Pho and Burn after Reading Date

I took my lady for a date tonight.
Went to 2 pretty amazing places here in Long Beach as a surprise to her.
1st, dinner at "Number Nine " (noodles and beer) on 4th St. I loved the food, so did she.


heres the review I wrote.

"I ate there tonight with my girlfriend, we had drinks (Tiger Lager is amazing) appetizer and entrees for $33. The food was amazing! Coming from 2 people that love eating pho at the most legit/weird little spots all over cerritos ect... This is a great little place and just a block from the art theater. I'm glad I didn't take half of these other reviews seriously before I went, I would have missed out on a good thing. Go to Number Nine, you'll be happy. This is my new favorite spot."

Now you know how much a spent on dinner, lets move on to where we went next.

Then we went to...
The Long Beach Art Theatre. This newly renovated art theatre was showing the oh so anticipated Coen Brothers film "Burn after Reading" I love the theatre (seats should be slightly lower though) and I loved the film. Those Coen brothers are wild! Don't think Big Lebowsky like I stated in my previous post on this matter. Its dark and gloomy and odd, but humorous and true.

Finished the night with some Yogurt Land. (Blue Berry mixed with chocolate and then some strawberries...it made for a good nightcap and healthy too!)

SIDENOTES to live by:

1.Did I mention I wore off all the beer from the weekend with 4 hours of tennis today? Well now I did.
2.Wanna see something cool that involves Jesus and Dinosaurs? ETRINE

3. (P.S. Thanks Froi P. for the pictures of Nine Points)

I Miss Cuba

Recently I've been receiving emails and notes from my Cuban friends. It makes me think about the country more then I usually do (which tends to be alot) Anyways,I grabbed this old, but never seen before image from my February trip. I'm so glad they weren't too devastated by hurricane season this year. Poor Cuban's, there's no escaping the country during hurricane season, you just have to tough it out.

Back from the House Boat

Ceasar and Matt jump off the back of the 85' House Boat

Josiah at Sunset

Jon Broderson turned 21 this past week.
What better way to celebrate then to rent a 85' long House boat equipped with a hot tub,flat screen Tv w/surrond sound, 4 bedrooms and a slide off of the back?
Ceasar,rounded up a few of the guys to meet up for the last few days of the celebration. Yes the 4.5 hour ride was miserable. The Honda civic was a bad choice in vehicles... 3 full grown men in the back seat need another foot and a half of shoulder room. After the long drive, we quickly found ourselves in the middle of Lake Havasu with about 20 other people enjoying the sun and the water.
Here's some photos:

Emptying the hot tub

Never a bad time for a good balcony Dive

A few highlights Include:

1.Cliff Jumping
2.Winning beer pong (when in Rome you know)
3.Late night clothing optional swim.
4.Flipping the jet ski with Ceasar.
5.Diving off the House Boat (about 12')
6.Hot Tubing under the stars.
7.Relaxing listening to MGMT (Although I'm pretty sick of that Album)

LOWlights:
1.Being victim of prejudice due to looks and style of dress.
2.Awkward Moments between people I thought were friends.
3.The car ride both ways sucked. The ride home especially after Matt drank a gallon of milk in 20 minutes.
4.No Wake boarding invite from all of the boats.
5.Segregation between everyone.

So basically there was some drama, not that fun, but the segregation eliminated awkwardness... why do people have to be stupid??

I'm back in the swing of things now. Getting ready to post Victoria and Matt's Slideshow.

Cheers to being back.
Oh and my stache is gone. I shaved it this morning. That marks an end to 2 weeks of wild stache outfits and crazy looks.

Matt jumping in for a midnight jump

No Cell phone reception? How am I supposed to remain a business man out here?

Sunset

Dinner time

This was shot at 6am. That's how Matt slept all night.

Ceasar jumping off a mini cliff

Back dive.

Blocking out the sun.

Until next time. Adios Havasu.

Burn After Reading-Go see it!

"Burn After Reading" is the Coen brother's newest film. Last year they won the Oscar for their western wacko thriller "No Country for Old Men" This year... something different.
Just like "The Big Lebowski" followed Oscar winning "Fargo"...I think this is another cult classic!

Starring Brad Pitt, George Cloony,John Malkovich,Tilda Swinton and Frances McDormand.

GO SEE THIS FILM!
Show the box office big wigs that we still like quailty films. Support the real artists. Save your money and don't go watch Sister Hood of the Traveling Shizz 2,Bangkok Dangerous, Babylon AD,Disaster movie and college... WATCH "BURN AFTER READING"

Brad Pitt and his frosted tips

The Coen Brothers movies are always amazing!

