Downtown L.A....Donnie Darko...Drive-In Movie

If you are looking for something cool to do in L.A. tonight then look no further than Downtown. Devils Night presents Donnie Darko tonight as their drive-in movie! For $10 you can watch an awesome movie smack dab in the middle of L.A.! I LOVE IT! So bring a convertible, some munchies and your own beer (yes, they allow drinking even if you are in the astroturf section) and watch the movie under the stars..er, umm I mean atificial lighting from the surrounding buildings....http://www.devilsnight.com

F*** YOU to the new organizers of the Hollywood Forever Dia de los Muertos event!

F*** Hollywood Forever Dia de los Muertos event! Those bastards are in it for the money now, for years my family had gone to celebrate but last year they decided that after years of free admission, they would charge $5 each, this year it's $10! WTF?! next year will be $15? Go with your family and expect to spend $50 getting in plus get charged for everything that goes on inside! Hello!? It's not like money is growing on trees right now, we are not exactly all rolling around in extra cash. Screw that! I'm going to Olvera Street!

Street Merchants Present Dia de los Muertos (Downtown)
October 25–November 2, 7 p.m.
www.olvera-street.com
Olvera Street celebrates Dia de los Muertos with several days of festivities featuring piñata breaking, children workshops, face painting, strolling Mariachi bands and Ballet Folklorico. Enjoy colorful, ancient Mexican ceremonies in honor of departed loved ones with beautifully decorated altars, entertainment and Novenaria processions. Best of all admission is FREE.

One Great Weekend w/ The Mars Volta & The Dead Weather

Sunday August 30th the Mars Volta killed it on stage at the Hollywood Palladium with hours of super high energy, great theatrical lighting and that amazing unique voice. Apparently Kat Von D was there too with her sister but I was too busy enjoying the show with my sister! It was still hot as hell out here in SoCal but it didn't matter. This was my first time at this particular venue, a little bigger than i had expected, I would have much rather seen them at Ventura theater but that show had sold out. Can't wait for the next show!

Friday August 28th I was lucky enough to find out about the free mini concert Jimmy Kimmel was giving with the new supergroup The Dead Weather. I had heard about Jack White and his new band but hadn't gotten a chance to check them out. It was my first time listening to any of their music and I was blown away!!!!! Allison had great energy, she was a rockstar on stage with a killer voice. I went straight to Best Buy and picked up the album and have not stopped listening to it since :)

It's a Boy!

The newest member of the family surprised us by arriving a little earlier than expected but looking healthy and adorable as ever! I had the opportunity to photograph him at only a few days old. Welcome and Happy Birthday Aaron Michael! Congratulations Tia!

Rock the Bells 2009

Guerilla Union presents Rock the Bells 2009 at the San Manuel Amphitheatre and the ladies of the Classy Riot Mob were there to represent! Beer, music, sun...what more could you ask of an all day hip-hop music fest?
Psycho Realm took to the stage and the crowd went wild, broke out in a pit and elbows and fists started flying...

highlight of the evening definitely had to be when Ice Cube took the Main Stage with the classics! Good times....till next year....

Orange County Fair Summerfist 2009

I usually wait until the LA County Fair but this year we took an early trip to the fair to catch "SummerFist 2009" MMA event because I had heard about it through Tarzana Boxing. Soooo here is the recap:

Boyko Ranchev of Las Vegas (2-1) won a unanimous decision over Sebastian Lopez of Huntington Beach (0-2)

Chris Saunders of Long Beach won his debut by inserting a choke hold on Thor Skancke of Tarzana (1-3), which put an end to the bout at 2:47 of the second round.

Brian Devaney of Los Angeles improved to 3-0 with a unanimous decision over Fernando Bernstein of San Clemente (3-3)

In the main event, Brian Abram of Irvine and Aaron Miller of Gardena brought some excitement and ended the show with Miller out of the ring and onto the judges table! The ring doctor wouldn't allow him to continue....you could see the disappointment all over his face.
The night was beautiful and fairs are always better at night anyways, the lights, the food, the fun, the games...all awesome! This fair is identical to the LA County Fair except for the crowd. Trust me, you can tell you were in the OC....haha
and the perfect way to end ANY night...with some Jose Cuervo Margaritas...my favorite! Pass the tequila Jose!!!!

