ask for a word and get the world

The following is an email that I send Juan to explain this more:


Exist to escape and escape to exist. this is the broad concept statement... super super broad...

(that was the one liner, wasn't it funny?did i hear a knee slap?)

There is also an undertone of nesting I'd like to throw in there about the similarities of pittsburgh and los angeles. (clearly im pulling from personal things here since thats what i know..... or experiences that i can translate to other bodies) Certain things, specifically things downtown and some of the public staircases of silverlake relate back to PGH. Little jems ive been falling on here such as the angel's flight (!!!) and bridges in general and the industrial and dirty nature of it. I feel like this could be expressed very stealthily, aka books photos props teeshirts costume accent, etc.

attached is an image of what i think the title might be. its a little cliche but hopefully in a good way.i am picking with complete consciousness of the ability for it to be brushed off for being something shallow. one could say that i pulled inspiration from the paris, je t'aime film but i think it was rooted a bit before.

how we got there:
i was thinking about the idea of myths, the myth of los angeles, who/what the hell is los angeles?
what are the myths that i know of"
"i can make it if i go to la"
"i can become a star"
"i could be beautiful in la"
"sunshine"
"highway and cars, traffic"
"people are fake"
misc. predjudices...

how/when can they be disproved..

what do people relate to (hints from mondo cane) life= food+sex+death, another point of describing this city, all points are escape routes (food death sex)

food
is the catalyst that leads to escaping the physical body encasements, the flesh with fast food ports. fast food stops in and out jack in the box taco trucks king taco burrito king "foodies" korean food and then the antifascist of the ingestion, lipo and work out stations and tread mills

death
and the avoidance of it. that is like collagen shots, implants, facial burns and lifts, etc,
also death as a way of escaping, aka that suicide thing but also the gangs... (note homeboy industries)
is it suicide to move to la to try to make it? in the poem, i didnt feel like it alluded to suicide but as i said before, they are just words and are up for all sorts of interpretation. but "i cant remeber when to leave" the last line, i feel is a trap right there. your stuck in the loop like the records at st. vincent de paul and all the used up actresses that you looked for "angela nothing".

sex
porn/craigslist/ the bad dating scene here/ the perverse/ the isolated/ the intoxicating/escaping yourself through someone else's saliva/ escaping work or another parameter that is inlaid in your lifestyle that builds walls of restriction/ sex it self is an escape of fluids/ escape of desires/ fantasies/ inner freaks/los angeles, where is your sex hole?

also.. why "i love you, los angeles" specifically. when i drive home in the morning from some adventures, i find myself moved to scream it in the car. crazy right? but when your driving over the bridge or the 4th or 3rd street exist off the 110 and you rise through the trees.. even when driving on 6th from the west over 110 in to down town .. its like your flying..or when im riding my bike downtown at 3 am down 4th/5th/6th street and you have people talking to you and its cold enough to make you feel changing weather again and your a little drunk and finding you are the only person out... its your city.../ there's these moments that ive encountered that make induce this admiration i feel for here. i didnt love it at first. i was weirded out. the moments. nothing really lasts forever here. people dont stay. its all transition, much like how the landscape was shifting previous the concrete control.

i want to expose the moments at sunrise and sunset.. i know theres that movie thing with ethan hawk(?) the before sunset or what ever.. ive never seen them yet. i dont want this to be like that regardless.

thanks for bringing up the heterotopias because its going to have an influence on this project.. ive used it for 2 other projects and i feel 3time could be fun.


ok! there you have it. for now. thats where i am .. im collecting info and shooting sites and trying to conjure up a plot. sorry it its too long and disconnected. i wrote it out of order and edited simultaneously.