MY URBAN KVETCH

This February, Frolic With LimmudLA

Seriously, because all these people are going to be at the LimmudLA Conference in February. Want to see a list of presenters (being updated all the time!)? Check it out to read names such as, well, everyone I've met in Los Angeles in the last year, and the Greenbergs (Yitz and Blu), and one Yonatan Gordis from the Center for Leadership Initiatives (which organizes ROI, among other programs). Oh yeah, and me: I proposed a bunch of sessions, and will keep you informed as to which ones were Chosen.

But if you can't wait till then (and let's face it, who can?) then check out LimmudLA's ongoing events series: happy hours and Tastes of LimmudLA, which are held in different L.A. neighborhoods (the next two are this Sunday in Pasadena, and in two Sundays in Mar Vista). So if you're commitment-phobic, check out a Taste, and see what you think. Make sure to add Happenings LimmudLA on Facebook to stay updated on all the fabu events.

If you have any other questions about the Conference, check the FAQ, and you can hit me up in the comments, or ask @limmudLA on Twitter.

    

10 Twitter Lists I Don't Want to Be On

It was supposed to be a secret, but it's the kind of secret that no one is keeping. As some of us logged into our Twitter accounts, we were blessed with the appearance of "Tweetie" (that's the Twitter bird) who bore the following message:

New! Lists. A great way to organize the people you follow and discover new and interesting accounts. (BETA) Lists are timelines you build yourself, consisting of friends, family, co-workers, you name it.

Not everyone has Twitter Lists right now, but the plan is to roll them out soon. Since Twitter Lists launched (a week ago or so), I've been named to 13 lists, among them titles like "cooljews," "ROICom," and "chicksthatlead." It's an honor, really, to be considered so essential that other people want to organize your content among the liketweeted. And in case you wondered what your Twitter friends think of you, this is a good way - as they tag your life by listing you, you get a picture of which words are associated with you (or the Twitter representation of you) most. Also, people don't seem to care how long their list names are, which may yet change.

But someday soon, I'm going to land on a list with a name that's a little less than complimentary. In anticipation of that day, I present...

10 Twitter Lists I Don't Want to Be On

10. "funnyoddnotfunnyhaha"
9.  "cheesychicklit"
8. "burninhelljew"
7. "earthgirlsareeasy"
6. "fashionemergency"
5. "jdateforeva"
4. "girlswhowearglasses"
3. "justgiveup"
2. "ohcrapnother"

And it goes without saying that the number one Twitter List I don't want to be on is:

1. "schindlerslist"

Which of course lands me on the list called "makesjokesabouttheholocaust." Great.

"Writing for Hollywood" - A Contemplation

Ever since I moved here a year ago, people have been voicing their predictions/assumptions about what I'd come out here to do. "You're totally moving out there to write a screenplay, I know it," some opined, while others were convinced I'd write the next "Friends" ("It'll be Jewish! And set on the Upper West Side! And instead of going to Central Perk, they'll go to shul!") One of my friends is convinced I'm destined to be the lady version of Judd Apatow, and yet another keeps reminding me that "if Matt Damon and Ben Affleck can write a screenplay, so can you." 

My goals for myself were slightly more modest: I wanted to live somewhere other than New York, and, to paraphrase Buffy, "rain bad, beach pretty." But I did have some Industry inspirations: I imagined that being out here would enable me to get to know the Hollywood world a little better. I've been reading Entertainment Weekly and cruising entertainment sites, and commenting here and in other places about pop culture for years. But here, I could talk to the people out here who make it all happen, maybe visit a few sets and befriend some writers who were on different levels, from struggling (I've found a bunch of those) to successful (I've encountered a few of those, too, but they're harder to find in the Pico-Robertson Jewy Jewworld). Then I'd figure out what to do about the now geographical juxtaposition between my writing and that industry that's known both for slaughtering the souls of innocents and entertaining the hearts of millions. 

So that's what I've done this year. I've talked with writers for sitcoms past and present, forged a slightly strange relationship with one of the co-creators of "Arrested Development," and tried to learn content, political and creative lessons from showrunners for "Weeds" and "United States of Tara." I even managed to get to one degree of separation from Joss Whedon (all hail, He Who Conquers Television and Internet) on several occasions. I'm learning. 

