2010 Year in Review: Final Thoughts and Final Post

I really wanted to write this last night on New Years Eve, but I had a photoshoot to do, pictures to edit in the last minute and I was at a New Years Party which literally didn't stop until I left there morning at 7AM. By the way, shoutout to Tianna Edmonson and Marlene De La Torre for hosting it and throwing it down like always that night. It was really great and I never expected it to last that long. Right now, I just woke up and really feel tired and shit.

But I need to write this post because I need to break down the ear in review and what's going to happen in the next year.

I know I've said this before, but New Years Day is not really a Holiday. It just pretty much a symbol to let people re-do themselves for the next 365 days. It pretty much like a brand new month once January 1 arrives (well it is anyway but I'm using it as an example)but only more "grand-er". The only difference this year was that it was held at a Saturday instead of a weekday, which give those who were heavily intoxicated a longer time to get hungover.

I didn't drink on New Years Eve cause I don't drink. Shit, I watching the movie Notorious on Cinemax with Marlene's family at the place which made me stay longer. That movie was interesting and I wish I saw it at theaters this past year. They pretty much broke down the last final day of the Notorious B.I.G.'s life that took place on March 8, 1997, 3 days after I turned Nine years old. I remember my family celebrated my birthday at the McDonald's in the Panorama Mall that night, but I could've picked a better night. But back to the film, its was surreal to watch and hear what Biggie Smalls character was saying about the stuff and plans he had after the Source Awards party in LA that night, both in the film and real life, including the release of his album Life After Death, which the title was very coincidental to his assassination and the backlash of it. I might get it on Blu-Ray when I get the chance.

Before the party, I did a photoshoot for my friend Darlene's boyfriend's sister at El Cariso Park and LA Mission College, which turned out great. I was originally planning doing it at Veteran's Park close by, but I decided to do it at a broader place since El Cariso is much lighter than Veteran's Park. Other than that, I really enjoyed it.

Now onto the recap of the year.

Honestly, it turned out a much better year than I thought is was, despite some of the bullshit that took place in 2010 I had to deal with. Unlike previous years, I did a lot of stuff that I thought I would never do and met alot of new interesting people which I still keep in touch with. It felt great. It really did. I didn't let 2010 turned out interesting, I made it interesting. I was gonna write a lot of paragraphs about all the shit, both good and bad, that took place that year, but I'll write it in a "shopping list" style so that I won't lose the reader's interest. Some of it will sound weird and off-color, but like I always say, it never hurts to try something new.

-Kesha's album release party at Lucky Strike

-All the girls I met at all the Kim Kardashian meet and greets

-My homeboy Ryan Castro and I visiting Tila Tequila's old house in the Hollywood Hills for a garage sale she did. Yes, a garage sale

-Crashing into a fraternity/sorority co-ed party in at a Carson hotel

-The opening of the J.W. Marriott/Ritz Carlton hotel in downtown Los Angeles

-almost getting my ass arrested in front of everone inside the Central Library for taking photos at the Bonaventure Hotel. Thankfully the Kim Kardashian photos I took that were saved on my camera made those undercover LAPD officers let me leave with a warning

-Chick Hearn's statue unveiling and my many trips to LA Live that year

-doing security at Coachella and getting free admission (that should be on the top of the list)

-watching Julia Louis Dreyfuss' reaction in person when she saw her name being misspelled on her star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame

- working as a photographers assistant at The University of Southern California and watching all the rich ass students get their degrees. That could've been me right there in the cap and gown if I played my cards right back in high school with those SATs.

-the entire NBA Finals, including being there at the scene outside Staples Center for Game 1, watching game 7 with hundreds of other people and the Lakers Parade with my high school mate Chris Romero

-test driving the new 5 Series at Nick Alexander BMW in Huntington Park and a bunch of other nice whips that year

- my brother's and cousin's graduation from high school

- meeting NFL Hall of Famers Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and a lot of other retired legends at the Madden NFL celebrity Flag Football event, even though I almost got the game for free

-Drake's Thank Me Later album. Thanks Stephen

-Rick Ross' Telefon Don. Dude earned my respect as my new favorite rapper.

