A Cold Hearted, Winter Breakdown

Yeah, I haven't been here in a month, but that's not too important.

Just recently a few hours ago, there was a massive shooting spree at an elementary school in Newton, Connecticut. Various news sources estimated that between 27-30 lives were claimed, with 18 school children as part of it. I don't like to discuss about shit like this, but I had to recognize this tragedy since it took place at an uncertain time just as the holiday season is underway.

There are two things many people might do from this. They can cry and pray for the families of the kids and the school affected by this or they can just ignore it so that it won't distract their holiday spirit. I'm not saying which one to choose, but to me, my concern is the kids that witnessed the shooting there. I mean, they're are probably on their last day of the school year before the start their Christmas break, and now instead of looking forward to sitting on the lap of a part-time St. Nick in the mall, they're gonna have this terrible devastation being tattooed in their memory forever. It coincidentally weird cause I was just watching the movie 44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shootout over the weekend and I lived in North Hollywood when the actually robbery took place at the Bank Of America in Laurel Canyon Boulevard back in February 28, 1997, just five days before my 9th birthday. I was in school that time and once the shots went out, which I didn't hear despite being two and a half miles from that Bank of America, the LAPD suddenly came during recess and we all had to be locked down in our classrooms for the rest of the day. Crazy shit.

The massacre that took place in Sandy Elementary School in Connecticut wasn't the only tragedy that happened this month. Just at the beginning of December, a player of the Kansas City Chiefs offed himself in front of the coaching staff, including head coach Romeo Crennel. A few hours before that, he took the life of his then girlfriend at his apartment. I didn't even watch the NFL that weekend because of that, but I was surprised that Coach Romeo Crennel actually coached the team the following day against the Carolina Panthers, which the Chiefs won that game. I mean, THE MAN SAW HIS OWN PLAYER TAKE HIS LIFE AWAY, AND THAT'S REAL SHIT. Typically, I'd think he'd be in shock or emotionally affected from witnessing that mess but somehow he went strong and went to work the next day. The Kansas City Chiefs could've gave him the week off or two and let the assistant coaches substitute for him, but that's just my opinion. Honestly, the league should just give him the berth for the Coach of the Year award, cause going out in public after seeing someone's life being claimed in person takes serious guts.

As far as the families of the students in Newton, Connecticut, their Chirstmas/Holiday plans are now fucked from today's massacre, even some of the parents who's kids were thankfully safe. Again, I really don't like to talk about stuff like this during the holidays, but that just shows that not everyone is perfect. I give my sincere best and condolences to everyone that made it safe and the families of the students from Sandy Elementary School. A tragic way to start the winter break that every child looks forward to. Shit like eventually happens, yet, as a resolution for the holidays and the New Year, we all just don't want it to happen. Thanks for your time reading and make it a great weekend.

Well, that happened

Barack is back for four more years. Not totally surprised about the result, but its not like he's going anywhere. I knew that was coming cause most Americans are already used to him so far, and his wife is doing a fantastic job by making kids in this country more active and healthy. The other thing is that everyone is completely different in terms of diversity and beliefs, which is why most relationships don't last. But nonetheless, they still manage to work progress together, even if they don't like each other at the office or on the Junior Varsity basketball team inside the team bus.

What's going to happen during the period of Barack's second term? I'm not really too sure since I don't like predicting shit, but all I know is that everything will be different (including the adult industry business in the San Fernando Valley) and people will grow older and think maturely by the time Barack and his family are due out of the white house four Election days from now, which I'll be 28 at that time. This recent Election didn't feel as crazy and buzzed as the previous Election 4 years ago in 2008. Everyone (specifically minorities and twenty-sometings) was in good spirits then. I remember the following day when I took the Orange line on my way to Pierce College at the time I was attended there, and once the transit door open, the driver greeted me like it was the movie Pleasantville in the 1950s. In other words, he was fucking happy, and that was the first time I've seen a driver that enthusiastic just from Barack winning the Election over John McCain. The dude was black, if that matters. But from this recent Election, people (except Mitt Romney supporters) are still happy that he won. Again, I REALLY don't like discussing politics, but all I can say is that as long as Barack knows what he doing and performs it for the next four years, then I'm straight with that. Oh and he should tighten up his Secret Service clique and stop having restaurant managers lift him up among other things. I know he's having fun and all, but still, its a non stop job he positioned with, and his crib at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave is a fishbowl that everyone is looking at.

Alright, well now Barack is back to where he left off in his work instead of somebody else, such as Mitt Romney for that matter, taking his place. Special thanks to Nicole and Jon Stetter for letting me watch the Election at their place on Tuesday night. Oh and Diane Sawyer is fucking hot for her age. You can totally dislike and disagree on anything that I type on here or yell at me as much as you want, but I'm just giving my thoughts about the 2012 Presidential Election. Thanks for your time reading this.

November to Remember

Already a year since I took this photo in Downtown Los Angeles.

That was during the Occupy: Los Angeles protest at city hall park, probably one of the most epic experiences I ever witnessed. I didn't participate in the whole Occupy movement and I wanted to photograph the protesters in Downtown cancelling and transferring their accounts that they already regret  to credit unions during "National Bank Transfer Day" (I took this photo the day before), but I couldn't because I had to cover my good friend Yvonne's baby shower that day. To see the photographs of the Occupy LA movement and photos from Yvonne's baby shower as well, check them out on my Facebook page in the photo albums.

So the next 24 hours will be the last 24 hours of advertisers and the media dousing us with which measures and propositions we should say Yes or No to, as well as President Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney doing whatever they can to get American citizens to make each said candidate chill inside the White House until January 2017, which is the month the "will-be" president -elect who was elected two months prior will be sworn in. For those who are voting, just make the best decision that you think is best. Nothing else more since I don't really talk about politics on this blogsite, but I will make a post either tomorrow night or the Wednesday after pertaining to Election Day. Should be interesting.

Oh and the Lakers finally won their first game last night since May 18 of this year during the NBA playoffs against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Instead of witnessing it, I was going back and forth between Sunday Night Football and a new episode of The Simpsons. I remember when I used to look forward to Sunday Night Programs just every week back in the day, whether its was a new episodes of King of the Hill, The Simpsons, and The Worlds Funniest with James Brown (who was on NFL on Fox that time). If they were on repeats, I'd be watching some Sunday Night movie that ABC would usually air. I watched some TV last night just from spending most of last week by coming across some old ass episodes of Futurama. Shit, I used to be INTO that show, especially during the first season when it was on Fox back in early 1999. I would be drawing Fry and Bart Simpson in 5th Grade every day, but I wish I hadn't stop. If I was still into it, then I would've gone to a couple of Comic-Cons in San Diego since Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons and Futurama) is there all the time, as well as the Futurama voice-cast doing table readings at one of the panel discussions. 

Now that shit is so hard to get into, and I always hear that their website servers always get clogged up with traffic on the day the tickets are sold. Not into Comic-Con that much now, but hopefully next year, they have enough bandwidth and tickets so that everyone, including those who have been trying to attend for the past several years, should be fortunate enough to obtain the tickets. As an alternative, the San Diego Comic Con staff should pull what Coachella did and have two separate weekends of the event, but to have each attendee go for one weekend so that it would be fair to other seeking attendees. It will still sell out if that happened. Fuck, they should have Comic-Con on a cruise now that Coachella is going to do the same next month, but I think that probably won't take place due to some attendees with a chance of sea sickness or if some character dressed in a costume gets tossed overboard into the sea by trying to fix the zipper. Speaking of conventions, I can't wait for the LA Auto Show at the end of this month. I also spent the weekend walking to my homegirl Nicole Stetter's house from my pops house just to catch up on stuff for a bit cause she and her kids had to step out. Great seeing her and her family again. 

Anyway, that it for now on this post. Thanks for your time reading this. 

Minding Over Business Matters

Welcome to November. One of the most important months of the calendar year to a couple degrees.

