Let us invest... Not just our money. But our time as well.

...I've always felt like time is just as a commodity as a dollar bill.

We can spend it, use it, waste it, or invest it, just like any other other commodity.

When talking about either case, when it something is spent unwisely, or wasted... we get no positive return... or actually a negative return in most cases. There is though a fine line between wasting and not wasting. For example, spending $250 on a dope pair of jeans isn't always wasting... to justify it, if we are spending money on dope shit.. we have to make SURE that we turn it into an investment. That it gives back by way of making us feel the accomplishment we deserve, to literally wear it on our sleeves... because come on. we can all agree on how good it feels to wrap yourself up in some fresh threads. so in that respect, it's not wasting. BUT on the other hand, if you take a girl out on a $250 date and don't even get so much as a second one, that money my friend is gone (yea yeaaa the conversation was REALLY good). naw, but you see my point. its wasted. Just like when time is truly wasted not invested, not only is it gone forever... but we feel like SHIT afterwards... and we all know by way of going through adolescence and pre-adulthood how feeling like shit, when it isn't appreciated, controlled, and spun around only leads to going further and further into depression...

POINT #1: Make wise investments, with both money and time.

ok, now I want to look at what happens when money and time IS invested wisely...

When money is invested, the return is more money. Simple. Win.

The only person that doesn't like more money, is the person that really didn't deserve to, but by luck of the draw wins the lottory, and ends up feeling cursed because they have the same shisty life that they lead before the winnings, but on a grander, more blown up scale. No new concept here, Biggy said it best.

BUT, if you're a person who has taken the time to be happy, healthy, and positive NOW and in ANY situation... why let money problems put any borders on that happiness?

....but what is it that invested time returns? cause we can't ever have more time.

well, to figure this out all one has to do is look at the outcome of a person who has wisely spent their time through life, versus a person who has wasted their time through their life.

Think about it... i'm pretty sure we all can think of a good example of both.

...and all i could come up with is true happiness. The Difference Between Living and not Living.

POINT #2: Wisely invested money, leads to infinite money, and wisely invested time, leads to infinite happiness.

I have a lot more thoughts on this... but you get my points for now.

And I need to go grab my laundry and get to bed for work in the morning.

Everyday Is Another Step.

Keep Motivated.

Moving Forward.

-V

Just a quick update...

...I haven't been posting at all lately

Believe me. Nothing has stopped.

Nothing has slowed down.

The last couple months I've been under an immense amount of pressure.

As much of an extreme promotor of the 80/20 rule of productivity that I am... I have been justifying 14 hour days by telling myself that It's still in proper proportion to the rewards that are right around the corner...

At this point in my life, my daily demeanor has switched a bit.

I'm in sponge mode... working with the level of extremely talented people that I have been lately, this last few months have really humbled my moves a bit.

And my body hate's this mode. So I will be taking back the crown of my own world here shortly.

I work when it's the time and place to work.

And I create when it's the time and place to create.

I feel like the hardest part is to know, understand, appreciate, and take advantage of the proper time and place.

Because at any given point in the day, it's the proper time and place for SOMETHING.

But back to my original point of this post...

Forgive me for being distant... but i'm just doing me for a bit.

Some projects should start emerging in the next couple weeks.

I love and appreciate everyone who is in, around, and affects my life.

Especially those who are racing me to the moon.

Everyday is another step.

Keep Motivated.

Movin Forward.

-V

Found My Artist...

...keeping his name under wraps till I finish up.

Fresh Perspective: Alex Garcia

...In searching for a tattoo artist the last couple weeks, I found very few actually talented people,
let alone any whose style matched my vision, and whos art i actually appreciated.

But today a friend passed along the name Alex Garcia to my attention.

And i'm sold ...almost.

I have yet to sit down and meet with him, because its really going to take a person who i know i'll be able to develop a relationship with, not a guy who i don't get along with, because my arms are probably going to take a year-year and a half to be fully done.

But regardless, Alex Garcia does phenomenal ink.


