Life in LA: The Jet Man

And other items of interest...


















LA is the land of cars, cars, and more cars. Where the car rules supreme, it's hardly surprising to see so many drivers who really are defined by their vehicles -- the well-heeled twits piloting monster Ranger Rovers (expensive, famously unreliable gas hogs extremely popular with a certain class of Angelenos), legions of harried, oblivious soccer moms yakking on cellphones as they careen through traffic in Volvos, mini-vans, and Chevy Suburbans, the occasional rich jerk preening for all the world in his half-million dollar Ferrari or Lamborghini (just the thing for a quick jaunt to Beverly Fucking Hills), and -- worst-of-the-worst -- those complete fucktards in new BMWs, driven with extreme prejudice by hyper-aggressive young lawyers and other overpaid societal leeches.

Then there's the man in the photo above, who I can only assume is a jet pilot when not driving his Lincoln LS V8. How do I know this? Well, there's the license plate, baseball cap, web site URL decal, and other items too small to see in this photo -- all proclaiming his allegiance to the "L 39 Jet" -- along with the pièce de résistance, a scale model of the airplane mounted in the back window.

You have to give him credit -- rather than allowing his car to define him, he turned the car into a mobile billboard to advertise the ultimate L 39 jet guy.

I have no idea what an L 39 jet is, or why anybody would want to fly one -- but hey, at least he drove up and over Laurel Canyon in a sane, controlled manner, unlike most of the other over-caffeinated idiots I'm forced to joust with every working day.

So L 39 Jet Guy -- whoever you are -- you're okay with me.

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I stumbled across a couple of interesting blogs recently, very different, but both worthy of inclusion on this site’s blogroll.

The Black and Blue is dedicated to camera assistants and their craft. Evan Luzi is a young camera assistant -- fresh out of school, according to his bio -- on the east coast. Despite his youth and slim professional resume, he seems to know what he’s talking about.* His blog has lots of practical tips on assisting, along with interviews, film clips, and technical information about the latest digital cameras. The site doesn’t seem to take itself too seriously, and looks like a good resource for any film student who wants to learn more about the camera department, or ex-students trying to break into the professional ranks of the Industry.

And speaking of cars, Do You Come With the Car? is something completely different. Offering an insiders view of the auto industry from a unique perspective – that of a model who works the car show circuit -- this is the kind of blog the Internet was made for: smart, opinionated, funny, and well-spiced with snark. Although there are no pictures of her (for obvious reasons), it’s a given that she’s great looking. Auto companies don’t hire average-looking females to adorn their shiny new cars in public. She seems to know a lot about cars and human behavior, painting a vivid picture of what it’s like to be a well-coiffed and oh-so-sexy piece of meat working in a role designed to attract the leering attention of hordes of young and not-so-young men. The results may be predictable, but as described in her crisp, articulate, and often scalding prose, they’re never boring.

This blog has nothing to do with the film/television biz, but whether you like cars or couldn’t care less, it's definitely worth checking out.


* Remember, I’m a juicer, not a camera-person, so it’s possible I’m wrong on this...