One of the things about finally being able to live the life and be on the path that you are meant to be on is coming full circle or maybe even at this point it might even be a half circle for things to come? The best example of this that I have had here in the land with the big fancy sign was when my school, mount super fabulous, did a special tribute to Tony Scott and were able to organize an event very quickly and it actually coincided with the day of Mr. Scott's funeral.
For they were able to put together a double feature screening of True Romance and Domino and then did an A and Que with Quentin Tarantino and Richard Kelly and what is what like to write for Tony Scott.
Now the surreal part for me was that 15 minutes before they started True Romance Tarantino and Kelly actually came in and sat in the 5th row of the Theater and actually watched both movies with us, which almost never happens, and it was so telling how, as big as they are in the industry, that they are such fans and lovin' the art form and all that awesomeness.
But for me it was such a defining moment in my life because back in late 1994 I first saw Pulp Fiction and became a Tarantino fan back in the cheese wiz. And would imagine what the life that he was having at the time must be like. And how I'm working this horrible job, no car, walking everywhere in the dead of winter and wondering what the hell happened???
Three years I would work this job, and then go into the military, and then go back to the cheese wiz to make try make an ordinary normal life for myself and it was not meant to be.
So fast forward to April of 2005 and I'm turning 30 years old and I buy (without having seen it) the directors cut of Donnie Darko directed by Richard Kelly and it blew my mind) and is one of my all time favorite movies. So Donnie Darko is very symbolic to me turning thirty and trying to save money to move to Madison and go to their media institute school but with the downward spiral of my life starting in 2006 that didn't quite happen.
(Also there is a commentary track on there with Kelly and Kevin Smith. And for those of you wondering where this Kevin Smith podcast is the one I was on will not be posted for another couple of weeks so the blog post will not be up till mid to late July)
So, now fast forward to August of 2012 and I'm a year into my Associates Degree at the Los Angeles Recording School and Tony Scott is no longer with us. Little did I know when I first heard the news that I would be sitting in a theater with thee Tarantino and Richard Kelly four days later and remembering the horrid winter of 1994/95 and fantasizing about a life that didn't so closely resemble hell and using all my free time escaping by making mix tapes on cassette and renting two movies a night until I attained gold membership status at the corner video store.
This would really change the following year once I turned 21 and discovered alcohol. But enough of that, wondering what the hell happened life, and onto the recent present.
So here it is in all its uncensored unedited glory, the A and Que with Richard Kelly and Quentin Tarantino, moderated by thee Jeff Goldsmith.
I am not a fan of Fridays. I really used to love them like 99.99% of the population until the foul year of our lord 2006. This was the last year where I actually held down a full time normal job type job. And then one day I decided to quit this job cause it was like working in Mexico everyday and everyone I was in charge of didn't speak the english and my higher powers all worked in the office and the shop foreman's direct orders were in direct conflict with the office and well it was a nightmare so I quit. Thinking that, oh, I'll get another job, no problemo, and boy was I wrong about that.
So in February of 2006 I had a little bit of savings because I was trying to save up 10 grand so I could move to Madison, cheese wiz utopia and go to school at their Media Institute when I would have been so covered by the G.I. Bill but fear is a strange fish but at the time I was living with my mother and alcholoic bro and her significant other. They had moved in with me due to financial obligations they couldnt meet when my mother had a stroke in 2004 and I needed the financial help as well and it would have been freakin perfekt but my alcholic bro came along with that situation starting in 2005 and it was a year of great financial gain combined with slowly dying on a spiritual level. But, little did I know they would be moving out and leaving me to my own vices in May of 2006 leading to a year of major financial stress. I even joined the mormons in July cause I thought the networking would lead to employment and in the four years I tried the mormon lifestyle it basically just reinforced everything to me that was wrong with organized religion, in that it was organized and I was always going to be viewed as an outsider who didn't belong there.
So, in February of 2007 I'm forced to take in a roommate whom I thought was going to be great and he turned into a major asshole and I found myself moving out 2 weeks after he moved in. For some odd reason he was planning on having his daughter move in when I really don't think that was in her plans and well to this day it's one of the biggest asshole moves I've ever experienced. This was the week of my 32nd Birthday and so I found myself staying at the 1 place in the cheese wiz utopia that was a house/homeless shelter for males with no children called the Sparrow's nest. This was a 30 day homeless house shelter program where basically your supposed to figure 'it' out in four weeks and then maybe 'they' might give you an extension if your figuring 'it' out to their satisfaction but that did not happen. Basically, this was the beginning of the weekday routine for the next three years.