I do know that I can VERY easily see this being the artist that I hire so I am really stoked about that though.
PLEASE feel free to check more of his work and artwork out.

myspace.com/el_mule

Post #100: "We Were Once A Fairytale"

Spike Jonze X Kanye

"We Were Once A Fairytale" - Kanye West Dir: Spike Jonze from Yooj‽ on Vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/7130656

SAY WHAAAAAA?!?

Eigenharp Alpha, Pico demo and mind-blowing concert

(first video's the explanation, second video is the concert)

:

Via: Engadget

"A wise man once told me...

...don't argue with fools.

Cause people, from a distance, can't tell who is who"

Production Diary: Kate Herman test

Basically, the layout of my new apartment is as such.

Brett Makowski is my immediate roommate across the hall, and miss Kate Herman and Melissa Baldwin live in the two bedroom right below. When looking for a place of my own down here, I was faced with the choice of either moving into my own studio by myself, or moving into koreatown with these three jokers...

As stoked as I was to have my own studio... I still was way more drawn to coming home to a family rather than to my own empty apartment.

So FINALLY I get my ish together enough to start comfortably shooting tests and such on the weekend... so before heading downtown to Cato's tattoo party last saturday Kate and I went downtown and test shot for a bit.


thanks girly

Everyday Is Another Step.
Keep Motivated.
Moving Forward.
-V

"Stress happens...

...when the mind resists what is"

-Way of the Peaceful Warrior

YUSSSSSSSSS BB Bold 2? Onyx?

Perfect timing seeing as i'm switching to AT&T probably at the end of this month.


"We have it on good authority that T-Mobile and AT&T both currently plan on announcing the Bold 2 -- also known as the Onyx -- on October 21. As a refresher, this would be the touchpad-driven piece with model number 9700 that's been making the rounds on the leak circuit the past few months, a fitting successor to a device that virtually every celebrity this side of Merle Haggard has been photographed carrying at once point or another. What we don't know is pricing or retail launch date, but at least this gives us a pretty hard target for when we can expect details -- so start cleaning out that Bold trackball, because you're going to have something to eBay here pretty shortly."

via: engadget

Fresh Perspective: Taige' Kussman

My girl Taige' is going into the studio to FINALLY get her first demo recorded this week, I've been wating on this one for months now.

Keep your eyes on her for sure...

Fantastic singer/songwriter from Mukilteo, WA. I'm REALLY stoked to see what she has to bring to the music scene in the next couple years.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FeSJXBmh9I



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjTa7-ODIAU


Everyday Is Another Step.
Keep Motivated.
Moving Forward.
-V

Stefani Germanotta and The Bitter End

performing, of course... "Hollywood"



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b2C20qN4Ps

GUESS WHO!
Love Her So Much

Help me out

I saw this campaign and loved it, but i have NO idea who designed or shot it.




Our bodies have limits.
Physical boundaries.
But our minds which rocket us to the edge...
...are limitless.

hm.

let's skyrocket the fuck out of this world.

Everyday is Another Step.
Keep Motivated.
Moving Forward.
-V

Wall-Animation. MUTO by BLU

Wow, thank you shelle for showing me this.

I have been in awe, and watched this video like 4 times repeating it with different music playing each time... (the actual audio is kind of distracting IMO)

A touch of creative process
A handful of labor and production
Driven by the spark of an idea


if this isn't motivating to take your art more outside of the box than i don't know what is.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuGaqLT-gO4

Our bodies...

...heal themselves.

It is an absolutely immaculate concept to me that a cut, blister, stress, or fracture is able to be, in a lot of cases, completely 100% seamlessly fixed just by way of the cells within our bodies doing their jobs and acting, not by us thinking about it and making it happen. it's just by instinct.

If we have a cut, our bodies instinctively clot the blood, create the scab, and use scar tissue to heal the wound.

If we have a broken bone, our cells go through their processes of natural healing by creating bone tissue and calcium to heal and actually strengthen the bone.

The body only heals itself, because it knows the optimal conditions that it needs to operate properly. and that is ALWAYS the goal for our cells.

What I've been stuck on today is the thought that it is all to possible to apply this concept to the way we lead our lives...

If my life, exactly as it is now is how I think that I was SUPPOSED to be, that this is the way I am destined to end up living for the rest of my life... why would anything new ever happen? Why WOULDN'T my actions as an organic being be to take all necessary action to keep things as they are?

