Ok ok I know.. It has been effin long as heck. My excuse? Been way way too hella busy. Why am I getting back to it now? Partly theres a fatty scholarship out there going to someone who can pull of a tight blog. i.e. me.. It is the exactly kick in the butt that I need to get back into blogging and getting people back here..
Now I do not know where to start with this blog again and I have so much to ramble about. I will track to back track to events I did a few months prior. I couple red carpets, concerts and you know the usual.. for those who used to read this thing.
I guess the main focus of this comeback post will have to do with school I suppose. So I basically got accepted to every school I applied to besides USC. USC was really where I wanted to go to, but I would have had to take a handful of more classes and I am ready for a major change. The last couple of semesters I have gotten 4.0 and straight A's averaging about 17 units per. So yeah.. I decided to go to UCLA. I was hella surprised when I received the email saying I was accepted. It hit me for a split second, the excitement that is, but I was deflated after I remember I had three more classes to finish. If I kept the schedule I had in the Spring, with 24 units, I would not have to take them in the summer. I am saying this now as I have only one more week left and will be passing the classes. Anyways.. Let's get into the meat of this post... Orientation... Oh sidenote.. I didn't get parking.. BOO.. That is going to change my preference of where to live.
I had orientation last Friday on the 3rd of August. It began at 7:45am to 9pm, I was looking forward to it and not at the same time. I wanted to make sure all my questions were answered along with picking out my classes. I was not a fan of the early morning especially driving into the city with all the traffic. If I planned better, I would have had a hotel at a pretty good discount weeks in advance but when you use the family and friends rate, you need to plan at least 3 weeks in advance. That I did not do.
That night I was up until 2am and woke up at 5:30am and headed my way on over there. The traffic wasn't too bad until I hit the 10. It was not horrible since I was just loving the drive and the music all together. Got into Westwood and had to figure out where I was suppose to park. There was absolutely no signs pointing to parking anywhere!! I would think it be planned a little bit better but whatever. No biggie parking, hopping out of the car and asking around. I would have been pissed if I got a parking ticket.. parking tickets in Los Angles as far as I know run like 45 bucks. That is crazy!!
Eventually found the where I had to park and took another 30 mins to find Royce Hall. I been there for a Jethro Tull concert but man its a lot different being dead center on campus and being all intimated by all the awesome buildings. I get to the check in and there I am sweating my ass off. I can feel the sweat bead off the back of my neck onto my back. It was bad.. this is what i get for wearing a blazer and shirt. I mean it was still pretty cold out but all that walking does not result in a dry Anh.
There I had to walk to another building that I forgot the name to, Kerchoff to pick up my Bruin card. A few weeks ago I sent in the photo to have my card made but the resolution of the photo was too small. This is what I get for taking the photo myself and having someone at Ritz camera handle it and print it out. When that was rejected, I had to go back and make some adjustments and the chick behind the counter was being a dick on how I had to pay 15 bucks for the print. First of all they didn't take the photo, second I handle it myself and you're not going to charge me 15 bucks for something you normally charge 24 cents for a 4x6. I had some drama with the Bruin card again, something about not sending in my terms and conditions but I guess they figured it out..
Headed off to some other place.. Man I need to learn the names of the places.. sat and listened to orientation.. Basically dont cheat.. drink much.. and some other stuff. Met up with my student adviser. Handled some stuff.. Eat.. Got like 8 bucks on the Bruincard.. Had a pretty bomb salad.. The chick in front of me acted like the cooks were stupid. She told them like no cheese or something but they were working on my salad and she repeated to them. Unno. Thats what gets people to spit in your food. Ate.. Met the other people in my major and orientation. Headed off to some other building. Killed like 3 hours in there before I talked to my adviser. Missed some workshops.. Dont remember much.. Headed to dinner in one of the halls. I was on my diet.. well lifestyle change of being better, so had a salad and chicken soup.. Left to register for classes in the very nice orientation person's summer apartment. So nice! I kinda want to be an advisor. Signed up for 2 Philosophy classes and an Accounting course. Thats about it and left and went home. Waited with this chick for her ride. Im way too nice..
I am a Son of Westwood
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This is Josh Groban's first single off his third album due to be released in November of this year. I haven't heard an the title of the album but it does not matter. The songs on the album will be awesome. I know I have been giving a lot of love to Mr. Timberlake, but in time, Mr. Groban will get his fair share. "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)" is hitting radio airplay soon and the single should be available to purchase also.
