Creamy Jalapeno - by Sean Rainer

New site, new blog

2012-02-27T21:17:00.000-08:00

I'm starting a new blog with a slightly easier to remember name than Creamy Jalapeño. It's the Sean Rainer Photography Blog.

Still, there are many posts here at Creamy Jalapeño that you might find interesting or useful and a lot of nice photos so I'm going to keep it up as long Google will host it.

Wedding Links

2009-08-29T13:47:00.000-07:00

Moving these to the top:

Mike's:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b35049326578&sid=0RcNG7Vy2YuVg

Mom's:
http://picasaweb.google.com/rainerlopez/SeanAndChevWedding

Grandma's:
http://picasaweb.google.com/rainerlopez/GrammaSPics

Uncle Doug's:
http://willy.enoyolf.org/wedding

Takoa:
http://picasaweb.google.com/c12raney/2007_07_26LakeArrowheadTakoa

Andrea:
http://picasaweb.google.com/akleith/ChevSeanSWedding72807

Lisa:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Stottssnapshots/RainerWedding

Steph:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ssalgado12/ChevsWedding02

Wendy:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/18792497@N00/sets/72157601215939528

PJ (fixed):
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=vwppn1d.2qeguiyp&x=1&y=-b59oet

2008-05-16T12:15:00.001-07:00

I do, I do, I DO

2007-08-09T12:55:00.000-07:00

HOLA AMIGO Y FAMILIA!!!

Chev and I are back from our honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It was a sunny week of all-inclusive bliss. Here are our pictures from the trip: http://picasaweb.google.com/c12raney/PuertaVallartaHoneymoon

We're still in a daze from our wedding weekend. We are very grateful to each and everyone of you who made it so special. We will carry all of that love and friendship with us throughout our lives together. We can't thank you enough.

We are also very excited to see everyone's pics from the weekend. We love seeing it from your perspective. So far, we've received links to galleries from a number of people (I'll post at the bottom) but we want more!

I personally prefer Picasa Web Albums for such things because it is SO easy with Picasa and the file sizes can be reasonably large. I also like Flickr for the same reason (I'm a "FlickrPro", check out my regular galleries too).

But obviously, whatever is easiest for you is fine. We just want to see the pics for now. If you took some photos and you need any help getting them online, or if you would rather give them to me on a CD and let me upload them, please email me or leave a comment.

Here's the photos we have so far (I'll keep a running list as they come in):

Takoa:
http://picasaweb.google.com/c12raney/2007_07_26LakeArrowheadTakoa

Andrea:
http://picasaweb.google.com/akleith/ChevSeanSWedding72807

Lisa:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Stottssnapshots/RainerWedding

Steph:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ssalgado12/ChevsWedding02

Wendy:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/18792497@N00/sets/72157601215939528

PJ:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;Uc=vwppn1d.2qeguiyp&Uy=-b59oet&Ux=1

Sky Blue Sky

2007-04-02T12:48:00.000-07:00

Wilco's new album doesn't hit the stores until May 15th. But you can hear the entire thing on their web site today... wilcoweb.com.

We went back to Lake Arrowhead this weekend for more wedding planning. It was beautiful as usual.

More photo's from Saturday here.

UPDATE: More photos from Lake arrowhead:

From 2007_03_31 La...

Green Beer

2007-03-19T17:46:00.001-07:00

Click the photo to see more of the green beer debauchery on Venice Boardwalk. I took the photos with a lens that I forget about sometimes... my 50mm f/1.8. It's fast, compact and usually produces a beautiful bokeh.

More Portraits

2007-03-16T16:36:00.000-07:00

Here is a shot from a shoot I did a couple of days ago with my friend Lyss. More from that shoot here. Tell me your favorites. I'm having a hard time choosing.

As you can see, I'm putting my new lighting gear to good use. If you're in the LA area and you would like to do a shoot, I'm ready and willing.

I owe my latest development in photography largely to the web site Strobist.com. If you're a photographer, I highly recommend spending a few hours on that site.

Chevas and Rose

2007-03-16T02:23:00.000-07:00

Let's recap

2007-03-13T10:58:00.000-07:00

Did I lose you? It's been a while since I've posted. So let's catch up real quick.

Since last I posted...

We had a great time in Lake Arrowhead in James' super cool cabin (click for pics):

I went to an Ayn Rand exhibit in Hollywood.

