{"id":1420,"date":"2007-03-31T07:24:02","date_gmt":"2007-03-31T12:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/lala\/"},"modified":"2007-03-31T07:24:02","modified_gmt":"2007-03-31T12:24:02","slug":"lala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/lala","title":{"rendered":"Lala"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speaking of world-building and cities (see previous post), I was oddly compelled by this Go Fug Yourself post<\/a>. It wasn’t just because of the insane fashion choices of its subject (which are<\/em> 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):<\/p>\n

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<\/em> have credits, usually they’re consistently playing something like “Girl #3.” Sometimes they appeared in Playboy<\/em> 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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And then it gets really<\/em> funny<\/a>. Enjoy.<\/p>\n

I guess I revel in those things that seem completely normal to the locals but are utterly bizarre to anyone from the outside<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Lala”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel","category-urban-issues"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s4C7K-lala","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16594,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-574-elizabeth-flock","url_meta":{"origin":1420,"position":0},"title":"Episode 574 – Elizabeth Flock","author":"Gil","date":"January 30, 2024","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 574: Elizabeth Flock \"If women are violently fighting back against violence, is that helpful or harmful? I let that question lead me wherever I could find women who were doing that around the world.\" With her incredible new book, THE FURIES: Women, Vengeance, & Justice (Harper), journalist\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "literature"","block_context":{"text":"literature","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/flockwide.jpg?fit=1200%2C522&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/flockwide.jpg?fit=1200%2C522&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/flockwide.jpg?fit=1200%2C522&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/flockwide.jpg?fit=1200%2C522&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/flockwide.jpg?fit=1200%2C522&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13370,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/covid-check-in-with-kate-maruyama","url_meta":{"origin":1420,"position":1},"title":"COVID Check-In with Kate Maruyama","author":"Gil","date":"May 13, 2020","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show COVID Check-In: Kate Maruyama Author, teacher & activist Kate Maruyama checks in from LA. 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