Super Bowl Son-Day

That game was fucking weird. If not, the whole entire Sunday.

I was watching it at the De La Torre's place as I always do whenever a championship sporting event is taking place. For the past two years, I witnessed Green Bay Packers winning over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Superbowl XLV, the Dallas Mavericks getting their revenge against the Miami Heat in that Game 6 of the Finals, that crazy ass walk-off home run by David Freese of the St. Louis Cardinals that forced a Game 7 in the World Series that year, and obviously that Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals when the LA Kings shocked the universe by bringing the Stanley Cup all over the town. But this past Sunday was my second time watching a Super Bowl there, and after a long stressful month of January, just being with some homies and their families and their kids made me feel more comfortable.

As for the game, man, fuck it. That shit looked like it was commissioned and produced by a fifteen-year-old who spent his whole life playing Madden '96 off his pop's Sega Saturn. I mean, it was great to see Ray Lewis getting his second ring at his final game (which is the same way that Jerome Bettis and John Elway finish their careers). The actual game itself felt like I was watching a regular season game and that fucking 35 minutes blackout had to be fixed (as in rigged not repairable) cause, shit, IT WAS THE SUPER BOWL. At a Saints game, yeah, but not during the big dance where a over 100 million people are watching it in their 90"  Samsung (I'll get to those fools later) HDTVs that they just spent their tax refund money on. Happened right after that insane 108 yard kick off return that gave Baltimore another touchdown, which made the San Francisco 49ers way out of reach as the score was 28 Ravens- 6 Niners at that point. After the power was restored, San Francisco regained the upper hand by scoring several touchdown to get very close to Baltimore, scoring wise. But after some, literally, last minute chances to get the lead that didn't work out, the Ravens got the win, as well as the Vince Lombardi Trophy for the second time in 12 years for their first Super Bowl win. It would've been epic and much more interesting if San Francisco won, even though I don't like that city's sports teams, yet unfortunately, it didn't happen.

Unlike the previous Super Bowls that I've been watching for almost 10 years, I didn't seen to have that hyped up style feeling. Maybe it cause I'm getting older or is because the players are getting younger. I still find it coincidental that the head coaches for San Francisco and Baltimore were are siblings, which its probably another reason that garners interest for the game just like John Gruden's old team versus his new team back in 2003. The advertisements they aired this year was bullshit and predictable. All of them. There wasn't one I really saw amusement and entertainment in. Also, that Samsung Galaxy commercial they aired that day? Shit, I honestly thought that it was never going to end. No disrespect to Seth Rogen and Judd Apathow, but it was long as fuck. I thought that Samsung had to give up a shit load of money to Apple from that settlement shit last year, but it looked like they wounded up spending about 100 Million bucks for that ad now that this year's commercials are 40 Million dollars just for 30 seconds of air time.  The only best part of the whole entire Super Bowl broadcast was not the halftime show (I wish I was kidding), but Kat Dennings cleavage during the promos for her show 2 Broke Girls on CBS, who also happened to telecast this years Super Bowl (Fox has it for next year).

What sucked the most about this years game was that this was the very first Super Bowl without the late Steve Sabol of NFL Films being present at the game. Like I said during his tribute that I typed up after his passing last year, he's one the only few people in the world that has gone to every Super Bowl since the inaugural game at the LA Coliseum back in 1967, and I've seem to imagine how the film crew is capturing the game without Steve Sabol giving the commands and directions for that day as he's done in the past. I don't even know if his name will be in the credits of the Ravens Super Bowl XLVII highlight video. but I'm sure they'll do a "In Memory of" type tribute. Probably another reason why my excitement for that championship game on Sunday felt out of place.

Anyway, that's it for the recap. Yeah, I know its kinda somewhat biased but that's how I really thought about the game that Sunday. It really felt like a regular game. Thanks again to the De La Torre's as always for hosting this Super Bowl gathering. Probably the only decent thing that I did so far, while the rest of the past few weeks have been personal stuff with the family and shit. I'm just glad I went there yesterday so that I can feel relaxed and stress free for once instead of driving around from The Valley to LA and answering phone calls that you don't want to answer. The only thing now I'm looking forward to is Primitive's Spring '13 line this month and any other surprises that they have. I know I talk about Primitive alot, but its one of the only decent independent sneaker/skateboarding/apparel boutiques that I really like and I support it alot on instagram and Facebook since the store is based in the Valley, as well as their clothing. Plus, its also owned by Paul Rodriguez, a well known professional skateboarder and a son of a famous latin comedian with the same name. Click on the link on the top right to check out their goods and apparel they offer.

Speaking of Primitive, thanks again to the gorgeous Shay Maria for uploading a photo on her Tumbr page that I took of her rockin' the Air Jordan VII "Playoffs" (not Raptors) during the store's four year anniversary Barbecue last summer. That photo got reblogged and favorited over 400 times. Does this mean that I finally consider myself "Tumblr famous"?

Thanks for your time reading this. Stay blessed. 

The Best from the Worst

Bezold Photography hasn't gone anywhere.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Slickness in and from Seattle

Shit, week 3 the NFL this past weekend.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fifth iPhone Avenue and a tribute to Steve Sabol

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

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

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

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

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

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

Second Nurture

A post update on a Saturday? Hey, the Breakfast club had to spend the entire Saturday in detention 26 years ago.

I didn't recap my Thanksgiving weekend from last week cause I didn't feel like typing about it for some weird reason. It was just a regular occasion to me. Went to three different houses which involved alot of football watching and a lot of food, including the Turkey obviously. My friend Marlene De La Torre's daughter Yvonne gave birth to her second daughter on that Thursday as well, which made it alot more special and interesting since I was with their family for that weekend. Spend Saturday and Sunday taking photos of the newborn on film. She's very gorgeous, and I give my ABSOLUTE, ULTIMATE best to her, and her parents Yvonne and Nestor the very best in their new blessing.

