Well since it's Thanksgiving and I still haven't caught up on the blog (SEMA seriously set me back), I thought I'd just skip to the current date and write about what I'm thankful for. Originally, I planned on going to church to say thanks to God,(I'm trying to make an effort to go to church now) but that kinda backfired on me cause I'm an idiot and I woke up late. And mass was over. What an idiot. My bad.

To be honest, I'm not really a super religious guy myself, although my mom raised me in a pretty religious household. I do think it's a good idea to go to church though. Not like I'm one of those "born-again" peeople, I'm just sayin... I feel as if things in life go a little easier if I go to church, or even make an attempt. I'm honestly making an effort to go. Come on, it takes just 1 hour a week out of my busy schedule. It certainly can't hurt. It's seriously the least I can do. The very least.

So here goes. This has been a really good year for me, career wise. A lot of positive traction. And actually, when it was time for me to sit down and write the Acknowledgements section of my book, I had to sit and think about who made an impact on my life, my career, and everything like that.

It's so crazy, cause I'm not an emotional person really (No emos in the Cipher Garage camp), but I got pretty emotional thinking about how much people have helped me get to where I am today. Sure I'm not super rich yet or famous or anything, but I just sat and thought about how there are so many people or other photographers or writers or whatever who would just love to be in my position. So I really consider myself lucky and blessed or whatever you call it.

First of all, I'm thankful to GOD for keeping me safe and taking care of me on all these flights all over the place, and especially for taking care of me at the track, where any car, any spin, or any loss of control could easily end my life, or leave me disfigured and dismembered, or permanently handicapped or something. **Knock on wood** Let's all pray that doesn't ever happen.

I'm thankful to my family- moms, pops, and especially my little brother David. I love that guy so much. I don't know if you guys took time to read the dedication and acknowledgements section of my book or not, but I dedicated the whole entire book to my little brother Dave, and that's from my heart.

Dave is my number one fan and supporter, he loves me and he loves drifting and he always has my back no matter what. He looks up to me, and he makes me strive to be a better person. You just can't replace that kind of unconditional love. My little brother is the best.

I'm also super thankful to my Uncle Ed, who has been soooo down for me and supported me when everyone else in my extended family pretty much abandoned me and told me to go to hell. Uncle Ed is like a dad to me, I totally love that guy too. He stood by me when the rest of the family wouldn't.

I'm thankful for the support and love of my crew. I have so many friends from different parts of the world, and we don't always get to see each other. But my real friends know who they are. I don't even need to start a list. But seriously you guys, THANK YOU SO MUCH. 

Seriously, the "top friends" on Myspace are kind of a joke. I can't even begin to put all my close friends on there, even though I got 24 "top friends" or something. There are so many people I'm close to, or people I admire... but it's cool, all my real friends know who they are, like I said. My Silverlake/Los Feliz crew, my Wesco crew, my Bay Area crew, my Diamond Bar crew, my Miami and SFL crew, my ATL crew, my friends in Japan, my San Diego crew, Vegas crew, my Seattle and Vancouver crew, my East Coast crew, Hawaii crew, and all my other friends in between. I really value all my friendships the most, out of all the things I gained and accomplished during the year.

I'm thankful to Nick Fousekis and the whole family at Falken Tire Corporation for working with me this year, and continuing to believe in me, and making so many things possible for me.

I'm thankful to Nobushige Kumakubo and Team Orange. I'm so glad that I was able to go to Japan this year and spend time with my close friends at Ebisu Circuit. I actually finished my book while I was in Japan, so I can't thank Kumakubo, Tanaka, Naoto, and the others enough. Also of course I can't even begin to say thanks to Akiyo-chan and Igusa for letting me crash at the crib. And I'm thankful to the Ogawara family, my home away from home in Tokyo. Word up.

I'm thankful to the people at Motorbooks for giving me the opportunity to make America's First Book on DRIFTING. Not only is it MY first book... it is the first book for the DRIFTING COMMUNITY. Created for the real drifting community by someone really in the drifting community.

I'm especially thankful to everyone in the drifting community that has shown support to me and Cipher Garage by supporting the book, or the clothing line...

Whether you guys showed your support by buying my book, rocking my sticker, helping me work and set up and tear down the booth, helping me ship out books, helping me get some publicity for the book, creating a commercial for my book, playing my commercial on the jumbotron, printing Press Releases and/or interviews in magazines, were a fellow photographer giving props, and 86 or drifting fan saying whatup at the track, or even if you just said a kind word in support of me or my book, I really really appreciate it all. THANK YOU.