Some people will be blessed this month from "getting busy" on Valentines Day (I'll let you figure that out), some will let their Gillette Razors and electric shavers be rusted for thirty days to have their faces go from that 5 O'Clock shadow look to already being qualified for that Rick Ross/Zack Galifinakis swagger, and some will try not to make their moms catch you treating yourself "like an amusement park" and end up sharing a room with a sexy female being shown in a silhouette through the curtain like Estelle Costanza did Twenty years ago on Thursday night. I can go on about the Presidential Election next week and families camping out in front of a retailer during Thanksgiving for a 70 inch TV they don't really need with the money they don't really have on Black Friday, but I'm not going to discuss that for now.

Speaking of families, this is why November is so important. It one of the only times when all families can fly in from different parts of the country, if not, then different parts of the world. They spend a week from their schedules as they gather together to see how big their grand kids are and that conservative discussion in the back porch with that uncle having a heated debate with their father-in-law, along with that post grad twenty something nephew, on why some of the state propositions should've been decided the other way, as well as those optimistic group of high school cousins mistaking the Apple Cider with the White Wine next to that half eaten Turkey prepared by both mothers of the said married couple hosting the gathering, and that group of tomboyish half-sisters and their daughters rooting for the Detriot Lions during the annual Thanksgiving football games. Reminds me of watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and the OG Home Alone, but that's next month.

Moments like these need to last, cause once its gone, its gone. and that's what I'm here for, to capture those moments. Now, I know y'all have seen the Photography and Rates section of my site for anytime you should visit glanced at my business site, and it has alot of detail with the packages and stuff. As you also noticed, my prices are WAY lower than any other professional photographers rates. I'm aware of that, but to me, I really don't give a shit about the prices that much. I'm more focused in doing the perfect job and making the client feel satisfied and amazed on the finished product they requested and paid their money for. I wanted to do this for free when I first seriously started doing this four years ago, yet than again, I don't want people to think I'm shady or something and also, I'm not too comfortable of charging $500 for just a one hour photoshoot and additional money for getting the prints, or charging over $2000 for covering a wedding. Yes, I would like that also and yes, there are photographers say that they charge high is because of  the whole "Time is Money" ordeal (which is reasonable and legit), but THAT JUST ME THOUGH.

Again, I'm all about the quality (how well the photos turn out) over quantity (the prices, limited time, deadlines). If I really like you and think you're chill, than I even offer some special pricing as opposed to the standard rates I listed on my website. On that topic, to those who are confused on how the prices and packages work out, let me explain it to you.

RATES
$75 for Photoshoots
 50 per hour for Events
  150 per hour for Weddings

PHOTO PACKAGES
1 8x10= $10
Extra disc of Photos= $10 per disc
4x6 prints for photoshoots= 15
5x7 prints for photoshoots= 20
1 11x14 = $15 per photo

-Framing is $10 extra for 8x10 photo only
-Disc will include DVD slideshow and JPEG files, upon request of clients option
-Post Production on photos will last two weeks to a month depending on session 
-I accept cash and checks. Payment is made during the day after the session
-All photo sessions comes with a free disc of photos. Additional discs is extra. 

So say for example that you want to do a photoshoot session. I'm going to charge you $75, which covers the session and the free disc. The session is entirely unlimited, meaning I'll take as much photos as I can of the said subject and there's no time limit. Then after the session, we (myself and the client) go over the photos and pick out which ones are the best. Like, if I shot 50 photos, out of all of them, about 15 to 20 will be chosen for editing depending on the client's choice of selections. If he or she wants those 15 to 20 photos printed, then I'm going to charge him or her an additional $15 for prints in a 4x6 size and/or $20 for prints in a 5x7 size. That's about $90 to $95 so far. If he or she wants two extra discs to send to his or her relatives than that's an additonal $20 there, which totals up to $110 to $115.

The disc is made on DVD and it can be viewed on a HD Television or a computer. For Macs, just click on the disc icon in the desktop. For Windows, go to My Computer and click on the DVD drive. Some computers will play the slideshow automatically, especially on Macs. Just configure your settings on your computer to disable automatic DVD playback. I don't do the slideshows that much for photoshoots (unless if you want) but mostly for events and weddings since I take over 100 photos for those, and unlike the photoshoots where the client selects the photos, I select the photos for the events and weddings. If you want an 8x10 enlargement and the option to have it framed, that's gonna be $20 per photo ($10 for the enlargement and $10 for the framing).

So you looking at about no more than $120 just for a normal package for a photoshoot, whereas some other photographers charge twice more than that for their packages. I could've set the rates higher, but there are people out there who have financial issues or got extremely affected by the recession for the past four years, so that's why I edged away from the same high $500 average prices and gave those potential clients a break from their checkbooks. Speaking of which, the payment is made RIGHT after the photoshoot is complete. If you want to pay before the session, then that's fine. If you have anymore questions regarding the prices and the photosessions, then leave comments below, or hit me up on Facebook or Twitter or send me an email at justforsneaks07@gmail.com. In addition, for those seriously interested in getting their photos taken, please check out either my website or my Flickr page for some samples of my work to get the idea of how I take pictures and how I edit them. The links are on the top right of the page, and finally, please don't be that fucking asshole who wants a photoshoot but then stops keeping contact with me or just flakes out in the last minute. If you don't have the money, THEN DON'T EVEN BOTHER. Like I said, I wish I can do it for free, but I can't anymore, unless if I decide to cover an event on my behalf. Again, if you have any questions or interested, just hit me up.

Hopefully this clears out the confusion of  how I handle my rates and packages. Please DO NOT tell me on how to set my prices. I might even raise them a bit next year, but again, I'm not that concerned about money, but only on making the perfect photographs out there. Thanks for your time reading this.

Happy Day of the Dead... literally.

True story, courtesy of Hurricane Sandy. 

Sinking Sandy On Other Grounds

I don't even know if I had people in the east coast (New York, New Jersey, DMV area, Philidelphia, The Carolinas) reading this blogsite, but for those who have been reading this, get the fucking hell out of there and don't be like these two women taking gay-ass pictures of them in the storm to post on instagram.

Speaking of photography, the photo below this paragraph is just awesome. It is the best journalism photograph I've seen all morning. THAT'S THE MONEY SHOT RIGHT THERE, and it should be on the cover of the next National Geographic magazine like they did with Dorthy Lange's photograph of the Migrant Mother during the Great Depression. I don't know who the photographer is that shot this (probably somebody from the Associated Press or Getty Images), but that tells a story right there of the girl and her dog being amazed and surprised of Hurricane Sandy.

Why is Halloween Orange?

No comment. Ask the fucking-ass champs. Being frightened is optional. 

The Devil Wears Air Jordans

As a sneaker enthusiast, I can't believe I actually owned a pair of these.

I took this photo of those Air Jordan 1's at my homeboy Frank's crib just right after I purchased these just three years ago. I was actually in Chatsworth to pay off some fines I owe at the Courthouse there during that summer of 2009. I was doing security in the Antelope Valley then and I just got my first check from them which was $1,600 ($300 from that check went to the bank to clear off some bullshit holds I was too lazy to take care of then). So after that, while I was still in a good ass mood, I decided to drop by the Northridge Fashion Center to cop some stuff since I was within the area. I went to Champs to see what they have, and on the display, they have a pair of the Air Jordan 1 60+ pack that was released that summer, and this was a month after they dropped. Then a sales associate came up to me and asked me what size I wanted (similar to the Fire Red IV retros at the Finish Line I blogged about two months ago). I told him my size (12 and 13) and he went to the back to see if it was available. I first, I though we were wasting out times since I assumed that the pack was sold out and they only had the smallest size available, but apparently to my surprise (again, like the Fire red IV story) he walked out with two packs with the different sizes I asked for. 

