Crew VS.

Part of my crew for the Team Blackout Music Video, (l-r) John C. (grip), Spike (DP), Alex (gaffer) and myself (Director).

Talent VS.

Reggie and Zack of Team Blackout, accompanied by two of the female leads for their music video, face off with the production crew.

Ones

I had a client that was using $1 dollar bills for props in a film shoot. At the end of the shoot, he asked me, "I can return the ones to the bank and give you bigger bills, or if you take the ones, I'll give you extra for your trouble".  So, what do you think I did...

The Reverend

Former U.S. Congressman, the Reverend Dr. Floyd H. Flake is the senior pastor of the more than 20,000 member Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral of New York and President of Wilberforce University. The church and its subsidiary corporations operate with an annual budget of over $34 million. The church also owns expansive commercial and residential developments; a 750 student private school and various commercial and social service enterprises, which has placed it among the nation's most productive religious and urban development institutions. Allen Church has provided resources and guidance for innumerable faith-based and secular institutions. Its net assets are valued at over $100 million.

Flake served eleven years in the U.S. Congress, and was a member of the Banking and Finance, and The Small Business Committees. He established a reputation for bipartisan, innovative legislative initiatives to revitalize urban commercial and residential communities. Most notably, the Community Development Financial Institutions Act of 1993 contained provisions named the Bank Enterprise Act (BEA), authored by Representative Floyd Flake, which provided incentives for financial institutions to make market-oriented investments in destabilized urban and rural economies.

I had the pleasure of hanging out with Floyd for the afternoon. He was interviewed for one of my Television productions, Dollar™, for which he appeared as a professional authority. Maureen Aladin of Eye On It ® Studios, did an outstanding job producing the piece.

Eye Surgery

Well more like lens surgery. I am on location filming for my current feature film project "Anomaly" and the internal ground glass of my 35mm lens adapter had some particles on it, so I dismantled the enclosure and got busy (me on right). Everything went great after I got my adapter all cleaned up. John (pictured on left) provided the facility for our shoot. He's an eye surgeon and budding producer (working on Anomaly as Associate Producer) and an awesome person!

HR & Kelly PR

Theresa Kelly (pictured in middle) of Kelly PR, a good friend of mine and member of the Guns 4 Cameras committee.  

Stop the Violence - Harlem

I am at the Bread & Roses Integrated Arts High School on 135th in Harlem.  They are having a Stop the Violence Talent Showcase and invited me to speak.  They will be giving an award in my name to the winner.  It's always a pleasure to attend events like this, no matter how busy I am with my schedule. 

My New President!

I've been watching the votes come in (via a live internet stream, as I still have to work on the computer right now, besides the fact that I got rid of my TV at home... that's another story) and of course Barack Obama has won the contest by huge margins.  McCain just gave his concession moments ago and now Barack is about to give a historical speech.  The most important election of my lifetime, I made contributions to his campaign, encouraged friends and even Directed a commercial for his campaign (featured on CNN).  I did my part as an American to bring the right person to the White House.  I look forward to Barack's exceptional leadership and his vision to reshape this country, bring us new prosperity and improve our image to the rest of the world.

Proclamation

And so it was written, with a ribbon and a gold seal.  This is from "Hezues R' Day" the other week.  I just got the actual proclamation.  I had to come back to Poughkeepsie today to VOTE!

Hezues R' Day

It's official!  I am in the history books.  Today, Mayor John C. Tkazyik (of Poughkeepsie, New York) has attended a reception to honor and present me with the proclamation of the day in my name.  That's right, Hezues R' Day!  The gentleman I am standing with in the picture, Tree Arrington, is a community leader who is responsible for organizing the weekend and its tribute to the person that I am pointing to in the mural behind us.  In memory of Lateef Islam.  I was honored to have my day proclamation made during Lateef's Memorial Youth Weekend, as he was an icon to our community.

Btw, they mentioned having me to return, on this day each year, to give a "Hezues R' Award" to youth who show leadership, passion and purpose for their community.  They're even talking about renaming a street.  How about Hezues R' Avenue... Hezues Road... HR Block.  Leave a comment with your suggestion for a proper street name.

