Taylor Swift is a True Blood

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

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

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

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

DEY CAN'T BE BEET!

Here's a monolouge of some observations from this past week.


The New England Patriots got over exposed at the Superdome. I thought that the 4th and 2 situation at Indianapolis was were it got them, but New Orleans took over the whole damn game. Bill Belichick is now suspect in his coaching decisions, especially removing Tom Brady, Randy Moss and Wes Welker with 5:38 left in the game. Next thing coach Belichick will do is revamp his entire special teams and call audibles during Field Goals and Point After Touchdowns.


So Tiger Woods crashes his Cadillac Escalade into his neighbors tree in the middle of the night and his wife had to use his golf clubs to break the glass of the windows to rescue her husband. Then Tiger get fined $700 for running over a fire hydrant and reckless driving by the Florida Highway Patrol. $700 is pocket change to Tiger Woods. That's obvoiusly nothing to the the richest sports athlete in the world. Just pay the fucking fine and by a new Cadillac and act as if this shit never happened, right. Well, the voicemail heard around the world made his life make a huge 180 a few days later. Again this is Tiger Woods. He can see any woman he wants, even if he's married, he'll probably find a way to leave Kobe Bryant a voicemail asking for advice.




Still on the topic of sports, Allen Iverson returned to the Philadephia Sixers after "retiring" a few weeks ago. There's a reason why I put quotation marks on the word "retiring". To question the "Answer", why? Ask Brett Favre, or Floyd Mayweather, or Ric Flair. A couple of months ago, Jerry Seinfeld said that back in the 90's, when you retire from television, sports or whatever profession you've persued for a long time, you're done FOR GOOD. I can agree to that, but the other side of this is that these people have so much unconditional passion for what they persued in and they dontwant to let it go from their lives. I don't blacme Iverson that much for his decision to return to Philidelphia. They feel like they want to continued doing what they love doing until the can't mentally do it, not because you finish once you turn 65 and live off on Social Security. But if he never left the team, then he could've gotten the Sixers at least two NBA finals victories.







Speaking of Seinfeld, Comcast is planning on buying NBC for $37 Billion. I hope they play vintage Tonight Show with Jay Leno episodes from the 1990's on the E! instead of movies and usless episodes of the E! True Hollywood Stories about rappers wives and rockers wives, except Shannon Tweed and Valarie Bertinelli. Plus Access Hollywood and E! News will form a HUGE "celebrity kiss-ass" conglomerte that will probably dominate Entertainment Tonight and TMZ on TV

Now, we're already in the month of December, the last month of the year, the last year of the decade. Back when I was in grade school, I always looked forward to this month cause that the only time when I could get anything I want "for free". Now the joy of this holiday frenzy had grew out on me. Every time I think of this month, the big corporations and the Target suits up in Minneapolis will be sitting back in their hammocks watching money grow and grow from the Friday after Thanksgiving, to Cyber Monday to Christmas Eve. But come December 26, karma is gonna be yuletide bitch when 60 percent of women will return stuff that "people that the knew" gave to them, which is why in Canada its called Boxing day. By the way, my mom and my little sister have their birthdays on that day.

I think after New Years day, I might be done shopping at Best Buy. During Black Friday, me, my father and his wife had to drive to 3 different Best Buys to look for a particular Home theater system we wanted, unfortunatley those bastards don't have it in stock of out every name brand home theater stereos in the world. But we ended up getting the last few at the SonyStyle in Topanga.

In closing, I'd have to say that I'm gonna have trouble watching TMZ on TV, which is a really funny ass newsmagazine show that shits on celebrity, and I managed to appear candidly on about two or three episodes from my paparazzi days. Reason why I say that is because one of the people there on the show, this Armenian chick with the thick rimmed glasses who appears briefly, is just TOO attractive for some reason. Anna Kachikyan is her name. She's too fine as hell, especially the clothes she wears during this winter season. Maxim better get at her before they fall off like FHM and Stuff magazine did.

Can't believe I went through this post without mentioning Taylor Swift and the Microsoft Store. Weird.

Black folks can NEVER have no fun

So this past week had been such a tailspin for me. I broke my phone on Ventura Blvd on Friday evening. I cussed out my half cousin on Sunday, I got into numerous arguments with my parents, which resulted in me getting barred from my house on Sunday, I missed the USC-Buckeyes game on Saturday cause this "Special" elderly person came straight from Nigeria over to our house to spend the night and he and my pops stayed up till 1 AM watching evangelism seminars. I think the guy is a pastor or something. Plus I owe a lot of money which is common for most young adults at this current economic times. I'm gonna see if I can TRY to get a new vehicle this month. I planned on getting a new vehicle around November or December but I had to drive on Empty from South bay to the 10 freeway west to the 405 North to the Santa Monica Blvd off ramp to Santa Monica Blvd east to Sepulveda Blvd North past the Getty and Skirball all the way to Balboa and Victory Orange line parking lot. While I got there, I saw that the Los Angeles Police Department arrested two or three youth males across the intersection near Birmingham High School. 

My sister and I almost went there for summer school six years ago but the summer session there was full so we went to Cleveland High School in Reseda instead, and looking back I'm glad I did go to Cleveland that summer. But if I did go to Birmingham, I could've seen a lot a famous people there, including Gwen Stefani, before she was pregnant, cause they shot her "Hollaback" music video there and other film and television shoots. Now if I was still in high school I wouldn't want to go there based on the people that I knew that went there. Place is full of kids who parents that don't know how to raise a teenager properly. Every time when I drive or walk past that school, the kids there would be wearing stuff that you can't wear to a job interview or your nieces christening and there would always be some ruckus happening there, which is why the LAPD would shut down the intersection of Balboa and Victory until things were all clear. I feel bad for those kids who live in that are who are forced to go to that school instead of Reseda high, Van Nuys high or Taft high. Hell I feel bad for those teenagers period.  

