Speaking of world-building and cities (see previous post), I was oddly compelled by this Go Fug Yourself post. It wasn’t just because of the insane fashion choices of its subject (which are great), but because it discusses a phenomenon that’s wholly intrinsic to Los Angeles, a city I’ve managed never to visit and which may as well border Timbuktu, since no pharma-conference will ever schedule an event there (those conferences being the impetus for most of my travel):
Here in Los Angeles there is a group of people (mostly women) who attend almost every event, from premieres to charity functions to the opening of a shoe store. These women are photographed. And we have no idea who they are. Literally. They’re not studio or television or music executives. They may claim to be “actresses” or “models” but they’ve never appeared in anything notable, nor do they have a string of non-notable credits. If they do have credits, usually they’re consistently playing something like “Girl #3.” Sometimes they appeared in Playboy once, but not necessarily. They’re not married to any one notable, as far as we can tell. We really don’t know how they’re getting invited to anything, why they’re being photographed, or how they’re making the money that allows them to keep up with their Botox schedule. They are a mystery, that, until now, we have basically ignored, primarily because no one knows who they are.
And then it gets really funny. Enjoy.
I guess I revel in those things that seem completely normal to the locals but are utterly bizarre to anyone from the outside
game on my computer a few years ago. While I could take or leave the moral conundra of it, I really appreciated the idea of having a big city in which to meander around. One of the things that makes for good art, in my book, is that sense of a well-realized environment, a world for the reader/viewer to participate in (
and 
are both prime examples of that). I even liked having a bunch of different radio stations to listen to while driving like a maniac through the city.