I had heard about him ever since the breaking out of Avril Lavigne. He was part of “The Matrix” music production team that gave Avril and other pop stars their hits, their sound, their direction, and in some cases, their stardom. And he’s still hot. For example, the music video to Rihanna’s song “Cheers” (that he co-wrote) already has over 61 million views. See for yourself.

Scott was introduced to Tolga and I by the never-ending Nicholas O’Toole, from Open Labs fame, who continues to amaze us with his world-class strategies.

Anyway, here’s part of Scott’s bio.

Scott Spock, from St. Louis, MO began his career as a jazz trumpet player, later becoming a skilled songwriter and programmer. Spock is a member of The Matrix, a music production team including Lauren Christy and Graham Edwards. They gained fame in the early 2000s after producing a series of hits for Avril Lavigne, Britney Spears, OffByOne, Busted, Son of Dork and Hilary Duff.

“It was hard to constantly describe the three of us,” Matrix member Lauren Christy told one interviewer about the outfit’s early days. “So we came up with the name ‘The Matrix.’ The matrix is a name for the womb, or the rock, which everything comes from.” –From Open Labs Web Site

Scott Spock used to look like this

“We all do everything: creating melodies, lyrics, and tracks. We have three, different ProTools rigs. When we write, we like to sit down with a guitar and piano, rather than starting with a track. Graham plays guitar and bass, Lauren plays piano, and I play piano and trumpet. Also we all sing, often on both our demos and the masters,” Scott said.

The Matrix say that while they have only written or only produced for artists, they prefer to be more of a one-stop shop.  Here’s a shortlist of their discography. Keep in mind they’ve written/produced over 1,200 songs, so it’s literally only the highlights. View The Matrix Discography here.

So what’s he like?

“He’s got crazy mad juice!” as Tolga would say in Tolga Language. (Translation: “He’s a world legend and I’m ecstatic that I met him!”) After spending a little time with Scott, Tolga and I learned that he’s forward-thinking, tech-savvy and driven. He has a fascinating private life outside of The Matrix.

Now he looks like this

When we talked he was thoughtful and well-mannered, and boy was he on top of his game.

He’s the opposite of an attention-seeker. He would stay quiet, listening intently, never anxious to butt in and stop someone else’s idea roll.  But when he spoke, we listened. And what he said was important. He had something intelligent and insightful to add to every concept or conversation. It was like he had this deep well of wisdom – almost Yoda levels – that gave him a perspective on things no one else had.

Life hasn’t been a bed of roses for Scott Spock.  Even so, his success with The Matrix has made history. He’s learned a lot.

Therefore, he has a lot to contribute  and his explosively creative energy is both infectious and exciting. To listen to Scott Spock and Tolga Katas brainstorming in the same room was like, well, looking through the Hub telescope and witnessing the birth of Polaris.

And just to be clear, Scott Spock is a Yoda Master at much more than making hit records and pop stars.  He’s known for being cutting-edge, breaking new ground, not just in sounds, but in other ways too.  It should be no surprise that he’s expanding his universe to embark on an adventurous new trek.

Regarding his next big move, he’s in ‘mysterious mode’ at the moment, sort of like dark matter.  Here’s a clue though: He’s hanging out with Tolga Katas for a reason.

But it’s stealth.

And it’s stellar.

 Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

From the Defcon Hacking Conference Facebook Page:

“DJ and electronic music (for lack better terms) are staples for many in the hacker community, and for those who like it but don’t know why, this video breaks it down for ya… it’s about dubstep, but explains other genres as well.”

Youtuber KDynamic, who uploaded this video in December 2011, described it as, “Bassnectar laying out the dubstep musical family tree in an interview with MoBoogie.”

Hope this helps.

The Defcon Hacker Conference Page of facebook is HERE. Give it a like if you like.

