The State I Am In

Arizona pics are up. Enjoy the photographic evidence of the existance of my family and a large desert in the American southwest.  Click me!

So I think I've updated about, what, twice this semester? Sounds about right. What can I say, I'm simply no longer afforded the ample bouts of 'nothing time' I had before. Not necessarily a bad thing, though it certainly prohibits me from having as many blogging opportunities (blogortunities?).

The semester's winding down, which isn't really an accurate term since it's the most hectic and heart-pounding time of the year. I have only one written final this time; the others include pitching a script to a producer, constructing a visual collage of work, and making a photography book from scratch. When did college turn into arts and crafts?

After next week, a winter break of travelling begins. First, Shawn and I are headed to the suburbs for a Channukah party with the family. After that, we're off to Michigan to spend Christmas with her family. Two days later, we'll be on a plane to Ohio to spend new years with my parents. At no point will any of the people we're seeing see each other, it's odd.

There haven't been many updates on the website just because I've been working with film so much for class. Believe it or not, I'll soon update this again with pictures from my thanksgiving trip to Arizona. Honest!


....maybe

To hold you all off (all one or two of you), here's a picture of Ari trying to be sexy:

Yes, yes I know. It's been about ooh....a month or so since I last made an entry in this. What can I say, the first six weeks of class have been quite hectic and in the precious little free time I have, I like to either spend it with my lady friend or asleep. I thought about updating a week or two ago but figured I'd wait until my site was redone. Thaaat's right! The Official Site now has a new look and some new pics. There will be more new pics on there coming soon so keep your eyes peeled....as disgusting as that sounds.

The gallery has also been updated with pictures from my cousin Evie's first birthday party and a gallery of Shawn's sister's lil girl Aislan (pronounced Ashlan...it's Irish). I know two small galleries seems like it isn't much for a month of waiting but most of the shooting I've been doing lately has been on film for class. If I get a chance to scan all the ones I like, I'll be sure to post them because printing color film has been a real treat so far this semester. So much so that I'm looking into (in the future of course) getting a medium format film camera. Obviously there's nothing wrong with the monstrously awesome digital one I recently got but if I want to do anything serious with film than it's just better to have one. Plus they're not even that expensive so yknow...a change of pace never hurt.

Chicago's starting to turn cold and I can tell the 'point of no return'is upon us and any temp above 30º will be a miracle. Should be a blast! Nothing like breaking out the big coats and wading through slush every morning to get to class. Guess I should be thankful I don't have a driveway.

Aaaaaall the pics from New York are up on the site. Since I'm such a nice guy and wanted to make it easier for all you simpletons, I put all the galleries at the top of the list. In true Verson fashion, they're organized chronologically and by location. So without further ado, enjoy my vacation! Feel free to comment on the site or on here, and there's a lot of em up there so make sure ya see em all. Enjoy! See if you can spot the dead hobo!

I'm back! Spent a few days in New York with Shawn and had a blast and now it's time to 'get ready' for school (whatever that entails). Took tons upon tons of pics in the Big Apple and I was planning on waiting to update this until I had finished wafting through and editing them all, but that'll take forever so I can just promise that they'll be up soon.

Tomorrow it's back to classes and I'll be doing a Dan record by taking six at once. Luckily all the profs are rumored to be 'good' (I don't know if that implies easiness or intelligence...I think I'd rather have the former) so we'll see how it goes. I'm kicking off the week with modern European history and the art of pitching scripts....those aren't the same class. Since I don't ever plan on being a European or a great screenwriter, I can't see it being a very exciting day but such is life, especially mine.

My website's finally started to garner some attention but it all seems to be from people who claim they're related to me. One was a woman in Australia who was probably trying to cope with the recent death of Steve Irwin by reaching out to me (just a guess), and the other was a law professor at Boston University. Since I like the idea of being related to University professors rather than depressed Aussies, I'll just cross my fingers and hope the second is legit.

That's all for now, expect a bazillion new pics soon once I finish sorting through them all. And while you're tapping your foot waiting, check out this dumbass

This is an excerpt from a press release issued by CBS which I found on comingsoon.net:

"'Survivor: Cook Islands' will feature the series' most ethnically diverse cast to date. The castaways will initially be organized into four tribes divided along ethnic lines (African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic and White) before merging in a later episode."

