sam sanchez

Jun 15

I have Beirut leaking out my headphones and video rending in the background.

If you asked me a year ago where I thought my life would be right now, I would tell you I would be living in a humble apartment in the hills of Echo Park, with my wife, working on music video treatments, editing scripts, films, writing treatments and proposals. I would imagine a nice little garden where I would grow fresh herbs and vegetables that I would cook with for my friends, wife and I.

I would make a decent living building my company, side ventures and every now and than freelancing depending on the opportunity.

This month marks a year since my separation and now divorce.

I have seeds and dirt sitting in my backyard waiting to get planted.

I now live in a 5 room house in the only gated community in the hills of Silverlake. I am in charge of rent that sounds stupid to most people and live with 5 amazing people.

The house is quiet. Half of my roomates are asleep, the other half are on a Lenny Kravitz music video shoot. One of my best friends is in a transition between jobs, preparing to go on the BLack Keys tour, and staying where another best friend used to live.

Ive lived in LA for a year and half now.

This town is tough, from people entering in and out of your life, career opportunities opening and closing, and just about everything in between. Everything is at your fingertips.

There is a weird sense of depression and joy poking at my belly.

For starters, I have amazing opportunities in front of me that I have to work around the clock to get to. I feel like a college student again, in front of my computer, working into the wee hours of the morning just to make the deadline.

I have to get through the paid projects to begin enjoying and working on the projects I came to this town for. From 3 music video treatments waiting to be written, a short film sitting in my hard drive, half painted canvases in my closet and a guitar sitting at the side of my bed begging for my attention.

I have scripts dying on my mac, wishing they were brought to life.

Dreams don’t exist, only in our heads.

If there is one thing I have learned, is to take the scariest opportunities available to you. Opportunities that sound stupid to most and dont make sense to you. Opportunities that risk what you are afraid of the most. They don’t come often, and when you miss them, they make you feel like shit.

I am not talking about the stupid ones, “live in the moment type” (though those have a place in our lives as well), I am talking about the ones that can change your life for the very good or the very bad.

Good and bad are the exact same thing. I am not talking about truth, I am talking about good and bad. What might be good to you, may be bad to someone else, and vice versa. What is true, is just true, it doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad.

I have also learned that people are the single most important thing in this world. Whatever philosophy, religion, organization or practice you are a part of, they all revolve around people.

It’s the people that have hurt me the most, but the people that have brought me the most joy.

One of my most favorite pieces of literature discovered by man:

“Meaningless! Meaningless! says the Teacher. “Everything is meaningless!”

This keeps me alive. It keeps me going. It reminds me that the cry exists in every one of us. Some of us have learned to play with this and look at life from this lens, while others have decided to keep looking, keep going, keep trying, keep climbing.

When you get to the top, and think you reached your dream, you realize it wasn’t a dream, and if it was a dream, it was not a good enough dream, or else it wouldn’t be a dream. I am not at the top, but I have climbed, realizing I just want to come back down; why? cause everything is meaningless.

May you rest assure the only thing consistent in this world is people. Though they are inconsistent in your life, they still exist and are there. People listen and ignore. People laugh and cry. People influence and follow. Everything about people changes, except people themselves.

Go for the people, don’t be afraid.

Jun 7

pjszabo:

Blue Like Jazz movie.

(via pjszabo-deactivated20111120)

May 18

Travel reading, wish I can afford everything in this issue!

May 6

a little something i did a couple weeks ago with fluxus and de signer

May 4

Travels to Zambia

Here is something I was working on, on my way to Zambia, I have more coming up. My internet is slow so its rough trying to update in real time. This is long, not offended if you dont read it :)

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The trip started off with me trying to send out some files, from home, before catching my flight. Luckily the traffic was a surprisingly low, and we were able to make our first flight on time. We were on time, our flight wasn’t, we ended up boarding a couple hours later than we were supposed to. We headed to the bar and met an old Aussie lady who was transferring from her connecting flight from Canada back to Australia.

Landing in Heathrow, we immediately made our way to our connecting flight. We headed to the Tin Goose and were hosted by a friendly young lady who walked us over to the only two couches in the restaurant. The blaring television was not warm, but we looked around and realized we had the most comfortable seats in the establishment.

Over eggs benedict, tea and bloody mary’s we caught up with work that was still left incomplete. The whole restaurant was staring our way (since the television was hanging over our heads) as we cracked jokes as to why we thought it was ridiculous how people were responding to the Royal Wedding. Understanding we were foreigners, we tried our best to be sensitive and not be too loud, but browsing facebook and seeing the comments online, we couldn’t help to join in on the conversation. The idea that people had “hope” in love because of the wedding was quite absurd and disturbing. Zach passed out and I got to work.

Rich, the founder and president of Spark Ventures met us there. We wrapped up a few more details and headed to our terminal.