Celebrity  musical director Michael Bearden never rests for a minute. Although he is best known as the long-time musical director for the world’s biggest superstars – Michael Jackson and Madonna – Michael uses his talents in other ways as well. Primarily, to make a difference. He’s a philanthropist. In the past few weeks, not only has he spent significant time helping building the Believe Foundation which promotes the use of music to enrich education and help children, but he also participated in a benefit concert to help raise money for Cops 4 Causes. Proceeds went to “Returning Heroes” and ”Fallen Heroes Fund” for families lose a law enforcement member in the line of duty.  Additionally, Michael and his band Solace joined other stars at the House of Blues to contribute  to Education Through Music LA (ETM-LA) for the 6th annual ETM-LA benefit.

Michael Bearden, former Musical Director for Michael Jackson’s “This Is It,” and his killer band, Solace, backed a group of young musicians and singers who have been recipients of ETM-LA programs over the years.  Solace entertained the festive crowd late into the evening, long after the student musicians who performed earlier in the show were back home and tucked into their beds. ETM-LA web site

Keeping in the holiday spirit, Michael also shared his talents at “Christmas in Washington, 30 year old holiday tradition attended by the president and first lady that benefits the Children’s National Medical Center. It was a star-studded concert hosted by Conan O’Brien with performers like Justin Bieber, Cee Lo Green, Jennifer Hudson, Victoria Justice and others.

Michael Bearden was the principal keyboardist for the orchestra. This is his 5th year contributing.

http://michaelbearden.com

]]> http://technorazzi.com/2011/12/philanthropist-michael-bearden-making-a-difference/feed/ 0 http://technorazzi.com/2011/12/electrocutie-really-really-likes-lola-blanc/ http://technorazzi.com/2011/12/electrocutie-really-really-likes-lola-blanc/#comments Wed, 21 Dec 2011 23:36:16 +0000 Martin Paterno http://technorazzi.com/?p=3570

Lola Blanc, the artist formerly known as Kandice Melonakos, has given us a glimpse into her new music direction with her latest songs on Soundcloud and Youtube. In response to the song “You Like Me,” Lola Blanc  got “electrocutied.”  No, that’s not a typo.  That’s cutie, as in cutie pie. That’s the new term for getting a thumbs up from New York music blogger Erica Russell, the creative force driving the Electrocutie blog.  Erica is a freelance writer and college student from NYC who is studying communications and she blogs about electro, synth-pop, techno, electronica, dance-punk music.

Erica Russell describes Lola’s song “You Like Me.”

“a twinkling synth-pop intro, Lola cooing ‘la la la’ atop the beats as they build’  before the track explodes into a heavy wobbling dubstep drop.  The lyrics of the song include Lola listing off all her less attractive habits (“I’m demanding, I’m stubborn, my makeup’s all running!”) and singing, “But you really, really like me.

Another blogger named Gorno wrote about Lola’s beauty. “With a sultriness very much like a young Rose McGowan, her cool voguish looks ensure this Greek Hottie is set for plenty of attention,” Gorno wrote. If her talent doesn’t make you fall in love her, her beauty will.

As a total stranger walking into a casting call in Hollywood, Lola was cast as a featured or lead actress in several projects, including other artist’s music videos.  Ever hear of Interpol? Chrissie Hynde? KD Lang? How about the band LFMAO and their wildly successful smash hit “I’m Sexy and I Know it.” The video has over 171 million youtube views.

Lola Blanc is the hot girl with the black ripped pants.

Her personal fashion style was discussed in Starpulse, she’s the pretty girl who slaps the guy in the elevator on the national Cosmopolitan commercial, she’s smarter than a whip, is obsessed with shoes and fashion and is a featured pop culture blogger on Buzznet. 

That makes her the big three: intelligent, talented and beautiful. She’s not a triple threat, though. She’s more like a triple scoop banana split with lots of toppings to choose from.

Erica describes Lola as the

“colorful raven-haired beauty that is absolutely going to be your new favorite electro-poppin’ electrocutie. The Los Angeles based pop up-and-comer debuted a new electro-pop track called ‘You Like Me,’” she wrote, “and it is instantly infectious! “

The song was produced by the highly-respected German production team, Famties, and co-written by Lola Blanc and CC Sheffield. Erica describes the track as “sweet and sticky all at once, with sparkly synths, dirty drops, and bubbly beats that play well into the playful tone of the song.”