Now I know life must be hard when you're a reality show producer and you have to come up with new and exciting ways to show people running around a jungle in their underwear, but something in my instincts tells me that 'BATTLE OF THE RACES' just isn't the way to do it. Can anyone else foresee the horrible problems that will ensue with four ethnic "tribes" being seperated and then let loose on one another? Come to think of it, that's probably exactly what they're hoping will happen. They know that the only reason we'll watch is to see if our racially ingrained stereotypes will prove to be true. Will the Asians make bamboo darts to slay the other tribes? Will the African Americans have some kind of natural 'jungle instincts' within them? Will the white people run around trying to sue each other? Will the Hispanics stand there not knowing what the hell they're doing in the middle of a friggin jungle?

Now that I've managed to offend everyone let us take a minute and realize that this is the only reason the show even exists. Why else would people watch an all out ethnic brawl if they weren't rooting for one race to win? Lets also keep in mind that the show is still called 'Survivor' which means only one person can win. What this tells me is that three of the ethnicities could potentially gang up and have an entire race eliminated from the show one person at a time. Why don't they just come out and call it what we all know it is, "SURVIVOR: GENOCIDE!"

Is there anyone's ass that Samuel L. Jackson can't kick? I'm really starting to believe that he chooses roles based solely on the question of whether or not he'll get to kill someone/something previously unkilled. I can honestly say no part of the theater-going experience gives me more pleasure than seeing Sam Jackson beat the living shit out of everybody in the room. I saw a commercial today for Snakes on a Plane in which, for a split second, I saw Sammy firing a harpoon. A HARPOON! How does anyone get a harpoon on a plane? Don't ask Sam Jackson that, or he might shoot you with a concealed harpoon. Maybe he took it from the set of 'Deep Blue Sea.' He would have been entitled, too. Why would a director let a shark eat Sam Jackson? For that matter, why does he always seem to be the victim of a horribly gruesome death? I seem to recall him being shreaded by raptors in Jurassic Park, shot by a stewardess in Jackie Brown, and thrown out the window by Anakin 'wussy boy' Skywalker in Episode III. What's wrong with these people? Don't they know that he could "strike down upon them with great vengeance and furious anger?" Go see Snakes on a Plane, I'm positive that if you look into his eyes as he strangles/steps on/bites into one of the countless snakes, you'll see a hint of sadness. Let this man have some love. As I'm sure Sir Winston Churchill once said, give that crazy muther****er his harpoon.

Well I've been back in Ohio since saturday and planned on updating this sooner, buuut I soon came down with some kinda virus/flu/disease or something similar to that effect. Between alternately burning up and freezing, feeling like my head weighs a metric ton, and having no appetite, it's been a pretty damn fun time here at home so far.

But that's the bad news, the GOOD news is that it's less than two weeks till Shawn and I go to New York for a few days. We figured it'd be good to get one last hurrah in before summer ends and it's time to start the semester of six classes. Fun!

I went to a doctor today to see about getting something for the fever, and I realized it was the first time I had seen a medical professional about anything since high school. Is it normal to go three or four years without a checkup of any kind? Well anyway, the one thing I had forgotten about most was the waiting. First I had to wait in line to sign in, then I waited in the aptly titled waiting room, then I got to wait for another 25 minutes or so in the examining room. I get the feeling the only reason I was moved from the waiting room to the examining room was so that I wouldn't catch on that they weren't planning on touching me for another half hour. I should have rebelled somehow; maybe pee on everything in the room. When you can't think of a good way of showing disappointment, urine is usually a good method.

So I'm here till next sunday and then I'm back in Chicago for a few days before shipping out once more to the Big Apple. After that it's a couple sleep-filled days and helloooo classes. Anyone have anything I should add to the list of things to see in New York? So far I just have Central Park, Empire State Building, Tavern on the Green, and a naked guy in a cowboy hat in Times Square who sings country songs.

From IMDb news:

"Rob Schneider is the first actor to publicly announce he will never work with Mel Gibson due to the anti-Semitic remarks he made when he was arrested last Friday. Schneider took out an ad in Hollywood trade paper Variety slamming the star for his behavior in "An Open Letter to the Hollywood Community." The ad appeared yesterday and said, 'I, Rob Schneider, a 1/2 Jew, pledge from this day forth to never work with Mel Gibson-actor-director-producer-and anti-Semite.'"

Now I'm trying to think...has there ever been or will there ever be an occasion where Rob 'makin copies' Schneider had an opportunity to work with Mel Gibson? Lets recap here; Mel Gibson wins a Best Director and Best Picture oscar in 1995, Rob Schneider makes a series of movies in which he inexplicably turns into other things (teenage girl, wild animal, male whore, etc.). I can't imagine that these two's careers would have intersected any time soon. It's like Michael Clarke Duncan publicly stating that he'd never play Adolf Hitler. Nobody's gonna stand up and applaud, there's just gonna be a resounding 'NO SHIT' from anyone who hears the news. So kudos to "actor" Rob Schneider, the Half Jew Hero of the day. Maybe next Michael Moore will publicly state that he'll never do a movie with anything/everything he finds offensive. Well, a man can dream anyway.

