The great thing about having a camera on you all the time these days is the ability to upload these to Facebook. My Palm Pre has this feature and I love it. It also gives me the ability of course to take snaps and upload them to my blog. Initially when I started this blog I was taking the pictures with a Canon EOS 5D2 which I have now sold and downgraded or swapped out for a Canon EOS T1i. The 5D2 was a fantastic camera but to be honest it was too bulky and heavy for me to take out and about on a daily basis.

The Trump Tower with it's head in the Clouds

The T1i I have yet to take an opinion on. I had it for a month and it started freezing on me at the most horrendous time i.e. at my sister in laws graduation. I was mortified. I was hoping to get some great shots of her for her album and the damn thing kept freezing while using the flash. The camera is due back from the, in warranty, repair shop tomorrow. I hope it arrives in time as I want to take it down to our friends for Thanksgiving.

Clearly the quality of the images I am taking for this blog has dropped. Here is one I took last December. I suppose ultimately I am just trying to show a sample of my day or a taste of it rather for me and for you. Who are you? Not sure really. I seem to get steady traffic to this blog, although I don’t advertise it but it’s nice you come along to view it anyway. I suppose it panders to the exhibitionist in me such as it is.

The Reflecting Pool

Once I get my Canon T1i back I want to throw myself back into my photography and get out there again taking pictures. It’s been a while and winter approaches. I hope it’s a snowy one.

Miss Japan and Miss Trinidad and Tobago...best friends...

Thanksgiving must be in the air, because this month of November has been a  cornucopia of riches for those of you out there, unlike myself, that enjoy watching leaked sex tapes of famous or soon to be famous people. 

Virginal Miss California, and a proud homophobe Carrie Prejean has made at least 8 solo sex tapes, that were for her former boyfriends eyes only, has been offered up to two million dollars by the porno production kings Vivid entertainment.

 Shauna Sands of all people has written an open letter to Carrie, encouraging her to take the money, and maximize her financial earnings by controlling its distribution, which will happen if she gets paid or not.

 Shauna, of course, is speaking from experience, as her former boyfriend released her sex tape, on the eve of ex-husband Lorenzo Lamas and current family had premiered their own reality T.V. program on a major cable network. Shauna has offered to sit down with her over ‘tea’ so she could consult her one on one, sex tape producer to sex tape producer. 

Let’s see what Carrie decides to do…take the devils money, or cash in and blaze new trials as a christian porno actress. Today, singing star, actress, and all around sex goddess, Carmen Electra stepped up to the plate and has leaked her own private porno sex tape, but hers is not a solo affair. 

 What it does mean is that the search for it will on the internet will make her the queen of internet searches for a few days, which should help promote the sale of her upcoming movie or book release. Electra, 37, can be seen wearing nothing but black high heels, stockings, panties, a red bra and a diamond-studded choker in a new short posted on website NucleonForce.com.

The most interesting one out of any leaked sex tape that I have been forced to review as a ‘journalist’ comes from newcomers Miss Japan 2008 Miroko Mima and Miss Trinidad & Tobago Anya Ayoung-Chee who both met and competed in the 2008 Miss Universe pageant with Carrie Prejean. 

Do not be too curious, because why mess up a good gig over some prurient entertainment, unless of course, your job is to report on such news for a blog or other legitimate news reporting services.

 http://fleshbot.com/5405254/alleged-beauty-queen-threeway-tape-rocks-the-internet/gallery 

I predict the two of them will be famous, but that Miss Trinidad and Tobago is flat-out beautiful. She will have an extensive career in front of the cameras, so do not be mad at her.

 I give this one 15 stars out of 10, and the leaked tape speaks for itself.

 It is being reported that the action was stolen off of her Miss Trinidad’s former boyfriend’s laptop, when he left it at a computer repair shop. That sounds to me like a lie, because we all know that most people delete their porn from their desktop before leaving it at a repair shop,….at least I do.

 I am obviously joking here with all of this, but it is amazing to me that there are so many high-profile people out there that film themselves having illicit sex. Carrie Prejean claims that she just wanted to give her boyfriend a gift, and I have heard that before many times from young girls.

I know when I bring gifts to an intimate female companion, I better show up with some flowers and merchandise if I plan on coming back. A sex tape will not cut it for the women I know, …but it would be great for them to make one and give it to me.

 I just would not be in it. Unfortunetly this does send out the wrong message to all the little girls out there that want to become celebrities. It seems as though that a ‘leaked’ sex tape is going to be mandatory for  young lady to rise to fame and popularity in today’s culture.

