Valuable Life Assurance

I've had better weekends in the past, and this is one of them. A first for the new year.

So on Friday evening, I stopped by my good friend Frank's crib to catch up on each others lives. I haven't hung out with him in a about a month. I had to get some 8x10s of the late Ashley Davidson printed out from him (thanks again Frank) and then we just talked about basic stuff and this Sunday's Super Bowl. We saw a few Jack in The Box commercials cause coincidentally, I ate some Tacos from there earlier that day (I like Del Taco's selection better) and also, the Lakers kept the Utah Jazz under 100 points that night as the final score was 102-84, which meant that the fans in attendance at Staples Center received free Jack in The Box Tacos.

Hey, it was only a dollar I spent though, and the value of a One Dollar Note is no where compared to how valuable it was when I was in elementary school. That shit was so powerful then, that you make any kid on campus do anything for a buck, from having to get him to do your homework done, to standing upside-down while saying the Alphabet backwards, to getting another person's Lunchables and to having that girl you have a crush on sit next to you on a field trip to the La Brea Tarpits (think Love Don't Cost a Thing and Can't Buy Me Love, which are both the same movies). I'm talkin' growing up in the 90's here. Now sometime in the future, the one dollar bill is gonna be like what a penny and a nickel is right now. Just useless change.

On the subject of money, I went to the Power 106 studios in Burbank on Saturday for a financial seminar workshop there. When I was a kid, I used to always think that Power 106 was broadcasted somewhere out from Slauson Ave or anywhere in South Central Los Angeles since west coast Gangsta' Rap was what they normally played back in the day in the afternoons and evenings (they played house, trance and Latin Freestyle during the morning and mid day). This was when the Baka Boyz ran the morning show and when Big Boy replaced them, he was fat as fuck at the time. Now that station is not the way it was 18 years ago, as its switched from the real legit underground hip-hop and the gangsta rap 40oz drinkin' listeners, to the soft European dance club, electronic colorful, underage shit to the "Barack Kardashian" iPhone audience. I picked this over the Dodgers fan fest because 1.) I've haven't been inside a music radio station offices other than ESPN Deportes to pick out tickets for Fiesta Lakers in 2009 and 2) I didn't feel like going to be surrounded in line with a lot of Dodger fans and their families that day.

So I park right next to the building in a empty street with no parking sign in sight (unlike Downtown Burbank next to the mall) and then went inside. The security guard there escorted me to the elevator and told me to go to the specific floor (which I won't say on here for confidentiality reasons) on where the Power 106 offices are. After the elevator ride, I got on the right floor and then I went to the reception desk where some dude, who look like he was in a community college, was taking charge there. He opened the door for me and then led me to the conference room where the workshop was gonna be at. As I was walking, I saw several plaques and framed autographed posters hanging on the wall of different R&B singers and artists that visited the studio in the past.. I couldn't think of one off the top of my head that I saw but Mariah Carey was one of them. I got to the conference room and there were three women around my age, who work in the stations promotions department I believe, and a light skinned black guy in a suit. They were there to check people in for the seminar workshop. I thought there was gonna be a lot of people that would also show up, but I was told that a few several people came earlier and left, so it was just me and the staff there.

After I checked in, the bloke in the suit sat me down on a table. He gave me his business then ask me some questions about how my money managing skills is going and the jobs I've had in the past and everything. After I told them, he then gave me some financial advice and other basics of Economics that I was never though in high school, as well as why certain banks merge and how it affected those who have accounts in the said bank that was going to be bought out by another bank. I knew I had something like this coming to me on my way there, but I thought I was gonna be in that conference room with other recession-bitten undergrads listening to several people in suits on stage telling us not to spend money on sneakers and bottles at the club. But instead, I had a one-on-one discussion with a representative from Chase Bank telling me some motivational stuff, from his thoughts on the economy to the real reason why the recession happened, and to why out-spoken protesters switched from banks to credit unions two years ago during Occupy Wall Street. It woke me up for a bit as I stayed interested in what he had to say. I originally wanted to come here just to check out the Power 106 studios since I met and took photos of Yesi Ortiz, Luscious Liz, DJ JustinCredible, and other Power 106 personalities in the past, but damn, hearing all the inspirational information about finances, keeping a steady balance and a healthy budget was uplifting. I knew about how to work on a budget and all that shit, but this was like next level, push you to the top of the ride-type shit. Shoutout to Power 106 for making good use of my time.

As I left the studios and offices, I got into the car and saw that it was 12:30 PM. I had to be at my homeboy Elvis's brother's crib in Sun Valley for a Benefit Celebration for the late Ashley Davidson which started at 5PM according to the Facebook invite. I had a lot of time to kill, so I went to the Burbank library on Buena Vista Street and read Ebony Magazine and the Time Magazine "Person of the Year" from last year. I picked the latest issue of Ebony Magazine cause not only Black History Month is approaching, but it had rapper T.I and his wife Tameka "Tiny" Harris on the cover. The article about them discusses about all the shit that they went through during T.I.'s possession of illegal weapons and probation violations that landed him in jail a few years ago and their reality TV show on VH1. Also, T.I was one of my favorite rappers when I was graduating from high school in 2006 and I had his King album on Vinyl. I also went to his show  he performed at the Key Club that MySpace hosted in 2008 before he got locked up, and it was there that I saw Rhianna (three months before Chris Brown fucked up her face and her mind over matter) and Kanye West for the very first time in person as surprise guests performers. Hell, even Kanye West performed and debuted a few tracks from his 808s and Heartbreak album as he just came fresh off a flight from recording that album in Hawaii on that day. Such a great-ass show. But getting back to T.I. and his wife, even though I'm not a fan of their show, I do respect his hustle (hence the name T.I. and Tiny: The Family Hustle) and seeing that his wife still has his back and support despite the arrests and other famous couples having short marriages. Another thing I noticed in that issue was that it had a section on how to manage your finances during this income tax season. It had the same info that I was told earlier from the Chase representative, but then again, it might be a tax season thing.

Soon afterwards, I left the library and hour later and decided to stop by my sisters house close by in North Hollywood to chill there or a bit until the benefit celebration stated. When I got there, they weren't home and I don't have a mobile phone yet to contact them. So I just parked my car in front of the crib and just walked around the neighborhood that I spent my childhood in. I was wearing a suit that day and I felt uncomfortable walking around a neighborhood in a suit, making fools think that I'm one of those door-to-door Christian pamphlet converters, which I didn't do cause I had no pamphlets. I walked to Dollar store there (one of the only few place where a Dollar bill is useful) to buy a pen for the benefit celebration and a cheeseburger from a McDonald's close by cause I didn't eat anything for the whole day, which is another reason while I stopped by my sisters so that I can something there. As I got back to the house an hour later, they still weren't home, so I sat in the car, ate my Cheeseburger and waited for a bit. I figured that my sisters were coming back from church or something. Finally, at 3:00, I lost my patience and drove off to Sun Valley. I thought they would be home at the time, but apparently, they weren't.

I got to my friend's brother's house 10 minutes later, but unfortunately, I was too damn early. I even had to wait for awhile until they got home cause I remember them saying that they had to go to their daughter's performance at the Sunset Strip earlier in that day. I'm not gonna lie, I don't like showing up early to an event that's not photography related than I hate showing up late to an event, but I made good use of the time by playing soccer with their kids in the front lawn in my dress shoes (I didn't give a shit) and watched Batman Forever with them. Man, that movie was entertaining, minus the Val Kilmer/Nicole Kidman smooching "Kiss From a Rose" shit. I wish I saw it when it came out in theaters cause I remember that movie was hyped up back when I was in second grade, and I used to have the poster for it. Later on, more people slowly started to attend. I talked with them for a bit and then I brought out the 8x10s of Ashley I printed out and made everyone signed it.

