Bad Voodoo

The Spurs lost. Who's to blame?

Fans?

No, that's not it.
Even if they all didn't wear their free spirit shirt. (sorry, sister)
•••
Me?
Maybe I'm a closet Lakers fan, because my finger turned decidedly Lakers purple during the game.

No, that's not it, either. My finger just got crushed. That's all.
•••
The refs?
Nope. Not this time.
•••
Kobe?
...meh...
•••
Manu?
I give Manu 35% of the blame.

The other 65%? I blame Lucas.
His Manu voodoo doll seemed to do the trick.

Jerry

My colleague, Jerry Lara, is in Los Angeles...but his head's still in San Antonio!

That ain't no dummy, Dummy!

Ever get the feeling you're being watched?

So long, Travel Beard!

After two weeks of hopping to and fro New Orleans, my face was developing a little 'fro of its own. It was time to finally clean my face.

I landed in San Antonio this afternoon and went directly to Roosters, a men's grooming place.

There, I was treated to cold water, hot towels and a nice, relaxing shave.
A trim here, a clip there, a shave all around and I was good to go.

Thanks, Mira!

So long, Travel Beard! I'm sure I'll see you again.

N.O. Mas!

Monday started at 5:30 a.m. in San Antonio and ended at 2:00 a.m. on Bourbon Street.
In between, Jerry and I flew to NOLA, set up our remote cameras at the arena, ate a mediocre lunch, drank bad coffee, covered the Spurs game 7 win...then went to Bourbon Street for a Midnight Cowboy...er, I mean Midnight Po'Boy.

Here's proof that I worked today...

BACK IN NOLA - WITH JERRY "TIMMY-D" LARA

Jerry and I flew in this morning on Express-Jet and are now at New Orleans Arena, waiting for practice to finish so we can "mark our territory."

"I've had a lot of gourmet sausage, but I haven't had his."

--The man
working the counter at
Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

"Big Poppa"

Trow yo' hands in the aiy-er, if you's a true player.

Greetings

Greetings from the AT&T Center. Tonight is a crucial game six for the Spurs.
Will the Spurs play with a 'wildfire' under their feet, or will they just 'mail it in?'
HA! Get it? Both a Wildfire Coffee reference and a FedEx reference!
I could have even said "phone it in" cause they're at the AT&T Center. I'm so witty. Now, if I could just take decent photos!

(Shoulder bag by Lightware. Envelope by FedEx. Iced Americano by Wildfire Coffee Roasters. Gut by Taco Cabana. Photo by Jerry...Just Jerry.)

Oh Brother('s)

Back in New Orleans for game five of the Western Conference Semifinals. The Spurs stunk it up pretty bad. Here are two quick non-game photos from the game:

How others see the Spurs (nice touch!):
They said Tim Duncan played the first two games in New Orleans with an extremely high fever, but this is getting ridiculous!

•••

Ode to Brother's: (a haiku by Mark)

Oh, Brother's Food Mart!
Beef Pie and chicken await.
Two a.m. — Snacktime!

Okay, yes. I made the 2 a.m., through-a-dark-alley-in-the-Quarter walk to Brother's Food Mart for a little late-night snack. Brother's is like many a convenience store, but with one exception: They sell prepared food (such as the aforementioned beef pie and fried chicken). Notice I didn't say anything about them making the food there? I didn't see any cooking going on (especially at two in the morning), so I don't quite know how long the food had been sitting under the heat lamps. I threw caution into the wind and ordered a fried chicken thigh and one beef pie. The man said it was beef, and who am I to argue!

Don't worry, I washed it all down with a Diet Dr. Pepper!

Doesn't this guy look like a Morris Bart? Doesn't he look like a personal injury lawyer? Doesn't he look like he should be on commercials in the middle of the night, promising to get "every penny you've got coming to you?"
Or is it just me?

Round and Round We Go

I need your help!
Sometimes with the direct overhead camera, you have to rotate the photo until the content of the photo looks "appropriate." With the camera on the same plane with the floor, the idea of a horizontal or vertical frame goes out the window, and you end up with a "which way is up" scenario. In this case, I never could decide. Please respond with your vote on which of the three look best. Thanks!


I guess you could vote "none" as well. It won't hurt my feelings (too much).


Anyhoo, this is the game four you didn't see:

Craig Sager: "Eva, you have such pretty toes. They look like mine!"
Eva: "Please Craig, you're creeping me out. Take your fetish elsewhere."

Tony: "Craig, please...stay away from my wife, or mon dieu, I don't know what I'll do!"

Coach Popovich: "Tony, you gotta punch that guy in the groin!"

Return of the Jedi

This one's for the ladies...






Thursday's win means a quick trip back to NOLA Tuesday. Yippee.

Jerry and Peja

This is Express News ace photojournalist Jerry Lara. He's my hero.
Here, he's helping me focus my remote camera.

Back Home (for now)

It's safe to say New Orleans was much better to me than it was to the Spurs.

The Crazy Cajun

This morning, I went on a tour of the lower ninth ward, courtesy of my own personal driver, Nicole Fruge! Nicole is a native Louisianan, and a fellow photographer at the Express-News, and just happened to be in NOLA the same time as I. She's the kind of photographer I want to be when I grow up.

The lower ninth ward — in case you missed this story — was wiped away by Hurricane Katrina. Rebuilding has been rather slow.





No, it still doesn't look like the photo below. This is the set of "Patriots," a movie they're filming near one of the levees. All the debris, the cars - even the mud - is Hollywood magic (we saw one of the set guys spraying everything down with a mud gun). It sucks for the people who live nearby that have to see this and relive everything that happened.I'm really down with the colorful houses.
Nicole thinks the residents of this house are wicken. The several times she's been by, there are always offerings in the mailbox. Either that, or they're mailing apples.
Afterwards, we visited the Chalmette Battleground, where the Battle of New Orleans took place. It was both educational and confusing. This is how I pictured the battle going down. (photo by Nicole)After a full morning of sightseeing, it was back to the French Quarter for lunch at Louisiana Pizza Kitchen.
My roasted garlic pizza.
That's it for now.