I kinda like the song... His vocals are much more Pop oriented than his past songs. Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad thing. I don't believe he has found his sound just yet but this album could be it.
I am looking forward to hearing the entire album and seeing him on tour again next year around this time..
Listen to the Song | See the cover (Large Image) |
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(Verses)
Don't give up...
It's just the weight of the world...
When your heart's heavy, I
I will lift it for you
Don't give up...
because you want to be heard
If silence keeps you, I
I will break it for you
(Chorus)
Everybody wants to be understood
Well I can hear you...
Everybody wants to be loved
Don't give up
Because you are loved
(Verses)
Don't give up
It's just the hurt that you hide...
When your lost inside, I
I'll be there to find you
Don't give up
Because you want to burn bright...
If darkness blinds you, I
I will shine to guide you
(Chorus)
Everybody wants to be understood
Well I can hear you...
Everybody wants to be loved
Don't give up
Because you are loved (you are loved)
(Coda)
You are loved!! (you are loved)
Don't give up!! (don't give up)
It's just the weight of the world!! (you are loved)
Don't give up!! (don't give up)
Everyone needs to be heard!! (don't give up)
You are loved!! (you are loved)]]>
Damn.. It has been awhile since I attended an event Josh Groban was going to be at. I don't know if it was intentional or not but here I am. I missed a Grammys event in Malibu a month ago and was kinda pissed about that. Anyways.. Los Angeles County High School of the Arts or LACHSA for short was honoring a few of their teachers, Warner Brothers and Josh Groban.
The event was held at the Century Plaza Hotel. The photos on their website makes the hotel look pretty nice, but man Century City is a drive.
Once I arrived at the hotel, after parking across at the Westfield Mall, I entered into the hotel. By the way, this Westfield Mall had a effin Louis Vuitton and Tiffany Co. store. I didn't know Westfield Malls were this nice. HAHA. I walked from one side of the lobby to the other and didn't know where the heck the event was. I assumed it was some ballroom but didn't see any signs. After I backed tracked from the restaurant to the bar, I saw a bunch of "older" woman walking in a huge group taking an escalator. I assumed they knew where to go and followed them down one level.
I turned a corner and there were the crowd of more "older" woman and saw the table to sign in. I received my credentials and walked into the ballroom. My first reaction was that it was really small. The width of the room I'd say was maybe 25 feet to 30 feet. The length maybe 100? Give or take? Basically the place was a little smaller than I would think the event would be. I mean cmon, Josh Groban? A tribute? Who knows.. The place had tables that sat 10 people each and maybe there were about 12 to 15 tables. Right dab in the middle was the stage with some dude playing a flute and rapping. Yeah.. Talented..
I headed over to the press table on the far end of everything. First thing I thought, we were sitting at the kids table.. haha. I didn't care. I was kinda all hot and bothered from the walk from the mall, so I didn't care where I sat. I wanted to sit and cool the heck down.
People were slowly making their way in and hanging out. After awhile, this chick I remember last year showed up, along with an older lady that didn't look like she knew what she was doing. That chick I remember.. I remember her because she has soo much makeup. I mean there is a point where make up enhances a woman's features but when it looks like you can scoop it off, that is when it is just too much. Oh her name is Katherine Kramer... I Googled her and I guess her Godmother was Katherine Hepburn. ::shrugs::
The older lady came over with a gift bag for the guest, so I assumed she was a guest. But I guess she wasn't and was with some online magazine thing. I find it tacky to steal someones gift bag when you know you're not suppose to get one. It wasn't hard too since the bags were just hanging on the chairs. Plus the bags consisted of hand lotion, cds of from Katisse Buckinham and Gwendolyn (which I will get into later), a Celine Dion keychain and fun-size candies. Yeah, I thought to myself uhh yeah ok.... The makeup chick ended up lifting a bag too.
The committee chair lady came over to welcome us and told us about the open Vodka and Gin bar. :) She also told us Josh Groban was running late and that his performance would start around 7:15. Well I guess no interview will be possible since the 30 minutes before 5:00pm was the time for that.