As the night started to progress, everyone started to show up. I saw several people that I haven't seen in about a year or two and had some small talk conversations with them. These were people that I used to see and photograph at the shows and Nicole Stetter's house back in 2011. During the majority of the night, while everyone was outside talking, I was inside making sure everyone that attended (who knew Ashley very well) sign the 8x10s. The homegirl Julie Canizalez had some candles on display with another photo of Ashley on it. She was selling them and also she created a suggested donation jar so that the funds can go to Ashley's family. They're were about 20 candles and all of them were sold by the end of the night, which amazed me. What also amazed me more was that about $500 was raised in donations that night. I've been to fundraisers in the past were the most people raised was 50 bucks, but the amount made that night was tremendous, and again, it was going towards a good cause. The only time I stepped outside was when there was a performance. It was my first time seeing the homeboy Elvis perform with this band called Craters. They play very mellow rock music that you would likely hear in surf movies that was filmed at night. Makes you feel like you were feasting at Island's with a Hawaiian shirt on during a sunset. It was a fantastic performance. Then later on, Elvis other band Aftergloam performed, and I haven't seen them play  in person in over a year. My homeboy Luis Sanchez is a new addition to the band and he's always been wanting me to see him perform in the past, which I never got the chance to except for that night. Great seeing them entertain the crowd while playing a selective set of new tracks that I've never heard before.

Then later on, the homies Victor Diaz and Sevonne Alossi band Astral Jubilee went up next. I never got a chance to see them perform, but WOW, their music.... I mean not just only the music, but their setup as well... damn, it was amazing. More than just dope in person. Some of their instruments that they had were vintage-looking instruments that you would've have to dig deep on eBay and Craigslist to find. Their smooth style of music feels like being inside the "Coconut Grove" nightclub in the old Ambassador Hotel (where Robert F. Kennedy got shot at), or some other fancy mid- twentieth century lounge.  There was a person playing the piano with the visible strings being stuck by the keys, another dude with three different wind instruments (he even switched from a sax to a flute to another wind instrument during the same song) a drummer, Sevonne with the percussion and vocals, and Victor with the bass and lead vocals as well. This is something you would hear on KCRW during the Morning Becomes Eclectic show or in the evening with DJ Raul Campos. Man, that night felt like I was at the Dragonfly on Santa Monica Boulevard or the Five Star Bar in downtown LA again, just like old times. That performance gave me even much more respect to them than before. I wanted to spend the night there since it the roads started to get wet from the small rain, but I decided to head home after the atmosphere started to decreased. Major shoutout to Willam and Ginger Galvez for hosting the benefit celebration at their place. Another shoutout to Craters, Aftergloam, Carbon Stereo, Astral Jubilee and everyone that attended and also signed the 8x10s and contributed. Despite the performances, alot of people were emotional everytime they looked at the photos of Ashley as they're signing their names on it. Like I said, I only met her once. If I saw her and knew her more often, then I would've been just as emotional as everyone else closer to her was.

On Sunday, I went to my pops house to stay there for a few days. I watched a bit of the Lakers/Thunder game there since my favorite LA blogger/celebrity jeweler Ben Baller was celebrating his 40th birthday at the game on courtside inside Staples Center and getting some national exposure on TV. It was a fucking close game which each team exchanging leads. At the end, despite their decrease in wins than losses, the Lakers won again for the second game in a row at home, against one of the current best teams in the NBA in The Oklahoma City Thunder. Also, the jerseys that Kevin Durant, Russel Westbrook and the rest of the Thunder was wearing caught me by surprise. It was design with the words THUNDER on the left side and the jersey number on the top right side in dark navy and white instead of their regular blue/orange/yellow color scheme jersey. But that feeling of the Lakers winning that game was the same feeling from watching them four years ago during the back-to-back champion seasons. It just felt good (especially in Ben Baller's case) cause we haven't seen them win like this in a while. Laker fans and everyone else was talking about it on instagram and Twitter after the game. That probably the best way to end that weekend.

Instead of the term "Good things happen to bad people", I think it should be known as "Good things are given to emotionally deserved people". I hope the best for Ashley Davidson's family, as well as anyone that's working on another chance at whatever in life, be it repairing a broken relationship or replacing something that was lost. Thanks for 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.

Los Angeles: Locked Out From Its Occupations

Damn, its hard to realize that I've lived in Sylmar for one year already.

Actually more like 13 months. Prior to that, the most I ever lived outside of my parent's house was two and a half months in Oxnard during the summer I graduated from high school. It didn't last long cause of the hiked expenses and the blazed up drunk roommates I was staying with. I moved out initially cause I was having issues with my pops at the time and his wife and my brother had one of ugliest arguments I ever heard. Now fast forward a year later, my brother is no longer living there and my pops and I became cool with each other two months after I left. It felt like I got cheated out of leaving his house or something, but either way, I needed to leave Granada Hills cause in my case and where I'm from, it looks bad for anyone over 22 years without an actual, legit job to still live with their parents.

Now in this economic time, its common to see people over 25 with University degrees move back in with their parents. I don't blame them since many of them have no other option. I've talked about this subject several times in my previous posts and to this day, that topic hasn't gone anywhere. I went to the Los Angeles City Hall in Downtown yesterday to check out the Occupy LA protest that was taking place there. That was my second time going to the site since a month ago when this whole thing started. It was night time when I first went and didn't take that many photos, but yesterday, I managed to make it there around the afternoon with my uncle's Nikon D5000.

I'm telling you, the protesters turned City Hall Park into A VILLAGE! That shit looked like I was at the Coachella camping grounds taking place somewhere in Africa mixed with the Outback and the Amazon Rainforest and a refugee site in a war zone. There were like at least 500 tents around the City Hall building. The protesters there were acting like civilians with their own Zip Code. Everyone there was cool with each other and the whole protest was just too peaceful, whereas in some other cities and countries, it was pretty much the opposite. Over the past month, the Occupy LA marches and protests felt like the Los Angeles Riots being massacred with Christian Saints. Everything there was just too damn surreal. I thought the demonstration of the Occupy movement here in this city was gonna last about a week since the one in New York was already in unimaginable proportions, but its still going on and when I saw a sign there that said to Occupy the Rose Bowl parade in two months, I then realized that this will go on through Thanksgiving and Christmas, which will make homeless look totally jealous during the holidays.

Honestly I'm not really into the whole movement and I don't have any interest in all this. I just went to take photos and some video of it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIVPtm_Tifk)since this was major and most of the media hasn't been covering the real side of it, just the madness from Oakland's own version of the Occupy movement a few days ago. I lived here in this city for my entire life and I never would expect to see anything like this in person. This is something that I'll probably think will be talked about for the next 15 to 20 years at least. Not to judge, but majority of the people that I saw there demonstrating, protesting and spending several weeks in Downtown don't have jobs and there are some who gave up their jobs just to show support and express their concern over corporate greed and economic government issues among other things. Hell, I don't even know too much about the background of the Occupy movement. I spent a the past week watching videos from the demonstrations in New York and some of the marches here in Los Angeles. Crazy shit happening the past few weeks. It'll be quite interesting to see how this will end, whenever that will be.