The viral nature of just such an exhibition has worked wonders for many of todays starlets and that might be a double-edged sword. 

I expect a lot of self righteous declarations of piousness to be espoused in reaction to this sexual exploitation in our culture, and I discourage any of my relatives to go down this path,so I do not have to be exposed to it.

 But, the reality of it is, is that it is not illegal if the parties are of age and consenting adults, it’s just inadvisable.

 I recommend a bit of discretion, but I do understand the pressure that we in Hollywood put on the female stars to stay relevant, and to be noticed.

If you are related to me, I suggest you make something eles for your boyfriend…

 Proceed with caution….as I call to book my one way ticket to Trinidad and Tobago with a layover in Japan!!!

 http://www.examiner.com/x-29916-Davidson-County-Headlines-Examiner~y2009m11d19-Carmen-Electra-leaked-video-Another-leaked-video-draws-attention

Miss Trinidad and Tobago 2008

Miss Trinidad and Tobago 2008

It seems like there is news about foreclosures every day, but usually not in the high-end market…

http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=36182

According to this Chicago Real Estate Daily article, lenders have filed foreclosure suits on two condominium-hotel units in Trump Tower.

The units were bought by investors last year, and they are now struggling to dump them by doing a short sale —for up to half what they sold for in March 2008.

Toronto Real Estate Agents in the Greater Toronto Area reported 3,666 MLS resales, an increase of 84 per cent compared to the first two weeks of November 2008.

The average Toronto resale price was also up to $415,066 an increase of 10 per cent from the same period a year ago according to the Toronto Real Estate Board.

In the year to date comparisons MLS resales were up 11 per cent to 78.233 and the average resale price $393,180 , a 3 per cent increase.

It is important to understand that Toronto Real Estate in the fall of 2008 experienced a big decline in sales and average price so the above comparisons show much higher levels as the Real Estate Market returns to previous levels prior to 2008.

Summary of Toronto Real Estate Mid November Resales and Average Price:

City Of Toronto Sales 1,560- 2009, 830-2008 Price $441,893-2009, $400,305-2008

Rest Of GTA Sales 2,106-2009, 1,161-2008 Price $395,195-2009, $358,130-2008

Related Posts:

Toronto’s New Skyline

Trump Tower Toronto Condo Development

Toronto’s New Luxury Hotel Condominiums Downtown

Despite a World Wide recession, Toronto has seen a flurry of development in the Financial district with several green commercial office towers and three luxury Hotel-Condominiums nearing completion.

Three new downtown office towers:

• Bay Adelaide Centre West
• RBC Centre
• Telus Tower

All of these new office towers will strive to be “Green” to comply voluntary with the LEED qualifications, some will have the Gold rating.

Three new luxury Hotel-Condominiums:

• Trump Tower
• Ritz Carlton and the Residences at the Ritz Carlton
• Living Shangri-La Toronto

Most of the downtown Toronto office towers were over 20 years old so there was a pent-up demand by tenants for bigger and more efficient buildings.

Even the three new Hotel-Condominium projects will be most attractive to executives doing business in our financial district along with providing accommodation to these financial employees who prefer to live downtown.

Related Posts:

Toronto’s Highest Condos

Toronto’s New Downtown Commercial Real Estate

I was always taught by my parents to respect my elders, and I do not think that is too much to ask.Larry King is obviously an elder, and throughout his illustrious career as a broadcaster, he has earned the respect of his peers, and has developed millions of fans in the process.

Larry King wrote the book on interviewing celebrities, and as old as he is, he still attracts legions of young followers.

On Wednesday, our favorite gay bashing solo sex starring Christian advocate for morality,ex-Miss California Carrie Prejean, willingly accepted an invitation to be a guest on his show, so that he could interview her about her latest newsworthy scandal, and to promote her book on how she has been victimized in the media, simply because her Christianity demands of her to hate gay Americans, which to her,and her delusional misguided Christian financial supporters, is a noble cause.

A local minister, Miles Mcpherson of The Rock church in San Diego, http://therocksandiego.org/, has been a high profile and visible cheerleader for this disturbed young woman, and he needs to cut his losses immediatley. The reality of Prejean and their relationship is a cautionary tale of bad intentions against humanity coming back to bite you.

She has absolutely no credibility as a Christian, and she clearly just wants to get paid.McPherson has foolishly sided with a devil, because his personal hatred for gay people, overshadows his duty to his parishoners to do a simple background check,and vet this person that he has put in front of the world as a representative of good traditional  God-like Christian values and morality.