This is where setting goals comes in.

If we create a mis-balance for ourselves,

If we take a step back and say
"You know what, this is where I am, and this is where I WANT to be"
That in itself is already creating a problem that needs to be solved.

So as humans, as organic matter of this planet... when that thought is running through our minds, we as groups of cells take action to fix that problem.

If my problem is that I really really need to use the bathroom... typically our bodies instinctively get up and make that happen. Because it's uncomfortable. It's pressing. It's urgent.

If my problem is that I really need to run errands and pick something up... it really isn't as easy to get up and do, because its not urgent, its not pressing, and I am SO much more comfortable staying on the couch.

I think, that it is very easy to see how it is that people get caught up in their comfort zones, and forget the feeling of accomplishment that comes from breaking out of them.

I sure tend to forget that...
very quickly it seems sometimes.

A man who i've grown to have a bit of respect for told me the other day...
"Go bold with all of your actions. When you're the kind of true happiness, fun, and success seekers like we are, meek actions will breed nothing but meek successes."

I feel like we all are seekers of true happiness, but for some reason, we don't get taught how to go bold with our thoughts, actions, and goals... we are taught to dumb it down, fit into a structure, and stay in the box.

You can't put me in a box.
It's impossible.

Everyday Is Another Step.
Keep Motivated.
Moving Forward.
-V

on a Jay mission tonight appearently...

...Billionaire Boys Club X The Blueprint III

=three new shirts

1.
"SO AMBITIOUS"

2.
"ABC"
"A.
IF YOU CAN BELIEVE,
B.
THEN YOU CAN CONCIEVE,
YOU
C.

"

3.
"I'M ON MISSION"
"NO MATTER
WHAT
THE CONDITIONS"


I Want These...

Everyday is Another Step.
Keep Motivated.
Moving Forward.
-V

The Blueprint III

...the making of the cover art

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ1i0olf4Ik

Production Diary: Juan Manuel Marquez Promo Shoot

Just another weekend in the Los Angeles...

This past Sunday, right about 7:30 in the morning, my roomate Brett and I get a call...

Todd Beard, informing us that Marquez is in downtown LA and that he needed Brett and I to take care of a private photoshoot with him...

...in three hours.

sweet.

SO seeing as Mr. Arya Mansourzadeh was in town with his video camera for the weekend, I had him come along and video

tape the whole shoot.

ANYWAY, long story short, cause i'm definately just takin a quick break from crunching numbers at work... Marquez was just an outstand

ing guy, super down to earth and very cool with us. We could tell he was just in. the. zone. mentally preparing himself for the fight.

STOKED to watch it this weekend...

here's a little preview:

Everyday is Another Step.

Keep Motivated.

Moving Forward.

-V

Eric Koston Sunglass Preview - Oakley Frogskin

"Not too long ago, pro-skateboarder Eric Koston signed with performance sports label, Oakley, as a part of their skate team to further solidify the already stellar group. As a part of the signing, Oakley worked with Koston to personally design a collection of gear for the upcoming holiday season. Included in the capsule collection are three items- a ballistic nylon backpack, a military inspired daypack and of course, the iconic Oakley Frogskin in a new wood grain shade. Created especially for guys on-the-go, the ballistic nylon backpack is a sturdy number featuring multiple compartments and textured synthetic leather accents spacious enough to pack everything you need. For the other guys who are less into backpacks, the military-inspired daypack is a good option made from high quality canvas with tumbled leather. All bags, just like the Oakley Frogskin feature this collection's signature wood grain print; also, both the glasses and backpack are adorned with the special "EK" and Oakley logo to mark this collaboration. The simple yet functional collection is due to drop at the end of September and beginning of October."



(via. Oakley)

As of tomorrow...

...I will officially be a resident of Los Angeles.

By officially, I mean I'm signing papers and getting keys to my new permanent residence down here.

Chapter: I.

The whole purpose of this summer was honestly, to challenge myself and my philosophies, and see what I could paint onto the absolutely blank canvas that I was given in my choice to leave Edmonds, WA and come to LA. This is where I can say that I've stopped living my life the way that I was raised to, and have started truly living it under my own circumstances, rather than the circumstances I was born into and forced into by little more than strict proximity.

