Snuff – Chuck Palahniuk
Snuff, written by Chuck Palahniuk
It took me well over a month, but I finished Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk. I really should have finished it in WAY shorter time.
Let me just say, I love the style of writing, I love his books, but holy crap did I get confused! I would recommened not getting into two different books and putting this one on the back burner.
This book is about exactly what the title says. Snuff, a snuff movie. To quote the back of the book –
“Six hundred dudes. One porn queen. A world record for the ages. A must have movie for every discerning collector of things erotic.”
“Didn’t one of us on purpose set out to make a snuff movie.”
I made sure to mark one of my favorite lines/paragraphs from the book.
“The closest thing that comes to how today felt is when you wipe from back to front. You’re on the toilet. You’re not thinking, and you smear shit on the back of your hanging-down wrinkled ball skin. The more you try to wipe it clean, the skin stretches, and the mess keeps getting bigger. The thin layer of shit spreads into the hair and down your thighs. That’s how a day like this, how it felt.”
If you felt a bit awkward reading that, don’t even THINK about picking this book up. Snuff was an alright book, I just wish I would have read it a bit faster and stayed focused. I would definately recommend this book to someone that is able to stomach this type of “talk”. 
Studio G
Jeff and I went over to help out with some installation for the new SomaCow Media studio. And by “help” I mean, I helped watch Rowan and Jeff puts his knee through the ceiling.
Other pictures from us destroying Jen and Geoff’s house are on flickr.
Plus every Friday night from 7-10 you can watch and listen live to SomaCow – Ustream
Orlando’s Got This!
Thankfully we were able to get tickets to Game 4 of the Orlando Magic / Cleveland Cavilers! Had an AMAZING time! (Minus a couple of 14 year-olds giving us a hard time about standing up… “umm…how about YOU stand up you lazy 8th graders!”)
As we all know…Magic on Game 4 and the series became 3-1!! Here is some video I took of the game and some pictures as well. Oh and when we go to the finals and Jeff and I go to a game, I WILL be taking my SLR. That’s ALL I saw people with! (so not fair!)
These pictures and LOTS of other pictures from Game 4 can be found on flickr.
Florida Aquarium Holds a Tweetup
Thanks to Julia Gorzka and Josh Carrico, Tampa had one of their biggest tweetups yet.
People started arriving at the Florida Aquarium around 3 PM. Everyone got their name tags, though some were brand new to twitter and weren’t sure of what their twitter handle was (you know…the thing that comes after the ‘@’ sign).
After a hour of meeting people and watching a couple of videos about the Florida Aquarium, an alligator and snake were brought in the room for everyone to look at and touch.
If you didn’t want to see these animals you were free to go wander around the aquarium until certain twitter-ers swam with fishes and one lucky twitter-er got to dive with sharks.
There were a lot of people that showed up to the tweetup and there was even more stuff to look at around the aquarium. From ground animals to under the sea, the Florida Aquarium covers it all.
Jeff and I didn’t even make it upstairs to see everything. But from what we saw, we had an amazing time with my parents and Ross, Natalie and the Mini Ross’.
These and other pictures from the #tbtweet can be found on my flickr page.
For more information about the Florida Aquarium, please visit www.flaquarium.org.
Ross vs. The Statue of Liberty
Jeff and I were heading to dinner after we sat in the rain at the Amway Arena for Sunday nights Magic game pre-events. And what do you know, we see @ELROSS running across the street! Imagine our surprise. So we pulled over and got some pictures.
Big Cat Rescue
Ever dream of being within feet of a Bobcat, Cougar, or Tiger? At Big Cat Rescue all that separates you from these cats is a fence. At Big Cat Rescue, 100% of the donations go toward the feeding and upkeep on the sanctuary. All of the cats that are there have been taken in from circuses, people keeping these animals as pets, people breeding these cats for fur, etc.
The day tour is a hour and a half walk around the sanctuary. It is a guided tour where your guide will point out what the cat is, why it has their certain markings, and lots of facts about the cat.
Some of the cats you may get to see on this tour of the sanctuary are Ocelots, Cougars, Bobcats, Servals, Lynx, Tigers and Lions.
For children, there is a special tour on Saturdays at 10AM. It is a hour tour and is specifically for all kids ten and under.
Our guide was telling us that on the night tours you actually take flashlights out and walk around in the sanctuary to see the cats.
For a chance to get to see all of the cats, your best best would be the feeding tour. You get to watch the sanctuary keepers feed the cats, which means…the big cats will be out!
I would LOVE to go back and take a hour to do one of the photo tours. The entire place was amazing and all of the volunteers were very helpful!
Big Cat Rescue is located in Tampa, Florida. To find out more information or to donate, please visit bigcatrescue.org.
Has Your Local News Had a Tweetup?
CFNews13.com (@CFNews13) held a tweetup right across the street from their downtown building.
One Eyed Jacks was a good location, but it seemed like the rain kept everyone away 
(expect Rowan, she was prepared!)
It was nice to see Jen Cook with her producer hat on and News 13 reporters out and about.
The tweetup even made it on the ticker again!
About 15 minutes after walking in, I kindly had a camera shoved in my face. And yes, yours truly made it into the lovely CFNews13 Tweetup segment. Make sure to listen closely for the Casey Anthony shout out (don’t ask me what I was thinking).
These pictures and others are in the gallery.
Multiple Blessings
Jon and Kate Plus 8 write a book..and then they divorce. Not really, but that seems the road that the gossip magazines want you to think.
