So everyday (or every day that I can get away) I take a walk after lunch. Nothing long, just a quick loop around the immediate streets around my office. It takes about 15 minutes if I do the "long" route, or I can cut it down to a "short" version that clocks in around 10. It is usually pretty quiet, except for the one block on the long route that takes me on the only major boulevard.

Today was hot. Like, brutally hot. It's October, and has been cooling off, so I've been wearing long sleeves and jeans as opposed to the T's and shorts I favored during the summer (my office is just cool like that). Sorry to all those still on the east coast... I'm sure you don't want to hear me complain about being in the high 80's.

Anyways, at one point on my walk today I walked by another person who said "Hello". I said nothing and kept walking. I had assumed they were on the phone and greeting the person on the other end. It was only right as we passed that I noticed that they were not wearing one of those now ubiquitous bluetooth ear things. This was just one person aknowledging a fellow human being, not because they know eachother, but because it is simply a polite thing to do.

I spent the rest of the walk thinking about how funny it is that a simple change due to technology (bluetooth in-ears are now required for driving in CA, so most people have them... not me, I'm still use the dangly wire thing) can change the way we interact so profoundly. I was reminded of when the wired hands free ear pieces first started popping up. I'd be walking down Comm Ave or wherever and these people would be talking to themselves, and my first reaction was to think they were one of the many crazies that hung around the area. However, less than ten years later we have completely changed our perceptions to the point where we are more comfortable with the idea of people talking aloud to some phantom companion than the possibility of a face to face exchange with a fellow pedestrian.

I also remember before we had cell phones at all, and before email was common... it was like proto-humans wandering the world blindly before we learned to control fire. But that's a tale for another day.

Apparently, all you have to do in order to get out of the debt you owe on your house is to shoot yourself in the chest. I wonder how many more people will attempt this now that it has been proven successful.

New track from L33tStr33t Boys:

Last fall my old buddy Matt asked me to produce a song he had written. He sent me a demo of "Yuri The Only One" with the idea of giving it the same treatment as my fictional animated band The Bowling Gnomes. He and I had previously collaborated on some orchestral music (he is a damn good composer) for video games, but this was the first time he wanted rock guitars bass and drums. Out of the partnership L33tStr33t Boys was born. With Matt's gift for clever lyrics and catchy melodic hooks the resulting video became a hit on Youtube among gamers, geeks and anime fans. Both Matt and I fall squarely into all 3 of the previous categories, so these were our peoples!

To follow up "Yuri", today we're launching the new single "Guitar Hero Hero". Staying true to the glossy pop punk production of the previous LSB songs, we up'd the ante by bringing in Rob "One Take Riz" Liefer to contribute the most over the top guitar work ever concoxted. Another animated video is in the works, and "GHH" is poised to spread far and wide as it's infectiousness catches with anyone who has ever played or even watched Guitar Hero, not just hardcore gamers.

Besides the video, future plans include a full length album and hopefully live performances (and a few other surprises). While producing the songs is something the 2 of us can do over the internet (Matt is in Boston, me in LA) getting a live band together would prove more challenging. In addition, the venues for such a band would be limited to anime cons and big gaming events... not exactly the usual touring circuit. For anyone who wants to see a killer gig from LSB, contact either Matt or myself about making your voice heard by the powers that be to make it happen. And tell everyone about "Guitar Hero Hero"! Nothing matches the viral buzz word of mouth internetz thing to get shit done.

Ok, enough shameless self promotion. Now go rock out!

For the last few months I have been riding my bike to work 2 days out of the week. I started the week of the daylight savings switch so I still have sunlight once I get out for the day. I suppose it was a combination of a number of factors. Economic, environmental, physical health, mental health...

My ride to work goes like this: I unlock my bike out on the balcony and check my tire pressure (I had the unpleasant experience of riding on a low tire my second week). Yes, like a dork I wear my helmet, but seriously I'd never go without considering some of the drivers here. In Boston drivers were bad, cutting me off, stopping short, coming dangerously close at high speeds... but at least they knew I was there. They just choose to be assholes. Here it seems like 80% of drivers are on the phone and completely oblivious to their surroundings. They also cut me off, stop short, and get dangerously close at high speeds... it's just a lot scarier knowing they probably DON'T know I'm there.

