October Month in Review

I want to get this quickly off myself first of all.

Yes I know I'm late on this but FUCK THE NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION FOR DISQUALIFYING THE TROJANS INTO THE PLAYOFFS FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS. I've said this before and I'll probably say it until they make a movie out of this shit which will never happen. Some people here worship the Lakers, some idolized the Dodgers, I'm not sure about those who devote themselves to the L.A. Kings, but for me, its all about the USC Trojans football team. Out of at least 30,000 or more schools in this country, regardless of any division, why the fuck is the University of Southern California the one taking the heat. Oh yeah, its those agents willing to feed and fuel the athletes with gifts to make them play better and feel good about themselves. Its like steroids without the steroids.

Why did I bring this up again? The game against Oregon yesterday made me very upset. I didn't see the game on TV but the only thing I saw was the score online. Shit, this was at the Coliseum in front of a national television audience. If this was 2005, either the result would be the other way around, otherwise if the score was the same, then Keith Jackson would be speechless or whatever just like the 2006 National Championship game, which I don't want to get into. The only thing you would hear after the game is the Ducks fans texting their colleagues outside the Coliseum that their drive from Eugene to Los Angeles was totally worth it. But sadly, the Trojans aren't playing for anything this year, and for some people, there's no point of watching them this year. I just watch them cause they're the only team that I actually liked for a long time. They beat the shit out of Berkley in their previous home game, which really impressed me.

Another thing that I wanna spill out is that I really dislike Halloween and everything about it. The only positive thing about it is looking at the females dressing up like whores and strippers, but its more convenient if your wife or significant other was with you in that attire, otherwise its gets dried out really fast. Again, I do not like Holidays, including Christmas. I say Christmas cause everyone views it as a marketing tool for the corporate "white collar big wigs" in the Fortune 500 companies to generate such extraordinary revenue for themselves. This person form my church said that its all about getting "free stuff", which is... in a sense, true. I wanna go to a church with somebody on that day, regardless of any christian domination and just enjoy the holiday spirit by watching and listening to the choir telling the story of Christ's birth in songs. I could care much less if I get don't anything in December 25th, cause, that's kids stuff.

Plus its amazing how they're already hyping up the holiday frenzy already since last week, and October is damn near not even finished yet. I was at the Glendale Galleria last Thursday to take photos of Cindy Crawford (who looked the freakin' same after all these years) promoting her signature skincare product at JCPenney. As I was waiting, I walked by Macy's and they already had CHRISTMAS TREES up at their fragrance department. I was like shit, why not make Christmas Day a month early? But that's already been superseded with the annual "Black Friday" shopping event, the day after Thanksgiving. I'm surprised that those traditions are still going on during the recession where the unemployment rate is STILL increasing.

I wanna touch up on that real quick. Yesterday, I saw a 60 Minutes documentary on how those people unemployed had 99 weeks to be financially taken care of by getting unemployment checks during that period until they find a stable job. But unfortunately, after 99 weeks, those people are still unemployed , and they can't get unemployment benefits after that timeframe expires. So now those people, who went to college back when compact Japanese import vehicles like Honda's Civic, Nissan's Datsun line, and Toyota's Corolla gain notoriety during the oil crisis, are not working since they are almost close to reaching their retirement milestone. The sad part is that they also can't find work and be hired cause of the younger generation, or those under 25, are pretty much dominating the entry level lower-end workforce. I don't know whether to view this as ageism, which is like racism towards age, but I've seen people who I thought looked like they should be a CEO or an exec of some company in a high rise building in Downtown Los Angeles working in places my little brother should be working at. Very sad to see this and embarrassing if it was one of your parents in those positions or worse. All I can say is that to those fortunate enough to make a decent living at the least, just be glad and blessed with what you have, and hold on to it tight. I mean, VERY TIGHT, with knowledge. Just remember where it came from and how you got it.

As for myself, the past month has been pretty much a whirlwind. More like 50/50 or 85/15. There have been some fractures in my family recently (nobody died by the way) and it got to the point where I HAD to move out. So thankfully, my mom's knows this Filipino lady who I think she worked with a while ago and she lives at a house in Sylmar and taking care of her disabled family, who are all older than me. There were a lot of rooms in that house, so she reserved one for me. I might be there until everything turns out well at my legal address, but from the looks of things, I don't even know when' I'll move back there, or how long I might live here in Sylmar. Its a weird coincidence cause the place I'm residing at right now is less than 30 seconds from my church and my friend Frank's house. Other than that, I'm doing fine here. Spent a month already here, don't have to pay rent cause lady knows my situation with not getting hired for the past two years. Plus they have a lot of great food, and I've been trying out some Filipino entree's that I've never tasted before, which is fantastic to the max.