Anomaly Casting

I am at 243 W 30th with Maureen (l) and Matthew J. Sheridan (r), as we are holding auditions for the upcoming Sc-Fi feature "Anomaly".  As an EP, I will be producing the project for Eye On It ® Film Studios.  Maureen is my producer for several projects, who I brought in on Anomaly as a Casting Producer.  Matthew is the Writer and Director for the project.  Right now we are discussing possibilities for some of the roles.

United Nations

I was invited to have dinner at the United Nations for the American Airlines 1st Annual Global Compassion Ball.  I am sitting with the VP of AA and she's telling me how much her boys love soccer (they're from Manchester, England).  I also met William Dise, an incredible individual who is being honored this evening.  He has already made 100 flights to bring food an supplies to countries in need, around the world.  American Airlines has a charity program called Airline Ambassadors, in which they donate their planes for use in supply runs.  The highlight of the evening is a performance from my good friend Melky Jean.  The AA is currently planning a relief trip with her, to bring some support to Haiti.

Washington Monument

I am in DC for the weekend with my good friend John Chambers (r).  Right now we are backstage at a Jazz Festival, where my friend Taj Mahal has just performed.  This weekend, John is having a fundraiser for Haiti at his 4th BloomBars event (in Columbia Heights) with performing artist attending from all over the country, such as Jason Jasper (l) from San Francisco.

Uruguay Pizzeria

I am having dinner with my brother, his wife and son (my nephew) and my mother.  If you didn't already know, my family is originally from Uruguay.  My mother came to this country when she was 17.  So we always look for spots to go eat at.  Also check out Chivito De Oro in Jackson Heights, Queens.

Flying over NYC

I am about to land back in NYC.  The way the sun breaks through the clouds and onto the Hudson is such a magnificent image.  I appreciate the simple things in life more than anything else.

Super Nevada

My boy Peter Simovic and I just had lunch at this dope Italian restaurant in Toronto.  He ran out to grab some smokes and came back with like 100 scratch offs.  I think we won back 6 bucks between us. lol  My grandfather loves scratch offs.  No, I don't smoke.

Canada Ban Handguns

What are the chances, I run an anti-gun violence program and the week I am in Toronto, it's front page news.  This is a global issue!

G4C in Chile

Javier Carmona and I, are strategizing the initiative to bring G4C to his country (Chile).  We met as part of the Ignite the Americas program going on in  Toronto, involving 34 countries and 50 delegates.

Governor General of Canada - Michaelle Jean

No, I wasn't telling the GG a joke, although the way her security behind her is laughing, you might of thought I was.  I just happen to be very charming, that's why she's smiling :)  We had a moment discussing my program.  She said she's gonna come check me next time she comes to NY.  Btw, the GG is the equivalent to our Vice President of the United States in Canada and is directly appointed by the Queen of England.

Che Kothari - Manifesto

Che (sitting in his office) is the founder of Manifesto, a company which organizes the biggest annual entertainment festival in Toronto.  He's also a good friend of mine and a really awesome person.  This guy has great leadership skills!

Melvin Van Peebles

Todd (r) holds up G4C flyers with my boy Melvin as they show their support for the organization.  Right now we're on the 4th floor of the AMC theater at 34th street in Manhattan NY.  We have about 10 volunteers wearing the (Text "AIM" to 90999) t's that Todd is wearing in photo, walking around, passing out literature and discussing our initiative.  Another cool thing about our partnership with the festival is that they're showing the PSA for our program before every screening. 

G4C Print Ad

Full page Ad for our G4C program in the UrbanWorld Film Festival guide book, presented by BET.