On that note, here’s the song. “You Like Me”

Lola’s Facebook

Lola’s Twitter

Swizec Teller, the geek blogger and college senior from Slovenia who authored  the article below, explained that after he wrote it, he was ”certain it wasn’t that interesting,” and  surprised that it became his most popular post ever. “How did  all of this happened? I honestly haven’t a clue, there are tens if not hundreds of posts on this blog more deserving of such infamy, but I guess people like a good pat on the back and an easy “Yeah totally. I can totally agree with that!”

Programmer John Draper asleep during the day

His blog is a personal blog called  ”A geek with a hat” that normally gets 30,000 visitors a month. That’s impressive enough. By the 4th day after he posted the article, he had 188,707 pageviews, 627 + (likes) on google plus, 550 tweets mentioning the article, 288 new twitter followers,, 475 comments on Reddit, 173 comments on his own blog, 89,000 visitors on Friday alone, and 188,707 pageviews, 157,707 of which were unique.  So that’s 5 months worth of traffic in just the first 4 days. Four days. And it’s still growing.

We were made aware of “Why Programmers Work at Night” by Tolga Katas who was obviously anxious to share it. When we read it, we not only nodded in agreement, but found it worthwhile enough to contact the author, Swizec Teller, who granted permission for us to repost it here on Technorazzi.  We interviewed Swizec and found out more about him.  What a cool guy. That post will be going up tomorrow.  We’re waiting for a photo of him in a hat.  In the mean time, enjoy the article.

Why Programmers Work at Night

by Swizec Teller

Swizec’s article originally appeared on his blog, “A geek with a hat,” located  HERE.

A popular saying goes that Programmers are machines that turn caffeine into code.

At the gist of all this is avoiding distractions. But you could just lock the door, what’s so special about the night?

I think it boils down to three things: the maker’s schedule, the sleepy brain and bright computer screens.

The maker’s schedule

Paul Graham wrote about the maker’s schedule in 2009 – basically that there are two types of schedules in this world (primarily?). The traditional manager’s schedule where your day is cut up into hours and a ten minute distraction costs you, at most, an hour’s worth of time.

On the other hand you have something PG calls the maker’s schedule – a schedule for those of us who produce stuff. Working on large abstract systems involves fitting the whole thing into your mind – somebody once likened this to constructing a house out of expensive crystal glass and as soon as someone distracts you, it all comes barreling down and shatters into a thousand pieces.

This is why programmers are so annoyed when you distract them.

Because of this huge mental investment, we simply can’t start working until we can expect a couple of hours without being distracted. It’s just not worth constructing the whole model in your head and then having it torn down half an hour later.

In fact, talking to a lot of founders you’ll find out they feel like they simply can’t get any work done during the day. The constant barrage of interruptions, important stuff ™ to tend to and emails to answer simply don’t allow it. So they get most of their “work work” done during the night when everyone else is sleeping.

The sleepy brain

But even programmers should be sleeping at night. We are not some race of super humans. Even programmers feel more alert during the day.

Ballmer’s peak

Why then do we perform our most mentally complex work work when the brain wants to sleep and we do simpler tasks when our brain is at its sharpest and brightest?

Because being tired makes us better coders.

Similar to the ballmer peak, being tired can make us focus better simply because when your brain is tired it has to focus! There isn’t enough left-over brainpower to afford losing concentration.

I seem to get the least work done right after drinking too much tea or having a poorly timed energy drink. Makes me hyperactive and one second I’m checking twitter, the next I’m looking at hacker news and I just seem to be buzzing all over the place..

You’d think I’d work better – so much energy, so much infinite overclocked brainpower. But instead I keep tripping over myself because I can’t focus for more than two seconds at a time.