And the Lakers were supposed to start their season last Tuesday Night. Shit, I even had the money to buy tickets for the first game of the "would've been" season. I could've seen some new hot Laker Girls, Mike Brown screaming with panic and flaunting up and down the Staples Center hardwood floor, as well as seeing a Metta World Peace jersey in person and free Tacos. Obviously, the NBA lockout is an absolute waste of time. Mostly talk and discussions and shit. I don't remember too much of the previous lockout 13 years ago cause, surprisingly for a black guy like myself, I wasn't into the NBA that much (the only players I knew then were Shaq, Kobe when he was just barely legal, Jordan, Pippen, Barkley and Penny Hardaway from their signature sneakers they dropped in 1998). Its no surprise that the league isn't aware of not only losing hundreds of millions of dollars from this mess, but losing the fans interest and patience for the sport of professional basketball. I wonder what current NCAA basketball players are thinking about this? Maybe they probably are considering for playing overseas since they pay more or exercising their basic fundamentals of the sport by becoming an assistant coach for pay at a private high school Basketball team in Indiana, the Hooiser State. I bet the blokes from TNT's Inside the NBA are bored with their lives right now. I wonder how this will impact the sales for Kobe Bryant's next signature shoe, the Nike Zoom Kobe VII, since we won't see him performing in those sneakers for a while. For now here in Los Angeles, its mostly Kings Ice Hockey, a USC or UCLA college game which will go by quicker and the NFL three nights a week (Thursday night games start next week) at some local bar with DirecTV.

Alright, got a busy weekend to look ahead on. Gonna be covering a babyshower on Saturday and to test drive some more Cadillacs on Sunday with some Football at a bar again. Thanks for reading and a happy 23rd birthday to the Arlene and Darlene Arias, as well as old foolish-ass Sean Combs.

A LOT OF VERBS THIS PAST WEEKEND

Watched Lost Treasues of NFL Films on Hulu, took photos of an art/music show at Silver Factory Studios in Los Angeles, endured the unanswered rain storm, ate barbecued Ribs and blue Nachos at a Lakers/Celtics viewing party (thanks William and Ginger), spent $2 on Skittles at the Holiday Inn in Burbank to break my $20 bill, and became intrigued on a "Mexican Sports Car" that was brought up from last night's episode of Top Gear.

That's the end of January. Now time for some February, and some picture editing to be done.

I FEEL ABSOLUTELY MISERABLE RIGHT NOW

Its not because of some hot girl or because the Cleveland Cavaliers lost by an unheard of margin of 55 points against the Los Angeles Lakers last night. Just a few hours I woke up, I started feeling warm and my body really aches. It aches so bad, that I can't be able to work and update my other blog page, which the link is at the bottom of this page. I just hope that this flu or weakness goes away. By the way, the reason why I wasn't on last night is that the wix.com servers weren't functioning, which wouldn't give me access to my page. I'm gonna go to bed right now, with my sneakers on.

You can't Judge the Present by the Design of its Wrapping Paper: A Christmas Weekend recap

If you read the last post, which I'm sure many of you have, then you've noticed that I was saying a some short harsh things about the overhype marketing on Christmas Day and how the holiday shopping season overshadows the true meaning of December 25. Understand that this was what I thought of it. Half of it is facts while its mostly opinion in its entirety.

But after surviving the Christmas weekend, I had second thoughts about what I wrote on that day. To me, what I wrote on the last post was just an outside view of that day. I'm gonna write the inside view of it, which was as better as I thought is was. Shit, it was way better, despite all the bullshit situations that I dealt with throughout last week. From the transmission on my compact sedan giving up to my T-Mobile contract expiring, which means I'm without a cell phone for the time being, and somehow last Saturday made me set those (no pun intended) uncalled for problems aside, or pretty much away from my distance.

First, I just wanna let out that I didn't get any presents, gifts or anything under the tree with my name on it. I could care MUCH LESS about getting "free stuff" from people on that day. As a matter a fact, I looked back this past year, and I've noticed I've BEEN getting free stuff every month at the least, and I'm very thankful and privileged for that. I'd be more delighted to get a card with some girl's handwriting on it over a nice wristwatch or a Xbox 360 (by the way, shoutout to the lucky fuckers (pun intended) who's girls spoiled them with that Microsoft console and then some. SHIT!) Bottom line, its all about being with family and close ones, which I've said many times because that shit is true.

Now onto the recap.

I was given orders by my moms to take her and my sister to LAX on Christmas morning at around 4AM. They came at 5AM instead so when I asked them what time their flight is, they told me that its at 6AM. I told them that they should've left their house at 3AM instead but my sister told me that they over slept. We managed to get to the Los Angeles International Airport on time. I helped them unload their luggage at the terminal and then my moms told me to take good care of her Ford Explorer for a week since they're traveling to the midwest of the United States until New Years Day. I think they picked the wrong time to go over there, and I told my sisters to wear a shitload of jackets. After that, I bounced out of LAX in my mom's SUV and headed back to my pop's house by driving on the Pacific Coast Highway and through the mountains on the Topanga Canyon Boulevard pass.

After I got home, my pops talked to my little brother and I about what this day is all about from his point of view in the living room. I'm not gonna front but that got me really touched up for a moment. I sat in my room for about an hour just sitting there, not doing anything. I was thinking and pondering about how we went from my entire family, before the parents split, singing some songs from the Church hymnal and opening our multitude of presents that we got to just my brother taking his new cellular phone and a drum machine from under the tree and going about his business in his room, like it just a regular day. It was a frequent thing that happens every year and I thought that shit wasn't gonna end, but apparently it didn't happen.

After I collected my thoughts, I went to make a surprise visit to my friend Nicole Stetter's place, which is about 5 minutes from my pop's house. Her entire family was there, which is what I liked to see. I gave her a children's book I got back in September that Tori Spelling published, and inside of it was her autograph with Nicole and her kids names written in her handwriting. I held it for three months so that I can give it to her at the right time. I spent some time there eating peppermint brownies that Nicole made, which were very delicious, and started talking about how I didn't like and approve Nick Cannon dating Mariah Carey with Nicole's family since they were watching the Disneyland Christmas Parade on TV hosted by him. Later on, I then drove to my church in Sylmar (I'm an Adventist by the way, not Jewish) to see the annual Christmas program, which to my dismay, they did a regular church service instead. I was only there for a portion of the service, and then I left to go to Downtown Los Angeles to catch the vibe and action of the self-called "Lakers/Heat Christmas Day ratings game". Yeah, I admit, I wasn't supposed to do that on Christmas Day, but sometime, you have to take the necessary risks, and plus, I'm already a legal adult.

I wanted to drive down to park at LA Live but I too the Metro Subway there instead. I wasn't going to the actual game inside Staples Center, but I hung around the VIP entrance to take photos of the celebrities go inside the arena. Hey, if you don't approve what I did, then deal with it, cause that's what I'm really great at in terms of photography. Speaking of which, I ran into some paparazzi that I used to see alot on Robertson Blvd and Beverly Hills everyday back in late 2008, and I knew that they wouldn't rest on Christmas Day cause from having experience in this business, it never shuts down. The reason why I say that cause they're always a "money shot" opportunity waiting to happen within the 24 hours of the day, regardless if there's a serious tropical storm or God forbid, a national tragedy or anything that gets in the way to civilians.

This will probably be the last time I might be taking photos of famous people in general. I'm not too sure yet cause I might be there when the Boston Celtics come to town again on January 30th since that is the other big marquee game on the Lakers 2010-11 season schedule, which draws the majority of A-list stars and plus the game will be nationally televised. You know what, fuck it, I'm done doing that shit. I'll probably go over there, but I'll take someone with me who has a greater interest of taking photos of someone famous, probably someone who's out of state for that matter. If I was 15 years old doing this, I'd be the top of the student body in my class in terms of publicity and recognition throughout the whole school. Hell, even the hot girls would show much interest. But I will never get that experience again, cause as an adult, some people around my age have better things to do instead of hearing what actor you saw the other day.

