books on a bookshelf

Announcing VIDAS: Los Angeles Chronicles 2015 – 2025

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After more than a year “behind the scenes” as author and editor, Henry Lara and yours truly finally announce the release of VIDAS: Los Angeles Chronicles 2015 – 2025. In Lara’s own words: “For the past ten years, I’ve walked the streets of Los Angeles with an Android and a DSLR, meeting people, photographing moments, and collecting stories. Between 2015 and 2025, I captured nearly 400 stories. For this book, I chose 70. Seventy stories that stayed with me. Seventy moments from a city that has given me so much to capture, write about, and remember. Some stories are told through photographs. Some through prose. And some found their way into poetry…This book is my way of bringing those moments together and sharing a part of Los Angeles as I have felt and lived it over the past decade.”

VIDAS is now available for PRESALE! Copies arrive in mid-October, when there will also be an official LAUNCH PARTY. And I don’t think you’ll have to think hard to guess just who’s planning it. For now, your early support would mean the world for my friend’s work, as well as for mine towards the finish line!

Thanks so much for supporting this gargantuan undertaking by Angeleno Heart and yours truly.

J.T.

Oh My: Bad Rap!

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It’s always inspiring to see other young artists coming up in the game! Last night I had the pleasure of watching Bad Rap Films through the courtesy of the Asian Pacific Film Festival in Koreatown, Los Angeles, and what an amazing show!

In the words of Loren Hammonds:

“Salima Koroma’s Bad Rap takes us inside the lives of one such group of so-called outsiders—Asian-American rappers. The film follows the lives and careers of four artists trying to break into a world that often treats them with disdain or indifference. From the tongue-in-cheek lyrics of Awkwafina to the no-nonsense battle rap of legendary West Coast MC Dumbfoundead, Koroma’s documentary checks all of the boxes, looking at the role of Asian Americans in the entertainment industry with a keen observational eye.”

And on the same page as Hammonds, JIMBO TIMES gives the highest recommendation to movie-goers for Bad Rap!

Salima Koroma and the crew spent four years putting the film together, and their time and dedication is evident; from one shot to the next, and through each soundbite, the film both captivated and educated me from the start, and had me rooting for its (s)heroes in true hip hop fashion all the way to the end!

With Love from Los Angeles,

J.T.