blog entry title.

sorry, I've been busy.

shooting portraits


plays


music


and more plays tonight. But, if I have to buy a new iPod soon will someone buy my old one?

Apple has issued a vaguely worded invitation to reporters and analysts, to "come see some fun new products" at Apple's Cupertino headquarters today. And, not surprisingly, the missive has kicked up a whirlwind of rumors.

oh, and one last tidbit... great idea for a kids movie, based on real life - a bad karate teacher tries to steal from his students, only to be foiled by his own teachings. brand new, never before done.

give me a break

sometimes it is the little treats that you give yourself that just make a day that much better.

today, Hershey's took away that joy, rather than give. I just wanted that satisfying mouth pop associated with the "kitkat" candy bar. no such luck.

Name Change

Back in 1994 when the internet was new we all tried to have original and slightly anonymous handles (or names). I was given "cnich" by my school, and I sort of liked that. It was taken... damn you AOL IM! So, I got "creative" and turned the C into "sea"... hence - sea - nich.

I have always pronounced it "see - nich". I realized people were pronouncing it "see-nick" (which is fine) and unfortunately "shawn-itch" or even referring to me as "sean". This was unacceptable. I don't get along with Shawns or Seans very well for some reason. The only other name that I have been called more than once is Todd. Though I have an uncle named Todd non-family members have even called me Todd before... weird... anyway...

So, my new internet handle thing is icopythat or I copy that. It was born because "copythat" was already taken so I tossed the less used "i" in front - bingo. Now I just have to buy the domain.

there you go, boring name change story (most of you won't even notice, it's just for my flickr account, but a big mental change - 12 years) We all must learn to brand ourselves, how annoying.

have some sea.

no nich for now.

IE cell phone mission

the second event I photographed yesterday was an Improv Everywhere Mission - Cell Phone Symphony. 100 uninformed Agents arrived with a ba g and cell phone. They were split into groups by phone make. They exchanged numbers and 50 went to S t r an d Boo k s tore. (no googling here) and 50 stayed back to call in a musical fashion once the ba gs were checked.

see my photo set here.

My first of three events

I'm photgraphing three different things today - here is the first:

poetry and curling

so, I was searching for pictures of patrick stewart's current girlfriend which lead me to this site and this picture. (below isn't the girlfriend)allow me to tell you a bit about her...

I have been writing poetry for eleven years. I am an active member of The International Society of Poets. I enjoy country dancing, drawing and writing. I have a wonderful husband and also enjoy living in the mountains... My hope is that through my poetry that I might be able to help someone who may need a little experience, strength and hope.

and her poetry...

The Coin In My Pocket

When I'm feeling down and afraid, I look to you and realize that it was not too long ago that my life was a charade.

When I see you I see hope that I haven't seen before. Many times I tend to remember the bad instead of the good, I endure the pain and feel alone once more.

I don't really trust. Many people have let me down and I finally found someone to believe in. I know now that believing in God is a must.

I used to envy those little girls who had the golden hearts with the locket. But I have something more precious than I've ever had before, and I think of it every time I feel the coin in my pocket.

have a nice weekend.



p.s. I am totally in love with the minnesotan curling twins on the olympics... so cute.

second - love

I have internet crushes. I like blogs, lots of blogs...and we aren't going to talk about friendster, myspace, or facebook and definitely don't get me started on Flickr... oh, pictures, you are so good to me. This Valentine's day I'll tell you a bit about a few of my virtual visiting grounds... my virtual neighborhood, if you will. Most of my neighbors are people I have met, sometimes after I have visited their blog.

We'll start chronologically... though, like the internet, it won't stay that way for long.

The first time I heard of blogs they were called web journals - livejournal and the like, way back in 2001. The first I remember reading was of a troubled and insecure college student. I found her link on a quirky "hot or not: Meet me" photo. (side note: I was living in a state where I didn't know anyone but my two bosses, their cats, and the cute blockbuster girl - please forgive the "hot or not" reference).

