Propeller Skies

Bravo! is one of my favorite groups in Atlanta. A few years ago, I went to their Rooftop Party at Commune because I wanted to check the restaurant out and ended up meeting a great group of people. A year later, Martinis at Milan was the first event I photographed. A few months later, I was working for AtlantaBuzz and shot Picasso & Cocktails, where the total turnout exceeded 600 people. Therefore, I was really looking forward to getting into some evil at their social at Sambuca tonight.

Unfortunately for me, only twenty people showed up all night. And fifteen of them were guys. I was highly disappointed, as Bravo! always brought the beautiful babies out previously. Since Bravo! had such a stellar record, I will go to one more event and let all five Propeller Skies readers know how it goes.

A big shout out to recurring Propeller Skies character Lisa, who made the night bearable. It was fun hanging out with her and chatting.

A few days ago, “The Exgirlfriend” mentioned that her old roommate was on a certain popular online dating site. “The Exgirlfriend” noted, in jest, that I should email the old roommate and date her. Because the old roommate is crazy, I dismissed the idea. And the certain popular online dating site sucks anyway. However, work is a bit slow today and I have already checked my email approximately 25,369 times, so I looked up the old roommate just for fun.

My search did not turn up the old roommate. I suspect she lied about her age. Instead of the old roommate, I found two people that I do know. Amusingly, both people belong to the same group of young professionals that positively impacts the Atlanta area. Even better, they both posted pictures I took of them attending a function put on by this group of young professionals.

Being a bachelor, I tend to eat bachelor food on a regular basis. Ideal bachelor food is fast, easy, and requires minimal clean up. Hot dogs and frozen pizzas are therefore excellent examples of bachelor food.

Because these foods are not considered haute cuisine, they are never reviewed and compared in fancy magazines. In the interest of providing an innovative and accessible culinary resource for bachelors everywhere, Propeller Skies will now be reviewing bachelor food on a random basis as the mood strikes. This post will focus on hot dogs.

My favorite hot dogs are manufactured by Nathan’s. They are a bit more expensive than the other brands, but well worth the price. Unfortunately, Publix happened to be out of them last night. As an alternative, I decided to try Ballpark Franks.

After getting home, I began grilling the franks on the stove. Almost immediately, I noticed that they were not browning up as nicely as Nathan’s. Overall, they were not as aesthetically pleasing as Nathan’s hot dogs. Taking the first bite, I noted that the Ballpark Franks were not as firm as Nathan’s. Additionally, the flavor was not nearly as complex or sophisticated as Nathan’s. The Ballpark Franks tasted like fried bologna, whereas Nathan’s taste like hot dogs sold by quality street vendors. Propeller Skies does not recommend Ballpark Franks.

It seems that quite a few authors of blogs that I read frequently are going on dates. And by quite a few, I mean two. Specifically, they would be Kathryn (if that is her real name) at Bellow and Julia at Tequila Mockingbird.

So I decided to join the fun and go on a date. With a vegetarian. Normally, this would not happen, since I would be required to come up with creative dinner ideas involving vegetables. Which I hate. I solved that problem by taking her out for drinks.

Unfortunately, the bar we were meeting at happened to be closed since Mondays are apparently slow. Folks here in Atlanta are candy-asses. Real men drink every day of the week. Hell, even the fucking French drink every day of the week.

During a quick phone call, we revised our plans and decided to meet at Figo for dinner, which happened to be in the same plaza as the aforementioned closed bar. Dinner went well and the conversation was good. However, sparks were just not flying.

In conclusion, Figo is mighty tasty.

On Sunday, James and I went back up to Road Atlanta to catch the semi-finals and finals of the drift competition. Since I managed to lose my two day pass on Saturday, I forked over another twenty dollars for a one day pass. Under normal circumstances, there would be a long diatribe here about how pissed off I was. However, drifting is the best sport ever and it was totally worth it.

Shortly after arriving, we learned that Rhys Millen, the driver of the GTO, had not made the semi-finals. Despite his exciting runs during the practice session on Saturday, he had a few minor slip-ups in the qualifying round. The competition was so fierce that it was enough to keep him out of the semis. However, we did get to see him drive during the exhibition event that was held between the semi-finals and the finals.

On Saturday, Millen had been running with Samuel Hubinette, the driver of the Team Mopar Viper. We were very disappointed that he did not make the semis, as those big cars were really fun to watch together. However, we got an even bigger treat. Alex Pfeiffer, the guy with the flat black Toyota mentioned in yesterday’s post, was up against Hubinette in the Viper. Pfeiffer is crazy. More on this later. Throughout his runs, Pfeiffer challenged Hubinette and got the best of him a couple of times, despite the intimidation advantage Hubinette had with the bigger car. Unfortunately, during one run Pfeiffer went off the track backwards, coming to a stop about three feet from the concrete barrier. It was pretty funny watching the guy who had been standing in front of the barrier hastily scramble back behind it.

