Certain Things Unlikely Rises

First and foremost, just wanna say rest in peace to Sally Ride (first woman to travel to space) and Sherman Helmsley (George Jefferson from The Jeffersons who just passed away today), as well as the 12 who got their lives taken away during the midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises at Aurora, Colorado last week.

Obviously, nobody wants to hear and read about news that involves those type of drastic tragedies like I mentioned in the previous paragraph. Its makes us distracted and feel alot worse later emotionally to some degree. For the past few days, the city in Aurora, Colorado has been dealing with grief and sorrow from a massacre that really wasn't meant to take place. Hearing that 12 people (that's TWELVE people including a three month old) were killed at that cinema got me upset to the point were I just want to ignore hearing everything about the incident that night. I also feel bad to the rest of the movie goers that were there who survived the shooting spree. They got traumatized and emotionally shocked from being there and witness all the crazy shit that went down in that theater during The Dark Knight Rises screening. Now that shit is going to overshadow the movie itself for quite a while.

I read some background from different news sites for any information about James Holmes, the mid-twenties "man of the hour" suspect who went bat-shit (no pun intended) in that shooting spree by taking 12 casualties in Aurora. What I read was that this fool grew up a decent life in San Diego, getting on the Principals list in High School and doing well in UC Riverside... until somehow he started heading towards a downward spiral and began experiencing a twisted side, like his hair color for example. Either way, this dude is super fucked.

As for myself, I haven't been on here for two weeks cause of my recent job at Bezold Photography in the Topanga Mall. Mostly there full time on the weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), so the weekend recaps will tend to be stale for a while unless if something dope happens during the work week. I take photos of an average of 15 clients a day there, which makes us the most busiest kiosk in the entire mall and the fact that some of the people who shop at the Topanga mall are mostly mid-to-upperclass upscale blokes coming from the affluent areas Tarzana, Calabasas and Woodland Hills. If anyone is planning on hitting up the Topanga Mall on the weekends, stop by and visit for support, even if you don't plan on getting some photos taken. We're downstairs between the Kids Foot Locker (I'm surprised they sold out of the Olympics VIIs from last Saturday) and the Vans store. The rest of the four days of the week was just resting at my place.

By the way, I think I'll retire from dropping by The Grove at Farmers Market from now on. Been going there for the past four years since my homegirls Jade and Tracy took me there for the very first time back in June 2008. That place is now mostly full of tourists and a bunch of stars that I never even heard of. I'll fuck with the Americana at Brand more often and I need to check out the Commons in Calabasas since its owned by the same people who created The Grove.

Thanks for your time reading this. And shoutout to those still seeking jobs out there in this tough-ass economy. I have to spend the rest of the week with the little brother by helping him looking for a new job in the Valley, but hopefully he and everyone else will find somewhere to make some cash at a place they're comfortable at

First Weekend of Summer

Instead of the weekend, I'll just recap the past full week.

I stopped by at Los Angeles Pierce College last Wednesday just for the fuck of it since I had too much time on my hands that day. that's where I took a few classes between 2007-2009 and I haven't stepped inside that school in about a year and a half or two. As I got in, the place looked almost foreign and unrecognizable to me. There were so many changes and construction around the campus and it wasn't like since the last time I was there. The school was empty since the Spring Session just finished. As I walked around, I started recalling so many mad memories during my times here. Few of them were good, yet many of them were not good that I should've improved on. For example, I once got into a heated argument with the school's only photography instructor there. I wanted to transfer some photos I took at the Fiesta Lakers event in 2009 from my SD card to my flash drive on the Mac Pro's there cause I sold my black Macbook a few months prior for cash (it was a rising peak of the recession then) and I didn't have a legit computer at my house that time. He gave me such little time to transfer them and being that those photos were large file sizes to move, the bloke got impatient and then that's when the fireworks went off. Never stepped inside that room after that moment. Other than that, Pierce College looks brand new. The refurbished up to date buildings make me feel old for some weird reason since I'm used to the old style of the campus. Here are some photos I took off the T-Mobile G2.

