After ten editions of Spectacle and praising all things California and Los Angeles, I finally see what other people see. I completely understand why people hate LA. Most people here are just trying to get rich and be famous. And in my experience, if it works out for them they just suck more than they did before. That’s not unanimously true for everyone of course. But for those of you that like to make negative statements about people in LA, at this point I’d probably just say you’re right. The people in LA are fake as fuck.
If you want to find the real, you have to knock on a lot of doors in a lot of weird places. If I wasn’t from here, I’m not sure I would have found it; fortunately I’ve been in Venice for 33 years, surrounded by regular humans just trying to make a good honest living. I prefer the type of people that run small businesses, teach at local schools, broker used cars, or install garage doors. People who find happiness in coaching their kids’ little league baseball teams, playing recreational softball, or hosting birthday parties and Easter egg hunts for their grandchildren. People like Spanto of Born x Raised, who ONLY cares about holding on to his mother’s home in Venice – that’s his biggest fear in life, what he loses sleep over, and he has cancer.
I suppose what I’m attracted to and consider real isn’t all that easy or common. People always say they like people who are “genuine” or “real.” But that’s not good enough for me. You can be a genuine asshole with connections and it works here, but not for me. You can be a supremely talented egomaniac; also works here, but I could care less. I don’t like people who are confident in general – it’s usually ugly and used incorrectly. I’m not a big fan of people who are competitive, unless they are competitive with themselves. I’m not into perfectionists; in fact I can’t stand them. I don’t necessarily like people who are honest unless we’re talking about being honest with themselves; then that’s a step in the right direction. I just like regular people. I value kindness, compassion, generosity, modesty, and logic. I like people who don’t take themselves seriously. I also like good listeners but that’s more because I never want to shut the fuck up, so I really just like that they listen to me.
I wasn’t sure what I wanted to talk about in this letter. For the first time I’ve had some serious writer’s block. Then I was watching the Emmys with this deadline looming and saw Ann Dowd win her first Emmy; her emotion was so real, I kind of teared up and realized that’s the type of person I like. Just a regular actor at it for three decades. She thanked her husband, her two kids, her agent and her manager simply for their perseverance. So here I am telling you that I like regular people. Which has nothing to do with the great content we worked so hard to create for this issue. Hopefully this rambling letter at least entertained you a little, because I know the rest is significantly more worth your time. There are plenty of good, hardworking people in these pages, and even a fair amount of LA.
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Spectacle Issue 10 - available in GLCO stores and select retailers, November 1