The next blog I was introduced to was written by Dave. This was around the same time TaTu had its moment of fame - I remember because he told me of these girls who would make out on stage. Thanks Mr. Moldawer. I see him 2 or 3 times a month. He retired from his blog and past the torch to someone I only knew as "sure thing". I was a hesitant reader at first. Then I met her at a Greenestreet Salon, and she wasn't so bad... and she turned into a pretty darn good blogger. I see her once every 4 - 6 months.

I started reading christian's blog following a link from Fancy Robot. I read his blog and he reads mine. I am sure he is a fantastic teacher, and though I have only met him once, I'm sure he's a fantastic person too.

One of the people who ran said Salon (now retired though it is still linked on the side... maybe I have hope...) is Mike Arauz. Though he doesn't have a blog, per se, he does have the best artistic taste of any person I know. I see him an inconsistent 3 times a month. He introduced me to Erin who has a friend named Amanda who has a humorous and honest blog. I've only met Amanda once at a wine tasting party. Erin also showed me the joy of Andy Milonakis whose blog recently died. It, like him, is/was funny. I've seen him perform once.

Mike also introduced me to Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere. He, a funny and original person, knows a lot of funny and original people. I only see him when I take pictures for him, though I probably should just hang out too. He knows Kate and Kula. I see them on some missions.

Mike was in an improv group with the Brian and Eliza who date Robyn and Will, respectively. Robyn's blog is young - give her encouragement. Will runs a fantastic site - Channel 102, which I explained earlier. I see robyn and brian a few times a month. Will... well, we haven't hit the hug stage yet, but I think it might be there soon at the end of this month... though I may have to force it a bit.

My friend Kate and I are cutting out the middle man (the people that introduced us) and getting straight to the rockin'. Her blog is new, visit, link, love and then watch as we destroy the internet together.

Then I have a college friend or two - both live out of town and have not kept up their blogs.

A brother and a mom, also not so good with keeping up their blogs- bet very faithful readers.

A stranger, funny, talented... don't know how I found his page.

The roommate and his "makes a living from my blog" brother.

The uncategorizable Meljo. She is in philly... one day she will be closer.

One of my earliest readers from over the pond.

Then my flickr friends, Gene - who I met once at a meet up... I really should go to more of those, dorks must stick together. BrianVan, we have been at the same events and didn't even know it, is killing one of his blogs. The other brian has some very dense insightful entries. He lives in CA for now. Lauren is the person I know best for never meeting, though I haven't heard from her lately... computer problems and whatnot.

So, those are some of my blogging, talented friends. I have blog-crushes on you all. Happy Valentine's Day.

first - hate.

Dear Time Warner:

Remember our good times - when "Da' Best" package really was just that? Remember when RoadRunner Internet really was fast? What happened? ... Xanadu just needed to keep up with the times...

We bought a new LCD HD TV. she is a beaut. We asked you to come and install your highly (through self promotion) praised "HDTV Box". We waited a week. You installed the wrong box, we were promised DVR as well... you did not bring me the DVR, and this is where we began to part.

A week later, after installing our NYCTWC HDTVDVR Box our internet stopped working. We had to wait a week, until today, for you to show up and fix it. 10-2 is what you promised.

You broke your promise. When I called someone named "josh" answered and told me that you, "Canceled the visit at the door"... WHAT??? You came to my door, didn't ring the buzzer and chose to cancel the appointment?

"Josh" called me back, saying we could schedule another appointment. I'm addicted to you, RoadRunner, though I may hate NYTWC right now... I need you. I spoke strong words to "Josh", he said that his supervisor was working on getting me an earlier slot and that you would call me back.

You still haven't called. I'm very sad and angry. At the same time, I know that you are the only one for me. Satellite just doesn't do it for me. I know I spend too much on you, but you are the best. You have a monopoly on my digital world... and I hate you for it.

sincerely,

chad

and
Xanadu

PS we aren't even getting into how annoying it was to pay your bill or how you won't let me change my name from my other roommate. damn you.

I miss internet.