I was feeling uncomfortable since I was in there, so again I just sat there and took everything in. Katisse Buckinham and Upper Structure were providing the music. Katisse looks like a dirt bike rider that plays jazz. Sonia Romero came around to be interviewed. I didn't really bother to ask her anything but she was an artist from LACHSA. I wasn't too privy on her paintings but still respect it. She is pretty cute though. :) She is having a showcase soon and I might check that out.
Another photog came around, Krista from Corbis and Zuma. Finally someone that looked normal to talk to. She went to get a drink and it was a banana Vokda drink, she didn't want that. I tasted it and it was sick. The smell was nice, kind of like a Banana Now and Later. At this time they were serving the people who paid for their seats. The seats were $250 each and you were able to buy the whole table. It looked like Carpaccio was the appetizer. I went to go get a drink and made sure it wasn't some Banana drink. I asked for my usual Vodka Tonic and when the bartender was making it, he kept looking at me. I wasn't sure why but most of the time I was looking down at him making the drink. After he gave me a few glances, he then asked me if I was even old enough. I laughed and looked at him. It was an older Asian guy, and of all people, he should know we don't look our age.
I headed back and more people were at the table. Marc Murai and his crew were hanging out. He was there to finish up his documentary on the school and they were showing a trailer of it later.
Eventually Josh Groban made his way into the place. He sat right in front of the stage and Gwendolyn was performing. I went over to chatter a bit to him and his manager, Brian. This time I remembered to ask for his card; but with my luck he didnt have one on him. Nice... The other photographers and I tried to get a shot of Josh but he seemed engaged with Gwendolyn's performance. We wanted a good clean shot of him alone, but there wasn't a good time to take his attention away.
To give you an idea of the music Gwendolyn was performing, she announced the title to one of the songs... "Acorn." I don't think I need to say anything else..
Dinner was being served and it look like some steak medallion thingy. I just wanted to get my shots and leave. But it seemed like it was going to take forever.
After what it seemed like an hour of the dinner stuff; the opening remarks started the award stuff. By this time, Mike from Wireimage joined us and we made the best of the time sitting there doing nothing. The older lady that was sitting with us was hitting me up on how I got there and such. She said she was with Splash Magazine.. I thought to myself Splash News? They are known for their paparazzi photos and what not but didn't know they had a magazine. She said she was with them but I knew she didn't even what she was talking about. Earlier she was going to get kicked out for taking photos of Josh without her badge. The whole time he was here she kept asking if I wanted to go with her to take pictures but I just played her off the 100 times she asked.
They played the LACHSA Documentary trailer after the opening remarks. The school seemed like a cool place to attend. Jerry Freedman was first to receive the 2006 Outstanding Educator Awards. He seems like a really cool teacher and a teacher that I wish I had in high school. I wanted to actually attend LACHSA because what was said about him and what he had to say. Ka-Ron was the dance teacher that was getting honored. She was making fun of Josh and how she heard that he might have needed a dance teacher. I thought that was kinda funny.
Warner Bros. was also honored for helping out the school. They have donated 250,000 dollars in who knows how many years span. The rep for WB was talking and talking and talking. Josh was next to receive his award according to the program. He didn't get it until a taped message from Celine Dion. But before that video message played; the committee chair told the audience that Gayle Anderson called in saying congrats and wished she was there. OH! During this time, the waiter guy dropped off some leftover bread sticks from when he bussed the other table. Dude we were hella hungry but I wasn't trying to be all crazy on the bread sticks.
Josh received his award and made his speech. At this time, I went up to shoot some pictures. Josh ended up performing "America" and "Vincent." During "Vincent" Zach Provost came up to play the piano. The lighting in there sucked big time to take pictures but whatever. I noticed something on Josh that gave me the idea that I need to start doing it the same.
The night was basically done and we kept trying to get Brian or someone in charge to take Josh away for a single headshot photo opt. However after he was done performing he was caught up with group photos with the other honorees and fans. After those photos were done, he went ahead and did autographs. I just ended up shooting photos of him doing the autograph thing. One of the staff photogs there told us that some star from Passions was there. Is this Josh's new "friend"? He isnt dating January Jones a few months ago and she was friendly with Brian. Hmmm.. or maybe she went to LACSHA too.
