| an appreciation for quiet anonymity |
Lincoln Heights is a neighborhood not far from where I live. It’s also the subject of a mediocre new ABC Family series about a black family who moves into the neighborhood. The high school scenes on that show are actually shot at University High, on the other (rich) side of town. Rudy and I went for a walk in Lincoln Heights yesterday. It was raining lightly as we headed down Broadway. There are a lot of 99 Cent stores on that strip. There are a lot of those stores in L.A., in general. Way more than you’d think could subsist in a city. If you’re thinking of the misleading “dollar stores” prominent on the east coast, you’re thinking wrong. These 99 Cent stores are everything they claim to be. Nothing’s more than a dollar, unless they’re actually a “99 Cents and Up!” store, which some of them are. There are gift shops with an odd assortment of imitation toys and obsolete trends, beauty salons, meat markets, generic family clothing stores and taquerÃas. This could be anywhere on the East Side. There are a good number of Asians here, a slightly distinct neighborhood characteristic. I like these places: Highland Park, Mount Washington, Eagle Rock, Lincoln Heights. They’re not places that are known for anything in particular. They’re L.A. at both its clearest and most indistinct, unsullied by one stigma or another. I don’t mean to say these neighborhoods don’t have history or character– of course they do– but it’s something buried and internal, covered up by nail salons and El Pollo Locos. Without serious digging, these areas are simply the east side of Los Angeles, somewhere quiet and anonymous and welcoming where you can get lost and slide past a lot of pretty surfaces and cold realities. continue reading |
[subscribe to the podcast in iTunes] Right click and save to download Podcast #2 [59:17 | 67.9mb] My second podcast mix is entitled “The Haunted Forests of Neptune”. It’s a very dramatic name, I knew you would like it. It’s got some great new wave jams for your work-outs and some psychedelic serenades that will remind you of those cold lonely nights on a rocket from so long ago. Enjoy these hot tunes, kiddos! Track Listing To subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, just click the link above, or click Advanced -> Subscribe to Podcast… in iTunes and enter http://futureshipwreck.com/?feed=rss2 |
Rudy and I went on our first date a year ago Monday. To celebrate the truly outrageous year we’ve spent together, we headed down to Long Beach for a trip to the aquarium. After a couple hours amongst the crustaceans, starfish, and mid-day field trips, we skimmed through the gift shop (which, according to our roommate Mary Ann, “fucking sucks cock”), briefly considered taking a $35 novelty photo of our faces surrounded by the cartoon vestiges of some jolly octopi, decided against it, and headed home to Black Diamond. That afternoon, we had an audition for Lingo. I’d never heard of the show before meeting Rudy, but he’s a huge fan of the game. Lingo and Sudoku are his favorites– both logic-based puzzles I never understood. I’m a member of a subscription casting website that offers listings for both background and principal roles in just about anything imaginable. I’ve seen listings for soap operas, summer-blockbuster films, foreign TV ads, USC student projects, reality shows, PSAs, and of course, obscure Game Show Network programs. I’ve been a member for maybe four months and after submitting for countless roles without a word of response from a brethren of anonymous stone-cold casting directors, I decided to submit Rudy and I for a Lingo audition just for fun, not expecting anything to come of it. continue reading |
I’ve been itching for an adventure. Something like exploring an abandoned jail or a defunct cookie factory. The type of thing I’d done back in high school with my friend Herrie, looking for roof access in unfamiliar buildings, or scavenging through condemned farmhouses and vacant ketchup refineries. But Herrie’s off in New York, where the architecture is so dense and abundant that she can easily amuse herself by wandering into any of thousands of buildings and strolling from rooftop to rooftop until coming across a set of forgotten above-ground train tracks drowning in foliage, and then follow those tracks until she ends up crawling through the window of an abandoned factory and ending up back on the street– or so I’m told. My friend Bob is usually down for such mischief, but he was feeling exhausted today after a long work week, and in no mood for anything requiring physical activity. So when Claudine’s name showed up on my cell phone’s caller ID, it felt like fate. I met Claudine when we were both working as high school extras on the Noggin channel teen soap “South of Nowhere“. She was so totally different than the young actors and actresses I had met before, I took an immediate liking to her. She has a good sense of humor, an outstanding amount of energy, and she’s more into hiking and travel than television and Myspace– rare qualities in a Hollywood girl. continue reading |
[subscribe to the podcast in iTunes] Right click and save to download Podcast #1 [51:05 | 58.4mb] Well, here goes my first podcast! I’m generally going to do these once every two weeks. They’ll be between 50-60 minutes long, and I’m hoping to get some guest DJs to contribute their mixes in the near future. This first one is just a mix I threw together of music I’ve been listening to lately, thrown together with a smattering of classic hits. Enjoy! Track Listing To subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, just click the link above, or click Advanced -> Subscribe to Podcast… in iTunes and enter http://futureshipwreck.com/?feed=rss2 |
Well Hello! My name is Graham. It’s so good to meet you! For a long time I’ve been meaning to set up a blog on my own website, and I’ve finally done just that, using that little burst of energy that accompanies the fresh start of a new year to propel myself into productivity. But I guess before I start talking about the blog, I should introduce myself properly. I’m 19 years old. This is the year that I’ll turn twenty, leaving behind the novelty and comfort of that old familiar label, “teenager”. I want to be a filmmaker. I wish I could say “I am a filmmaker,” but I really haven’t produced enough work to feel comfortable saying that without sounding pretentious. I’m sort of a writer, but I don’t do as much of that as I’d like, either. What I can comfortably say that I am is a photographer. I’ve been taking pictures since 2003, and I’ve amassed a substantial body of work that I’m happy with in that medium. It’s my number one hobby. You can see some of my work on my photography website, if you’re curious. I spent the majority of my formative adolescent years running around a small Northern California town called Davis with a ragtag group of friends who I miss dearly. After just managing to graduate high school, I started the undergrad course in film and video at CalArts, 40 miles north of L.A. I did a lot of nothing during my first semester there, and found myself majorly depressed about the isolated nature of the campus and my lack of an automobile. In January of 2006, I got myself a car, and expanded my area of mobility into the greater metropolitan area. continue reading |
I spent the holiday in Big Bear, a small town two hours northeast of Los Angeles. My roommate Sarah’s parents have a cabin up there, so she invited me and Rudy, and Liz and her boyfriend Corndawg, up to the mountains for New Year’s Eve. I documented the trip, trying to start the year off right… with a video blog. |
