There was a small exodus to Los Angeles when I graduated from college in 2008. I was the first to make the move, a relocation that I had been planning on since I was roughly a freshman in high school and had been talking up since I set foot onto a college campus. “I can’t wait to graduate,” I’d tell friends. “I’ll be moving to Los Angeles.” The city–in my mind–was tied to entertainment and couldn’t be separated from that idea of Hollywood and “The Industry,” all concepts perpetuated by popular media and everything from Saved By The Bell to Entourage. My handful of friends felt the same too as all of us theatre students moved out here with the intent of fulfilling some sort of Hollywood dream.
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Never have I ever lived in a city where being a flake was a part of the culture. Being late is no big deal and, because of cars and congestion, it’s often assumed that people are going to be late or simply flake out. Nearly everyone I know in the city has flaked on me and I have undoubtedly flaked on them subconsciously in return. It is acceptable in Los Angeles to get too tired from driving all the time and then telling your friend you had dinner plans with that you cannot make it because “something came up.” It’s almost expected on a Friday night that you stay in to watch Project Runway or ditch your initial going out plans for another because you simply do not want to go to a concert you promised so-and-so you’d attend because you don’t want to drive to Highland Park or you don’t want to drive to Venice or you don’t want to drive to Sherman Oaks. You might as well drive to New York City!
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When really questionable public art or public imagery goes up in Los Angeles, we always have to scratch our heads and ask what exactly is going on. When something goes up en masse and totally takes over the city *and* looks a bit off, we have to know what is going on so we know exactly why we have to see silly advertisements or “art pieces” for a few weeks. The latest invasion of WTF advertising in Los Angeles are all these 1990s Bubblehead visuals that have taken over the former locations of the quaint and beautiful flower bus bench photos and vacant building sides. They are absolutely everywhere and it feels like no one really knows what the hell they are or what they are for or why they are so ubiquitous in 2013. Let’s dig into this to see what exactly this “Bubblehead” stuff is.
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It happens every time it rains in Los Angeles: you get in your car and traffic is a mess.
People are driving slow. Some people are driving fast. Some people are skidding around because the rain mixed with car fumes have made them go insane. Some people blame this bad traffic phenomena on LA people having no experience driving in the rain, as if every single Angeleno was born and bred in this rainless climate. Others claim that they–an East coaster or Northern Californian or New Englander or Pacific Northwesterner or Southerner–are experts in driving in the rain despite everyone else in the city being completely inept when roads get wet.
Driving in Los Angeles rain is a nightmare. It also inspires quite a lot of identity crises.
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We like to write a lot. We do! We like to share opinions. We do! Sure, sometimes these are embedded in personal opinions and/or gripes we have–but they are all based in a want and need to make our city better. Here are our favorite editorials of the year and the ones we thought got that point across most.
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