Feel the Pang!

Troubled financier Danny Pang decided to vent his frustration on my camera today (*April 29) as he walked outside a federal court in Santa Ana, California after he was released on $1 million bail and placed on home confinement with electronic monitoring device. Pang was accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday of defrauding investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars and arrested by FBI agents Tuesday on suspicion of violating currency reporting laws.
Pang yelled something about he was "finished" being photographed and that he had "let" us get pictures already, then got physical before a man with him stepped in. I didn't say anything except that it was a public place and kept on shooting. He was holding his shoulder for a while before his car finally arrived to pick him up. For the record , my camera and lens made it thru fine.

Swine Flu Precautions at LAX

At Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), in the Bradley Terminal where flights from Mexico and the world arrive, some precautions for the possible Swine Flu outbreak are visible. A few passengers arriving on a flight from Mexico were wearing the surgical masks, as well as an airport worker cleaning up in the bathroom. Also, the Mexicana Airlines ticketing area is a virtual ghost town.

Depeche Mode Rocks Hollywood Blvd

Thursday night, Depeche Mode played a concert on Hollywood Blvd in front of the W Hollywood Residences project in Hollywood. The performance aired on Jimmy Kimmel Live and Hollywood Blvd was shut down for over 24 hours.

Animal Research Pro-Test in Westwood

It was animal rights activists on one side of the street versus UCLA lab researchers and professors who animal test for medical advances on the other (and one guy in a car definitely against the researchers) today in Westwood. LA Times Story here

Artist Wyland's Earth Day 2009 Project

Famed artist Wyland is painting a three-acre image of the planet earth on the roof of the Long Beach Arena for Earth Day, hoping to complete it 24 hours. The new painting will compliment the "Planet Ocean" mural seen behind him that he is best known for, and which was named world's largest painting in 1992 by the Guiness Book of World Records.

Helio Castroneves Back on Track after Tax Evasion Acquittal

24 hours after being acquitted on 7 federal charges of Tax-Evasion in Miami, Indy Car driver Helio Castroneves was at the track practicing for tomorrow's Long Beach Grand Prix Indy Car Race. The Two-Time Indy 500 winner and "Dancing With The Stars" season 5 winner appeared to be in high spirits and happy to be racing.

Keanu Reeves Wins the 2009 Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race

Keanu Reeves took the lead with one lap to go and won the 2009 Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race. After leading from pole position at the start, Danny Way crashed allowing Keanu Reeves to go to the winners circle.Racing legend Al Unser Jr won the pro division and joined KR on the podium for the celebration.

Danica Patrick Sighting at the Long Beach Grand Prix

The hotness that is race car driver Danica Patrick signed an autograph on some dude's stomach today at the Long Beach Grand Prix. He was loving it!

Shooting Rampage at Long Beach Hospital

**Update 6:40 PM The second victim has died bringing the total to three including the shooter. Also, the hospital states there are no lay-offs planned at the hospital. LB Press-Telegram storyToday, I had an assignment to cover celebrities visiting children at a hospital in Long Beach. I noticed a couple news choppers hovering as I approached the area, and then noticed police cars blocking the entrance and Long Beach Memorial Hospital was in lockdown. Apparently it turns out an employee ,who was notified he was to be laid off, went on a shooting rampage , killing one hospital employee and critically wounding another before taking his own life. I arrived about 40 minutes after the shooting for my 12:30 assignment. Police were escorting people out of the hospital at that time and a perimeter was set up all around the area. These stories are unfortunately becoming more common in these tough economic times.

Tea Party Tax Protest

A wind blown protest during Santa Monica Tea Party, April 15

Tea Party protest on Tax Day April 15, 2009, Glendale, California

Michael Jackson Auction

Click HERE to launch a slideshow of Michael Jackson's auction items @ Washingtonpost.comAll of Jacko's stuff that filled Neverland Ranch is being sold off to pay his debts. I couldn't believe how much stuff he had, he lived in unbelievable excess. Seeing these items spread out in an old department store was very surreal, and weird. There was a large red throne and I asked NY Times photographer Monica Almeida to snap a pic of me sitting in it, only got a few seconds in before one of the auction people told me I had to beat it - pun intended.

2009 Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race Preview

This year, the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race participants including Keanu Reeves, Adrien Brody, Raven Symone, Alex Trebek, and pro skateboarder Danny Way will be racing thru the streets of Long Beach on Saturday, April 18, during Long Beach Grand Prix weekend.These photos were made this past Tuesday on a press preview and practice day in Long Beach. The race is 10 laps around the grand prix course in modified Scion tC cars. The best part is that it raises over $100,000 for Racing For Kids, which benefits children's hospitals in Southern California including Miller's Children's Hospital in LBC.

Coca-Cola and the Power of Facebook

Last August, Dusty Sorg and Michael Jedrzejewski created a Coca-Cola Fan Page on Facebook that currently has 3,369,624 million fans and is approved by Coca Cola. There were already hundreds of coke fan pages on FB, but theirs took off. I photographed the Dusty , who is an actor, and Michael last weekend for a Financial Times article about their Coca-Cola page and how Coke came to jointly administer the page to comply with Facebooks rules on trademarks. Here is the Financial Times article. It's a very interesting read about the potential advertising power of social networking sites.
Coke recently flew these two awesome and creative guys (Sorg is an actor, and Jedrzejewski is a writer) back to their Atlanta Headquarters for a business meeting partly because the page is a huge success for Coke and what to amounts to a new brand of free advertising. They also made a cool film that you can check out on the fan page.

Chirs Brown Pleads Not Guilty

After a media frenzy at the last hearing for R&B singer Chris Brown, police kept the assembled media behind police tape as Brown entered the courthouse with bodyguards and attorneys to plead not guilty in Superior Court. The charges are for an alleged attack on his girlfriend, pop singer Rihanna. The judge set an April 29 status hearing.