Conversely, when I’m slightly tired, I just plomp my arse down and code. With a slightly tired brain I can code for hours and hours without even thinking about checking twitter or facebook. It’s like the internet stops existing.

I feel like this holds true for most programmers out there. We have too much brainpower for ~80% of the tasks we work on – face it, writing that one juicy algorithm, requires ten times as much code to produce an environment in which it can run. Even if you’re doing the most advanced machine learning (or something) imaginable, a lot of the work is simply cleaning up the data and presenting results in a lovely manner.

And when your brain isn’t working at full capacity it looks for something to do. Being tired makes you dumb enough that the task at hand is enough.

Bright computer screens

This one is pretty simple. Keep staring at a bright source of light in the evening and your sleep cycle gets delayed. You forget to be tired until 3am. Then you wake up at 11am and when the evening rolls around you simply aren’t tired because hey, you’ve only been up since 11am!

Given enough iterations this can essentially drag you into a different timezone. What’s more interesting is that it doesn’t seem to keep rolling, once you get into that equilibrium of going to bed between 3am and 4am you tend to stay there.

Or maybe that’s just the alarm clocks doing their thing because society tells us we’re dirty dirty slobs if we have breakfast at 2pm.

Fin

To conclude, programmers work at night because it doesn’t impose a time limit on when you have to stop working, which gives you a more relaxed approach, your brain doesn’t keep looking for distractions and a bright screen keeps you awake.

A geek with a hat

Swizec’s twitter

Interview with Patrick Carter, Founder of Digital Folio

Technorazzi:  Tell our readers about Digital Folio and how it could help them during this holiday season.

Digital Folio is the next-generation platform for shopping that’s part of your browser, mobile phone, Facebook and—in the future—will be part of your tablet.  It’s the first intelligent shopping app that tracks prices and comparisons for you so you don’t have to constantly make side trips to retailer or comparison shopping sites. Digital Folio also is the first to provide hyper-relevant deals based off of your shopping list or what you’re browsing for.

With prices changing several times a day, it’s impossible for consumers to keep up with prices and deals. But Digital Folio does. “Earlier this year we saw prices change up to seven times in four hours for some retailers. We’ve seen that increase dramatically during the holiday season, with flash sales and daily deals and price changes by every retailer on an almost daily basis,” said Patrick Carter.

For the first time, people are spending more time trying to compare deals and prices online than they are actually going out and shopping in stores. There’s a little bit of euphoria around finding the best deals, and Digital Folio makes that even more easy and fun to do.

Technorazzi:  Wow, that’s fascinating. How is it doing?

Patrick: 

Great. Number one, we’re busy expanding the number of smart categories and retailers for automatic comparisons and promotions. Second, we’re launching our trial promotion for 25-83% off select toys at Target.com, called our Holiday Hot List promotion, which runs December 12 through December 22.  And lastly, we’re getting ready to launch Digital Folio mobile over the next couple months on three different platforms: iPhone, Windows Phone 7, and Android.

Technorazzi:  That’s fantastic. Are you overwhelmed right now with the holidays?

Patrick: 
Just incredibly busy given all that we have going on with categories, retailers, promotions, mobile platforms, and the fact as a business we’ve just started to introduce this new shopping paradigm that we say is like an iPod for shopping. If you think of how the iPod transformed the way you listen to your favorite songs, it meant you no longer had to cobble together a mixed tape of favorite songs spread across radio stations.

With Digital Folio, shoppers no longer have to constantly cobble together prices and comparisons and deals spread across the web and the retail space. It’s like taking the chaos of retail and putting it on the head of a pin so shoppers can be one click away from an informed answer, with a lot less noise and effort. So all that has kept us incredibly busy but energized because shoppers are telling us what we’re doing  is sorely needed.  —Patrick Carter

Technorazzi:  How do you handle it when you have too much to do in too short of time?

Patrick: 

Patrick with Microsoft Associates at Digital Folio event

It really comes down to prioritization and the ability to rely on a talented team and to execute on what we need to do.

Technorazzi:  Okay I have to ask this. What do you love about working with your developers?