I say he has a good excuse,because back in the day, he was a cocaine addict, and that drug has been proven to destroy brain cells, and they do not regenerate. Hopefully he has left all that behind him, but this is confusing.

His thousands of followers and fans of his brand of christianity, that professes hatred of people that do not share his religous edicts, and has solidly backed this train wreck of a beauty queen, should demand a fair and public accounting of any of his church financial assests that have been squandered on this lying sex star.

TMZ.com is reporting today, that the ex-boyfriend of Carrie Prejean, who she allegedly gifted him with her masterbation text download,has come out to tell the world that he was asked by her to lie about her actual age that she was, when she made the XXX video.

Some failed Christians have attempted to halt the distribution of the sex scene by constructing a lie about Carrie’s age at the time, which they say was 17, to make it a crime to view it, because she was underage when she produced it.

Some even have alluded to me that if I did get an opportunity to see it, then I could be brought up on charges that are reprehensible.

Shame on them, beause that was another lie that Carrie got over on you.Their motivation is not to advance Christian morality via Carrie, but it is to save face, and to cover-up their hipocrasy.She was a legal adult when the tape was produced.

On the Larry King show, she got all upset when Larry asked her why she settled her case for no money against the Pageant organization.

She answered Larry by telling him it was an innapropriate question, and then she took her mike off, and began scolding Larry.

She must have known that she is not worthy of being on any show, unless we can talk about the sex tape.Notice she had no problem bashing gay people, but,….when it came to her sexual preference, she was having no part of it.

I applaud Larry for his in depth reporting, and his unwilligness to have her control what questions he asked her. He would immediatley loose credibility with his audience if he did not ask the newsworthy questions.

My question to Miles and all the rest of you fake false Christians…at what point do you repent for your sin of unleashing this nutjob on the world.

I know she is cute, but isn’t your credibility with the Christian crowd destroyed, because it certainly should be, if all things in life were fair and equal.

Being fair and equal with all people in our world, including all of my gay friends and yours, is the last Christian value you are interested in following.

Click on TMZ.com for more on the Carrie Prejean debacle….

http://www.tmz.com/2009/11/11/carrie-prejean-larry-king-live/

Carries Pastor Gay Basher Miles McPherson

It’s a hard task to write about smell. And there will be no pictures today, obviously…
The smell of NYC is as cosmopolitan as the city itself.
Mostly it is about food and it hits you, no matter where you are. Imagine barbecue smell all along Fifth Avenue, even at the corner with 56th Street, so close to the Trump Tower. It almost interferes with the Fierce cologne coming from Abercrombie & Fitch, across the street.
Let’s say that this barbecue smell is the worst, mostly because of the smoke that emanates it.
A more bearable smell is the sweet one, vanilla or cinnamon. The smell of doughnuts and bagels and waffles.
The smell is, without a doubt, an important part of my particular experience with this incredible city.

I hate to review any movie,traditional or porn, before I actually view it for myself. To that end, I can not wait to see for myself if it was worth it for her to drop her lawsuit against Donald Trumps Miss Universe pageant.

I am relegated to heresy, but what I have heard from other news outlets, and Carrie Prejean herself, on The View this morning,I will have to take their word for it.

First of all, it is probably unusual behavior for a Christian anti-sex advocate to have starred in a homemade gift solo sex tape that was leaked to the media.That is probably a hard obstacle for her to overcome.It does call in to question her credibility.

It is also going to cause her conservative backers to back away from her. She obviously was planning on withholding this porno movie, while she gains fame as a virginal gay bashing beauty queen, but as most doctors and lawyers would tell you, a lack and withholding of all of the facts can only lead to a disaster.

I know it is embarrassing, but to be revealed in such a public way, is insurmountable.

I feel for her, but her story should stand as a cautionary tell to those that seek to judge other people, get your own house in order, and don’t worry about the affairs of others.

It is what she gets for putting out negative energy into the world,and I view her fall in much the same way as I view the downfall of Jimmy Swaggert.

The both of them are closeted freaks.

The dethroned beauty queen Carrie Prejean calls an X-rated sex video of herself “the biggest mistake of my life.”

Prejean, the former Miss California USA, says she made the sex flick of herself alone when she was 17, for an ex-boyfriend.

I never got a gift like this from any of my girlfriends when I was 17….women are way different now, than when I was a teenager.My son better watch out.

“It was me by myself. There was no one else with me. I was not having sex,” the controversial beauty queen told the Today show. “I sent it to my boyfriend at the time… ,” she added. “I think now they call it ’sexting.’”

 She appeared on the Today show to talk about her book “Still Standing: The Untold Story of My Fight Against Gossip, Hate and Political Attacks.” She said the emergence of the tape was just an attempt to silence her.