Cranium protection device in place I hit the street. My route takes me 1/2 block to Venice Blvd on my small residential street. The peace and quiet are short lived however as the next 1.4 miles takes me along Venice and Overland Blvds. These are both major surface streets with 3-4 lanes of rush hour traffic. I stick to the sidewalks. Technically there is a bike lane along Venice, but I am riding against traffic and have no way of crossing over the the other side. Overland doesn't have a bike lane, and while I see some brave souls riding in the right hand lane, I've also been driving in the right hand lane BEHIND a biker... cars are legally supposed to share the roads, but I don't see that as practical these days.

Along Overland I pass the Sony Studios lot, go thru downtown Culver City, pass a community pool and a Veterans park, and pass by a few groovy looking cafes I've never been to. Once I get to the public library I turn off the sidewalk and onto the bike route. By now I've actually gone a bit out of my way (going East a bit when work is West), but it is worth the slight detour so I can utilize the bike path.

This path travels alongside a cement drainage canal all the way out to the ocean in Marina Del Rey. It's kinda like the canal from Terminator 2 where the liquid metal T1000 in a truck is chasing the old fashioned Governator on a motorcycle... except minus the high speed chasings and cyborgs sent back in time to save/destroy the human race. There are usually some ducks though--

EVIL FUTURE CYBORG DUCKS!!1!

No seriously, just regular old ducks. Oh, and there's an old shopping cart along the way that someone thought would be cool to throw in.

There's also a middle/high school along part of it. Sometimes there's a PE class outside and some of the cooler kids just hang out along the fence "not participating". They'll yell "Hey mister!!" as I pass by. Sorry kid, no drugs for you! Haha...

The bike path is the best part of my ride. It's smoothly paved, there are no red lights, and it's usually pretty deserted. In the mornings there can be a head wind coming in off the water that slows me down a bit, and at the major cross streets the path itself swoops down about 30 feet to pass underneath. But overall it's good. Like a surreal concrete sanctuary tucked away from view in West LA. If you don't know anything about the canals and the paving of the Los Angeles River, I suggest some extra curricular reading on their history.

When I get to the Centinela underpass, I rejoin the streets/cars/drivers. Fortunately at that point I only have a short little hop, skip and a jump til I'm safely at work. The whole ride takes me about 25 minutes and runs just under 4 miles. I know I am lucky that I can do this at all. Most LAians don't have the luxury of working so damn close to work. I figure I should just for that reason alone. But of course I do feel like I need to start offsetting my own personal addiction to oil if I'm to justify all my leftist bitching about it. And yes, it is making a slight dent in my personal carbon footprint. The cost of gas helps too, it is just shy of $4/g now (this may be a funny read in a year or two... "He was complaining about $4 gas?").

Also I am not getting any younger. Having a desk job, I've actually noticed that I've gained a bit of weight around the middle. Sure laugh it up all you want you guys, but even if I am still skinny it doesn't mean I'm happy about being out of shape. I run still, but can only get out once a week. And I try to do some weights/pull ups/crunches at home but I have so many things to distract me (DVDs, music projects and that book I'm still trying to write) that I don't always stick to a regular workout pattern.

Anyways, the ride home is pretty much the same except in reverse. It doesn't take much longer than driving (25min V 15min), and I don't really break a sweat so I'm not sticky gross all day. I'm thinking of bumping up to 3 days a week maybe. I'll keep this up until November when we lose that hour of daylight again. For those of you who have stuck around to the end of my blog, here is an interactive map of my bike route, just so you can see what I've been going on about. I might take pictures someday if I can remember to take a camera...

***Until I can sort out this broken code, use this link to go to my map***

<[[[[iframe]]]] src="http://www.wayfaring.com/maps/export/48607" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width:400px;height:250px;border:2px solid cccccc;">

After over a year of false starts, hiatuses, and starting overses... the Oh Crap! Ninjas album is finally here. I encourage all of you to order it from CDBaby, download tracks off iTunes, or get a copy from us in person.

As I have addressed in this blog before, one thing I strive for in my life is to have a certain amount of creative output. As artists we all end up talking a lot about what’re we’re working on. Many times all that talk is just that: TALK. In an attempt at bucking that curve I have always tried to present a minimum bulk of material to show for all that talk. The OCN album is an example that I am happy to finally be able to share with you guys.