There weren't that many female stars that showed up to the Staples Center than the males stars to my surprise. Despite the cops and the weak security making sure that shit doesn't go off, it was great seeing Sinbad and Kevin Hart (dude was short as fuck) in person and to see Dr. Dre actually ripped up. I wanted to ask him about the Detox album, I didn't for two reasons.

1. I wanted to respect him since he was a legend in the hip hop industry and one of the founders of Gangsta Rap

2. I was at a far distance and there was a shit load of people surrounding him, yet I can scope him out from a good view.

A few minutes after the game started, I went inside the Nike Vault next to the Staples Center and the AEG offices. They had the whole placed decorated and dedicated to Kobe Bryant's new signature basketball show, the Zoom Kobe VI. To me honestly, that sneaker is ugly and weird looking. It very similar to the Zoom Kobe IVs that came out two years ago, which I regret not buying. They had the live feed of the game showing inside the Nike Vault, but I went to the ESPN Zone to watch some portions of it. It was full inside there, and unfortunately, the Lakers were way behind Miami. by the end of the first half, I left and took the subway back to Universal City, where I parked my moms Ford Explorer at.

I drove down to my cousin's house, who lives not too far from the Staples Center, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to park at LA Live. There wasn't a lot of people there, just mostly family there talking and eating some Christmas dinner. I watched the rest of the game in my cousin's room, where it turned out that the Lakers lost for the second Christmas Day game in a row. Phil Jackson said before the game that he doesn't approve the idea of the NBA playing basketball on Christmas Day and that the players should spend time with their families instead. I won't be surprised if he gets fined for that statement, but yet, I totally support the coach's statement. I think its Kobe's new sneakers since the whole team was wearing them during the game throughout. After that, I went and played some UNO with my cousins to forget about the loss which sucked. I haven't played UNO in at least 7 years and that is the ONLY card game I'll ever fuck with. Forget Poker, Blackjack, 21 (which I used to play against my sister back in the day), Texas Hold 'em and any other card game that I don't know the rules to. They are not as entertaining as UNO is and I had a fun time playing that card game with the family.

I then bounced out early because I had to go deliever another gift to one of my friends' buddies, which is a DVD containing a photoshoot I did for her back in September. As I was driving on the 10 freeway west merging onto the 405 north, it started to pour rain like fucking crazy! I was being very cautious while I was driving in that unpredictable weather condition.

So when I got to to her house, the lights were out. I figured nobody is home so I went to go ring the doorbell to double check. I was about to go to my car until I saw my buddy Arlene and her family opening the door. I thought that Arlene's friend lived there cause I would always see her friend everytime I drove to that house, but then Arlene told me that she also stayed there. I went inside and ate some Carne Asada that Arlene's mother made, which I really liked and enjoyed, and then chilled with them by watching some television and having some discussions about photoshoots. Then I took off home since it started getting late.

I didn't really do much on Sunday, which happened to be my mom's 46th birthday and my little sister's 16th birthday on that day. Yep, they're 30 years apart. They were probably celebrating it in the mid-west over there. I spent the day just working on photos, my website, driving to the Wal-Mart in Porter Ranch to print out an 8 X 10 enlargement for a friend of mine and watched a double feature at my friend Natasha's house. The movies were the original Wall Street and Defending Your Life through her Netflix. I thought that they had the second Wall Street uploaded on there cause I saw the Blu-Ray on sale at Wal-Mart, which had a lot of people there returning gifts that they got under the tree, but the site didn't have it so we watched the first one instead.

Like I said, the weekend turned out as well as a thought it would be, with the exception of 80's singer Teena Marie passing away on Sunday. I'm not gonna front, but I first found out about the news from Birdman's Twitter account before CNN and all the other news media outlets confirmed it a few hours later. Looks like Twitter is going to replace The Huffington Post as the main source for internet journalism sometime in the future. I wanted to mention about my upcoming website and the important information about it, which also involves this Blogspot page, but I'll bring it up tomorrow since I threw in too much on the Christmas weekend recap. Major thanks to the Stetter family and the Arias family for letting me spend time inside their homes. I take back what I said on how everything is off limits on Christmas day. What I meant to say that everything that is not close to you and that's a distraction to your everyday lives should be off limits on Christmas Day.

One last thing, y'all should watch the Top Gear Holiday Special, the UK version. That shit is a MUST SEE, whether you like automobiles or not. It more like a movie as you watch it, so make sure you got you computer connected to a screen that is at least 46 inches, which some of you must've got with your Holiday bonus.

Midnight Love

I'm sure the President and the First lady must've watched the late night Slow Jams-genre music video block on BET back when they were going steady (or dating) in the 1990's.

By the way, Christmas Day is next Saturday, one week from now. Shit, I remember when it would take forever for that day to come. Plus, December 25, from what I know, is gonna be the only time the Lakers will play a home game on a Saturday, against the overhyped Miami Heat, which is usually reserved for the Clippers.

(Photo credited to Pete Souza, Official White House Photographer)

Thanksgiving Came a Weekend Early

The title LITERALLY speaks for itself this past weekend.

I spent majority of the past 3 days with my family, my friends and their families. It was great attending my pops' and my brother's church for the first time since.... I-really-do-not-know-when. It felt like a year, but I remember visiting the place sometime around this year, or was it because I keep seeing the Pastor and the members at my uncle's house for my cousin's wedding this past summer?

Anyway, my other cousin and the youth of his church were taking over the service for the day. I really wanted to stay and hear my cousin deliver his sermonette that he conducted, but I had to leave to drive to the A.V. to go return the Nikon Speedlight SB-600 flash unit to my uncle in Lancaster, cause he had a gig to go take photos at around that time. So after I dreaded the 14 freeway North and chilled at his place for a bit, I then took the beautiful-ass flawless Sierra Highway back to my pop's house in Granada Hills. When I got home, I read that one of the Aftergloam members was throwing a last minute potluck kickback at her place, and I just bought 2 Double Cheeseburgers and a Side Salad from McDonald's before I got home, which I haven't eaten yet. So then I took my untouched $3.61 plus tax lunch to Tianna Edmonson's place, who happens to be the excellent, talented drummer for the band Aftergloam.

Usually whenever I go to her place, which is not too far from where I'm staying at, there would always be a grip of twenty somethings that would fill up her pad, but when I got there around 4pm, there was about like 6 or 7 people that attended. I think I shut down the entire potluck with the McDonald's in my hand but I just gave one of my sandwiches to one of the dudes there that was starving. During that time I mingled, took photos, watched some decent amount of television at their living room such as a portion of the USC-Arizona Wildcats game, the movie Biker Boyz which I haven't seen since my trip from Nigeria on the airplane as an in-flight movie back in 2003, and I got a chance to check out Inside the NFL on Showtime, which I thought was a damn good show unlike NFL Live and alot of other pro football related highlight programs. Man, Phil Simms even cussed during the discussion about the situation with the Dallas Cowboys after the first five minutes at the start of the program. No wonder this shit used to be aired on HBO. Big shoutout to the De La Torre family for for getting to know y'all more, making me feel at home, and for the excellent, delicious Pupusas you guys served me.