Patrick: A lot. A big part of it hinges on the fact my career started in the development area, so I appreciate having a very talented team that doesn’t think the impossible is impossible or is willing to try to accomplish the impossible. Some of the best features of Digital Folio that we get the most compliments on started out with us saying “What is impossible to do to solve a shopping problem?” One example of this is the ability to compare entire listing pages of products at once, which no one has been able to do, and have comparison and tracking and promotions happen dynamically as you shop.

Working with Patrick is rewarding on many different levels. He challenges status quo thinking and always tries hard to find the best solution to exceed the expectations of our customers. His constant questioning keeps every day full of exciting new problems to solve in our close-knit team.   —Fernando Cardenas, Digital Folio Chief Architect

Technorazzi:  Which was more important for you in your role as the founder of Digital Folio – your technical background or your creativity?

Patrick: 
This is one of the best interview questions I’ve been asked. I guess I’ll have to go with what would probably be a strange answer in terms of my technical background: My technical background taught me that anything is possible and that drives my creativity. That also might drive the developers who work with me crazy, but having a very deep technical  background that includes work with AT&T and with Bell Labs’ operating system development freed up my creativity.

Technorazzi:  Wow, that seems like a good formula for success in the tech world. In what way did your childhood influence your success today?

Patrick: 
It influenced it a lot because I was an Air Force brat and I came from a family that really focused on hard work and contribution, and those lessons led to early successes first in Junior Achievement in high school, then as a  four-year scholar at Syracuse University, and in my 20s as I advanced through the ranks at AT&T. In a Bizspark interview earlier this year I said my mother taught me there is no substitute for hard work and family. She was right.

Technorazzi:  That’s so true.  As long as we’re on the topic of families, tell me, in what way does your wife contribute to your success?

Patrick: 
Quite frankly in every way in terms of uniquely contributing to the business and the marketing and promotional pieces we do, keeping the family running on all cylinders while I’m tied up with work, plus what’s most important: moral support. She helped from the start just by embarking on what by definition is a  hard journey or a complex journey.

Technorazzi: (to Patrick’s wife Karen)  What’s it like living with Patrick?

Life with Patrick has always been full of surprises, but living with him as he’s laid the groundwork for Digital  Folio, seen it through challenging times, and now shares the tremendous achievements of his team has been pretty amazing. Patrick is a driven, competitive, and brilliant person, but he also has a terrific sense of humor that helps everyone around him cope with even the toughest challenges.    Karen Carter

Technorazzi:  Patrick, obviously you’re extremely busy, but when you do have a free moment, what are your hobbies?

Patrick: 
Currently there’s not much time for hobbies but in the past I’ve enjoyed skiing, sailing, and wine collecting. My favorite thing to do these days is watch a movie with my daughters, who like to critique films.

Patrick with Microsoft Azure Executives at Digital Folio Event

Technorazzi: Come on, tell us at least one fun thing you did in the past week.

Patrick: 
I was the only parent doing the wave for my seventh-grader when we went to watch my fifth-grader be a sheep (that shed cotton balls) in a school Christmas play. My seventh-grader was mortified, of course, so I felt I’d done my duty as dad of a young teenager.

Technorazzi: Haha! That’s funny.  Patrick, you’re such an idea person, tell our readers where / how you get your best ideas?

Patrick: 
I’ve gotten my best ideas when I’ve put myself in the shoes of our users. Just being a customer and shopper helps, but also having the one additional capability to say “What if I could of make anything happen as a shopper?” And then having a team and a business built around making that happen. Putting yourself in your users’ shoes is key.

Digital Folio had its catalyst to formation stem out of the work we did early on for retailers as a services and research company. We did a lot of strategy, had people ride along with FedEx drivers, did home shopping studies of Best Buy customers, monitored store interactions, etc. and those things give you tools and data points and clarity to see how repetitive and obstructive some customer experiences are, and what impediments exist to shopping. There’s something about getting validation outside yourself that there’s a problem that others experience that allows you to mobilize the business and related expenditures around solving it.