I remember specifically thinking that this was the time that I really need to spend time with my mother and not knowing how long she might be with us due to her stroke in 2004 so basically my day would begin with walking over to my mother's and watching The Golden Girls, Joyce Meyer (which I really liked watching with mother), Frasier (which I really liked), The Price is Right (which I also really liked), Leave it to Beaver, The Munsters (did you know that was filmed on the Hollywood Backlot just like the Desperate Housewives?), Little House on the Prairie, and Cartoon horribleness. Until about 3 in the afternoon and then significant other would get off work so I'd be out of there. Then I would go to the library and get online, donate plasma a couple of times a week so I could actually eat. I had food stamps but I let them expire and you had to go to freakin Rockford to renew them.
Of course, my bro the alchie, was living there as well so mother would wake him up at 11 and then he would do his jeeves thang. He earned his keep by making the meals and generally being an asshole while swimming in the seas of negativity.
The summer of 2007 was pretty much spent at my former neighbors house and then at my schizo friends little place which was a major mental trip of a dead end life and wondering how am I ever gonna get beyond this?? He is way obsessed with his 'Star Wars' and literally A New Hope would be on constant repeat.
My schizo friend gets money from the state for being mentally off so he can't have anyone staying there, especially since the drug pusher person would come every morning to make sure he was taking his meds. I mean it was cool that he let me stay there for a couple of months till my credit with him was completely exhausted and his parents were like 'who is this loser' get him out of here and then my neighbor accusing me of stealing from him and it was just all around a horrible situation.
It was a very interesting time until November and then I found myself pretty much staying with my mother and alchie bro and mother's significant other. This lasted until May of 2010 and really was when I started to dread the weekends.
Because mothers significant other was working a full time job and would be home and trying to be out of there as much as possible was a pain in the ass because the weekends consisted of mother waking me up to make her tea about every 10 minutes, and then the top 20 country music countdown, and then the top 20 country music countdown again on another channel and then freakin NASCAR or some stupid horrible movie on the lifetime channel. So, I would be out of there and at the library by 10 a.m., donate plasma, and then back there by maybe by 5 or so and just dread that moment when significant other would have to decompress all the negative shit in his system directly onto me. This usually occurred around 10:30 on Saturday night. The time when it should be major chill and relax time and not a stressor in the world but since significant other drank the scotch and beer after work as a welder and then during the weekends this was inevitable.
This was when my self-esteem really took major damage and I think it's still something that needs repair. But almost three years of dreading the weekends made me live for Monday's because it lessened the drama of staying there trying to figure out my life that the God person certainly was conspiring against me having. Especially since my credit with my neighbor and my schizo friend was pretty much at zero by the end of 2009 having stayed off on and there for two years.
So this is where becoming a mormon (although I never did it take seriously) came in really handy because this gave me a place to go on Sunday's. Especially since I was also doing the choir, something I actually enjoyed, and my friend who had joined around the same time I did, I would sometimes be out of the house all day. I really wanted to believe in the Mormon philosophy but I'm just not a person who can conform to a religion other than my own.
I also remember thinking how much the roles had been reversed between me and alchie bro from 2005 and now I was the one sleeping on the couch and he had his own room. It was a very humbling experience.
But, because of these experiences I absolutely HATED FRIDAYS!!!
Especially now that I'm really starting to live my dreams and being in a place that I've always dreamed of being at. Literally, I would have dreams when I was sleeping on my mothers couch of living here, going to the Whiskey A-Go-Go or being at Venice Beach or winning awards with the Clooney so it blows my mind that I've gotten to experience most of that and have had these de-ja-vu type of experiences be it at Venice Beach or the Central Library or being on bus on Wishire going to West L.A.
So to me Fridays are like the beginning of death and nothingness much like what I imagine retirement to be. I mean I understand how we need time to recuperate from the week and catch up on sleep but I still remember very clearly when I was watching the making of 'Easy Rider' back in my military dayz and Peter Fonda was all like FUCK RETIREMENT. I didn't really understand the concept of what he was talking about then but I really understand it now and how having a life that you absolutely love and doing what your supposed to be doing in this life is extremely important.