I thought them shits was sold out as I asked him. He told that somehow, they still managed to have a full size run of the 60+ pack. Reason I thought they were gonna be sold out because of the Black/Red 1's that came with the pack, but I really wanted it for the Boston Celtics colorway of the Jordan 1's that was also included in the pack. (I don't like the Celtics, but I like how the colorway turned out on the shoe) Again, this was a month after it dropped and typically at that point, most of the original Air Jordan retros with the OG colorways are sold out within minutes after the sneaker stores open. Anyway, I bought the pack which turned up to be $310 plus tax IN RETAIL and then bounced with my new pairs of sneakers. I went to Franks house to take photos of the shoes with his camera, but mostly for the Black/Red 1's cause I was planning on not wearing them so that I can sell them. A month later, I sold those Black/Red 1's for a hundred bucks and still kept the Celtics colorway for another year until I sold those to my cousin on New Years Day 2011. 

To this day, I still imagined of what if I never sold those Black/Red 1's and what if I actually wore them. That shoe was retroed 3 times since it dropped in 1985 and they made another retro two years after that. The history behind this particular shoes was unusual if you think about it. 

Right after he was drafted into the NBA, Michael Jordan was invited by Nike executives to come check out a presentation that they did for him and to also have him sign with the company. Michael refused to go because he really (I mean, REALLY) wanted to sign with either Adidas or Converse cause not only were they the top selling basketball sneakers at in the mid 80's, but also, Michael wore when he was playing at North Carolina. Plus the two companies has athletes who won NBA championships endorsing them: Adidas had Kareem Abdul Jabbar who wears them in the NBA and Converse had Julius "Dr. J" Erving wearing their pair, along with Larry Bird and Earvin "Magic" Johnson as their spokespersons. At that time, Nike wasn't a big company. It was mostly geared towards running than Basketball (the Air Force 1 that released in 1982 sold decent, but it wasn't as hyped as the Converse Weapons and the Adidas Superstar), so that made the company invest and trust in Michael as the tried to sign him. 

In 1985, his parents forced him to go to Nike's headquaters in Beaverton, Oregon, and they went with him so that he wouldn't miss out on this offer. When they got there, the suits at Nike presented him a video presentation of the shoes that they constructed for him. After that, Michael was disgusted and said that he'll look like a clown wearing the devil's shoes. Eventually after Nike kept persuaded him and giving him a 2 Million dollar contract, Michael reluctantly gave in, signed the paper, and the rest, obviously, was fucking history. If he still refused to sign with them, then I wouldn't have stacks to Nike shoeboxes in my room and and several other sneaker enthusiasts wouldn't have stacks of Nike shoeboxes in their rooms as well. I think I'd be wearing Adidas Superstars or some generic Payless shoes had Michael never signed with Nike. That just shows how much impact that pair of those basketball shoes (which was retailed for $65 in 1985) made throughout the years. 

Well, tomorrow I have to go with the little brother to the Newbury Park Adventist Academy in the Conejo Valley so that he can take the ACT standardized test over there, then for the rest of next week it more meetings, worthless appointments and several kids (and adults) dressing up as one of the Angry Birds consuming too much sugar this upcoming Wednesday.  Thanks for your time reading this. 

Internationally Legal and Tender

Well, this happened.....

I'll let the link below to explain it.

Dude pays 780 G's to pop her cherry for a cause  

Taylor Swift is a True Blood

Yes, this is the second time I mentioned Taylor Swift as a blog post title, and no, this post has nothing to do with her or that TV Show True Blood. Though her new record Red has just dropped in stores... I mean on the iTunes store, Targets and Wal-Marts this past week, and it looks likes the shades of the media glamorizing her circa 2009 won't be fading off soon. She should do a collaboration with The Game, which I doubt, but that would be unimaginably sick.

So I met up with my homegirl Cecila in Mission Hills last Friday. Haven't seen her since January, so we pretty much caught up with each other lives. I also gave her an early birthday present, which is a framed 8x10 photo that I photographed of her, with her bass guitar, performing with Aftergloam last year in Eagle Rock. She really liked it, which motivated me to focus in more on my work. Also, she does graphic design and photography as well, so click on the link in the top right of this page with her name on it to check out her website. Her work is very brilliant. Thanks again, Cecilia.

As for the weekends, nothing else I can say about them. They've been stable, so I just used that time to edit some photos, research for some inspirations for future photosessions, plugging my photography business, discovering a lot of unheard 80's music, driving around with my pops, exploring new options like making JustForSneaks Ent. t-shirts (which might be a possibility in the future) and spending countless hours on Flickr commenting on other peoples photos (you can should check out my Flickr photostream on the link of the top right). Yeah, that kinda sounds boring, but hell, doing boring shit pays off well at the end.

I have to go do some stuff with the little brother today and take some papers to Downtown LA, so it looks like I might miss the livestream of Apple's event presentation of the iPad Mini and a bunch of other updated hardware that Tim Cook's gay-ass is going to introduce (they're ACTUALLY doing a livestream for once). Oh, and I want the Detroit Tigers to destroy the San Francisco Giants in the World Series. Thanks for your time reading this, even though this should no more than 60 seconds to read this. 

The Less Likely Trail Nixed Flavor

So Pops just fucked up my weekend plans yesterday.

The transmission in his Lexus LS400 just blew out and now he's gonna be driving my brother's whip that I've been using until who-knows-when his car will be fixed. I had a lot of shit planned out this weekend such as birthday parties, meeting people that I haven't seen in a year, networking gatherings at hotels to promote my business and hell, I was even thinking of photographing the Endeavor spaceship as it strolls around the streets of Los Angeles from LAX to the California ScienCenter on Saturday, but it won't happen. I thought he was gonna rent a car or use his wife's Benz for work like he always does, yet, high fuel prices and other matters wouldn't let him do that. Otherwise, had that not happen, then I would've wrote out a dope-ass weekend recap on Monday.

On a serious note, and I don't want to ask for favors, but for those who really, and I mean REALLY are infatuated on viewing my photos (as you should be) and the stuff I type on here that I upload every other day for the past several years, please, do me a fucking simple solid and leave some comments or feedback on them. Hell, fuck "liking" them or pressing the favorite button, JUST LEAVE SOME FEEDBACK (not on all of them, but just the photos you like or find totally interesting). Anything other than "Nice photo" or some fucking bullshit one word response isn't enough. Most of y'all reading this are adults, so a legitimate response would be an issue to type out. I spent about an average of two hours at least to type up an regular blog post and 30 minutes to re-read, edit out some stuff and re-type the second draft of the post. For my photos, I spend about 45 minutes to an hour (not a misprint) per photo retouching, sharping, adjusting the color temperature, and enhancing the images, as well as scanning 35mm prints that throws in some more additional time. A set of photos like a wedding or a birthday party event takes forever to edit, so if you can just use some of your time to look at them and give me your honest opinions about them, that would REALLY help me shoot better next time, seriously. That goes for all the photos I post on my Facebook, instagram, Flickr, and my Nobody Reads Anymore Wordpress blog. Again, just leave feedback or some comments. Many thanks.

Well, I'll end this here. I have to go do some laundry and then I have to head out to the bank later today cause I owe those fools 50 bucks in unexpected overdraft fees. Have a nice, safe drunk weekend, and in closing, a birthday shoutout to the wonderful homegirl Lucy Hakverdian today. She also keeps a blog as well. Check it out and subscribe. http://olive-loo.blogspot.com/

The Best from the Worst

Bezold Photography hasn't gone anywhere.

After a month in hiatus without taking portraits of spoiled screaming kids and their soft parents, I got a call last week from my boss that he wants me to shoot over the weekend. We're not at the Topanga mall anymore, but I had to work at two different locations in the Valley over the weekend: the Lucky supermarket in Van Nuys Boulevard and Sherman Way and the Bezold Photography flagship studio in the Burbank Town Center.

Now why did I bring up the Lucky supermarket? Well, one of my co-workers that brings in the clients lives in Van Nuys not too far from the store and he talked the store manager into hooking us up with the wine supply room there as a small pop-up studio to set up for the portraits. That Saturday, my boss brought a background along with some old school strobes to set up and a old first generation Canon Rebel for me to photograph that delivers very good results in its images. I spent majority of the day there and it was totally slow. I had three clients come in and they were super mad chill. The first one was an lady in her early thirties with her toddler son, another was a regular typical Valley suburban family with a couple and their two kids, and the final client of the day were two elderly Hispanic women with twin girls who are about 15 months. They were my favorite to photograph of the whole day since they smiled alot. Somehow that Saturday went by so quick despite being there for 9 hours.

