L.W.S. LIMING WITH SANDMAN LONDON

Hey Guys,

This is the first installment in a series I like to call Liming with Sandman. It's basically footage I have accumulated over the past year of all my travels and the fun I've had along the way. My friends Alexandria and Eze thought it would be cool to put it up on the blog so here it is.

This webisode chronicles my first trip to London. I met up with my friend Rob who lives there and he showed me all the attractions over the course of three days.

2010 AND A HALF (part 1)

Hey Everyone,

I'm sorry I haven’t written in half a year but it’s been a really mixed and busy 2010 for me. Every year since 2008 I have come up with a lil motto to keep me going, this year’s version is “2010 my year again” it rhymes when you pronounce “again” “agen” but I digress lol. So far it has been my year but not without the ups and downs that go along with establishing a solid foundation for a career in the entertainment business.

The year started off on a high note as I was called by Grant Wilfrey Casting to be an extra in a Chanel Commercial that was being directed by Martin Scorsese. Yes the academy award, winning Director. It was to be a press conference scene where I played a reporter. No I was not the lead in this commercial, more like 1 of 60 journalist, cameramen and photographers covering the “story.” While we waited to be called to set it was actually quit comedic to see how most of the women would become extra perky when the Assistant Director walked into the room. I guess their display was a chance to catch his attention so that they would be chosen to say a line or two, or just to get a spot right in front of the camera. In any case sometimes it worked, as the woman to my left was chosen first to be placed and in others it didn’t as the woman to my right was placed directly behind the 6’4 mammoth of a man that was me.

Just as I settled into my 4^th row spot, with my pad and pencil in hand, I began to position myself so that when the commercial finally aired, my mother would be able to pick me out of the crowd. Yes you do have to commit to the scene but People were going to know I was in it lol. Anyway as we were about to begin, Martin walked into the room and decided to move some people around. I was actually one of these people as I was moved from the 4^th row up to the second. I know “Lucky me” you would have thought. Well not so much. I was told to stand in the second row, which I guess is fine but when a scene takes 5 hours to film that’s when I have a problem. Now standing too can be a good thing especially when you are in the second row. I mean you will definitely be seen but then Martin, look at me being all familiar with him calling him Martin but anyway Martin decided that I needed to be a photographer and his assistant gave me a huge camera to cover most of my face except a squinting eye. Thanks Martin.

Though we were there for 10 hours and the shoot really took about 5 hours for a 10 second scene, it was still an exciting experience to be apart of the process. Was this commercial the big break I was again waiting for? No, but it was a resume builder. On another note it was in the middle of shooting that I was made aware of the earthquakes in Haiti and my mind began to wonder to Laury from Make Me A Supermodel and her Family as well as one of my closest friends Bliss who also has family there.

The next experience on the agenda was Trinidad Carnival 2010. The Antilia organization who I had previously worked with in 2009, offered to fly me to Trinidad for the 2010 carnival experience. I had an amazing time. Ironically Beyonce was also holding the finale to her world Tour during the same time so I was able to see B perform live. She’s definitely worth the money. During my carnival experience I was able to shoot with Jonathan Mannion, celebrity photogrpher who you may have seen on the finale of America’s Next Top Model directing the Cover Girl commercial, as well as celebrity Make up artist Theodore Faulkner. This shoot was by far the best shoot I had ever done, as the environment was so relaxed yet exhilarating at the same time. Shout out to model Danille Prime and Kerry-Ann Murphy as well as my friends Pam and Zach.

March again saw me getting back in front of the lens for a catalog shoot for an up and coming men’s suit line. It was an easy shoot, just stand, click click, repeat 30 times and it was over. The collection was apparently geared to “my demographic,” insert snickering here, but I as well as the other male model might beg to differ on that one. The suits were oversized and though ornate in construction I must admit there is something as too much “PIZAZZ!!!”