The next day I was supposed to cover a wedding on that Sunday, which I happened to found out at the last second when I turned my phone on after I woke up. I tried calling my uncle back, but he didn't pick up. I could've made at least $200 that day. Instead, I did some laundry, helped my pops around the house by doing yard maintenance, and just kept it low key for a while. For some reason, I didn't feel like watching some NFL games that day, but I followed up some of the games online during the score updates.

Later on that day, I drove to Chatsworth to go pick up my friend Natasha to go hiking at Stoney Point next to Topanga Canyon Boulevard and the Santa Susana Pass intersection. I always drive by that place over the years and I never got a chance to check it out. It was a very great spot, especially for doing photoshoots. Took a good amount of photos there, mostly landscape pictures of Porter Ranch, and we just talked and had good discussions as we were hiking. Natasha and I went to the same high school and I started talking to her back in 2005, but only for a short while. I ran into her again this past summer when I started going to Nicole's house, since they're both young mothers and good close friends. Small ass world, isn't it. She's a very cool person to be around with. Hell, she even introduced me to the film American Psycho on Friday, which I heard of but never saw. For some reason, I always think of Kourtney Kardashian's son's father Scott Disick instead of the Patrick Bateman character the film. They look and dress TOTALLY alike.

After I dropped Natasha off at her place, I then drove to one of my friend's crib Burbank to watch the Los Angeles Lakers go against the Phoenix Suns, which was a disappointing loss thanks to Hedo Turkoglu crazy ass 3 pointers, which was almost a record that night, more like a Ray-Allen-in-the-2010-NBA-Finals type performance. Thanks to the Galvez family for inviting me over and thanks to Ginger for the slice of Pumpkin Pie, which was my first time trying it.

I'll just end this post here. Seriously, I really can't ask for more. I'm pretty much already full and stuffed with all the blessings I counted this weekend, as well as this past year so far. To me, there's really no need for Turkeys (not Hedo Turkoglu's country by the way). I rather give them to those unfortunate people who really need it more than I do. That's the type of person I am, especially during the upcoming holidays.

Three great things saved my Sunday Night

The Lakers playing like true Champions by winning their 7th straight game since the start of the NBA season, the unexpected rain tonight and listening to this 80's group streaming from the internet

Bow Wow Wow is so damn flawless. One of the best music groups of all time ever. For those born after 1991, this was the group that sang the one hit wonder "I Want Candy". By the way, Annabella Lynn, the naked girl in that photo, is the lead singer of the group and she was a minor when this photo was taken. Not even they would allow a Disney Channel star to go that route nowadays.

A Mid-Summer's Nightmare Dream

I just had the most weirdest, unbelievable dream Tuesday night. It became a nightmare after I woke up realizing it wasn't real.

I was at some high rise building overlooking either Malibu or Laguna Beach (I know there's no skyscrapers in those cities but like I said, its my dream), for a job interview for some private corporation. I forgot what the company was but I think it had to do with marketing research mixed with sales or some thing like that, but it was very big though. I was told to go straight to the Chairman's office which look really large and nice like it was a master bedroom and it has a large glass window behind his desk overlooking the coast of the beach. He looks like some rich business tycoon in his late 40's with a hair transplant that makes him look young, and that he's a white guy who is about the same height as me. In other words, picture him as the late Chuck Daly, only two inches shorter. He then asked me some questions and I only remember giving him long ass answers that lasted 5 minutes at the least. Then out of nowhere, the board of directors came in his office, which, in some weird situation, it involved Paris Hilton and Snoop Dogg as one of the members. I would say that this is T-Mobile Headquarters, but unfortunately, I was in Southern California and T-Mobile is in Germany.

We then move to this board room next to his office where they had to discuss an urgent situation within the company. I could've waited in the lobby, but the Chairman wanted me to get a hands-on first glimpse of the company, even though I wasn't hired yet. It lasted 10 minutes and I again I forgot what the problem was that they have to resolve. All I remember was that I gave in some input during the meeting and they were kinda pleased and has some arguments on my thoughts. After the board meeting, the Chairman and I went to his office and he then leaned on my ear and told me I was hired, ON THE SPOT. I was surprised and had so much emotion all of the sudden and the Chairman wouldn't stop shaking my hand for three minutes. Being that its a corporation he gave me an agenda list of all the procedures that the new employees go though once they been hired. The first thing it said that I have to go to a celebration hiring dinner with the Board of Directors, including Snoop and Paris, that's at some five star restaurant, all the way at Bakersfield in a Limo. Yeah, I know, very unique and unusual. Then the rest of the list says that I'll get a custom tailored suits and a two day paid orientation and some other neat perks once I get started.

Then later before I start to get ready for the dinner, I went to the beach to go swimming. I swam all the way to the deep end and for some reason the Pacific Ocean started to light up, which I though that was really tight. All of the sudden I was in a different setting, where I was driving at a university, probably UC Santa Barbara, and that they were two college kids, a boy and a girl in their early 20s driving a Police Interceptor Ford Crown Victoria who were driving behind me. I noticed that they were a 21 Jump Street-Style undercover law enforcement officers. The guy was Thai and the girl was either Iranian or Native American and they were wearing casual street clothes. I then start to lose them in traffic and after I lost them, I parked my car at a safe location and I walked around the campus. I was going to go to the student union until I saw this one girl that I knew from high school. She looked way nicer and finer than the last time I saw her, which was two years ago. She was wearing a dark blue sweater and some red tight jeans. She was with three other Asian girls and she had a 8 X 10 frame that she couldn't unwrap. I then helped her open it and she thanked me for it. She then asked me that she saw my photos on Facebook and I was about to tell her about my photography business and the new job that I got hired at... until those two undercover kids came up to me and the girl said "Can we speak to you for a moment David? This is very important" I was like "Shit, I knew it". I'm surprised that they found me, so I had to end my conversation with the chick I went to high school with. The guy told me that I was driving over the speed limit around the university campus and that they are going to impound my car despite the fact that I parked it at a safe place where no parking permit is required. After that then I woke up and I was upset that the whole scenario wasn't real (I meant the part when I got hired, not the part where my car got taken away at UCSB)

Other than that, I've been catchin up on taking photos for the past few days, which obviously explains on why I haven't been on here in a long time. The last few days have been, without a single doubt, very very awesome. Many events and occurrences took place on those days, especially in Los Angeles. Today is no exception. You got a laundry list of things that are happening in this city, and it will benefit you if you are a tourist on Summer Vacation with your family.

Today some of these include:

Michael Jackson burial grave site visit in Forest Lawn Memorial in Glendale.

Of course today is the one year anniversary of his sudden passing. Exactly one year ago, this news came out of nowhere starting with him getting into a cardiac arrest at his rented house in Beverly Hills, which broke news everywhere. At first I thought that he was just going to be rushed into the hospital at the UCLA Medical Center, get admitted for a few days and then he'd be released afterwards under intensive caring supervision since his condition has been discussed a few months prior to that. But then the story got even more serious since they started reporting that he has trouble breathing among other things and then later TMZ reported that he died afterwards, before it was publicly confirmed by other media outlets. That's when everything started to freeze up and then go completely ape-shit at that moment. First, everyone was saying that TMZ was making this up and that they needed more sources to confirm that he's dead, which the Jackson family announced afterwards to the public that he passed away. So basically, TMZ should be credited for breaking the announcement first while everyone else (which includes the Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, CNN, MTV and other major journalism companies) waited an hour or two hours later after they got other credible sources and confirmations.