Oh and since we're on the topic, I, Dan Verson, a size 9, pledge from this day forth to never wear shoes that are size 14, have velcro, and are anti-semetic. There, it had to be said.

So I'm sitting here with an exhausted kitten in my lap and two fans blasting at me at once. My shirt has absorbed so much back sweat that I'm fairly sure it will never dry again and my popsicle is rapidly melting and dripping on the sleeping kitten. Summer rocks.

Lollapalooza is this weekend and my waning excitement in it has been restored by the simple fact that it's something to do other than sit around and sweat at home. Now I can sweat outside! In case anyone reading this is going and wants to meet up, these are the bands I'm planning on seeing:

DAY I
-Iron and Wine
-Violent Femmes

DAY II
-The Go! Team
-Gnarls Barkley
-The Flaming Lips
-The New Pornographers
-Kanye West...?

DAY III
-The Hold Steady
-Andrew Bird
-The Shins
-Of Montreal
-Queens of the Stone Age
-Red Hot Chili Peppers

Of course as the days go by the bands get better so that by the end it's almost impossible to stand up anymore and there's no more time to rest. Better be worth it!

New pics are up in portraits, random, and a new gallery for Shawn's little sister Kerry since she wanted some pics of her wearing bizzare makeup...I don't understand kids.

So earlier today I was standing at my window looking out at the building across the street (this is how I pass time). I was extremely riveted since there was a man hanging by a series of cables and strings washing windows. I've seen window washers before but they usually have some kind of suspended bench that they sit on while they work. Not this guy. Rather than opt for the restricting bench, this daring scrubber of glass went the other direction: a harness.

Now I've never worked in the field of professional window washing and I don't intend to any time soon so I can't really speak as to which method is more effective. It seems like as long as you're placed in front of a window with a squigi and a water bucket, you can be as creative as you want. With this logic, I think the only reason for the harness setup is the element of surprise. Pretend you're sitting in an office, working at your desk doing some futile task (redoing mission statements and such) and you're suddenly taken out of your routine by a loud banging noise. You look to your boss' office hoping that someone may have finally put him out of his misery but no...it's coming from the window! And there outside you see it; a large disgruntled foreign man with a curly mustache swinging back and forth. How would that not make your day? It's like having your own personal carnival acrobat show. You could place bets; how long until he falls to his death? What will happen if I open the window and tickle his feet? If I start yelling racial slurs at him and his mother, will he hear me? Better yet, will he respond with his own muffled 'yo mama' joke? The possibilities are endless. It's time to get to work, there's money to be made here....

Anyway, new galleries are up from an Israel rally I went to and from when Shawn and I went to the beach.  Enjoy, and keep a look out for those swinging scrubbers.

My summer has finally commenced! I'd start dancing right now if i wasn't sweating my ass off in this horribly ventilated apartment while it's 95º outside. I haven't been able to really wear shorts since I left my sandals in Ohio so today Shawn and I went in search of a new pair. Let me just say this for anyone who hasn't discovered it for themselves: Shopping for one item when in the company of a female is never a good idea. I went in search of a $10.00 pair of sandals and ended up spending tenfold that amount on sandals, shorts, shirts, a new bookbag, and some sort of leather wristband thing that I'm still not sure the purpose of other than the fact that they "look hot" according to a passing woman who overheard my complaints. That's what matters, right?

In case I hadn't mentioned this earlier, Shawn and I have decided to spend a week frolicking through New York City at the end of the summer. We made it official and bought our tickets yesterday, so if anyone has been thinking of asking me for 200 bucks recently...you missed your window. Actually more like 230 since I bought the Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture edition the other day. The best question and answer I've ever heard from a game of trivial pursuit had to be the following:

What former Steelers quarterback's infamous Christmas CD was described on Imus in the Morning as "a cry for help"?

Answer: Terry Bradshaw

New pics are up in Portraits, Roomies, Random, and of course Felines. Check em out, weep over their brilliance, etc. As for me, I'm gonna go enjoy my summer for a little while....I'll be on the couch watching Home Improvement reruns with a half melted popsicle.

Well it just goes to show ya, people love new things. The voice post seems to be quite popular but as I stated, I can't really see any reason to use it so for now I'll stick to the good ol tried and true methods. After all, I have to figure out the way to waste the maximum amount of your time, and this is definitely it.