Also, week 12 of the NFL was just another Sunday. Bad teams losing to good teams and Denver's Tim Tebow still getting criticized and ridiculed by football fans despite his 5 game winning streak. That bloke is still probably getting the most heat from the New York Jets fans after that insane 90+ yard drive his offense performed in the final minutes of that Thursday Night game. He might somehow get a close break from the Chicago Bears in week 14, but I have a obvious feeling that the "Tebow Time" run will shut down when they greet the New England Patriots the following week. But then again, both of those games are home at Mile High Stadium... I mean Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Remember when Sports Authority used to be known as SportMart more than 5 years ago?

That's it for now. Damn, this is the SHORTEST post I ever typed in a while. And last thing, I hope those who were affected by the power outage and the Santa Ana winds damage to their vehicles and houses around the Pasadena area this past week will get something rewarding by the end of the month. It just sucks to think about those who unfortunate and have to deal with that shit, especially around this time during the holiday season. Thanks for you time reading this.

A Back-Words Weekend Recap

I'm typing this blog post from my pop's house in Granada Hills. Right now, he's out of the country for a few days, including Thanksgiving. To you it sounds odd that one's parents won't be around to bake and cut the Turkey and digest the stuffing inside it while watching a ball game either taking place at Detroit or Dallas. I'm used to that already. Between 2000 and 2008, its mostly him or my moms who would spend the entire month of November traveling to Nigeria, and one of them would stay and have the traditional Americana Thanksgiving dinner. But since my pops got remarried three years ago, he's been hosting gatherings at his place where my relatives and cousins would swing by and I'd have conversation with them while on a full stomach.

Its been a month and a half since I slept over at the house, where I spent the majority of my middle school and high school years at while sharing a room with my little brother until I moved back from spending the summer at Oxnard in 2006. All my siblings have moved out the past few months and they haven't stopped by here in a while, and its been already over a year since I moved out to Sylmar. I got here yesterday morning before the rain started to pour like crazy and watched the Green Bay/Tampa Bay game on the big screen HDTV in the living room. I turned it off after the third quarter cause I was feeling really tired and I'd wanted to go lie down on my old bed in my old room that I haven't slept on in a while. I was gone in some random lucid inception-type dreams for a few hours. I woke up later and order Papa Johns pizza cause there wasn't anything good in the kitchen and watched Sunday Night Football while feasting on the $17 extra large pizza that I ordered, and that shit was worth it. The New York Giants were supposed to win that game but they got picked off at the end by one of Philadelphia's defense around the two minute warning, and also they had Vince Young at Quaterback since Michael Vick is out. To me, that was an upset that the Eagles won that game at Giants Stadium... I mean, Met Life Stadium (seriously, fuck corporate stadium names). I didn't watch the rest of the games during week 11 cause they were all too predictable and bland, just like this entire weekend.

Saturday was another ordinary day. Nothing really happened and a lot of people other than my pops are out of town also. Went to my church to catch the last few minutes of the sermon. When it was finished, I went to the potluck room, then went home five minutes later. I was originally gonna go with my brother to a church either in Simi Valley or somewhere in the 818 like Van Nuys or the one next to his place in Canoga, but he didn't want to get out of his bed when I called him that morning which led me going to the one near my house. The rest of the day was just editing and touching up on some photos.

Now the day before on Friday, I attended the opening day of the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show. The showrooms were all the same like last year, just with newer cars, but I didn't really care about it that much. I only attended to test drive every car that they had available outside this year. Before I did that, I ran into Tanner Foust who was talking to some of the other attendees in the Lobby. I met him last year with my homeboy Jeremy while we went to a taping of the American version of Top Gear. He did recognize me for a bit and told me that they're still filming some episode. After talking to him for a bit I went to go drive some whips.

The test drive took up a lot of my time. I drove every car they had except the Dodges, Toyotas, Chryslers (I really wanted to drive in the new 300c and the Challenger), Kias and whatever new compact car that Mitsubishi had that's not named the Lancer. Its not cause they suck, but there wasn't that much time and all the test drives end at 5PM. The whips that I did try out was all the GM cars from Buick, GMC and Chevrolet. They had Cadillac there also, but I driven their cars SO MANY times this year that I'm already used to them. They only difference was that they had the entire V lineup for the attendees to drive and I was like WHAT THE FUCKING HELL?!?! I was told months before that the V cars can only be test driven at a closed course track due to its INSANE RIDICULOUS HORSEPOWER OUTPUT PERFORMANCE that made the CTS-V the fastest American production sedan in the world. I never driven their V-series and that would've been my opportunity to do so, but I didn't wanna risk getting pulled over in downtown while burning fuel with over 550 horses. If this was at the desert or someplace completely open, then I'd drive it, but not in the city.

I did however drove the Chevy Camaro SS Transformer edition. That shit can fucking scream. I'd had TOO MUCH fun driving it. Yes, its fast and all, but that was my first time driving a Camaro. I knew the SuperSport was gonna be quick beyond my expectations. One of the funnest cars I've ever drove. I then drove some Lincolns and a couple of Fords. The REALLY stepped it up the Explorer. My parents used to have the second and third generation Explorer, and I wanted to see what the new one look like. The dashboard and the navigation panel looked like absolutely nothing than the previous models, and plus the SUV now reduces emissions and has a decent EPA rating from Ford's Ecoboost technology.

Then I made my way to the Hyundai section and the cars that they had were no fucking joke, especially the 5.0 R-spec Genesis Sedan. Jesus Christ, that whip can FLY! I also drove the Equus Ultimate sedan that has gotten a few talk since it came out and that car was the sleekest, swagged out vehicle I've ever driven since I rode in my uncle's BMW 750LI three years ago. That car has SO MUCH TECH. Cameras on the side of the cars, a control console entirely built into the back seat, a refrigerator and a fucking massage feature for the back seat. That blew my mind, hell I could've rode in the back seat instead of driving it. Shit was Birdman in a Maybach status. Finally I drove the Elantra and already fell in lust with it. I'd recommend that over a Toyota Corolla, a Nissan Sentra, a Ford Focus and a Chevy Cruze that took me away in interest until I drove the Elantra. 10 years and 100,000 mile warranty on this car? You can say no to it, real talk. I didn't drive the Sonata cause I didn't feel like it, they didn't have the Genesis Coupe to drive and I forgot to check out the new Veloster. Shoutout to Hyundai Motors for doing whatever they doing to get to change people perspectives on considering automobiles and making them enjoyable to drive and major props to the staff at the LA Auto Show for another great experience this year.