Secondly, this whole debacle caused the internet to crash, literally. Twitter was a huge victim to this action. Their were so many, and I mean SO MANY of it users responding to this news (I honestly don't like to use the word "tweet", it just sounds redundant) that its servers couldn't handle all the incoming traffic, which caused the site to break down for a few hours. The same thing happened with Facebook and other social networking site and forums off all genre, be it music, sports, technology forums or any kinds. That just shows how extreme and gynormus MJ was around the globe, and how he was a huge inspiration to all kinds of people, regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, musical interests, and other reasons. They even had a public memorial at the Staples Center, which I STILL think it should've been held at the Coliseum or the Rose Bowl since it holds more people. The only benefit that I agree from that was that they made it free, despite that the Jackson family has some financial issues of their own. I'm sure his grave, as well as his childhood home, his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Neverland Ranch out in Santa Barbara County, will be flooded with flowers, MJ impersonators and tears which makes today look like the mid point of 2009 again.

New York Yankees vs Los Angeles Dodgers at Chavez Ravine

There's a reason why this game is too hard to get into. Aside for ordering the extra games package to get the tickets to this game, or the series for that matter, there's a lot of storylines between these two teams.

1) Joe Torre used to be the Manager for the Yankees prior to coming to LA back in 2008.

2) Both New York and Los Angeles are the top two large market cities in the United States with the most population.

3) Both of those teams WOULD'VE faced each other in the World Series last year since they were both in each other's League Championship Series, with the Yankees prevailing and the Dodgers losing to the Phillies, who also happened to lose to the Yankees in the big dance. Had LA and New York faced each other, the ratings would match the recent NBA Finals ratings between the Lakers and the Celtics.

4) Just like #3, they are the World Champs, and they have the most in Major League Baseball with 27 trophies.

iPhone 4 release at the Apple Store and AT&T store

I won't say anything about this device until I mess around with it first. (That doesn't sound right, but whatever) That piece of shit came out yesterday and I knew that there were gonna be long ass lines for it. But here's what makes it different from the previous iPhone releases. This time, they make customers pre-order the device first which means that on release day, you can just go into wherever you choose to purchase it after you put money down once your pre-ordered it prior to picking it up. It's more of a faster process instead of everyone just picking up the iPhone the day it comes out. But either way, that shit is still cause a line, cause its an Apple product.

I was at the Topanga Mall yesterday since I had to take my brother there cause he wanted to check out the H&M over there since he never shopped at that location before. He usually goes to the ones in Northridge and Hollywood, but never the Topanga location. Unfortunately, he didn't get anything there which I though he would get some clothes from that store after receiving a lot of graduation money from his church. Instead, he got Panda Express, which kinda threw me off cause there's three different Panda Expresses in Granada Hills that he could've gone to instead of driving all the way to the West Valley just for that.

While I was waiting for him, I checked out the Apple Store there, and to no surprise, there was a line. Not just one line but TWO lines. One for if you already pre-order the iPhone and the other line was for if you wanna buy something there, not browse but to actually purchase a computer of an MP3 player or any other Apple product. They had like three private security guards, two thirds of the Westfield mall security and the LAPD there at the store to make sure that no one sneaks inside the store or cut the line, which didn't move for two hours. When I saw the phone at the Keynote presentation, I thought it was a very decent product they made so far. The mobile version of iMovie and the zoom camera features got my attention. Plus its mad affordable starting at $200 as opposed to its $600 price tag three years ago.

Twilight: Eclipse premiere

It felt like two months ago that Twilight: New Moon came out in theaters, but it came out on DVD and Blu-Ray two months ago. I don't read the book, and I never watched the first two movies. They released this in the summer instead of the usual fall is because a lot of kids are out of school during that time and plus movies that are released during the summer make alot more money than any other release date season. When that movie premiered yesterday at the Regal Cinema theaters in Downtown LA, there was a shitload of people that camped out at LA Live just to be the first one to see this film. And when I say camp out at LA Live, I'm not talking 24 hours before it premiered, I mean they camped out WITH TENTS AND SLEEPING BAGS FOR DAYS SINCE AFTER THE LAKER PARADE ON MONDAY. Hell, there were parents who gave up work for a week to camp out with their kids, not just for safety reasons but to see the film as well. Its it really that serious to take up your time just to do that? Oh wait, its summer, school's out. I gonna try to do my best to avoid the whole "Team Jacob" V. "Team Edward" promotional bullshit for the next few weeks until the movie stops playing. I wouldn't be surprised if Twilight: Breaking Dawn (don't ask me how I know the names of the sequels) comes out at the end of the year

That's pretty much all the stuff that happening or been happening this week. Oh and finally, that Game 7 of the NBA Finals last week was epic. Super epic. I been saying in weeks past that the playoffs is fixed and everything, which I still think it is, but that night made me think that it was real, especially the performance LA pulled off at the end. I was at Busby's in Santa Monica watching this game. I was originally supposed to meet up with some of my old friends from my church there, but they called me during halftime and told me that they couldn't make it at the last minute. So I decided to stay and watch the second half of the game and at the end, the place went fucking electric. I was taking photos of and with random broads and Laker fans at the place. Its made last years victory against Orlando look like a regular season game. BIG MAJOR SHOUTOUT TO CANDACE AND ADAM FOR LETTING ME CRASH AT THEIR PLACE THAT NIGHT. You guys are terrific, seriously.

The NBA's Finals Exam time machine

Shit, I'm glad May is over. I'm not even gonna fucking get into last week. That includes Gary Coleman's death.

You know what, I lied. I'll give my prospective on it. That means no more Cash Call jokes and no more MTV Celebrity Deathmatch references.

I didn't even see that shit coming. The week before, I saw a video on the internet that had him go inside a pro-wrestling ring during a No holds barred type Pay-Per-View match that had Jeff Jarrett as of of the opponents. Freakin' Gary Coleman came out of nowhere and gave him like 2 or 3 low blows on his nuts. I don't even know how Jeff Jarrett recovered from those shots that quick (of course it fucking hurts, you wouldn't even feel like getting busy with some girl from that pain) but all of the sudden he knocks the lights out Gary Coleman with his guitar. That shit had me laughing for minutes and minutes. The person who uploaded the video titled it "Gary Coleman Dies", and I sent it to some friends of mine in which they also laughed their asses off. Then a week later, I drove all the way to Northeast Los Angeles to this girl's house who I met at the Kardashian's "Virgin, Saints, and Angels" pendant event at Kitson a few weeks before, to give the photos I took of them on that day. I was using their laptop to watch this music video that one of their roommates produced, and then when I went to show him my Facebook, someone posted that Gary Coleman passed away.

Again, that really got me by surprised. Gary Coleman is one of the only actors that makes me laugh whenever I see a picture of him, when I hear his name or when I even see his name. I know he went through a bunch of shit in the late 80's and 1990's, but I was surprised on when I found out that he worked at the old Fox Hills mall in Culver City as a security guard which really tripped me out. If only his parents planned out his financial incomings from Diff'rent Strokes like putting some savings on the side and invest it or let it grow instead of them and his financial advisors taking a huge percentage of his pay, then Gary would've live a better, more affluent life. Hell, he could've saved his former co-star Dana Plato from entering the porn industry (yes, she was in porn) and dying from Bulimia in 1999.

Fuck, I still can't believe he's gone. Had his life post-Diff'rent Strokes went well, I think he could've spent the rest of his life making some young children laugh in the Children's Hospital on Sunset if he showed up and jumped up and down in the patient's room or if he did some cheap puppet show that went bad, it would get the Nurses and a few M.D.'s laughing as well. But that shows that celebrities, including child actors, live like regular people as well. Cause when I was a kid, I thought stars would get away with everything, including Traffic Violations. I think that's why Lindsay Lohan is always the target for the media and the press. Had it not been for her trial a few weeks ago where she's required to be monitored everywhere she goes so that she doesn't break her probation rules, then I would still use her as an example on how the Tabloids do whatever they can to find the negative things on actors and musicians just to tell a story.

