HARBOR CITY All Stars profile picture

HARBOR CITY All Stars

I am here for Friends and Networking

About Me

I'm an island boy that'll mash through the spot just rocking shorts & melanin...at home out in the Philippine countryside or in concrete jungles here...all natural with no artificial flavor...futuristic indigenous...mindful of my place in time and space!I shoot editorial, commercial, and event photos and I'm currently developing a visual literacy curriculum as part of grad school work. I try to bridge that with experience teaching photo in the community, and with my work with Habi Arts , an art for social change collective.I'm a freelance photojournalist and I've been able to shoot for US and European media, and I have a love and respect for documentary photography. I hustle non-media photos too so hit me up if you want to collaborate on a shoot. Also, if you're interested in experiencing CUBA with our progressive travel /direct action group the Venceremos Brigade next summer let me know! So I try to play as hard as I grind and along the way I make time to appreciate things people overlook. Nothing's guaranteed beyond now and everything changes eventually so I try to keep things hype & balanced as I look for new experiences. And all the while the music, creativity, and straight brilliance of my peoples makes me bounce and carry our energy into whatever environment I'm in. "You've got a forty-five automatic on your lap, and I've got a thirty-five millimeter camera on mine. And I still think my weapon is the most powerful." -Gordon Parks 1912-2006 .. Thomas' myspace editor™ V2.5

My Interests

art, international hip hop culture, resistance, revolution & liberation: live music/ art shows,
standing in a bboy stance (just because), the philippine islands, brown skin ladies (word to blackstar), dancing/bboying, dried mango with chile powder, beauty, manifesting inner visions like stevie, studying, acting a fool, conversations of substance/talking story/talkin shit, crate digging, fierce prose, playing the holy games of hoop & soccer/football (with the futbolistas!!), meaningful photojournalism, using my press pass to meaningfully photograph nba games, concerts, etc, activism, comedy, truthseeking, graphic design/illustration, getting my nerd on, family/friends/allies -my boy octavio is NICE on the canvas: history/indigenous knowledge, spirituality, unconventional wisdom, transcendent experiences, creative collaborations, clowning on commercial culture, kpfk/dfr radio 90.7 fri 10-1am!, some freaky grown folks stuff (ha i'm not going to front), travel (most recently the philippines & cuba), kali (philippine martial arts), studying warrior arts/philosophies, and my spiritual/physical health in our commodified world...WHUT

I'd like to meet:

I'm always down to get to know old & new school peoples who are driven & in touch with their purpose but make time to wild out & kick it...that I can exchange insights, skills, stories, photos, dranks, recipes, drank recipes, mixtapes, books and art with...and those that also feel compelled to actively work towards a more just world and lifestyle by putting theory to practice, & other walking contradictions. However you probably will not get added if you don't try to introduce yourself first (those that are socially challenged and/or street teaming).

Music:

soul, jazz, funk, reggae/ska/rock steady/dancehall/lover's rock, breaks, old school. fly music, so put me on to some... indie hip hop like: m.i.a., co-deez, native guns, bambu, kiwi, my man allakoy, sin, underground economy, de la soul, j5, tribe, crown city rockers/raashan ahmad, ghostface, madlib, MF DOOM, breakestra, edan, dj zeph, murs, hiero, quanuum, mystic, pharcyde, sa-ra, jay dee (RIP), kanye west, asheru & blue black, mass influence, always the okayplayer artists like the roots, kweli , mos, common.of course i support dj crews like the root down selectas, the beat junkies, triple threat, the foundation funkcollective selectas, and my boys the enigmatic DJ NONPHENOM and the seed planting MC MYGRAINE! can't forget the lyrical spirituals of my bigger little brotha VESKONE! of course there's also the buddhist infused verbal savagery of EXPLIZIT! and lastly the unpolished, unwritten but hype regardless drunken freestylings of MYSELF!