When it got dark, I wanted to eat at the ESPN Zone just a block away, but the appeal didn't seen to catch on me since there's no NBA season for now. I always go there whenever there's a Lakers game taking place across the street, but not this time. So I left and just walked over to the Five Star Bar to see Darger De Milo perform for the first time without my friend Nicole Stetter. They actually did great as an all male group, no changes to the rhythm at all. Talked and mingled with some of my friends there who attended the Five Star bar and then went home after Darger De Milo performed. I didn't stay till the placed closed like I usually do, but I was at the Los Angeles Convention Center all damn just driving and looking at cars that I'll never obtain.

I'm sure you notice that I've gone backwards in this weekend recap. I don't even know why I did that, but from looking at it, the unorthodox chronological order went from worst to best. Thanks for taking your time to read this and enjoy the Thanksgiving week.

Booked and Pinned Weekend

The three day weekend was more of that minimum D+ that you had to get in order to graduate from high school. Nothing too spectacular like my friend's baby shower the week before.

Went to Northridge Fashion Center on Friday to buy a St. John's Bay black long sleeve shirt from the JCPenney there. That shit was 10 bucks and its the only place where they sell St John's Bay products, which I've been wearing for the past two years since the Lakers won their tite against Orlando. Damn, I STILL miss the NBA. But anyway, I was about to cop the mockneck longsleeve akin to the one Steve Jobs would always wear. Only difference is that his is furnished by St. Croix and that brand sells their clothing products for over $200 at least, and his black mockneck sells for $190, real talk. I'll just leave the link here to prove my point. http://www.stcroixshop.com/stcroix/product.asp?s_id=0&prod_name=Full+Turtleneck+in+Cotton+%26+Microfiber+Knit&pf_id=PAAFICGMGMCHMCID&dept_id=3032

Tried out the mockneck, then had second thoughts about it, so instead I got the long sleeve shirt instead which is closer to the mockneck. As I was walking around and leaving the mall, I've noticed that the place is now started to get more occupied with people in high school or those in college who look like their in high school. Every thick chick and boots with leggings and every thin dude there with an overpriced snapback of a team they don't even like. Obviously the mall was packed cause it was on Veteran's Day. Plus they already had the freakin' Christmas Tree and the decorations up already. I blogged about the same thing on here about early holiday decorations last year when I went to go take photos of Cindy Crawford in the Glendale Galleria, and that was in October.

I then went to the Westfield Promenade to go pick up the Steve Jobs biography book at the Barnes and Noble there. Didn't stay long, just paid for the book with a Barnes and Noble gift card I got a few weeks ago and dipped my way home. I had the e-book version of it, but it only went up to one chapter since it was a trial. The book is very addicting and like I said before, it details Steve Jobs life very deeply and I learned so much stuff that I never knew about from the previous bios and history of the deceased Apple co-founder, and the book IS THICKER THAN THE ASS AND THIGHS OF SOME HORNY GANGSTER'S TWENTY YEAR OLD EX-GIRLFRIEND IN THE VALLEY! Right now I read six chapters already and there's alot left to go.

Later on I then hit up my friend Tina to go watch a film cause I really wanted to get rid of the AMC movie passes I got last year during the holidays. We went to one of the 3 AMC theaters in Burbank and I can't remember more than one parking garage that was literally full, with no where to park. So we managed to find parking 20 minutes later and had a tailgate like dinner at Fuddruckers right next to the theater. The place was like The Habit mixed with the environment and atmosphere of TGI Fridays, which I only went to once on my sister's 14th birthday in 2003 and I don't plan on ever going back there cause their Onion Rings fucked me up that day. And what makes Fuddruckers separate from all the other burger joints (still haven't tried Unami and The Counter yet) was that you get to pick what size patty and the kind of cheese you want and then you take your burger over to a section where the lettuce, onions, tomatoes and pickles, as well as the condiments, are provided for you to prepare, which I though was cool. After we got full, we the went to the theater, got the tickets and watched J. Edgar. That movie was alright but it wasn't what I expected it to turn out. It mostly focused on the gay overtones between Hoover and his assistant Clyde Tolson more than his 40 something year stint as the first director of the then newly formed Federal Bureau of Investigation and the chronological order of the film will get confusing for a while. The film started at 9:30 and it ended at Midnight. I didn't think it was gonna be a long ass film. After that, we left and I went back to my place.

Woke up late as usual on Saturday. My friend's band Aftergloam was scheduled to perform at this small venue right across from Amoeba Records, but the show was cancelled at the last minute sinced it rained that day. I REALLY wanted to attend and I enjoy watching the homies Tianna, Elvis, and their new members Kimi Quinn and Albert Rubalcava putting those instruments to work. What made the day much worse was that the internet/phone service was cut off from my place in Sylmar just like that for the entire weekend. I lived in Sylmar for 13 months and this was the first time that ever happened. Usually when the service is down, one of my housemates has a short cut sneaky way of getting it working, only this tine it didn't budge after we spent the day trying to fix it. But I didn't really need to upload or download anything right now. I spent the rest of the day reading the Steve Jobs book and watching some pro-wrestling DVDs with my housemate for the rest of the night until I was tired.

Then on Sunday, I went to Lee's 4 Cocktails to watch some NFL games there and to digest the unlimited Pepsi and hot dogs that was provided (thanks again Dafnee). The Niners/Giants game in the afternoon was the game of the week. Unbelievable that San Francisco is 8 and 1 with their sixth straight win and I can't say anything about the Indianapolis Colts. On top of all this, the Oakland Raiders are first place in the AFC West, something that I haven't seen in a LONG time. I didn't watch the Sunday Night Football game between the Jets and the Patriots cause obviously tom Brady knows that First place of the AFC East was at stake and didn't want his team to lose three in a row, so I knew that they were gonna win over New York.