If you don’t know who Jon and Kate Gosselin are, you must be living in a hole. Ok, maybe not. It just seems you don’t pay attention to any gossip tv or magazines (and for that, I envy you!). The Gosselins are the stars of Jon and Kate Plus 8.
Jon and Kate are a couple that had 2 twin girls, after trying for so long to have kids. When the girls were about 3, they went back to the doctor and got pregnant again. This time, Kate got pregnant, but with SIX!
Their book, Multiple Bles8ings: Surviving to Thriving with Twins and Sextuplets, is all about the ups and downs of parenting 8 children.
After reading this book, I’ve learned about ALL the doctors visits and troubles they had getting pregnant. Which I pretty much knew, seeing as though most women don’t get pregnant naturally with 6 kids. The new season of the show As Saturday Night Live said, they are going to have 2 shows: Jon Plus 4 and Kate Plus 4.
The Gosselins had quite a bit of financial troubles, but who wouldn’t with 8 children. They didn’t have enough transportation for all 10 members of the family to fit into one vehicle. Jon had lost his job and they were lucky enough to have lots of volunteers to help out around the house with the babies.
Kate, being a nurse, was able to give the babies shots so as to not have to load them all in their non-existent vehicle to take them to the doctor for a few months.
Every time I picked up the book to read more, my brain automatically thought, “Hmm, that’s strange that the book came out and then there were all these rumors about Jon cheating. Could this possibly be due to wanting press for the book/show?”
Do you watch Jon and Kate Plus 8? How do you think they will deal with all this cheating drama in the show? Will the ignore it? Should they ignore it?
All In A Saturday Night
Around 1:30 I started the whole, “So….what do you want to do today?”, after stating earlier in the day that I wanted to stay in and not do anything. I got bored. What can I say?
After running through a few ideas and asking on twitter, we got replies like Leu Gardens and Sanford Zoo. Both sounded wonderful and I was ready for the zoo, but by this time it was almost 3 and the zoo closes at 5.
Ended up calling a friend to see if he wanted to meet us at the tiki bar place that he’s been talking about for years. We headed out that way in hopes that we would be able to find it, not knowing the proper name. Thanks to google maps, it was the closest “tiki bar” near Clermont, FL. We found it and luckily got a place to park. It has the smallest parking lot and it was busy. The tiki bar is right on the lake, so there were lots of couples and families.
Jeff and I found a place at the bar and we waited on Robbie. Once he got there, we drank and we ate.
Then we went back to see his house. Since we’ve NEVER been there it was a real treat. His place is amazing. Lots of stuff everywhere, a tiki bar in the back, a place to build an errupting volanco. What more could you ask for?
Point (& Shoot) Your Way To Basic Photo Tips
Take a moment to read the title again..yes, these are tips. Not rules. When it comes to photography, there really aren’t any rules. You do what you feel is best, what looks best, and you’ll get what you want.
If you’re in the market to get a point and shoot digital camera, please keep these simple tips in mind.
*Make sure that the camera you’re getting has at least 7 megapixels, even though most cameras now a days are 9 or 10.
*If you’re worried about the zoom on your new camera, do NOT worry about digital zoom. The only zoom you should be concerned with is optical. Digital zoom does nothing but make your picture very pixelated when you go to print it out (which is far from a good thing).
*The camera should have a USB Port to make it easy enough to plug the camera directly into your computer or laptop.
*Memory cards,
CompactFlash (CF) and Secure Digital (SD) are the 2 most common cards that are on the market. It will be easiest to use those cards with external card readers.
*Also, when it comes to memory cards, cameras normally come with a very tiny memory card. You’ll want to get another card (I would recommend a 1 gigabyte, which you can get for around $10). If you (a) take a lot of pictures and/or (b) don’t empty the card too often, this size card or larger would be good for you.
*Make sure that the LCD screen is big enough for you to see and constantly use.
The bigger the screen, the happier you’ll be.
Other tips to keep in mind,
not pertaining just to point & shoot cameras.
*When taking pictures make sure you fill the frame. Not all pictures follow this “rule”, which is good. But for the most part, you want the entire frame to be filled.
*Do not rely on the flash. If you can get away by not using the flash, take advantage of it! If you are outdoors, in the sunlight, turn off the flash! Most cameras have the flash to automatically be used. Check out your camera manual (you know that book that came with your camera that you never looked it!) and see how to turn it off. Most flashes can be turned off in a button press or two.
*Plus with built in flashes, unless you are close enough to your subject, the flash won’t do anything for the picture, but more than likely make it underexposed, which you do not want.
*When photographing children or pets, it’s best to get eye level. Sit on your knees, lay down on your stomach, do what you have to do. Standing over your child won’t have the right feel. Try not to shoot down at them. Don’t get me wrong, unusual angles do work! But it’s just like framing, it’s not a “rule”, just something to try to remember.
*Don’t count out camera phones. While I would never rely on my camera phone as my everyday camera, look what broke the news on the Hudson River plane crash. Yep, a camera phone. And that picture was used all over the news! You know the one..
*Always have a camera with you, you NEVER know what you’re going to see or come across. Always be ready!
What are your favorite photography tips? Are there some tips that you think should just go away forever? Do you think about it or just take a picture? Are you such a pro that things just come natural?
Thanks to Adam Wiggall for this tip:
Showing is as important as taking.
Meaning, when you have been out and taken 200 shots it is unlikely that your audience wants to see every single one of them. Be a ruthless editor and remove anything you wouldn’t hang on your wall, four shots at a slightly different angle of exactly the same thing is boring, pick the best and delete the other three.
It is tough to do, but it improves not only your photography (as you learn to not press the shutter unless you are sure), but also everyone else’s opinion of your work. Win win baby!