-Thanks Amanda and Frank for the trips to the Chavez Ravine to watch the Los Angeles Dodgers entertain fans. There will be more of that in 2011. Lots more

- Robert Frost Middle School Class of 2002 reunion at the Sugar Suite in Granada Hills.

-my homeboy Jeremy and I attending a taping of the US version Top Gear

-starting acquaintances with Nicole Stetter in August and the rest of the year was history

There might be some other stuff that I didn't put in but these are the ones that I stand out mostly throughout this past year. From looking back it really hard to say that year was not enjoyable. Again, I glad I finally got a chance and opportunity to do those things cause since the beginning of the year and prior to the year as well I thought I wasn't gonna get to touch those moments. But yet I did and I can't stress out and emphasize how much that year has been great despite the drama and negativity.

This will be the last post I'm gonna make on here in Google's Blogger site. After this, all the blogs I will be making this year will go on to my new website. So this Random Shots 3.1 site will be retired after a year and a half of sharing my thoughts on here. It still will be active in which y'all can read my previous posts that I wrote on here since July 1, 2009, but I won't be typing on here anymore. The new site will be much better and for those of you who have known me around 2008 knew that I had a legit website during that year which was made with Apple's iWeb software. This new site will be operated using the wix.com website building service. MAJOR, major shout to everyone who I met and kept in touch with and those who have been reading my thoughts and posts for these 18 months. A lot has changed since then.

Here's the link to the new site. I'll have it stared by next week and I'll make it interesting, with a lot more words and pictures. I've been planning this for the past year. Hope y'all enjoy it. By the way, 95 percent of the photos you will see on the site will be TAKEN BY ME.

http://www.wix.com/justforsneaks07/randomshots4

Thanks for taking your time to read these posts on this site. Enjoy the best in 2011 and DON'T JUST LET THE YEAR BE GREAT, MAKE IT A FUCKING GREAT YEAR!

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

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

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

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

Now onto the recap.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just Another Day

I'm not gonna spend the whole time, or any time at all on here, building constructive criticism on why Christmas Day is overrated and how the media and corporations overshadow the true meaning of the holiday, because hate it or love it (word to Curtis Jackson and the Game), its gonna keep going like this for the rest of our born natural lives. Even though I'm not that much into holidays since I like to always keep myself busy, its all about spending time with family and nobody is gonna have time to hang out with their friends. In other words, everything is gonna be off limits today. That's all I'm gonna say say.

By the way, speaking of the Holidays, here's a photo I took with some of Santa's hoes (no offense ladies) at the Toys for Tots drive (no pun intended) hosted at Platinum Motorsport on Melrose near Fairfax High school. I'll leave it at that.

One last thing. Here's a sneak peak of my new website in the works. I'll bring more information about it on the next post. Have fun this weekend.

http://www.wix.com/justforsneaks07/randomshots4

Free Mason

In the next 17 years, Mason Dash Disick will have to deal with his "Baby Gap" pinstripe suit swagger and unique creative photoshoot concepts with his extended family like this one for Holiday Year 2010 until he becomes a legal adult. They need to hire me in the future.

By the way, Khloe Kardashian-Odom looks hot in that portrait, yet her husband had to be photoshopped in this cause he had practice at the same time. This shows that Digital Imaging is legit.

Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll in Wonderland

The Disney Channel is a hell of a trip. By the way, who the fuck is that gay looking fool in the background of the Demi picture? Lucky bastard.

The Best Photographers Don't Rest on Winter Break

Yes, this is gonna be one of the most fuckin' slowest two weeks in the year. While everyone is traveling and taking a load off to be with their families this week, I'll still be working on a lot of editing instead, including planning for my new website. Enjoy your holidays, or vacation for those who aren't British.

Midnight Love

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

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

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