Last night at the Prince concert in Inglewood, I had the opportunity to meet one of my heroes, David LaChapelle. I remember the first time I was introduced to his work, I was in 8th grade and had been studying for an exam about the civil war all day at Barnes and Nobles. My mind was completely fried so I decided to walk around the store. As I passed the photography section I saw a king sized book on the top shelf which read Hotel LaChapelle. I don’t know what it was that drew me to that particular image but I grabbed a step ladder and pulled the book down. It was in a box and wrapped up, I turned it around and saw the price tag for $100. I knew I’d never be able to afford the book but I HAD to find out what was inside. I found a corner of the store which had no surveillance camera as I nervously kept looking over my shoulders, I began to unwrap the packaging. Finally after stripping the box down to its core, I pulled the book out and upon opening it, was broadsided by fantastical images which were unlike anything I had ever seen leading up to that point. Every page I turn led me to another image which were so detailed and intricate that you can make an iSpy book out of each picture. Upon seeing his photography and how he captured the beauty of the human body, I found myself at a loss of words. I did not know how to explain what was going on in most of the pictures but I knew that each one of them perfectly captured what was inside my head. “I want to make images like this, I want to do this!” It was a sudden realization that many people spend their lives trying to figure out. I left the store with a page full of photo titles and before I left I carefully ripped out an image of Lil Kim entitled “A Visit from Aunt Dot.” I don’t know what I found so mystifying about the picture, I felt naughty for being intrigued by it but there was something about it that jotted my creativity. I folded it up, put in in my pocket then escaped from the store like a common criminal. That evening I told my mom that the only thing I wanted for my birthday that year was a copy of Hotel LaChapelle. Several months later my mom headed me a box and inside was the one gift I had been dying to have. Up until that point, it was the only time I had ever had such a strong impulse and need to own a piece of art. I use to carry around the book with me in my backpack and kept it there throughout high school. I would constantly turn to it for inspiration. My dream job is to become a photographer and film maker much like David. His over the top tongue in cheek style has been something which I have replicated with my work. I don’t know if there’s any artist whose career I’d like to replicate more than his….with my own unique twists of course.

In 10th grade, I went to the movies at the Sherman Oaks Galleria to see a film called Crash. As the trailer played, a film came on about a dance craze born out of the ghettos of Los Angeles. It was called krumping and the film was Rize, directed by David LaChapelle. From the trailer alone, I knew that I needed to see that film. The imagery, the music, the dancing, it was stunning. I went on to see Rize a staggering 5 times in theaters, owned the cd, met the cast, obsessed over the film. To this day, Rize had been a documentary which has inspired my work. Its use of music with stunning imagery as well as its ability to allow the interviewees to tell the story without any form of manipulation have all been things which I’ve tried to emulate with my work.

So I think you guys can see just how much Dave’s work has meant to me throughout my life so you can only imagine what it as like to finally get the chance to meet him at the Prince concert. I told him just about everything that I’ve wanted to say since the age of 13 and was able to some up all of my emotions from more than 8 years in two simple words……thank you.

Today, I learned if you want something then go out there and get it. There’s so many points in our life where we know what we want to being doing and where we want to be but for one reason or not we prevent ourselves from getting to our final destination. What’s stopping us? Simply put, it’s resistance and its human nature for one to choose the path of least resistance. Today I decided to not listen to any of those voices that were working against me, I closed my eyes and listened to my inner voice. I left my true self dictate what I wanted to be doing and where I wanted to be heading. Achieving happiness is so much easier then most people make it out to be. If you want to be happy, if you truly want to experience happiness then all you must do is BE HAPPY. BECOME HAPPY. BELIEVE YOU ARE HAPPY AND HAPPINESS IN WHATEVER FORM YOU WISH IT TO BE WILL SUDDENLY MANIFEST.