That's the end of my three day weekend. It looked like I did alot, but in person, it wasn't that much. Now I have another appointment meeting this Thursday, so I hope this one doesn't get fucked up in the last second like it did two weeks ago. Other than that, thanks for your time reading this and have a excellent rest of the week.

Thanksgiving came early....again.

It was just another weekend for me. Mostly with friends and some excellent pro-football.

Saturday was just mostly spent at the DLT's for my friend Marlene's daughter, Yvonne, for her baby shower that was taking place. I went there for two purposes: to take photos of the event and to show support as well. As I was heading my way over there, I needed to stop someplace to eat since I didn't consume anything after waking up late as usual. I could've gone to my church for their weekly potluck, but instead, I went to this pizza parlor just up a block on Glenoaks and Roxford. The Subway there was my original choice, but since I've passed by that place a hundred thousand times for the past nine years, I decided to try out their pizza for the first time.

It was very decent. I like it, probably the best 5 bucks I spent for two slices. It was run by this Hispanic lady in her late 20's and another girl, who I assume might be her sister or cousin in high school, that's probably doing a weekend gig for some cash. Place was small with a 4 arcade machines and a regular size flat screen TV hovering on the ceiling. They were showing a bullshit episode of True Life profiling this teenage girl who has to deal with their embarrassing mom's that has very large fake breasts and some crying shit. I didn't want to watch that while I was eating in risking regurgitation, so I made the owner of the restaurant change it to the Stanford/Oregon Pac-12 college football game. This Andrew Luck kid is gonna be the talk on the sports world for the next couple of months. I won't be surprised if he gets drafted by Indianapolis next year, if he decides to not play his senior year with Stanford. After consuming those two slices and a cup of water, I then dipped out to the DLT's. Shoutout to Bella's Pizza for the quick, delicious lunch.

The baby shower for Yvonne was pretty much handled like another regular kickback at her place like before. Only difference was that it was mostly women that was in attendance, and obviously, I didn't have a problem with that. I brought a black tarp as a background for a "prom night portrait" style photoshoot that I did for everyone there, the first time I ever did that for any event I did. The stock photos actually came out well, but I might tweak them up a bit. I didn't have any strobes or studio lighting to use, just some of the light that's occupied in the house and the built in flash on the camera. My uncle is getting his SB-600 flashgun repaired. Aside from that, everything else was absolutely chill. Spent the night there and watched a bit of football as soon as I woke up from a two hour sleep, cause I drank some Pepsi the night before that kept me awake the whole night.

I didn't go to test drive some Cadillacs at The Grove on like I said in the last post, but whatever, I drove several of them in Glendale last month. They also had the annual Glamourcon event at the Long Beach Convention Center, which is a meet and greet of former Playboy bunnies from the 1970's, 80's and 90's. I could've gone, but I rather take photos of those models from the way the looked 20 or 30 years ago. Sunday was just mostly spent at the DLT's just checking out the Niners/Redskins game, which ended up with San Francisco becoming 7-1 since Steve Young was the starting Quarterback there in that ball club in the 90's. The rest of the early games were blowouts. I thought FOX was gonna air the Packers/Chargers game in the afternoon, but they showed the Giants/Patriots game that had the shittiest scoreless first half I've ever seen. I left when halftime started (thanks to Katie Galvez for the lift back to my place).

When I got back home, I wanted to rest to make up for the loss of hours that I didn't sleep, but one of my housemates was going off with his karaoke system in the living room, and to be honest, I FUCKING DON'T LIKE BEING IN KARAOKE SCENES. I can't sing for shit, and I'm glad I've never tried it in my life, ever. To avoid hearing him from my room singing every catalog more than twice for the remainder of the time (no joke, EVERY SONG MORE THAN TWICE) I shook over to my friend Frank's house just not too far from where I live. got a chance to see the final seconds of the Giants/Patriots game and damn, that shit felt ALOT like their duel in Super Bowl XLII. Brady losing at home for the first time is like him breaking his team perfect season record in the 2007 season. That feeling was just... damn, with a different New York Giants team. Hopefully, Eli Manning earned a lot of confidence from that game. I also got a chance to see the end of the Packers/Chargers game thanks to Frank's DirecTV Game Mix feature, where its every game in one screen. Resulted with Green Bay still proving why they're the World Champions by defeating San Diego in a crazy 45-38 win. The Sunday Night game between Pittsburgh and Baltimore was brilliant. A lot of defense was displayed and it was worth watching. I still think that Ray Lewis has several years left in the league, but it was a great game nonetheless with the Ravens embarrassing the Steelers fans at their stadium.

That was my weekend. Its pretty much the usual that I do every week, friends and football. Thanks as always to the De La Torre's and the Galvez's for inviting me to Yvonne's baby shower and shoutout to the young female cashier at the Burger King in San Fernando for complementing my red St. John's Bay shirt on Sunday Night. The rest of this week was emotional news so far for some African American notable figures in the news. Dr. Conrad Murrary is finally going to jail, boxing legend Joe Frazier died from liver cancer last night and now this afternoon, hip hop legend Heavy D passed away. I wasn't alive to see Joe Frazier duke it out in the ring, but I was jumping from different nursery schools in North Hollywood every six months with my little sister in the 90's when Heavy D was getting exposure then. I remember glancing on some of his videos back when BET did a top 20 video countdown every Saturday afternoon with a different guest host paying their favorite music videos back in 2005, and a few of them chose Heavy D and the Boyz. I also remember seeing him making special guest appearances in a few repeat episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and A Different World.

Damn, his passing got me by surprise. I was coming back from taking photos of Shakira's Walk of Fame ceremony at Hollywood and Vine today (she is VERY fine and I've fucked with her music since Laundry Service back in 8th grade), and found out about Heav's death as soon as got on the internet. I actually could've spent this last paragraph blabbering about witnessing Shakira in person for the first time and how it was the CRAZIEST Walk Of Fame that I've ever been to in 5 years, but two deaths withing 24 hours is just as bizarre as the passings I've seen vanished back in 2009. Just be blessed and thankful for your life, and give back to those who helped you got to where you're at right now. Enjoy the rest of the week.