During the slow downtime at Lucky when there were no customers, I used that time to walk around and browse the supermarket for a bit and read a few magazines. I remember walking to this Lucky several times nine years ago when I lived in Van Nuys with my pops back then, but it was called Albertsons at the time. Now the store is about to be closing in a month cause Albertsons, who also own that Lucky store, is shutting down most of their stores in California. They already closed down the one behind my old high school a year ago. I talked with a bloke who works at that Lucky and he told me that they've been going through alot of shit from cutting staff to reducing hours. He also told me that he's been working there for 20 years and that he doesn't know where he might be transferred to, or if he's actually gonna be working. I would never thing that a store like Albertsons would be falling under since the economy collapsed and shifted since 2008 cause they sell necessary produce and other accessories that everybody needs. Right now they are starting their liquidation sales to rid of everything cause the store looked damn near empty that Saturday. 

Then on Sunday, I drove to the Burbank Town Center (or Media City Center for all the Valley OGs) for the first time in a year to cover at the Bezold Photography studio there. When I was at Topanga, my co-workers kept telling me about that place all the time, yet I don't remember seeing it everytime I go to that mall. The studio is decent and it has a good amount of space. Other than that, it was the same process when I was at Topanga. Families came in with their kids dressed up in vintage clothing, with some of them crying and running around. Again that day also went by quick, but we had 6 clients that day to get their photos taken. During downtime, I was watching some NFL football on a TV that was posted from a smoothie bar across my studio. They were showing the Eagles at Steelers game in which Pittsburgh won the game with the field goal literally at the last second to cut Philadelphia's lead and also some of the Broncos/Patriots game. That shit should've been a Sunday Night game cause of the hyped up rivarly between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady (which is already played out since Manning left Indianapolis) instead of San Diego and New Orleans hosting Sunday Night Football, but props to the Saints for winning their first game of the season without Coach Sean Payton and their key defensive players who are suspended for a while. Again, that day went by quick.

Yes, I'm aware of the fuel prices being spiked for the past week and some stations even breaking the 5 dollar a gallon mark. Hell, even Costco and the independent gasoline stations had to shut down their business cause they ran out of fuel and couldn't afford to buy more. I stopped by my sisters' house in North Hollywood after work and we discussed how times are tough now and nothing is soft and easy as it was in the past. Right now she's grinding by still working at 24 Hour Fitness and interning for this Physician in Beverly Hills. I also stopped by to give her the grey Primitive t-shirt with Rachel Metz's eyes printed on it that I promised her before she went to Nigeria over the Summer.

Its tough as hell now. Actually,  its been like that for the past four years, but I'm not bitching too much about it. Nowadays you have to know somebody that knows somebody in order to work at a decent job cause most lower-level companies and stores are scared and insecure to hire anybody who plans to quit after three months working there after all the money they paid for his uniform and training orientation among other things. I've brought this up many times like somebody's moms from the mid-twentieth century, so if your not doing anything, start doing whatever it is your good at and develop it  to the point where you not only receive some compensation in return, but also enjoyment out of it as well. That's how it was with myself and photography. Fuck, I can even imagine how Economics class is being taught in high school nowadays since the recession. Either the teacher is all like "All right class, your future is fucked and y'all will never find work" or the teacher is probably teaching his or her class the same stuff but with more emphasis so that the student will make smart, legitimate financial decisions after they graduate (or stop attending high school if that matters). All I can say is that just stay tough and manage yourself properly. Start from the basics again if you have to and shoutout to all the moms with minivans and SUVs that have to commute with their kids at least halfway across the Valley during the times of high fuel prices.

That last paragraph seemed predictable and always repeated, but hey, I have friends and acquaintances who lost their jobs the past few weeks and shit hasn't been smooth for them. By the way, I'm thinking of checking out this singer Ellie Goulding doing an appearance at Amoeba Records next week since I heard "Lights" and some of her other songs at the clubs and stores I've been to this past year, and I need to cop some more Vinyls there. If you're down to go, let me know. Anyways, thanks for your time reading this.

Acting Crazy in Los Angeles

Weekend was quick. Went to church and missed out on Week 4 of the NFL.

I watched the movie Falling Down starring Michael Douglas last night. I fucking loved that film. I discovered it from an article I read about last weekend's closure of the 405 Freeway, one of the most overhyped waste of journalism I've ever seen. because in Falling Down, it relates to the traffic that was featured in the beginning of the film. Michael Douglas' character is very similar to Kevin Spacey's character in American Beauty (one of the BEST films ever made) in which the subject is fed up of dealing with all the uninteresting bullshit and life's recurring display of uncomfortable negativity from other people, so he does something about it. I don't want to recap the entire film, but my suggestion is just watch Falling Down, and the best part is that it took place in Downtown Los Angeles and Venice Beach in the early 90's.

Speaking of Michael Douglas, I want to check out his biography he just released, as well as Arnold Schwarzenegger's autobiography that is always on the news everyday I wake up. He doing a book signing at The Grove this Friday evening but I won't be able to make it cause I might have to take some photos that day. Last time I saw Arnold was 4 years ago in Beverly Hills after he got his haircut, and at that time he was the Governor of this state, which is something I honestly thought would never happen from watching The Terminator, Twins, and Jingle All the Way among other things before 2003.

Before I finish, quick birthday shoutouts this month to friends and acquaintances:  Ning Young, Quintin Barry, Corina Andujo, Phillip Gonzalez, Randy Mendoza, Elvis Galvez, Justin and Nesi Napod, Lucy Hakverdian, Desiree Elyda Villalobos, Mando De La Torre, Paul Zavala, Cecilia Navaratte, Alberto Mujica, Robin Kanouse, Jon Stetter, and Cassandra Cootz. Anyways, thanks for your time reading this.

San Diego On The Side

Got back from spending 8 hours in the Six-One-Nine last night. I'm driving next time.

Getting there on the Greyhound bus was alright, but getting back had some flaws. Some skinny-ass Ricky Williams looking fool randomly sat next to me out of all the other empty seats on board, including this one empty seat next to an attractive pregnant chick. But when we stopped at Oceanside real quick, he switched seats to sit with another dude. Homeboy just broke "the man code". No dude should ever sit next to another dude, unless there are no seats available. Just wanted to bring that up.

As far as being back at San Diego for the day, man that shit was awful. Haven't dropped by there since last summer. Had to wait two hours for the moms to pick me up, so I used most of that time to walk around Petco Park, which was VERY close by to the station and strolled around the GasLamp district in downtown San Diego. There's literally a different restaurant/bar next to each other as I walk up 5th Avenue just like how there's a different Quincenera boutique store in the San Fernando Mall strip, and each one has a sexy early to mid twenties female greeter/server. Also, you really don't need a car for this area. I mean, you got Petco Park and the San Diego Convention Center (where Comic-Con is hosted every damn summer) like right next to each other which is good enough walking distance. There's also a Westfield Horton mall there, which I didn't go inside yesterday but it is worth checking out for it's Alice in Wonderland-type interior as an outdoor mall. I checked out this place called The Attic, which is San Diego's version of Primitive and Active Ride Shop, but it wasn't as boosted as I thought it was. Place had alot of streetwear brands but they don't carry Nike SB out of all the other Nike shoes they have, so I just took their business card as a little souvenir.  I wanted to look for another local San Diego boutique called 5&A Dime, but I had to get back to the Greyhound station to meet up with the moms.

After she picked me up, we chilled at her place for a bit before we left for the game. I ate some pizza and watched some Pac-12 action featuring the overhyped-ass Josh Nunes and the Stanford Cardinals go against the Washington Huskies. As I was watching that game, I realized that tonight was Thursday and that there was an NFL game going on. So I switched to that only to see an injury timeout that had both players of the Ravens and the Browns gather a Cleveland Browns teammate being knocked out to the ground or something. After 30 seconds, I was like "Fuck this" and then switched back to the Cardinal/Huskies game.