Prejean is trying to act empowered by ”ownig up to it and taking responsibility for it”…

I think she may want to think about all the little Christian girls that were looking up to her, that are confused by her latest actions, and they might think that it is okay to participate in ‘’sexting” just to be like Carrie.

She should be ashamed. I think she may have leaked this tape in order to promote her latest ”victimized” book.

Oh the hypocrisy.

A comment on a YouTube clip concerning this case sums up the facts…She was caught lying as she lied on her contract, she is using God as an excuse to her despicable behavior, those photos exposing her breasts are not old at all, and she lied about it, Shannon also said that they were having problems before the contest…

I have no problem with pornography,gay marriage,Christianity, or personal freedoms.Ido have a lot against self-proclaimed moral police, that can not live up to their own moral code.

If someone uploads the Carrie solo sex tape, please send me a link.

I will be forever in your debt, but as it stands for now, the tape was too hot even for TMZ.com to post, so I know it must be a quality performance.

Here is a YouTube clip of our favorite porn star, Carrie Prejean on ”The View”. Look at the interview, and please read the comments. This is some straight entertainment….

Trump Tower

Just steps from the heart of the Financial Capital of Canada , Toronto’s most desirable luxury Condominium address is now under construction. Trump Tower Toronto is on the move.

The  59 storey Trump Tower will have 109 Condo units, 26o luxury hotel suites and retail space as well.

When completed, this five-star Trump International Hotel and Tower development will be the highest in Canada.

The hotel lobby and seven parking floors are  now complete. Completion of  Trump Tower is scheduled for 2011.

Units range from $1-million in price to $15-million for the penthouse

A few facts about Trump Tower Toronto:

• Tallest residential buildings in Canada
• The first Trump Hotel/Condo to be built outside the United States
• Connected to Toronto’s famous Path System
• Walking distance to the Air Canada Centre, Skydome, The Metro Convention Centre and Roy Thompson Hall

Downtown Toronto Real Estate will truly benefit from these luxury Condos and Hotel suites.

Here are the most recent Luxury Toronto Condos for sale in the same downtown location as the Trump Tower Condos in Toronto.

Related Posts:

Toronto’s Highest Condos

Toronto’s Most Expensive Condos

Toronto’s New Downtown Commercial Real Estate

Supporter of gay marriage may have taken a beating at the ballot box this week, but they can take solace in the fact that one of their major detractors has been exposed as a sexual freak, and has lost her battle in court.

Former Miss California and anti-Gay activist Carrie Prejean, who so famously declared to Perez Hilton during this years Miss Universe Pageant that she is a Christian, and she has these  Christian values that prevent her from supporting Gay marriage, which I like to call ”a marriage”, has been exposed to be a sexual freak herself,not that being gay has anything to do with sexual promiscuity. 

It was disclosed at this weeks settlement meeting between her and the Miss Universe/Miss California operators that she performed in a hot and sexy solo XXX rated porno movie.

The porno starring Carrie Prejean, as reported by the trusted site, TMZ.com, was very graphic, and ….well, even too graphic for TMZ to post.

That’s good enough for me,…I actually would like to see it for myself, as a reporter, just to confirm the accuracy of their reporting.

They are quoted to say that…”Carrie has a promising career as a solo performer”… so that sounds like some hot masturbation scenes, which I would expect a good conservative girl, with nice new double D implants to be well rehearsed in performing.

I respect religious people, but I abhor hypocrisy.

The tape actually began making the rounds several months ago and was offered as an exclusive to various websites for the bargain-basement price of $10,000.

The following is as reported by TMZ…

TMZ is reporting the dirty deets about Carrie being shown a film that the site amusingly calls “the X-rated version of ‘Home Alone,’ starring the former Miss California as herself. By herself.

When the video action began, Carrie said “that’s disgusting” and denied it was her. Then, the camera panned up to her face. 

 TMZ says it took about 15 seconds for Carrie to drop her $1 million legal demands against the Miss California organization….

The pageant officials have paid her legal bills of close to 100 thousand dollars, she get’s to keep her breast implants, and she walks away pocketing zero dollars.

Here is a funny quote from E news, and remember that the pageant is owned by the one and only Donald Trump….

…the sex tape was the pageant’s trump card, and Prejean wound up with no money in the settlement (though the pageant was said to have paid $100,000 in fees to her lawyers and publicist)…

…Get it,..Trump card???

Do not mess with Donald Trump, especially if you have made a sex tape, and are making your reputation off of being a pure and godly virginal Christian.