So now when people are all 'TGIF' to me it says how much you loathe your life and how many people stay in their comfort zone for the illusion of safety and what's expected of you to be one of those so called 'normal' people.
This is an overview of how I've been able to survive, the freaky coincidences, and the benefit of friendship mileage since I have lived in the land with the big fancy sign.
I've been stressing out A LOT over one crucial element this year and that has been money and the lack of it while trying to maintain a standard of living that at a minimum includes a place to sleep and shower. Everything else in my life is unbelievable and amazing but I damn sure wish I got paid for the 18 hours on average I put in a day. I get paid for doing work study but more on that later.
For, I want to take you on a trip from November 2010 to today and how I've managed to survive.
Now the main reason I moved here was to get away from that damn winter in the cheese wiz utopia. I figured if all else fails at least I've got that winter problem solved so at the end of April 2010 I inherited five thousand dollars from my Grandfather when he passed away. At the time I was 35 years old, living with my mother and her boyfriend, and my alchie bro and life was about to get a lot worse when a week before they had to move due to foreclosure and I was out on my luck yet again, but this time I had spent all my good credit with everyone that I was able to crash with for the 3 years where I couldn't land a job to support myself. There is nothing quite like losing that mop job to the mentally challenged kid at Mcdonalds, or the library job to the teenager to re-stack books (which eventually turned into a volunteer unpaid job).
Anywayz, that life was fucking* horrible!
It had gotten to the point where I couldn't believe the situation I had ended up in. I mean I really tried to make a go of the 'normal' life there and for the first three years out of the military things were going along sort of nicely and was able to support myself but those last four years there ????
Fucking horrible!!
*I used to curse a lot on my facebook but my super fabulous Interpersonal Communications instructor said in class one day to not do that so I haven't cursed on my FB for almost a year (posts with curse words in them don't count, or cursed comments by others, where was I, oh yeah), but for this blog the occasional F bomb will be dropped when I deem it to be necessary cause that life was
TRIPLE FUCKING HORRIBLE!!!
So May 1st, 2010 I get my five thousand dollars in cash and I was on a bus to La La land six hours later. And then by November I was broke. But at least I had that winter problem solved.
So what to do now? The only real option for me since I didn't know anybody was to find shelter so I found myself in downtown skid row la la land. Now, this is when you appreciate the nine years you spent in the cheese wiz utopia post military, because sleeping outside on the sidewalk so you can be first in line at the Union Mission just to try and score a cot for the night was about a thousand times better than sleeping on a couch at my mothers, dealing with an alchie bro, and her significant other telling me how much of a loser and how worthless I was. Even at 3 a.m. with a dude trying to score his crack was better than that bullshit. It was like dealing with my alchie bro times a thousand without the emotional attachment. But sleeping outside only lasted 2 nights before I got myself into the tea house (apparently it used to be shelter for transvestite/transexuals but I'm still not sure what that has to do with tea???).
Also known as the Rotary House which is basically homeless men and women (mostly men) in a military style barracks with freakin manadatory AA meetings every night (which drove me bonkers) and curfew of 7 p.m. but even given these restrictions it really was a glorious three months in my life because everything was so new and fresh and it was way better than living with 'those people' back in the cheese wiz.
So, a couple of months go by, I'm on general relief, I'm taking their back to work/self improvement program, which was really interesting because it was taught by Roland Gilbert who had written a couple of books and was basically Morpheus in the Matrix and is amazing at breaking you down to your core being and how our early life programming from our parents had took us on a particular path. It was pretty incredible to get that knowledge for free as compared to his paying clients who were paying big money for the same knowledge.
I was also able to use the benefit of being a military veteran which is a benefit I had attempted to use when I lived in the cheese wiz but it never manifested due to the distance and my lack of a car to be able to proceed in the benefit process. But it turns out that Los Angeles has incredible benefits for veterans so for the first time in my life I was actually able to capitalize on being one and was able to score Veterans Housing at the Ballington Plaza for the next two years.
Now this was a major step up from Rotary, it's basically you have a room and bathroom with a roommate in a 3 story building. Curfew is at 11:30 p.m., 3 meals a day, plus they had a stipend where you get the ungodly amount of a hundred and twenty dollars a month.