The old cafeteria used to be there, which is being replaced with this building. I once had a lunch date there with this Russian chick that I kept seeing while riding the Orange Line since I didn't like parking my car at Pierce. The food was alright, but she was on her SideKick III 50% of the time.

My first time seeing this fountain there, AND THERE WAS STEAM COMING OUT FROM THAT SHIT! Major upgrade.

A statue of Pierce College's mascot, the Brahma Bull. Again, this is something new that I've never seen there before.

These stairs are no joke, and it leads up to this...

My favorite spot of the whole entire campus. A scenic view area to see 3/4 of the San Fernando Valley, next to the performing arts building where I took an Acting course there once just for extra units. Unfortunately, they closed it off due to ANOTHER CONSTRUCTION PROJECT. WOW. I used to invite females up here several times in between classes or whenever a class was cancelled.

After seeing all the changes there, I walked over to the Westfield Promenade to try on a couple of Levis 501s at the Macy's there, then chilled at the Barnes and Noble there and read this one book which has OG photographs of some youth and young adults skateboarding in Southern California back in the mid to late 1970s. Very similar to Lords of Dogtown and most of the kids featured on the skatebords had long natural (yes, natural) blonde hair and rockin' a pair of old school Vans which also fits the vintage California lifestyle. Then I walked to the Westfield Topanga Mall up on Owensmouth Avenue and just walked around the mall like usual. Nothing special happening there that day, other than seeing the Sony Style there being closed down. One of only stores that I like checking out at the Topanga Mall has always been the Sony Style, and most of the items there are not being displayed. I saw employees inside just cleaning up the store inside. Damn, now I have to go all the way to the Sony Style at the Beverly Center or the one at the Americana at Brand in Glendale.

On Thursday, I witnessed (pun intended, I guess) the Miami Heat winning their second World Championship by defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 5 of the NBA, and Lebron James getting his first title that shuts the whole world up. Everyone was upset that he won a ring, saying that it the playoffs was an inside job for him or shit like that. The best part in my case is that I no longer have to hear those "Lebron will never have a championship ring" jokes anymore. They were amusing for five minutes but then got quickly dried out after that. What I didn't like was that Mike Miller of the Miami Heat didn't get the Finals MVP, which Lebron James received, since he hustled his ass on the floor by dropping Ray Allen-type 3 point field goals. I said the same thing about Ron Artest when he made that one desperation 3 pointer towards the end of Game 7 two years ago to give the Lakers the advantage to win the series, yet they gave it to Kobe Bryant instead. Thy have to let the non-big names receive the MVP for once in my opinion. Other than that, regardless if the NBA is worked or scripted from assumption which I doubt, congrats to Miami and especially to the Thunder for displaying their talent and performance despite them not winning. By the way, I kinda dislike Commissioner David Stern. Hell, one of the first two acts he did as becoming commissioner was announcing Michael Jordan's name in the 1984 draft and fining him 5'Gs for rocking his original Black/Red Air Jordan 1s as it violated the dress code then cause of the shoes colors.


Speaking of Air Jordans, I finally copped the White Cement IV's the next day. I 've already told the story about these shoes several times on my previous posts back in February. Drove all the way to Flight Club LA straight from work via 405 Freeway southbound Mulholland Drive, Laurel Canyon Boulevard, Santa Monica Boulevard and Fairfax Ave just to get these since I got paid very nice that day. Reason why is that they were doing construction on the Wilshire Blvd off ramps which I usually take to go to West Hollywood from the 405 freeway. Surprisingly they had parking available on Fairfax Avenue that day since its always hard to find. Was about to get the Size 13 but that shit was $400. Fortunately, they had a size 12 which was a $50 difference less that turned out to become $350, and plus they fit more comfortably than the Size 13. After I got the sneakers, I then walked over to Diamond Supply Co. down Fairfax to purchase one of the t-shirts there. Last time I bought a shirt there at Diamond Supply a year ago, the workers there acted bored and uninterested as if they didn't drink coffee or something. This time they were showing kind courtesy and displaying excellent customer service as I asked for the size of the shirt I wanted. I was about to stop by the Beverly Center, but I decided to rush back home to the Valley. Took Coldwater Canyon instead of Sepulveda Blvd to avoid the wekend traffic there, as well as the effect from the demolition of the Wilshire Blvd offramps. Stopped at Best Buy to purchase two blu-rays, which I kept one of them now cause the other wasn't working on my pops Blu-Ray player due to firmware issues.