This does bring up the confusion as to why she hates gay people so much? Does she not understand that her campaigning against their right to marry, which has nothing to do with her, if she is not gay, just makes a lot of good people feel like second class citizens.

I think Carrie Prejean is in for a big wake up call about life. I have no problem with her solo masturbation, especially if she likes it, and no one gets hurt, as well as I have no problem with adults deciding to get married.

Better them than me, I just want to come to the after party.

So. I know some of my gay friends are upset today by this week’s loss at the ballot box, but be encouraged here, and not for Carries downfall. That was inevitable,like so many preachers that campaign against you.

They are all probably gay, and are conflicted.Time will resolve this issue for you, not the ballot box. I feel that if we were to vote on returning black people to slavery, it would pass if left up to a popular vote.

Call me scenical, but I am definitely not that optimistic about the people that vote on these issues.I want to be proven wrong.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/04/carrie-prejean-sex-tape-t_n_345589.html

Turn your volume down and THEN start

this Windy City video. If you don’t turn

it down – it will be loud . . . as it was very

windy on this day at Montrose Harbor,

in Chicago, IL on Lake Michigan. Enjoy!

Trump Tower is a 58-story skyscraper in New York City located at 725 Fifth Avenue, at the corner of 56th Street. The mixed-use tower was developed by Donald Trump and the Equitable Life Assurance Company. It was completed on the 30th of November 1983.

Trump and his architect had to come up with some innovative ideas in order for the city to allow such a tall building to be constructed on such a small space. Trump bought the “air rights” to the Tiffany’s store which sits beside the tower, constructed a through-block arcade to the neighboring IBM building, and dubbed the atrium “public space”, which eased some of the restrictive codes. Making this a mixed-use building also helped alleviate some problems with building codes.

The Trump Building is best known for its lavish atrium, six stories high. Most prominent is the illuminated cascading waterfall, which sits directly across from the entrance. The walls are covered with pink marble and the widespread use of brass and mirrors is apparent as soon as one enters the lobby area.

The atrium is built as a vertical shopping center, in which visitors are guided along escalators and walkways which lead to balconies that open up to specialty shops.

Trump Tower is the domain of the rich and famous. Trump himself lives in the penthouse and many wealthy New Yorkers occupy the other residential units. The retail area at the atrium, however, is open to the general public and can be enjoyed by all and I don’t know if anyone can afford to shop there but as long as there is a Starbucks, at least anyone could have a coffee at Trump Tower. Furthermore, almost anyone can enjoy a menu for only 20$.

I admit that at Christmas time the Atrium looks even better. When I went back there last month, however, everything seemed so familiar and recent. The entire city gives me this impression, some places more than others. NYC is something like “far away so close”… only that I don’t consider it far away…

There is an iphone application for everything including:

1 – iQuit for smoking

2 – Contraction timer for pregnancy

3 – Drunk dialer

4 – iSteam (Seriously now?)

5 – weight tracker

Is there an iphone App for Inspiration?  Day three and no writing or even submitting.  Exhaustion is getting the best of me.

Putting pen to paper is one of the most natural processes I am capable of doing.  It is a true passion.  Flipping open my brown leather bound journal and taking one of my favorite black pens, the words begin to fill the pages.  To write the very first word not knowing what the very last word will be, it a lovely surprise.  Using all your senses to create, to imagine, to admit, and to twist proves how powerful words truly are.

I have found inspiration by sitting at a cafe in the East Village watching groups interact or couples simply smiling and adoring each other.  I have found inspiration on a flight  alone to Rome while sitting by a fascinating stranger or waking up in another country full of new smells, people, colors, food and history.  I have found inspiration from sipping Prosecco while enjoying the view of Mt. Etna in Taormina to sitting on a train from Cefalu to Palmero while traveling through Sicily.  I have found inspiration while walking along one of my favorite streets in New York, West 20th between 9th-10th avenue, as the leaves fall to the ground and the bells of the seminary are ringing.  I have found inspiration while walking through a crowded bookstore overwhelmed with the meticulously stacked books and titles I have never seen before.  I have found inspiration in a sad song that evokes such emotion that a knot literally forms in my throat making it hard to swallow (Sia and Bic Runga, watch out).  I have found inspiration while sitting on my favorite park bench in Union Square or walking through this park first thing in the morning as all the vendors are setting up for the Farmer’s Market.  I have found inspiration in both the stillness and chaotic moods of Manhattan, my home.

Lately, I cannot find inspiration.  Lately, I cannot even use my imagination to keep hold and organize the millions of moods that are circulating through my mind, heart and soul.  Oh dear God, I hope that this is not writer’s block.