After the semi-finals, there was an exhibition event. We were fired up, since Millen and the GTO were a part of this. However, Pfeiffer stole the show by climbing out the window of his AE86 and actually drifting with only one leg in the car! There were also some fantastic burn-outs during exhibition.

After the battle between Hubinette and Pfeiffer in the semis and Pfeiffer’s stunt during the exhibition, the finals were somewhat anticlimactic. Hubinette won by using the large Viper to take up most of the track, leaving Chris Forsberg in the MotoReX 350z no room and forcing him to back off.

notes:

PHOTO 1: Burn-out of the day at Drift Atlanta. April 25,2004.
PHOTO 2: Unidentified car and Alex Pfeiffer at Drift Atlanta. April 25, 2004.
Both photos courtesy of d.2263 Photographics. View more Drift Atlanta photos.

After shooting about 400 photos at Drift Atlanta, I was in dire need of an ice cold beer or ten. Luckily, Courtney and Lara (who I met through the Jaycees) were throwing a housewarming party Saturday evening. There was plenty of beer and several hotties at the party. Unfortunately, the men outnumbered the women by about three to one. However, I still had an excellent time and ended up staying until three in the morning.

Special thanks to Chrissa for being the best damn beer opener in Metro Atlanta.

On Saturday, I went to Drift Atlanta, courtesy of Virjin Jorj. Of course, I was there photographing for them. With Kara’s camera that she so graciously lent me.

Prior to attending Drift Atlanta, I had never been to a drift event. I had seen pictures in magazines and read about the sport and it seemed really cool. However, after attending a drift competition, I can unequivocally state that pictures and words do not do the sport justice. They miss the smell of burning rubber and the screeching of tires as the cars go sideways through a turn at speeds in excess of sixty miles per hour. I highly recommend checking out drifting if you get the chance.

Highlights of the qualifying round included a MOPAR sponsored Viper and a GM sponsored Pontiac GTO. Both cars had good drivers who were not afraid to put on a show. During one run, the GTO driver burned out at the top of the hill and kept his tires smoking through the run. My personal favorite driver was can’t stay on the track dude. On every run he would go big and most times end up sliding off the track.

All the cars had sponsors and several had fancy paint jobs. However, one dude showed up with a flat black Toyota and let his driving do the talking.

Friday night, I stopped by the Cocktails and Jazz party at the Defoor Center. The event was put on by Arts Safari and 360 Entertainment.

After arriving and chatting with a few people, I discovered that my camera had inexplicably stopped working. I ended up shooting the event the old-fashioned way, with film.

The event went well, I would estimate that more than 250 people showed up. Unfortunately, there was only one bar, with two very overworked bartenders. Getting a drink was a minor production, but most people solved the problem by simply ordering two drinks at a time.

There were plenty of hotties, however Arts Safari is definitely a 30s crowd. As opposed to Netparty, which seems to draw a good number of people in their 20s.

After the event wound down, I adjourned to Fox and Hounds with recurring Propeller Skies characters Lisa and Tracy. In addition, some dude whose name I forgot joined us.

notes:

PHOTO: Random revelers attending Cocktails and Jazz at the Defoor Center in West Midtown, Atlanta, GA. April 24, 2004. Courtesy of d.2263 Photographics.

A big Propeller Skies shout out goes to Kara at KB Photography for lending me a camera body this morning on ridiculously short notice. She has now become the first person ever to achieve permanent status in the phone, which means her number will never be deleted. Ever. Also, a big thank you to Stacia for providing technical support last night and this morning.

A big Propeller Skies fuck you goes to Nikon for building cameras that display inscrutable error messages and refuse to work after a paltry 2,000 shots. Fortunately, my old-fashioned N65 that cost one fifth as much as a D70 and has had more beer spilled on it than a frat house floor still functions.

Every day, people continue to amaze me with their stupidity. For example, as I was waiting in the 50 cents only line at the toll booth on GA 400 yesterday evening I thought I saw someone get out of their car and head over to the cashier booth in the next lane. Because there was a giant gas-guzzling environment ruining SUV in front of me, I did not have a clear view. I thought to myself, “please tell me this dumbass did not just get out of his car to get change.” Five minutes later, he returned, got in his car, threw 50 cents in the basket and drove off. Obviously he went to public school in Georgia.