By far the shoe of the year for 2012. Celebrities, models and rappers were rocking these all over the place since February, more than the Air Yeezy IIs and the South Beach Lebron IX's. Fuck, even Neil Patrick Harris from How I Met Your Mother was sporting the OG's back in 1989 from his Doogie Howser M.D. days.

Here's a video I took talking about the IVs and everything else. 

Fucking glad I finally got them. 

Next day on Saturday, I went down to Hollywood to meet up with Gianna Michaels (yes, the adult star) at some novelty store on Hollywood Blvd. There were two other stars there that I've never heard of before, but I wasn't concerned about them. Before that, I stopped by Amoeba Records on the other side to see if I can sell the Moneyball Blu-Ray that I bout the day before, which was the Blu-Ray that I had issues with. I picked Amoeba over Best Buy, not only because I was close to where I need to go, but Its also because I misplaced the receipt. I REALLY didn't want to sell this movie, but the screen on the TV was black for 10 minutes after I pressed play. So I gave it to him and got $3 in return. Yeah, I know, that was totally bullshit but I didn't want to give it away for free. Then later I met up with Gianna, and took only three photos of her... with her clothes on obviously. That meeting went by really short and fast but then again, the San Fernando Valley where I grew up my whole life is know for people like her.

I then later jetted on over to The Grove to test drive the new Cadillac XTS sedan they had there. All I can say is that the car is really nice. Just another luxury car to me, only with some interesting tech. First of all, the gauges are digitized like the Lexus LF-A gauges. Second, they have what its called the Cadillac CUE where the touch navigation screen has a menu display featuring icons similar to an iPad. I kinda think General Motors over did it with that feature on the XTS. There are even other automobile manufacturers that have their navigation  systems in which you can check your Facebook updates on it. WHAT?!?! Major plus for the insurance companies I guess, unless if there's weekend traffic and nobody on the freeway is moving that causes the driver for nothing to do other than to... check his or her Facebook status. Man, do I really hate that site, but I bitched about it on my previous posts several times admist the recent events that the company went through (instagram acquisition, Facebook's initial public offering, Mark Zuckerburg's marriage to Priscilla Chan) since I last posted here back in March. And I'm about to approach my  five year anniversary this Sunday of joining that site back on July 1, 2007. Time fucking flies. By the way, here's a video I took of the startup for the XTS, where it shows the digital gauges. 

So afterwards, I finished driving around Fairfax in the new XTS, which feels like driving a CTS mixed with the Ford Taurus SHO that I drove at the LA Auto Show two years ago, and then the staff at The Grove gave me a $10 AMEX gift card just for driving it. I remember when I got a $25 AMEX gift card for driving a 2010 Kia Serento when it came out back in March 2010. Stayed at the Barnes and Noble there and read another photography book there, only this time it featured epic portraits of A-list celebrities for a photographer named Michael Thompson (not the Showtime Laker from the late 80's, only which it was spelled Mychal Thompson). His work is actually great. Got some motivation from reading the entire book. Went back to the Valley to eat at The Habit in Encino, but I stopped by Primitive first to talk with their awesome staff there. Shoutout to the homegirls Ashley and Irene over there. Feasted at The Habit by using the AMEX card and then headed straight to my pops house to rest. 

FInally on Sunday, I did some typical sprucing up around the house and then for the rest of the day played most of my vinyl collection of out of print, hard to find 80's albums (not bragging because its true). I then later walked to O'Melveny park in Granada Hills to meet up with my Aftergloam family there since their member Elvis gave out an open invitation for anyone to come and hang out. Its been months since I was last with them, but we made use of a good time by playing soccer and ultimate Frisbee simultaneousley. Then I listened to some amusing stories that they were telling and then we all went home two hours later. 