...And this summer has been an eventful one to say the least. From shooting a few magazine gigs, meeting some immensely talented artists who I now call close friends, landing a job as part of the design team that's going to KILL Magic in Vegas this year, letting myself emotionally slip into just the idea and possibility of a new relationship and having it turn into a memory rather than anything tangible, and of course, to my first invite to the Playboy Mansion...

...I guess just the thought of moving into my own place tomorrow ...and some wine with Marc (Marc Callo he's a fantastic independent designer and friend and I feel no shame in giving him a plug) ... has put me in an extremely reflective and appreciative mood...

Thank you for everything, especially to my dad who is responsible for my life, and my soul.

Vegas this weekend...
...home for the following week.

Back to my city on the 9th.

realllly lookin forward to having Koa down here next month too.

Jay-Z |MTV Music

Everyday is Another Step.
Keep Motivated.
Moving Forward.
-V

Up Early... and haven't posted in a while

Started working last week, puttin in 60+ hours a week for Remetee Clothing... Shooting campaigns, product lines, processing my life away basically ...just kidding. No complaints here whaaat so ever... I guess I could, and to all intents and purposes at my age SHOULD be workin my graveshift at some dead end thrift store or sandwich shop, or I COULD be back working construction again... so as I always look at it... the grass IS always greenest on my side. anyone else want to hop the fence and come kick it?

Plus setting my business into motion... blahdy blah gotta love those tech-t-tech-tech technicalities... New website should be launching soon and I'm REALLLLLY stoked for it ...And the whole new business plan in general actually. Within the next year, I will be living, comfortably, off of my sole proprietership venture that is, LifeFashions ...working steadily towards that 25 mark, and believe me it could be hittin much sooner than that.

(Spencer, you're still with me on this right?)

And then a few side projects here and there, trying to figure out where exactly i'm going to be living, Vegas trip next weekend, HOME, planning an art show, reading a fantastic book, might be getting sick, et cetera. et cetera. et cetera.

IN CONCLUSION, (you like that?) life has been hitting reaaaally hard the last couple weeks, and there hasn't been a whole lot of time to blog lately... But, my new friend Melissa was kind enough to share a few of her journals with me the other night, which was very inspiring and I realized that I wish that I had the self discipline to write in the same journal every day. I'll just let these blogs serve as my journals until then.

This is the life I choose to lead, I have chosen it for myself, and I absolutely love every minute of it ...but i'm not gonna lie, I'm really looking forward to that next relaxing evening spent with a bottle of wine and some good company.

Everyday is Another Step.
Keep Motivated.
Moving Forward.
-V

The Struggle for Balance

This was the first show I've been to since coming to LA.

Back in the day, concerts used to be my escape. In middle school, going through my depressed, dark, emotional adolescent artist period, when I would lock myself in a room and play guitar for hours and hours on end... I gave full control of my emotions over to music.

The ability to head to a concert by myself, and free myself from all the daily pretenses and insecurities that surrounds all of the adolescents from every-suburb-in, the USofA was one of the most personal experiences that I've ever had the pleasure of appreciating.

Even before moving down to this city, it had been a long time since I had been to a really good show.

Back home, my struggle for balance tended to take me further and further away from my childhood pleasures, and closer and closer towards being the businessman and entrepreneur that would get me level of success in life that I so desperately wish to attain.

Since I've been down in LA... It is absolutely amazing, (and I use that word with the utmost emphasis), how much I have been able to keep my business, and my goals in the same perspective, but tip back that scale by adding back in so much more of the childhood pleasures that make life worth living.

I grew up on a skateboard. I think clearly and freely when riding one, because it is such a comfortable place for me to be.
It astonishes me how intertwined my work has been with pro, and ex-proffesional skateboarders these last few weeks. Working with people who also grew up with that mindset has added a level of comfort to everything that I've been doing.

Ok, so back on the tracks with my initial train of thought...

The Lykke Li show last night at The Wiltern theater LA, was... great.

simply, great.

I bought a single ticket for myself, knowing that somehow the organic flow of things would lead me to have a wonderful night, and it did. A hundredfold.