Shooters Club

First the Plastic King this morning, when I have a green initiative, and now Salim brings me to the National Shooters Federation Dinner. WTF?! He completely forgot that I had a charity organization called Guns 4 Cameras. But he wanted me to meet and have dinner with the Major General of their Government's Army. It was a very private 50 person dinner. I know the room looks empty now, but it quickly filled up. Nothing but bank owners, chairmans and political figures. After I reminded Salim of G4C halfway through the dinner, his faced dropped and he gave me a very sincere apology. I almost felt bad that he seemed so sorry. He truly is a good person with good intentions but just isn't fully aware sometimes. I think I made him a little nervous, at the end after the presentation, they welcomed comments from the attendees and I put my hand up. LOL I was definitely gonna play the Shooters Club. I am not necessarily against guns in all respects, I just don't think they should be in the hands of young kids. Well then again, no man should have the power to take someone's life...so on second thought, yeah guns suck! And Cops should only have Tasers. That's my Gun Policy. Vote for Hezues R'

Eye On Me

While I was waiting for the lights to come back on, I put my head down to rest and collect my thoughts, when my colleagues decided to imitate my blog. Yeah it's pretty funny, they got me. LOL

Lights Out

The things we take for granted. In Bangladesh, they have an issue with the power supply, so it is very common for the lights to go out several times a day. Then you have to wait for the generators to come on. The gentleman speaking, M. Hamid, who is the CEO of R TV, is giving me the rundown of air times for the news piece that I was just interviewed for. I am being interviewed at all the major news stations in addition to several scheduled press conferences I have to attend this week.

Plastic King

This guy (who handed me the cookies, which are from another company he owns) makes all the plastic for Tyco, Coca Cola etc. I was getting ready to tell him how much his plastic is f*in up the environment, but then I didn't want to be rude. It wasn't the time or place. I would have to arrange another meeting with him to discuss developing bio-plastics and other packaging alternatives. It's not always about the money for me, you have to be conscious in some respects. He was a nice guy either way. Salim is just introducing me to anybody and everybody who's major in his country... not always necessarily being people I want or care to do business with.

Bangladesh Partnership

I am signing a three way partnership with Eye On It ® to JB Group and Antar Show Biz to bring Bangladesh Entertainment to the Global Market.  My company will be responsible for developing media and entertainment strategies, as well as producing content.

Shopping in Bangladesh

Just what D Goldie said : "We getting Sandles, you know we gonna walk the town with our robes on and our Sandles"

Security Printing Factory

Yeah, he said 70 million dollar machine!  This is one of many factories Salim owns in Bangladesh.  This location is spread over 73 acres.

Cachamurie

Very hot!

I Pray For You

My brother Salim shares his culture and his heart.  He calls me Heshu instead of Hezues, that's like his nickname for me.

Hezues R' House in Bangladesh

Salim is trying to get me to move to Bangladesh. LOL  So he presented me with a house.  I don't know, maybe I could do a couple weeks out of the year, but move???  I love NY too much.

Hezues R' does the News

Since I am getting a VIP Tour of all the studio facilities, I thought I would play around a bit behind the news desk.  In another life, maybe I would of been a weather man.

1st Day in Bangladesh

Warm welcome from my brother Salim.  I haven't seen him in 4 years, so he is obviously excited to see me in Bangladesh.

Flowers at the Gate

Just got off the plane in Bangladesh and Salim had girls waiting at the gate to welcome us and give us flowers.  There's a huge crowd of people outside awaiting our arrival... seriously, I am not kidding, my partner out here actually had it announced on the news that we were coming.

International Flight

Just got on the plane leaving out of JFK in NY, I am traveling with D Goldie and Mr. E.  14 hour flight to Dubai and then another 4-5 hours to Bangladesh.

Shots for Trip

My personal photographer and assistant for my trip to Bangladesh, Wendy C. and I are getting recommended shots for travel.  The doctor was really cool, I should cast him for something, maybe a part in the next feature I Direct.

J Thurzday CREW

I am up at 2am...editing something as usual. Right now Johnny Thurzday, Suits and Struts are all over as we go through the footage to edit the music video that will accompany the film CREW.

G4C Planning Meeting

The Urban World Film Festival recently signed a three year partnership with BET and were looking to bring on a third partner as the charity component to their collaboration. Their Executive Director (thank you Gabby) made an excellent choice in having Guns 4 Cameras to be that partner. I just finished a meeting with some of our key volunteers for G4C to discuss the plan of action for the coming weeks to address the requests and deadlines of the festival for our participation.