We were supposed to be inside Petco Park at 7PM, but because the moms was behind on certain things, we got there an hour later, which I didn't really mind cause we got the tickets for free and it wasn't at Dodger Stadium, otherwise I'd start trippin'. It was already the top of the 5th inning when we got to our seats that were located at Top Deck. It was my first time stepping inside Petco Park and it felt like going to an Angels game. The whole place looked brand new and the vibe there look like a tourist attraction venue than an actual Baseball Stadium. Plus their Top Deck wasn't as high as Dodger Stadium's top deck view. They also have a big ass park behind the pavilions where families who don't know anything about the sport can just have their kids run around and chill. Its one of those places where you have to check out (not experience) for once if you live in LA. I kept the shit talking to the Padres fans on a minimum cause the moms was there since many of them were going off on the Dodgers whenever they were on the infield. We left at the 7th inning stretch cause the moms wanted to get back to Los Angeles with me before midnight, which I didn't mind skipping since I wanted to go back home also, but it was great to see the Dodgers in their away jerseys for the first time and to check out Petco Park. Oh and I still hate the Padres, who got fucked in the Whale's Vagina thanks to the Dodgers defeating them after I checked the results when I got home.

Anyway, that's just a recap from my quick time down there. Oh and instead of driving on the freeways and trying attempt the "Gangnam Style" with a Flash Mob crew on the empty 405 freeway (saw people doing that shit at the game last night. What the fuck?) this weekend, stop by Primitive on 17060 Ventura Boulevard in Encino for their big sale going on this weekend. They got shirts there starting at 10 bucks so if you've lived in the Valley whole life, its a must to cop something from there. Thanks for your time reading this and have a safe, drunk weekend.

Slickness in and from Seattle

Shit, week 3 the NFL this past weekend.

I really didn't want to say alot about the games from last Sunday, as well as the Monday Night Football game in Seattle, where the Seahawks won against the Green Bay Packers in a controversial Hail Mary catch at the end zone in the final second. The same situation happened in Super Bowl XLVI earlier this year, but the only difference was that it the Hail Mary catch between the Patriots defense and the Giants offense was as legit as the Monday night game. Hell, that game got so much attention, that it turned Las Vegas 180 degrees upside down, by having all the bookies in Vegas receiving $300 million which gave the betters a serious "bad case of the Mondays". Talking about poetic justice, I read this morning after I woke up that one casino offered to refund those who place a bet for Green Bay to win against Seattle right after the craziness that happened at the game thanks to the Foot Locker Employees.... I mean, the replacement referees.

I spent most of Tuesday on Twitter (@justforsneaks) re-tweeting a grip of funny-ass comments from people talking about that ending and making jokes and comparison between the National Football League and the XFL, as well as Commissioner Roger Goodell's phone number being leaked from a fake-ass Clay Matthews Facebook page (that number was real). I also listened to ESPN radio right after the game and during my sleep hearing the broadcasters losing their minds, not just from the Monday Night Game but from the other shit from Week 3, from 3 bizzare overtime games that included the Titans 44-41 victory over the Detroit Lions, to the Sunday Night Football game where the Patriots lost to the Ravens that made Bill Belichick lose 50 G's in fines for just getting a foreign rookie substitute teacher's.... I mean, the replacement ref's attention by touching him. But that Monday night game though, I think its gonna die out as soon as Week 4 gets underway but it will be talked about again once it gets brought up in the future.

Other than that, weekend was super low key. Was supposed to go to a birthday party and an Emmy's after party but I wasn't in the mood of dealing with champagne-steaming drunks. I took my old high school classmate to go witness sisters Nancy and Ann Wilson of Heart get their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame yesterday. Haven't been to a star unveiling ceremony since Scarlett Johansson's ceremony back in May, and out of 10 ceremonies I've been to for the past six years, this is the first one that I didn't bring my camera to take photos of the event. Instead, I brought my copy of their 1987 Bad Animals LP that I bought from Amoeba Records a few years ago, but the only thing that sucks is that the vinyl keeps skipping and looping improperly whenever I play it, and its one of my favorite Heart albums since I was bred with their music when I was a kid (the parents always played "Never" "Alone" and "These Dreams" in the car back in the day). We got there at around 7:30 in the morning since I knew that there were going to be several women in their 50's that were going to skip work (or those that aren't working or retried) to not miss this, in which more did show up later, so it was a regular decent crowd. Damn, Nancy Wilson looked freakin' FANTASTIC at her age, and her sister Ann seems chill as fuck just from hearing her voice over the speakers as she was giving her acceptance speech.

At the end of the event after being interviews by at least 35 different media groups, the Wilson sisters signed everyone's Heart LP's (I was the first one they signed) and their new book that they just came out recently. My friend is going to their book signing tomorrow at the Barnes and Noble at The Grove tomorrow and I'm not. Not because I didn't plan on going since I just saw them in person, but I have to go to freakin' San Diego tomorrow to go watch the Dodgers take on the San Diego Padres at Petco Park with the moms. This will be the fourth Baseball park that I'll be visiting (I've been to Dodger Staduim of course, Angel Stadium when it was known as Edison International Field back in the late 90's, and Citizen's Bank Arena during my pops business trip ti Philadelphia back in 2006) and the first Dodgers away game that I'll be attending. I wanted to drive down there but she insisted that I take the Greyhound bus there. Never been on one of those, but it never hurts to accept a challenge.

Anyway, thanks for taking your time reading this and I swear, Facebook is making birthdays more boring and uninteresting nowadays. No offense but I can't imagine anyone with over 1,200 friends which make it have like at least 9 birthday notifications a day or some shit like that. Just wanted to bring that up, and if it you're tired of the constant birthday notifications, you can always deactivate your account and move up to Seattle to watch a rainstorm while drinking Black Coffee and hearing a Nirvana cover band performing acoustically at the OG Starbucks to get you mind elsewhere.

Oh and here's my Bad Animals album that Ann and Nancy Wilson signed, taken from a piece of shit outdated iSight camera from the iMac at my place in Sylmar. They're also from Seattle, if that matters.

Nothing in the Air

Today should've been "National Hooky Day in LA" since majority of Angelinos put their work shifts and college classes on hold to witness the Endeavor Space Shuttle flying over Los Angeles throughout the day, along with the release of the new iPhone 5 that many people broke out of their current two-year cell phone provider contracts just to get. Hell, even parents pulled their kids out of school to witness one of each, or both, and the media was all over this today as it made it the top story for 15 minutes.

Unfortunately, I didn't see the Endeavor. I could've though, but I didn't want to spend alot of time looking for parking and being stuck on weekend traffic in LA. Yet, I did take this photo of some sexy clouds hovering over the suburbs of Encino two years ago from an attorney's high rise office on Ventura Boulevard and spent the day re-editing it. I took it with my then old Sony Cybershot W290 point and shoot, not from a iPhone. 

Other than that, this is just a quick impromptu short post I decided to do just for the fuck of it. Not bashing the Endeavor's arrival, but honestly, that moment of it landing is one of those things you might want to tell your kids about, as the news media has been addressing it I guess. Anyways, have a nice safe weekend, of course. 

Fifth iPhone Avenue and a tribute to Steve Sabol

So last Tuesday, my favorite filmmaker of 10 years and the head of NFL Films Steve Sabol had passed away from Brain Cancer he was diagnosed with for the past year and a half.

For those of you who stay in touch with me on Facebook, Twitter, and my other websites (like you should be doing), you'd noticed that I wouldn't shut the fuck up about his death and kept flooding other people's comment walls and feeds with a number of tributes I did to him for the past two days. I'm not gonna make this extremely long or anything, but dude was the main reason I started doing filmmaking back in high school, which then lead to photography just from watching his videos of highlights from NFL games that he and his pops have been producing and conducting for over 40 years. I first got into NFL Films when I was ready to watch Super Bowl XXXVII back in 2003 between the Raiders and the Buccaneers (the Pirate Bowl, the Gruden Bowl which that game was referred to from the coincidental storyline and relationship that coach John had with both teams).