The Brothers at work

TRAILER

September Eleventh: A Sad Gloomy Day

AHHHH! I hate these memories! I wish this had never happened. 7 years ago, we were attacked, we were smacked in the face, spit at and then kicked to the sidewalk.Yes, we bounced back, our country came together and stood up together... but we're divided again into 20 categories. Do we need a disaster to come together again?
We learned patriotism and how to be a community, but this came with a cost. We had to watch one of the most painful pieces of history go down in one horrible day 9.11.2001 is a day to remember...not for any good reasons... But to remind us that we aren't invincible. To let us know that we need to stay together, to be a community and to stand up as Americans when the time is right.

For now... I'm morning the death of 3000 Americans, listening to Philharmonia Virtousi.

Some images to put this date 7 years ago into perspective.
Checkout these 3 images shot by James Nachtwey.

My New Racquet is a Head

This is my old one. Watch out Josiah, we won't be even anymore!

Yeah, you heard me right, but its not what you think... Head is like Wilson, its a brand! You thought I was hitting tennis balls with someone elses head!?? HA!

The story goes like this.
I needed a new racquet to compte with Josiah's $180 Wilson "Hammer". Google is checked... "Best tennis Racket on the flippin globe" was the search line. That was before I discovered that racquet was spelled with a Q. Anyways, I didn't come up with much, just something about short balls and a myspace profile of a man that was cussing and bitter for sleeping on the ground with a tennis racket as a pillow...I really feel like writing him and telling him to re think the spelling of his "racket" unless he means a horrible interrupting noise of course.
I ditched the online search and headed to the nearest BIG5. Even though tennis isn't in the big 5, this store has some selective discounts on tennis products.
45 racquets to choose from! Guess what, I pick the $269 dollar one... just my luck.
After literally weighing and comparing 4 racquets, I narrowed it down to 2.
One was a Prince and it was onsale for $79.99 (originally $269.) The other? Well, it was gorgeous. Take a look.

Flexpoint 10

The most powerful HEAD Flexpoint racquet: the perfect combination of top maneuverability, ultimate power and excellent stability through the larger head size. The racquet for players who want to truly experience the essence of power in control.

So, I brought both to the checkout counter to price check the expensive one in hopes for a discount of some sort... My heart was set on this Head Flexpoint 10... Sure enough, it was nearly $200 off! I was happier then a redneck a distruction derby, happier then a stock broker at a stock broker only party. I walked out of that large 5 with a smile on my face almost the size of my new Head flexpoint 10 Tennis Racquet.

The lesson of this story: Don't give up on what you want, even if you have to steal it and spend time in jail... but just hope that its on sale.

So good thing it was on sale, otherwise I'd be sitting in a jail cell whispering sweet nothings into my shoe and etch-a-sketching the walls of hours that go by.
Lets see how it does on the court tonight when the brothers Lippke have an Australian Doubles rematch.


LAST NOTE:
I texted CHA-CHA (242-242) and asked what sports are in the big 5. They gave me 6? Basketball,Baseball,Football,Tennis,Volleyball and Golf.
I think the BIG5 sports the store was named after are: Basketball,Football,Baseball,Hockey and Soccer.

Another Sample (R N' R)

Another Sample from the Rock 'N Reconstruct shoot from Monday.
Gotta love that curtain and human box.

Its all sorted, now time to adjust them using Aperture.

Who do I have a bigger Crush on?

I have a huge crush on Kobe Bryant's wife Vanessa, she's gorgeous!
But, I also have a man crush on Kobe, he's the best basketball player on the planet and he plays for my favorite team!
I saw them both on TV while watching the VMA's on Sunday night. When I didn't care for who was going to win the best music video award & I just wanted to see more of Kobe and Vanessa Bryant...I knew I was obsessed.

Goodspeed on your recovery from pinky surgery Kobe. I'm sure Vanessa could help you recover pretty fast.

Anyways, I just needed to voice that.

Rock 'N Reconstruct Shoot

Yes, its a slight sneak peek at the new upcoming season of women's clothing, from Sarah Johnson's Rock 'N Reconstruct.
I love the shoot we did today. 3 hours and 10 dresses/outfits photographed. Special thanks to our model Renee Ann Russo, Josiah for assisting me, also our beautiful location, props to Frank Groff for being soo flexible!

Alright crew, I'm off to sleep!

BAM! The Stache + Awesome convertible!

This is what happens when you're a child of the 80's...you like bright colors, mustaches,acid wash jeans,Cowboy Boots and glasses for the wearing
Believe it or not, I was coming home from church when I walked past this awesome mobile!

