In the span of a weekend, I went to regions of France, Korea, and Japan…all without traveling more than a 10 mile radius, no passport needed. Omelets, croissant, and cheesecake, sushi and sake, and beef tongue and octopus. Signage, language, and “authentic customers” included. File this one under “Reasons I Like Living in Los Angeles.”
Archive for February, 2010
The World is Flat
Monday, February 22nd, 2010Silver Screen
Friday, February 19th, 2010I’ve been in Hollywoodland for six months, and have been to about the same number of movies in as many months. An interesting event has happened at every one of these movies that I’m mildly fascinated by. At the beginning and closing of the movie, the audience breaks into applause and cheers.
Granted, I’ve only attended some of the more headlining movies, so my sample size is small and narrow. However, in my years of attending movies, I can only count on about two or three fingers the number of times I’ve heard noise from an audience in the midwest, save for the midnight geek fest showings: Dark Knight, Rocky III, Top Gun, Matrix, Star Wars.
Is this because I’m in the Hollywood, the land where movies and stardust is born from? And somehow it settles on the localized population, causeing such outbursts? Is it because a notable count of the populous is involved directly or indirectly in the entertainment industry? Does this happen elsewhere, and on a regular basis?
I’ll continue to collect data and monitor the situation.
Explaining Stratification: The Power Of Ideology
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010I’ve been interested a lot of late in how folk make sense of the inequalities in our system and how we all arrived where we are. Of particular interest for me has always been the role of race in mitigating situational/structural/environmental explanations of poverty/disadvantage among those who identify as white. The race element of that whole discussion is something for another day…
I’ve long been fond of the NYT special edition on “How Class Works”- and there are some data there that speak to some of the above mentioned concern. Namely, when one follows the link below, then to the “A Nationwide Poll” tab, then to the “What it takes to get ahead..” link on the left, something interesting is revealed.
While the value of education and hard work seems to be fairly evenly distributed across income categories, those making over $150,000 a year are the least likely to agree that intergenerational wealth transmission or social connections have any impact on how one gets ahead in life. Also, They are the most likely to attribute success to “Natural Ability”. To be direct, for the rich, it is not who they know or who their parents were, but it is all about their own talent and hard work. The strength of this kind of attribution of the reasons for success seem to be particularly strong for the wealthy.
While we do not have (quickly accessible) corresponding data for suppositions about how or why one does poorly, we can imagine similar patterns of attribution. Those with power and privilege see primarily individual agency as the reason for life chances much more than others. While this is what one familiar with research of stratification and inequality might expect, these data make the case pretty clearly- and in plain- as they say- black and white. Taken alone these data might just be the odd curiosity of a Sociologist, but when we take into account what we also know about where wealth really comes from- namely that most wealth in the world is still inherited rather than earned, and that access to social networks of power and prestige are still at least as important as formal education in gaining opportunity and wealth, one is left with a very interesting picture of the wealthy in the US. Interesting, indeed.
Big Water. small boat.
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
Hang on, as this ride will be quick and wicked as I get up to speed. This waxing will also be shot from the hip, and unabashedly less poetic than perhaps I prefer it to be.
About six months ago, I left Indiana and moved to LA for a change in career; moreso, I did this for a change in life and scenery. The job I had in Indiana was pretty good. The work, the environment, the cash, the benefits. Some good people. All great things. However, I wanted to taste life a little differently than I had been. So I took a risk and left it behind. A leap. And during a tremendous national economic strife.
Get busy livin, or get busy dyin.
Well, more of a calculated gamble. I was fortunate to have a good job lined up. That being said, I knew there were risks, as the new gig was clearly fraught with its own perils of chance and being impacted by the recession. However, the move west happened, and life was an adventure. Much good new life, and reflection on experience past.
And then winter happened (a crazy thing for a midwestern volk to experience, their first “winter” season in southern California). Mid January, one of our clients dropped. Such is business, and such is the entertainment/TV industry. Our workload slacked (particularly mine since I directly handle work from this account). Panic stunk the air, like burned out electronics; not sure where it is burning or what it is burning, but you know it is just not good. Danger of shakeup in the company.
I’m not here.
Saturday, February 6th, 2010Really, this just seems so far away in my mind…