Often I overhear other so called "creative-types" going on and on about their music, manuscripts, films etc. Seems like nowhere is safe: waiting in line at the post office or out buying food, not just at parties or out in bars/clubs. All these would be Somebodies and none of them actually have STUFF to back it all up. It is just an annoyance one learns to deal with living in LA. It sometimes takes all the restraint I have to keep myself from (verbally) assaulting them in an attempt at cutting them down to size. Of course in order to have the "right" to dish out such public admonishings I have to be careful not to be a hypocrite.

In the past few months as I have been working on my own manuscript that has become more and more of a possibility. In the last 12 months my artistic offerings have been few. And yet my amount of "talk" has steadily increased. Anyone who speaks with me on a somewhat regular basis can vouch for this. My policy HAD been to just keep things quiet til I’m done so as to not bore everyone or burn them out on an idea before there’s anything to see/hear. But the problem with that is I end up disappearing for long periods of time. And in the case of a novel, I probably won’t have anything to show for that until late summer or fall. For the sake of better communication with friends and family I have made efforts recently to keep in touch more. That inevitably leads to questions about just what it is I do out here.

So with the release of the new album comes some relief. I have earned the right to tell people off to their faces once again, at least for the time being.

... now if only I could find the time to update/overhaul my myspace page. It’s been almost 4 years.

As some of my more dedicated followers are already aware, I had birthday 27 just this past weekend. As this marks (numerically at least) entering my late twenties, inevitably I am destined for at least a few holy-shit-I'm-old moments. Considering I still have the emotional maturity that had in middle school, it is not surprising that I am having difficulty resolving how old I feel with how old I know I really am.

When I turned 16.5 and finally could drive I felt vindicated that I could now live a life conducive to how independant I had felt for several years. 18 only served to reinforce that feeling. Every milestone since then has come and gone with little fanfare. At 20 I barely noticed I was no longer a teenager, as a non-drinker 21 was only good for getting into the last remaining off limits clubs. Even 25, when many have their "quarter-life crisis"... or at least relish in reduced car insurance rates (not for me due to an unfortunate blemish on my otherwise immaculate DMV record), came and went quickly and quietly.

As I have shared with a number of people already in person, 27 holds a certain significance for me as a musician due to the so called "27 club". Some background: arguably the "27 club" started with bluesman Robert Johnson. Lore holds it that Johnson as a young Mississippi musician decided to visit the crossroads at midnight to sell his soul to the Devil. In exchange he was granted a remarkable musical talent that earned him the unofficial title of "Grandfather of Rock n Roll". Of course the Devil is always looking for ways to turn an otherwise sweet deal in his favor... in this case a bottle of whiskey with a bit of strychnine for kick -- an anonymous gift from a rival over the affections a certain lady.

Since Johnson's death at 27 there have been a disproportionate number of deaths at the same age within the Rock world. Brian Jones, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison all died at 27 within exactly 2 years (to the day), resparking rumors that perhaps they all struck similar deals for their careers. Or perhaps they were unwittingly part of a continued "curse" of sorts begun by Johnson. I first became aware of the 27 club when Kurt Cobain and Kristen Pfaff (bassist for Hole, incidentally Cobain's wife Courtney Love's band) both dies at 27 mere months apart in 1994. All told over 20 musicians have died of various causes at that age since the birth of the Rock n Roll genre.

I aware that there have also been many musicians who have died at other ages, and that it would seem like this is not much to take too much notice of. But at the same time, when you take into account the proximity of such high profile deaths, and the fact that each artist was arguably at the peak of their careers, one can't help but at least be given pause.

I suppose I can take comfort that I am not exactly at the apex of my career. Or at least if I am then it won't exactly constitute any measurable amount of success. So I'm safe... unless I suddenly skyrocket in the next 11 months.

So imminent death aside, there is another (possibly more terrifying) fate looming for me instead. For the vast majority of people there comes a time when one can no longer consider themselves musically "current". Obviously trends come and go, and we all try to keep up as best we can. But when generic-new-band-X comes on the radio and it evokes a reaction like "what the hell kind of name is that?" or "is this supposed to be good?", it is a potential warning sign. I am easily 5 times more afraid of this than I am of baldness. The way many guys my age might obsess over their hairlines in the mirror, I catch myself obsessing over radio playlists, billboard charts and MTV countdowns.