On Sunday night I slept over at my moms house in North Hollywood. Then I woke up the following morning I went online to read the days headlines. One of them discussed an incident that took place at the Video Music Awards that took place the previous night in New York city. From what I read and watched the video clips online, young Country music singer Taylor Swift won the award for best Female Video over Beyonce Knowles- Carter's ( yes she married Jay-Z) "Single Ladies" music video. As she went up to say her acceptance speech, rapper Kanye West came out of nowhere and interrupted her by saying that Beyonce had the best video of all time, which is damn true, and when gave the microphone back to Taylor Swift as he walked off the stage. Since then Kayne West has been under the magnifying glass the next few days as the media, Taylor Swift fans, Kanye West fans, countless celebrities and even President Barack Obama disapproved Kanye's action on Sunday night, despite the apologies he gave on his website several hours after the incident took place. He even got sonned by talk show host Jay Leno on the inaugural "The Jay Leno Show" premiere. This happened to be totally coincidental because Kanye West was scheduled to preform on the premiere with Jay-Z and Rhianna and that gave Leno an opportunity to talk to Kanye West, in which he mentioned the late Dondria West which made the rapper emotional. 

To me, I think this whole thing is totally preposterous and absurd. Not just what Kanye West did which I find kinda humorous but the way everyone is shitting on this. I mean, to me, I think this this whole thing is fixed, planned, worked and or staged. In paraphrasing the ESPN Classic program, here are some reasons you can't blame Kanye West for Interrupting Tayor Swift at the 2009 Video Music Awards.

1. This isn't Kanye West's first incident at the VMAs

If you done your homework and research or if you religiously wacth MTV, then you know that this past Sunday wasn't the only stunt that Kanye did. In 2007 when the Video Music Awards took place, the rapper went apeshit after losing 5 nominations and he claimed that he would never appear on MTV again. Not everybody keeps promises nowadays. 

2. He was Intoxicated before the show started

As he and his girl Amber Rose appeared at Radio City Music Hall, Kanye had a bottle of Hennesy and Amber took turns chugging it. He even had the audacity to go up to Joe Jackson, who was here because his daughter Janet was gonna do a tribute performance to her brother, and give him "daps". Michael just died, but that was totally awkward encounter between Kanye West and Joe Jackson.

3. Beyonce Knowles' "Single Ladies" was the best video

I'm saying that cause I'm a guy. But as a former filmmaker, this video was shot in one take continuously and it was choreographed very well. I mean not A-plus well but three attractive females moving around in tights can have a group of Frat boys dazed  for minutes or they might do their own version of "Single Ladies". As for Taylor Swift's "You Belong with Me" music video, the background for producing this video takes a great deal of trust and time. I mean your shooting a scene that takes place in a football field and a school dance with thousand of kids who could consist of some high school in the mid-west or just about every exact Taylor Swift fan on this planet, and it's not easy. But the storyline was obvious. I mean, if you saw at least 50% of the chick flicks that came out the past decade including the Notebook, you pretty much know how this know how the video plays out. And that goes for never listening to the song which ties-in the video storyline. The bottom line is that Taylor Swift could've been reserved for the Kids Choice Awards, or the Teen Choice Awards, or the Billboard Music Awards if it was still in existence.

4. Its the VMA's

When MTV launched the Video Music Awards back in 1984, it was basically the youth version of the Grammys with some formality. Sure not everybody was wearing black ties and the performances were something you would see at a world tour such as Madonna's "Like a Virgin" performance or Rod Stewart's "Infatuation" performance, but everything else was moderate and things went according to plan. That was when it was the "Video Music Awards". When it became referred to as the "VMA's" things started to stir up a bit and all kinds of hell and mayhem ensued. Take Howard Stern's "Fartman" debut in the 1992 and having "Beverly Hills 90210's" Luke Perry grab Stern's visible rear end. Or how bout the entire 2007 Video Music Awards where there were countless after parties and concerts in every hotel on the Las Vegas Strip as well as Britney Spears' "supposed comeback" performance which was a major failure and letdown and the brawl between Pamela Anderson's exes Tommy Lee and Kid Rock. Let's not forget the threesome between Madonna, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera in 2003. And last years show made "Solid Gold" conceiving a child with "American Bandstand" due to it being shot at a packed warehouse in Hollywood. I could go on and on but the bottom line is that the show is entertainment. It a chance for the celebs to let loose and do stuff that they can't do at any other award shows.

Here's the "Best of the Rest" the Stuff that didn't make it on the list:

5. MTV doesn't play (that much) videos anymore                  

6. Nobody in MTV's current demographic likes country music 

7. Kanye wants to try to promote Jay-Z's "The Blueprint 3" album which came out around that weekend in favor of Beyonce

8. Kanye never won a VMA award  and wants his own acceptance speech

9, Taylor Swift is just 19 and should stay in school to risk being the next Paris Hilton, came out with an album back in 2006, or Lindsey Lohan, who also came out with an album back in 2004

10. It's all about the ratings........ and Twitter.

I really don't know about that last one but that's the best I can come up with. Maybe Kanye has gotten his wish. He might get some sort of lifetime ban from any future VMAs just like Andrew "Dice" Clay did in the late 80's with threw off the the MTV exces based on his explicit stand up performance. Looks like he'll take a while for him to recover from this tailspin he's in right now.