Oh my,
The downside was you had to give up your general relief and get on board and care, go to four meetings a week wheter it be AA or Self-Esteem building or whatever??? No alcholol (although that last year there I was really good at keeping that under the radar) and you had to take a piss test every single month. So for those of you who are for drug tests in order to be on welfare there ya go.
The cool thing about living there was that thee freakin' soloist lived in B building (you know the guy who Jaime Fox played in that movie) yeah, that guy. And every once in awhile he would be out in the courtyard doing his thang. A very surreal experience because I had seen the original 60 minutes piece back in the cheese wiz so it was always an amazing experience to see him from time to time. Also one saturday morning I saw thee Scott Bakula doing landscaping work as a volunteer and that blew my freakin' mind cause my favorite T.V. show growing up was Quantum Leap. My only regret with that is that living here I believe there is a time you can ask for a picture and most times where it feels very intrusive and disrespectful and most of the time I really don't want to bother people that I really admire. In the two years I lived there I did not once ever say Hi to thee soloist.
So I moved into the Ballington of February of 2011 and tried to get a 'normal' job but that didn't happen and then one day I was in the heart of Hollywood going to Amoeba and across the street there it was 'The Los Angeles Film School' and I said to myself I must go there. Called them up, did the tour, signed up for the Film program and then got denied to be in the Film program.
I couldnt secure all the tuition, couldn't get a cosigner for the additional loans i needed and basically figured the dream was over and then 'they' said I could do the Los Angeles Recording School and I went YES!!! SCORE!!!! So I started there in August of 2011 and had the absolute best 18 months of my life there.
Now unfortunately, by the time I started I had exactly one month left on my G.I. Bill due to the fact that I had gotten out of the service 2 weeks before 9/11 so on that note that has always been a major regret that I didn't do this a lot sooner cause it was basically my fear of failure and ending up homeless which did happen but I was mentally prepared for it when it happened. Had I gone to La La land right out of the military I would not have had the proper head space or life experience to be able to handle it.
And then in July of 2012, a miracle happened in the form of the VASH program which is at the moment an educational benefit for veterans aged 35 to 60 in an associates degree program to collect a monthly check which is roughly the equivalant of the G.I. Bill for 12 months. Also in July I was offered to do work study in the Veterans Administration Office at school so I basically had 3 checks coming in the last six months at the Recording School, so I was doing really well, and feeling really blessed and that there were some amazing angelic people guiding me along and the freaky coincidence of the VASH program going into effect and being accepted for that program just amazed how far along I had come since that first night on skid row.
Little did I know or bother to really look into how VASH and general relief while being on board and care through volunters of america would screw me over when it was time to move out in February of 2013 because I was on general relief getting a stipend and basically I couldn't get back on general relief when I moved out because it was too much money, plus VASH doesnt cover a Bachelors program and I would have had five months left. Which I tend to laugh about from time to time cause had I sat on my butt at the Balington and started school five months later than I did I could have collected five more months of VASH benefits and I certainly wouldn't have gotten into the predicament that I had gotten myself into this last month.
So in February of 2013, a week after I graduated my time at the Ballington was over and I moved closer to school in the heart of the land with the big fancy sign. I can actually see the Griffith Observatory from that humble abode. Thing was I only had maybe six months where I was going to be able to pay rent, and then it only lasted four. So that made June 24th, 2013 D-day as far as having shelter, and then I get a call last night at 12 a.m. saying I would have to move out by Sunday, taking a week off my time there.
Now I've been stressing about this moment for awhile, since like last year. I knew it was coming and I had no idea how I was going to make it past the 24th without any shelter but about a month ago I was looking on craigslist for places that might have a work/rent free option and then one of my classmates that I went to the Recording School with and now doing the Bachelors Program with had offered me a room that was slightly cheaper than what I was paying. And so today I asked if that was still an option and what my current financial situation is and we were able to make a deal. And now I am feeling really relieved.
I don't know what the future holds as far my next residence but again it's just one of those things where it feels like you've got angels on your shoulders and when all seems lost and hopeless and your foundation to your future success seems to be coming undone and yet somehow you continue to survive and move along in what seems like a pre-determined destiny.