KROQ (so called "world famous" modern rock station in LA) has thrown me a curve ball over the last 2 years or so. I'm not sure exactly how or why, but the decision was made among the program managers that most new rock music sucks and the station should devote more and more airtime to bands from the mid 90's. This is a change that I didn't notice at first. Since I grew up with the music from the mid 90's and therefore was intimately familiar with the content it instilled a feeling of still being "hip and with it". Needless to say, it was quite the freak-out I had when I realized just the opposite was probably true.

Taking a look at todays charts I feel confidant that I know who, or at least have heard of, close to 3/4 of the artists. I fare better with rock and pop than I do with RnB and especially Hip Hop. That is nothing new, so no big worries there. What is more worry some is that a lot of the new artists pop up a lot faster and seem to establish themselves before they even show on my radar. That is a growing concern of mine. Granted, I haven't had television at home for a year now (I simply had to reclaim my life) so I am not watching music videos anymore ever (do they even show videos anymore?).

Another big concern I had was my personal playlist I listen to during the day at work. I have a Mac with a practically empty 250G hard drive in front of me. It didn't take long for me to bring in 1 or 2 sometimes as many as 5 CD's per day to rip from my home collection. Albums I hadn't heard in their entirety in years. A pair of sweet bluetooth wireless headphones (thank you Carla) help keep me rockin' even if I have to get up and walk around. The problem comes when I get stuck listening to my old favorites, music that is "safe and familiar" for me. When I'm driving in my car and stuck the old FM, new bands with weird names playing scary new songs makes me long for a KROQ "rock of the 90's" weekend.

NO!! I refuse to be some lame old has been grunge rocker yet!

Of course it's possible that new bands coming out today really do just suck. And it's easy to romanticize the musical era I grew up with when all the shitty bands from back then have been long forgotten (I of course don't have THOSE CDs, and even KROQ has only played Marcy Playground once or twice that I've heard). And if I ever really feel the need to feel über cool I can just reach for KCRW (public radio for you non-lost angels) for hour after hour of good new music that I like AND have never heard of yet.

The criticism that all bands from any given time "all sound the same" or are all just clones ripping each other off is not new. It shouldn't surprise me that at first listen Fallout Boy, The Spill Canvas and My Chemical Romance all could be the same band. The same was said about Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam (still can't believe NO ONE gets that name yet) and Screaming Trees.

Maybe the popular trend today is "shitty songs" they way that for a few years it was "The" bands. And before that is was band with at least one dude with dreadlocks and guitars tuned down below human hearing (and videos with the band splashing around in puddles of dirty water). Remember when they first introduced those annoying white flashes in videos? And the big hair and spandex to match the screaming guitar solos and banshee wails before that? If so, we can all take comfort that like all trends do, it will pass an good songwriting will return with a vengeance.

And what the hell am I worried about anyway? I'm in a band called Oh Crap! Ninjas... that makes us at least a cool as Panic! At The Disco who are on the MTV! See? I'm so current. And hey! I even kinda like this band.. was that a measure of 5/4 time? That's pretty good for a band with no "the" and no numbers in their name...

Ok, since it's all the rage I'm writing a "new years" entry. I realize that most of the time I just ramble on about nothing here. Usually out of boredom at work. So without further delay I present my first ought eight resolution:

I resolve in the year two thousand eight to never include another "blog" pun in my blog subjects. I mean seriously... look at the one above... I don't even drink.

I'd rather not talk about my take on current events either. You all have your own opinions about Britney's sister being waterboarded for taking steroids. Less "observational" pop culture nonsense. And let's face it, I prefer to just talk about myself constantly anyways. Hence resolution the deuce:

I resolve in the year two thousand eight to drop the pretentious social commentary and use myspace for what it was meant for: get spied on by people I used to go to highschool with.

2007 saw some serious shit go down. The music industry (of which I am merely on the grimy edges of) continued its glorious spiral down the proverbial drain. Thankfully since I haven't exactly reached a significant level of success yet, I will be spared any catastrophic fall from grace. But am I not a casualty none the less if this all means I'll never get a shot to begin with? Some opportunities that were coming up this year have unfortunately fallen apart rather suddenly. I have played some great gigs, made some great music both on stage and in the studio with some great people, and I've always felt satisfied with where I am at any given time. But part of that contentment is from the knowledge that my career has been growing. I hate to be a revisionist, but take away the promise of the horizon and one's perspective inevitably changes. It's like eating a delicious meal and then finding out it was an aborted fetus (with alfredo sauce). Delicious or not, you still puke all over your shoes and feel like beating your head with a hammer. Ok, time for 3:

I resolve in the year two thousand eight to never again talk about eating fetuses (feti?) or the many many succulent ways of preparing them. *sigh* Big Fish where the hell are you and WHY are you not reading this?