Technorazzi:  Who are your heros in the tech world?

Patrick: 
I respect different people for different reasons, everyone from Dennis Ritchie on the Unix side to Steve Jobs as an impassioned visionary to Bill Gates in terms of balancing a business and innovation to Martin Scorsese around the impact of subtlety on emotion and thus human behavior. All those things come together to impact consumer attitude and behavior.

Technorazzi: Anything else you want people to know?

Patrick: Digital Folio is more about a mission to empower shoppers than it is a particular product. Because of that, it’s pretty ambitious but the return will be well worth it for shoppers, retailers, and for our business.

Holiday Hot List - Check out Digital Folio.

Tolga Katas and his long-time girlfriend, Christine Marie, founder of Technorazzi, officially became husband and wife on 11-11-11.

A video was projected onto the building.

Video projections on the inside walls of this gorgeous venue added a spectacular, personalized touch.

The wedding ceremony began with a performance by an aerialist who was like an angel dancing in the air with wings of silk. This stunning performance added a  elegance, extravagance and class that somehow both shocked people, and yet seemed perfectly fitting.  A television crew for “Las Vegas Weddings” was there filming the wedding  (described as “Bohemian meets Moulin Rouge,” with a geeky, storybook & Turkish twist.)

When the velvet curtains for the bridal procession were opened, famed hacker Kevin Mitnick, a resident of Las Vegas and friend of both bride and groom, walked the bride down the aisle.

Kevin stood in place of the late L.V. Charles Besemer, the father of the bride.  Steve Wozniak, the almost-best man, had to be best-man-in-spirit, due to winning an international technology award.

Tolga’s long-time friend for 25 years, Paul Fishkin (Stevie Nicks, Foghat, Natalie Cole), and co-founder of en2go, was actual best man.  Another dear friend of Tolga’s, Jason Flom (Lava Records),  and others from his music days attended as well.

The Pastor was Pastor Ed of Casual Elegance.  In his prior life, he was an engineer – the  perfect wedding officiant for a geeky couple.

Photo credit - Trevor Blazso

.

Happiness after the ceremony.

Tolga looks ecstatic.

Software developer Kevin Postal and his creative genius, geek-positive girlfriend, Annie Dorgan, joined in the celebration, along with Adam Kegg Powell (seen in back.)

The Katas family contributed, among other things, Turkish delights.

 Tolga’s little brother Kutan, Las Vegas teen fashion blogger Bebe Zeva, pop artist Lola Blanc, and UCLA grad student Lily Antebi enjoyed the evening.  Bebe caught the bouquet.

Duygu (Tolga’s stepmom) and Dorothy (Christine Marie’s mom) seemed to get along famously.

Tolga & Christine’s first dance as husband and wife.

  On the far right is Ali, then Oksan, then Ali’s wife Ayla. Ali is Duygu’s brother, Tolga’s uncle.

Left to right:  Oksan Pardo, Tolga Katas (groom), Lola Blanc, Christine Marie (bride), Erol Katas, Dorothy Besemer, Kutan Katas, Christian Melonakos, Duygu Katas.

Lily Antebi, Andrea Moore Emmett, Christine Marie, Lola Blanc

Bride & Groom

Bambi was the official flower dog.

Photo by Las Vegas photographer Steve Mammich.

Tolga and Christine Marie Katas

Left to right:  Producer/promoter John Galiszewsky, tech legend John “Captain Crunch” Draper, dance music veteran and digital visionary - Tolga Katas, music producer and film financier Garianno Lorenzo, famed hacker and best-selling author Kevin Mitnick, celebrity musical director Michael Bearden (Madonna, Michael Jackson).

Hacker and engineer Dan Sokol.

Bambi had her own wedding dress and veil, and of course – she had her nails done too. “This was all find and good until I couldn’t find her, and ironically, Dan Sokol took a photo of her and sent it to me with a ransom note, as a joke,” says Christine.

