Photo of the Week: Griffith Observatory
While I’m based on the Pacific Coast, I’ll try to share a photo in attempt to keep the content on this blog somewhat current! This photo was taken at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles on an absolutely PERFECT Sunday afternoon. Out of respect for all my dear friends who use fancy cameras to earn a living, I’m going to try to avoid touting my Instagram photos on here as photographic works of art! I love the symbolism that was captured in this moment of a little boy looking out onto the giant sprawl of Los Angeles. So many hopes, challenges, failures, and accomplishments live and die on those streets below, all unbeknownst to this little boy who is merely pausing to look at how big this city is; how beautiful it is. This image taken from a child’s perspective feels more personal to me than just a photo of the landscape. Maybe it’s because several times I’ve been the kid in this photo — and many days, I still am. Every morning I’m surprised by how I’m still searching and grappling with uncertainty, and no closer to holding any of the answers. It’s the same symbolism that gave this blog its namesake. I can only pause to give thanks for where I am, and pray for wisdom for what lies...
Film Industry News: UPDATE: Where the Heck is the GoldFold?!
At the end of January, I shared the latest news from Travis Gold, creator of the GoldFold callsheet wallet, on the status of GoldFolds and whether or not they’d be back on the market. The wallets had been revamped, and were set to come out in February. But February came and went, and there was still no sign of the GoldFolds. After getting emails from you guys with questions about the whereabouts of the new GoldFolds, and wondering myself what the status was, I decided to contact Travis again and see if there were any updates. Much to my surprise, within 10 minutes of sending the email, I got a phone call from Travis — and he gave me the scoop! Why the Sabbatical? There are imitations on the market, but GoldFolds are the highest quality, all of them handmade by Travis. He put no marketing into the product, and was thrilled by the success– but needed to take a step back and reevaluate. He wanted to work on branding the product, and make adjustments to the Fold. Improvements to the GoldFold There have been several updates to the product, designed to make it sleeker and able to handle an AD’s demands a bit better. Overall, we can expect a slightly smaller wallet. One of the improvements: the clip is now gone, and has been replaced by strong magnetic strips on the inside to help keep papers in place. The GoldFold will now also come with a band of elastic, making it easier to store more and allowing the Fold to expand and be overstuffed. The “button” is also smaller and a little more ornate. When Will the GoldFold Be Available? If all goes well, Travis hopes to launch the new line of GoldFold callsheet wallets in the next month. He’s a 1st AD by trade, and like all of us that work in this business, has been quite busy with his day job recently. He shared he’d been booked on a two-week job in the Bahamas. “I’m not complaining, but I’m trying to get these things out!” he laughed. FilmTools Travis verified that FilmTools will again be a distributor. A New Website & iPhone App Part of the reason for the sabbatical was to give Travis an opportunity to team up with someone that could help launch a website and iPhone app for GoldFolds. Goldfold.com is the official website, where all information/updates pertaining to the GoldFold callsheet wallet will (eventually) be found. Currently, the website is a placeholder, with a countdown to the product’s launch, which is currently set to April 19th. Can I PreOrder? Not yet! The best way...
Stranded and Freezing in Minneapolis (in the name of free travel)
What have you done for free travel? Friday afternoon, while debating if I really wanted to shell out another $200 to rent a car for the week, I decided to take a gamble and see if I could get lucky on a discounted last-minute flight. The lowest fare I could find for roundtrip tickets from Los Angeles to New Orleans was $700. What if I could find a ticket for half as much? SUCCESS! My price was accepted. It was with Delta. It had a layover at their Minneapolis hub. That was a letdown. It was the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day, and I flew to Minneapolis. Once I arrived, I was greeted with snow and a crowded gate. There had been a cancellation of an earlier flight, passengers were annoyed, and the agents were in a frenzy. “This flight has been oversold. If there’s anyone out there with any flexibility, we need four volunteers,” one of the agents was saying. “You’ll get a four hundred dollar travel voucher, we’ll put you in a hotel, and you’ll get to New Orleans by 10:30am tomorrow.” In past experience, those travel vouchers go quickly, usually before I have time to process what’s happening. Today, no one was making a move. Everybody just wanted to get the heck out of Minnesota. I wasn’t keen on hanging out in the arctic tundra either, but I began thinking of all the ways I could utilize a $400 travel credit. A few minutes passed, and they made the announcement once more. Again, no one volunteered. After consulting Gunner, we decided it was too good of an opportunity to pass up, since it would cover the cost of my impulsive flight. I volunteered to get bumped to the following morning. Then reality settled in. It was eight o’clock at night, it was 20 degrees outside, and ten inches of snow from yesterday’s blizzard was still on the ground. I’d been expecting to fly from one palm tree destination to another palm tree destination, and did I have a jacket? No. I’d spent so much of the last two months in warm climates that I’d forgotten winter was still going on in most of the country. But I had the prized $400 voucher, $22 in meal tickets, and a hotel room. No luggage, but that was only a minor inconvenience. “You’ll be OK,” the attendant assured me, as he handed me a little overnight kit. “We’re on the warm side of winter now.” I laughed at him. “It’s twenty degrees here!” “Yeah, but you won’t die if you’re outside for a minute or more,” he stated plainly. He wasn’t making fun of me for being...