I’m hoping a good night sleep will help me get back my natural pace of writing, feeling and creating.

Maybe I should go to Ireland?  For some reason, I cannot stop thinking about Ireland. Hmmm..  What’s in Ireland for me?  I have no idea.  It is just weighing heavy on my mind.

CK

I took this picture in Mid April. Yes mid-April can you believe it?

Cold beyond words

I thought about this picture as I was checking this blogs history and came across this post and thought Christ that was just yesterday.

This is real winter, not that pansy winter you get in the U.K. I mean when was the last time the Thames froze? Probably the 17th century during the last mini ice age Europe experienced. Yes that really happened people, my mum says she remembers it and I believe her. Anyway I was just thinking that this will be happening again soon and shuddered. It is beautiful though, I mean how can you say it isn’t look at that picture. I don’t know how much longer I will be in Chicago, this is more than likely my last winter so I am going to really enjoy it and make the most out of a winter that seemingly never ends…..

Admittedly the Thames is a much wider river and it flows an awful lot faster so it would need to be seriously cold i.e. Chicago cold for it to freeze. I have no tolerance though for people who complain about UK services collapsing when they have a cold snap, as the UK is just not set up to cope with it. To ramp up to deal with that kind of cold would cost billions. I mean Chicago struggles year after year and I remember last year the furore over the fact that the city had decided not to grit side streets due to lack of money. Now I had to drive down some of these side streets and let me tell you I was doing 3 mph and I remember sliding into the middle of a junction at that speed. We are talking pure ice and terror. So next time you are a bit late to work in London cause of a light sprinkle, thank your lucky stars.

El viajar a Nueva York y no caminar por la Quinta Avenida es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinta_Avenida es como no haber conocido una parte importante de la gran manzana, en esta importante avenida a finales del siglo XIX  William H. Vanderbith construyó su mansión entre la Quinta  Avenida y la Calle 51, con la construcción de esta  residencia empezó el auge  de construir en esa zona casas palaciegas que llegaron hasta Central Park.

En la actualidad ya hay muchas casas que han desaparecido, pero aun quedan algunas fachadas de dichas residencias,  la Firma Cartier tiene ocupada una de ellas, así como Cartier grandes firmas de joyerías y ropa de grandes diseñadores.

Es una calle la cual es sinónimo de lujo y poder, es increíble que con algo de suerte uno se puede encontrar a algún famoso realizando compras. Esta parte de la ciudad es muy sofisticada y esun gusto poder caminar por aquí hasta llegar  a otro de los edificios famosos de la zona la Trump Tower.

www.club.royal-holiday.com/index.php?fuseaction=home.resort&id=166 gracias a mi reservación mi familia y yo disfrutamos mucho nuestros paseos

Jon [...] took the opportunity to defend himself in the media mess when he appeared on Entertainment Tonight and sparred with Nancy Grace on The Insider Monday night.

When asked if he had left his family “without the ability to pay for the roof over their head or to put food on the table,” Jon told ET’s Mary Hart that he pays $7,500 a month for “the kids, utilities, two mortgages and everything else that needs to be paid.”

The 32-year-old father remained adamant on the idea that his kids “are coming off the TV” and went on to save what’s left of his dignity in the spotlight.

“I’m not the bad guy here – I’m the one trying to protect my children. That’s called being a parent, protecting my children,” Jon stated. “I need to pull them off the television so we can work this out.”

Despite his recent actions, Jon admitted to making mistakes in recent months, saying, “I need to apologize to the public as well as to Kate and my kids.”

In May, I wrote about Jon and Kate perhaps becoming the next Louds, but it seems more and more likely that the Louds had more class. For one thing, it’s rapidly become clear who was really making trouble in the marriage. Kate’s been taking the high road, as she calls it. During her stint on The View a month ago, as a guest host taking the place of the hardly-missed Elisabeth Hasselbeck currently on maternity leave, she refrained from talking about “the father of my children.” In contrast, Jon had been making unflattering remarks about Kate, who had instigated divorce proceedings, every chance he got. This D List putz went out with as many young (and gullible) women as possible. He couldn’t wait, he said, to get away from Kate. Of course, everything he said and did was being covered by every gossip and entertainment blog and magazine on his bratty antics, and people began slowly but surely checking it all out.

However, the moment TLC (short for The Learning Channel) announced that Jon & Kate Plus Eight would continue as Kate Plus Eight as the result of Jon’s “going Hollywood,” as it were, all bets were off. Yesterday, on The Today Show, Kate confirmed that she could not pay her monthly bills because Jon had absconded with over $230,000 from a joint bank account, and that all she had left in that account was a little over $1,000.