Crazy for Cult - Art Show @ Gallery 1988

Woo-Hoo! Another art exhibit in Los Angeles!

Crazy for Cult is the current art exhibit at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles dedicated to the classic cult films. There are 100 contributing artists and work is available for purchase at the show. Check them out online at Crazy 4 Cult.
Show starts tonight Thursday July 16 and runs through August 8. I am excited to see works for Clockwork Orange, Willy Wonka, and Edward Scissorhands just to name a few...

Ink-N-Iron 2009 w/ Eagles of Death Metal, Tattoos, Hot Rods, and Art!

I look forward to Ink-N-Iron every year for the chance to see portfolios of amazing artists that come from all over in the beautiful Queen Mary in Long Beach. I have been to my share of tattoo conventions and this one takes the cake! There are amazing tattoos being made at every turn, greasers and pinup gals, classic movies, amazing music and hot rods on display.

Eagles of Death Metal took the stage around 10pm and rocked it! It was so much fun, I went crazy when "I really wanna be in LA" was played. They seem like some really cool guys and delivered a good old rock and roll show.

Lomography

I LOVE FILM~! I just got my mail order film processing in the mail. I love how I never know what I am going to get from my lomo cameras. I had a couple rolls that I had developed from my Diana + my Holga and my Horizon cameras. I still need to scan the Horizon photos...go check them out on my flickr or at http://www.melissacerda.com/

Scott Kelby's 2nd Annual Worldwide Photo Walk - July 18, 2009

The Photo Walk falls on a Thursday this year and will be the first one I am participating in. I am so excited to get the chance to explore the cities that I rush by all the time and stop and take it slow with my camera. 2 hours dedicated to photos. I am also excited about the opportunity to talk and share tips with fellow photogs! The groups are limited to 50 per city and I have narrowed it down to three: Malibu @ the Paramount Movie Ranch, Santa Monica @ Camara Obsura as the starting place making our way around to the pier and farmer's market or Universal City with details coming soon. I can't wait and already have my camera bag ready with about 4 different cameras, film, memory cards and lenses. This should be a workout!

Happy Mother's Day

This polaroid was taken of my moms bouquet in our back yard. My mom loves sunflowers, she got tons of flowers since that is what makes her smile...

I hope all of you had a wonderful Mother's Day and were able to show your moms how much they really mean to you. For all the moms that have passed, that have acted as a mother and a father, that have made tough decisions, that have held their heads up high and let love conquer all I only have one thing to say: Happy Mother's Day! You deserve to be celebrated all year long.

Go Green in Los Angeles!

Nature is trying to fight back! Here are some small changes you can commit to to make a difference in your community: Use the energy star program and purchase appliances, light bulbs, etc with the energy star seal. Once you make the switch you will forget you are helping make a difference because the products are just as good as the ones they are replacing. If every household in the U.S. replaced one light bulb with a CFL(ENERGY STAR qualified Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs), it would prevent enough pollution to equal removing one million cars from the road. That's HUGE and is not "inconvenient" so no excuses! Recycle and get some dough! Some cans that you can recycle instead of throwing away can add up to some nice change and I KNOW we can all use the extra cash right now....there is alot we can do so get to it and remember that every day is earth day....I willl leave you with this photo I took in Los Angeles that gets me in the eco-friendly mood:

2 MUST SEE MOVIES IN 2009

Public enemies starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale is sure to entertain. Based on the true story of legendary Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger. Out this summer but if you are lucky you already saw it at a screening ;) Honduran teenager Sayra (Gaitan) reunites with her father, an opportunity for her to potentially realize her dream of a life in the U.S. Moving to Mexico is the first step in a feateful journey of unexpected events. She meets a young man that saved her life when he decides that he has had enough of the gang life. The Mara Salvatrucha gang places a hit on him for turning his back on them and will stop at nothing to make sure he pays for what he did.

Someone please save Polaroid!

Polaroid, sounds ancient already. A pack of 20 can run you about $30.00! That is about $1.50 for 1 photo that is not guaranteed to even come out right~! Still, there is nothing better than the instant satisfaction a Polaroid camera can give you. I have seen people try to copy the effects of a Polaroid in PhotoShop but nothing compares to an original. There is something very real, and genuine about a Polaroid. When I found out the company was ceasing production I got my Polaroid Sun600 and dusted it out from storage and filled my mini fridge with packs and packs of film, almost broke but at least I got some before it was too late. I am shooting selectively since each shot will be a one of a kind....so sad, someone please save Polaroid!