Wild Card-inal Sin Weekend

Thank God in Heaven that October is finished.

It was a D minus month to say the least, but I really don't need to explain more about it cause its already in the past.... well, except the last 5 days of it that I'm going to recap right now.

My weekend actually started on Thursday Night. I went to the DLT's cause my homegirl Tianna Edmonson of the band Aftergloam was throwing a kickback at her place for the first time in, like forever. I remember when that was frequently common around this time last year. She was showing an double feature of a Halloween episode of Freaks And Geeks and this z-list 80's horror flick that I never heard of. I was about to watch it with her, but instead, I found myself watching Game 6 of the World Series between the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals inside my friend Marlene's living room. That game was FUCKING EPIC! The Rangers were two outs away from winning the big dance, both at the ninth and tenth inning, but David Freese and the freakin' Cardinals worked the ass off to demand a Game 7, which they did get the following night. But the whole entire game itself was back and forth in terms of scoring. EVERYONE was talking about it the next day on Facebook, Twitter, the sorry-ass media, and even those who've never watched a Major League Baseball game before. Game six that night reminded the whole world why that sport is still a respected interesting tradition and past time in this country during the middle of the year, cause a lot of people underlook Baseball since they think that there's not that much action and the game takes forever to go on. For me, I've always like that sport, and I used to play it more than Basketball (surprising from a black guy) and Football when I was in Elementary school. But in all honesty, its more of like a social thing when you attend a Baseball game and bonding with you families or friends just to anticipate a surprising homerun.

The next day, I went to the Five Star Bar in Downtown Los Angeles to watch my good friend Nicole Stetter play with her band Darger De Milo for the final time. I was at her very first show, which literally lead to a lot of stuff for me. Been a while since I attended the Five Star Bar. They were showing Game 7 and it was NOTHING like Game 6, cause the Cardinals had the upper hand over the Ranger throughout the whole game which lead them to their 11th World Series title. The last time they won was 5 years ago, when I was taking Broadcasting classes with Mr. Alan Sacks (who's runs a production company that produced Disney Channel films like The Color of Friendship and the Camp Rock films) at Los Angeles Valley College in 2006. I really didn't like both the Rangers and The Cardinals, but for this series, I didn't want the Cardinals to win. I didn't hear the sound from the game cause there were other bands that were performing for the crowd. While I was waiting for Darger De Milo to go on, I spent the time talking with some homeboys and females that I usually see at the Five Star Bar, and I was reading the preview of the Steve Jobs biography as an e-book from my phone.

So far, after reading the first chapter that was only available as a preview, this book dissects the late Apple co-founder's history, even before he was born on how his actual birth parents met, as well as his adopted parents as well. It really made me wanting to read the rest of the book and you're an Apple enthusiast like myself, I totally recommend buying the book. Its addicting and the way Walter Issacson published the paragraphs with so much detail is something you can't miss reading, profiling Steve Jobs' life that nobody else knows, and there were some stuff from reading the first chapter that I never knew.

Now back to the Five Star Bar. As Darger De Milo is about to set up and get ready, I see the homegirl D'Ana Spencer in the building dressed as a hot attractive vampire (it was costume night at the Five Star) and greeted her. The last time I saw her was back in April, which was also at the Five Star Bar. I knew that she was gonna show up, so I gave her an 8x10 of her that I shot of her last year. I was originally going to give her on her birthday last December, but I didn't make it to her dinner party cause I was at Valencia test driving Toyota's new lineup of cars for the 2011 model year. She let me use Nicole's Canon Rebel DSLR to take photos of the band performing, and I didn't plan on covering that night. My homeboy Joshua, the Hear Gallery's and Five Star Bar residential house photographer, was also doing work as well, but it tough for us (myself specifically) to get some decent angles from the front of the stage since the crowd was piled up on the floor. That's no surprise since I used to take photos here alot earlier this year. After their performance, one of the Hear Gallery's other flagship bands, Moondog Orchestra, was the final act and then spent time with the homeboys Frank and Shane, who DJ'd the event, after the show.

There's not reality that much to say about Saturday. I don't even want to mention or bring it up. The whole 24 hours was just too dry and plain. Nothing exciting or noteworthy happened. I even walked to my church and got there at the time potluck started cause I woke up late from last night's show. When I got there, I wasn't greeted by anybody. I even made eye contact with some people and not a single response. I stood in line to get the food, and the Pastor was in front of me, didn't bother to look back. I wanted to say hi to him, but five seconds later, I just dipped the church and went back to my place. I've been attending there for almost 8 years and this had never happened before. I'm not shy or anything. I could've went up to the people myself, but I'm used to receiving attention anytime I enter the potluck room. That moment was just something else. I spent the rest of the day watching random ass documentaries on Hulu, including this one weird bloke who quit his job and sold his house by trying to be famous in 30 days by appearing on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. This fool didn't have a camera crew or anything, he filmed the whole thing by himself. If he wanted to be famous, he could've took his video camera and used the money from his house he sold to make a sex tape by paying and featuring the entire strippers from King of Diamonds in Miami, and THEN he'll be famous that way in less than 30 days.

I spent Sunday mostly at Lee's 4 Cocktails in Granada Hills watching some NFL games cause I wanted to step out of the house for once during the weekend. Reason why I went there is that one of my homegirls keeps "checking in" there on her Facebook every Sunday, which makes me wanna try to see what the environment is like to watch a game there. This was my second there since the first time visiting the bar was on her birthday a few months ago, only this time, there was like 5 people in the bar when I entered at Noon, and 4 of them were females, including my friend. That's was rare for a bar on a Sunday, but the Raiders and Packers were on a bye week. More people started showing up later. Aside from losing 50 cents in 5 seconds to a game of pool after my opponent made the 8 ball sink in from the start of the game, I had a good time there. The unlimited hot dogs, interacting with some of the regulars and the Patriots losing to the Steelers on three different flat screen TVs made it worth attending Lee's. Belated birthday shoutout to Dafnee, the bartender there that refill my glass of Pepsi several times.

