Posts tagged as The Other Coast
UFOs and Mario Lopez, Holocaust Memorials and Sitcom Players
When I was a kid we'd escape the Seattle winter gloom and rain and roll down Interstate 5 to California. Descending from the Shasta National Forest into California's Central Valley, I'd always put down the window and stick my hand gleefully into the warm, rushing air. "It feels like California, mom! It feels like California!" Not long ago but many years later, I found myself traveling that same stretch of highway. Windows down, a hot and dry wind tousled my hair as I reached my hand out into the sun. It sure felt like California alright, and I couldn't help but notice that this realization had left a very big smile on my face. That's when I thought: is it self-abusive to spend your whole life in wet, dark, dank cities when you know you feel so much better in the sunshine? Posing this question to friends on Facebook, the response was overwhelming: "absolutely." A few weeks later I signed a one-year lease on a sunny studio in a tropical fruit-flavored building in Koreatown. I'm now a resident of Los Angeles, the City of Angels. Keeping my eyes open, I've spotted numerous angels in my day to day travels, and we're not just talking about the ones at the top of the tree. READ MORE
An 81-Hour Break From Civilization At Sasquatch Music Festival 2010
The port-a-potty situation is universally humbling. The brand is Honey Bucket, which is so gross and psychosexually radioactive a name that the excreta deposited and vacuumed out of them gains a strange and terrible power over our imaginations. Retching sounds and maniacal laughter alike drift from the banks of plastic shitboxes scattered throughout the camping area. A mysterious chalk homage to the waste receptacles appears at the venue gate. Legends spread of Honey Buckets where the filth rises above the level of the toilet seat. Pissing in the thick heat of one, I'm suddenly able to hear, from some far-off stage, the distinct and chipper chorus of Avi Buffalo's big hit, "What's In It For?" A song that begins: "I walked in on a plan to dissolve all of your wishes / But I couldn't help your mouth, which I missed by two inches." READ MORE
Portland, Oregon: Where Kombucha-Scented Money Dreams Come True
Move to Portland, Oregon for your business, suggests Fast Company! "In 2004, Jive Software, which makes social marketing tools, decided to move from pricier New York City to this laid back west coast city. Five years later, it posted annual revenue of $30 million." Finally, an answer to that vexing middle step in the business plan. 1. Start Neato Company. 2. ??? Move to Portland. 3. PROFIT.
San Francisco Helps Haiti
James Fallows found this happening in the "Marina/Cow Hollow" neighborhood of San Francisco. It may be the case that in exchange for a yoga mat drop-off, they are sending money to Haiti! Maybe. (And it may be the case that your old yoga mat will be used for as bedding for "use" in "overcrowded hospitals"!)
The End of the 00s: Top 10 Jobs I Lost This Decade: Failing Up, Sometimes, but Mostly Sideways, by Jackson West
I've been looking for, finding and losing jobs since I was 14, the legal working age in Washington State. The first job I was fired from, after just a couple of months, was a filing job at a pool equipment supply company in Seattle. I did get former Supersonics All-Star power forward Shawn Kemp's old home address out of the deal, so that's something. But that was the dawn of the 90s, and while I'm sure I gained and lost at least ten more jobs in that decade, I'm pretty sure it couldn't compare to the volatile 00s. I wasn't always fired, mind you-straight-up firings, lifetime, I can count on one hand. No, these days things are much more passive-aggressive. Generally the work was temporary from the get-go, or else I was downsized, and sometimes I even quit or transitioned to part-time on relatively good terms. I, like most Americans, have been fully widgetized. The concept of job security is a sort of mythical legend from a pre-historic dreamtime. READ MORE