Digital Hollywood: Publicists, Writers, Content Developers Talk Blogs, Celebs and More

For a woman like me, this Digital Hollywood conference is like a crash course in some things I know and some things I don't know, all at the same time. Obviously, being at a professional conference specifically geared for the entertainment industry in the town I moved to a year ago is a new experience for me: I don't know who the players are; how a TV writer hones her craft and makes connections; how a celebrity gets his or her press; or how Hollywood views the internet. 

And yet, I do.

Sure, there are some processes and politics that are specific to the industry of Hollywood and celebrity gossip. But publicity, whether it's for Spencer and Heidi (whatever) or for a name change at an umbrella organization of Jewish federations (see here), is about two things for a publicist: crafting the message and getting that message out. What the message is is situation-specific; and the modes used for distributing that message should be as well. One could point out a vital third component with two parts: relationship - both the relationship between the publicist and his/her client, and the relationship between the publicist/client entity and members of the press. 

Several ideas and experiences seemed familiar or intuitive to me, but were hailed as innovative by the audience, which consisted of an eclectic group of underemployed, self-employed, publicists, writers, editors, actors, producers, content developers, web designers, techie coder geeks, advertising representatives, lawyers, event planners and professional schmoozers. With a group that large and diverse, programming had to be similarly diverse in terms of appeal and approach, and in many cases it was. But it's hard to speak to a group with so many degrees of online literacy

For instance, if you didn't realize that making it in Hollywood was hard, well, you would after attending the conference - at one point I imagined Debbie Allen in the corner, leaning on a dance stick, giving her monologue ("You got big dreams? You want fame? Well fame costs...and right here's where you start paying -- in sweat." FAME!). Also, did you know that "Glee" was popular in part due to its premiere over the summer and then the anticipatory build until the season began in September? Or, that "The Office" didn't have that strong a following at first, but then built because of the online audience? Or that "Dr. Horrible" was financed personally by Joss Whedon? Or that the "Mad Men" characters have been Tweeting, but that they're not supported by AMC - they're a fan initiative? I've never been to a tech conference before, but I, in fact, did know all these things. But the oohs and aahs of the audience proved that not everyone reads Entertainment Weekly like I do.

There also seemed to be unrelenting criticism of bloggers as panelists and attendees seemed to alternately thank the bloggers for mobilizing fans online and condemn them for their unpredictability, and for not following traditional journalism's rules. This constant reference to all bloggers as unprofessional (which is not the same thing as calling them "not journalists") highlighted the fact that people don't get it: blogging is a tool, and all kinds of people use that tool to do all kinds of writing. (This disconnect is something those of us in Jewish journalism/commentary have seen before, if you remember "Jewish Bloggers Are Not the Enemies of Jewish Storytelling.")

Some bloggers write journalistically, others juvenilely.  And there's a continuum, of course. Many of us do employ a different tone than traditional journalism, and write in this tone because the medium's democracy and immediacy lends itself to the personal lens that most bloggers take to the subjects about which they're most passionate. But for the most part, I heard people blame bloggers more than thank them: for leaking stories, for lying, for being a source of negative press, for being uncontrollable, for being unprofessional, for ushering traditional journalism toward its deathbed...I was waiting to hear how bloggers were responsible for higher taxes, Michael Jackson's death, and 9/11, but I guess I missed that session. 

Digital Hollywood Content Summit: Initial Observations

So, in case I haven't mentioned it, I'm at Digital Hollywood's Content Summit this week in Santa Monica. This is exciting a) because I love learning about how technology has impacted the entertainment sphere and b) because this is the first conference in a while that doesn't feature the term "good for the Jews" anywhere in the program.

Here are some initial "shorts," just perfect for you short-attention-spanners for whom a 5-minute YouTube video seems too long:

• Jewish conference: "What? Food again?" / Hollywood conference: "Where's the bar?" (There was no food anywhere that I saw during this conference. Tomorrow, I bring sandwiches. And sell them.)
• One thing that Jewish conferences and Hollywood conferences seem to agree on? Sarah Lefton and G-dcast are awesome. Sarah pitched G-dcast to a panel of Hollywood tastemakers and content producers...and they liked it.
• There was some debate over whether, when it comes to viral video, it's better to be first than be best. Thoughts?
• Saw Justine Bateman within ten minutes of my arrival. She was already surrounded, so I chickened out of talking to her. 
• Several people predicted that online space would totally take over the entertainment world in the next five years. Others thought it already was taking over the entertainment industry, but that the money models aren't really set yet - we have to figure out when doing our projects what people are willing to pay for in order to monetize the product. I know my money models aren't set yet. :)
• In "We Live in Public," the film's subject - Josh Harris - made a ton of money in the dot com boom, and engaged in experiments regarding living in public, having every moment of their lives taped. He's alternately hailed as a visionary, an artist, and a genius (often all by himself), but the truth is that he's accurately foreseen the trends that today's internet users embrace: self-exposure, the need for community approval, connection to people without really connecting to them.
• Harris admitted after the screening that he had never experienced real "intimate love," despite the fact that one of his experiments was him and his girlfriend - or as he referred to her, his "fake girlfriend" - living together and being taped in every moment. And the moment when it all clicked that intimate love had evaded him? When he watched "The Truman Show," and saw Truman's wife in their wedding picture, with her fingers crossed behind her back. 