I've been very busy like a fuckin' beast for the past few weeks also. I've been taking a lot of photos, test driving a bunch of cars and meeting celebrities. I know that sounds like the shit I've been doing every month for the past year, but this was somewhat a premium version of it. I spent a lot of time with my good friend Nicole Stetter and her friend's group Darger De Milo by supporting them in their recording sessions. Nicole had a lot of people she knew who had a number of parties and kickbacks, so I took photos of those and made some new friends/clients/acquaintances or whatever you want to call it. I can't describe all of those gatherings in detail cause there was a different one every other day which made it look like it was 2007-08 all over again. It was very fantastic, including Aftergloam (one of my friend's music group) bassist Cecilia Navaratte's birthday at Universal Citywalk. I've never thought that I would witness a party where they had a surprise proposal, a bachelorette party, and a drunk 40 something woman who would hit on me in front of her husband, who WAS COOL ABOUT THE WHOLE THING from his own words. Like I said, those events were too indescribable to put into sentences.

One of my favorite things I did this month was test driving the all new Nissan Leaf, which is the first all electric car to have absolutely no emissions whatsoever, meaning no smog checks, no gasoline, no CO2's being emitted into the air, none of that shit. It was in invite event which took place at Westfield Century City mall in Century City that was operated by Nissan of North America. We had to be schooled on the origins and the dissection of the vehicle, and it was worth capturing my attention. We even got to drive it around Century City, which made me and those who also attended the first ever people in Los Angeles to drive this car. Keep in mind that this car is not gonna be out in a year and its still going thorough some approval process from the government. To me, when I was driving it, it felt like you're driving a golf cart with options and a body around it, cause like I said earlier, this car is, as Nissan simply stated it, 100% electric with no gasoline whatsoever. Nowadays, people can care less on what kind of car you drive, whereas five years ago, you were doing it if you pushed a Chrysler 300c or a Infiniti G35 or a Cadillac Escalade. But the recent economic recession has changed a lot of people views on many financial aspects, which is why I wrote earlier that the holiday shopping hasn't changed its traditional habits. Speaking of finances, they didn't say what the price for the vehicle is, but I'm guessing its gonna be between 17 grand to $30,000 at the most. I could go on all day with this car.

Yep, its been a stressful, exciting, interesting, useful, decent, and challenging month this year. I did my best to make it full of positive energy. That's how every month should be, minus all the family drama, negative politics and bullshit. I really need to rest and catch up on the NFL. I've been missing watching some games from editing and scanning all the photos I took this month, but hey, I'm a photographer, so I have to maintain my "Ryan-Seacrest-busy-all-over-the-place" grind.

Oh yeah, major shoutout to Cadillac for letting me drive your whips as many times as you let me this month. Even though I'm a Japanese automobile person, y'all are and always will be underrated and I respect your heritage in the American culture. And shoutout to Tianna Edmonson, the drummer for Aftergloam, for hosting all those kickbacks at your place this month. Its always an experience every time I go there. Also, shoutout to Universal and AMC for re-showing Back To The Future in theaters again for two nights. I FUCKIN' ENJOYED IT! I should've brought someone with me, but it selling like crazy and I spent 15 dollars on a Large popcorn and a Large Cherry Coke (they didn't have Pepsi). Yes, 2 of those for 15 dead Washington's. I've never though I'd see this movie in a large screen, but they remastered it and made it look sharper and clearer. Plus I went home with 5 limited edition posters of the movie they gave away. I don't even know what I'm gonna do with them, seriously. Finally, big shoutout to Amber Marshall for letting go berserk in your Mercedes-Benz CLK convertible last week. Damn, I drove a lot of cars this month.

Well, I HAD to do this today

The Armenian Princess is now in the Thirty-Something club, where being an ADULT is at instead of the roaring Twenty-somethings, which is the new "teenagers" nowadays. Holy shit, Thirty years old already? I remember back when she first came on to the exposure scene with Paris Hilton, she was in her mid-twenties back in 2006. All these photos were taking by me, non-stalker, I repeat, NON-STALKER STATUS by the way, and some of these were from my paparazzi days in 2008 and others just random meet and greets.