Just got back from Disneyland with Jonathan, Ambika and CJ, it’s 2am, I’m deathly ill but I’m smiling from ear to ear right now. I always have the best time in the world when I’m in the company of these three individuals. We must have spent every moment of our time together laughing hysterically. I’m so thankful to have met everyone from ZShape because they have showed me proof of friendship in its purest form. Today, I left work at 6pm and went straight to Disneyland. We didn’t get there until about 8pm. Upon arriving to the Disneyland Resort we headed straight to the Storytellers Cafe located at the Grand Californian Hotel. Tonight we were celebrating a milestone, Jonathan, Ambika, and our friend Vivian all entered the ImagiNations competitions this past week and finally we were getting together to celebrate such a grand achievement. It was months of stress, hard work, procrastination, laughs, tears and all around jubilation. We decided we wanted to eat someone fancy thus the idea to eat at Storytellers. Upon arriving, we saw this grand buffet with the most delicious looking macaroni n’ cheese I have ever seen, freshly carved turkey breast and the most decadent array of deserts. Sounds great right? Well not when you’re on a diet. I was in food hell but thankfully my calorie counting ways had allotted me enough wiggle room to eat a yummy dinner. We decide to be really sneaky and out of the 4 of us, only 2 actually purchased the buffet. I spent my entire dinner sneaking bites from CJ’s plate, handing bananas to Ambika to stuff in her bag and picking at Jonathan’s plate. It was quite the rush even though I’m sure our waitress could careless. As we sat around the table, we exchanged lots of stories, sang Friday multiple times and toasted with drinks in the end. I was tempted to break my diet which I did end up doing but I didn’t fall or crash nearly as bad as I thought I would. Go me!  After spending our time at the restaurant, we went straight to the park to celebrate #AmbikaDay in style, we headed to Space Mountain where there was a 60 minute line. I told some of my deepest and darkest stories to the cry of my days of public humiliation at the hands of speech and debate. Finally, we actually got onto the ride and it must have been my favorite Space Mountain experience in quite awhile. Once again we sang Rebecca Black’s seminal class “Friday” as well as “Born This Way” as we journeyed through the universe.

While on Space Mountain we came up with a pose that we were going to do for the photo. This is both a good and bad thing. Good because you don’t have to think of ways to be clever for the image while riding the ride but bad because you spend the entire ride preparing yourself for the photo. This particular pose dictate John and I to cross arms with one another to create a human hash tag. Our timing was just a wee bit off and we spent the last minute of the ride awkwardly trying to keep our arms aligned for the photo. We ultimately succeeded in our mission! We spent the rest of the night cruising the various shops on Main Street then said our goodbyes in the parking lot. It was one of those really laid back Disneyland trips in which you have no desire to go on the ride but your just so happy to be in good company on a beautiful night at the happiest place on earth. I can’t even begin to describe how much I adore the three individuals I spent the night with. They made me forget about my worries and fill my belly with lots of laughter. We missed having Lauren there who decided to go to a college strip show instead of hang with us. Next time. Next time.

Let me start this blog off by saying that Lady Gaga tickets are expensive as hell. Some pay up to $1,000 for one ticket if not more. With that being said, I do believe that she is completely worth whatever insane price her tickets go for but I also must admit that I have a man from humble beginnings. When it came to her birthday show on March 28th at the Staples Center, I knew that Dave and I had to be there and that we HAD to be on the floor. The show was completely sold-out minutes after the tickets went on sale back in August but I was able to find some floor tickets that were just slightly above face value. I held onto those tickets for months and when Lady Gaga announced she was having another show in Anaheim on the 31st, I once again HAD to get VIP tickets to it. Before I knew it, I had spent $1,000+ concert tickets and much of it was money which I did not have. So at the beginning of March, I decided that it was only right for me to sell the tickets that I purchased for her birthday show. I put them on StubHub and within hours sold them and made a $100 on each ticket. I broke the news to Dave but informed him that we would be at the show somehow. “We’ll beg to get tickets from AMP Radio (our favorite radio station in LA) or we’ll make signs pleading for anyone with an extra ticket to makes our dreams come true and if all else failed we could always buy tickets for the seats behind the stage that even have a bad view of the video screen.” Somehow we’d be at that show. I knew we would but I just didn’t know how.

Our friends Chelsey and Hope had floor tickets to the same concert and got to the Staples Center fairly early to line up. Upon getting to the venue, Dave and I had planned out a relaxing day. We’d buy the limited view seats, then enjoy our time in downtown causing trouble at the Santee Alley then we’d have a late dinner just in time to get to our seats for the concert. There was only one thing wrong with our plan, after running to the box office to buy the tickets as Dave waited in his car, I was quickly informed that the show was COMPLETELY SOLD-OUT.EVERY. SINGLE. SEAT. As I turned to walk back to the car, I saw Dave smiling in anticipation. Unfortunately, there was no envelope in my hand and no smile on my face. I got into the car and felt completely defeated. As we parked the car, we began strategizing what we were going to do. Inside though, I became consumed with guilt for having sold our own way into the concert just to help clear my consciousness. The first thing we did was getting in a line next to the box office which was for released tickets, meaning any tickets that were being held for certain guests that may or may not be redeemed. The line was made up entirely of seasoned scalpers and two boys with sunglasses and bow ties. After standing in line for several hours, I was able to learn all the shady practices of scalpers and I can tell you exactly who is in jail right now for scalping, what their offense was and when they’ll be released. Clearly, this plan wasn’t going to work.