I took this picture of JL:

I got the Canon ST-E2 that allows me to take pictures like this:

Went to one of the most amazing shows ever with Chevas and Lisa. We saw Earlimart at the Getty Center with a string quartet. It was almost an out of body experience. It definitely ranks as one of my all time favorite live music experiences. (not my photo)

Oh, and the Master Batters started off the season by beating Off Constantly 9-4. We'll look to extend the streak tonight. Thanks for hanging there... more pics tomorrow.

More goo for you

2007-02-15T16:07:00.000-08:00

I just can't seem to get enough of these Goo Drip pictures. Seems like I always come back to them. What can I say? They fascinate me. Here's a recent one.

UPDATE: it was brought to my attention that the picture wasn't showing up for a while.

Reader Question

2007-02-12T12:02:00.000-08:00

Reader Sheila asks:

hey, do you know who sings the song with those lyrics before Beck? "Let me hear you say "Ooh La La Sassoon". I am trying to find that song. It would have been around the year 200[0]. Any ideas?

Thanks for the question, Sheila. "Ooh La La Too Soon" was actually a disco song by Sarah Dash released in 1980 that was then used in commercials for Sassoon Shampoo/jeans. That's where "Ooh La La Sassoon" originates in pop culture.

By the mid-90's, Beck was using the phrase to rev up crowds at live shows and it eventually made it into a song on his 1996 album, Odelay, called "High-5."

Now, you say you're looking for a song released circa Y2K. Maybe you are looking for 1999's commercial hit by The Wiseguys called "Ooh La La," which also uses the famous hook. Ironically, that song was then used by Budweiser in more commercials. You can read more about it here. And just for good measure, YouTube provides us with the video:

So, is that the song you were looking for, Sheila? I hope I could help.

And if anybody else has any questions for The Creamy One, leave them in the comments or send me an email.

Chocolate, meet Peanut Butter

2007-02-03T11:31:00.000-08:00

Two programs I've talked a lot about in the past year are Pandora and eMusic. Pandora is a great site for discovering new music and eMusic is a nice companion because it deals primarily in indie artists (and indie releases of major artists). They're two tastes that taste great together.

And now somebody has gone to the trouble of actually mashing them together... Chocolate, meet Peanut Butter.

It's in the stars

2007-01-29T16:10:00.000-08:00

Some photos from our trip to the Griffith Observatory yesterday.

What dreams may come

2007-01-23T12:39:00.000-08:00

From 2007_01_19 Ma...

The world welcomes Madyson Stathem. We were there in Sacramento for her birth. Here is a gallery of pictures from the weekend.

Close but...

2007-01-17T01:19:00.000-08:00

Enjoying a cigar after a round at Trump National Golf Course. Life is good.

Hike over the city of angels

2007-01-15T21:05:00.000-08:00

Looking over the city on beautiful day in Los Angeles.

Tug Boat at Sunset

2007-01-12T13:46:00.000-08:00

There was supposedly a comet out last night. I went out to see if I could take some pics of it but as you can see, way too much cloud cover.

This blog scrolls down

2007-01-05T23:33:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite photos from the holidays. My grandmother unwrapped a USB hub in our white elephant. She was a good sport considering she had no idea what she was looking at.

And just so we're clear... I've added a few more galleries to the holiday photos. Be sure to scroll down for UPDATES.

Takoa With Child

2007-01-05T23:24:00.000-08:00

From Takoa Pregnant

On Christmas Day, I did a little make shift photo shoot with Takoa, Mike and Truman. It was a great opportunity to try out my new lights and some artsy techniques. If I had it to do over again, I would have changed a few things but I think I got some real gems.

See what you think. And feel free to let me know which pictures are your favorites so I can gauge which ones to work on in PhotoShop. Thanks!

Takoa's Pregnant Photo Shoot

(Creamy note: I'm moving this out of the Christmas Photos post so it's easier to link directly to it. Also, I've gotten some strong opinions about this pregnant shoot so I'd really love to hear what everyone thinks.)

I'll take the pictures

2007-01-05T18:52:00.000-08:00

From New Years Eve 07

I took about 500 pictures on New Year's Eve. Here's 150 that are suitable for public consumption... sorta.

UPDATE: Dre has some more New Years photos at the bottom of this gallery.

Christmas Photos

2007-01-05T16:23:00.000-08:00

From Xmas 2006

Here's a big gallery of the xmas in Sacramento and Houston combined. Ernest actually took a lot of the ones from faux-christmas morning in Houston.

