rex365

The last day of rex 365 and I end it with me. when i started rex...

Sun, 01 May 2011 00:18:42 -0400

The last day of rex 365 and I end it with me. when i started rex 365, it was just something to keep me interested in my days. i was feeling really restless with work and life, and had to do something to get me inspired again. Since being a quarter century old is a benchmark feat, i copied an idea from my friend steph zhu who worked on a project where she took a “photo a day” and set out to document my 25th year of existence. Yeah, it was going to be tough to take pictures every single day when you have no interest in photography or have any photography skill, but I had to do something to shake up life. as the project moved along, and life was literally changing before my eyes, and i had the photographic evidence.

if you looked at the pics from beginning to end, you can see how life changed, how I observed things, what new individuals were coming into my life, and what I found interesting. Personally I felt that this project really opened my eyes to the world in front of me, pushing me to be more observant and motivating me to set out and look for interesting things to fill my daily schedule. one lesson I learned from this project is that you’re the boss of your life, you control everything.

One of the main reasons we take photographs is to capture a moment, hoping to preserve the memory. I can look at every single picture and tell you what happened at that moment when I took that picture. I can tell you what I did every single day for a year, from the big things like attending coachella to insignificant things like having a frozen burrito for dinner because I messed up on a mac n cheese recipe. I don’t know about you, but that’s a pretty big feat when I’m alive for, now, 26 years and I can only recall 30% of it.
i really feel that if i had not done this project, I would not be where i’m at right now, I might be still stuck in milpitas, doing the same routine everyday. so if you need to spark up your life, get your camera, and pay more attention to what you do everyday. try it, see what you discover about yourself.

coachella day 3. watched: deloran, wiz khalifa, nas & damian...

Sun, 01 May 2011 00:18:22 -0400

coachella day 3. watched: deloran, wiz khalifa, nas & damian marley, death from above, duran duran, the strokes, and kanye

ive been a kanye fan for about 10 years now and watching his growth into a global figure is like watching your kid grow up. i remember telling people about this guy named kanye west making soulful beats after hearing his production for “watcha gonna do” by shyne. when the college dropout mixtape came out, i stayed on the hype machine, telling people that this man kanye is going to be a star even before his debut album dropped. 5 classic albums later, the hype came true. i’ve always liked kanye for a few reasons. first, obviously, is the music. he always made music that I could relate too, from working at dead end job, trying to figure out what to do with life, heartbreak, triumph, success, failure etc. for every feeling or mindstate i experience, i can pinpoint it to a kanye song. he just makes classic materialing. second, i really respect his work effort, creativity, innovation, and self confidence. he’s not afraid to be himself and do things his way. He’s my favorite artist of all time.

i waited 7 hours for his Coachella set. i stood/sat in one area, endured extreme heat, had little food/ water to consume fearing that i’ll lose my spot if i left, survived mosh pits and suffocating crowds, and even lost a t shirt just to get a good spot to see the show. after witnessing his epic performance, I actually felt great amount of joy, something that I haven’t felt in a long time. Call it an early bday present.

coachella day 2. acts saw: arcade fire, mumford & sons,...

Sun, 01 May 2011 00:17:54 -0400

coachella day 2. acts saw: arcade fire, mumford & sons, empire of the sun, steve angello, eryka badhu, chuckie, raphael saddiq, lil b….it was hot as hell this day

the sahara tent is the predominant electro tent and is always packed. shows how much popularity electro has gained, as a good portion of festival goers will stick in this area (and believe me when i saw, there are hellllla people in this tent). plus the light technology is crazy or as tom would say “give you an eye f*ck”. i usually end the night at the sahara as a way to pick up my energy level. i literally dozed off during the arcade fire set (sorry to those that say it was the best performance of the weekend), so to reenergize myself, i checked out steve angello.

coachella day 1. acts saw: kings of leon, black keys, chemical...

Sun, 01 May 2011 00:17:18 -0400

coachella day 1. acts saw: kings of leon, black keys, chemical bros, lauryn hill, cee lo, boys noize, afrojack, odd future, black joe lewis and the honey bears, skrillex….pretty good for a first day.

pic is from the skrillex set, as people go pretty h.a.m for dubstep, which isnt my cup of tea. i just wanted a head start in position for the odd future set that followed (which dissapointed me)

@ coachella. after a two hour drive, and about another 2 hours...