Summer semester's winding down finally. Did 10 prints on friday and I've got a few more to do monday morning and then I'll start matting them on the big ol white boards. After that and class on thursday I'll finally get to start having that whole 'summer' thing I've been hearing so much about. Apparently it's quite nice.

Shawn and I have decided to hit New York for a week near the end of August. I've never been there and her sister has a place downtown so we should be able to stay right in the middle of everything without having to go through that whole sloppy hotel process. Might even give us a ride from the airport! That'd be downright swell. In any event, I'm just looking forward to seeing it all for the first time after hearing so many great/horrible/neutral things about it.

I just finished updating the gallery with pictures from Ohio and a few portraits from the airport. Also added a random photo folder for those that just don't seem to fit anywhere else. If I get really ambitious (doubtful), I'll scan the prints I've done for my final project and load em into that section. Keep your eyes peeled...but expectations low. I find you usually get the best results that way.

VoicePost 384K 1:53

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And here you thought YOUR pets were cute. Guess again.

From IMDb:

"Former teen heart-throbs Corey Feldman and Corey Haim are teaming up to star in a comedy series based on fictional versions of themselves. 'The Coreys' picks up with Feldman living the comfortable suburban life with his wife Suzie and their son, until circumstances bring his old pal Haim back into the picture. Episodes would follow Haim - who is single and the total opposite of Feldman - as he shakes life up for his more conservative namesake."

Just when you thought television couldn't get any more dignified and respectable, they give us a show with two of The Lost Boys! How Exciting! And I believe one of them served in this company under the command of General Sean Astin or "Rudy the Hobbit" as I call him. I think we'll all sleep well tonight knowing the two Coreys have finally found safe haven for their hilarious prepubescent banter that seemed to go out of style when they turned 12 and people discovered they had no other talent.

Now I know they'll be playing "fictional versions of themselves" but wouldn't it be more fun if, instead of rehashing a horrificly dull cliché of a plot (they used the words 'shakes life up'), they instead followed the ACTUAL Coreys together through their crazy lives of missed opportunities, drug rehabilitation, and the hilariously desperate attempts at reviving their once fruitful careers? It practically writes itself! I know I'd watch.

My site and gallery are updated! We finally finished catsitting Calvin! We got a new kitten! I'm physically exhausted beyond belief!

So, first things first. Our friend Erin decided that she enjoys Calvin's company enough to take him off our hands, which we (my sinuses included) were very thankful for. This brought us back to the situation we were in before we got Calvin of wanting a kitten. So what do we do? Go out and adopt one the very next day. We're so spontaneous, we should have a sitcom. If you're interested in being cast as the flamboyant tanktop wearing homosexual....good for you.

The lil guy's name is Ari and he's about 8 weeks old. He pretty much looks the same as Nico only incredibly tiny and has huge brown eyes instead of green. Nico seems bewildered by his presense and swats his attempts at friendship away with a casual paw and a grunt, but I'm sure they'll be friends/kill eachother before the week is out.

I finally got around to updating my gallery so check out all the new stuff from the past few weeks....I know it's not much but I've been busy. The only real reason I updated it now is because I wanted something to do other than clean up kitten poop. Agam gave me a hand with the official site and it should be updated by tomorrow.

That'll do it for now. I've got 4.5 weeks of class left and then at least a week of nothing but sleep. So be sure to check out the pics and lemme know if they stink worse than this kitten poop or not. So long for now, don't forget to drink your milk and stay in school.

So in my ongoing quest for new shows, I started watching the first season of The West Wing today. For anyone who is unfamiliar with Aaron Sorkin shows, the format is basically like this:

Bob: I slept with a hooker last night.
Bill: A hooker?
Bob: Yeah, a hooker.
Bill: Wow, I can't believe you slept with a hooker last night.
Jane: Who slept with a hooker?
Bill: Bob slept with a hooker.
Jane: You slept with a hooker?
Bob: Last night.
Hooker: I'm a hooker!

It goes on like this for about 40 minutes but I have a feeling I'll keep watching because it's summer and The Sopranos ended on sunday so I'm sans hourlong drama at the moment. Life can be so difficult.

In other real world news, I haven't updated my site or my gallery lately because I've been swamped with classwork. I never thought I'd say this but I think this class would be easier if we had a few more weeks of it. Columbia has never been on top of their game administratively and trying to cram a 15 week course into 8 weeks just might not have been the best idea. After tomorrow, we'll only have five weeks left and I'll still be printing proofs from the first shooting assignment. If the topic wasn't something I was so interested in, I'd probably be putting forth about half the effort but since it's photography, I'll put in the hours.

