Get to know John McCain

I'm not radically against him as a person; I believe he's a good man at heart. I also believe he's unfit to lead a country.

Get to know him. So much media attention is focused on Obama, which is understandable. But many people have an incorrect view of McCain because of the lack of coverage of his campaign.

"Most Americans still don't know, as Marshall writes, that on the campaign trail 'McCain frequently forgets key elements of policies, gets countries' names wrong, forgets things he's said only hours or days before and is frequently just confused.' Most Americans still don't know it is precisely for this reason that the McCain campaign has now shut down the press’s previously unfettered access to the candidate on the Straight Talk Express."

~Americablog.com, which was summarizing this New York Times article - The Candidate We Still Don't Know. Yes, I'm summarizing a summary.

Recently, McCain referenced the nonexistent Iraq-Pakistan border (there's an entire country between the two). In a CBS News interview, he got a timeline glaringly wrong for the surge, an issue on which he bases much of his campaign. This factual mistake was exacerbated by the interview being edited in a major way to present McCain as less incorrect. Here is a clip comparing the edited and unedited versions.


What's a little discussion of the issues without a good old "wardrobe malfunction"?


















Steve.

Horse, fox, and snake

On Friday night we had plans to attend a going-away party for someone with whom Danny used to work on a magazine. I donned my new skinny-leg jeans and Nine West red patent-leather peep-toe pumps, and he wore his sexy jeans and shaved his stubble into a nice goatee. We found the pub but not the party, so we had a drink and then went shopping for video games and dvd's. He then took me for dinner in Piccadilly Circus at Ed's Diner, which is an American 50s style diner similar to Johnny Rocket's. A cookies 'n' cream malt, cheese fries, and fancy burger were the perfect taste of home that I needed. By that time, it was late and my feet were throbbing (although the hot shoes are very worth the pain) so we caught the bus home.

Yesterday we went to visit Danny's friend Rich and his wife Bryony. She has two horses, and she let me ride one for a little while. I miss riding very much, so it was a lovely time. Danny took these of me with Rebel a.k.a. Mister Ed.

























The four of us then drove to Brighton, which is on the English Channel and has a famous pier with things like rock candy and carnival rides. The rest of the town is beautiful with its architecture and fun shopping. We had a delicious meal at a New Orleans style place. Pictures to come - Rich took some lovely ones of Danny and me which are already on their way to us in the mail, so I'm really looking forward to those. I'm also waiting on pictures from several fantastic photo shoots. I'm so impatient.

While changing trains at Clapham Junction on our way home, we ran into Lucy from "Britain's Next Top Model", whom Danny has photographed.

Today I made bacon sandwiches for breakfast. English bacon is different from what Americans know as bacon; it's wider strips of what looks more like regular ham. They call American bacon "streaky bacon". The sandwich involves cooking it the same way you'd cook streaky bacon, then putting it between two slices of buttered bread with ketchup. It's better than it sounds!

There was a fox in the front garden a couple hours ago. Apparently they're becoming more common in the city, and they do some good by eating snails and slugs. They're small, with tails not as bushy as I would have thought. I was sad for this one because he had a limp, but it looked as though he might be ok with time.


Watching Ethiopia get gold and silver in the men's 10k metre race was very impressive and inspiring. I could barely believe the last burst of speed those runners had after already running so quickly for about 26 minutes.


Another bit of fun from the intraw3bs (found on reddit): "Roller suit? *clicks link* HOLY SHIT!"
If you don't trust me, it's a dude going down a mountain in the Swiss Alps on a suit covered in rollerskate type wheels so he can go from standing to lying on his front, etc. Set to the music of Muse. Totally kickass.
The comments on reddit amused me as well:
"I'm surprised he could lie that close to the road, considering his GIANT BRASS BALLS."
"I feel bad for the motorcyclist in front of him. Hmm... checks rear view mirror HOLY SHIT NINJAS!!"
"I'm vaguely disappointed his name's not Rick." (If you don't get it, see my Thursday post)



















Here I am wearing Buckethead the snake in Los Angeles. Photo by ravens laughter.

A day in the life

I just had an apple fresh from a tree in our garden. Yum. And speaking of the garden...

This was shot there. Body paint and makeup by Lauren Baker, photography by Danny.


A few days ago, Danny's friend and coworker Sean (whom I've mentioned before) took us on a tour of his film/effects studio that does work on television shows as well as films like The Golden Compass (for which they won an Oscar) and the upcoming Prince of Persia. I have always been fascinated by filmmaking, so it was an exciting day. Sean even broke out a very expensive camera and digitized my face the way he does for actors and props being converted to CGI. The camera scanned my face 3 times, once straight on and once with me turned slightly to each side. He told me not to blink during each scan and not to talk between angles because I wouldn't be able to get my face back into the exact position it had been in. I thought I had blinked during the second scan and said so before the third.

He took the memory card over to his computer and started combining the 3 images together to make the 3D model of my face. He went tippity tappity on the keys and started saying things like "that's odd" and "how is that possible?". As it turns out, I was able to get my facial pose almost exactly back to where it had been before I had spoken. Just a minor testament to my modeling skillz. ;)

Anyway, it was very strange, yet fun, to see my face like that.