Sun, 01 May 2011 00:16:48 -0400

@ coachella. after a two hour drive, and about another 2 hours of security checks to get into the campgrounds, we finally made it in. the site of the festival is huge, which makes sense since over 100K people attend it. it was crazy how many different people from all walks of life converge in one plot of land in the middle of the desert.

@ the roosevelt. allan flew in and took him for a night out in...

Sun, 01 May 2011 00:16:20 -0400

@ the roosevelt. allan flew in and took him for a night out in hollywood. the hotel probably has one of the highest concentration of hot girls of anywhere in la.

was wandering around downtown and saw a pretty cool fountain

Sun, 01 May 2011 00:15:50 -0400

was wandering around downtown and saw a pretty cool fountain

attended a speaking engagement led by the creator of vice...

Sun, 01 May 2011 00:14:33 -0400

attended a speaking engagement led by the creator of vice magazine, shane smith. dude probably lived one of the most interesting lives ever. infiltrating north korea, hanging with african cannibals, being able to develop so many innovating media outlets. i learned quite a lot from his stories, which can be used for the uncvr blog. shoutout to steven for the hookup to this event.

went to valley fair to see if theres anything good before i...

Sun, 01 May 2011 00:13:35 -0400

went to valley fair to see if theres anything good before i head to the airport and i run into the basegod lil b. this pic should be framed in the museum of swag for the ridiculous amount of swag in it

@the parlor. back in the bay for one night. it was like an old...

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:55:17 -0400

@the parlor. back in the bay for one night. it was like an old school davis party with the amount of familiar faces in the spot. especially the most loveliest girl on planet earth, joanne.

@ voyeur for a yelp event. i’m not an elite nor active...

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:54:37 -0400

@ voyeur for a yelp event. i’m not an elite nor active yelp user, but i got an invite to the party. wasnt as crackin as the last yelp party i attended up in the bay, not much free food/ drinks, the topless voyeur girls werent dancing, the dj sucked, etc. met a pretty cool girl viet girl from seattle, but she dissapeared on me, but paula’s and lisa’s inebriation kept me entertained for the rest of the night.

@ the key club for the pac div show. one of the livest hip hop...

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:54:05 -0400

@ the key club for the pac div show. one of the livest hip hop shows i’ve been to in a while. i’ve been listening to pac div since college when they dropped “women problems” and its good to see them get this popular. l.a. needs to start playing more local talent on the radio…especially one that arent promoting whack ass dances.

didnt do anything interesting today except work on multiple...

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:53:09 -0400

didnt do anything interesting today except work on multiple tasks that i have on my “to do” list. did have a chat with a good pal i havent talked to in a bazillion years.

mortal kombat will always be better than street fighter

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:52:42 -0400

mortal kombat will always be better than street fighter

monster on melrose

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:51:14 -0400

monster on melrose

@drais. we dont take it easy on sunday nights.

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:50:52 -0400

@drais. we dont take it easy on sunday nights.

everytime im walking along melrose, i think of that line from...

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:50:25 -0400

everytime im walking along melrose, i think of that line from bobby valentino’s “slow down”

some mexican spot in silverlake. squish.

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:49:51 -0400

some mexican spot in silverlake. squish.

@trousdale for snoop’s release party for his new album...

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:49:19 -0400

@trousdale for snoop’s release party for his new album “the doggumentary”. free colt 45 malt liquor all night, which didn’t turn out good later on in the night, and ol school funk with dj battlecat and snoopy d-o double g as the hypeman. there were plenty of blunts passed.

i got published. if you dont know i contribute to a publication...

Sat, 02 Apr 2011 20:33:21 -0400

i got published. if you dont know i contribute to a publication in l.a. called campus circle, hence why i get to go to all these hollywood events. its pretty much of the best decisions i made since moving to l.a. (second to getting business cards) and has allowed me to meet some cool people and get into ridiculous situations.