We had a whirlwind Holiday tour but, as usual, it was all too short. I wish we could have spent more time with everybody.

Sacramento and Houston Xmas Photos

UPDATE: Rick's gotta cool slide show from Xmas. Check it out here.

UPDATE 2: PJ took some nice photos. She has a Kodak gallery setup here.

UPDATE 3: Uncle Doug took some Xmas photos with his very impressive camera rig. I put them in one of my Picasa galleries for easy browsing.

Picasa low res gallery here.

Uncle Doug's Original High Res files here.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

2006-12-21T15:16:00.000-08:00

My love for music (in this case the Lemonheads) and my love for photography combine to make this sublime image. I have a few more cool ones from this shoot I'll share later.

I'll be driving up the coast to Sacramento tomorrow for xmas. Then it's off to Houston until New Year's Eve. Chances are, this will be my last post of 2006. But I'll surely have many photos to share next year.

Happy holidays!

Xmas Card

2006-12-18T10:45:00.000-08:00

Saturday I had a photo shoot with a professional actor, a stunning young model and her mother.

Here are some photos from the shoot.

They are pretty high res so they are probably suitable for printing.

Venice-Marina Christmas Run photos are up!

2006-12-14T10:12:00.000-08:00

All of the photos from the 10k/5k that I shot last Saturday are up over at fotojack.com. There are over 6000 photos from this event! My photos scattered throughout but nearly all of the first 14 1/2 pages are mine.

So if you want to check some out, go to this link and start browsing.

As previously mentioned, our heroes Chevas, Lisa and Andrea ran in the race. You can search their bib numbers for more photos.

I'm pretty pleased with the results over all. I think I took a lot of good photos and I hope the runners find their way to the site and purchase some of them. Fotojack will even put your picture on Wheaties box... pretty cool.

I did learn that for an event of this size, I will need to invest in more memory cards. I have nearly 2.5GB worth of cards at the moment but I could have easily shot double that for this event.

I also learned that my new lens is perfect for just this sort of thing. It's the Canon 28-135mm with image stabilization. The runners were flying by me at a steady rate and the lens had no problem auto focusing. Which left me free to think about composition.

What's on your WishRadar?

2006-12-12T18:46:00.000-08:00

Have you done all of your x-mas shopping? Silly question, I know. So chances are, the people who love you haven't bought yours either. Why not help them out with a wish list?

I've been using Amazon's wish list for for a couple of years but I recently came across a site that blows Amazon's out of the water.

WishRadar is a very simple web2.0 site that keeps track of the things you want and even alerts you when they drop below a certain price.

The best part? It is a snap to IMPORT your Amazon list to get started.

Here's my WishRadar list. Send me yours!

Hooray Wilco!

2006-12-12T00:47:00.000-08:00

Right about now you're probably saying, "Gee Sean, we love the photos, but where can we download live versions of the new, unrealesed Wilco songs?"

Well, I'm glad you asked.

Turns out, Wilco has always been pretty cool about letting people record the shows and pass them around for non-commercial use.

So go get you some new Wilco songs courtesy of Jesse Jarnow's Frank and Earthy Blog.

2 Shoots on Saturday

2006-12-11T21:23:00.000-08:00

I had two photo shoots on Saturday. The first one was the Venice-Marina Christmas Run. It was a 10K and 5K run through the Venice Boardwalk for FotoJack.com. I was up bright and early for the 7:30am start time (and if you read the last post you might surmise that that was no easy feat). It was a beautiful day and I submitted about 60% of the nearly 1,000 pictures I took. That included several of Chevas, Lisa and Andrea who all ran the 5K. As soon as they are up on the site, I'll post a link here.

After the run, I had about an hour to download the pics to free up my memory cards, recharge the batteries and eat before I was off to shoot the newly formed CSU Long Beach Salsa Club. It was a challenging shoot because of the large group but in the end I got a lot of really good shots and I hope they are happy with them. I'll post some more of these as well.

It was an exhausting day but I was happy to finish up the night at Fisherman's Village watching the Christmas boat parade in the Marina... alas, no pictures from that.

Winter Wonderland

2006-12-10T19:23:00.000-08:00

Winter Wonderland party in a hanger at Santa Monica airport. Left the battery to the camera at home but we got a few shots before we left.

UPDATE: Byron has cool photos from the party.