That game didn't start until later that afternoon and I had plenty of time to kill after I woke up. I then went to ESPN 2 and saw that they were showing highlights from the past Super Bowls. Prior to this, I wasn't into the NFL as I am now (I haven't watch any of the games yet this season other than the Thursday Night Opener) and they only things I knew about the league at that time was the popular teams like the Cowboys, Raiders and the New York Giants and the only players I knew were Joe Montana, John Elway, Emmit Smith and Troy Aikman. And on top of that, I watched Super Bowls then cause it was very popular with the commercials and the halftime show. That was it. I then spent the rest of the afternoon checking out the highlights, and in every one of them, Steve Sabol would introduce each highlight by giving a synopsis of that particular Super Bowl. I thought he was some washed up high school football coach from the 80's until two years later that I realized he was the founder of NFL Films. That company is a educational tool for those who want to get into pro football from a history aspect, and I'm saying this with experience. I really liked the way the cinematographers captured the athletes up close with their sound coming from the wireless mics attached to them, along with the slow motion and the behind the scenes in the locker room.

The main purpose of NFL Films is storytelling mixed with symphony music and narration from the deep voice narrators which makes watching their highlights like a movie screening at the Hollywood Bowl. If it wasn't for Steve Sabol and NFL Films, the I would've NEVER got into pro football, or professional sports for that matter, and I would've never enrolled at Brooks Institute of Photography for that summer. Hell, I would've been 30 pounds heavier by fixing and studying computers or doing whatever my moms forces me to do after high school without ambitions. I remember when I used to cop whatever out of print VHS and DVD that NFL Films would distribute, or I would just record some of the old highlights off ESPN Classic. But in short, dude was one of the top people I looked up to next to my parents, Steve Jobs, and Ted Turner (before he sold off from Time Warner and made TBS a piece of shit station). Also, Steve Sabol was one of the only few people in existence to have gone to EVERY FUCKING SUPERBOWL in his life, including the NFL championship games before the merger. Thanks again, Steve.

Alright, so that was kinda lengthy. Not only is photography what I'm good at, but writing/typing is also my second interest as well. I've been blogging for almost 6 years already. Speaking of which, check out this one blogsite from a woman out in New York City who is giving up a week to be one of first in line to camp out for the iPhone 5 in front of the Fifth Avenue Apple Store which drops in all other Apple Stores and other cell providers not called T-Mobile tomorrow. She's been keeping readers in touch about how she is occupying her time in front of the store, and its quite interesting to read. The woman's name is Jessica, if that matters. Here's the link http://iphonewhatever.com/

Thanks for your time reading and have fun skipping work and class tomorrow by standing in lines longer than Space Mountain and the DMV for the new four inch device that Samsung does not want you to purchase.

You're Only Live Once

First off, birthday shoutout to the homeboy Eric Jackson today. Very great person to get to known over the past two years. Here's a Christmas portrait I took of him and his family back in December 2009.

Thanks again to Eric, his brother Steven and his mother Teresa for letting photograph them during that holiday season. 

As for me, last week sucked. Alot of fucking high speed pursuit chases in Los Angeles made the Grand Theft Auto video game series look like a sequel to Gone in Sixty Seconds taking place in the early 90's. There was one in The Valley in which the driver of a purple Chevy Avalance rollin' on dubs (not joking) disappered into someone's random backyard in the Pacoima/Arleta border, like he vanished or some shit cause the California Highway Patrol (not the LAPD since the chase started on the freeway) and the K-9 unit spent the rest of the evening looking for him and they still haven't found the next day, which was the 11th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. Also on that day, there was another high speed chase. It had this fool parading the cops all over Los Angeles through Hollywood, the Westlake District and on Figueroa passing the Staples Center and LA Live. The pursuit finally ended when the suspect got out of his white mid 90's Honda Civic and got shot (still alive) by the Police. 

The next high speed chase was by far WAY UNEXPECTED that the other two. A couple of blokes busted into a Bank Of America up in Canyon Country just north of Newhall in the Santa Clarita Valley. Then, like old school stereotypical Bonnie and Clyde shit from back in the day, the took the banks money (which is really other people's money from their savings accounts) and ran off with it. They then sped all the way in their Volvo XC 90 crossover SUV to South Central Los Angeles and did something that nobody in the history of the world would ever do and would never do again... 

THEY MOTHERFUCKING MADE IT RAIN IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD BY TOSSING OUT HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS OF THE BANK'S MONEY OUT TO THE STREETS AND THAT SHIT GOT THE ENTIRE BLOCK OUTSIDE GOING CRAZY!!!!

Now this would be legal if it was their OWN money being thrown away, but since it was the banks and being in other people's accounts, it wasn't legal, which is why the cops were telling everyone in the hood to return the money back to them. It makes sense, but that would be impossible because I assume that most people were already getting set to purchase the new iPhone 5 that was just announced by Apple on that same day. Switching gears to the iPhone 5, that device looks cool. A bigger 4 inch screen and the back is no longer made of glass but with a aluminum finish instead, along with its new A6 processor and the option to use 4G LTE next generation cellular networking which they claim its downloads faster data while using the internet on it. I'm gonna wait till I play with this device so that I can express my full thoughts on it. Right now there are people in New York City who are actually giving up a week of their lives by camping out in front of the 5th Avenue Apple store (the one with the big-ass glass cube that never closes) so that they can be the first ones to cop the iPhone 5. I don't blame them since the pre-order sale last Friday sold out faster than this years Coachella tickets. Very high demand for this device, and Samsung is even playing along, I guess.

The only good thing I did this weekend was driving through Mulholland Drive for some inspiration and clear thinking and I copped myself a couple of vinyls from the 1980's that are out-of-print and extremely hard to find in CD format, as well as a new Primitive t-shirt for the little sister that I'd promised her before her trip to Nigeria over the summer and a lot of stickers. (thanks Ashley and the blokes at Amoeba Records) 

The vinyls are Secret Rendezvous by Cindy Valentine, Strange Language from Romeo Void's lead vocalist Debora Iyall, and a recorded interview of Filipino-American artist Eleanor Academia with some of her songs. I got that record because I couldn't find her Jungle Wave album that I was actually looking for, but this record was good with the interviews. I tired to find Wall Of VooDoo's Call Of The West album, but I was surprised that Amoeba Records didn't have it, since it was as common as the other 3 records I bought. So I went to Freak Beat Records, which is my backup spot in Sherman Oaks, and they actually had it, but it was the very last one and I bought it anyways. Thanks again to Freak Beat for reserving that album. 

By the way, I finally sold the T-Mobile G2 to the little brother over the week, so for those who stay in touch with me on instagram (@justforsneaks07), I won't be uploading that much photos on there that much for the time being, but I'll still be checking and lurking on it thanks to Statigram.com, where you can view a stream of your instagram feed on your computer. What more worse was that they money I got from my phone ($75) was all blown on fuel for the brother's whip and a bunch of magazines for my pops new coffee table, several handsoaps from Bath And Body Works in Porter Ranch (thank you Jackie for the customer service) and other expensive high performance cleaning shit for the two parties he threw at his house. Hey, it happens and I'm already used to it. 

Finally, I checked out the replay of the Season premiere of Saturday Night Live with Seth MacFarlane as the host and Frank Ocean as the musical guest this morning (I didn't see his performance cause I was upset from USC's loss to Stanford and I went to bed early, and the replay cut off the performances). That episode was funny. It had me laughing and MacFarlane was doing a number of voices throughout the show. It would've more interesting and a lot funnier if he hosted around 2005, when Family Guy was back in production and the debut of his other show American Dad. By the way, I once spoke to him on the phone before. I was working at the Apple Store 4 years ago when I was ringing up this lady and she told me to give her a discount since she was Seth MacFarlane's sister. I didn't believe her at first until she whipped out her cell phone and made me speak to her brother, which was really him. Dude did some voices from his show and told me about The Cleveland Show he was working on just a year before everyone else knew about it. After that, I gave the lady her discount. 