Now I know, you're all probably saying "But Dan, you've been whining and whining about getting this new camera and now you have it and you've barely shown us any pictures!" Well don't worry, in the next couple days I'll not only update the gallery but my "official site" will be chock full of pretty new pictures for all (one/none) of you to ogle.

I inexplicably got the flu late last week and it's finally clearing up now. While it was certainly painful and annoying, it DID give me an opportunity to try out my new thermos for hot tea and that thing is just plain great. I may start drinking coffee for the sole reason that it'll give me more chances to use the darn thing.....as you can see, I lead an exciting life.

It has arrived! The new camera I've been pining and drooling and have yet to shut up about finally came last friday, along with the first lens i ordered. Quite refreshing holding something that big and sturdy in your hands and knowing that from now on, whenever you fuck up it's your own damn fault and you can't blame the equipment anymore. Wait....that's not refreshing at all....oh well, too bad. Tomorrow, the telephoto lens should arrive and on wednesday the flash should be here. That'll pretty much do it for all the stuff on my list, save for the new computer which should be here next week. Again, Dan be happy. And busy!

Started classes today with Photo I and Darkroom I. That shit's complicated! Here I thought you just go in the dark, mix some chemicals with some paper and voila, clean prints. Nnnnnope! Just going over all the steps and machines and chemicals today gave me a headache but they say by the end of the session it'll be second nature so let's hope they're right. Plus I gotta chance to strike up a conversation with the cute girl who worked in the darkroom over the book she was reading (Foer, of course) so the semester shouldn't be tooooooo bad. And only 8 weeks! A breeze.

Tomorrow morning I've gotta head to Central Camera before my screenwriting class to start buying darkroom equipment, turns out this crap is more expensive than I originally anticipated. Figures they tell me all this AFTER I've spent my once-in-a-lifetime small fortune. Friggin Columbia.

I couldn't upload the new pictures to my electricverson gallery because they were all too large so I had to start a new one on a different site. I still had to shrink them (12,800,000 pixels is still a lot i spose) and the quality was still slightly comprimised when they recompress them, but they still look fairly good in my opinion so check them out, comment as you wish, and be sure to praise me endlessly. I'll buy you a burger or something. Click me for new photos!!

Will 24's Jack Bauer kill the president? Will The Office's Jim and Pam run away together? Will LOST's Michael ever stop shooting people? Aaah how I love may sweeps. Nothing says summer like a bunch of dramatic sex and murders....on television.

Of course may also marks the end of school...for now. This is the last week of classes before my fruitful one week summer break, which will come to an abrupt close with the beginning of my three, yes count em THREE, summer classes. So then why am I so happy? Several reasons. One: I'm listening to Sufjan Stevens, always a good time. Two: I went to Conan O'Brien's taping yesterday and got to see the show, featuring guest Dave Chappelle. Three: The money for the new camera and lenses is currently sitting in my bank account. Dan be happy.

The Conan taping was incredible. I was having my doubts at first, having waited for four hours outside with only a police barricade to rest against. Yet as soon as we made our way into the theater and saw The Max Weinberg 7, I knew all was well. The crowd was ecstatic throughout the entire event. I'd never heard cheering that loud and I doubt I ever will again, unless I become president. Cheering will be mandatory at that point. Most of the show was inaudible do to the crowd, but nobody really cared because everyone was just so happy to be there and basking in Conan's presence. Well, his and La Bamba's of course. Tomorrow we're going to try to go again, it'll be the last night he's here and so our obvious strategy will be to kidnap O'Brien and have him remain in Chicago for the rest of his career. Should go off without a hitch.

EDIT: We tried to get seats again today but failed, after waiting in the rain and cold for three hours. All was not lost however, since Conan came by to thank us all for coming and I got to shake his hand! Again, Dan be happy.

I went to the bank today to put the dough in my account, and that in itself was no simple task. Usually I'm accosted by one hobo per trip out in the city, this time it was more like five. Added to this, the hurricane-like horizontal winds and rain made walking straight a very fun adventure. Long story short, I entered the bank completely soaked...on one side only. I'm amazed they let me in the bulding, let alone talk to the employees. The transactions went well and so sometime early next week, it's off to the camera store to buy this, and this, and then this. Oh, and then later in the week I'll be visiting the Apple Store to buy this. That's right, I'VE GONE MAD WITH POWER BWAAAHAHAHAHA.

Sorry...anyway, have a happy mother's day weekend yall. Eat hearty.