Let me hear you say "Ooh La La Sassoon"

2006-12-07T15:18:00.000-08:00

Ahhh... life in Marina del Rey. I took this picture off the pier shortly before sunset. This was one of about 10 dolphins we saw that day. Click the picture to biggie size it.

Last night Chev and I went to a Beck concert for about 200 people. It was part of Yahoo! Live Sets concert series so it should be up on there soon.

On stage was Beck, a drummer, 4 multi-instrumentalists and 4 puppeteers.

Yeah, it was surreal to say the least. As soon as they post the show, I'll link to it here.

In the meantime, here's some free live Beck tracks.

Why I love Sothern California

2006-12-05T22:47:00.000-08:00

68 degrees on Dec. 1st and I'm on the edge of Western Civilization playing golf.

Click here to see a few pics from the course.

And check out this big drive from Todd...

Hustler

2006-12-04T20:08:00.000-08:00

Congrats to all of the winners at the 1st annual Master Batters Award Ceremony. Tom here got "Best Hustler" and Chevas got "Most Likely to Get Kicked Out For Swearing."

That's my girl...

See all the winners here.

Stove by Evan Dando

2006-12-02T15:38:00.001-08:00


As promised... Live acoustic version of Lemonheads song "Stove." Performed at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, Ca.

White Calm

2006-11-26T17:20:00.000-08:00

EGRET
Michael R. Collings
===========================
Three times I've seen the
egret--no, four times
if I count that once
when, turning past rocks
hot and bare in May,
I saw one in the
burned-off field--stark
white against ash black.

But three times (at least)
I've seen him/her not
two miles from my dry
suburban home. I've
seen him/her glide hot
air above golden
weeds on the freeway
offramp, glide past oaks.

Centuries old, past
poppies that would die
in July's heat, past
concrete rivers that
will outlast them all.
Three times I've seen the
egret wing--white, calm,
silent memory.

Best Turkey Ever!

2006-11-24T14:59:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great turkey day. I can't begin to describe the wonderful feast Chevas and I had with our good friends Gabe, Carrie and Ryan. Enjoy the pics.

Gobble Gobble

2006-11-23T09:42:00.000-08:00

The Lemonheads rocked the Troubadour last night. I've been going to Lemonheads/Evan Dando shows since high school and this was as good as I've ever seen.

I'll be posting a video from the show so stay tuned.

Get The Lemonheads with 25 FREE Music Downloads from eMusic!

Reflective Flight

2006-11-17T13:22:00.000-08:00

I like composing photos in a way that makes it a little difficult to tell exactly what you're seeing at first glance. I had that specific thought in my head as I was out taking pictures yesterday.

This one was probably the second best example of that technique that I took. I'll post the other one next week (it's also a "bird in flight" photo).

Hope you enjoy this one... be sure to click the picture to BIGGIE SIZE it.

Go Trojans!

2006-11-14T12:30:00.000-08:00

Here's a cell phone pic I took last saturday night. Todd and I had great seats at the USC game (thank you Mortensons!). It was a lot of fun until the refs took about 30 minutes to review a review of a play... no joke. Here's a write up (HT Kevin):

OU Football Notebook (Scott Wright, Daily Oklahoman)

The instant replay system was dealt another weird twist involving the Oregon Ducks on Saturday night.

Down 28-3 to USC, Oregon backup quarterback Brady Leaf threw an apparent touchdown to Jonathan Stewart.

The play was reviewed in the booth, and the TD was overturned because the replay official ruled Stewart had stepped out of bounds before catching the ball inbounds.

Oregon coach Mike Bellotti then challenged the review call. After a second review, the replay ruling was overturned and the touchdown counted.

The second review found that the ball had been tipped after Stewart had stepped out and back in, making him eligible to catch the ball.

Dave Parry, the Big Ten supervisor of officials who helped the conference develop instant replay, said he was surprised to hear about the challenge of a reviewed call.

"That's the first time I've ever heard of it," Parry told CBS' Sportsline.com. "You're fortunate the score was lopsided. If it was 28-27, there'd be a lot of talk."

The Master Batters look for our second win in a row tonight. See you at Schooners.

Project Update

2006-11-10T14:55:00.000-08:00

This is a postcard I did for a Liberty Pacific open house. I used a photo that I took of Long Beach, Ca (where they are located) and a modern font for a simple, sleek effect.

By all accounts, the party was a huge success and the invitation pulled in over 150 people (ok, maybe not just the invitation).