I can steal a little internet now and then from the neighbors, but mostly I have been watching the olympics on HD... it's pretty... and I can fast forward all of the commercials - except the coke ones with Ptolemy in them (he's the coach with the group of guys cheering).

the newest olympic sport- urban poodle skiing.

Internet is dead

ok... MY internet is dead. Until Tuesday, don't expect much from icopythat until then, sorry.

heart,

chad

p.s. I'm freaking out. I am addicted to the internet... at least I have HD DVR to entertain me.

Brilliant Blaze

For those of you who wonder how I spend my time... this is what I've been working on for a while.

We have a treatment and budget and what not. Now if you could find a way to get me money, I'll make a TV show or movie, or anything. Who wants to be an executive producer?


View this clip on Vimeo

whoop.

not so exciting superbowl, eh? the commercials... pretty lame as well. I just saw the extended cut for one of the better ones, Stunt City. They cut out my two favorite things on the actual commercial - the cop hitting the biker and the punchline - that the coffee is too hot. Obviously they took these two things out because the first might offend someone and the second... well, maybe they think we really are that dumb, and just wouldn't get the irony. Oh, and don't forget that the rolling stones were also censored for being to racy. Thank you for protecting me.

I also went to a Date Auction held by Party with a Purpose for the Lollipop Theater organization. I didn't buy any humans, I realize now that I probably should have... maybe if they have cheaper drinks at the next one the prices would go higher. That, and if you have high bidders for the same thing, then after the bidding is over you see if both of the high bidders would take the prize for that same amount - that way you get more money for the charity. (I went to a lot of auctions as a child)



I then went to Complacent Nation's New Lost City party. Which would be a super cool thing if you are in the mood. I wasn't, but it was still huge and nice to know that these things happen.

bklyn

Tonight I had a very "New York" evening. There is only one city in the world and only one burg and really only one neighborhood that would have it.

It started with a friend's invite to see her perform in a play and see her band after the show. When I walked in I saw stuff... no, shit, no, art, no, shit - everywhere. On the floor, on the walls, on the ceiling, as pillars, as chair-things??? There are these secret "forts" about 15 feet in the air. I was told that people live in this "art space". I was also told that they were so messed up on drugs that they couldn't actually have a conversation, nor could they even form a proper sentence.

The play was about Michael Jackson, the war in Iraq, and gay sex. The first band had a toy piano and a saw. At this point I could only think of my parents... I was wondering what they would be thinking. My father is not the biggest modern art fan. He finds it all very silly. And musical saws? Yeah, that’s funny. I think after the cat running around and the cockroaches (I killed two) and the smoke in the air may have forced them out of the basement.

I thought I could handle it. I thought, "nah, I'm not like these people". I looked down at my purposely mismatched argyle socks in my green sneakers and realized that I was also wearing a wrinkled Brooks Brothers shirt, a camel hair blazer, and had my helmet for my “Daring Plum” Vespa sitting next to me. Whew.

My talented friends were the only things that kept me sane. Thank you. It was an experience.

Happy Groundhogs Day!

The man has his eyes open just enough so that he cans see that the woman has hers shut. He starts gently – just warm wet lips lightly pressing against another pair. Two lips close over the top. The head moves as the lips pull open the other pair. They both come back at each other with added vigor, this time slightly apart. A tip of tongue may come in contact with an opposite lip. The hand slides up the arm to briefly rest at the scruff of the neck. The mouths open wider. Breathing becomes more intense and synchronistic. The resting hand comes to life under the hair and ear so that the thumb and palm can feel the face and the movement of the jaw. Other hands complement this movement. The hands pull towards their owners just enough so that the energy can create another force pushing away. The tongues find each other. There is a sudden breath inwards. Everything becomes a more rapid, but not rushed, and the hands move down the back or closer to the mouth.

busy, but not too busy for...

the best blond joke ever. thanks to Piggyreese.

Good so far.

The "birthday weekend" is going well so far. Nice little party, the apartment looks good. We have our new flat panel LCD HDTV, it is very pretty. People had fun. I liked being able to talk to my friends in my apartment - simple and nice.