Trip to China in 2008

So I finally posted some photos from my recent trip to China on my website so go check them out and let me know what you think! Melissa Renee Photography

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

So a small picture from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland has already made it's way around the internet and eventually got to me. I almost died. What a tease!!! Now I find out that the release date is not until March 5th, 2010. I was thinking more "Summer 2009" but no luck. This dark fantasy film has...you guessed it, composer Danny Elfman for the score, Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter as the Queen of Hearts.....have I died and gone to heaven? I think so.....As for this photo...I feel another tattoo idea coming on :)

Oh, and for those of you that are considering getting the G1...it is a great phone! I love it except that there is no flash support. LAME.

And the Winner is......T-Mobile G1!

So after reading through every possible website that compares the T-Mobile G1 with the iPhone I decided to go with the G1. A few reasons: It has the flip top to type and is not ONLY touch screen, it's cheaper, and based on feedback by ACTUAL G1 holders - they love it! These were my reasons and I'm sure there are many hard-core Apple lovers out there that would disagree but that is why THEY have an iPhone and I have a G1. To each his own right? It seemed that the website reviews got feedback from people that have only read about the G1 and have never actually seen it in person, plus it came out not even a month ago and they were reviewing it back in September. I guess only time will tell if I made the right decision, either way I am stuck for 2 years now.....

China photos for Lomography

I got back my first few rolls from my recent trip to China! Medium photography is a nice change for a different view of the same city and sightseeing spots. It captured China in a different light, the fog and grainy black and white film gave it an almost dreamy, eerie feel to it. All photos have been uploaded to my Flickr gallery but here is one shot of the Great Wall of China in Beijing taken with a Holga 120 CFN on Ilford HP5+, 400 ISO, 120 black and white film. The photo above was taken on the same roll on the West Lake in Hangzhou, China

Here is a shot of the Great Wall in color with light leaks, what the holga is famous for!

Day of the Dead weekend photoshoot, New website launched, and a whole lot of Los Angeles cruisin'

So I made some changes to my photography website but still tried to keep it G rated since I am sure some of my viewers would not appreciate the whole Los Angeles gangsta' "Livin' La Vida Loca" chola look. The photo shoot was fun, we almost got rained out but luckily Dia De Los Muertos afternoon was nice and cloudy but not rainy. The weather actually made for some nice shots. All photos have been uploaded to my flickr gallery as well as on the myspace and the website. The new classy riot mob website has also been launched, this time including a splash page with music to provide a soundtrack while you are shopping and surfing around the site. We figured it would be a nice touch. Hollywood Forever Cemetery held their annual Day of the Dead festival on Saturday night and for whatever reason they decided to start charging a $5 entry when I have never had to pay to get in. So basically you pay to get in and walk around to see what else you can pay for, maybe some overpriced tamales? The event overall was amazing as usual after I got over that little bit of disappointing news but I hope there was enough complaining that they decide to not pull that again! I did walk out with a Virgen de Guadalupe purse that i absolutely loved even though it set me back about $40. Totally worth it. We also attended the Dia De los Muertos event in Los Angeles the Sunday afternoon after the photoshoot at Self Help Graphics (free entry). To be honest, after attending the festival in Hollywood, SHG does not compare, it was almost a waste of time to attend. The place was TINY. I would probably just stick to Olvera Street next time, which I did not attend this year because of these other 2 events.

Happy Halloween!

Well today is Friday, October 31st and that means HALLOWEEN~! My favorite time of the year. Last night we got a chance to go out to Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights and I must say it was great! The Bill & Ted Halloween show was so much fun, they did an awesome job. I have no voice today from all the screaming last night and only got about 3 hours of sleep before coming to work but it was well worth it! My favorite maze had to be the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, bloody, gory, what more could I ask for? Freddy and Jason were also great, I think Universal really did it right this year and I will definitely be back. You can't go wrong with all the classic Horror movies, it's a shame that they don't make them like that anymore but I guess that's what keeps the classics classic. Here is a little Halloween treat for all you trick or treaters....

1929 Disney Skeleton Dance