What a great way to start of summer. Couldn't ask for anything more better that weekend. Oh and don't forget to find me on instagram.I didn't mention it on her since it on Android came out while I was on hiatus from updating this blogsite. My username is: justforsneaks07. I'll leave a few comments on your photos once you start following me on there. Thanks for your time reading. 

WHAT DID I PREFER BETTER TODAY?

Taking a picture of Erin Andrews at the Grove with my 35mm SLR camera or the short cute Spanish waitress at the Johnny Rockets in Encino named Yaneth who I left her 3 dollars in tips? Women are everywhere.

The final week of September and the first two days of October

I felt so fuckin' messed up when I woke up this morning like I have the flu or something. I always tend to fall asleep for the past few hours. I wanted to write this last night but my body keeps feeling like its stuffed with those pink things they put inside the walls during the construction of homes.

Speaking of pink, this month is Breast Cancer Awareness month, so you're gonna see alot of people wear that color frequently, even guys will sport it also. I don't personally know anyone who was diagnosed with that disease but the only person that I can think of was Gilda Radner, who was one of the first ever cast members of Saturday Night Live as the "Not Ready For Primetime Players" group. She was one of breakout stars on that show in the 70's, but then her personal life was much deeper than her television career. In the late 80's Gilda Radner was supposed to host the Season Finale of Saturday Night Live in May of 1988 (two months after I came here to this thing called life) but it didn't happen cause the writers were on strike that year, shortening the television season just like it did in 2007. The following year she died of ovarian cancer, on the same day of the season finale of the 1988-89 season of Saturday Night Live. That lead to the start of the recognition and awareness of the disease that cause Gilda Radner's passing.

I wrote this cause I was a huge fan of Saturday Night Live 9 years ago in Junior High school. I watched all the repeats they aired on Comedy Central and E! that time and did extensive research on the show's history at the public libraries and by talking to people who watched the show back in the 70's. ABC aired a television movie in April 2002 called Gilda Radner: Its Always Something. I recorded it when it aired, and the VHS tape all of a sudden broke when I tried to play it back the following week. I was really upset that day, cause that was the only time that they would air that movie, and it wasn't out on home video, even to this day.

Anyway I just recap the past week day by day. It wasn't a very great week for a lot of people. There were a lot of deaths that happened among other personal problems. I, for one hand, didn't have any problems this week, cause I made it great.

SUNDAY

Spent the previous Saturday night at South Bay covering a Nigerian party with my uncle at a hotel on Torrance, mostly taking photos of the Nigerian women there who should be models, seriously. I wanted to drive back home since it ended at 3 in the morning, but my uncle freaked out since he didn't want me driving that late (I've done it many times before), so he got me a hotel room in Gardena because we have to be at a Baby Christening on Sunday morning. Then the following morning we drove to the Church, took photos and video of the event, and I left with $200 that he paid me. I then drove to Samy's Camera to buy some rolls of film, and then ventured to the Grove a block up Fairfax. I chilled at the bar inside the Cheesecake Factory there and ate Onion Rings along with their side salad and Strawberry Lemonade. I met this black guy there who was new to Los Angeles and I told him about some of the other sports bars in the Southland. He told me that works for the government and that he came from Florida. Dude was chill to talk to. Then he gave me his business card as I left.

I drove back to the valley cause there was an House warming party/Art showcase at a band members house show just moved into in Granada Hills. I didn't stay too long cause I had to go to Frank's house later, so I just took some photos with the Nikon N70 film camera and gave them $5 as a to show support as a donation. After that I got home, took a quick shower, bought pizza from both Dominos Pizza and Little Ceasers Pizza so that Frank and I can feast at his place while watching Sunday Night Football with the New York Jets against the Miami Dolphins.