Alright, time to survive through another hot-ass week in the Valley and to start looking into my homegirl Vanessa Cuenca's birthday party gathering in Downtown LA this Friday. Haven't seen her in over a year and she's one of the realest persons around my age to talk to about current events and other real stuff. Thanks for your time reading this.

Happy Re-Birth Day

I don't event know how to start off this post. I mean, I know what I'm about to write, but after days of planning this, I still can't seem to write this entry like I successfully did in my previous posts.

Its wild and confusing how we receive or earn something, be it a person, place or thing (money obviously). Then unexpectedly out of no where, we no longer have possession of it, which leaves us confused as to why it was taken from us in this wild reality.

Two weeks ago was Bezold Photography's final weekend working at the Westfield Topanga. Prior to that, I've been hearing rumors from my co-workers that we might close down or move someplace else. I thought that was fabricated bullshit,  until my boss sent me an email saying that the last weekend of August was gonna be the final weekend at the Topanga mall. All right, maybe we might go to Northridge mall the following week after that once I assumed after reading the message. Well, that idea was dropped when I met up with my boss that last Friday of the month for the first time since the start of the month. He said that the Northridge mall didn't want us there cause they already have a studio portrait, so for now, Bezold Photography is on hiatus, which doesn't look good. He also told me that he has another location in Burbank Town Center, yet they already have a full time photographer there. Before I met up with him, I was hitting on this cute girl in front of entrance after I parked my brother's car in the garage. He was in St. Louis that Labor Day weekend, so I had to watch over his whip. It was going well so far and I was about to score on her, but I needed to get my paycheck from my boss so that I can try to achieve a "double play" on her over a plate of sushi for lunch at a high end Japaneses restaurant inside the mall. Well, that didn't happen cause my boss showed up 30 fucking minutes late. I got here on time as I was told, expected him to be at the kiosk already, and the girl said she had another class at Pierce College just not too far from here in 45 minutes. I really didn't want to keep her waiting, so just out of respect, I told her she can take off for her next class so that she won't be late. I would've been fucking upset if I was 5 years younger, but I've dined with unknown females many times before, so this is nothing new.

But back to my boss and the situation with my work. He was there to sell the prints for the customers who came to pick up and had their kids' photos taken the week before. One of the customers raised serious hell on us and said that one of the photos, without going into details, was pure shit. She went as far to get the Westfield mall management and two security guards, and that's what made it much worse. The manager was a female who's around my age, but acts like she came straight from a boot camp in jail with a masters degree. Damn, she went IN on my boss, who twice my age with limited English (he's from Peru but I can still understand his English) and that gave the manager more advantage over him. It was a nightmare to witness this argument, which I was thrown in as well to defend my boss. Finally, we had no choice but to give the customer the rest of her photos for free. It was just me and my boss there that day. He gave me my pay and told me that I could take off right after that shit happened. I wanted to say till 9PM to help him sell the photos to prevent another chaos taking place from the customers, but he said that he'll get through it by himeself. As I walked away leaving him there by himself, I felt emotionally fucked up inside. I'm now back to where I was since the beginning of the year, without a legit job for now again.

I had issues with Westfield's management in the past from when I worked at Fashion Square in Sherman Oaks. Because of them, I vowed never to step inside the Topanga mall and any other Westfield owned mall ever again. I had many great memories going to Westfield Topanga for the past 13 years. I even remember when that mall was just a small strip from the Sears at the south end, all the way to the Macy's at the North end (before it was a Robinsons-May). The Neiman Marcus that's there right now used to be where the old Nordstrom was placed before being currently moved to the corner of Owensmouth and Victory Blvd. I was also there on October 2006 when they debuted the new expansion stores east of the mall along with a upgraded food court (that was the first mall I ever seen where they had REAL utensils instead of plastics and glass plates in a food court) and the Apple Store there was opened that day too. I used to bring majority of my classmates from Pierce College all the time to Topanga in 2007 and 2008 just to chill and act a fool there. Working there did save my summer as opposed to washing cars everyday in triple digit heat in North Hills before I came to Bezold Photography. That was one of the many blessings I was greatful to take use of.

I could've made those last paragraphs a separate blog post, but like I said, I was emotionally drained since I stopped working there and didn't have the energy to type. Some of the things that made me feel up to my feet were going to two Dodgers games and attending Primitive's four year anniversary barbecue event since September started. Thanks again as always to the staff at Primitive, Dawn and Justene Jaro, Shay Maria, Talisa Monet, Alexis Lopez, my homeboys Frank and Zishan for making my Labor Day weekend excellent. Oh and major shoutout to the Los Angeles Dodgers organization for upgrading me and Zishan's seats from Right Field Pavilion to Field Level closer to the action and still have us keep the All You Can Eat privileges, which is something that I'll probably never see again.

To me, its still hard to believe that 11 years ago on this Tuesday that many innocent lives were taken away unexpectedly in New York City as well as the Pentagon and United Flight 93. I already wrote where I was on that day on a previous September 11th post I typed to save the time. I'm glad that everyone got through the hardship and now September 11th is a regular day again. I was expecting it to be a national holiday or something cause that shit was intense. Was very fortunate to see the Twin Towers in person on my first trip to new York City back in Labor Day weekend 2000, just a year before they were no longer in existence. Still tripping out about it right now. I remember people discussing and recognizing it up every year just like how elderly pre-baby boomers are still mentioning the attacks on Pearl Harbor in December 7, 1941, cause that shit was intense to them at their time. Even thought I'm not affected by the tragic events from that day since it took place in the east coast, I just don't feel like doing anything or going anywhere today just out of respect for those who didn't ask or request for their lives to be taken away. That's how crazy that day was, and ever since then, people's views started to change differently, as if we all got re-baptized or something.

Not only is today the day we remember people lives being gone, but on a positive mote, today is also a day for a special person that I know through a good friend of mine in Nicole Stetter who's been given and received another year in life. I first met her at Nicole's house two years ago, and she (along with my other homegirl Chirstina Campa who's birthday is in two days) was the reason why I was there for their birthday party that day. If it wasn't for that night, I can't even think where I would see myself right now. Because of her birthday party that night, I was able to establish a wide spectrum of mutual relationships with others and expand my photography with them. It was there at that night where I saw Aftergloam performing for the first time ever, and if it wasn't for that night, I would've never met Elvis Galvez and his incredible family, and I would've never met Tianna Edmonson and have attend her unforgettable last minute kickbacks in her old garage every month. Just standing next to her and having a conversation with her at a soiree is like that emotion of a pitcher after accomplishing a no-hitter during a perfect game twice in the same season (which is super rare in Major League Baseball). I don't like to see her birthday being overshadowed by a national tragedy, but the bottom line is that she's just too awesome to get to know, and she has a nice smile. By the way, I first heard about instagram from her back in early 2011. Anyways, happy 24 birthday to Annamarie Rhyne today. Here's a photo I took of her in Nicole's room earlier this year. Thank you, Annamarie.

Thanks for your time reading this, and enjoy as much as you can in life before it gets taken away without warning.

Time Spent Wells

So last week, I wrote on my Twitter page (@justforsneaks) that I really wanted at meet Claudia Wells, who played the original Jennifer Parker in part one of Back to The Future. Then later, I went on her Twitter page and it said, just out of coincidence, that she was gonna make an appearance that Saturday at Adat Ari El in North Hollywood, just on Laurel Canyon and Burbank. That really got me by surprise after I read that. I've had many chances to meet her in the past and I always wanted to check out her store Armani Wells on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, but I was either working, or just too damn lazy to take advantage of it.
Plus I didn't have anything else to do that night.

On Saturday evening, I drove there right after work on the South 101 Freeway coming from the Topanga Mall to the site where the screening was gonna take place. It was scheduled to start at 9 and they were gonna do some kind of pre-show twenty minutes before that, but I thought I was gonna miss the pre-show segment since I get off work at 8:30, yet I managed to make it there at around 8:50. The screening was held outdoors (think the Pohatchee Drive-In theater in 1955 for those who saw part III) in front of a chapel there, and the place is a Jewish synagogue and a day school since that part of North Hollywood as a dense Jewish population. When I got in, I had to pay a $5 admission fee to be admitted for the screening. I thought there were gonna be a shit load of Back To The Future fans just like at the re-release screening at AMC Theaters two years ago and at the Nike Air Mag presentation in Hollywood last year, but I was wrong.

