I’ve been doing the best I can with my live-on-the-beach-wear. You know. Shorts. Flip-flops. T-shirt. It started simply enough with me throwing a polo type shirt over a tee this morning, but as the day turned into night, my layers of clothing progressed into a color-coordinated ensemble of sleepwear, casual day wear, and dinner wear. All in one. With a little German sock/flip-flop action going on.

I have to say, I look pretty snappy. In fact, I look so snappy that when I added the final layer and Ginger saw it, she immediately grabbed her camera to capture this masterpiece. She took a lot of pictures. That let me know right there how good I looked.

A few minutes later, I saw my friend Jack and then HE wanted to take a picture as well. But then he laughed. And then I remembered that Jack’s pretty much a wiener. So maybe I don’t actually look good.

I don’t care. Losers. At least I’m warm.

Ugh. I’ve run into a slight problem with this site. I’m going to be changing things. Just so you know.

Photography, video, music, editing: ipanemic.com

That’s it. I’m done with erotica.

And I’m done with it out of frustration. While I went on an exploration and became very comfortable with it, while I enjoy shooting what I shoot and am trying to create something more than simply filth, it doesn’t matter in the slightest. It’s simply filth to too many.

It’s really unfortunate.

I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do yet. I don’t know exactly how I’m going to do this. I can tell you this: I’m not going anywhere. I’m absolutely not. But I don’t know yet how I’m going to work this.

That erotica site that I run… it’s not going anywhere. I’m probably going to shut down memberships, though, and simply allow straight purchase of individual photos or sets. And videos. Or maybe not. Maybe I’ll just shut it down. I doubt I’ll shoot any more content for it unless… unless I don’t know.

I don’t know what I’m going to do.

I’m just tired of this bull crap. I sometimes want to yell out at the world to just… Argh! It’s sooooo, sooo annoying to me, this nonsense.

I can’t fight this. There is just too big of a stigma and I don’t want to be marginalized because of societal views. I’m just so tired of this.

AAAAAUUUUGGGGGH!!! It’s so frustrating. Maybe I won’t quit. I don’t know yet. I just need to vent and tell you that you’re irritating me, people. Some of you.

Today is the 31st of January. As if I could have planned it, Nomad’s Land isn’t making it out the door today. I had said January 2010. I joked in my mind that that would end up being 11:59:59pm on January 31st. I joked and laughed nervously.

I think I need to go away for a few days.

Nomad’s Land will be finished soon. If I can find the time to finish it. Which would be the days away that I really need. I have too much stuff going on.

By the way, the video was all edited with Sony Software, both the music and the video using Sony’s ACID and Vegas software.

I’ve been tasked with creating a five minute video for a rather large trade show coming up soon in Las Vegas. The format of the video will be a combination of HD video, stills, and a score, all of which I’ll be shooting/composing/editing together.

I need to have the video done within two weeks so I need to shoot all photos/video this weekend.

I have two models already lined up and I need one to two or even three more. I’m looking for female models between 18-25. If you’re in the South Beach/Miami area, please contact me immediately(!!!) and send me a link to your portfolio.

I’m going to make final decisions on models by Friday, January 29th by 6pm. Shooting will take place on Saturday and Sunday depending on schedules.

Please pass this information along to anyone you know who might be interested. There is no pay involved, however, all models will be getting rather significant exposure in front of an audience comprised of entertainment industry professionals. Also, you’ll receive copies of all processed photos as well as a copy of the video which you can use in your portfolio.

Thanks!

Shortly after I published this video, the gnome disappeared. If you have any information about his known whereabouts, please contact me. No questions asked.

South Florida Daily Blog is holding the 2009 Post of the Year competition right now and a video I put together is in the running. I want it to win.

This is the video.

South Beach, Paradise

South Beach, Paradise.

I’d like it to win for a lot of reasons, but the biggest reason is that I want it staying on SFDB’s sidebar as Post of the Year for a year.

And I want it on that sidebar for three simple reasons:

1) We forget. We forget about issues of substance sometimes. And we forget humanity sometimes. In everyday life, we forget.
2) Exposure. Maybe it’ll make a difference. Maybe in someone’s life, it’ll have a really positive effect.
3) SFDB gets a lot more traffic than I do which goes back to reason #1 and #2.

It’s important. I made the video because it matters to me. And it matters to everyone. If not, it should. And for however much I am judged for the rest of my photography/videography, this isn’t something that should fall into the wash.

I’ve gone tit for tat on this, so to speak, in trying to get people to vote for it. On my flickr account where I receive the most traffic, I’ve posted a photo from the video (actually, two) and encouraged people to take the time to vote. I draw a certain audience and I want it out there. This is one of the photos posted (the other one is nude), also one of the primary stills in the video.

It’s funny, a long time ago when I first started shooting models, a friend and I were joking about my tagline. We thought, “Come for the models, stay for the homeless,” was catchy.

I wish that were the case.

And so there. Tit for tat. It matters to me and I can reach a very broad audience. I want this video to be the 2009 Post of the Year and fill that space on SFDB.

I’ve been telling people not to blindly vote for the video. Perhaps, upon reading the other posts, they’ll see another post that they feel is more appropriate for 2009 Post of the Year. By all means, vote for that one.

But seriously consider South Beach, Paradise. Homelessness isn’t something that unusual. Poverty isn’t anything that unusual. In South Beach and in Miami, it’s a little more pronounced because here you have this obvious dichotomy; a world of luxury filled with lush landscapes serving as backdrops for the destitute and the poor. And so here, homelessness and poverty are all the more dramatic. And, in truth, it should never be anything less than dramatic. We forget sometimes. I want this video to be a reminder of that.

Vote here (in case you haven’t already jumped).