Santa Barbara Engagement Shoot

Saturday afternoon. After 2 hours of pure sweaty,competitive tennis and then a quick dive into the ocean. Santa Barbara was next and Audrey was coming with me!
I had an engagement shoot with an Engaged couple at the courthouse and then the Beach where he had proposed to her. They told me of a story of a walk on the beach, collecting pretty rocks along the way. After being frustrated for losing a compare the rock contest, he quickly pulled out the beautiful Engagement ring and said "I think this rock beats that last one"

I like good love stories like that. You have one similar or almost as good? Sweet, write a book. Or just have me photograph your engagement shoot. We can talk stories nearly the whole time!

After the shoot Audrey and I spent about 30 minutes trying to get the tar off of her bare feet. She had been walking barefoot on the beach and wasn't informed of a nasty oil spill... good ol' Santa B...thanks for keeping our planet clean oil riggers... I'm going to have to recycle twice as much now just to make up for you guys!

A better rock indeed. Heck, I don't even need to see the one from the shore.

After watching romance take place first hand for a few hours. I thought Audrey and I should try it out too. We had an amazing dinner at OPAL off of State St. I ate amazing Mahi Mahi with Mango and Audrey tried their paella. Sexy & Delicious!

Audrey strutting her sexy new haircut.

She's a magician when she kisses me... I smile!

My Audrey Armada on the Beach

The drive home was amazing a first, but quickly sizzled out while I fought fatigue for 2 hours after eating enough Mahi Mahi to make me want a nap. No nap on this drive home...at least for me...Audrey slept like a small child...So at least one of us got some "oldfashioned child car sleep"
There you have it!

Yes, I have a Stache

And its here for awhile.
I am doing a study about reactions the stache gets. So far I've gotten reactions that make me feel:
• Like a Trucker
• 70's Athlete
• Hipster that makes everything look hip
• Pornstar
• Samuel with an interesting facial hair formation.
• Classic Car show fanatic
• Tennis Celebrity
• Tom Selleck
• I even felt like Mark Spitz while I raced Josiah in swimming today.

More updates to come.

This stache is making me a better swimmer and tennis player! Why didn't I do this a long time ago!

Audrey's new haircut

I love my girl and her new hair cut.
Ceasar did a great job...as usual. (He cut 13 inches off!!!)

We had a date last night at Buena Gente on 2nd St. We spent the entire dinner talking to people that walked by our patio table about Audrey's new hair cut. It was the talk of the whole strip last night. New hair can be fun. I can't wait until my tail is back. Infact I may even drop some stache fever in there somewhere, just to balance how hot Audrey looks.

5 Years and Counting!

The 5 Year collage

Yes indeed, today marks California and I's 5 year anniversary.
It was Sep. 5th 2003 that I drove my 1989 honda Accord down here to Long Beach CA.
After hundreds of hours of hard work, millions* of amazing weddings, dozens of fashion shoots, plenty of crazy trips around the world, amazing friends, plenty of vitamin D from the suns rays, enough good moments to last 30 years. California, its been a good 5 years, I'm looking forward to you making me happy for an other 5.

I searched a few different places on my computer for some throw-back images from the years. Thats what I found. Click on the collage for enough blackmail shots of me without a shirt to last you until you're dead.

Here are a few of the collage shots upclose from the past 5 years. Enjoy a good laugh at my expense. Yes please, laughter is medicine... call me Dr. Lippke.

The young aspiring actor Samuel,2003

The fairbanks pool + the whole family.

Bali Indonesia,2004

Cabo 2005,

Florida Keys, 2005



My 23rd Birthday,June 2008

*not really millions. I just didn't want to say Hundreds twice in a row.
** Editors after post note**
The 5 year anniversary is actually October 5th, (not sep 5). Thanks mom for pointing that out. Geez, I hope I don't need my mom to tell me my anniversary when I get married.

Jo-Dilly is now a resident

My brother just moved down. Yes, another Lippke brother.
Josiah stepped out the door of my parents house in Warm Beach WA. and is now living with me for the time being. Its nice to have him around. Family is a necessity and brothers always find good things to do together.
Its sweet to have a workout partner again. Since Ralph left for Iraq, I've been in need of someone to get me out there. (By the way, I've been talking to Ralph as much as possible, he's doing well)
Josiah and I have been running (thanks to my sexy new running shoes) playing tennis X (Tennis X is a crazy spin on tennis we made up to strengthen every part of our game. Just ask me if you want to learn)

Josiah is a busy man. DMV yesterday,shopping for a motorcycle,job search,setting goals, getting girls #'s, you know all the normal things. But he's ahead of the game and I'm helping him.

I don't want to tell you too much, because I don't want to take hits away from his blog.
"LB Is My Home" just launched last night. + I helped him with a selective picture of Long Beach at night for his header.

Anyways, if you get the chance, swing on over to his blog and welcome him to Long Beach.

I have a few good things to post about shortly, I've been on a Sabbatical trying to get everything in order over here.

Cheers my friends!

-S