Then a little karaoke happened tonight. I don't do Karaoke... it's not my thing - I tried anyway. This was my first time in NYC. There are places where you can rent a room by the hour with your own TV and couches and you BYOB.




View this clip on Vimeo
This is my first time try Vimeo on my blog, we'll see how it goes... and do check out the other clip of Dave and Puff the magic dragon.

My real birthday is on monday the 30th. If you need my address for all of the gifts you are sending me, just let me know.

well, that was fun.

Now, I'm a little ol' blog... so I am easily impressed by a lot of hits. Now that the hub-bub is coming to an end I can say I will now be disappointed when everyone doesn't keep coming back.


As for my photos... yeah, they had a few hits too. I was getting all excited, about a week ago, to break the "50,000" stream views. I figured it would take another couple of weeks. It didn't.


As for my most viewed photo?

yeah. That's a lot for me.

So, thank you IE, Agent Todd, NYPD, the world press and blogs, and you, friendly icopythat reader.

Courtesy: Chad Nicholson

See my photos on MSNBC - "Countdown" with the humorless host - Keith Olberman. They had a segment on Improv Everywhere's No Pants 2k6. I saw a commercial for this show where they said he was as funny and biting as John Stewart. He is not. I did not laugh with him. At him, yes. Charlie Todd, who is also on the video - I guess, called him out on a bad joke... I laughed then.

watch it here.

No Pants Subway Ride with Improv everywhere

Think that title will get me to the top of the google list? Yeah, the event has garnered a lot of press, (Gothamist - Part One [with my photos], Gothamist - Part Two [also with my photos], Gawker [who used my photo],This French Web-zine [photos], Village Voice [who may have credited another's photo to me], NewsDay, All Headlines, NYT, News Tribune, NYPost, Daily News) which is good on the whole, I believe. It wasn't "a publicity stunt" as some have suggested... but it doesn't hurt -I think it brings a few more smiles to a few more faces. Here are my words. Pictures are here.

My Story - I was recruited as a photographer. I like the behind the scenes action, big fan. I watched as around 160+ gather (I like that number, I counted nearly that on my panoramic of the crowd listening to the directions, and there were more not pictured). A good looking mix of people - young and old, male and female, dressed conservative and silly. After listening to the instructions we all head down to the 6 train at the Brooklyn Bridge to go uptown. It was a good choice of trains; it has many stops and goes through very diverse areas all the way to 125th street. We let one train leave the station and all get on the next train.

I was in a "target" train. The IE agents were in the "staging train" and would trickle into my train throughout the ride. The photographers were instructed to "be very discreet" until 23rd street. They were in my car... meaning - I was. I had brought two cameras, my pocket camera and my big honkin' D70 and multiple lenses. I sat in the middle of the train with my iPod on and quietly used my pocket camera like I would do even if I weren't involved with IE. I had an older woman that chose to stand over me rather than sit down, which may have been annoying, but it hid me. I was able to hear the remarks by a group of very excited ladies to my left, "Oh, look!" "look at that one too!" "What? Where are they all coming from?!" "None of them are wearing any pants!"

We hit 23rd Street and I pulled out the big guns, but still stayed subtle. As part of the group and not part of the "press" I felt obliged to keep my status reserved so that everyone could observe without a camera running around. I made my way to one end of the car and shot the first "purchases" of the pants. "Oh, yeah, pants. I could use a pair of pants today." I then made my way to the other end of the train and camped out.

This is when the train stopped. The civilians to my left, mother and son, were very upset the train had stopped. She didn't say anything about the underwear - but she made sure everyone could know how mad she was at the MTA. The civilians to my right, I couldn't tell the relationship, were just laughing. They couldn't stop pointing people out. Then one figured it out, "The train is stopped so that they can sell all of the pants here". Obviously.

I heard Agent Todd wondering with another clothed rider why the train had stopped for so long. Everyone was still in character. We then heard that the train was out of service, we all excited, assuming that we would get on the next train... I even had another agent tell me to get on the next train. I looked for the photo op's. I walked towards the front of the train. I stopped and stood on a railing and got a photo of the crowd. One bystander told me to be careful because it was illegal to take photos in the subway. I thanked her for her advice but told her that I did the research and found out that it is not illegal (read - legal) to take photos in subway. She didn't believe me.