Thank you so much everyone. You just don't know how much it all means to me. First and foremost, I'm a fan of drifting, and the whole lifestyle. Just like everyone else. The only difference is, God gave me the chance to document the scene and put my thoughts down on paper. I'm really no different than anyone else. I'm just trying to chase my dreams and be successful at it.

Thank you so much everyone. Happy Thanksgiving. Be safe!

Live The 86 Life!

Antonio Alvendia
Cipher Garage.

First of all, I gotta say that anyone who knows me knows that I'm a very critical and opinionated person. And skeptical! So even though I had the honor and privilege of working for NBC Universal as their special effects set photographer for the drifting sequences, I honestly gotta admit, I was skeptical about the movie at first.

Why? Well come on! Look at the first two F&F movies. The first one had brilliant lines like "turbocharged Spoon motors" and "Motec exhaust" and the second one was more like a dirty south rap video, although I couldn't complain about Eva Mendes. Homegirl was on point and dayam she was lookin GOOD!

So I was super surprised when I, Mr. Skeptical, sat down with my friends in Universal's Gibson Ampitheatre with our free Sprites, popcorn, and pizza... and we actually LIKED the movie. A lot. I mean, yeah I already knew some things about the movie because I was on set and I saw the stuff happening. But the way they directed it, and did the photography and editing was just dope. I think it was really well done, from a photographic standpoint and also from a standpoint of telling the story and explaining drifting and Japanese culture to the average Joe Schmoe American movie watcher. I mean sure, the movie had its lame parts (like Lil Bow Wow's car)... but the things they showed in Japan, from the parking lots, to bike racks, to payphones, vending machines, school girls, traffic sequences, homes, and garages... that stuff was really on point! It was interesting for the movie watcher, and kept it real for the OG heads who know what's up with drifting, and people who know Japan. I might just be one person voicing my opinion, but still, I think it's a credible one for this particular case. Why? I might not be able to do tandem drift initiations at 100mph like some of my other friends, but I did author the first hardcover book on Drifting in the United States, and I've been to more drifting events and shot at more tracks and become close friends with more drifters in more areas of the world, than most people. And I go to Japan for photo shoots and drifting events alot. And even I think this movie was great!

I think Justin Lin and his team did an awesome job of portraying drifting and Japanese culture to the American audience, and there were even some cool cameos by your favorite import models and Japanese celebrities, including, yes... the real DK. Not Donkey Kong, I'm talking about Dorikin, Keiichi Tsuchiya. I spoke with Justin about it yesterday, and he credits much of the movie's success in "keeping it real" to one of my personal friends, Toshi Hayama. Justin just kept mentioning Toshi's name and crediting him every time we asked him about Japan, drifting, and the "keeping it real" aspect. And no shit! Toshi did a hell of a job consulting with this movie, because we did NOT hear about "Motec exhausts" and crap like that. In fact, you could see several cameos of Tosh throughout the movie, that was pretty funny..!

I also liked the fact that you didn't see a whole lot of lame CGI like you did in the John Singleton version (2F2F) of the movie. Justin used real drifters as the stunt drivers- people like Rhys Millen, Samuel Hubinette, Tanner Foust, CalvinWan, Alex Pfeiffer, and even Japanese drifting legends like Nobushige Kumakubo, and Kazuhiro Tanaka, just to name a few. The 7 car tandem sequences you see in the movie were REAL! I loved it! It was exciting as hell...

In fact, the whole movie was pretty exciting and entertaining overall, from the drama and excitement of the action sequences, to the storytelling part of it, which is usually boring in most movies... but the FF3 producer and director prevented any potential mind wandering during the movie because there was always something interesting to look at, whether it be interesting details of the Japanese apartments, tuning shops, clubs, schools, intersections, or maybe it was just alot of hot chicks with short schoolgirl skirts... but either way, they kept it entertaining, and injected some humor into the script too, making it a really fun and entertaining movie overall.

I know alot of you guys are skeptical about this movie, and I was too. There have even been talks of people trying to organize a boycott of this movie, and I think that's just ridiculous.

People have even said this FF3 movie will "ruin drifting" because it's gonna get exposed to mainstream media and all that jazz... but those people really don't know about drifting for real. Yes people, there is a "behind the scenes story" to everything, including drifting. Insiders like me and my friends know and see what's happening behind the scenes, and believe me, it's not easy.

Each one of us has to go through a personal struggle each time we try to deal with any of these big companies trying to get into the drifting market. Whether it's a driver trying to get sponsored by a big company, or whether it's an event organizer or magazine trying to get advertisment revenue from corporate America, or whether it's little old me trying to ink a deal with a big time automotive publisher to create a drifting book, or promote a drifting trading card series.

