Environmentalists would have you think of this glorious and romantic vision when it comes to "green" travel. The most holy way to go is via your own to feet, followed by the pious route of bicycle and the penitent way of public transportation. Eco-mentalists would have you think that doves and blue-jays swirl around you as hardly a puff of CO2 is emitted from your lungs while you pedal smoothly to your destination.

Hardly

Not only is walking to where you need to go hard work but it's also the most inefficient. From the earliest times of recorded history our ancestors keenly noticed that walking somewhere is neither fun nor practical. So they said 'screw that' and tamed horses and donkeys and elephants to ride on and carry carts behind them. Going to the grocery store is just about the worst thing to think about if you have no beast of burden. Carrying jugs of milk, cheese, meat, boxes of crackers and fruit in those confounded plastic bags for miles and miles is torturous. After about 15 minutes of walking (which at a normal pace is barely 1 mile) the handles of the bags have stretched to a cutting wires width, severing your phalanges and tendons by millimeters with every step.

Taking the bicycle to do your shopping is impossible because unless you have the bicycle equivalent of saddle bags then you wont be able to carry anything. The saddle bags really won't do much either since they cant fit anything in them over the thickness and weight of an Us Magazine. Navigating and riding in the city is much like being in the running of the bulls. I'm a 200 lb object (bike included) weaving and panting my way through streets with NO bike lane trying to to hit the Rolls Royce next to me and not be crushed by the rusted out Honda Accord who is running the red light. It's a truly hair raising and frightful affair. It's so dangerous I don't think it should be allowed. It makes me think about how laughable helmets are for cyclists. They really won't do a thing, they don't even protect your face. When a 7 ton bus runs a red light (which they do, quite often) a helmet is not going to keep you from getting FUBAR.

Taking the bus is the only really reasonable approach but even that requires a fair amount of walking. And then you have to get on the bus, and hope it's not full of illegal immigrants who also went shopping, and then you have to show your bus pass which means you have to put all your bags down and then pick them up again to get on the bus and then wait an extra 45 minutes while it stops every 35 feet to pick up another shopper who will no doubt step on your cabbage and Ritz Crackers while they get on the bus. Keep in mind then the drivers sole purpose is not to get you there on time, or even to get you there safely, but to put you through so many G forces and negative G's as possible. The more he can make you stumble and fumble around the bus due to his/her liberal use of the brake pedal the more likely he'll have something to put up on YouTube.

~

I went to Marvel Studios yesterday and tried to get in to talk to someone. But they don't really have a "lot" you can walk onto. They share a building with a Mercedes dealer and some lawyers. And they only way you'd know it was Marvel is the austere robot camera system on all their doors. The camera looks like HAL. So after I wiped all the sweat off my body and waited while the color returned to my face(I rode my bicycle remember). I tried to talk to HAL. But HAL would not listen and would not let me in. So I had to go home.

I know it's silly to think that I'd get a job in 2 weeks after showing up in L.A. But I'm hopelessly an optimist and wanted it to happen quickly. From what I've read it takes 3-6 months to find a job in the Biz. So thats kinda my milestone, if I'm not in by about mid-december then I'll pack up and leave. Although I say that now. I want any excuse possible to go home at the moment.

I want to give a special shout out to Amber at Fox Searchlight. I called the office looking to talk to someone high up and she was very kind and helpful and acutally responded to one of my emails. I love you Amber.

I've run out of ideas as far as networking goes. So right now I'm reduced to chasing emails and calling people, which is frustrating because it feels like I go no where. There is a film festival next week and I'm going to be attending some of the lectures at it. I hope something will pan out there.

Music of the week has been Freezepop and RadioHead. Video of the week so far is the Pork and Beans video by Weezer. Check it.

Until next time