Artie
Here is a link where you can download the documentary on the Rotary House (featuring people that I actually knew when I was there) which is posted below along side the original 60 minutes piece on Thee Soloist that I saw back in 2006 in the cheese wiz utopia.
Trailer for the most excellent Documentary 'Lost Angels' about skid row Los Angeles shot during the making of 'The Soloist'. I've actually met that old little short shopping cart lady who still lives there.
I was asked to film this (as a demo) to work with the Volunteers of America film department
because my case worker is apparently on the their board of directors and has a Masters Degree in Film apparently ????
and loved what I had put together so
of course in true land with the big fancy sign fashion this led to absolutely nothing.
Most likely because 'they' hosed me on the camera when 'they' promised me a 5D
and I edited it on IMovie.
Of the two years I lived there this was one of the great highlights. And gives an interesting perspective of the life I lived there.
I've been going to the Los Angeles Film School since August of 2011 and since then I have gone to almost every A and Que they have had and am very fortunate that Jeff Goldsmith has done the majority of them.
If you don't know about the Jeff Goldsmith podcast and live in Los Angeles you are really missing out on something special. Jeff is very knowledgeable about the craft and the history of the business and really does his research. Plus it's to be expected that when he does an A and Que that it may go on for a couple of hours. He did one with Ed Burns for Newlyweds that went two and a half hours and a must listen to anyone who is or dreams of being a filmmaker.
But that is not the one I am highlighting here, oh no, for this is the one time that thee Jeff Goldsmith got put on the hotseat and derailed into a complete train wreck by none other than Bobcat Goldthwait. You know, the comedian from the eighties that we all grew up and loved from the Police Academy movies. Yeah, that one. But now in this foul year of our lord 2013 he has become an uncompromising director and making the movies he wants to make and for that I salute you sir.
SALUTE!!!
So this last year he directed a movie called GodBlessAmerica and my film school, Mount Super Fabulous, did a screening and then thee Bobcat Goldthwait did the A and Que after. And what the audience got was basically unexpected awesomeness the likes I have never witnessed or heard and most likely will never get to witness and experience again.
So here it is in all its unedited, uncensored glory. The Jeff Goldsmith A and Que with Bobcat Goldwaith.
P.S.
It really helps if you've seen the movie 'Hot to Trot'
New blog coming soon about my experience being on the Kevin Smith Film School Friday's podcast from The Los Angeles Film School complete with pictures and link to the podcast, whenever 'they' decide to send it to me??? So should be early next week. . .
Alrighty, so my second blog post is going to be about what is the purpose of this blog? In much the way Agent Smith provided a purpose to Neo's quest.
Or at least that's how I tend to think of purpose.
So,
What is the purpose of this blog?
1. To inform, riff, and muse on the experiences of Art Holmes as he makes his way through the land with the big fancy sign, so if one day you decide to make the move here and follow a path similiar to mine you will know what to expect.
and
2. To entertain my readers about a life that is very different than the one I left back on the cheese wiz utopia. This life is not for everybody and you need a certain mindset and passion in able to forge ahead in this industry.
Who is the target market?
The target market for this blog will be anyone who is interested in the hollyweird life, lives the life, or is looking for something different than what they will read in your typical check out line magazine (that only sells the romantisized glamorous side of Hollywood) to bored housewives wondering what the hell happened????
As I have previously written in my first post it will not be for the overly religious loving on the republican Jesus fish man. This will not be for those who have put up that wall and go thru their daily life getting offended at everything, are having piles of childs, and now only watch a steady diet of Disney movies. It will be for those amazing souls that are rule breakers, risk takers, and have a very open mind to contemplate possibilities that are beyond the typical reasoning of your average I don't know whats??? living in the cheese wiz utopia.
So for the last question of this blog/entertainment marketing assignment, How is the information provided in blogs useful to
individuals, companies, and marketers? For this question I tend to think of the 'Angry Joe' video game review show on youtube.
Now, while it's not a blog, I tend to think they serve the same purpose, in that it gives the consumer a platform to talk about anything they want to. In the case of Angry Joe his reviews are so honest that I will go there to get a real review instead of what companies tend to do (especially in the entertainment industry) in that they will specifically pay people to write good reviews and then put those reviews into the marketing campaign.
Blogs are useful to companies because they have a direct link to fans and can get instant feedback as to how they can improve their products.