Cleaning Up

2006-11-09T13:07:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed that I've changed things up a bit around here. I recently upgraded the Blogger software and I think this layout is a little more harmonious with seanrainer.com. I've got some more ideas for the place and some more work to share. Let me know what you think.

Oh, and by the way, MASTER BATTERS WIN AGAIN!

Game Over

2006-11-08T18:00:00.000-08:00

We had a great time at the engagement party the other night. We can't thank everyone enough for all they did to make it a special night. I hope everyone had as much fun as we did. Judging by the pictures, I'd say so.

If you took some pictures that night, please feel free to post them in the comments. Or email them to me and I'll post them up. THANKS!

Oh Joe!

2006-11-01T18:21:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't heard, Mozilla has released Firefox 2.0. I've been using it for the last week and I love it.

If you're still using Internet Explorer, I IMPLORE you to try Firefox.

It's faster, more secure, and much easier to use. There will be a slight learning curve as you feel your way around "tab browsing"... but you'll get the hang of it quickly.

So go get it: Firefox 2.0

You'll thank me later.

They're back...

2006-10-26T16:00:00.000-07:00

Lemonheads fans REJOICE!

After a ten year hiatus The Lemonheads are back with a new album (that was released on my birthday), a new tour and a quirky new blog.

The album is imaginatively titled "The Lemonheads" and it authentically recreates that Dando alt-pop vibe without sounding dated. It's got some great grooves and catchy lyrics. Stand outs include "Become the Enemy" and "December" which opens:

"I'm not keeping up your part of the bargin.
As we all know a woman's will can harden."

Classic Dando.

Nobody is going to call this their best album, but for fans it's a great addition to the Lemonheads' canon.

They play the Troubadour in Los Angeles next month and I'll definitely be there. Join me won't you?

Get The Lemonheads with 25 FREE Music Downloads from eMusic!

Meet the Morts

2006-10-25T22:42:00.000-07:00

Had a great time at the wedding. I didn't take that many pictures... too busy having a great time. But here's a gallery of a few good ones: Mort and Jenny Wedding

Meet the Mortensons.

2006-10-19T19:44:00.000-07:00

We'll be leaving tomorrow for Laguna Beach and the wedding of our good friends Jenny and Mort. A couple of months ago I did a photo shoot with the love birds. Here's some photos from that shoot.

Macro Fun

2006-10-18T17:58:00.000-07:00

goo_4420
Originally uploaded by seanrainer.

Here's my Flickr set of macro shots... more to come.

2006-10-11T17:36:00.000-07:00

More pictures from Dunsmuir and the engagement here.

She said yes!!

2006-10-10T13:36:00.000-07:00

Just returned from our annual trip to Dunsmuir, Ca where I proposed to Chevas in front of these magical falls. More pictures from the trip coming soon.

UPDATE: See some pics here and let me know what you think.

2006-10-03T11:49:00.000-07:00

Master Batters got a win last week (on my birthday) and will be looking for another tonight.

I took a photo of this baseball and photoshopped a NASA photo on it.

A Day To Remember

2006-09-11T15:03:00.000-07:00

A moving coloumn: I Just Called to Say I Love You...

Las Vegas Choppers

2006-09-01T15:34:00.000-07:00

Here's a gallery of photos I took for Las Vegas Choppers: http://picasaweb.google.com/seanrainer/VegasChoppers

A Lot Goes On... But Nothing Happens

2006-08-16T13:10:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy couple of weeks since my last post. I'll try to catch up in the next couple of days but I wanted to get this up right away.

I took these pictures a few months ago and was excited to see them used in Image Magazine in an article focusing on Liberty Pacific Medical Group. They used 4 of my pictures in all. I like the big donut one the best. I actually had Amy levitate her feet for that for a little perspective.

Victory is ours!

2006-08-02T23:18:00.000-07:00

The Master Batters got a win on Monday. We always play to have fun (and not get hurt), but the beer at Schooners tastes so much better after a win.

Send Me On My Way

2006-07-28T14:11:00.000-07:00

This is the best picture I could get with my cell phone at the Rusted Root show. After almost getting my camera confiscated last time, I decided not to take the chance.

It was a great show and, as you can see, we were only about 4 people back from the stage.

It's Hot Out There

2006-07-18T19:29:00.000-07:00

Sacramento Trip

Kathy gets some relief from the triple digit temps at Folsom Lake.

Best Birthday Weekend Ever?