All the same, the Oh Crap! Ninjas album is almost done. I have been locked away all break working on it. For some reason albums are taking longer and longer to finish as I get older. We recorded the whole Freeride album in 3 weeks, and that included writing 4 new songs. The first album from The Neon Calm was done in 2 months (5 days for the music, 7 weeks for vocals and mixing). Then the 2nd TNC disc took 10 months... And now OCN will be 13 months start to finish. I would like to keep with at least one full album worth of music per year if I could. 2007 would have been a loss if not for Marc's solo album that I was involved with. I am thinking about putting out my own CD for the first time in 9 years. It's just an idea at this point, no music yet. But still this all leads me to reso four:

I resolve in the year two thousand eight to stay focused on projects enough to actually finish them in a timely fashion. This includes only taking on work that is truly worth my time AND not overlapping too many of my own ideas no matter how cool they are in my head. IE: ONE book at a time, ONE album at a time (unless hired by someone else), etc.

Damn, this is getting long:

I resolve in the year two thousand eight to be less long winded. Both in writing and speaking.

But I can't help but to think back to my "2007: Year of the Frog?" entry from a year ago. Was it all that it could have been? Maybe not. Was it still a good year? Hells yeah. If there's one thing that I did actually get right was to stay more positive about things. And that in turn actually allowed me to get my shit together well enough to get some things done for once. I'm a downer by nature, but that doesn't mean I can't fight it most of the time. So in closing with my fifth resolution:

I resolve in the year two thousand eight to stay positive and get more done.

... oh and I resolve in the year two thousand eight to seriously update my profile content for all you lurkers out there. 2004 is no longer "up to speed".

Thought I'd throw these up here. Carla did a great job making her head piece while I copped out and bought my Auryn on eBay. All night we kept getting asked "Where's Artax?" and "Where's Falcor?" Of course Carla deserves the credit for coming up with this costume idea. Kuro would make a natural Gmork, but she hates parties.

Tomorrow all the extra candy goes on sale at supermarkets around the country. I'll be like a kid in a, umm... candy store.

So once again wild fires are sweeping their way across southern california. This is something that happens periodically. There are fires every year of course, but every so often there's one that is particularly destructive. We're in the middle of one right now.

But of course you all know this because it is all over the national news. That in itself isn't too much of a problem for me. Just like every year we all hear about the big blizzards in the north east or hurricanes in the gulf states. It's good to be aware of what's going on outside one's personal bubble of daily life. A bit of a window into other peoples lives whether you know any of them of not. But then I saw something so stupid that it made my brain melt and ooze out my ears.

I saw this article on how the fires are interrupting the taping of everyone's favorite TV shows.

Normally this is where I would go on a tirade of how misguided the collective american priorities are. But again, my brain has melted onto the floor. I'll just let you guys think this one over for yourselves.

And if you have any semblance of intellect left when you're done, enjoy this song on the subject:

LA is many things to many people. For some it is the promise of endless opportunities, the place where dreams long fostered can and probably will come true. For others, it is a center of business and finance without the hassle of the New York City people and New York City winters. A great many flock here illegally with the promise of a better life than they could ever have in their home countries. A few have even called it their home their entire lives. Much is said about what LA is and what LA isn't, and thru movies TV music and celebrity culture most people have some picture of it in their minds, regardless of if they have ever even been. I don't feel obligated to layout my own interpretation of the city per se, but considering I'm still having so many hits to this blog even when I don't write anything new... I figured I should throw you guys something and this is as good a place as any to start.

I came to LA in several years ago with my then band The Neon Calm. I had been out of school for a year and had saved up a good chunk working a pretty damn good job in Boston. The plan had always been to head west, not only because of the band but also to get my career going as an engineer/producer. I had a new job lined up at a recording studio thru my connections and 2 of my bandmates were already settling into their place in Hollywood. It all seemed pretty much in place.

However, my promising studio gig ended abruptly after only 6 months when it was bought and turned into a private facility by Linda Perry. This was part of a bigger trend in the recording industry. Studios left and right were closing their doors, and all the displaced engineers flooded the market at once. I found myself competing for entry positions with guys 10 years older than me with "multi-platinum" and "grammy" written on their resumes. After another year of freelance, the work finally dried up completely and I was forced back into the "mainstream" work force just to pay my bills.