It was more low-key to say the least. About 25 people were there, and they were mostly families, not random Back To The Future fans. Shit, nobody even dressed up as Marty McFly or the Doc for this. I was in my work clothes (Black Banana Republic Premium Pira Cotton t-shirt, black slacks from when I worked as a swing manager at McDonalds six years ago and Black cheap leather Hunter's Bay shoes from Payless), and I even mentioned this event on the last blog post.

I made in time for the question and answer segment with Claduia Wells. Also, Donald Fullilove, the dude who played Golide Wilson was there sitting next to her, and I saw him at the Nike Air Mag presentation last September. I found a seat and I asked Claudia, with a microphone handed to me by one of the MCs of the screening why she didn't appear in Parts II and III. She explained that she had some personal issues with her family and that she had to acting on hold for a while. After that then she went to a table to go sign some autographs on the "Save the Clock Tower" flyers from part 1. While she was signing for those in attendence, I took some photos of Donald as the line started to decreased. Dude was superchill. Then it was my turn to get Claudia's autograph. That moment felt like passing the drivers test and getting Straight A's on your Report Card, which causes the hottest girl in class to be super impressed at you to a certain measure. I'm not gonna lie, she was really nice and sincere and took her time to get along with me and everybody else that attended, and SHE WAS FUCKING GORGEOUS. Claudia signed the flyer with the phone number that she wrote to Marty in the back of the flyer like the film and also she signed a Studio City magazine, with her on the cover promoting her store, that I got from Du-Par's restaurant back in October 2007. I then asked her if I can take a photo of and with her and she said yes. WOW, I ALWAYS WANTED TO DO THIS SINCE I FIRST SAW THE FILM BACK WHEN I WAS 9 AND A HALF, AND I FINALLY DID IT. Like I said, she was really cool and sweet, but unfortunately she couldn't stay for the screening since she had to go take care of her kids. I then stayed for the rest of the night as they played Part 1 from the 25th anniversary Blu-Ray set like the one I own, and had some free popcorn and lemonade. I'm still surprised that not many hardcore avid fans of the film like myself didn't show up for this. Anyways, MAJOR THANKS to Claudia Wells, Donald Fullilove, Ridoca Isabella Shaldan, Ron Whitaker, Barry and Cindy Cohen and the Valley Rauch group for their time by making this night possible. Here are some photos I took with my phone whereas the rest with Claudia Wells were taken with my film SLR camera.

The projector that was connected to a PlayStation 3 as the Blu-Ray player and the concession  stand with the free drinks and snacks. 

The screen in front of the chapel or a multi-purpose room. You gotta give Michael J. Fox's character "something without sugar".

The "Save The Clock Tower Flyer" and the Studio City Lifestyle magazine with her on the cover 5 years ago she autographed. And yes, that's the freestyle group Cover Girls CD on the top left. I'm a fan of Latin Freestyle music. 

I didn't want to leave the place without Claudia signing the back of the flyer. As Marty would say, "This says it all." 

Gotta give a shoutout plug to her store Armani Wells in Studio City, which is also "On the Blvd" like Primitive and Twin Lemons Collective. 

Some other did over the weekend aside from taking portraits of a lot of rugrats at work was meeting up with a couple of some friends from Aftergloam and their mutual friends at The Great Wall Chinese restaurant in Reseda on Friday evening. I thought it was gonna be a few people but everytime I kept checking the invite fir the dinner on Facebook every 15 minutes, it kept showing that more people were gonna attend. But nonetheless, I haven't seen a few of them in a while, so we just mostly caught up with each others lives and watched the Olympic games on the TVs the restaurant had. It was regular but great as well. 

Well, that completes another weekend recap, even though it was mostly one-sided, but hey, the Back To The Future trilogy is the only film I can actually related to in my life. I learned all the swear words Doc and Marty says and started being infatuated with Nikes because of this film. That's just myself. Anyways, thanks for taking your time reading this. 

Some Don't Like it Hot

Except for Dwight Howard.

Now that he about (keyword: ABOUT) to become the new Center for the Los Angeles Lakers, he's gonna have to get used to the Southern California lifestyle like Steve Nash did when he got signed here a few weeks ago. Yes, I'm talking about the triple digit heat we currently have this week, the paparazzi for whenever he goes clubbing at some club on Las Palmas Boulevard in Hollywood and the traffic from wherever he's coming from to the practice facility in El Segundo. That shit happened with Kobe Bryant at the start of his rookie year. When he was heading to his first practice session with the team by coming from his then house in Pacific Palisades, he got stuck in traffic for a while which got him tardy for practice. I don't know if he got fined since he was young at the time, but I bet his parents had to pay for it cause he was underaged. This is very similar and coincidental to when Shaquille O'Neal got sent here also from the Orlando Magic 16 years ago, and he was a center too. Its crazy how the Lakers now have Nash and Howard, the two people who we prevented from getting a world championship in 2009 and 2010. Hope everything goes well with the new lineup.

Now on to other things. With the exception of The Encounter restaurant, I'M DONE WITH LAX AIRPORT. I never going there to travel or drop off and pick up anybody there anymore. When I went to drop off my moms and sister at the Terminal, they made me wait there to see if there are some stuff from the luggage they don't need so that they won't be over charged and my two other siblings who weren't traveling went in to help her, even though I'm not allowed to wait there for over a minute. One of the security guards at the Terminal told me that I have to move my brother's car, which I drove to the Airport, otherwise he'll write me up. I told him that my moms was in there and that it'll take a few more seconds. Then those seconds turned into minutes. 15 minutes to be exact. I was in pins and needles and started to get impatient cause I didn't even know what the hell she was taking so long, and if she did tell me that she wanted to take out some clothes from her luggage, then we could've paid for parking, but she hates that. Then later that same security guard came back again and he took out his ticket book and I got into the car at that moment. He then ran up to me and then we got into a shouting argument for two minutes. That motherfucker pissed me off. After that, I drove out of the Airport without getting a ticket and just drove up and down Century Blvd until I heard a cell phone ring, which happens to be my little brother's. I then started asking him what's taking so long and he told me that my moms had to take some stuff out of the luggage so that it would weigh less. I then told him that I'm out of the Airport and that he and my other sister should wait outside the terminal so that I can come and pick them up, which I happened to do. I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to my moms and sister, but I wish them safe travels.

So yeah, the rest of yesterday was pretty much a piece of shit, but I had days 30 times worse than last Thursday. On a positive note, there gonna be showing a screening of Back to The Future this Saturday at Adat Ari El in my old stomping grounds of  North Hollywood, on Laurel Canyon and Burbank.The address 12020 Burbank Blvd. Even though I already saw the re-release at Citywalk two years ago and obtained the 25th Aniiversary Blu-Ray pack, the best part of the screening is that Claudia Wells, the original Jennifer Parker from part 1, will be in attendance. It starts at 9 and it cost 5 bucks for admission (its just 5 bucks) I'm gonna try to make it cause I've been wanting to meet Claudia Wells for a very long time. So check it out if you're not doing anything this Saturday night. Speaking of which, if you're an serious avid fan of the Trilogy, listen to this 51 seconds of porn.

Yes, that the Edward Van Halen guitar riff from when Marty played in his Walkman to wake his pops up while he was sleeping in Part one. It took me forever to find it and this shit is too rare. I thought it was from a actual Van Halen song, but according to TMZ (yes TMZ) they said that it was just a random guitar piece and Eddie was just fooling around with his guitar. Show how much I really like this film.

Anyway, I'll end this post here. If you have free time today and this weekend, please stop by the Topanga mall and drop in at the Bezold Photography kiosk downstairs between the Vans store and the Kids Foot Locker. You don't have to get your photos taken, but just come and visit me for support. I'm there every Friday, Saturday and Sunday all day. Thanks for your time reading this.