It’s crazy I know…I haven ‘t written on this thing in a loooong time. But after suffering the pain of the finals, seeing our guys get thrown around, seeing them hit, seeing them shy away from the challenge, seeing the pain of my friends and fellow Laker nation citizens, it’s time…
Drastic times call for drastic meausures. Just look at the last 8 years of our country. It’s time for a change in the White House. It’s also a time for a change in the Staples Center.
Say what you want about him (and theres a lot to say), no one, No One, ever accussed him of ever ever being “soft”.
Things ended badly.
But we have 3 out of 4 of the the pieces back in place that brought us 3 championships in 3 years.
Hopefully, Kobe’s come full circle on the Diesel.
When he was dunking on Duncan and the Admiral, when he was single handidly holding the ENTIRE Sacramento Kings (or “Sacramento Queens”) as he liked to call them, he was the big man on campus. Dissing an entire teams manhood, he stood tall. Dunking and Punking fools, you didn’t want to mess with the Diesel.
It’s not too late. We need him back. Think how Perkins, KG, The “Big Baby” and all the rest of the Boston Goons would feel if they saw Big Number 34 checking in.
Bring him back. We need the Diesel. To pull the Laker Train to Victory.
I can’t stand to feel what I felt last week. It was too much. Bring back the Diesel.
shit. sometimes i think my life is tough, it ain’t even close. the only thing tough about my life are my useless dreams being out of reach. that’s pretty much it. i haven’t travelled to any slums around the world and seen other people sufferring and starving. i’ve experienced some personal adversity, but nothing like on CNN. my parents are split and a few older relatives have passed away, but i haven’t lost anyone close to AIDS or to bullets or to starvation. I haven’t seen or been through any of that shit, cause i’ve just been focusing on my own world, my own life, my own friends and my future. i help when i can, i feel empathy when it’s appropriate and i try to stay outta trouble when i spot it. I do what I can to be good and I do know right from wrong… I don’t think that’s any different that 99.9% of the other people in the world. the only difference is, some of us are lucky and some of us aren’t. most of us don’t even deserve what luck we have and we take advantage of it, while a lot of us were born fucked and could really use any kind of luck. but it doesn’t happen, cause life is unfair and life really is a bitch… and to tell you the truth, i don’t think about it. just like most of the people i know. i put myself first and keep the bad shit outta sight. Why? I dunno. Maybe I’m selfish, maybe i’m jaded, maybe i just scared to face real life, whatever the case, I don’t think about it. Not until something happens and reminds me how petty my life really is compared to some… my boy. one of my best friends. my ace. he bailed me out of a truly fucked up situation a week or so ago. we had a heart to heart, first time in years, but it really effected me. He was hurtin’ bad, from his lifestyle and from the people he kept losing around him. I hadn’t seen that kinda pain from him before and so i promised myself I’d do all i can to help him out before shit gotta outta hand, for both of us. I made it clear, i was there for him and we were gonna change up some shit in our lives. together… “how am I gonna help my boy?” that was the only thing on my mind for the past week or so… i get a call today, my boy is locked up. again. i know what he did was bad and worthy of getting busted, but I also know his past, seen his loss and his pain. He had already accepted the fact that his life was fucked, no matter how much he was clockin’, he was trapped. Sounds like a cop out, but fuck, when you see life fuck your boy every step of the way, it’s hard to condemn my boy… How can I? I’ve known him since the tenth grade. played on the same D line with him on our Football team. Did some dirt with him here and there. Helped each other out when shit got rough. And never doubted that he had my back. What the fuck am I supposed to do or feel about this?…. Real life just slapped me in the face and the shit hurts. It really does. Cause this is my lil’ world and my boy is fucked. Then I start thinking about real life outside my lil’ world and God damnit, I’ve never felt so petty and small in my 33 years of breathing. nice cars? best clubs? nice clothes? being popular? my rep? making movies? girl problems?… fuckin’ baby shit! straight up! spoiled little kid shit! Means nothing, and it none of it makes you a better person! In fact, it’s probably the leading cause of being a real asshole… I officially just lost respect for myself, or anyone else around me who thinks they are dealing with some important shit. Newsflash! God, Bhudda, Oprah, don’t give a fuck about who you know or what you have……………………………………………………………. Just ask yourself this question and if you aren’t a shallow fuck head like most of us, maybe you might come to a epiphany…………………… “When you die,( and you will die ), and your standing at the gates of heaven or wherever you think you’re gonna end up, and your God asks you what you’ve done with the life you’ve been given……… What are you gonna say? I got a cracked Iphone and I fucked pretty girls?”
I love them. They often show a side of a person you never knew.
They shed light (albeit with the point of view of the filmmaker, no matter how objective they are), to people and subjects that either need, deserve it or are just plain fun to watch.
Last night I watched a documentary on one of my favorite photographers, “Helmut Newton: My Life.” It turns out we have a lot in common. For one thing, we both had to flee the country we were born in due to a hostile political situation. For another, we both were glasses and have unusual names that start with H. There are many more but I don’t want to bore you.
And here’s a nice little sampling of some of his work:
On a completely different subject, I was flipping thru the channels and came upon a movie about grown ups who dress up and play in a real life action role playing medieval based game called Darkon.
It’s fascinating to watch. Most of the people in the film lead very domesticated, normal lives filled the same anxieties, frustrations, challenges and general ho-hummnes that life in suburbia entails.
