fashion as relative eco-socio-politico index marker

Funny this. A great friend of mine who runs a skatepark in ohio (wow, people do crazy cool things) sent me this pic. We all went to highschool together, and we were the local skatepunks.

Although I feel very much an individual today, i remember that feeling back then too. I noticed that in the picture above, we are all wearing converse (different colours to differentiate the difference, of course), we all have basically white jeans on, and we're all wearing baggy-ish untucked shirts. individualism is hard to see here. but i guess that's the point. it's relative. and at that age, we weren't trying to be individuals as much as were were trying to differentiate ourselves as a group from other groups. (that's me in the middle, at 14, with a cigarette hanging out of my mouth - always a class act this one)

when i went to vancouver to work on my first television show, i had a unique fashion sense that made me feel most like me based on what was around me in Toronto at the time. I dyed my hair orange, spiked it up like Johnny Rotten, wore ties, untucked shirts, and suit jackets. i wasn't a mod, i didn't fit with them, i just felt unique.

Vancouver, however, was more conservative in all things, including fashion. my toronto style felt very very crazy in vancouver, and so i had to tone it down to match my environment. If the fashion style is a scale of 1 - 10, with 1 being rebel and 10 being a member of the communist party, i likened myself to about a 4. In toronto, that meant i could have red hair and wear strange clothes. in vancouver, a toronto four was like a 2. i was a freak, a homosexual, a mod, etc. etc all these things i didn't identify with. So i had to find the 4 where i'm comfortable. I still had my flair, it was just different, toned down.

fashion as identify is specific to place. what counts is where you are on the scale. and that is all that counts, of course, because fashion doesn't really count. but WHY are you a 1 or a 7 or whatever?

in other news

i'm done school. i'm a graduate. i got my marks today. 83's in both classes. yes, i'm boasting, i'm very proud of myself. i got straight A's in all my english classes. teacher's college should be a lock. at least i'll never have to PA again. man, why do people do that job?? do they think it's the big IN they need to the industry? what a ruse!! most people at the top positions have NEVER been a PA in their life. the guy i worked with as co-PA was a bitter but good guy who thought he was a writer director, but, at 29, had never written or directed anything in his life. i'm tired of these people some days, and proud of them for having hope in the face of such awful odds. the human spirit is indominatable, earth's real cockroach adapts and moves forward, proud and blind and hurting and wonderful. the glass IS half full today: because i love my mom. found out good news today. or, no news, which is the good news.

too long, too little

forgive the time between posts. I finished my exams for my undergrad degree and have hopped straight into the job hunting fire. i met with a headhunter, i hunted online, and i took a 7 day job being a PA on a film. i've never been a PA. it's funny that my first job in film was on a writing team, and my most recent one is as a PA. it's supposed to be the other way around. i wonder what other things i'm doing backwards.

all i know is that after two 11 hour shifts i'm exhausted. the reason isn't that 11 hours is too long, or that i stayed up all night. the reason is that i'm bored out of my fucking mind. without my brain having anything to do, i'm as good as dead. when i'm in the office, i am simply there to answer the phone. the only time i'm feeling okay is when i'm out driving, which isn't enough. on the plus side, they did rent me a dodge magnum just like this, which is a pretty gangsta car. at least there are only 5 more days.

the boy who changed everything, my next film project, is coming along. i've managed to scribble down a light outline at work to try to retain my sanity, and maybe i have something, maybe i don't. too early to tell. but instead of the kid finding oil, it may be treasure. not sure. i can work in the newfoundlanders who coaxed ships towards hidden rocky shoals so they could plunder them. my people. robin hoods of the east. fortunately, they were the poor, so robbing from the rich to give to the poor still rings of nobility, even though they just kept it for themselves which, i guess, is technically in line with robin hood.

i wish i had something interesting to say, but unfortunately, i'm all out for the moment. i could regale you with stories of producers being wankers, or stacey getting a free ipod from the bay for showing up at one of their functions for people in the magazine business, but these aren't that interesting. when you work such long deadening hours, life is reduced to the minutiae of the mundane.

i will post soon. my mood will soar as i approach the end of my PA career and with it, the quality of my posts.