Hacker//programmer John Draper, Tolga, A-list screenwriter Clay Ayers, award-winning comedian Travis McFarland, Tolga’s brother Kutan -named upcoming young director for Turkey, and entrepreneur Adam Faletti.

Database god Kevin Deem with Christine Marie.

Presents from Turkey!  They pin gold on the bride and give special jewelry too.

Kutan Katas and Travis McFarland

Dan Sokol, Kevin Deem, Kevin Mitnick

Adam Faletti shaking hands with female wedding guests.

Trevor Blazso dancing with his partner Kristen.

Model Luxbot Lacheln and Bebe Zeva with the bouquet caught by Bebe.

Christian Melonakos and girlfriend Meghan Larimore socializing.

Kevin Postal and digital strategist Arturo Perez, CEO & Founder of Kluge

Tolga Katas poses with his long-time friend, businessman John Galiszewski

DJam Hassan, a long-time friend of Tolga’s, truly rocked the house!

Fashion blogger Bebe Zeva, celebrity hacker & best-selling author Kevin Mitnick again, pop artist Lola Blanc

Keeping with Turkish tradition, there was a belly dancer at the reception.

Ginger got the girls on stage and they belly danced like pro’s!

Turkish food, Turkish coffee, and candles everywhere!

Comedian Travis McFarland (left), children’s TV producer Dave Shelton (Snuggy Bear) and model Charise Chyz on the right.

Honeymoon Photos Here

This is a video of a man dancing with a costumed dog, and it is truly incredible. The dog dances while standing on his hind legs and actually appears to know when to do certain moves. It’s a must-watch!

Photo by David Miller Photoworks

At a Photoshop convention in Las Vegas, 250 photographers flash pictures of a model for 6 hours. Her whole body has been airbrushed with designs, her eye sockets are blackened, she’s wearing head gear and she looks like an alien. Although she’s been on her feet for hours, she still continuously changed poses every minute to stay fascinating to the photographers. When she was done, she was exhausted but the client was thrilled. This is a typical day in the life of Lächeln, a full-time freelance model who is also an artist, stylist, blogger and musician. She’s buzzing on Buzznet, exploding on the Internet and giving Hollywood IT girls like Audrey Kitching, Raquel Reed, and Mosh a run for their money.

Lächeln, or Luxbot Lächeln as she’s known online, is sought after by innovative photographers with a creative concept. She’s on the road 50-80% of the time but she loves the unexpected.  “I’ve been covered in mud, had syrup poured on my head, I’ve been a vegetable painted with silver pigment, I’ve been drenched in blood, tied up, hung upside down from the ceiling and one photographer even had me hanging out of a skyscraper in high heels,” she laughs. “I never know what persona I will be or what adventure will come next.”

In some photos she looks like the half Asian beauty she is; in others she looks Mexican, Armenian or just plain American. Her multicultural appeal and myriad of different looks, poses, and expressions leave a lasting impression on those who see her.

“I’ll never forget the first time I was introduced to her pictures. I was left speechless to be honest with you. And it was much more than her beauty, I thought she had serious talent. Good looks are a dime a dozen,” says Brad Thomas who has worked with Lächeln.  “Anyone who has personally met Lächeln will understand she’s a natural beauty with an addicting energy that you feel in her presence and in her pictures. I tell people she’s a beautiful chameleon. Regardless of what she’s trying to portray, she adapts and turns it in to a work of art that you have a reaction to.”

Lächeln knows what she’s doing. She has been modeling since she was 12 when her grandmother, an oil painter and art instructor, needed someone to model for art classes. Now Lächeln models full time doing gigs for concept photography, alternative modeling, fashion modeling, beauty modeling, glamour, and music videos.  She can do her own hair, make up and styling. And she’s expert at it. She can even bring her own amazing wardrobe, or she can wear what she’s given and make it look like it has never looked before.

Brad Thomas, an experienced entrepreneur, musician and e-commerce developer, founded his latest venture, TallCat.com, “to bring all the creative energy in the world to one place for everyone to experience.” If anyone understands creative people, he does. He met Lächeln along the way and has become one of her most ardent advocates.