Our next option was the AMP Radio Lady Gaga Birthday Party. AMP Radio (our favorite radio station) was hosting a party in honor of Lady Gaga’s birthday at the Conga Room. Every hour they’d have a raffle in which they’d pick one person who would receive two tickets into the show. Now radio station tickets are ALWAYS in the nose bleeds but that was totally cool with us. We just wanted to be inside the venue after all and we had no seating specifications that needed to be met. Only one person could get a raffle ticket at a time so while I waited in line with the scalpers, Dave and Chelsey went over to the party, we took turns going back and forth so that way we’d all have a ticket and increase our chances of being picked. Now let me tell you a little bit about the odds, people began lining up for the party at 11am and the doors didn’t open until 4pm. There was a slim chance that anyone from our party would even get close to winning but as I always say, there’s nothing to lose if we don’t win. So there’s a good 100+ dancing awkwardly in the Conga Room anxiously waiting for them to call the first winner. 10 minutes before the announcement, Dave brought Hope over to get us one last ticket. As my father saved my spot in the line with the scalpers, Dave, Hope and I rapidly turned into anxiety ridden monsters as they teased the audience about when they’d call the numbers. Finally it was the moment of the first of four raffles, the host read the numbers. 5 out of the first 6 matched my ticket. Then the 6th number was read, 0, mine was 1.  I was off by 1. Quickly I sank faster than the Titanic into a deep and dark depression. Of course we didn’t win, it just wasn’t meant to be. Within moments of my plummeting well-being I heard a high pitched screaming radiating just inches away from me. It was Hope. They had called her number. She sprinted to the stage as Dave and I stood there in shock. Hope and Chelsey already had tickets so she was entering to help Dave and I. As she handed us the tickets that she just won, Dave and I imploded with happiness and gratitude. Just an hour before, we were hanging with scalpers and now we were the cool kids at the party. I looked down at the tickets and saw that they were FLOOR TICKETS. I flipped. How could this be? What lucky star was I born under? Or better yet, what lucky star was Hope born under?

As we walked by the general admission line, I was frozen in shock. We went to Ralphs for lunch, as we entered my favorite grocery story, a homeless man had asked me for a dollar. I told him that I have no cash but I’d love to buy him lunch. He humbly rejoiced and for a split section I saw the same joy in his eyes that Hope had brought me just moments before.  We compiled a feast of epic proportions and I also bought the homeless man a huge lunch. It always feels good to pay it forward. As we entered the Staples Center, we quickly made our way to the front of the stage. While we waited for Lady Starlight to come on, I must have peed at least 3 times in a nervous anticipation. It also didn’t help that I was still in quite a stage of shock. Lady Starlight was a blast as always. The Scissor Sisters were fan-fucking-tastic. Then it was time for Lady Gaga. It was such a special moment to be able to celebrate her birthday with her and for me to be surrounded by all my best friends. We danced and got dirty throughout the entire concert, most of us left without a voice from screaming so loud and singing along with the crowd. The experience was unforgettable! We finished the night at Ralphs then Dave and I went to Brooke’s loft overlooking all of Downtown Los Angeles. Met some amazing new friends and got home as the sun rose over the San Fernando Valley only to have to wake up a few hours later for my first day of school. It was all worth it!

Thank you so much Hope for making my dreams as well as Dave’s come true. You are one of the kindest souls I know and I’m so blessed to have you as a friend.

There are may ways to prepare for a marathon. It is an event which many spend their entire lives working toward s one day achieving. Some run every day for a year, diligently training, adhering to a strict eating plan and mentally preparing themselves for the 26.2 miles trek ahead of them. This is what smart people do before a marathon. Unfortunately, this story is about two guys who likely do everything your not suppose to do to prepare for a marathon. David Maldonado and myself are lovers of life, we enjoy pizza on Friday nights, mimosas at Sunday brunches and sleeping in at every opportunity that we get a chance too. Upon completing the marathon last year, we both vowed to each other that we would continue our streak of athletic achievements by running various other marathons throughout the year. Needless to say it was a goal which we did not stay truthful too. We however did manage to commit to running the Los Angeles Marathon once again. For the low low price of $140, you can subject yourself to bloody toenails, broken kneecaps, asthma attacks AND if your lucky and ACT NOW, you’ll even get torrential rains thrown in to help you during your 26.2 mile trek throughout greater part of LA. Sound fun? Well in a twisted way if you asked me that question, I would say ABSOLUTELY. I have always been quite a masochist ever since I was a little boy. Whether it was burn my hair off with matches or cracking my head open a record setting 4 times before the age of 10. I’m also a fond believer in all cheesy inspiration quotes containing the word PAIN. “No pain, no game” “Pain is weakness leaving the body” etc..etc….Therefore if you were to ask David Maldonado why he was subjected to running the marathon two years in a row, I would likely be the cause of it. So let’s fast forward a bit.

