New Photos!

These photos I took when I watched Pavement played their show in September in Central Park. It was an amazing experience and they played almost everything I wanted to hear. Stephen Malkmus and Bob N. took the show. Plus, I love that they used stringed light bulbs as part of the decor.

Stephen Malkmus

Bob Nastanovich

The Queensborough Plaza 7 train platform.

A couple of things...

Here are some interesting things from my friends:

Duo Rock Rappers Shogo & Boris make up the group Danger Geeks (Music) They're from New York City and their songs are a mix of hip hop, hard rock and electronic. Their song 'The Forgotten' is a dark and beautiful contemplation of what the group's concerns.

A friend of mine, Dennis Natal of Electric Chariot entered a remix contest for Canadian rock band 'Metric' for their song 'Gold Guns Girls', you can check it out here.

Here's a photo of the Divine Lorraine, an old building in Philadelphia. I took this on the way home from a short film shoot. If you look carefully, you can see the moon just on top of the building. (Click on photo to view large)

This was taken in the morning in a car I was riding, on a way to a short film shoot in Philadelphia. I took this on my half-frame camera Fujica. I love how the light is hitting the cars and it's still a little dark.

This was taken on the 7 Train in Queens, New York.

Down the Trodden Path

This was taken in Jersey City, New Jersey.

The Journey thus far... Part 1

I'm in Rome, I've been here for the past three days, staying in my college friend's apartment. She's a filmmaker like I am, she works as a Camera Assistant and is trying to make her way to Director of Photography. Caterina is her name.

I'll be home in a few days. It will have been 37 days that I've been away and I'm not sure if I miss it. Of course, I miss my friends and family, the people I normally see everyday and hang out with. A part of me is still yearning for new faces, new experiences and new dialogues. With the people I know at home, we always end up with the familiar, events that connects us.

I've learned so much in this past month, I feel like I've been sitting on my life for the past three years. The world is both a big and a small place. Big, in that it has so much stuff in it that it would take a very long time to experience and catalog it in our minds. Small, in that technology brings everything closer together.

Nigeria

My trip started in Lagos, Nigeria. I agreed to be a part of this documentary about the music and film industry that is blooming in Lagos, I was acquainted with Sola Fasehun (the director) through a friend of a friend. Through her, I was educated on Nigerian culture, its languages, history in military rule and independence, and the inconveniences that the Nigerian people have to deal with on a daily basis.

Three things that the people recognize and always voice out are:

Power

Electricity is a luxury, it's been so for the past four decades. Everyday, the electricity goes out from two to ten hours. The most its been taken away has been three days. Its not just a block or neighborhood, but the entire city of Lagos. The only way to counter this problem is investing in a good generator. Which almost every household and business has.

If you ask several people, why they think the power goes out they'll give you a few different reasons. Some would say NEPPA, the electric company, are running on a very old electric grid and with the amount of people in Lagos that consume energy it is almost impossible to catch up with that demand everyday. Others would tell you that certain power figures in the government take some of that power to reallocate it for their own pleasures and entertainment.

Two things are known though, companies are making money off of selling batteries, generators and fuel. So, controlling the electricity is controlling the profits of these products. If electricity was provided all the time, who will they sell their products to?

(On a side note: the lack of electricity also affects the control over water as well, so no power means no water, which means no showers and cooking.)

Traffic

A simply way of describing to you what happens on the highways of Lagos everyday is to picture Los Angeles traffic, cars bumper to bumper moving inch by inch every few minutes. Imagine that there are no clear indication of lanes, what was originally three lanes can become five in some parts. Cars edging out others to merge to another lane, hundreds of "Okadas" (Motorcyclists) snaking through the traffic whenever they can, and people walking through the traffic with goods like bread, sodas, magazines, CDs and watches showing them off to the people waiting in the cars, to entice them to buy it while they wait in traffic.

Now imagine doing this everyday, getting to work and coming home. This happens everyday between the hours of 9am to 1pm and 5pm to 10pm. The condition of the roads are not any better either, from a combination of weather and lack of maintenance, there are potholes the size of goats plaguing Lagos.

Economy

Nigeria is dealing with the economic crisis just as any other countries do. The criticism falls upon the rich who keep the money outside of their country. It is a capitalist model that keeps its own country from becoming progressive. The lower and middle working class, which is 80 percent of the country, spend their money in the country whether if its locally made products or Western imports. (Nigeria's biggest export is its oil)

The upper class spend their money outside of the country, meaning they travel abroad and spend most of their time living outside not paying taxes owed to the government.

Although Nigeria seems to have these inconveniences, it is still a brand new country in terms of its government and policies. It would take time for it to progress and reach the standards of Western society and if only its citizens would aggressively pursue this, they would get there even quicker. It is a lesson to be had in all countries, no matter the national problem, as I have also observed in Italy and France.

More photography!

Hey guys, just got some of my photos back from the lab. I finally get to use my recently bought vintage cameras, such as the Fujica Half frame camera and the Argus C3 rangefinder. Go check them out at Flickr,

The Dugout Comicbook Store

So for the past two days I've been helping my buddy Ray fix up his comicbook store, The Dugout, in Brooklyn. Last week he found out from his boss that he's been promoted to Full-time manager and future co-owner to the store. It's a move made by the boss to try to save it from closing in a few months. Ray is given full privileges to shape the store up in any way he wants. The store's main product is its sports cards and memorabilia, but a lot of stuff have been put into back stock and a lot of it hasn't been sold. What Ray's going to do now is put up a big sale for most of the items in the store and try to increase the stock of comic books and graphic novels.

