Unexpect the Expected

Judging from the recent events in London, I just wanna say on behalf, that we really suck ass at Basketball, and I'm not talking about Team USA.

For those who do not know, my ethnicity is Nigerian. I was born here in the United States while the two great people who created me were born over there. I honestly didn't know up until last Thursday that Nigeria had a basketball team in the Olympics. I mean, I know there are some other athletes from my relatives' country competing and all but damn, SINCE WHEN DID WE HAVE A FUCKING BASKETBALL TEAM? AND OUT OF ALL OTHER TEAMS FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, WE HAD TO GO UP AGAINST THE "110% EXTRA CREDIT A PLUS" TEAM USA BASKETBALL TEAM?!?!

After I found that out, I then peeped the game and already this showed up just as soon as I turned into the NBC Sports Network (the gay peacock-suckers version of ESPN)  just to support for the hell of it, I see this shit to no surprise.

Yes, that was Kobe Bryant with so much real estate on the hardwood floor to execute a rare perfect slam dunk. I though he doesn't do dunks anymore like he used to during the "Shaq/Kobe 3 championships" era from the early 2000's and yes, that score was legit, not some photoshopped screen cap straight out of NBA LIVE 2K-something. By halftime, this game goes worse than worse itself. Lebron, Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Deron "Taper-ass" Williams and the rest of Team USA were just chillin' at the bench being entertained from the score and the game itself, and hell, even the commentators were having a field day. Also Craig Sager from the NBA on TNT was one of the sideline reporters for this game, and that fool was wearing a polo shirt, not one of his loud swagger rainbow suits that he wears every Thursday Night during the basketball season. Again, another rare sight. 

After the first half, I turned it off, feeling all embarrassed and disappointed. I even shut off the Computers and mobile devices cause every one I knew were all surprised about the 50+ point margin difference and talking about it and making jokes about it for a while, including making the front page on the newspaper the following day. But fuck it, its just a game. A practice session. A high school JV basketball game gone bad. That's what I've been telling my little brother about it for two hours (true story) after he got very upset from hearing about the outcome of Team USA versus Nigeria. Again, we suck at basketball. 

So what other stuff happened over the past week. Well, the Air Jordan IV Fire Red colorway dropped last Saturday. I though these were gonna create massive hype similar to the Olympic VII from last month, but somehow, this was a smooth release. I went on Niketalk and the Sole Collector forums to expect people bitching about the shoe being sold out in 15 seconds, but most people there managed to get their pairs. Before I left for work, I went on Nike.com to see the sizes they don't have left. To my surprise, THEY STILL HAD THE BIG SIZES LEFT IN STOCK. From 11-13. I never even planned on copping those IVs, and I already have the Air Jordan IVs in the White/Cement-Grey colorway. 

But that shit on Nike's website was nothing. When I got to the Topanga Mall right when it opened, I stopped by the Finish Line there to see if they had any sizes left just for the fuck of it since I didn't intend to buy this like I stated in the previous paragraph. Place was dead with 5 of their Sales associates just chilling at the cash register counter. One of the sales associates asked me what size do I wear. I was expecting him to say that all of the Retro Fire red IVs were sold out just like in every Air Jordan Retro release, and keep in mind this was 30 minutes after the mall opened. I then told him my size and then he went to the back of the stock room. 

I was shocked when he came out with a pair of Size 12 (yes, that's my shoe size since I was 10, no joke) Fire Red IVs and that assume that this Finish Line, as well as a few other stores here at Westfield Topanga  had a full size run of these kicks minutes after the store opened, which was a first for an OG colorway since late 2007 I believe, otherwise, these would've been gone like the White/Cement IV release I witnessed. By the way, this was the first time ever that the Fire Red IVs were dropped in it true original design without the Lasering and the Mars Blackmon logo from its previous releases. I could've just copped these if I didn't have to buy new work shoes from Payless Shoesource (I got tired of wearing my Black Nike Dunks so I had to get some proper footwear) and some $20+ lunch and dinners the day before. 

Wasn't on instagram (every photographer should have one on their phones to promote their business) the whole weekend that much cause my T-Mobile G2 had no power in it battery and I misplaced my charger until I found it this morning. I had to rely on a cell phone Kiosk upstairs to charge it for 10 minutes which is the most that I can have it charged, but then again, the power went out fast in 15 minutes while I was listening to some MP3s on the device. Whatever. 

Not only did the weekend turned out pale, but it lingered on earlier this morning as well. For some strange reason, my Yahoo Email account (required in order to get a Flickr account) forced me to change my password. Then after I picked up some prints from Samy's Camera, we planned to go have lunch at Islands in Century City, but they didn't have a parking lot and my little brother hated parking on the streets in the westside. So we ended up going over to the one in Porter Ranch instead. It was my first time eating there at Isalnd and I had the Quesadillas while the little brother had the big wave hamburger. That place was really good. I bought him Islands since he's gonna turn 20 one week from now as one of his gifts. 

This whole thing wasn't a negative rant. It looked like it, but just a description of how my week went. I'm already used to dealing with this type of shit, yet its part of life. Thanks for your time reading this, and I'll leave you with this epic photo I took of Scarlett Johannson on 35mm film right after she's leaving her Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony back in May, and I LITERALLY had less than two seconds to capture this on film, and I'm so glad this shot turned out great after I got it processed and developed. (had to make the watermarks large so that some conceded, degenerate asshole wouldn't download it and clain its theirs)

Stayin' Primitive and The Olympic Hunger Games

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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