All of us guys and girls who work in the drifting industry are drifting fans too! Just like you! But you gotta realize, sometimes you need to do things people might call "selling out" (or I prefer, "selling yourself short") in order to achieve the bigger picture- advancing the sport of drifting. Reaching more of an audience, and introducing more people to drifting. Just think about the first time you saw drifting, and how you reacted to it, and how it made you feel. If we REAL CORE DRIFTING ENTHUSIASTS don't take part in projects like this, then someone else who doesn't know shit is just gonna take the initiative and do it themselves, and they're gonna do it in the wrong way. So I want to ask some of you certain "hardcore drifting fan" people, please stop spreading bad rumors about this movie, or the so-called "sell outs" who were involved in it! They aren't sell outs! We love drifting just as much as you do! We all want to see drifting advance in America, and all over the world. Both as a sport, and as a lifestyle and culture.

But that will only happen if we take these opportunities by the horns and do our part to help shape the growth of the sport that we love so much. Whenever Hollywood or Corporate America tries to steer drifting in a wrong direction, we "industry types" need to be there to countersteer it and put it back on track. (No pun intended. uhmmm... well ok, it was kinda intended)

Bottom line= I loved this movie. I think Justin Lin, Toshi Hayama, and the leading actress did a great job with the movie! Justin and Toshi helped steer the movie in the right direction, and the leading actress? She's just fine. And that's good enough for me!

Go see Fast & Furious 3 when it comes out in theaters on June 16th!!! You won't be disappointed, this movie is hella fun! Don't hate on it, the only one missing out on a good thing will be you! I was lucky enough to get to see the world premiere at Universal, but I know I'll definitely go see it again with my other friends!

Antonio Alvendia, Cipher Garage



...And now, on to some of the fun pics!

It was super hot and humid in Hollywood yesterday, and the lack of breeze didn't help!!! So everyone was a bit sweaty and sticky... man I hate humid weather. It felt like Miami or Houston or something!


Justin Lin, producer of NBC Universal's new Fast& Furious3 Tokyo Drift movie, on the red carpet with his fly ladies!


Me on the red carpet of the Fast & Furious 3: Tokyo Drift World Premiere with Lisa and Debbie (they were lookin fly no doubt!). I really need to learn to shut the F up and stop talking when someone's taking my picture. haha maybe then I'd stop making stupid faces in photos haha


Yeah, Lisa and Debbie prove that the photos look much hotter when I'm not in em.



Jim Liaw from Formula D with his wife Angela, and their friend, who's name I forgot.



My boys from Schikane Clothing with Formula D judge Alex Pfeiffer. Jay "OGchan" Yoshida, Cory Domaloan, Alex Pfeiffer, Stan "the man" Tran from NBC Universal, and Tobin muthafuckin Honda.



MC Hammer and his wife are hella cool, and Hammer got it started with some fresh kicks on too! Peep him out at mchammer.blogspot.com!



BJ from Daimler Chrysler and FF3 stunt driver/FormulaD Champion Samuel Hubinette with their ladies! They were all dressed up for the occasion, looking hot! (Uhhh.. just to clear up that statement, I was referring to the ladies, not Samuel and BJ. Although they were dressed well too! haha)


Erik Jacobs from DG Trials fame, rocking the red carpet with alot of chest hair!



"Setto!" Aiko Tanaka and her moms! Her mom is hella cool! I was talking to her in Japanese for like 20 minutes.. haha





Some of my boys from Formula D! The drivers! Dai Yoshihara, Samuel Hubinette (sorry bro I dunno how to make the two dots over the U and I know you're so particular about that LOL), Alex Pfeiffer, and Tanner Foust! I dunno where Rhys was...?



Haha me, Sunisa and Stina chillin out at the FF3 afterparty at Hard Rock. Big ups to my boy DC Chavez for taking these pics! DC is not only the man behind DC Sports, he is great at shooting cars also... but more importantly, he is a professional party photographer! Whenever there are hot ladies getting drunk somewhere, you can be sure my man DC is there with his camera in hand!



Sunisa, me, Stina, and Crystal chillin out at the bar!



Kelly from American Idol came up to my friend Tobin and asked if she could take a picture! Man that's dope!

Thanks to David Wallens, Editor in Chief of Grassroots Motorsports Magazine, GRM readers around the country will get a glimpse of my book cover, and a brief description of the book's contents! David decided to run a news piece on my book, as well as some info on Rhys Millen's Red Bull GTO, Speed World Challenge champion driver Pierre Kleinubing's entry into drifting and Formula D Long Beach.

Check out next month's issue of GRM to see what I'm talking about!

THANK YOU GRM! Especially to David, who has always been super cool and supportive of Drifting, and supportive of me as a photographer. I really appreciate it!