Happy 30th Birthday Kimberly. Looks like no more crazy parties. Already celebrating right now.

Twenty-First Birthday Shoutout to Cecilia Navarrete

The Bassist from my friend's group Aftergloam. Welcome to the Adult Club (no pun intended)

Ava Devine > Christina Aguilera > Courtney Cox

DISCLAIMER

To all the readers under 18, please cover your eyes.

To all my female readers.... hey, I'm a single 22-year-old guy, so spare me and get used to it.

Everyone else, pick a number and start getting in the back of the line, and don't forget the rubber. Seriously, especially from the recent current events that occurred this week.

Divorce really does come in threes.

Dearest Miss Raven-Symone

I take back all the shit-talking and other negative things I said about you in that Disney network 5 years ago.

Sincerely,

David Nwachuku

Photographer- JustForSneaks Ent.

P.S. Fuck Adobe Photoshop

Distinguished Recognition

VERY big major shoutout to the Chilean miners, all 33 of them, who were rescued today and survived from the San Jose Mine accident in Copiapo, Chile. I can imagine spending a full month outside the United States, which I've done twice, but no way in hell I can't ever imagine being trapped inside a mine for two months with nothing. I'd like to see those dudes be on the cover of Time Magazine's "People Of The Year" issue at the end of the year or get some sort of award of honor.

Strip Down, Sales Up

Looks like Kim Kardashian is turning back to the first page of her Playboy... I mean, her "Playbook of success" in the new issue of W Magazine.

If overpriced textbooks and frequent group study dates at Starbucks doesn't fit you, looks like this is the better and more efficient route to be rich and recognized nowadays. Boys and girls, needless to say, sex sells.

News Corp just offed themselves

To prove how much their social network site has fallen off, this is its new logo.

Yes, seriously, that's their new logo. I wish I or The Onion or Will Ferrell's Funny or Die was making this up but this is the new Myspace logo, with the blank representing the space (pun intended, I guess) of all the people currently on there since its former members that jumped ship to Facebook or got fed up with the site since it might've cost them their relationship, or marriages to some extent.

America's Ideal Factors

Alright, I'm about a week and a half late on this, but let me just give my input on this.

The new judge line-up of the upcoming season of American Idol proves that nothing in life last forever. Everyone in the past was used to seeing Randy Jackson along with Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell behind the Coca-Cola tie-in cups as the three sit on the desk. Now change, like President Barack Obama has stated during his campaign run, has come to the show.

Gone are the honest sarcastic remarks and unique criticism from Simon Cowell's British accent voice and mind as he comments on each of the contestant's performance in both the auditions (which I mostly watch for comedy) and the live telecast on stage (which I avoid and don't watch, except for the finale depending on who is the final two turns out to be) The dude made a staple of himself and made him a well know celebrity and iconic status in this country, since the show's roots was spunoff from the UK version of the show called Pop Idol. Before he left, Paula Abdul took the exit as the first original judge to leave the show, being replaced by Ellen Degeneres (no disrespect for Ellen, but I think that was a terrible choice FOX and the producers of the show made) for ratings and some humor relief. Then she also got booted, no surprise right there.

That only leaves Randy Jackson left has the only person there. He should've also left to focus on his other project, the successful popular America's Best Dance Crew on MTV, but the network execs feared that the show will collapse (which might happen once the X-Factor comes to the United States next year) if one of the original breeds of the show dissolves off at the height of the shows popularity, which is left in doubt under the hands of the Randy's two new co-judges, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez.

Both of those two has had successful talents and careers over the years, but unfortunately, I can't picture them as judges, especially Jennifer Lopez. I mean, she has kids to raise and I don't know if she can rely on the ever-busy Marc Anthony to watch them while she tours with the crew like she used to tour for her concerts 10 years ago. If only she stayed with Sean Combs....wait, never mind. I think she got enough recognition and publicity buzz already over the years, including her affiliation with Ben Affleck back in 2003. I think she's done enough and won a couple of Grammy's and still gets royalties from In Living Color reruns (she started out as one of the Fly Girls in that show) and anytime HBO and Showtime or any of those premium channels play one, if not, all of her films she starred in. Hell, they could've had Pebbles, an late 80's pop artist and L.A. Reid's ex, as one of the judges since she made TLC famous in the 90's instead.