I'd like to thank miss Miranda for accompanying me last night, this girl also decided that it would be a fantastic show to experience by onesself on a personal level. We started chatting and realized how similar our reasons for attending were, and it blew me away how much I enjoyed having someone there with me, appreciating it on the same level... and the continuation of that night at The Standard only lead to the rounding off of a great evening.

Anyway, Lykke Li is SO unique, fresh, and just off the walls. I used to love her voice, and her energy... but now after witnissing it live, my experience with her is complete.

a tidbit, someone else shot this from last night.



Everyday is Another Step.
Keep Motivated.
Moving Forward.
-V

Production Diary: Project Mayhem, Phase 1

So as the story goes...

Last week, while relaxing at a few clubs out on the town with some friends, I get to talkin with my dude Brett Makowski designer and art director for Remetee apparel co.

And what he proposes to me blows me away...

He wants to do a shoot for his new campaign and website, and it is going to be shot in the same basement that Fight Club was filmed in.

This is HUGE for me, because if you know me, you know that Fight Club is one of my favorite movies, and just to be in that basement alone, let alone shoot in it is going to be freaking brilliant.
So I immediately agree and jump on board.

The vision for the shoot is we want it to be very dirty, dark, gritty, sweaty, and sexy with wrist tape, bloody knuckles, female models, etc. etc.

The only catch is that in order to go through with full budgeted production, we needed to go down there in a week, and do some guerrilla style test shooting to sell the idea to the board.

So day of production comes, and all of us are running around like ADD boys on a wood chip playground, with cell phones attached to our ears...

The projected shooting window was 9-12. Three solid hours to set up, make-up, style, and shoot.

Actual window turned out to be (after we got everyone parked downtown LA on a friday night at 9, yea good luck) from about 10-11... a solid hour to get everything taken care of.

...Hold on though, lemme take a step back to reflect for a quick sec, actually standing in this massive, dark, creeepy basement, with pipes and rotting wood and spiders all over the place, was the coolest feeling in the world for me. I mean, basement was literally boarded up and locked away, so we had to remove all that ish just to get down there. There was a bunch of old graffiti and storage, literally didn't look like the basement had been used for anything since the movie crew had been there (fake blood stains still there and all)

...But as I'm talking with the models, a quick pre shoot motivation pep talk, one of them goes "Oh my god.." and her eyes just get huge.

I turn and look over my shoulder, and there is this DUDE that just walked out of the blackness. A frail old man with just a dirty old white shirt and no pants on (it was a long shirt)...

...........

...What? Really?
Guys spend there whole lives exploring creepy houses and basements, convincing themselves to man up and get over the fear, because nothing is actually in the darkness... but tonight there was. And just the sight of him scared the SHISA out of me at a first glance.

As it turns out, dude lives down there, he was actually pretty nice, we just has accidentally knocked one of his power cords loose or something... freakin bizarre though.

But anyway, models gave us a tiny window to shoot, make-up artist never showed up, blahdy blahdy wah wah... for what its worth, I'm happy with the small amount of content we ended up with given the circumstances, but once we get the full butdget and team down there to work, the potential is unreal.

Behind the Scenes:


Everyday is Another Step.
Keep Motivated.
Moving Forward.

Thanks to everyone involved, I had an awesome time.
-V

I refuse to pay a proffesional when ninja skills can do it better...

...So this morning, I wake up

I go into my usual routine, check my E-Mail, mark calendar appointments, refreshing my to-do list for the day, fry myself up some eggs... and use the facilities.

But THIS morning, when I walk out of the toilet, I get about 3 steps away from the bathroom door when I walk into a wall of realization, that I just locked it from the inside, and pulled it shut on my way out.

...way to go idiot.

Not to big of a deal though, upon closer inspection, it's one of those doorknobs with the little pinholes on the outside (and from my experience that means I can grab a nail or paper clip and shove it in to unlock the door ...get your minds out of the gutter)

I find a paperclip, nada.
I find a nail, nada.
I find a screwdriver... welp, looks like I'm taking anatomy of a doorknob 101 today... so I unscrew one side and yank off the handle... expecting the other side to stay on so i could fidget with it and unlock it... nada.