Under the rules of the Gosselin divorce arbitrator’s guidelines, neither spouse is allowed to take money from the joint account.

However, a couple days before she filed for divorce in June, Kate says Jon withdrew a significant amount of money from the account before the arbitrator’s rules were made. This led to Kate, who is the family’s primary bill payer, taking $100,000 out of the same account on the advice of her lawyer.

“I removed it to keep it safe,” she told [Meredith] Vieira. “I had taken $100,000 and put it aside safely so I could buy my kids food if needed.”

After the couple agreed to accept the decisions made by an arbitrator, Kate returned her half of the money to the account.

However Kate says Jon, 32, spent his $50,000 on “erratic purchases” for himself.

“I didn’t feel like it would be safe, to be honest,” Kate said.

Kate also said that, contrary to Jon’s claims, their kids want to continue filming their TLC reality show. She explained that the children were upset when told over the weekend that filming had been suspended.

“There was wailing and sobbing,” she said. “[They] love our crew. They are angry.”

As for Kate, she says she is holding up despite the recent turmoil.

Do you think the kids were doing all that much wailing and sobbing about the crew? Do you think they are angry about that? I don’t. If anything, Kate Gosselin is telling the kids that daddy is responsible for keeping the cameras away–and the kids know how much importance mom puts on the cameras–and that this denies them the goodies and the outings.

Although Kate says she would work at Mickey D’s in order to support her family, frankly being on TV would be more lucrative without Jon, and she would be at home raising them. Perhaps she prefers this. She is one of five children herself, and her mother may have been a stay-at-home mom as well. Kate has been trained as a pediatric nurse; Jon is a former IT analyst. I doubt if they went back to “normal” and without the cameras that things would improve. This marriage is irretrievably broken.

That bank account is not the only account the couple has in common, though it stands to reason that Kate may have access to some and not others, and might accrue penalties for withdrawals. In turn, Jon has accused her of sequestering over a million dollars from the New York Times best-seller list book she co-wrote with him and another writer–but that has yet to be proven. If the story is true about him grabbing the $200-thou, then that was too much information that should have been reported just to her attorney, who would file the appropriate complaints and motions. Even TMZ could have gotten hold of what was happening in court.

Unfortunately, it holds up TLC and puts the contract they may have with Kate in jeopardy, which is what Jon is counting on. Kate Plus Eight begins in November.

It’s also been rumored that Jon Gosselin was considering an apartment in Trump Tower as a base in New York or house-hunting somewhere in Southern California, and in anticipation of such a purchase, he may have shuffled their assets.

Jon Gosselin’s also filed papers to delay the final divorce decree for 90 days.

Women undergoing divorces know exactly what this is all about; in a word, it’s blackmail. Kate was moving ahead, he wasn’t. Kate Plus Eight would be a story about how Kate copes with her life and the children after the divorce. He would make guest appearances, but that was all. She would make more money than he. Suddenly, Jon wanted to reconcile and to pull her back into couples therapy again to work things out. “I regret my conduct since Kate and I separated … I used poor judgment in publicly socializing with other women so soon.”

Yeah, right. This is not about reconciling, this is about the money. There’s another reality show on the back burner that will feature celebrity divorced men, and Gosselin is rumored to become one of the regulars of this show. However, it’s not a done deal. In the meantime, Gosselin doesn’t want the spigot to dry up of cash that would finance his new playa lifestyle. If he can’t get the same kind of money from TLC, then why should she get anything at all? He wants to get paid off.

I truly doubt whether this new mess has anything to do with protecting his children’s lives from exploitation at all. It’s all about Jon Gosselin–and his tarnished reputation. I do believe that the children need therapy to weather the warfare between the parents, and living in a fishbowl. However, if Jon didn’t want his children to appear on television, he should not have helped to peddle a treatment to TLC in the first place, and putting his business–on the prowl, partying, and accusing Kate–out there in the second.

Although Nancy Grace can be a harpy at times, in this case, she did right in frying him over the coals. Things had quieted down until this latest donnybrook. I just wish these people would shut up.

As a native Chicagoan, I’ve always enjoyed tracking the changes in my city whether mentally or, more recently, through imagery. I’m old enough to remember a Chicago without the Picasso, Chase Tower (originally the 1st National Bank Building…my Mom worked there right after it opened) and even The John Hancock Center and Willis (Sears) Tower. Those buildings didn’t exist while I was growing up but, as a little guy, the skyscrapers that were there seemed like mountains. Over the years the city got taller and taller. It’s been exciting to watch these changes and, as photography has become a bigger part of my life, to document them as well.