2006-07-12T13:40:00.000-07:00

Here's the run down from Chev's Birthday Weekend...
Thursday: Indigo Girls on the Santa Monica Pier at sunset. Chev loves them, I'm ok with them. But one thing's for sure: their live show is tremendous. A good warm up for the weekend.
Friday: Horse races at Hollywood Park - $1 dogs/$1 beers. Then the BIG surprise: Kerri D flies in from Nashville and surprises Chev at the track. Neil Diamond tribute band "SuperDiamond" and much debauchery follows.

Saturday: Beach Day. Beautiful day in the neighborhood and Chev's ex-roommate Jen surprises her on the beach. Then Saturday night we head to one of the most scenic restaurants in the city, Yomishiro's. Then we closed down Daddy's on Vine with a rousing game of "What else is Lisa's bra good for?"

Sunday: Start out the moring with brunch and World Cup Finals at Poncho's (penalty kicks??? That's like deciding the Super Bowl with field goals*). Then Sunday night we round out the weekend with an amazing, mind blowing, first row, within spitting distance show at the Fabulous Forum featuring Sonic Youth and PEARL JAM!!

Our friends Liz and G-Man got us the killer tickets and it was an unbelievable way to finish out the best birthday weekend ever. Pearl Jam absolutely BRINGS IT live. They played full tilt for over 2 1/2 hours.

Here's some more pics (all taken with Chev's new birthday camera). And here's LStott's gallery.

Much love to Kerri D and Randy for flying in; Jen for driving up from SD; LStott for helping pull it together; and everyone else who was apart of it.

So now the only question remains: how is Chev going to top this for MY birthday?

Galveston Wedding

2006-07-12T13:38:00.000-07:00

I'm back from Texas. The wedding was beautiful, the weather was not.

Typical Texas heat, thunderstorms and killer mosiquitoes. So I was actually relieved the ceremony was moved indoors. And the reception, of course, was a blast. The picture is of me singing Elton John's "Your Song" for my mom. I think she liked it.

More pics from the wedding weekend here.

Chevas on the Wilco Web

2006-07-06T18:02:00.000-07:00

I took this picture of Chev at the Jazz Fest last month in Sacramento. I entered it in a photo contest on the Wilco web site and, whaddaya know? It was picked as one of the winners. I'm not sure what we (my name is on there) get for winning, but the honor of being on the Wilco site is plenty.

W I L C O Photo Contest

technorati tags:wilco, chevas, contest, jazz, fest

Blogged with Flock

Wedding Bells in Texas

2006-06-26T13:19:00.000-07:00

Immediately following the Master Batter's game tonight, I'll be leaving for Texas for my mom's wedding.

Of course, I will be heading directly to Chuy's to get my fill of this blog's name sake... creamy jalapeno.

I probably won't post until I get back but feel free to leave comments.

A night in the desert

2006-06-21T18:32:00.000-07:00

I spent a night in the High Desert on a dry lake bed last week. This is hard flat surface stretches for miles... making it the perfect place for land speed records and the very fast ATV I was riding. Click the link to see some more pictures. I'll post a video later.

El Mirage gallery on Picasa Web Albums

The Next Survivor is a Master Batter

2006-06-13T18:33:00.000-07:00

Check out this YouTube video of LStott's Survivor Audition tape. Let her know what you think in the comments.

Master Batters played a good game and kept it close until the end but were ultimately outwitted, outplayed, and outlasted.

We'll get 'em next week.

Discovering new music with Pandora and eMusic

2006-06-09T13:23:00.000-07:00

I like to listen to Pandora then look up artists I like on eMusic.com.

Here's some new stuff I've found recently:

Richard Buckner
Jason Anderson
Jesse Malin
Dirty on Purpose
Matt Natherson
Grandaddy
Josh Rouse

Please use the comments to talk about any of these artists you are familiar with or any others you think I might like.

Meet the Guilberts

2006-06-07T09:50:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Mike and Susanne and thanks for inviting us! It was such a beautiful ceremony and the after party was a blast.

I didn't get nearly as many good pictures as I would have liked but here's a gallery of the best ones: http://seanrainer.zoto.com/galleries/guilberts.

And while you're at it, feel free to browse through the rest of the 300+ photos at seanrainer.zoto.com. To see all of the pictures I have of you, enter your name under "search this user."

The Bus

2006-05-31T16:07:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday I had the opportunity to play Trump National Golf Course. It's a pristine course with ocean views on every hole and massive waterfalls all around. As if that wasn't exciting enough, we teed off directly in front of Jerome Bettis... a really nice guy with a Super Bowl ring and a wicked slice.

