All posts by Piercing Ken

I'm a Freelance Music Photojournalist from NYC and Founder of the Heavy Metal website PiercingMetal.com; I created this blog site to showcase the other things in life that keep my interest or catch my attention. Believe me that is a lot of stuff to talk about when it comes down to it. I hope you enjoy what we are delivering because there is so much to share as a resident of this bustling metropolis.
Features, PiercingKen Says

Heading Off To NY Comic Con 2011 Today :)

As you read this post you should know that I am preparing myself with a couple of more things that I will need before I head over to the Javits Center to get my Geek on. Yes today begins the NY Comic Con and for the second year in a row I shall be attending the event as a member of the accredited press. Now I’ll be covering this as the Master and Commander of PiercingMetal of course but since this is my lifestyle blog I figured why not let you know where we are and how you can keep up with the adventures that I will be involved in. Last year I loaded the whole enchilada onto the Official Blog for PiercingMetal because the flow of the narrative seemed to work out much better in that particular medium of the site. Now away I go…see you in a couple of days.

Logo - NY Comic Con - 2011

UPDATE: 10/16/2011: Hello again, I have returned from the NY Comic Con and boy am I exhausted. Now that this event is four days it is a lot more taxing on a person. I decided that it was better for me to come back and lightly edit this posting once I had returned to let you know that by clicking the logo right above us that you will be taken over to the leader page of the full story that lives on the blog. I posted a LOT of photographs and I hope you will enjoy this article. Thanks so much for your interest in this side site of mine as well, its a lot of fun sharing different stuff with you. I’ll be getting back on that stuff as soon as I get a little more in gear with the music reporting site.

Please note that comments have been “disabled” on this notice as they are better served on the myriad of posts on the PiercingMetal.com site. Thanks for understanding.

Official Website: http://www.nycomiccon.com

Lifestyle, Tourism

In Atlantic City? Then Let’s Play Monopoly!!!

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Every now and again I get the chance to take a hop down to Atlantic City, NJ and enjoy some gambling, dining and the sights that are around me. Don’t worry, we generally break even at the slot machines and never add on too many pounds to our adventuring frame. However, the one thing that I always seem to find being bountiful is the amount of photographic opportunities that are around me. It’s not the same as my own metropolis of the Big Apple but it is cool in its own right and that leads me to this new bunch of images. It was the tail end of September and I was with family and had discovered that the Bally’s Atlantic City Casino had a life-sized Monopoly board right on the Boardwalk. For all intents and purposes this was being used to promote a new game that they had going on but at the same time it was a giant piece of artwork as well for all the passerby to indulge in. Using the trusty Panasonic Lumix I took a few minutes to “play” the board from beginning to end and hope that you enjoy it. Let’s roll those giant dice and get a move on shall we.

walkable monopoly board, atlantic city nj, bally's atlantic city, giant-sized monopoly
The Monopoly Board From Afar

Ready, set, roll!!!

walkable monopoly board, atlantic city nj, bally's atlantic city, giant-sized monopoly
Giant Dice

I always strive to get the “car” playing token.  Usually I do.

walkable monopoly board, atlantic city nj, bally's atlantic city, giant-sized monopoly
Gentlemen, and Ladies; Start Your Engines

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New York Sights & Scenes

9-11-2001: Ten Years Gone, Let’s Remember, Reflect, & Respect Forever

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Is it ten years already?

Yes I suppose it has been that long and yet for many people it seems like only yesterday when the horrible attacks took place on US Soil.  For those who lived it, it became the modern version of “where were you when JFK got shot” as the world continually would ask “where were you on 9-11-2001?”.  On the day of the attacks I was a temporary consultant working with a small advertising agency and I came up from the subway to find my fellow citizens all facing downtown staring.  It was like out of a movie as all were still and no one really knew what was going on.  We all soon learned and it was an event that I never want to experience again.  As the anniversary came to pass I wanted to share some photographic memories that I found while going through folders.  The first few images are from the streets as I looked up at the now absent Twin Towers.  They were shot in March of 2000 and were done to share with some new out of state and country friends who were very anxious to enjoy NYC and its wonders.

