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.

Stayin' Primitive and The Olympic Hunger Games

Basically, the social networking world, which consumes about 58% of my time and is also part of my work, will be soft for the next several weeks until the Olympic games will be finished in London.

I have absolutely nothing against the Olympics. I'm just baffled that the last one in China felt like it happened last year instead of 2008, but like I said, as you get older, then time just swifts by very quickly. Shoutout to all the athletes from around the world, especially the one here in the United States of course, for representing their homelands as the compete in various athletic competitions. Just leave the racism bullshit and controversial prejudgment in the paper shredder and let these athletes play.

I got a chance to see some of the opening ceremonies at the bar inside Cheesecake Factory in Warner Center after work on Friday evening since it was close by. There were already showing Poland walking around the stadium representing themselves. I was trying to focus but I was being distracted by some recession-proof horny-ass couple in their early thirties next to me feeding each other with a lot of food AT THE BAR. Those fools could've got a table and left the bar to individuals consuming some liquids, and also, the woman was a seat over left of me and her crack kept showing every time she was about to make out. I really wanted to stay until the United States came out, but as Sweden was about to come out, I just closed out, paid my drink and left the Cheesecake Factory courtesy of the future divorcees next to me that look qualified to star in some failed Thursday night sitcom. They were annoying as hell.

Other than that, mostly worked during the weekend obviously. Started out slow with 4 clients on Friday cause everyone was watching their favorite country being introduced in London, then 2 on Saturday cause one of my other co-workers flaked out, otherwise we could've had more people. Then on Sunday it was back to normal with families letting their kids scream and run around as I try to get their attention to stay still for their photos being taken. No surprise there, but shoutout to Elisa at the Starbucks in Target for the Venti Iced Coffee that took care of my Sunday. And shoutout to the cooks and the Staff at the Cafe Bistro in the Nordstrom for those Sweet Potato Fries. Went there for the first time cause I wanted to try something different since I kept going to the food court in the Topanga Mall several times, and the place looks very look key like the old Playboy clubs from the 60's without the bunnies. Here's how the Fries came out.

That's some creative shit. Totally going back there next time, but I still fuck with these fries as well. 

In-N-Out is a mandatory staple here in the greater Los Angeles area, and yes, I had to toss in the Back to The Future 25th anniversary Blu-Ray set that I just got from the same Target where I got that Iced Coffee. I originally first went to the Best Buy across the street from my work thinking that they have it, but I wasn't able to find it there and that lead to a argument with most of the staff there for 5 minutes after they told me that they have the disc set, but only in their on-line inventory instead of the stores, out of all movies. After I cussed them out, I then went back inside the mall, went to the Target and saw that they had the set, but it was the last one. So I grabbed it and whipped out my Visa card to thankfully see that I was charged 45 bucks for the set when it usually went from 55 to 85 dollars. Been waning to get this for the past two years since they did the re-release back in October 2010 (which was fucking dope as hell), but now I finally managed to obtain it. It has ALOT of extra shit and features inside that set that could last for two days, but I'm cool with it. 

Finally, just want to say happy 4 year anniversary to Primitive in Encino, which is professional skateboarder Paul Rodriguez Jr's skating boutique. They opened back in late July 2008 and I wasn't aware of the store then cause I was driving around West Hollywood and Beverly Hills chasing celebrities as a paparazzi during that summer. I have nothing but respect for that store and all the staff there. Major thanks to Andy, Paul, Jubal, Harry, Ashley, Irene and the rest of the staff as always for doing their jobs and distributing apparel that represents the culture of the Valley. Also, their new fall 2012 line just dropped last Saturday and its very superb. Here's some of the t-shirts I got on Saturday. 

The black t-shirt is taken from the opening lyrics of "Under the Bridge" from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers since they're based out of Fairfax High School, and the shirt on the right features the model Rachel Metz. Their shop is on 17060 Ventura Boulevard in Encino, right across from the Chase bank between Balboa and White Oak. You don't even have to skate to shop there. Stop by Primitive if you're not doing anything with a lot of money to blow. 

Anyways, thanks for your time reading this and enjoy the rest of the week. 

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.