At the same time, The Neon Calm had reached the end of yet another album cycle. Our last CD One More Rocket Summer had failed to land us a deal despite all the connections we had built. The major labels (rightly so) determined we weren't a quick overnight smash success, and we were having serious trouble making inroads with the bigger indie labels. After coming back from our last east coast tour we for the first time didn't look towards starting the writing process for another album. Instead we all just drifted and realized that we'd be better off doing something different.

With my band and my "career" officially dead, I contemplated leaving LA. The city has a way of chewing you up and spitting you out. There are just too many people here who want the same thing, and they are all willing to do way more to get it. There is an entire engine that runs on kids just "trying to make it" out here. Want to be an actor? You'll need head shots ($), acting lessons ($$), a private acting coach ($$$), an agent to represent you ($$$$), membership in a guild or union ($$$$$), and on and on... you may say, "Frogs, I don't need any of those, my talents will get me where I need to go." That is of course assuming that talent is a factor in one "making it". It isn't. In fact, all of those aforementioned things have nothing to do with talent or "making it", except for that if you don't play along then your chances really do drop to zero. The reason is simple: as long as there are people with money out there who want something, there will always be people willing to take that money. And in LA (as in so many other places) that doesn't always mean you will get what you want in the end. It's an illusion.

Sure, every year a handful of lucky bastards get their "big break". A band doing the LA thing lands a deal, some actors land big roles, some model gets noticed... but that only serves to maintain the illusion. In the mean time thousands of bands play "hot" Hollywood clubs like The Viper Room, Whiskey A Go-Go, The Roxy... all shelling out their own cash for pre-sale tickets. The clubs should do their job and only book bands with proven draw as headliners, properly promote those shows and select the best new unproven bands as openers. The reality is that it is more profitable if they just run a pay-to-play model and leave it up to the bands to bring the money to them. "Promotion? That's the bands job, we just offer the prestige and privilege of using our stage." It's the ultimate in lazy. And yet it will keep happening until the bands stop subjecting themselves to this treatment. *Just FYI: I have never paid to play at any club since moving here, and I don't intend to ever start.*

So all the poor suckers (with or without talent) who realize that this is the way it is here end up disillusioned, pack up and leave. The average turnaround in LA is 18 months. The ones who stay are mostly rich kids who have parental support (I know many of my friends are in this category, I still love you guys even if I sound bitter in this rant) and have never really worked in their lives. Anyone who has been in Hollywood knows that it is these days a playground for the overprivileged. A whole population that sleeps during the day and parties at night, every now and then going out on an audition or maybe *gasp* an actual day of work (a commercial shoot here, a demo session there... nothing big). And all the while mommy and daddy pay the bills. This parental support is a good thing on an individual basis, but looking at the big picture it drives rent and the general cost of living too high for those of us who do work to support ourselves.

So why do I stay myself? I dunno... the weather? I'd like to think that I haven't exhausted all my options yet. And despite the fact that I work a "day job" it's not half bad (decent pay, low pressure, casual environment, flexible to my music schedule). And since the death of The Neon Calm I have filled the gap with numerous other projects, most of which pay moderately well. Being a bass player means I'm in a certain demand, and being fairly versatile, plenty experienced, quick to learn new material, and easy and professional to deal with means I am more and more in demand the more I network. If I never get a big break, I'm confident that I will eventually get to a level where I can leave my job and be a full time musician. And most of the people I know outside of family are here too. And the weather. But really... I don't really have anywhere else to go that'd offer anything better.

So, every year more of these kids flock to the city of lost angels, ready to give it their all, ready to do (and pay) whatever it takes. They've seen the movies, they've watched every episode of The Hills at least 4 times, they read celebrity tabloids obsessively. Now it's THEIR turn. In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes. So they come to claim what's rightfully theirs. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. Hopefully they'll have fun while they're here; hopefully they won't get into porn or get hooked on coke. They will continue to fuel the industry of exploitation, and they will continue to piss me off. Thinking of coming out yourself? Please, think it over long and hard before you do. You need to ask yourself "If I know before hand that there is 0% chance that I'll ever 'make it' in LA, do I still want to go?" If the answer is no, then don't. Period.

To hear this blog summed up in song, please visit one of my favorite bands Wired All Wrong and give their song Lost Angeles a listen.