Finally on Halloween the next day, instead of running into pretend strippers and people dressed as the cast of Jersey Shore and Steve Jobs in West Hollywood, I shot over to Nicole's place for her little Halloween party she was hosting, and its was great to see her kids again. I was the only one there without a costume. Didn't plan on dressing but I wore my black Pierce College long sleeve shirt with my American Eagle jeans and Agassi signature Nikes, so I guess you can say I was dressed up kinda like the late Steve Jobs during his keynotes. The party was awesome to my option. There were alot of kids running around in different costumes, a lot of excellent food was made and everyone there went Trick or Treating for candy around the block. It was the first time in 16 years that I went on a Trick or Treat expedition and this was my third one in my lifetime. The first was in 1994 and my second was a year later back when I lived in North Hollywood. I didn't collect any candy, just pretty much taking photos of the kids collecting the sweets from Nicole's neighbors. When we got back, more of my friends that I haven't seen a a while also showed up and I chilled with them as Monday Night Football was showing on Nicole's living room TV at the same time the kids were consuming the candy they collected. Thanks to the parents of Nicole's kid's father for letting me test drive his Nikon D3100 DSLR with the telephoto zoom lens during the party and shoutout to Jorge and Nicole for the hospitality as always.

So that's the last few days of October I experienced. I don't need to bring up the Kim Kardashian/Kris Humphries divorce cause its not my business and despite the fact that I talk about her and met her many times, I knew that the split was gonna happen. Receiving 17 million from a wedding she wanted for television instead of a marriage, that all I gotta say. Man, she keeps changing ever since I first started to like her four years ago. And I'm glad that Frank McCourt is waving the white flag by selling the team since we no longer have to hear about that piece of shit and his overrated ass ex-wife. I really hope the next new owner doesn't fuck up the Dodgers clubhouse and doesn't rename the Stadium like New Orleans did with the Louisiana Superdome (now the Mercedes-Benz Superdome). Finally, I went to a Sonic Drive-In with my little brother for the first time last night on 15th Street in Palmdale. We were coming from my uncle's place in Lancaster and I didn't want to leave the A.V. without visiting that place. The burgers tasted alot like the ones at The Habit, but delicious regardless. I been driving by that area on the 14 freeway for the past two summers and I NEVER noticed it until last night. This is the closet one to the Valley, so I went there just to say that I went there.

Alright, done talking for now. Thanks for reading and don't shave until the end of the month (females are exempted)

Never Leave Your Jobs

You know what, I haven't been on this site in like forever.

Around this time one year ago, I would write an average of about 9 to 15 posts at least per month. But since the last time I was here, which was a month and a half ago, there were way too many things that were stuck on my mind and things to do list which prevented me from typing on here. Also, I was on Tumblr more than usual, and I know it looks gay and shit, but if you're a photographer and presenting your work as a showcase to future potential clients, then its necessary to have a Tumblr account aside from re-blogging photos.

Finally among other things, the NFL season survived the "would've been cancelled season lockout" over the off-season which could've cost the league and networks MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS from ticket sales, stadium revenue, sponsorships (Bud Light, Southwest Airlines and E-Trade for example), and attendance at bars among other things. Plus DirecTV would've sucked this year. Andrew Siciliano and NFL Network RED ZONE Channel's Scott Hanson will have nothing to say and nothing to do except attempting to be like Bob Miller by calling NHL games. But I'm fucking glad the NFL is back, and its getting interesting so far this season. Hell, the Detroit Lions are playing with so much impressive confidence, as well as Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers performing as Super Bowl Champions since both of those teams from the NFC North, or as ESPN Chris Berman would say the "Norris Division", are undefeated right now.

On the topic of sports, I watched the overhyped Pay Per View boxing bout last month between Floyd "Cocky-ass" Mayweather and the 805's Victor Ortiz (805 is the area code for Ventura County, where I used to spend the summer at right after high school in 2006) with my good friend Blanca Aragon and her family and friends at their place, with a projector screen and a lot of food. The preliminary fights were MUCH better than the main event, cause Victor Ortiz fucked up by headbutting Mayweather in the fourth round and that's when shit started to fall off. Mayweather ended up retaining his title at the end after turning the daylights out of Ortiz by knocking him out cold. Like I said earlier, the fight only lasted four rounds instead of more. I felt bad for those who payed 70 bucks or more on this Pay Per View from the end result of the main event, unless if you're a serious avid boxing enthusiast who's more entertained from the preliminary fights other than the main event. Thanks again to Blanca for inviting me to the viewing.

So its been already a week since former Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs passed away. I was watching the Apple Keynote presentation video on the new iPhone 4s and then, coincidentally, found out about his death right after I finished watching the video. That shit totally got me by surprise. I mean, I knew he was seriously ill with his heath problems of pancreatic cancer, but I didn't think he would pass on already. I used to look up to him since I was in 5th grade, right after I watched Pirates Of Silicon Valley that aired on TNT that year. Prior to that, I've used Macintosh computers since I was in Kindergarten back in 1993, and around the same week, my pops brought home this Packard Bell home PC set running on Windows 3.1 and MS-DOS, so I was pretty much introduced to two different operating systems at the same time. I lost touch with Macintosh computers a year afterwards and I didn't get back into until I started the sixth grade 5 years later at Frost Middle School in Granada Hills. This was two years after Steve Jobs returned to the company and a year after he breathed life into Apple Computer again by launching the original iMac, with all the different colors on the exterior case. That was the very first personal computers that I saw that didn't have a floppy disc drive, but just only a CD-ROM tray. Damn as I type this, I can totally fond remembering messing around on one of the machines running on the old System 9 back in those days by surfing on Netscape every day at Lunch and Nutrition.