Contact Sheets

So I had a photo shoot over the weekend, which my friend Wendy C. set up for me. Right now I am meeting with her partner and photographer, Mauricio Quintero at a Starbucks here on Queens Blvd. I am about to see the contact sheets for the film images, for the very first time. The other photos they took on the digital camera looked amazing, so I imagine that these will be just as good. If you need great photos, look them up on Dripbook, tell them Eye On It sent you.

Angelo Ellerbee

Legendary Publicist, Angelo Ellerbee, takes a moment to speak about my philanthropic efforts. I am at his office right now on 34th street, discussing some of my future business endeavors and the associated PR strategy I will take to develop my brand. Angelo has worked with everyone form the likes of Michael Jackson and DMX to Mary J. Blidge. He is a very successful and respected authority in the music and entertainment industries.

Jump Shot

Note: I said how to shoot a jump shot...I didn't say make it. LOL What's really funny though, is how my friend Matt, who is shooting the video suggests intercutting a close-up of the shot actually going in. Yeah of course I could of just did the video over and made the shot, but I think this better represents my view on life. That is, it's not always about winning, but just taking the shot in the first place. So enjoy this video of me missing a jump shot...it is a very RARE occasion.

Operation HOPE in Los Angeles

VP of Communications for Operation HOPE, Sherry John, is about to give me a Tour of their HOPE Center here in Los Angeles, California.

A Gift from the Vice Chairman

My good friend (and graphic designer), John Cuervo, is about to open the gift I received from vice-chairman John Hope Bryant.

John Hope Bryant

I am out in LA right now, filming an interview with the Chairman of Operation HOPE, for a new Television Pilot I am producing. Very few times in life do you come across someone who truly inspires you. John Hope Bryant grew up in Compton and South Central Los Angeles, California and is today one of the premier advisors to the Leader of the Free World. He has been cited by the past four sitting U.S. Presidents for his work to empower low-wealth communities across America and was appointed vice-chairman of the U.S. President's Council on Financial Literacy by U.S. President George W. Bush (w/ Chuck Shwab as Chairman) and also serves as chairman of the Under-Served Committee for the U.S. President's Council. But given where he comes from to where he is...that's not what inspires me about him. It's his character that I was so impressed with. Despite being so damn accomplished, in meeting Mr. Bryant, he was still very personal, balanced and authentic. I was honored to be in the presence of such a genuine and humble person. Not to mention, very grateful that he allowed me some of his time...during the interview his executive assistant would have to interrupt: "Mr. Bryant you have the White House on line one and the Chairman of (so and so bank) on line two.

New York Post

I was called by the New York Post to do an interview for a Documentary they are producing on Gun Violence. I am somewhat of an expert in the field, as I have been recognized around the country and have been called to speak on panels with National Leaders on several occasions.

WRC Pilot

Yes, the Chef and I are back it! If you follow my blog, you may recall that we signed a three (3) season deal for the What's Really Cooking? Show back in November of 2007. Well, the Network we originally signed to (RHN) and their CEO (Aton Muhammed) were completely full of sh*t! They breached their contract with us, to the tune of $9,464,000 (counting one hundred and eighty two (182) missed scheduled air-dates...and that was just the first season). But I don't harbor on negative energy, so I pushed forward to get a new look with BET, as they have been maintaining an interest with us. Right now the Chef and I are shooting at a beautiful 2.5 Million dollar apartment (the Penthouse) at Chatham 44 (on 44th and 10th Ave in Manhattan) courtesy of my good friend Jonathan Stern of Patience and Fortitude.

Decisions...Decisions

Which color Lambo' should I pull out of my garage today? The Orange, the Pearl or the Lime one? Sometime I can be so indecisive.

Kanye West

Besides sitting down half the time and being on his own d*ck (and these were his self admitted words in his actual rhyme, for not standing up and performing), Mr. West puts on an awesome performance. I don't know if the topless girls in space helmets are a little extra, but Kanye is definitely out of this world. This is where arrogance borders insanity. I do however respect visionaries and the crowd seemed to love him!