Here is the sale that is going on now:

The Dugout is one of two comic book stores in Cobble Hill, and the only one that's been there for over two decades. I've visited Ray while he was working there for over three years now and it's a great place to hang out. Like most comic book geeks, Ray knows a lot about comic books. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of everything from Ant-Man to Zoltar. Ray's also super friendly and funny, so if you get to speak to him, you can see his personality just shine through like a freaking rainbow.

From time to time, I'll be hanging out at the store with Ray and joke about. In the future, I'll be selling Issue 1 of Rotten Sandwich and hopefully Issue 2 (when it's finally printed) at the store. I'll also be selling some artwork there as well. So drop by if you would like to catch me or Ray.

Store Location:

453 Court Street

(Between 4th & Luquer Street.)

Phone: (718) 624-2527

Google Maps

Bug + Bike

I recently got a bicycle from a rummage sale and I had it repaired last week. When I picked it up and rode it home, I busted my left arm after being propelled by a bump in the road and braking too late. I rode it around my neighborhood again today and feeling a little bit confident. I need to practice because I want to be able to ride it in the city more comfortably.

I've got a bell for it and everything. It's going to be an awesome summer.

I found a baby spider last night, I was in the middle of watching Lost and as I was laying on the couch, I saw it land on my stomach. It was cool for a while and then it sprung off onto the floor. Then this morning I found it in my bedroom on my computer desk. I caught it and decide to see what would happen if I dropped it off on one of my plants. Apparently, it's made itself a new home. It likes those tiny pesky white bugs that ruin your plants from the inside out. I'm happy that it's happy.

It's that tiny little thing on the upper right side of the pot. Can you tell me what kind of spider it is?

I've also been feeling a little sick this past two days. I don't know how or why, but I'm stuffy and runny with a fever and cough... I hope I get better before this weekend's shoot. *sigh*

What's going on?

Hey blog world, here are some photos I took during my break from blogging.

This is by Citifield in Flushing, it's an empty lot that's being worked on right now. It's been vacant for years and now they're turning it into something... probably a mall or public housing. Who knows...

This is some kind of mineral refinery... Apparently it's open to the public to go and look through.

This was taken in April, it's one of those pillow fights arranged by some facebook group.

More photos to come! I'm working on a post for Monday. See you then and have a great weekend!

It's Tribeca Film Fest week!

Catch the movies that I'm too broke to catch.

Blood and Rain

A Brand New Life

Dream Home

(Pang Ho-Cheung is one of the most interesting new directors in Hong Kong cinema.)

Gainsbourg, Je t'Aime... Moi Non Plus

(Come on, it's Gainsbourg and Bardot... this is going to be super sexy.)

Heartbreaker

(I'm a big Romain Duris fan.)

Ondine

(This is coming out in theaters anyway, but I think this might be a better "The Lady in the Water" take.)

William Vincent

(I think James Franco is interesting to watch.)

Well, I hope you guys enjoy this week of film, film and film! If you got an extra ticket then take me!

I haven't been busy and i won't apologize.

Nope, not since my last post have I done anything of value. Well, that's not entirely true. I did some media related projects, but nothing worth noting. I've taken up my camera again and took some very nice photos, I'm waiting till I finish two more rolls until I get them all developed. I also have been working on some fake Criterion Collection DVD covers for the 'theauteur.com' forum. Check them out here.

I will return soon. Maybe...

Shame on Me

Been too lazy and super busy to type in a new blog entry. But I'll let you know one thing. The new Martin Scorsese film, Shutter Island is fantastic and you should go out to watch it now.

I've been in a creative slump, which is why I haven't posted anything in a while. I haven't been drawing and writing, just reading and watching things as well as listening to some new music. I guess to inspire me. I'm starting a second twitter account, this time it will be mainly for me to express my ideas of what a better world could be. So be sure to check it out @SpreadTheIdea

I'll be trying to get something done by the end of the week. Let's hope it'll work!

Rainy Mondays Make For A Nice Day to Play

Not really, I stayed home for a good part of the day. Watched Star Trek again for the tenth time and cleaned myself up from this odd depression I'm having due to lack of work. I'll be helping out on a short film this next two weekends as a Camera Production Assistant, although I'm not getting paid for it the experience is needed. I'll be loading 35mm film into the camera, and it'll be the first time I work with that camera too.

When the rain stopped I walked all the way to Main Street, which is a thirty minute walk from where I live. Listened to Spoon's new album "Transference" all the way through. When I got to the library, I borrowed a bunch of foreign films such as "Sunflower" (China), "Death of Mr. Lazarescu" (Romania) and A Christmas Tale (France). I've been in the mood to watch films with subtitles in them.

Time to get ready for my foreign film marathon!

Best Films of '09

Here's something I drafted up a few weeks ago.

10 & 9

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8 & 7

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6 & 5

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#4

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#3

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#2

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#1

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What Deh Hell Happened?

I've drawn out a few things that has happened in my life this past two weeks. I figure it's faster than writing them out and easier to understand. Also, please excuse my mis-spelling of "happened", I've been mind weary and confused as of late due to the excessiveness of my social outings. Enjoy!

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Apologees!

Man am I sorry for not posting an entry in the past two weeks like I promised.

My excuse: I've been shooting a short film in Toronto, Canada and been partying with my friends since I got back. But now's back to work and pushing for Issue 2 of Rotten Sandwich to get printed. Also, be on the look out, if you don't have Issue 1, we'll be selling a specially priced bundle. More on that within the week.