That day we also went shopping. Danny purchased some camera lenses, and he got me some new clothes, for which I am very grateful as my wardrobe is really lacking these days. Black embroidered combat pants with a silver tank top to match the decorations, sexy skinny jeans (which I've been wanting for ages), and cute stretch jeans.


It's truly sinking in that I'm not just visiting; I'm really here to stay. This is both wonderful and a little difficult. However, it has helped me get into the swing of things with helping out around the house, cooking, etc. I do need to figure out how to cook more, but it's tough to find ingredients from my American cookbooks in the shops near here. So far we've been making English things - chili con carne but with rice; for breakfast things like sausages with baked beans or spaghetti (out of a can, which is more delicious than it sounds).


The outlook is that I may be in relatively high demand as one of the few good art models here, but I won't say more just yet because I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch. It will be a good thing if it all comes through!


Lastly, I did my first official bit of pose coaching last night. Danny was shooting a new model for an agency, and she was self-conscious, nervous, and stiff. I started giving her tips and then showing her poses to copy, and suddenly she transformed into a more confident, relaxed girl.















Here I was posing in a scary part of Los Angeles, by the L.A. "River". I do not understate the scary part; we had a cop keeping us safe. Photo by Jason.

Ups and downs

It's not like me, but I'm struggling with some homesickness caused by recent pain in life. Love, anger, joy, emotional injury, bonds of friendship, and self-deprecation sometimes vie to determine my mood. However, I believe that time, patience, and the support of my loved ones will always help.

Today ended with a smile on my face.

And if you need a smile, you can always get Barack Rolled. Make sure you keep watching/listening until the vocals kick in, that's when I really keeled over laughing. If you don't get the reference, google "Rick Rolled".


More soon.



















I adore squares. This one is from Sanders McNew and one of his beautiful Rolleiflexes (which partly inspired me to crave owning one of my own, which I now do).

Touristy pictures

Looking over the Thames and Westminster Bridge to the House of Parliament


























Looking up the street to Trafalgar Square













The changing of the guard at the Household Cavalry


























Buckingham Palace, including me with my visiting friend







































Westminster Abbey

















London Eye

We're a virus with shoes, okay?

That's all we are.
~Bill Hicks






Fuck you.















By ravens laughter in Los Angeles. Look closely and you'll see something special in the background.




You haven't experienced Trafalgar Square if you haven't experienced it while very drunk at 2am. Roberto (fotorat for those on ModelMayhem) bought a round for Danny and me in a pub, then we made our way to Piccadilly Circus for the Electric Birdcage club where our group had free vodka drinks for us. I drank away the pain of the day. Not a usual practice of mine, but it was needed, and it worked for the most part. I was laughing by the end of the night.


Hungover this morning. Big English breakfast. Better now.
We have company, and Phil is going to do a portrait of Danny and me.





I choose to love. It's a choice. It means actions, effort - of course I fuck up too, but I do not give up.



















James M. Graham.

Cozy at home

Thursday was a most random and fun day of sightseeing with a violinist friend from Iowa I hadn't seen in about 10 years; he's been traipsing around Europe and was in London for a few days. I took the train to meet him by the London Eye. We walked to Trafalgar Square, and on the way just happened to come upon the changing of the guard at the Household Cavalry - yep, these are some of the guys that can't move while on duty. Danny has told me about someone he knew who used to be one of the guards, and apparently they often find girls' phone numbers stuck in their boots.
We then made our way to Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey before having some funky pancake things and fresh squeezed orange juice by the Thames. I took many pictures and will post them when I can, as I think Danny has the camera right now.

Yesterday, a makeup artist and body painter came over for a shoot. She showed her talent with some beautiful flowers going down one side of my body, which took 4 hours to complete including makeup. I think we got some good stuff during the shoot; I will post when Danny has a chance to retouch (he has a lot of retouching from various jobs to do these days). We're both happy that we finally have time to do proper shoots together.

After the shoot, Danny's fun friend and coworker Sean hung out with us and so kindly bought Papa Johns pizza for dinner. It's my favorite pizza in the U.S., so it was a nice little taste of "home"; it's slightly different from the American version, but still delicious. I've been a little homesick the past couple days, but it's definitely nothing I can't handle. I just miss some friends....... like my girl Brooke, shown behind me here as dreamed up by Constantine Gedal.

I've also been frustrated with my weight. Normally when I eat in reasonable portions of relatively healthy food rather than being a pig who thrives on cheese and sweets, I see my weight drop by 2-3 pounds within a few days. Because of how the English lifestyle doesn't revolve around food like it does in the U.S. (it's just around tea here), and because of all the walking, I expected to see results by now. I haven't.

Danny is currently away assisting on a jewelry shoot, and I'm relaxing while watching the Olympics - the BBC gives us several options, and currently I've chosen to watch the dressage competition, as equestrian events are among my absolute favorites.

Tonight we'll likely be going out to a club in the Piccadilly Circus area; we were invited to this thing with a free table and some free drinks by a company for which Danny recently did a shoot. I really hope I can find something decent to wear from the selection of my wardrobe that's here... the rest of it won't arrive for another couple of weeks.

I should go do some more organizational stuff, but I still feel like I'm recuperating from all the stress I was under before I moved. Maybe soon.













Photo by Stephen Haynes.