Two weeks before the marathon I have this spur of the moment idea which comes to me at 4am. I had this vision of me filming my entire marathon experience from start to finish. I immediately when to my brother Adam and asked whether it was something which was even possible, he being the inspiration person that he is responded with “Anythings possible.” So for days and days I fantasized what the film would be like. I finally settled on an idea which was glued to my mind. The video would be created like a day in the life segment, the camera would be attached to the same angle the entire time and would start off with me getting out of my bed, then follow me as I brushed my teeth, got dressed, ate breakfast then the car ride to the marathon. It follow me throughout the marathon and then capture the moment as I gloriously crossed the finished line with my hands in the air. Once I cross the finish line I fall to my knees sobbing as I call my mom to tell her the exciting news. Still lots of tears. Upon getting my gold metal, I head to the beach where I slowly making my way into the Pacific Ocean as the hot California sun makes my skin sizzle. I look into the camera triumphantly than fall back into the ocean as the camera because submerged in the ocean walk. I then wake up and get out of my bed and you realize that it was all a dream. Or was it?

So I mapped out this entire idea, scene by scene, beat by beat, line by line. Everything was set………except for the actual camera rig which was going to capture it all. Two days before the marathon, Adam, Dave and I worked simultaneously to create a harness out of scratch which would help document the entire experience. The final rig turned out to be a crazy pool hose contraption from Home Depot, lots of towels and five different kinds of straps. Adam and I began doing a series of test shoots the day before the marathon. Our initial footage was rocky but looked good. At 1am, the night before the marathon we continued our camera tests. Everything which went well during our initial tests ended up backfiring during the new tests. The harnesses holding the rig together would loosen after a couple minutes then would become flimsy and troublesome. Our solutions to all of the problems we face were either add more towels or tighten the straps. Both of these would seem impractical but it was our only choice. So we settle on the rig and it was time to go to sleep.

I went to lie in bed at 2 am and began to toss and turn. There are two things which give me massive anxiety, the first being the night before the marathon. This was going to be my 5th marathon and each of the 4 nights prior to the other marathon involved me tossing and turn in a anxiety ridden rage. The second thing which gives me massive anxiety is the night before I shoot a huge project. Therefore you can imagine how bad my anxiety was when it was not only the night before the marathon but I had a huge shoot to do simultaneously. I spent the night watching Bethany Ever After until the sun rose. I ended up sleeping for a total of 15 minutes.

During the morning of the race, we rushed out of my place to get to the start line on time. Whereas every weatherman in Los Angeles had predicted rain, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky to fulfill their prophecy. I felt as though we had dodged a bullet. As Dave and I walked from the car drop-off area to the start line, I icy wind ran through our veins. It was about 40 degrees outside and we sprinted to find any kind of shelter. As we made our way into a holding tent, we began to assemble the rig. Within seconds of putting it on, I began getting looks from people all around me. Some in disgust. Some in support. Some took photos of me without my consent for a blog post somewhere on the internet which must read “Look at this idiot!” As we began to line up, I began to get focused. I have been so stressed about making this film that I completely forgot I was about to run 26.2 miles. Before I know it they’re blasting “I Love LA” by Randy Newman and the marathon is underway.

Less than 20 seconds after passing the start line, I feel something wet fall on my arm. Paranoid at all the dirty looks I was getting earlier, I turn to Dave and exclaim “I think someone just spit on me.” Before he can answer, it happens again…and again…..and again. It begins raining progressively harder. We were not even half a mile into the race and I began doubting whether I was able to make it or not. As I was holding the rig to my chest, I felt my arm going numb and mentally I was not ready for the next 25.8 miles. What was I thinking? As if my own mind calling me an idiot wasn’t enough, every 30 seconds I’d get a Legacy Runner coming up to me saying “You really think your gonna make it to the end WITH THAT?” Or the occasional, “You know this race is 26.2 miles?” I was bombard with condescending remarks left and right. I kept wanting to retaliate with a snide remark but instead politely responded with a smile. I took all of that negative energy that was being thrown my way and decided I was going to use it as my fuel. I’ve always done well with negativity because it gives me all the more reason to succeed. I love beating the odds and that is exactly what I was planning to do. Not only was I going to make it to the finish line but I’d have a video blog to document every step of the way. Finally, my head was back in the game and I was determined.