I went further up the train and found a sea of photographers surrounding cops surrounding a handful of IE Agents. We snapped, the crowd got a little rowdy, the cops got defensive. The train rolled away. The next train came and the cops informed us that we were missing our train, and that there was, "nothing to see here". Yes. Yes, they really said it. In fact they said we should, "Move along, now". Maybe it is in the cliche book of cop sayings - and they like saying it and find it funny...

The next train pulled away and the cops realized that they weren't going to have an easy time here... so they moved the prisoners and called for more back up. When we got upstairs there were 8 Agents being detained, about 30 Agents watching, 20 some cops - uniformed and plain-clothed, and about 15 cameras. There became a press section. The officers were pushing back the press. The press were saying "this is my job, I'm just doing my job" to which the officer would reply, "I'm just doing MY job, now back up". Many people were asking the police officers, "what are they being charged with?" and "what's going on?". No one knew... in fact even when two were released they did not know what the ticket in their hands were for. After about 5 minutes the cops became organized enough to clear out the area, I was shuffled around and eventually found a place from which I could hang and watch it all happen.

Then I saw the cuffs. They were actually taking them away. This shocked me. 1, because it was ridiculous and 2, because it was ridiculous. Last time I saw the cops on a IE scene, they did nothing. The time before that they did put people in cuffs but let them go. I believe because of all of the commotion and confusion and press that the cops just wanted to get out of there.

So they ran.

I went back to the Brooklyn Bridge. Snapped a few more photos. Jumped on my Vespa, PurpleRain, and came home. Now it's all over the news and I have gotten photo requests from the village Voice, a French Web-zine, and MSNBC - who will be airing the photos live, with Agent Todd on their 8:00 show (probably around 8:50) tonight.

Mission Accomplished.

in handcuffs without pants

Had a good ol' afternoon. I could put up all the pictures, but I am getting tired... so visit here to see my photos and visit here to hear the rest of it.

ok, one teaser...

why hasn't anyone told me?!?

ok... so you did tell me, you all did, for months -nay- years now...

Channel 101... and its New York sister, Channel 102.

Just when you were going to give up on the internet, hours of video to put on to your new shiny iPod video.

Every month, five-minute TV shows are screened before a live audience, who vote on which shows they'd like to see continue.

Winning shows return to Channel 102 [or channel 101] a month later with new five-minute episodes.

Losing shows are cancelled, never to be heard from again.

But new pilots are always welcome.

Oh, Twigger, Laser Fart, The 'Bu, Computerman... and for those of you who were wondering where the Family Guy "kicked in the nuts" came from - right here.

Amazing.

First - I got my vespa today. It is amazing.
Second - Mel Gibson has lost it. He is crazy. This is found ala Glennis.

Please do this. You will thank me... and her... and the guy that pointed it out to her.

Follow these steps EXACTLY.

1. Go to this website: http://www.apple.com/trailers/touchstone/apocalypto/
2. Watch the entire trailer for Mel Gibson's new movie: Apocolypto.
3. After you have watched the whole thing, fast forward the trailer to the point just after the naked pregnant chick.
4. Now click forward with your > button frame by frame.
5. You'll know when to stop.
6. Now thank me and Glennis and her friend Gregor for making your day.

Jury questionnaire

I received my "juror qualification questionnaire". It isn't a jury duty or a summons... but I really want to go. I have for a long time. Most recently when I found out the power a juror has.

Some of you may remember this post, it was pretty good.

I still have to wait another week for the vespa. poo.

this "friend" of mine...

who likes giving advice?

"the people"

This is a perfect example of why normal people shouldn't vote.

George Lucas could have been president during the 1980's... but not after he added in the digital effects to the originals, and true, Star Wars Trilogy - blasphemy - and definitely not with the newest installments... this is neither the time nor the place for that discussion.

The peoples' choice awards are the democratic oscars.