I was thumbing through a September 24 issue of NY Times Style Magazine, Travel Fall 2006 edition, when lo and behold the magazine featured Los Angeles as "The Place"(I guess it's referring to the place to visit, maybe not) in the spread written by Maura Egan. Apparently Los Angeles has become California's version of NYC's Times Square(post-Giuliani sleaze eradication Times Square)in recent years. Gone are the seedy mix of the street mimes and runaways and the like that was the main reason why I wanted to visit Los Angeles(the prominent seediness that sharply contrasted the glamour and beauty of the city) in the first place. In its place is a newly beautified clean city brought to you by my own worst enemy, gentrification. Well, now this transformation that took place in Los Angeles now confirms what I've been saying about Hollywood within the last 5 years...that I can't believe how fake it's gotten. That very seediness was pretty much the same reason why I wanted to visit NYC when I was younger because of the abundant wealth and glamour that had sharply contrasted the formerly seedy area of 42nd street and a strip running along Times Square's main thoroughfare that had all but disappeared by the time 1998 came to a close(I managed to see only a few "seedy" places along a strip of Times Square that were still open when I was there in March of 1998 on an Art Honor Society field trip back when I was a freshman in high school). I know, I'm a sick twised perverted person since I appear to always be attracted to the very grit and seediness of a big city in addition to a few tourist attractions and the shopping districts.
This section of the magazine consisted of an ideal(to me becauase I ain't gonna follow most of it, instead, I'll add in some things to do instead that don't involve taking a tour of one of the many mansions that Tom Cruise may or may not have owned at one time) itinerary of the perfect day in the real L.A. Most of what I'll do will consist of either shopping, eating, exercising, clubbing, and relaxing. Of course, I will look at some historic sites and mingle because you'll never know who you'll meet in the city of angels, but I'm also going to take in the underground culture of the city. The piece on L.A. was very well written despite the fact that I won't be following most of the stuff on there. The main focus of the magazine as a whole is on Sofia Coppola's Paris. Yep, you heard it right, Sofia Coppola's Paris. That's funny, I didn't know Sofia Coppola was the one person out of many of the rich and famous who claim the city of Paris as theirs. Then again, I'm not surprised because when your father is a famed fim director/producer, you pretty much get by on your family name and the connections attached to it. Yep, nepotism is alive and well unfortunately.
Mainly this bit on Sofia's Paris came about when she was over in France filming her latest movie, Marie Antoinette(the 1938 or 1939 version of the same movie that had Norma Shearer as the lead character was much better, imho)the movie that I think was poorly cast because if you're an actress who's Sofia's BFF, you're more likely to be given a lead role regardless of whether or not you look like the character you're portraying with very little makeup on. Yep, I'm referring to Kirsten Dunst, because while she's a good actress, she simply didn't fit the role. However, that doesn't matter if you're buddy-buddy with Sofia Coppola(a director who got to where she is due to her family name and connections, while many people her age are now starting out in making their very first movie since they actually worked to get to where they are )because you'll automatically get the role. What's wrong with an unknown actress who has a closer resemblence to the real-life Marie Antoinette instead? Anyway, Sofia apparently was able to rent an apartment in the 6th Arrondissement of Paris(yep, connections once again played a small role here since her parents have an apartment there too)while this movie was in production where she'd have meetings. Then she goes on to boast about how even though her family is Italian(father is...I don't think her mother is though)her family came here a lot when she was little. Well bully for them, my family is Italian-Swedish mainly and we've been fortunate enough to only travel outside of New Jersey and spend a whole week there(Ohio, Florida, Georgia, and Virginia...we lacked the money and connections to be able to travel in luxury and style overseas), yet you don't see me boasting about how I come to be one of many people who 'own' a certain part of each of the three states that I have visited so far in my lifetime because of how fortunate I am to have a connection somehow and somewhere. Hell, I was 17 when I discovered that I had cousins(from my late maternal granfather's side of the family; his nephew and niece)who lived in Florida, but that really doesn't matter since I'm not famous like Sofia Coppola. Then Ms.Coppola goes on to say that she came here as a teenager and spent two summers interning at Chanel(no wonder she's probably able to get a certain limited edition product or any type of clothing from their latest collection before any other wealthy person winds up having one...and the rest of us urchins are lucky enough to get our hands on one that isn't a counterfeit version of a real Chanel piece). Well Sofia, I personally don't give a flying fuck about how you were able to intern at Chanel for 2 summers since most people who would die for a chance to become an intern have to work HARD in order to get that position. Your own name pretty much was one of the reasons why you got that internship. Then she watches shoppers in Hermes "compete for the privilege of buying their coveted handbags" like someone like I would probably watch an episode of Jerry Springer(if they don't care about being labeled as white trash if they like the show since liking the show is apparently something society frowns upon...the pseudo highbrow hipster chunk of society that is). Only difference is the fact that I don't have a prominent family name that would guarantee my privilege of obtaining one of their handbags like Sofia does. Personally, I agree with Sofia about how we rush to get everything done as opposed to how Parisians get things done, which I think is the best way to get it done, by taking your time.
I guess when your father is a director who works with award-winning crew members(such as production designer Dean Tavoularis), you pretty much cut back on costs to hire such help especially when research is needed on a certain person and period the film is focusing on. Apparently, the production designer had researched the period for a movie he ended up not doing and explained things to her about Marie Antoinette, her age, her relationship with her husband Louis. Hell, I learned about half of that stuff in my history classes as a public school student when I wasn't just looking this stuff up on my own. Despite the many things that bug me about Sofia and her movie, the one thing I like about her is the fact that she has a creativity that this country needs more of in every socioeconomic background. It's cool that she had combined her music soundtrack with both post-punk '80s music and classical music, and I do say rather grudgingly that I like her style. I don't hate her completely, I just don't like the fact that she was able to get where she wanted to be because of her family name and magazines completely ignore that since if you're the child of someone like her father who is an acclaimed producer/director and you follow in your parent's footsteps they automatically call them a prodigy because they get into the same career that their parent is in at an above average early age while the rest of us are lucky if we get to where the person is now before we reach retirement age no matter how hard WE work....it doesn't matter because we're the only person in the field and we don't have a parent or blood relative working in the same field who is very highly regarded. Plus I don't like the fact that she's easily able to get something that the rest of us have to fight one another to get a hold of such as an Hermes purse. An interesting article, but then again, it focused on the reader who is wealthy and fortunate enough to be able to spend an x amount of time in Paris and own a nice little apartment there and doesn't have to worry about the money they spend while shopping because they'll be able to pay off the debts if they're smart enough to do so. Next time, try focusing on the majority of people who read this magazine but actually have to watch what they spend money on and how they use their credit cards and still manage to spend a luxurious vacation in Paris without doling out a lot of money. Overall, it was an interesting article and when I'm able to travel to Paris I'll probably stop at some of the places Sofia shopped at and purchase something. I might eat at some of the restaurants that she ate at too. I'll probably only make a point to visit the Salon de Hercules...that's the only place that piqued my interest. I might visit some of the places at Versailles too, but that will remain to be seen.
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