The marathon is a very interesting thing. Though Dave and I hadn’t more than a few miles leading up to the marathon, we were at mile 9 and going strong. There’s an adrenaline that you when running amongst 20,000+ people. You are literally carried with the waves of people through the streets of LA from mile to mile. I decided that there was no way I was going to be able to have the camera rig stay attached on its own, the only way I’d get a good shot was if I held it tightly in place against my chest. So what I would do is switch off hands each mile. Each hand would be so numb that I would have to shake it violently just to get the slightest bit of feeling back into it. I didn’t care if my hands were going to have to be amputated at the end of the finish line, I was determined to get my film made. I fight for my art.

By the time we got to Hollywood, we faced rain would can only accurately be described as torrential. There was a point where it began to hail for a mile. My clothes were drenched but worst of all I had run through so many puddles that my shoes were soaked to their core. Is there anything worse than running with wet socks? Nope. As their rains got harder and harder, the only thing that Dave and I could do was laugh. We laugh hysterically throughout the entire race, not a genuine this is so much fun laugh but more of a CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS type laugh. We may have become slightly delusional but once again we were determined to finish. I’m pretty sure the one reason we wanted to make it to the end was because we needed to get our moneys worth. $140 is no small amount especially for two unemployed college students. As we made our way through Beverly Hills, the marathon course began looking like a war zone. People were dropping like flies and being carted away in ambulances. The most disturbing image I saw was by an abandoned house across the street from the Four Seasons. Dozens had run to the boarded up house to unload their water filled bladders but I froze in my place when I saw a 60 year old woman with her running shorts and underwear down at her feet as she squatted butt-naked in the pouring rain. It took me awhile for me to regain my composure and it provided laughs for at least the next 10 miles. As if that wasn’t fuel enough, Dave with all infinite luck looks down and finds a pair of sunglasses Not any sunglasses but Tom Fords. Who wears Tom Ford sunglasses is the pouring rain? People from Beverly Hills that’s who. There portions of the course which were completely flooded so we had to climb mud hills or subject our pruned feet to even more puddles. By the last 5 miles, Dave and I had become complete wrecks. We resorted to singing covers of Adele’s song substituted the lyrics to apply to the miserable situation. Once day we’ll have to perform some of the covers live.

Throughout the entire run, I was listening to music on my iPhone but any time I got a phone call, I could hear nothing. Rain had seeped into my phone and slowly destroyed my one source of energy. At mile 24, my phone shut off for good. I was crazed by this point and I told Dave in all seriousness, next up is mile 24, after 24 is 25, 26 comes after 25. Without any knowledge whatsoever I had quote the seminal classic “Friday” by Rebecca Black. As we approach mile 26, the wind on Ocean Ave. was into hurricane mode. We were being knocked over by the wind but the finish line was so close that we didn’t even care. Usually the last mile of any marathon is packed with family members, marathon supporters and neighborhood members but for this marathon it was a complete ghost town. As we crossed the finish line and picked up our metals we were in complete shock. I think its safe to say by this point Dave and I had lost our minds. I picked up my gold metal put it around my neck but it didn’t fall onto my chest as it was suppose to. Instead it was being blocked by the giant camera rig made from scratch that stayed on my chest from start to finish. The same camera rig that dozens and dozens avidly said would never make it to the finish. In a very literal sense, my dreams had come true. The vision I had and carried with me a month prior had come true. The energy and positive thinking I had sent into the universe to guide me on my journey had provided me with all that I had asked for and more. The funny part is the vision I had for the film didn’t turn out quite as I expected but its safe to say I didn’t need to fall back into the ocean to submerge the camera in vast amount of water, Mother Nature had saved me the trip and brought the ocean to me. Such a kind lady!  My mom surprised me at the finis line along with my brother. Seeing my mom at the finish line was worth more than any metal. It validated my journey. As I ran to her, she embraced me with her loving words, “You two are idiots! You’re both crazy…CRAZY!” Finally, I was back home.