The World Trade Center

Continue reading 9-11-2001: Ten Years Gone, Let’s Remember, Reflect, & Respect Forever →

Features, Observations

Flight Of The Dragonfly

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I’m not embarrassed to admit that I visit my family every Sunday so we can have lunch together as they are right here in the neighborhood in while I live. While I am there I also try to get a little laundry done since it lets me relax and not worry about doing that when I could be out doing some photography or writing instead. With the summer still on but moving to an eventual close, the ability to hang the clothes on the outside line is there and I always love doing that instead of tossing stuff into the dryer (especially all those black band shirts that I sport). Anyways, continuing on. Last week while hanging the clothes I had some company in the form of a decent sized dragonfly. If I moved one place he flew right near me.

I decided to pull out my little Sony Cybershot camera which I wear like a sidearm. In most cases around the scenic life of NYC it does the trick rather well, but it would be a test to see how it worked on something as small and fast moving as this little fellow.

 

I only snapped a little under a handful of images of him and from a couple of feet away to not frighten him off. He seemed happy hanging around on the clothes line or one of the clothespins so I wanted to leave him be. The day was super sunny so it was a little tricky getting a good visual in the LCD screen but I was happy with what I ended up with for these purposes.

 

My good friend and fellow Blogger Beehivehairdresser does this kind of thing all the time as he serves up images and views on his eponymous site, and I admitted that I took a page from his book when I wanted to see just how good or okay I could capture some of nature’s wonders.

I’d like to try more visuals like this as I feel they work well within the context of the garden shots we have presented for your enjoyment, and perhaps next time I will use the Panasonic Lumix or get the super zoom lens on the Canon SLR to see what we land. I thanked my little friend for his participation and headed inside for some eats.

Take time to make note of the things going on around you. There is some really cool stuff out there.

Features, Food and Drink

When Good Things Go Bye Bye: The Pizza Coupons >:0

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OK I am pissed. Why you might ask? Well let me tell you what happened and its all because of these little clip out coupons that one normally finds on the boxes for the Nino’s pizzeria in Bay Ridge. For as long as I can remember in terms of a healthy amount of recent years, this particular pizzeria offered you the means to get a free large pizza pie after collecting 10 of the coupons that you would find stamped on the pizza box. Here’s a visual of a single one for reference.

Over the last couple of years you seemed to need about twelve of the coupons but that was easy to attain if you invited some friends over for a sporting event and some beers.  Totally pizza munching kind of things let you stock up on the coupons a little faster but with the last pizza I ordered I noticed that there was no coupon on the box.  I thought it was a mistake but then Mom and Dad told me that they didn’t notice one either when they last ordered pizza for themselves.  At this point I had a decent amount of the coupons stocked up and I felt I was very close to a free pie which would be wisely used on a night of blogging about some of my recent adventures in music or just conventional photographic discoveries.

So while out on some errands I popped in and spoke to one of the managers who said “Oh no, we are not doing that anymore since it got out of hand”.  Apparently some idiots figured out a way to clone these coupons and were ordering free pie after free pie.  Rather than dealing with the likes of that, the management of Nino’s Pizza decided to simply end the coupons.  The economy has been rough on everyone lately and I had to admit that losing something that was a nice treat every once in awhile downright sucked.  Fortunately my frequent patronage of the establishment found me able to use these last ones and as I handed over the stack I felt a little sad.

Below are the final fruits of my collecting the coupons from Nino’s.  I really hope that they choose to rethink the process as its not fair that the real and loyal customers have to suffer because of some idiots.  I guess my Dad saying “there is always one who can ruin it for everyone” is true.  Man I hate when he is right sometimes 🙂  I mean look at that slice below, isn’t it awesome?  Just think of how much more awesome it becomes when you sometimes get one for free.  Sigh.

While I am not going to stop hitting this particular pizzeria in the neighborhood based on it’s being so damned good, I do curse the schemers and scammers who have killed my occasional reward of a free pie for my continual business.  I hope you idiots choke on something really soon.  Thanks for effing up a really nice thing that was looked forward to a couple of times a year.  You’re kind always seems to find a way to do that.  Fucktards.