Throwing the Rule Book Out the Window in LA
One of my favorite quotes regarding lifestyle philosophies comes from Fahrenheit 451: “Stuff your eyes with wonder,” he said. “live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories. Ask no guarantees, ask for no security, there never was such an animal. And if there were, it would be related to the great sloth which hangs upside down in a tree all day every day, sleeping its life away. To hell with that,” he said. “shake the tree and knock the great sloth down on his ass.” I’ve said a thousand times how I’ve wanted to get a last-minute gig somewhere unplanned and just make it work. Fly by the seat of my pants for awhile, live in the moment, for the adventure. About a month ago, when I got offered a job on a Thursday night that required me to be in LA on Monday morning, it was tough to finally say Yes. Three months based out West, but with a crazy, travel-intensive schedule. It left no opportunity to sneak away to see Gunner, and that was almost the reason I turned the job down entirely. We’ve done the long distance thing for awhile now, but we’re almost at our wits’ end. The thought of three months apart and two thousand miles between us was about to push me over the emotional brink. I had to focus to keep from falling apart. I found an apartment. I booked a cheap flight. I packed two suitcases, paid all the bills, and cleaned my room better than I’d ever done in my entire life (by the way, if you need a place to stay in Nashville, let me know!). I took one of the latest flights to LA on Sunday night. I ran on pure adrenaline for that first week, barely sleeping or eating, working 24/7, and finally crashing a solid week later. I’ve gotten into a routine here. I like my one bedroom apartment in North Hollywood; I make my coffee exactly the way I did in Nashville. I love the morning breeze and the faint smell of lilac when I walk outside my door. In ways, I’ve grown a little attached to my life in Southern California. I miss Gunner, but it isn’t a focal point. It’s only three months, embrace the adventure, I tell myself every morning in an attempt to ward off any feelings of loneliness or homesickness. And somehow, we are being given the next week off from work. I was planning on going down to San Diego, or exploring some other part of this...
Revisiting Places You Once Adored
When you’re a teenager, you have preconceived notions of what you want out of adulthood. You want to drive a Ford Explorer and live in Southern California. That’s not what you wanted? Maybe it was just me. (And let’s be honest, that’s a pretty ridiculous combination: a gas guzzling automobile in the land of the environmentally conscious? That never would have worked.) I’ve been to Southern California a fair amount for someone who has no family here or real reason to come here. Each time I’ve ventured West, it excited me to come out here, and I mourned the day when I’d have to head back East. It was thrilling to see stores and restaurants we didn’t have back home. People here spoke Spanish, ate sushi, and were crazy about avocados. There were palm trees and more than three lanes of traffic. Visiting Los Angeles was as big of an adventure as you could have when you’re from a small town in Virginia. It’s been a few years since I’ve been to LA. In that time, I’ve fallen pretty hard for New Orleans, a boy from New Orleans, and the swamp. I love southern hospitality, warm summer nights, soul food, an affordable cost of living, and saying “y’all”. It took me awhile to accept that I’m from the South, but now I’m proud of it. It’s a lifestyle that I’m fond of, and I never want to leave. Working in tv/film, I’ve definitely embraced the change of pace and opportunity to get out of Nashville for a bit and learn from some great Los Angeles producers. But, it’s the first time I’ve been to California and been completely indifferent about it. It’s the first time I’ve been able to look at it from an unbiased perspective. I see the beauty here, but I also see the flaws. It’s the first time I’ve been here where I realized this isn’t the life I want. I’ve grown up. Have you recently visited a place you once had blind adoration for? How have you changed?...
About
I'm Laryssa, and when I'm not working in film or television, I'm attempting to travel -- or I'm here, providing resources for working in film or travel. Read more Elsewhere on the internets
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