“Her modeling, it’s not just a picture, it’s a work of art that releases an emotion which affects the viewer… exactly what art is supposed to do,” Thomas explains. “From pink to black hair, from crazy off-the-wall outfits to basic dresses and attire, she takes what would be an ordinary modeling picture and turns it into a form of artistic expression that viewers want to talk about.”

Jamais Vu, a photographer and artist in Hollywood said, “Lächeln has that ‘it’ factor. She is easy-going with a fun and kind personality. She is rockstar without the massive ego.” When asked what made her different, Jamais Vu explained, “She is open-minded and a free spirit. She is like a glass of refreshing water on a hot day. She is not afraid of letting go and being herself.”

Indeed, Lächeln is not just another pretty face.  As the oldest child in a group of nine siblings from Houston, Texas, she learned to be independent and to think for herself at a young age.  Her parents are both engineers who stressed education, and bright she is. Lächeln is currently reading four books – 33 Strategies of War, Video Night in Kathmandu, Just Kids, and Lolita.  “When I was younger, my mom was worried that I read too much,” said Lächeln. “But since my grandmother was an art instructor, I also developed a love of art.”

Lacheln Painting

Lächeln started painting when she was just seven years old. She has taken countless oil painting classes and she paints 4-5 times a week to express emotion and ideas. Her inspirations are Frida Kahlo, Yayoi Kusama, Gustav Klimpt among others. Her artwork is primarily expressionistic portraiture.  And people buy it. Recently, a patron who already has some of Lächeln’s art on his walls commissioned her to do another painting as a gift for his son.

Thomas says, “Being an entrepreneur, I understand the value of hard work and risk. In many ways we are in the same boat. She’s trying to grow a career in the creative arts (modeling, acting, art, music), I’m trying to launch a new online community for creative and talented people to showcase their abilities. And we are both attempting it in the worst economy the US has ever seen. Some call it brave, some call it insanity…I think it’s maybe a little bit of both.”

“I think she is on the cusp of really coming into her own. I look forward to her art over the next few years. She is garnering the maturity and wisdom she needs to hone her talents into a deadly weapon,” said Jamais Vu.

When she’s not on the road modeling, she lives and works in a creative studio space in Phoenix, Arizona with her roommate, a latex fashion designer. Her home is filled with fashion, art supplies, musical instruments and artwork.

Although her busy modeling career caused her to slow down on the music, she continued to play piano, guitar, and sing whenever she could. Now she’s making music her priority. In fact, she’s going into the studio to work on her debut album, teaming up with dance music veteran Tolga Katas, as well as other up-and-coming producers and writers. “She’s the entire package, she has hungry fans, she’s got a good tone and a great attitude,” says Katas. “Musically, she’s fun to collaborate with.

Recently Lächeln experimented with working at a normal job so she could stay home more and have more time for her passions. “After one day, I was miserable. I knew a normal job was not for me and I said F** this!” she laughs. “I realized how lucky I am and how much I love what I do.”

“Very few people her age have the drive Lächeln has. Heck, very few people at any age,” Thomas continues. “We live in a world of instant gratification and entitlement where people seem to have forgotten that good things take time and lots of effort if you want to see a positive outcome. If you know Lächeln personally, you will see and understand the hard work and sacrifice that she puts into things. I admire that. Even my mom is one of her biggest fans.”

On her way back from a modeling gig for Comedy Central on the red carpet in Hollywood, she texts a progress report to Tolga Katas who is overseeing Lächeln’s debut album and also helping manage Luxbot Lächeln’s career. She lets him know she’s safe and that she’s anxious to get in the studio to record the vocals to a new track he produced just for her to write to. “I’m excited about her future, she’s rocking” says Katas. “Everyone wants to know who she is.  She’s a star, that’s for sure.”

Toilga Katas and Lacheln

Lacheln Photo by Mannon Pictures

Examples of Lacheln's Art