Eventually Josh made his way out of the endless autographs and gave us a photo opt. At that time, Brian was rushing him off and from what I heard, he was going into the studio. Mike wanted to get a photo with Josh and this lady with a tattoo of his face on her arm. I met this lady last year at the Bowl and kinda thought it was weird. If she was covered up, you would think she was a elementary teacher.
We took our photos, said goodbye to Josh and Brian and headed off. The night was basically over and I wanted to get out of the place. I made my walk out to the Mall. It took me 20 minutes to get to my car because Ididn't even know which escalator lead me to my car. I just walked out onto the street and walked into the parking complex where I drove into.
All and all the night was decent. Made some contacts and took more photos. It was really weird, the girl with too much makeup had a friend come with her. When they left, she came back in and sat down. He came back and started yelling at her saying, "How dare you, how dare you." I was like what the heck in my mind, take that drama outside. Mike and Krista were saying some interesting stuff about her and what they said made total sense from my past experiences with her. Oh well..
Mr. Groban goes on tour again soon once his third album comes out this fall. I cannot wait for that...
Check out more photos
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In the season opener of Prision Break, a cryptic origami Swan was for Sara (Sarah Wayne Callies) saying, "THERE'S A PLAN TO MAKE ALL OF THIS RIGHT." Followed by a sequence of dots. I assumed it was some morse code, but I ran across a site that had a way figure it out. Click on the picture for a larger image.
The code results to 9755766765 or (975)-576-6765. A phone number. A simple Google search for the area code of 975 and it is North Missori code. I have tried calling the number and nothing. At least it isnt a Hollywood 555-5555 number.
In the episode, Michael's (Wentworth Miller) credit card bill was looked at and one of the listings was a Voicemail service. hmm.. Now the question is.. Can Sara solve it... before its too late or Agent Alex Mahone (William Fichtner). We will have to watch and see...
San Diego Street Scene.. I missed out on the event last year and wanted to see what it is all about.. The drive down wasn't too bad since I wasn't the one driving. The parking wasn't a big deal either. When I entered into the festival area around the perimeter of the Qualcomm Stadium, Yellowcard was on stage and they are some pretty good performers. I say that's saying a lot since I was about 1000 feet away from the stage or more. It was far but the music was loud enough to hear. After checking them out a little and made my way to the other main stage to see who was on.
The hike to the other side was crazy far. The first stage from he Captain Morgan stage, where Yellowcard was performing, was the Inferno stage. Every so often blast of fire would shoot into the air. You could feel the heat from quite a distance from the stage. On that stage were random dancing chicks with hula hoops with black lights illuminating the
paint they had on them.
There was a Captain Morgan tent with people leaving it with pirate foam hats. I wanted to check it out but my driver was 21. Oh well.
The place didn't really look that crowded at all but then again I think this is the second year they had it at this larger venue.
Slightly Stoopid, which sounded like Sublime were at the other main stage. I checked them out a little and waited for Wu-Tang. As I went to the front of the pit area and waited for Wu-Tang to start. The stage was pretty damn high. I think it was about 7 feet up and kinda would be hard to shoot if someone on stage isn't at the edge. That sucked. I am not a fan of Wu-Tang, but I knew I was going to be leaving Rock the Bells early, so I figure to get my shots now.
After shooting the first couple songs, I went back to the Yellowcard stage to see AFI. The whole time I was at the Wu-Tang Clan stage, it stated that AFI was getting on at at 10:46. That time was 30 minutes early and kinda ran into the Kanye West set time.
The photographers in the pit were getting warned that if the crowd got crazy, that the guards would kick us out. Well let’s hope that doesn’t happen but that the power of the AFI fans. The show started with “Prelude 1221.” Davey Havok came out in all white looking dolled up with fake lashes, pink eye shadow and lots of make up. I knew once I heard the first song I want to see them in an unstressed situation. It’s really hard to enjoy anything when you are worried about getting a shot.
I ran off to the Kanye West stage since he was getting on at 10:45. He had the orchestra set up with I think maybe 7 violinist? I couldn’t see everyone. I was excited to see him but I was whatever’s after he came out. I really wanted to get back to AFI. I hung around a little bit to listen to his songs and left. Listened to AFI a little bit more and left there. I didn’t to deal with people leaving and I had to get back to Rancho for something. Made it back in good time. I missed Snoop Dogg, and few other people on Saturday but I will be stuck at Rock the Bells all day.
Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep.