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Hollywood feeds on its young. To celebrate the thirty-seventh anniversary of my birth here, then, is not without irony. To be away from home and enduring what is typically the most challenging week of the year only added insult to injury.
I woke, fittingly, to AT&T's oft-heard ringtone, a sound that prompts dozens of my colleagues to reach for their hips simultaneously. It was the first of what would tally to well over one hundred hugely-appreciated email, Facebook and cell phone birthday wishes.
I was groggy and tense from another ...
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel #1023
My hotel room is bigger than my apartment.
Downtown Los Angeles sparkles outside my east-facing windows. The Hollywood sign is out the north.
Last night after work, I pulled my Hyundai into valet as Kate Walsh and the cast of "Private Practice" walked a red carpet across the parking lot.
Upstairs, I watched "Wanted" on-demand as Judas Priest played Jimmy Kimmel's "Pontiac Garage" just below my room (and directly adjacent to Hollywood High School).
The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel was founded in 1927 by a group of Hollywood ...
In The Shadow of Seattle
Abbi and I were in Seattle for a pal's wedding this weekend.
We were full-on tourists. We had a great time riding the ferry to and from Bainbridge, jogging along Peugeot Sound, rambling through Pike's Place Market, and staring out from the Space Needle.
We ate fresh seafood and drank local beer at every meal.
Skies were blue, and vistas were immense (in fact, check out my photos of Seattle).
Still, it could have been my hangover Saturday morning, or it could just be my generation, but it was difficult for me to walk the ...
The Miracle of Showing Up, Part II
Sometimes, when I'm traveling somewhere distinct from my normal routine -- say, Nantucket, or Bray's Island -- I find it difficult to imagine anywhere else.
I think I even remember when it started. I was sixteen-years-old snapping a photo from the double-yellow lines of a traffic-strewn Champs Elysées when I thought, "I can't believe this was here all along!"
And it gets weirder: in a little corner of my brain somewhere, I still -- 21 years later -- find it unfathomable that all of those places exist when I'm not there to see them ...
At Least We’ll Leave Before We Have To Go
"New York is all about what could be," says David Cloyd, a 34-year-old musician who moved to the city from Austin ten years ago. "You know: The potential. The possibilities."
New York Magazine is the source of Mr. Cloyd's quote, at least partially responsible for my sense of urban, upwardly-mobile aspiration. The Intelligencer's cocktail party talking points, "Party Lines'" glossy pics of soirees I'll never attend, and the pages-upon-pages of million-dollar, high-rise, smoked-glass condos I'll never be able to afford.
It's the degrees ...
Eighteen (More) Reasons To Love Her
I figure it takes a special kind of someone to wake up at 5:30 on a perfectly good Saturday morning, lace up the Asics, and run around the city for three hours. The really special someone, though, is the teammate who runs it with you.
Yup, that was Abbi and me this weekend.
Increasingly bored with endless loops around Central Park, I was itching to get off the island. I studied Google Maps and Map My Run, and drafted a suitably ambitious foray into Brooklyn. Not too far into Brooklyn, mind you; my intended course to and around ...
Remembering The Crash Site
"Mister Rogers Talks To Parents About Divorce" premiered on Sunday February 15, 1981, just as my parents' marriage was falling apart.
Unfortunately, it took twenty-five years to learn of the show's existence, and until this afternoon to see it myself for the very first time.
All I knew of Susan Stamberg's relationship to Fred Rogers when I walked into NPR's Washington, DC, studios way back in November, 2006, was that the two had taped some television specials together in the '80s. Imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered the topic of ...
Fall On Me (Or, Q4 In A Nutshell)
Despite these challenging economic, political and existential times, the first three quarters of 2008 found Benjamin Wagner Deluxe, LLC, on solid ground thanks to a technological innovation, new product development, and the recent merger will Keller Industries.
Q4 looks to be similarly stable and rewarding for shareholders. Here's a preview from Chairman and CEO, Benjamin Wagner's, keynote speech this morning:
August 29 - September 1: Seattle
Abbi's high school pal, Carmen, is getting married. I'll be wearing plenty of flannel, and ...
The Thrill Of Victory (And The Agony Of Defeat)
Listen, I'm the guy who tears up during Gatorade commercials. Still, I gotta' say, I don't remember ever being moved by the Olympics.
Until now.
Sure, that the opening ceremonies were lip-synched and CGI-enhanced is weird, telling, and a bummer. And that NBC's coverage is chocked-full of hyped-drama, political softballs and integrated marketing.
Still, it doesn't matter what I know of a specific event (usually very little); watching these athletes compete bearing in mind that they've trained their entire lives for just a few moments ...
Benjamin Wagner’s Photoshop 101
Every few weeks or so, I get an email asking about what type of digital camera I use, what sort of settings I employ, and/or how, in general I take such nice photos.
Which is sweet, and appreciated, and inspired me to (humbly and tongue-in-cheek) offer you, Dear Reader, a crash-course in Benjamin Wagner Dot Com Photoshop 101.
For starters, let me say that I don't have any formal training in anything related to photography (save, perhaps, for a summer art course I took in third grade) or actual accolades (excepting that blue ribbon in the ...