Taken from my “Super-Secret Skyline Photography Location Lair” in the northern suburbs during the sunset of a very cold and blustery winter’s day in January, the shot above represents how Chicago looked approximately three years ago.

Chicago, August 2009

Fast forward to last month and we see a slightly different city. The first notable addition would be Trump Tower, seen just left of center. Originally it was announced that Trump Tower was going to be the tallest building in the world upon completion, but plans were scaled back after 9/11.

So now we have four of these super skyscrapers, just from this vantage point alone. The Trump gives the impression of at least beginning to fill that large gap, doesn’t it?

One eagerly anticipated building that has yet to grace our skyline would be the Chicago Spire. Many folks are anxiously awaiting this unique building, but funding issues currently have the project on hold.

Of perhaps slightly less importance, if only from a landmark point of view, we also see brand new condominiums in the right mid-ground. This new building really gives us a sense of the shear size of Chicago, as it is approximately 13 miles from downtown Chicago.

Slainte,
Gareth

Click here to read more posts from Gareth.

Tribune Tower reflection, Chicago, originally uploaded by jeffdenapoli.

Picture: Tribune Tower reflected in a window at 16, the terrace restaurant at Trump Tower in Chicago.

This and the rest of the pics in this set were taken the weekend of Sept. 5th. Lisa and I had a “do-over” of our original 4-year anniversary because we failed to do anything cool on the actual date (July 9th).

This weekend was great. To sum it up, I have created a “thumbs-up, thumbs-down” based on what we encountered on our mini-vacation:

Thumbs-Up: Hotel SAX, Martinis, “16″ at the Trump Tower, Surf & Turf, cheese flights, walking to all of our destinations, Chicago, 42″ Plasma TV in room, the weather, the building that houses the Modern Wing at the Art Institute

Thumbs-Down: “Crimson” lounge at the Hotel SAX, Martinis, people asking me for money every 10 yards, scrubs who dress they they are at a frat party at nice restaurants, Metra Commuter Fai- I mean Rail, king beds that sink in the middle, 99% of the exhibits IN the Modern Wing of the Art Institute – video of a guy dressed as a clown taking a shit is not art, neither is a framed black rectangle. I’m sorry.

Totally awesome photo I took a while back.

5th Avenue is undoubtedly one of the most famous streets in America.  Some like to call it ‘the Rodeo Drive of Manhattan’.  I like to call it FABULOUS!

I walked 5th Avenue with my husband on our first visit to New York City in 2007.  I remember the moment I saw Tiffany & Co on 5th Avenue for the first time.  We were on the opposite side of the street.  I stopped.  I stared.  I reached out for Ryan, with my eyes still glued on Tiffany’s.  I must admit.  It was a moment!

Believe it or not, I did notice other things on 5th Avenue.  First and foremost, the one and only Saks Fifth Avenue, that’s actually on 5th Avenue.   I went on in and bought a new thing of Chanel lip gloss.  Yes, I could have waited until I got home to get lip gloss, but I just had to buy something there and get a Saks shopping bag!  For more info on Saks check out their website at www.saksfifthavenue.com.  We also caught a glimpse of Trump Tower, which you have probably seen on television if you’re a fan of The Apprentice on NBC.  As you can see in the photo above, Trump Tower was covered with an enormous ad for Gucci.  I can’t even imagine how much Gucci paid for that.  Anyway…

5th Avenue has been known as one of the most expensive streets in the world.  It originates at Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village and runs northward all the way to the Harlem River.   Go be a star and check it out!  For more fun trivia visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Avenue.

“None of those dudes can weld,”  he said.

And in an interview with the New York Daily News, Jesse revealed that one of the reasons he wanted to do “Celebrity Apprentice” was to meet – and apologize to – Olympic figure skater Scott Hamilton.

It turns out a teenage Jesse stole Scott’s 1985 Porsche Targe from outside the skater’s San Diego apartment. Although Jesse was never caught for the deed, it’s a burden he’s apparently carried around with him.

“I always felt bad about it,” he told the Daily News. “I figured I’d never have a chance to say anything to him.”

Until the night Scott was fired and Jesse followed him out of  Trump Tower.

“He looked at me,” Scott said. “I could tell he was concerned. He said, ‘I never made it right with you.’ Once I knew the whole story, I thought it was kind of funny to learn 20 years later that Jesse James stole my car and stripped it.”

“I was sorry,” Jesse confessed. “It was like a huge monkey off my back.”