Movies:

frida, fahrenheit 9-11, baadasssss!, motorcycle diaries, why we fight, network, the corporation, the yes men, harold and kumar go to white castle, up in smoke, fear and loathing in las vegas (rip hunter thompson), ong-bak, city of god, high fidelity, a night at the roxbury, coming to america, bamboozled human traffic, better off dead, romper stomper, slam, hoop dreams, wild style, wattstax, dogtown & z-boys, emerald forest (despite the bad acting), 2001, tron.

Television:

don't watch much but i (did) like the chapelle show, the daily show/colbert report, the ali g show, lakers/raiders games, real time, chris rock performances, documentaries, when pacquiao rumbles, ufc, the world cup/football

Books:

lots, not enough for pleasure though. anything by my boy noam chomsky. sujatha fernandes' new book "cuba represent!..." is amazing, but i may be biased because it features my hip hop photography from cuba: recently paulo coelho's "eleven minutes" and assata shakur's autobiography.

Heroes:

my family & ancestors. freedom fighters and the nameless many who try to righteously endure despite the foul. the yes men.

My Blog

Last Push For Equity Bill!!!!!! Please forward

help get filipino veterans of world war II the respect, recognition, and pensions denied to them for over 60 years.you can find your congressional reps and their emails, etc by entering your zip code ...
Posted by HARBOR CITY All Stars on Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:36:00 PST

Last / FINAL Push for Equity and Justice!!!

Last / FINAL Push for Equity and Justice!June 10, 2008Dear Advocates for Veterans Rights and Justice:Its crunch time! Like the Lakers or the Celtics game.we are on the last half of our struggle for ju...
Posted by HARBOR CITY All Stars on Wed, 11 Jun 2008 04:03:00 PST

Aerial images prove existence of remote Amazon tribe

totally reminds me of other encounters between civilizations, like when the philippines was first seen by europeans. in 2008 though? CRAZY!! also reminds me of "the emerald forest" film that dealt ...
Posted by HARBOR CITY All Stars on Fri, 30 May 2008 02:29:00 PST

Forgotten Heroes

Forgotten HeroesFilipino veterans of World War II are still fighting for long-denied benefitsBy Roopa Raman 05/22/2008Dependent on his monthly Social Security check and the help of some local charitie...
Posted by HARBOR CITY All Stars on Wed, 28 May 2008 10:17:00 PST

Al Jazeera looks at Philippines family power

Al Jazeera is a middle eastern news channel that provides views & stories that are largely "alternative" to Western-oriented global media, stories and angles that we would be far less likely to get ou...
Posted by HARBOR CITY All Stars on Mon, 26 May 2008 01:28:00 PST

Getting Smart About Cuba

Getting Smart About Cubaby Lissa WeinmannEditor: Emily Schwartz GrecoForeign Policy In FocusMarch 7, 2008http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5045 The announcement of Fidel Castro's retirement and the subseque...
Posted by HARBOR CITY All Stars on Sat, 08 Mar 2008 06:57:00 PST

A new/free language site

Learning From a Native Speaker, Without Leaving HomeBy ANNE EISENBERGnytimes.comTHE best way to learn a foreign language may be to surround yourself with native speakers. But if you can't manage a tri...
Posted by HARBOR CITY All Stars on Mon, 18 Feb 2008 03:03:00 PST

Free doc films online

http://freedocumentaries.org/hey y'all...seriously i think you should email this out to pretty much everyone you know! there's so much valuable information here, some more credible/compelling than ot...
Posted by HARBOR CITY All Stars on Sat, 26 Jan 2008 04:25:00 PST

Study: False Statements Preceded War

By DOUGLASS K. DANIELThe Associated PressWednesday, January 23, 2008; 6:43 AMWASHINGTON -- A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials ...
Posted by HARBOR CITY All Stars on Fri, 25 Jan 2008 01:50:00 PST

LA- watch these films and see Emory Douglas prints

RIP Fred Hampton Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory DouglasMOCA Pacific Design CenterOctober 21st through February 24th, 2008 Emory Douglas, poster from The Black Panther, November 8, 1969,...
Posted by HARBOR CITY All Stars on Wed, 09 Jan 2008 02:58:00 PST