I passed out on the plane, waking up 3 hours later and realizing we were still sitting at the airport. i quickly put on my default comfort album and tried my best to ignore the fact that I was still sitting in the same place. I have a very difficult time being in the same place doing nothing for so long. I pulled out a book that a friend of mine gifted me prior to my departure. The book was an easy read and kept me happy and alive till finally we took off.

At this point, it was understood that we were going to be spending the night in Johanesburg. Upon our arrival, after solidifying a few travel details for the following day, I texted back and forth with a friend from Joberg and made arrangements for her and her sister to pick us up and accompany us for the evening.

Our hotel was called “Emperors Palace”, a slight replica of the Las Vegas famous “Ceasars Palace”. Flashbacks of my Las Vegas days quickly kicked in. The structure, layout and style of the resort mirrored my days of late nights hitting the craps tables and feeling sad for people who were smoking, drinking and glued to their slot machines.

Our late lunch consisted of Nandos. A famous African favorite. Chicken drenched in your Nando sauce of choice with a side. I had the half chicken in the Peri Peri sauce (an extremely spicy sauce).

After lunch Rich got some work done, Paul ( a member of Spark Ventures) took a nap, Zach opted out for a massage and I headed to the lobby to finish up some work and wait for our South African friends to pick us up for the evening.

Our SA friends pulled through. We caught up and waited for Zach to be done with his pampering.

We headed into the city. Over drinks and dinner we laughed, caught up, shared stories and talked about things that mattered to us. Zach and I were so tired and jet lagged, we called it an early night and headed back to our hotel.

The following morning we dealt with more reservation issues. Eventually a rep from South African Airlines showed us his customer service skills and made sure we were taken care of. The one thing I must admit to is the following, though I always have issues when traveling in and through Africa, South African Airlines has great customer service. I have numerous accounts of feeling alone and stuck and having a rep hold my hand and make sure I made my flight.

Mar 21

Hello, good morning,noon, and night.: An old friend.

rio2shoes:

Adrian Nunez

6/7/1988 - 3/20/2011

The first real friend i ever had died yesterday. I’m still not sure how to feel about it or what to think of it all..I try not to get lost in thoughts of death because it makes for so many unanswered questions. All i know is that i wish i had…

Mar 18

My last post had the wrong link, hopefully this one updates with a link directly to the store.

We’ve been working long and hard, still not done, but the beta version is out. We are ready for beer loving testers to join the network. If you have an iPhone and enjoy beer, download our app and let us know what you think. If something happens (crashes, errors etc…) please email the info to bpiety@lenume.com. When prompted to scan facebook, do it, who knows, your friend might already be a member :)

Note: Since the data is user generated, if you are in a small town, you might not reep results right away. Do your part as others do theirs! It’s a free app! Join the community, and start letting us know where you are drinking what.

Feb 27

Feb 16

Saw these guys live in Habana. Pandora them, you won’t be dissapointed.

Feb 14

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day, a popular secular and commercial holiday, was originally a Christian feast day celebrating the martyrdom of a Christian saint named Valentine. Unfortunately, his life has been largely lost to history and it’s no longer clear precisely what he did. In fact, it’s not clear who exactly he was because there were at least three different Valentines in the early Christian church, any or all of whom could have been the original object of Valentine’s DaySt. Valentine, Christian Priest:
According to one story, Roman emperor Claudius II imposed a ban on marriages because too many young men were dodging the draft by getting married (only single men had to enter the army). A Christian priest named Valentinus was caught performing secret marriages and sentenced to death. While awaiting execution, young lovers visited him with notes about how much better love is than war — the first “valentines.” The execution occurred in 269 CE on February 14th.St. Valentine, Christian Priest:
A second priest named Valentinus was jailed for helping Christians. During his stay he fell in love with the jailer’s daughter and sent her notes signed “from your Valentine.” Some stories say that he first cured her eyesight (without which she couldn’t have read the notes) and thereby converted the jailer to Christianity. He was eventually beheaded and buried on the Via Flaminia. Pope Julius I reportedly built a basilica over this Valentine’s grave.St. Valentine, Bishop of Terni:
A third and final Valentinius was the bishop of Interamna (modern day Terni) and he was also martyred, with his relics being taken back to Terni.Valentinus, Gnostic Teacher:
In 143, Valentinus was a Gnostic teacher in Rome. This Valentinus had nothing directly to do with the creation of Valentine’s Day and Gnosticism came to be regarded as a heresy, but there are some interesting parallels. Valentinus rejected asceticism and celibacy, arguing that marital love was central to Christianity.Valentine, Patron Saint of:
Like most saints, Valentine is patron of many things. The obvious ones include: Betrothed or engaged couples, marriages, love and lovers, and young people. Less obvious ones include: beekeepers, epilepsy and fainting, plague, and travelers.