Damn that last sentence on Lindsay Lohan made me feel like its late 2006 to 2007 again. Speaking of going back in time, this Thursday and every other day until the World Cup in South Africa starts, its gonna be like 2008 again.

Its gonna be Game 1 of the LOS ANGELES LAKERS VERSUS THE BOSTON CELTICS IN THE 2010 NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

They should called it that instead of the "NBA Finals" just for this series since it was like that during the 11 other times these two teams met, except 2008 and 1987, which is then they changed it to the "NBA Finals" name. To me, I somewhat get confused on how championships for sports always feature teams from big viewership markets. From time to time I would always joke or prophesied on how the NBA playoffs is fixed or doctored in a way that Commissioner David Stern would script the last two teams that features Boston and Los Angeles to cruise through the entire playoffs just so that ABC will get huge ratings and how the league would get so much revenue which would be the equivalent of the buyrates from the supposed-to-happen Pacquiao VS Mayweather fight that was supposed to take place in March. But anyway, this year's NBA Finals is gonna make things very disgusting. Laker fans won't even fuck with anyone from Boston, even if they don't watch Basketball. Shit, I have a pair of Air Jordan 1's that have the Green/Black/White colorway that I wear alot, so it looks like I might put them on ice until God Knows when so that I could walk around LA Live without getting jumped by some drunk fans in Kobe jerseys, or I could just wear them and tell them that I'm representing Nigeria in the World Cup. Bottom line, the people wanted Boston vs Los Angeles again since the Lakers won the title last year, they got what they wanted, and I wish the best for both teams....I mean I wish the best for Los Angeles so that I can score some more digits and Facebook profiles from the female Laker Fans like last year at the ESPN Zone during the games, which will be at FULL CAPACITY this month.

But yeah, now that June is here, its time to look forward again. My brother is going to prom this weekend with his younger sister, who's also related to me. That's a first cause he told me that all the girls at Kennedy high school are whack. I don't blame him cause I would think the same thing, or not. He's gonna be the first one to go to prom and the first one in the family to graduate from the broke-ass LAUSD after getting his education there for the past 15 years (he started pre-Kindergarten at the age of 3) and to spend 4 straight years at the same high school. Me and my other sister went to a private high school for Ninth grade and we started Pre-K at the age of 4. I wish the best and that he enjoys the time left in high school and not let "Senoritis" get the best of him.

Oh and by the way, big shoutout to Patrick Smith for the bomb-ass Pizza and taking the time to chill at his place yesterday. Hope everything goes well for your production and instruments business. And also a very, VERY big shoutout to Katie Reddig and Aaron Wilson for tying the knot on Sunday. I know that you guys will live a perfect, successful life with each other.

This is why celebrities should not be in the 100s section at Staples Center

We're here to see a game, not Drew Barrymore getting head..... I mean proposing to REAL Laker Fans.

SERIOUSLY, GUYS?!?!

I wouldn't be surprised if Rihanna tricked out Matt Kemp's Xbox 360 or if Kendra Wilkinson tricked out Hank Baskett's Nintendo Wii, even though he plays for the Eagles.

By the way I met both Khloe and Lamar in person, before they got hitched. Very nice people. Can't wait to see this on eBay in 3-5 years

She was sad.....real sad, Paris Jackson

That title was to paraphrase Kanye West's verse from Keri Hilson's "Knock you Down" single, which to me, might be this summer's anthem.

On Monday night I missed two of the rarest telecasts in the history of television. A replay of Game 6 of the 2000 NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and the Los Angeles Lakers and Wall Street on the Fox Movie channel. Starting with the Game 6 repeat. ESPN Classic used to be a venue where you can watch classic NBA games and vintage NFL Films programs like NFL Films Presents, The NFL Game of the Week, and highlights of some team's season in a particular. This was like back when I was in high school some 5 years ago. Now with the advent of NBA TV and the NFL Network (which is a travesty to get in the San Fernando Valley unless you have satellite) ESPN Classic became a display of Poker World Series, RECENT, not classic, recent NCAA games, AWA Wrestling, and countless, countless, countless hours of professional Boxing which they hold endless marathons every weekend. Nowadays they rarely show the REAL good vintage sports that they used to show, and I do mean rarely. In fact, that NBA Finals game came in a heartbeat. It was the actual NBA on NBC telecast with the John Tesh "Roundball Rock" theme music, Bob Costas and Ahmad Rashad getting airtime with the peacock logo on their blazers, Chick Hearn still calling the shots, the then newly built Staples Center when the 300s section and the rest of the damn arena was lit up and a just barely legal 21-year-old Kobe Bryant rocking the Afro with his signature Adidas sneakers. This was the last finals game where they won at home court. The next 3 they won at Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Orlando. Confetti was flying and riots were all abroad outside at Figueroa St. and downtown Los Angeles (I don't know whether to compare that years riots to this past years riots). You won't find that game ever played again on a network, unless if you have a friend who's been a devoted Laker's fan since Elgin Baylor and Jerry West played in the Sports Arena before going to the Forum that taped that game. The only other alternative to watch that game is the internet, which is fine but I can't dig the slow frame rate there.

Wall Street is another film that I've been wanting to see for the past two months. Michael Douglas plays the antagonist in the film along with Charlie and Martin Sheen as the Co-stars. You can't find it on the internet. I couln't find it at Target or the Best Buys in my area. But I'll just keep looking and I'll get it once I'll see it. Again they rarely show that movie on TV.

So today I was supposed to be at a meeting with a couple of job developers to find out why I haven't been working for the past year around 10:00AM. I ditched it because I wanted to see the Michael Jackson memorial, which SHOULD'VE took place at at larger venue like the Rose Bowl where he preformed at halftime during Super Bowl XXVII in 1993 or the Coliseum where 90,000 plus people filled the place for the Lakers championship rally after the parade last month.

And it was worth missing the meeting.

They had two memorials that day: a private one in Forest Lawn cemetery at Griffith Park and a public one at Staples Center. In order to get to the public one, you had to register for the tickets at the Staples Center website, and out of 1.6 million people that entered, they randomly selected 18,000 people to witness the event. I registered the second they announced the web address at last weeks press conference at LA Live. Knowing that there was gonna be a shitload of web traffic, I had to use two computers and my brothers Playstation Portable to get through. Unfortunately I didn't get selected, but those who did had this emotion as if their child was the first one in the family to graduate from college with honors or if Sir Richard Branson (the billionaire who owns Virgin) gave everyone in England a Jaguar or a C300. Hell that ticket is so powerful, that the bids for these on ebay went for more than a 2 room house in Arleta, and people bidded on them regardless of the price.

Every channel you can think of televised this special. This event was to honor and show support for a worldwide entertainer that shut down the internet for half an hour and had his albums literary sellout everywhere after his death was announced. Despite being held at a 20,000 seat venue, the memorial went very great. It was like going to church as I was watching. A lot of famous people came and gave their share of their experience with Michael.

-Magic Johnson's speech was the most amusing, along with Kobe Bryant who's speech was the only one I missed because I was upstairs. He left out Joe Jackson's name while he was thanking the family and plugged Kentucky Fried Chicken that shot up its stock in the New York Stock Exchange like crazy a few seconds later.

-Jennifer Hudson looked really fantastic, even though she's pregnant thanks to David "Punk" Acuna from VH1's I Love New York, and I haven't seen her performed since this years' Super Bowl.