But then again, its television. They do whatever they can to draw ratings and controversy to garner attention, especially in the case of American Idol which they have been fluent to for years. From the looks of things, I don't plan on watching the auditions this upcoming season as I did before, which again, is the only reason I watch this show.

It amazing I made an American Idol post by mentioning everyone except Ryan Seacrest, who's not going anywhere next season. I can't wait for the U.S. version of Simon Cowell's X-Factor to murk and shit on this program. Alot of people are gonna jump ship to watch and probably audition for this instead of American Idol, which is another change in the making.

Playin' House

Hugh Laurie is gifted. Who else can I think of that can talk in an American accent while the dude in real life speaks in a British accent outside the cameras, including the Canon EOS 5D Mark II from last season's finale. That's mad skills.

Everyone in the mobile phone market is bitching, complaining and cheating

I thought it was only pregnant women who do that.

"The Freak" is back in the Twin Cities

Now Randy Moss will finally get to play with Brett Favre in the NFC "Norris Division", just like he said at a press conference back around the end of the 2004-05 season.

I don't believe in Horoscopes, but she spoke the fuckin' truth

My birthday is in the 5th of March by the way, which is a long time for me to turn 23

The final week of September and the first two days of October

I felt so fuckin' messed up when I woke up this morning like I have the flu or something. I always tend to fall asleep for the past few hours. I wanted to write this last night but my body keeps feeling like its stuffed with those pink things they put inside the walls during the construction of homes.

Speaking of pink, this month is Breast Cancer Awareness month, so you're gonna see alot of people wear that color frequently, even guys will sport it also. I don't personally know anyone who was diagnosed with that disease but the only person that I can think of was Gilda Radner, who was one of the first ever cast members of Saturday Night Live as the "Not Ready For Primetime Players" group. She was one of breakout stars on that show in the 70's, but then her personal life was much deeper than her television career. In the late 80's Gilda Radner was supposed to host the Season Finale of Saturday Night Live in May of 1988 (two months after I came here to this thing called life) but it didn't happen cause the writers were on strike that year, shortening the television season just like it did in 2007. The following year she died of ovarian cancer, on the same day of the season finale of the 1988-89 season of Saturday Night Live. That lead to the start of the recognition and awareness of the disease that cause Gilda Radner's passing.

I wrote this cause I was a huge fan of Saturday Night Live 9 years ago in Junior High school. I watched all the repeats they aired on Comedy Central and E! that time and did extensive research on the show's history at the public libraries and by talking to people who watched the show back in the 70's. ABC aired a television movie in April 2002 called Gilda Radner: Its Always Something. I recorded it when it aired, and the VHS tape all of a sudden broke when I tried to play it back the following week. I was really upset that day, cause that was the only time that they would air that movie, and it wasn't out on home video, even to this day.

Anyway I just recap the past week day by day. It wasn't a very great week for a lot of people. There were a lot of deaths that happened among other personal problems. I, for one hand, didn't have any problems this week, cause I made it great.

SUNDAY

Spent the previous Saturday night at South Bay covering a Nigerian party with my uncle at a hotel on Torrance, mostly taking photos of the Nigerian women there who should be models, seriously. I wanted to drive back home since it ended at 3 in the morning, but my uncle freaked out since he didn't want me driving that late (I've done it many times before), so he got me a hotel room in Gardena because we have to be at a Baby Christening on Sunday morning. Then the following morning we drove to the Church, took photos and video of the event, and I left with $200 that he paid me. I then drove to Samy's Camera to buy some rolls of film, and then ventured to the Grove a block up Fairfax. I chilled at the bar inside the Cheesecake Factory there and ate Onion Rings along with their side salad and Strawberry Lemonade. I met this black guy there who was new to Los Angeles and I told him about some of the other sports bars in the Southland. He told me that works for the government and that he came from Florida. Dude was chill to talk to. Then he gave me his business card as I left.

I drove back to the valley cause there was an House warming party/Art showcase at a band members house show just moved into in Granada Hills. I didn't stay too long cause I had to go to Frank's house later, so I just took some photos with the Nikon N70 film camera and gave them $5 as a to show support as a donation. After that I got home, took a quick shower, bought pizza from both Dominos Pizza and Little Ceasers Pizza so that Frank and I can feast at his place while watching Sunday Night Football with the New York Jets against the Miami Dolphins.