Time Freezes

I was invited to Casio's 25th Anniversary Event for their G-Shock watch, being held at Guastavino's. The story behind the making of the watch and its progression over the years was really cool. Spike Lee (who I also had the opportunity to meet) is making a small film about the watch for Casio. He was one of the featured guest along with Eric Haze. So they just finished the press conference upstairs, and now I am outside socializing (I ran into quite a few friends) when I noticed this ice sculpture with several G-Shock watches in it...and of course they're still ticking. I might stick around for the Kanye performance a little later.

Pharoahe Monch

My partner in the Guns 4 Cameras movement, Pharoahe Monch, has a show at SOB's tonight. Talib came out and rocked a couple joints with him. If you haven't yet been to one of Pharoahe's performances, you must! Although I was on a sixteen (16) city tour with him last summer (Rock the Bells - Aug '07), his live show never gets old to me.

Jon&Kyla's Wedding

Jon and Kyla cutting the cake. Great food, an awesome band and being in the company of close friends. Good times!

Tux

Yeah that's me in a Tuxedo. I am attending my good friend Jonathan's wedding being held at the Fresh Meadow Country Club in Lake Success, New York. They already had the ceremony and now we are enjoying the reception.

President of BET

I had a great conversion with the President of BET, Reginald Hudlin (on the left), about the future of our program on his Network. We chatted a bit about the comic series as well, as I do have a comic book company. BET's VP of Development, Connie Orlando, is currently handling our deal.

BET Upfront

I am in discussion with BET about signing one of my programs, so I was invited to BET's 2008 Upfront event. Upfront is a showcase for all of BET's Advertisers to see the marketing opportunities and new programs for '08 and '09. Some interesting upcoming shows include an animated series on the comic book "Black Panther" (a Marvel Comic partnership) and a Gospel version of 106&Park titled "106&Gospel".

Go Speed Racer!

I kept getting car #5 (each race, they assign the cars to you) which is crazy, cause Speed Racer was my favorite cartoon as a kid (for those of you who don't know...his car was #5). Go Speed Racer...Go Speed Racer Go!

Race Track

My good friend Jonathan (far right) is having his Bachelor Party today, we just finished our first race on the track. (l-r Chad, Josh, Nick, Matt) I got two (2) black flags for "aggressive" driving. LOL Check out Grand Prix New York www.gpny.com

Walt Disney

I spent 2 hours in this "15 minute" self guided tour. Walt Disney's worldwide popularity was based upon the ideals which his name represents: imagination, optimism, creation, and self-made success. If I ever had a role model, Walt would be the closest thing to it.

Taking Off

I am seated for a flight, about to take off for Orlando, when I noticed this magazine with my future living room on the cover.

NY Film Society Gala

I am at The Museum of Modern Art, an after party for the screening of a friend's film.

Selling a Film part 1

I just signed a finders agreement and a mutual non-circumvention and non-disclosure agreement for the sale of the Feature Film (CREW) which I Directed last year. We are still in Post Production, but already have a couple interested buyers lined up (thanks to Pierre - seen here in the picture).

Taj Mahal : 2 Grammys

Legendary Blues Musician (and longtime friend) Taj Mahal, was in town performing at the Brooklyn Museum. Yesterday, he came by Eye On It STUDIOS and we talked arts, entertainment and politics. Right now he's showing me two (2) of the Grammys he won from nine (9) nominations. He's bringing them to a museum in Massachusetts tomorrow for an exhibit to display till November.

Bling Blaow!

Seven in the ears (Ambition Brand) and Forty-Five on the wrist (Trinity Argyle Cuff).

Complex Magazine : Chef Roble'

What's Really Cooking?! The Chef from my television cooking show is doing a photo shoot for Complex Magazine. He will be featured in an Advetorial Campaign as part of an endorsement deal with Toyota Matrix.

NYC Skyline

This is my view, driving into work every morning. You should come by the Eye On It™ STUDIOS in Brooklyn sometime.

New Years '08

Hosted at my friend JMS' co-op on 23rd Street.