-Brooke Shields should've brought Emmanuel Lewis on stage with her.

-Al Sharpton still did his thing.

-I'm surprised that Berry Gordy is still alive. He should buy Motown back from Universal Music Group and sign that kid from Britians got Talent.

-They threw every religious symbol on the same screen during the "We are the World" performance which I thought it was awkward.

The ending was where it really went down. Michael's daughter, 11 year old Paris Katherine Jackson, spoke publically for the first time ever. If I was there I would've brought out the waterworks after she thanked her father. Honestly that was very powerful, possibly the highlight of the whole show that pundits and critics are talk about for a long time. Again, the man is a very special entertainer. The last time I can recall an event this great was Princess Diana's memorial back in 1997. He's gonna be greatly missed.

Year in review...so far

Coming off a lame ass Wednesday night, even though its still going on as I type, I can't think of anything else to do right now. So I decided that I should reflect on this year so far now that we reached the midpoint of 2009. Let's see what happened so far starting with January....

Barack Obama being inagurated as President of the United States

I thought this day will never happen. Hell I had doubts for this guy when people were mentioning that he was gonna run for President, before he declared his canidacy. But through out 2008, the man emphasized change across the country with numerous visits and telling his life story on how he was brought up by his bi-racial parents and how he pulled an Alex Haley (the guy who wrote Roots) by traveling to Kenya and learning more about his ancestory. Many people started admiring him, and its not just because he's a Democrat. Its because Barack relates to the modern American culture more closely than any other past President I can think of. For example, the guy can shoot hoops, he's addicted to his Blackberry more than Robert Palmer being Addicted to love, he even took his wife Michelle to see Do The Right Thing when they first met, and he was barely 30 when that movie came out.

When the guy meant that he was gonna bring "Change" to the United States, he wasn't fuckin' kidding. He didn't just bring change, he permanetly enabled it . I think that the recession that happened last year was part of it regardless if he won or not. Its like changing the oil filter in you car by draining and cleaning the remaining excess and refilling it with the brand new product. The night when he won the election and the next day as well, people of all races were letting out their emotions of all types, viewing society more differently than they have in their past lives. Blacks were acting more seriously challenged than before, thinking that if Barack can do it big, why can't they strive and live up to match where he is. Its also an good advantage for single mothers out their, especially black mothers who have sons that don't have a father that lives with them. Barack can and might be thier role model, some who the single mother's kid can look up to as an example. The inaguration really paid off for those who have been supporting him for the past 2 years. Being an African-American myself, I may not have fully support him during the campaign, but I respect him for landing this far through out the journey.

Nadya Suleman and the Gosslins plus thier numerous children

I'm sorry, but I don't know what else there is to say about this woman. She a single mother in her early 30's, a student in college going for her masters, with no job, no husband , no income with the exception of her student loans and already has eight kids from her previous marriage. For the icing on the cake, she wanted to have those eight more kids, and she did it thorugh in-vitro fertalization. After she gave birth, I thought the media was gonna be at her for about a week. But I was wrong.

With a mix of controversy, Nadya Suleman became the center of attention in the media circus. People made fun of her and critized on televison, tabloid magazines were publishing fake-ass stories about her to get more sales, Donald Trump said that she is the reason that the recession is getting worse and a lot of single moms looked up to her because of all the weight she has to hold. I'm suprised that she would do this at a time when the financial system is a mess. Then she had to hand the torch over to Jon and Kate Gosslin.

Rhianna gets served by Chris Brown

They were refered to as the prince and princess of the hip hop industry. But one February night, something went beyond belief that nobody would ever imagine. I'm pretty sure that you know the whole story, but they were at a pre Grammy dinner event before the whole thing happened. When I first heard of it, I thought he had some sort of alcohol during the event even though he was 19. But I don't think that was the case cause he was driving a $175,000 Lamborgini that night and he knows better than to drink and drive. If Chris never let Rhianna snatch the keys from the Lamborgini's ignition and threw them out the window because she was upset of some girl that Chris was texting to, then he would've never got physical on her and sort it out like adults. The boy should have known better than to strike at a lady like Rhianna. Now I've seen both of them in person last year. Rhianna is VERY fine and Chris looks like a safety off a High School football team. I lost respect for both of them after that. They are the biggest musicans in the world and they have a lot of fans in both of them that admire their music. This is the part that really tripped me out like I was high on life or something. About a month and a half after all that took place and the inital court hearing, Rhianna forgave him and they started seeing each other for a while.

Now when you beat the shit out of a gorgeous supermodel-looking girl straight from Barbados, the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, or just anywhere in South America, not only is that bitch is gone forever but you just got yourself a death certificate. Look forward to encountering her brothers, cousins, her pops and even her grandparents filing mad lawsuts and pouring shame and guilt all over your life. Jay-Z was so upset at Chris Brown, that he may force him in retirement from singing. Again, I don't even know what he was thinking when he left those brusies on her that night. Now Chris Brown has five years probation and six months community service. That's the core thing about life: Shit happens, regardless if your famous or not.

Los Angeles Lakers 2009 NBA champions

Some people don't believe in wishes, so they interpret it in this saying: Becareful what you pray and hope for, cause God might actually answer it. Los Angelenos weren't so careful with its financial situation, but they did get their hopes and prayers answered.

The Los Angeles Lakers basketball team have this tradition that they do after every game whether they win or lose. They get together, put their hands in the center with their eyes closed and recite the Lords Prayer. They focused their goals by keeping their own faith and not let anything get in the way no matter how changelling the outcomes are. I've been to the ESPN Zone in Downtown Los Angeles throughout the playoffs to watch the majority of the games. To me, I think the team had a lot of "breaks" in the playoffs like Kevin Garnett, who is one of the major core factors of the high rolling defending champions Boston Celtics, being injured in the go-around and was being forced to sit out thorughout the playoffs, causing Boston to be knocked off by the Orlando Magic. Another "break" they had was the injury of Houston Rockets center Yao Ming when the Lakers went against Houston in the second round of the playoffs. Honestly it really sucks to see that happening if you think about it. The guy has been in the league ever since I started high school back in 2002 and there are already talks that he might hang it up. I really like to see him play next season.

The NBA finals is where it could've been one way or another. The Orlando Magic could've lead 3 games to 1 in the series and finish it off at home so that the team could have their first ever world title. They were a good team through out the playoffs, hell they got rid of Boston and Cleveland Cavaliers who had the most wins in the regular season, but I could never at that time picture them with the world title. It was a great feeling when they won, despite the rowdy drunk Laker fans rioting in the streets of Los Angeles surrounding the Staples Center. That alsmost could've been me at that scene but thank God that the ESPN Zone was at full capacity, which caused a long ass line that streched parallel next to Figueroa Street. I didn't go to the victory parade for several reasons. First I wanted to let those who have never been to a Lakers game before to get a chance to see the players and the staff. I've seen the players before in person and I've been inside Staples once and sat two rows behind courtside which is equivalent to going to the Coliseum for the rally. Second was the ruckus that took place after the game was over. The scene was the same as the time where they won back in 2000 which almost cost them the chance to host the Democratic National Convention at the then newly built Staples Center. Lots of places were destroyed, including a sneaker store that was fully vandalized leaving the store completley empty. I got a chance to check out the store on the day before it was destroyed and that place had a lot of nice sneakers. All I can say was that team earned to have another banner hanging at Staples Center.

There were a lot of other things that happened this past year, but those things I mentioned are topics that people are gonna remember for a long time. Let's see what the last six months of this year and this decade brings.