Gotta give a BIG thank you to David for getting us on, and to Todd for making it happen.

You can watch a YouTube video of Todd teeing off on the back nine: Todd Bombs a Drive at Trump National

And more photos from the day at seanrainer.zoto.com

Even the Losers Get Lucky Sometimes

2006-05-23T15:46:00.000-07:00

Master Batters close out the season with a win.

One last go for the Master Batters.

2006-05-22T15:02:00.000-07:00

Here's LStott showing why she's got the magic touch when it comes to selling your home.

Visit her web site at www.lisastott.com.

And wish the Master Batters some luck!

Catch My Disease

2006-05-17T18:42:00.000-07:00

You Tube and Ben Lee. Two tastes that taste great together.

Privacy is Dead

2006-05-17T01:59:00.000-07:00

That should be obvious by now. Sites like zaba.com and zillow.com use only public records to serve up all kinds of private information. And now sites like Riya.com are using face recognition to identify you in a picture and one day will be able to identify you even if you're only in the background.

So I'm not fighting it anymore. Privacy is dead and I say good riddance. The best we can do is try to manage the information flow. To wit: ClaimID.com

Here's a site that allows you to:

"...track, classify, annotate, prioritize and share the information that is about you online."

I've set up a page at claimid.com/seanrainer so hopefully no one will confuse me with the felon Sean Rainer in Tennessee (I swear I've never even been to Tennessee!).

Master Batters Win!

2006-05-09T22:47:00.000-07:00

The softball team got our first win last night. It was even sweeter that it came against our arch rivals, "The Flippy Cup Champs."

Finally, we can all be proud to be Master Batters!

Mother's Beach

2006-05-05T15:33:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of "Mother's Beach" in Marina Del Rey. If construction goes ahead as planned, this beach will be replaced with a Marriot. That would be a shame for those of who live enjoy seeing it and using it's facilities.

"In this city of artificial stars"

2006-05-05T09:53:00.000-07:00

Son Volt turned in another amazing performance at the House of Blues last night. We hung out with (ok, near) the band in the Foundation Room after the show and Chevas got the whole band to sign her ticket.

They played mostly songs off Okemah and Traces but they also played two new songs and a Kinks' cover.

Curt Kirkwood (Meat Puppets) played a listenable solo set beforehand and the Drive-By Truckers closed the show.

That's Thrifty???

2006-05-02T15:31:00.000-07:00

And this wasn't even the highest gas price I saw today.

May Day: YAWN

2006-05-01T15:51:00.000-07:00

Charlie is unimpressed.

Two New Galleries at Seanrainer.com

2006-04-26T00:42:00.000-07:00

I've updated seanrainer.com with two new photo galleries. One from Dunsmuir and the other is just some misc. photos I wanted to share. Enjoy! And please let me know what you think.

Turtle Twins

2006-04-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, I couldn't mention Scott without posting this adorable picture of two of his beautiful daughters.

We got to spend the day at Dodger Stadium with them and Jessica on Sunday.

Headed for the Atmosphere

2006-04-24T10:36:00.000-07:00

Headed to see Son Volt again on May 4th. This is a picture I took from the Son Volt show last fall. It was a truely amazing show and I expect this one at the House of Blues to be just as magical.

SV is co-headlining the show with Drive-By Truckers, who my cousin Scott assures me I will love. Opening the evening is Curt Kirkwood (Meat Puppets). We're trying to round up the troops to go with us. If you're interested, send me an email.

It's ok to open this Pandora

2006-04-20T10:52:00.000-07:00

Happy Thursday! Time for another web site recommendation. This is one of my favorite "Web 2.0" programs. It's called Pandora and it's like "Tivo Wishlist" for music.

Basically, you create "stations" by entering in an artist or band that you like. Pandora then compiles a variety of songs based on... based on... well, it's based on some complicated stuff but that's not important. What is important is that it finds new music similar to your favorite artist. And it's all free.

It's amazing how many new artists you will find mixed in with some classics.

Just in the course of this post I've heard several great songs from artists I've never heard of... but will now look into now:

Aberdeen
Tyler Hilton
Devics

Anybody know anything about these artists? Especially Devics... this song is awesome! I'm going to iTunes right now to buy it. You go to Pandora.com and see what you can discover!