Then two years later in 2001, a shit load of changes happened with Apple Computer. First they introduced iTunes, then the Mac OS X platform which blew me and everyone else away when I first saw it. I remember upgrading every iMac at Frost (except the ones at the Library and the Magnet program) from System 9 to Mac OS X and showing most of the teachers how to use it. Later they, launched the Apple Retail Store by opening two at Glendale and Northridge that year. I was at the Northridge opening and I still have the t-shirt from that day, and I actually thought that the retail store was gonna be there for three months but 10 years later, its still there. That store was absolutely something else. I remember the old theater that used to be there where they would just showcase the different Apple products to those new to the Macs, and I remember seeing the first iPod MP3 player there that launched the same week that the store opened.

Then in 2003, my little brother got an iBook when me and my sisters wanted him to get a Windows notebook, but I'm glad he went with his instincts. We used to be all over that machine. I remember burning SO many CDs of 80's playlists that I made on his iTunes like its nothing during High School. After I graduated I made both of my parents get me the Black Macbook since I wanted to use it for filmmaking, and reluctantly, they did. It wasn't easy trying to get that model, but after we walked out the Northridge Fashion Center with it, I FELT LIKE I WAS FUCKING HIGH AS FUCK!!! This was the first year when they did the "buy a Mac, get a free iPod Nano" deal. My shit came with the Black MacBook, the AppleCare Protection Plan, the HP Photosmart C3100 all in one printer, and the black iPod Nano which I gave to the little brother. Before I sold it cause I needed money from the fuck-ass recession in February 2009, I was shitting on a lot of people with that notebook when I was taking classes at Valley and Pierce Colleges. Hell, that notebook got me the job at the Apple Retail Store in Sherman Oaks Fashion Square in 2007. Here's how that went.

During the summer of 2007, after I got ousted from getting into an argument with a rookie store manager at the McDonalds on De Soto and Vanowen (pre-McCafe), I spent the last week of June applying like crazy to different places, and this was a year before the job market sucked. I remember filling out applications at Apple Stores in Northridge, Sherman Oaks, Topanga, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley and I think the one at Glendale. I went to Fashion Square one day to see a friend a mine who worked at one of the food courts, then walked around the mall and saw that the Bath and Body Works was hiring.

So I went there and filled out an application just for the fuck of it. Then a week later, I went to the Apple Store at the Glendale Galleria to 1.) Follow up on my resume there and 2.) Play around with the original iPhone that just launched. They said that they haven't looked at any so far and what blew my mind was that you can make ACTUAL calls on the iPhones on display. I called my voicemail on one of them and I got a message from the manager at Bath and Body Works for an interview. So I went to the interview a few days later, got the job there over a spoiled twenty-something female college graduate that got me by surprise since she had the advantage. Spent the entire summer there doing stock and around October was when shit started to change.

I got an email from the Apple Store in Sherman Oaks, out of all Apple Stores around the proximity where I live, only THIS Apple Store was right across from where I was currently working at inside the Fashion Square mall. Every other day I had a different interview, then the store told me that I had to be at the Mac OS X 10.6 Leopard event on October 26, which was my official start date. The problem was that I was scheduled to close at Bath and Body Works that night, and the manager at Bath and Body Works didn't know that I got hired at the Apple Store. So I told them that I needed to leave early cause of some emergency or something. Wasn't easy but I managed to get that request approved. As soon as I finished my very final shift there, I ran to the back of the Apple Store, was given a black T-shirt representing Mac OS X Leopard from one of the managers, and the rest was fucking history.

I can't speak too much of behind the scenes from working there, but all I can say was that it was interesting, including the orientation which took place at a hotel in Warner Center. I can't say which one just out of respect, but I met a lot nice people there. But working at the Apple Store was not only an amazing experience, but it made me get to be more interested with the company more, by having Ron Johnson, the former Retail Operations President of Apple Inc, always reminds us of the company's core values and purpose to serving their consumers for their products during the store meetings. For those who follow me on Twitter, you already know that I also met a lot of famous people there, and producers and writers of television shows and blockbuster films that year. I remember working the Black Friday and Christmas Eve shifts there.

I got thrown out of there in May 2008 for a number of reasons that I can't say on here. Thinking that I was gonna return that summer, it didn't happen cause the job market began to collapse and a lot of places were in a hiring freeze since most employers didn't generate much income for their business, and they had to let some its workers go because they couldn't meet payroll demands to compensate its workers. That shit really sucked after it kept getting mentioned in the news. So I was back in the same position that I was one year prior to this, applying like crazy and shit, only this time no one was accepting. A lot of my friends at the time that I used to kick it with at Pierce weren't able to meet up like we used to since the recession caused them to "not have time and too busy to hang out". I spent the rest of the year trying to maintain myself by selling pictures I took from driving to The Grove and around West Hollywood and Beverly Hills chasing rich famous people like Heidi Klum and Kim Kardashian with a Nikon D90. After that ended from a dispute with a paparazzi I worked with, I still found myself not generating any income, and I really needed cash. Plus I hired a job agent to find work for me and she couldn't get me a position at any job since the unemployment got much worse. So I had to sell my Macbook for a very low street price and it took care of me for a while and used some it to start focusing on my photography business that year.

I guess you can that I'm one of the biggest Apple/Mac enthusiasts that you'll ever meet. I know everything about the company and majority of the models that came out, including the Macintosh clones that were released when Apple Computer sucked in the 1990's. New Apple CEO Tim Cook did the recent keynote for the iPhone 4S, and I know he's a rookie and I respect him as a new leader for Apple in all this, but honestly, that shit was boring. I'm used to watching Steve Jobs presenting the latest updated iPhone every year after year, so now we're gonna have to get used to old soft-ass Tim Cook making Apple act like its the 90's again. But I don't blame nobody at Apple cause Steve's condition was not good and he HAD to step down as CEO back in June. Its been SUCH a fortunate privilege to work under his company umbrella, one of the best jobs (no pun intended) in the world.

I'll believe it when I see it

Fuck, that shit looks so tight.