TAR FINALE

I am one of the biggest fans of The Amazing Race. I have seen every episode since its premiere in 2001. I have discussed at length each episode with some of my family, friends and basically anyone who would listen, so it should come as no surprise that I jumped at the chance to meet the cast of the recently concluded Amazing Race 15.

That opportunity came this past weekend when RealityWanted’s Gina Scarpa contacted me about attending TARcon, an event organized by Amazing Race fans to meet and mingle with the other teams. After I accepted the invite, Gina gave me the contact info for Tiffany, who I thought was a publicist or an organizer of the event. When Tiffany asked me to also come to the private dinner for the cast, to be held on the Saturday before the finale at Essex Restaurant and Lounge, I assumed it was to get more reality faces at the event. Imagine my surprise when I walked into the restaurant and the Tiffany who greeted me was Tiffany, from team Maria and Tiffany.

As a huge fan of the show, being in the room with all the teams became almost too much for me. All of the teams were present except for Eric and Lisa, the unfortunate first team eliminated who did not even get to travel past the starting line and Mika and Canaan, the team that was eliminated in Dubai due to Mika’s paralyzing fear of both heights and water. As I got to know the cast a little better, I was asked by the three top teams who I thought won the race. I was originally a Globetrotter fan but, after they were eliminated, I switched to Brian and Ericka. They were the underdogs but one could not forget how well Cheyne and Meghan had run the race and the abilities of Sam and Dan, so I basically said the answer that anyone would have at that point: “Cheyne and Meghan.”

At the dinner table, I was seated with Brian and Erika, Cheyne and Meghan (who were actually fans of Make Me A Supermodel and knew me from the show), Tiffany, Big Easy, Sam and Dan. It was funny listening to the stories and antics that took place behind the scenes and really cool to see how close they had gotten after the experience they all had. The tattoos that eight of the racers got depicting the Japanese license plate symbol that eliminated the first team was a mark of just how close these teams had gotten. However, as a veteran reality personality, I realized this was the finale high that all cast members feel when there show is about to end. You believe that you will never lose touch with these people and that they will become a part of your family. However, time and distance has a tendency to slowly erase those bonds that, on finale night, seemed impenetrable. While I sat at that table, I really hoped that that would not be true for this cast who had accepted me into their family to join in their excitement.

Sunday night was the night of the actual finale viewing. The majority of the teams were there to celebrate the victory of two of their competitors and I felt privileged enough to be invited as the only non-related guest. The viewing was held at the Soho House, in a private theater that seats about 30 people. All that kept going through my mind was, “Who here is acting like they won?” I had been trying all weekend to get the answer out of them but no one was letting go of the secret. I thought for a moment that I would break Sam but a laugh and a smile was all I got. Cheyne and Meghan made sure I had an excellent seat for the viewing right between his little sister and Justin’s (of Justin and Zev) father.

It was crazy to actually be watching the finale with the cast themselves. Seeing their reactions to the editing and reliving the moments of this once in a lifetime experience brought back memories of my own finale night. Ericka was so proud of herself for scaling down the side of the hotel and Brian kept shouting, “That’s my baby!” throughout the entire scene. The entire room erupted in screams of “No!!” and moans of concern as the cab driver told Meghan and Cheyne that the Venetian was the most famous hotel in Monaco. Sam and Dan were on edge the entire night and it was especially funny to see how embarrassed Dan still was for forgetting Wayne Newton’s name. I must admit the editors of TAR 15 did an excellent job with the finale because the suspense was on from the start and never let up. I had predicted a Cheyne/Meghan victory but, when the show began, I didn’t know who was going to win.

The rest of the night was spent at the actual TARcon event where the fans were jumping for joy for their favorite teams. Some of the other reality personalities in the room were Kisha from the infamous team Jen and Kisha, who failed to make it to the final three of TAR 14 because Jen needed to go to the bathroom, as well as Survivor alum Eliza Orlins of Survivor: Vanuatu and Micronesia. It was an excellent weekend… TAR 17, here I come!