MONDAY

The infamous, surprisingly, self-proclaimed "hottest record breaking day in the history of Los Angeles". I so happened to be near downtown Los Angeles on that day taking care of some business and I was wearing my black Nike t-shirt I got from Santa Monica the week before, which was a bad mistake. Before that, I was at Nicole's place to chill for a bit until she had to step out with her kids. Then I drove to the University of Southern California to pick up a T-shirt at their book store. I haven't been inside the campus since I worked at their graduation as a photographer's assistant back in May. For some reason, it felt like a regular blazing Southern California day, since I didn't notice any 113 degrees feeling as I walked around USC. The book store has a lot of pricey stuff there, including USC colored Hawaiian T-shirts for $90. I think certain people call the USC acronyms "University of Spoiled Children" for that reason.

I then drove to Samy's Camera again, taking the same route as I took the day before cause I drove by USC yesterday from Gardena. I went to pick up my film prints that were dropped off the week before to be developed. They came out VERY nice. I then went to the Grove again to take some photos of Tori Spelling and her family for the first time at Barnes and Noble for a meet and greet that night. There were too many mothers and little rugrats screaming in the bookstore while she was signing autographs, but Tori is nice and chill. Finally took a cruise up Mulholland Drive afterwards, which is hella nice to drive at night. I totally recommend it if you're going through some shit or wanna start creating a family by parking at a cliff to glance an overview of the Valley.

TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY

I didn't do that much on Tuesday, except dring all the way to Fry's Electronics for an interview that I applied at back in June. I completely forgot that I applied there. I talked to one of the other candidates for the job. Her story was very sad to hear, that she and her fiancé of 9 years both got laid off from their jobs and they have a kid to raise. I felt sorry for her so I had to give her a ride home cause she was planning on taking the Metro and walking to her place, which is in the Canoga/West Hills border, on triple digit weather. On Wednesday, I spent the entire day with my friends from high school Arlene and her sister Darlene taking photos of one of their close friends at different places from Simi Valley to Zuma Beach to a park in Malibu. Shot the whole thing on film. We were gonna go to Fairfax, but it was getting late so we just went back home. The whole experience turned out great. Thanks Arlene and Darlene.

THURSDAY

Spent the latter first half of the day working on my updated Flickr profile. Then I jetted to a studio in Reseda to watch my friend Nicole's band practice for a show they got coming up the next day. It was really hot in there, with the band members practicing without their shirts. The practice lasted for two to three hours and its was great. I wanted to come with them to an afterparty at one of the member's house, but I had to stay and help these other dudes who either work at the studio or must be part of some band group cause their car wouldn't start. I took my jumpstart kit and tried to jump their car, which is a Saturn sedan from the late 1990's. It wasn't the battery but it turned out to be the starter after one of the dudes jammed it with some type of bar, which got the engine to start.

FRIDAY

Went to go see Nicole's group called Darger De Milo perform at the Tribal Cafe in Echo Park near downtown Los Angeles. The place looks like a general store straight out of Laurel Canyon, with a Hawaiian/African theme in the exterior and inside the place. There were alot of underground bands that performed there also, which was excellent. I met this random Nigerian woman in there who forgot that it was the 50 anniversary of the country's independence from the United Kingdom, so I had to remind her. She told me that she does just about everything, from filmmaking to photography to producing and booking acts among other things, and she lives next door to the Tribal Cafe. I wish I got the Darger De Milo performace on video instead of just stills, cause it was just too damn brilliant. Then we chilled at one of the other band memebers place in the West Valley. I known her from Kennedy High since the 11th grade. Thank you Nicole for the ride to and from the performance.

SATURDAY

Was supposed to go to an album release party for this underground band, but I had to take my brother to a Nigerian 50th anniversary Independence youth party in Ontario. Was supposed to take my brother there, but I had to go help with my uncle take photos at a party that night. Was supposed to help my uncle, but he called me in the last minute to tell me that they hired another camera crew to cover the event, so I spent the night watching College Football highlights on ESPN. The Stanford/Oregon game was the most impressive game of the day, yet USC lost against Washington courtesy of a botched field goal kick from the Trojans. Just another stale Saturday. I could've made money that night.....from helping my uncle, not from College Football games.

Well, that was how my week went. If I wasn't doing anything, then there wouldn't be alot to write. Make this month great for yourself, cause there's two more before the end of the year, and it'll be gone within a flash.