MONDAY

The infamous, surprisingly, self-proclaimed "hottest record breaking day in the history of Los Angeles". I so happened to be near downtown Los Angeles on that day taking care of some business and I was wearing my black Nike t-shirt I got from Santa Monica the week before, which was a bad mistake. Before that, I was at Nicole's place to chill for a bit until she had to step out with her kids. Then I drove to the University of Southern California to pick up a T-shirt at their book store. I haven't been inside the campus since I worked at their graduation as a photographer's assistant back in May. For some reason, it felt like a regular blazing Southern California day, since I didn't notice any 113 degrees feeling as I walked around USC. The book store has a lot of pricey stuff there, including USC colored Hawaiian T-shirts for $90. I think certain people call the USC acronyms "University of Spoiled Children" for that reason.

I then drove to Samy's Camera again, taking the same route as I took the day before cause I drove by USC yesterday from Gardena. I went to pick up my film prints that were dropped off the week before to be developed. They came out VERY nice. I then went to the Grove again to take some photos of Tori Spelling and her family for the first time at Barnes and Noble for a meet and greet that night. There were too many mothers and little rugrats screaming in the bookstore while she was signing autographs, but Tori is nice and chill. Finally took a cruise up Mulholland Drive afterwards, which is hella nice to drive at night. I totally recommend it if you're going through some shit or wanna start creating a family by parking at a cliff to glance an overview of the Valley.

TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY

I didn't do that much on Tuesday, except dring all the way to Fry's Electronics for an interview that I applied at back in June. I completely forgot that I applied there. I talked to one of the other candidates for the job. Her story was very sad to hear, that she and her fiancé of 9 years both got laid off from their jobs and they have a kid to raise. I felt sorry for her so I had to give her a ride home cause she was planning on taking the Metro and walking to her place, which is in the Canoga/West Hills border, on triple digit weather. On Wednesday, I spent the entire day with my friends from high school Arlene and her sister Darlene taking photos of one of their close friends at different places from Simi Valley to Zuma Beach to a park in Malibu. Shot the whole thing on film. We were gonna go to Fairfax, but it was getting late so we just went back home. The whole experience turned out great. Thanks Arlene and Darlene.

THURSDAY

Spent the latter first half of the day working on my updated Flickr profile. Then I jetted to a studio in Reseda to watch my friend Nicole's band practice for a show they got coming up the next day. It was really hot in there, with the band members practicing without their shirts. The practice lasted for two to three hours and its was great. I wanted to come with them to an afterparty at one of the member's house, but I had to stay and help these other dudes who either work at the studio or must be part of some band group cause their car wouldn't start. I took my jumpstart kit and tried to jump their car, which is a Saturn sedan from the late 1990's. It wasn't the battery but it turned out to be the starter after one of the dudes jammed it with some type of bar, which got the engine to start.

FRIDAY

Went to go see Nicole's group called Darger De Milo perform at the Tribal Cafe in Echo Park near downtown Los Angeles. The place looks like a general store straight out of Laurel Canyon, with a Hawaiian/African theme in the exterior and inside the place. There were alot of underground bands that performed there also, which was excellent. I met this random Nigerian woman in there who forgot that it was the 50 anniversary of the country's independence from the United Kingdom, so I had to remind her. She told me that she does just about everything, from filmmaking to photography to producing and booking acts among other things, and she lives next door to the Tribal Cafe. I wish I got the Darger De Milo performace on video instead of just stills, cause it was just too damn brilliant. Then we chilled at one of the other band memebers place in the West Valley. I known her from Kennedy High since the 11th grade. Thank you Nicole for the ride to and from the performance.

SATURDAY

Was supposed to go to an album release party for this underground band, but I had to take my brother to a Nigerian 50th anniversary Independence youth party in Ontario. Was supposed to take my brother there, but I had to go help with my uncle take photos at a party that night. Was supposed to help my uncle, but he called me in the last minute to tell me that they hired another camera crew to cover the event, so I spent the night watching College Football highlights on ESPN. The Stanford/Oregon game was the most impressive game of the day, yet USC lost against Washington courtesy of a botched field goal kick from the Trojans. Just another stale Saturday. I could've made money that night.....from helping my uncle, not from College Football games.

Well, that was how my week went. If I wasn't doing anything, then there wouldn't be alot to write. Make this month great for yourself, cause there's two more before the end of the year, and it'll be gone within a flash.