These are proposed rendered drawings and architecture for a new stadium built in the L.A. Live complex district next to Staples Center, Los Angeles Convention Center, and the J.W. Marriott/Ritz Carlton Hybrid Hotel. This shit is gonna cost 1 Billion dollars to construct in under a year. I think they should have the big wig corporate fat cats fund for this, just like they're doing with the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Another thing. If and when we're going to get an NFL team here, why can't they just play at the Coliseum or the Rose Bowl instead? Saves alot of time and money. Wait, its because Tim Leiweke, the Chief Executive Officer of AEG and the mastermind of LA Live, is doing whatever he can to turn Downtown LA into an offspring of Manhattan and the Las Vegas Strip in Southern California, in which we taxpayers have to chip in due to the city's troubling budget problems. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but it was fine back when the Raiders played in the Coliseum, minus Al Davis' numerous dates with the Los Angeles courtroom judges.

Damn, no wonder Ervin "Magic" Johnson sold his stake of the Lakers to help AEG bring and possibly own an NFL team in Los Angeles. I remember when he owned 30% of Los Angeles. Dude has his own movie theaters, a franchised 24 Hour Fitness, and a franchised Starbucks coffee shops among other things. The first of many times I met him was at his own theater next to the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza back in 1999. My siblings and I just finished seeing Toy Story 2 there and Magic was there to meet the kids who were attendance. It was something my mom's job sponsored then during the holidays that year, and the did this thing where employees with kids can take them to his theater to watch Toy Story 2 for free, meet Magic Johnson and get a bunch of free Christmas gifts. I didn't want to meet him because I wasn't into the NBA that much then, but my moms got very pissed off and forced me to. So I went and shook his hand and that's all I can remember. Went by very fast.

By the way, the city is doing fine without an NFL team, but it be nice to have one just so that all the critics and the media jerks can shut the fuck up. Lets hope this next NFL franchise learns it mistakes from the Los Angeles Xtreme, who were owned by Vince McMahon's XFL league, and the Los Angeles Avengers, in which the Arena Football league got affected by the recession, and also, I'd like to see a very catchy name and some dope ass colorways for this NFL team, if and when we get one here.

Week-ending zone Celebration

It's been a while since I had a perfect weekend. This last one defines it. Including Sunday.

So on Saturday I went to my church in Sylmar during the potluck. I got there late cause they were showing a marathon of Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami on E!. After that I was near close to singing with the other youth but I got out of it since I arrived in my USC T-shirt, my Nike basketball short and my sneakers. I then went to my friend house with another person from church to witness them play NBA 2K9, which was entertaining. During that time, I kept getting text messages and phone calls from a friend of mine from Pierce College. She spent the week up here in the Valley and that Saturday was her last day because she had to go back to Downey the next day, and she wanted to do something with me before she leaves. I did an EXCELLENT photoshoot of her that week. Probably one of the best photoshoots I ever did. Afterward the video games, we then watch USC embarrasing the Cal Golden Bears at their home field in Berkley. Matt Barkley is now 4-0 in starts.

Later that night, I picked up my friend from Pierce and we chilled at my place for a bit. She told me that there are two parties happening tonight, one at her producers house (she's a singer) and the other one at her friends house in Northridge. Our original plan was to go to her producer's party first, mingle a bit, then head out to the party in Northridge. But unforutnatley, that plan has been suspended because my friend said that she got a text message saying that the party in Northridge has been raided by the cops, therefore, we're stuck at the producer's party.

As we got there, there were two adults that opened the door for us. Right there, I thought that this party was gonna be PG-13 rated. Instead it turned out to be a kickback with a bunch of twentysomethings who look like they came from the Sunset Strip. I talked to some of the people there, including this girl whose learning photography from her ex. I showed her some of my skills with her camera and it got her attention within a snap of the shutter. I also talked to this guy who's a single dad with two kids, late 30's and an occasional drinker. He offered me a drink and I told him that I live a straight-edge life which means that I don't drink. The dude start praising me saying that he would look up to me and shit like that, but he was cool
though. The music that they played at the party was mostly some random hip-hop and R&B and of course some Michael Jackson. My friend make me break loose of the dance floor. Even though I never dance, I kinda got the hang of it. At first you start of weak, then the energy kicked in. I wish they played some 80's latin Freestyle like they do at the parties in Sylmar. We left at around 2AM and I dropped her off at one her friends place. THANKS FOR SPENDING A WEEK HERE JOANA!!!

Sunday was suprising beyond excellent. Spent the day with my friend from church to do some thing I've never done before....WITNESS NFL SUNDAY TICKET! We hopped back and forth through every game that was on that day, including the New York Jets at New Orleans Saints. Too bad nobody in Los Angeles got to watch that game in teresstrial over the air broadcasting, unless they got NFL Sunday ticket. That game was one of the best games on that day. Mark Shanchez getting embarrased by the Saints in front of a rejuvenated New Orleans crowd, in which the Saints won 24-10. If you watched that game, you can see the joy at the Superdome through out the game, with cheers going left and right. The atmosphere felt like a Conference Championship game, even though it was regular season game. I also ate Sam Club's pizza and orange soda which is a great combonation on a Sunday afternoon (Thanks Frank).

I hope every weekend would be like this where you wake up on Monday morning from all the fun you had from the past 48 hours. To a point where you say to yourself "This calls for a Celebration". You can celebrate on your own endzone, which is in the beginning of the week and the end of the week

Brett Favre is conceited, Michael Vick is conceived

In 2004, these two Quarterbacks were my favorite NFL players back when I was in High school. Everybody had their jerseys and ESPN would never shut up about them. Brett was in Green Bay with his consecutive starts and Michael was in Atlanta with a 1,000 yards in less passing and more rushing combined.

That was then, This is now

In 2009, these two Quarterbacks will be in brand new teams, coming off from years of media scrunity and off-field attention. In the next 20 weeks, ESPN will never shut up about them. I'm gonna get their jerseys as soon as my debit card comes in the mail. Brett with Minnesota and Michael with Philidelphia.

A new generation of the NFL. That means more Rachel Nichols to make me weak every Sunday.