When you are idling at the top of the La Cienega/Sunset Blvd intersection you can see for miles. The nocturnal view is certainly striking because you are looking down the barrel of La Cienega as it cuts a wide north-south swath of Los Angeles. The crimson and ivory columns pulse and ebb as traffic patterns ooze in their pulse. There are a lot of people down there. Most of them lonely. A lot of them chronically dehydrated.

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EXT: Interstate 10 - Day

Bump and go congestion at 3:30 pm on a Thursday. The 10 is not a very useful highway in that it traps it's occupants for far longer than they ever intend. I swear if that taxi passes me one more time I'm going to switch lanes; but remember what happened in Office Space. I'll just stay in my lane and hope for the best. A certain camaraderie happens in traffic. It's unspoken and not as strong as the bond that forms among people waiting in line for iPhones or something. Everyone wants to go faster and will collectively wish death upon the next driver who rides their brakes.

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FADE IN:
INT: Office Kitchen - Day

It's been a slow Friday, the movie business is not particularly urgent around the turn of the new year. NEWS FLASH! A woman driving a UHaul is speeding down the 405 leading police on a highspeed chase. Editors and Producers pour from their offices and gather around the flat screen in the kitchen/living room at our office. One freelancer exclaims that the driver is right by her house, people confirm her excitement. Deep down each one of us is jealous of this crazed womans joyride; I wish I could just floor it in traffic on the 405.

Life gets interesting when she UHaul starts to weave back and forth. The woman is pulling wildly on wheel to jostle the last bit of fuel out of the tank. The cops are closing in as the escapee tries in vain to breathe life into her truck. Everyone gets closer to the TV. Voices get louder. Bets are made. Escapee slams on the brakes and books it out the door. Cops file out in hot foot pursuit. The woman weaves through oncoming traffic and puts both her palms on the hood of a Volkswagen Jetta. She pauses for a second and looks over her shoulder.

Pin drop.

Escapee spins around the front of the car and tries to pull open the door to the Jetta. All hell breaks loose in the kitchen. Jetta driver wisely hit the locks when he saw the crazy pursuant running at them. Escapee abandons the car and gets about 15 steps before LAs finest tombstones her to the ground. Nothing like watching a firm ground pounding on live TV to bring peoples true self to the surface. I feel bad for her, her life is never going to be the same, says one stupid person. She should sue those cops, that was unnecessary force says another person too stupid to even call them stupid. Most of us though are high fiving and enjoying the excellent group catharsis.

~

Music of the week is MGMT. Movie of the week is Aliens. High point of the week is Salma Hayek using what God gave her to feed the needy. Low point is Limp Bizkit getting back together.