Wilco World

2006-04-18T12:15:00.000-07:00

There's a full Jeff Tweedy acoustic concert freely available on the Wilco site. I've listened to it twice. Check it out before they remove it.

She's Got Legs

2006-04-18T01:19:00.000-07:00

The Master Batter's again went down in defeat... but here's a shot of a soon-to-be MILF I know.

Man, I miss the C-Freak.

30 Boxes

2006-04-17T14:47:00.000-07:00

Softball game tonight. The Master Batters are still looking for our first win but I think we have a good chance tonight.

Not that I would forget about the game, but to keep track of all my appointments, I use a little web site called 30boxes.

I have tried to use event calendars in the past and I've always given up on them after a few days. I've been using 30boxes for about 3 months now and it's the first site I check every morning.

The reason? EASE OF USE. If I have a doctor appointment next Wednesday, all I do is type "Dr next Wed." And POOF, there it is. Type "Softball every Monday" and it creates a recurring event.

Of course, there are all of the regular options for reminders, invites, etc. But I don't have to mess with those if it's not needed.

Lots of other great features like sharing and RSS integration make this an excellent choice for your calendar program.

Saucy Monky

2006-04-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

Last night was Saucy Monky at O'Brien's in Santa Monica. These Irish girls have a sexy sway and great pop sensibilities.

Last night they had a new drummer... another cute girl that can really play.

I highly recommend catching their monthly gig at OB's. If you can't wait that long, they'll be at the Lounge in Hermosa next week.

Blue October

2006-04-12T15:40:00.000-07:00

We saw a sold out Blue October show last night at the Roxy. They are a Houston band that is getting a lot of buzz right now. Their latest Unversal release, "Foiled," debuted at #29 on Bllboard's Top 200. The first single from the album is a warped love song called "Hate Me."

Vote for the video at VH1.

Their moody debut cd, "The Answers," still ranks as one of my all time favorites. These days, they are a much harder band than when I followed them in Texas. But the passion, intesity and, yes, dementia of lead singer Justin Furstenfeld are still there... just a little louder.

Venice Surf

2006-04-10T14:12:00.000-07:00

Check out the picture on his board!

Where did the snapshots go?

2006-04-06T23:36:00.000-07:00

So someone wants to know:

Where is the snapshot section we all loved so much? Will it be returning?

One of the casualties of the redesign was the big snapshot section with lots of pictures of friends and family. Most of the photos were pretty old and I thought it was time to clean house. Of course, many of those photos are available at seanrainer.zoto.com.

The Snapshot section is still on the Photo page (at the bottom) but there's only one gallery at the moment. I suppose if there is a specific gallery you want to see, I could put it up. Just leave it in the comments or email me.

Mail Big Files

2006-04-06T09:37:00.000-07:00

Here's my internet tip for the day: Say you have a file that you want to send to somebody but your server says it's too big to send through email. What are you gonna do? Burn it to a cd and snail mail it? No way. Not anymore.

There's a great web site out that there solves this problem completely. It's called mailbigfiles.com. It allows you to send up to 1GB completely free!

No more FTPing big files, no more burning cd's... even those cute little USB flash drives aren't as important anymore.

Give it a try. I use it all the time.

Working out the kinks...

2006-04-03T16:54:00.000-07:00

So maybe I put the redesign up before it was ready. Almost immediately after uploading it on Friday, I got reports of broken/insufficient navigation. Most of it was in the "Snapshot archive" section which has since been removed.

The other thing I did this weekend was to rely a little more heavily on seanrainer.zoto.com because it offers 2GB of storage and an easy way to create galleries. The more I work with Zoto, the more I like it.

Go Bruins!

We have launch

2006-03-31T13:19:00.000-08:00

The new site design is up and (mostly) functioning. I'll be adding some more features as I go, but I couldn't wait through the weekend to get it up. Please take a look around and let me know what you think or if you have any problems (especially you Mac users out there).

Also, the site should work in any modern browser. But if you're still using Internet Explorer please, PLEASE, switch to Firefox.

Almost there...

2006-03-29T21:37:00.000-08:00

The redsign is almost complete. I'm very excited about it so I may put it up as early as tomorrow. Here's a shot from Hawaii until then.

Redesign

2006-03-28T08:19:00.000-08:00

I am currently in the proccess of overhauling the site. Some of the links will be dead during the change over but I hope to have everything up by next week. Check back here for details.

P.S. This is not a blog.

P.P.S. I miss creamy jalapeno sauce from Chuy's in Houston.