But away from their normal lives, they take on roles of kings, knights, warriors, spies, elves, generals, etc. They make treaties and go to war. They hold councils and beat the crap out of each other all while wearing authentic looking costumes with foam covered weapons.
The cinematography is awesome and the plot line that emerges is great. Basically, one “kingdom” has been systematically conquering other “kingdoms” and getting bigger and bigger. They are the imperialistic power.
The leader of a smaller “kingdom” stands up to them and unites the rest of the “realm” in an ultimate showdown with the big boys.
The action stuff is great but watching the guys at home, seeing how much planning and effort goes into this world of theirs is even better.
Here’s the original trailer:
Another highly influential photographer, to me and many others, is the late great Guy Bourdin.
His influences he bared: Shoes, red, sex, cinema, space, hair, red heads, voyuerism, feet, color.
Jeez, what kind of world are we living in when you mention Paris and people think of the girl before one of the most beautiful places in the world.
The city is beautiful, the streets are romantic and it’s like an adventure just being there. The people are…very chic, from the average girl on the metro to the old man dressed to the nines going to the corner cafe to buy a pack of smokes.
I’ve heard and experienced the “Parisian Rudeness” but if you follow a few simple rules, you can get by:
1) Don’t be loud. Not in the sound of your voice or the clothes you decide to wear.
2) If you want to ask a question, try learning a few simple phrases in French. After all, they don’t come here and ask you where the lourve is in their language do they?
3) Common courtesy goes a loooong way. Kill them with kindness.
You may still experience rudeness, but you will have the morale high ground because at least you tried.
The nightlife is ridiculous. Think Villa is hard to get into? Try getting into a Parisian Nightclub. During fashionweek.
Either you have to be an Arabian Prince, a German Uber Designer or you better have 3 model girls on your arm. And you better ask nicely. In French.
Still, I would love to live there for awhile. For someone who is as visual as I consider myself to be, it’s just a magical place.
Some of the buildings are hundreds of years old. The city lights up at night. And if your into fashion and models, they are some of the best ones in gay old Paris.
Theres a great article on Paris nightclubs in this month’s W magazine.
Looks like a good time. And if you can’t have fun with these cats…
Then somethings wrong. Is that J-uno in the back with the Tone-Loc Loc’s on?
i love my boyz……………. i’ve kept the same friends since i was in high school and twenty years later, some have come and gone, but it’s still the same core……….. i don’t have a lot of close friends, I don’t want to. aquaintances, just come and go but real boys won’t go away even if you sprayed them with mace and killed their dog. cause the next day it’s squashed……………….. my boys are my boys cause we all got something in common. we all roll solo.. like samurais… too powerful to all be in one place at one time…. maybe it’s just a coincidence, maybe it’s a bit lonely at times, maybe it’s just how we were raised. but whatever it is, i respect that shit… that’s confidence. that’s hard………………. fuck the frat boys. fuck the entourage and even the show. fuck la’ party de sausages… that is lame. that is weakness. that’s being a sheep…. we’re lone fuckin’ wolves baby…………………..i like that i can visit my boys in different parts of town and each one’s world it totally different and they never collide. from cops, to drug dealers, horny photographers, to ex chinese gangsters, to evil geniuses, to the guy who’s never wrong………………….. we rolls dolo, not in herds… when confronted by numbers, one is enough… when knocked down, we help ourselves up… that’s why it’s called being a “man”……………….. right now, things are tough all over for a few of my boys, but that’s how we like it…. we’re underdogs, unfortunately know one told us we are supposed to lose. So I’m not worried, they’ll get through it, and if they need a hand, they always know I got two right here. And vice versa………………. My boys. Each one, taking the hardest path possible, getting to where he wants to be, but in the end, i know we will all get there. We will meet, sit together, share drinks, tell stories of our adventures, our successes, our greatest victories and have ourselves a well deserved laugh……………………. And when the sun rises, we will look down the grassy hill side, down at those insecure little sheep, and sharpen our fangs… Finally we will hunt as a pack and start choosing the fate of others. Like how it was meant to be. This I know…………………In the mean time. We will be watching from the shadows, honing our skills, biding our time, aging strong n smooth like a fine single malt………………..You’ve been warned.
Think your famous? Wondering which list you reside on?
A list, b list, c list…etc.
Turns out the true list of celebrity is the list at Villa.
It used to be that things like talent and projects your working on, awards and performance’s bequeathed one the status they either rightly or wrongly deserved (we can all make arguments for both).
In our new age of celebrity though, the new arbitrators of power are TMZ, the ladies at Us Weekly and the Doorman at Villa.
Jaleel White a.k.a. Urkel apparently only has enough celebrity to get himself into Villa after texting furiously.
1. no one works.2. we got the beach, the snow, and the clubs all with in reach.3. we have the hottest bitches on the planet, from every ethnic neighborhood. rich ones, poor ones. fuckin’ porn capital of the world.4. we got the “Lakers”.5. we have two seasons. “hot” and “not so hot”. i can dig that.6. we all have sick rides. shit we invented the “24 inch rim. 7. your chances of landing on the E! channel are about 50% if you’re a chick. about 40% if your gay. and 25% if your a straight dude. about 99% if you hang out with LV.8. ’cause we ain’t san fran. and we ain’t san diego.9. we have the best drugs at the best prices.10. the food! mexican, korean, persian, chinese, japanese, indian, fuckin’ martian… we got the best variety of authentic cuisine here. ya’ gotta drive a lil’, but still, the best.
