In your hometown, you may have been the funniest, prettiest, most talented entertainer there is or ever was. You may have even ridden that wave all the way across these great United States of ours to chase your dream in the City of Angeles. And if this is you, I guarantee you found out that in LA, everyone is that person. It's the NFL of entertainment. Only there are also LOTS of people who have either been grieveously mislead or just live in full denial as to their level of talent (To quote my friend, "Is crap a level?") who stick it out in the dim hope of being "the one in seven million who proved everyone wrong".
For most people who aren't natural beauties or crazy geniuses *cough*characteractors*cough* daily life is chock full o' stiff competition for roles, jobs, credit, apartments...whatever. Everything is a mystery, a race, a game, a scam, a trick, or a trap. But, in rare cases, for the extremely pertinacious (and very lucky) there one day comes a totally legit job...maybe one that even pays. (But then you're forced to join a union, so I guess that's kind of a trap too.) And that job leads to another and
another and a better one and a better one and so on and so forth it builds and snowballs and takes off and gets your noticed and working steadily until you have your choice of jobs and suddenly you're the king of your trade where riches and accolades (and free swag) are showered on you like manna in the wilderness. And then you go to rehab.
Anyway, these are the three, yes, THREE Academy Awards of my friend, Mike. He is among that lucky and extrodinarily small group of Oscar Winners. And the even smaller and special group of Multiple Oscar Winners. And the even tinier and more exclusive echelon of Three Time Oscar Winners. And to top it off, he's a local. Can ya beat that?
No, but he probably can.
--ATay
I don't know if you've heard much about this on the west coast, but here on the east coast there's been quite a lot coverage about this video that the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery decided to pull from their Hide/Seek show. There's a good rundown of the situation here. It's a fascinating tale of politics, bureaucracy and not being able to see the forest for the trees... There have been a number of different protests about the video's removal, but I think my favorite and the one that surely will have the greatest impact is the overnight establishment of the Museum of Censored Art. Some particularly pertinacious artists--who i'm happy to say are associated with CuDC's Flashpoint Gallery where I work--have gotten parking permits, rented a trailer and parked it right out the back door of the Portrait Gallery. The trailer sports this "Museum of Censored Art" banner and inside they're showing the "offensive" video. They've also got some other illuminating displays about how the video came to be called out and then removed. It's a really smart, rational and well-executed approach to educating visitors to the Museum and the public in general about this story. You have to really respect the initiative these guys took and their own personal commitment to keeping their museum open.
--JMcFred
another and a better one and a better one and so on and so forth it builds and snowballs and takes off and gets your noticed and working steadily until you have your choice of jobs and suddenly you're the king of your trade where riches and accolades (and free swag) are showered on you like manna in the wilderness. And then you go to rehab.Anyway, these are the three, yes, THREE Academy Awards of my friend, Mike. He is among that lucky and extrodinarily small group of Oscar Winners. And the even smaller and special group of Multiple Oscar Winners. And the even tinier and more exclusive echelon of Three Time Oscar Winners. And to top it off, he's a local. Can ya beat that?
No, but he probably can.
--ATay
--JMcFred