The handle and the whole apparatus fall INto the bathroom on the other side.

...fml

And now I'm left with the stud stuck in locked position, and no doorknobs to unlock or turn it out.

At this point, I'm really just worried about having to contact the landlord and upsetting the relationship between her and my roomie, so I, just for kicks and giggles, decide to get a quote from the closest locksmith I could find on the web...

...and the barely-any-english speaking man procedes to tell me that its going to be 80 dollars to take care of what I needed done....

...um ecsqueeze me? 80 dollars?
someone please remind me again how many years of school it is to become a locksmith, because i'm pretty damn sure 80 dollars for maybe an hours worth of work in some COMPLETELY un artistic field is quite absurd.

But ANYWAY so needless to say, I hung up the phone with an "eff that" attitude, sat down for a minute, and thought it out...

...

THERES A TINY WINDOW IN THE SHOWER... and only two possibly ways of getting to it.

A.) walk the stairs up to the roof of my apartment complex, find 4'x4' airvent that my showers window leads to, repel down three stories to my showers window.

OR

B.) Sneak into my neighbors apartment, who just moved out, go into their shower, sneak through the window into the airvent, and get back in through my own window shower.

mmmm... B! and that's my final answer.

I get to my neighbors shower window, pop the screen off, slip through, fall to the bottom of the airvent (this thing is covered in spider webs and garbage mind you), slip the little glass pieces out from my window, crawl into my bathroom, BAM!!

Mission Accomplished, got the doorknob back on got out of the bathroom, 80 bucks still in my pocket, and n0 one had a clue.

Except those spiders that are dead now, thanks to my lack of ninja skills.

(I'm a pirate at heart, what can I say)

SO its friday, 4:30... I think i'm about to nap for a bit before headin out to prep the models for Project Mayhem tonight... Super Secret photoshoot. Ask me about it later when it's not so super secret anymore.

The first rule of Fight Club is you DO NOT TALK about Fight Club.

Ghost Filmin.... hahahah

This video hits close to home on SO many levels. Back in the day when me and my guy T-Haaps used to kick and push around the schools and skateparks of Seattle, this was OUR THING.

They TOTALLY knock it in this video, and believe me I was dyin from start to finish, but i'm still gonna be a promotor of the ghost filmin, take a little focus of your self and onto your buddies trick once in a while.



Now if these kids had included the old school camera hand crank with the left hand, I might have shat myself.

LEGO TOY STORY YESSSSSS

After just leaving LegoLand not too long ago, these hit a special place in my heart.

Complete with Woody, Buzz, Jesse, Stinky Pete, Bullseye, Zurg, Alien... These sets are going to be AWESOME.

...oh, and best of all IMO... Lego Army men??? dooope



Pics VIA: Flickr

Tron Legacy

UNI - Land of the Kings

Fantastic Perspective on Space and Time, and the portrayal of it

I honestly dream of one day speaking and lecturing at the TED convention.

Lance Armstrong

What an inspiration...


I saw this time lapse video a while ago, and just thought it was awesome. I had no idea where it was, but just loved it.

Then I moved to LA and realized that it's literally just a few blocks from my house.

awesome.




And this is just another video that i loved,
Lance X Nike



Everyday is Another Step.
Keep Motivated.
Moving Forward.
-V

Stephen & Taylor

I LOVE seein my friends be fantastic artists, and coming up with amazing one of a kind pieces.

...almost more than I like creating my own things, cause then I'm not the one who poured the blood, sweat, and tears into the creation process, it's solely just there for me to appreciate.

My guys,
Stephen & Taylor,
At it again,

I wish you guys were doin this when I was in highschool, I totally would have rocked a designer backpack.





Gotta love it man.

be SURE to visit Stephen & Taylor for the rest of the scoop.

...and check out my new S&T spread under my fashion portfolio ;)

Lykke LI - Just Got My Ticketsss

After seeing this girls live performance videos online a while back online, I have just been in love with how cute she is...

Lykke Li - Tonight from Lykke Li on Vimeo.

AND i'm stoked cause now that i'm living in L.A. people actually play shows here...

So August 4th, will anybody be joining me up the street from my house to see her at the Wiltern?