It's useful to marketers because they can get a sense of their demographic and can cater their marketing campaign to them.
And thats the last question for my Entertainment Marketing class.
Thanks for reading and be sure to subscribe and comment,
My first blog post will be about the theme that this blog will be. But first, an introduction to who I am at the moment. I am currently enrolled at the Los Angeles Film School in the Bachelors for Entertainment Business program. I started this program in March of 2013 after graduating from the Los Angeles Recording School with an Associates in the Recording Arts in February. I also just started an internship with 'Whats Trending' which I will provide a link to on this blog as soon as I figure out how to do that???
So why did I start a blog? I've been wanting to start one for awhile but I found myself using the notes section on Facebook quite a bit so I never started one. That is until this last week when my most awesome instructor for my Entertainment Marketing class made it an assignment. They are really good at this school for setting you up for what it takes to come across as one of those super fancy professional types out there in what I like to call the land with the big fancy sign. Which I think is what I am going to call this blog:
Musings from the Land with the Big Fancy Sign
Perhaps i could add the word 'thang' to the end of that? Since that's my Facebook schtick but I think the writing style with this should be just a tad different from what I do on Facebook since I'm going to make this a lot more public than the FB, and HAY!!! I'm actually using punctuation which I rarely ever do on FB anywayz. And I've actually had people in the business (albeit their mileage in this industry seems to be more of a D-jay making beats variety) delete me on their FB over the use of the word 'thang' because apparently that's not professional. Now I understand why you shouldn't curse on your FB or why you shouldn't make status updates like "10 minutes till 420" with a big a youtube video about how to roll the biggest joint since Tommy's maui waui in 'Up in Smoke' cause that's really not an image you want to be known for so it's interesting to see how my own FB has transformed in the five years I've had it.
God bless you oh holy time line thang. Crap, I'll work on the thang thing.
So, as this is my first blog and an actual assignment at Mount Super Fabulous (also known as the Los Angeles Film School) the topic of this first post is:
What is the theme of your blog?
And to answer that question I would say the theme will be an almost daily diary of my experience in The Land with the Big Fancy Sign.
You should also expect rants and current news events of the day whether they be political, or religious, that have effected me or continues to effect me in some way so if you happen to be a compassionate religious conservative type lovin' their Fox News this blog is not going to be for you. If you don't believe that every human on the planet does not deserve free health care at the expense of the taxpayer because we're all one on this planet together then this blog is not going to be for you. If you are pro-gun, pro-life, and basically any ideology that keeps us stuck in the dark ages this will blog will not be for you. If you are negative and do not have the ability to see the world from a place of beauty and magnificence on a daily basis then not so much either.
So who am I?
I'm all about positivity and balance and what you put out into the universe will come back to you. I'm also a big believer that this land with the big fancy sign is all about mileage and as my super fabulous instructor told us last week with what networking and what's it's all about here is making it to that three year mileage point because the people that can get you to the next level only want to get you there if they know you will actually be there and if you have the passion to do whatever it takes to get there. And that's where I'm at right now. Year three, since I moved to the land with the big fancy sign.
So, if you want to be a reader into the ride that is my current life, subscribe and follow along, because so far it's been a hell of a ride because I'm not leaving or giving up. To me this life is the air that I breath (I just love the smog so much) and I know exactly the life I left back in the cheese wiz utopia (also known as the painfully horribly pathetically average Wisconsin and all the parts of Illinois I ever lived in like Beloit, South Beloit, and Belvidere, a horrendous life if there ever was one, but more on that later)
One of the things about finally being able to live the life and be on the path that you are meant to be on is coming full circle or maybe even at this point it might even be a half circle for things to come? The best example of this that I have had here in the land with the big fancy sign was when my school, mount super fabulous, did a special tribute to Tony Scott and were able to organize an event very quickly and it actually coincided with the day of Mr. Scott's funeral.
So, now fast forward to August of 2012 and I'm a year into my Associates Degree at the Los Angeles Recording School and Tony Scott is no longer with us. Little did I know when I first heard the news that I would be sitting in a theater with thee Tarantino and Richard Kelly four days later and remembering the horrid winter of 1994/95 and fantasizing about a life that didn't so closely resemble hell and using all my free time escaping by making mix tapes on cassette and renting two movies a night until I attained gold membership status at the corner video store.