There's much more to say on this film and the issues it brought up, but that'll have to be tomorrow. Writer's Boot Camp starts early in the am...

Good night, Hollywood. 

Conan Confirms My L.A. Rain Observations

Leave it to a fellow transplanted New Yorker - with a bigger studio budget - to produce a segment that illustrates my earlier point about how confused Angelenos are by rain. Thanks, Conan. 

L.A.nniversary Drinks Tonight: Lola's on Fairfax (with LimmudLA)

If you're in Los Angeles tonight, I hope you'll join me and my LimmudLA friends for Happy Hour at Lola's (the martini-specializing bar that claims to have invented the green apple martini). In addition to gathering with other LimmudLAniks past and future, we'll be celebrating my first year in Los Angeles.

6:30-8:30 pm at Lola's, 945 N. Fairfax Avenue (between Melrose and Santa Monica)

RSVP to the Facebook event page. 

L.A.nniversary: Could I Find a New Home in Digital Hollywood?

One of the reasons I moved here - yes, I'll admit it now, although I might not have last October - is that Hollywood - TV & film and the people who create meaningful or comedic content - interests me. At this particular moment in the life of Hollywood, there are more scripts than there can be network shows or big Hollywood productions. As it is doing in nearly every other field, the internet is throwing the industry for a loop. An excess of creative content, a recession, a lack of non-reality network opportunities, plus the limitless space of the internet combine for a perfect storm of innovation when it comes to content presentation. 

FunnyorDie, CollegeHumor, TheOnion, CurrentTV - all have proven popular and have created (or maintained) high production quality standards for online content. This realm - where pop culture entertainment meets digital life - seems to have been custom created for a girl like me.

I stumbled across Digital Hollywood: The Conference (colon and subhead added for dramatic effect) through a series of "just happened to"s: I just happened to go to the Mediabistro networking event, and just happened to strike up a conversation with Lana Rushing, and we just happened to be talking a week later on an unrelated issue when she mentioned Digital Hollywood. The more I looked at the list of sessions, the more excited I became about the topic. Then I saw the words "Hollywood Content Summit," followed by magical phrases like "pitch camp," "writing boot camp," "comedy master classes," etc  - within an hour I was signed up.

L.A.nniversary Week: Weather You're Ready Or Not

If it's hard for you to believe, imagine how hard it is for me to fully embrace that I've been in LA nearly a year. This week (Friday, actually), is the first anniversary of my migration away from my beloved New York and to a new, distant shore. I came in search of change - of routine, climate, worklife, social community, spiritual observance, self - and found it in abundance. I found diversity, and fascinatingly, an entirely fresh perspective on just about everything. 

For instance, take the weather from the last two days. It was grey, overcast, and when you looked away for an hour, the pavement looked like it had been rained on, even though you didn't hear thunder or see rain drops descend. It was a day for a long-sleeved shirt, the occasional chill in your spine, and seemed to require constant intake of coffee, tea and soup. It goes without saying that this isn't the weather I moved here from New York for. Still, even from under this cloud front, even with the threat of invisible raindrops perhaps poised and about to hurtle toward the earth, I'm smiling. 

Firstly, when you live in LA, you know the rain is temporary. When the clouds came out and the sun went away in New York, you never knew if you'd see it again until spring. That, coupled with the plummeting temperatures and rain that sometimes becomes sleet and hail, made New York precipitation a very different beast than this barely there, hint of rain-that-once-was. In LA, this weather is a blip, albeit a blip that arouses a momentary panic over oils on the roadway and the annual search for the household umbrella. (Check your car trunk.)

Contemplating Tashlich: Bus, Beach, Bread

[Tashlich is a ritual of repentance in which Jews take bread, representing their sins, and throw them into a moving body of water, in a symbolic gesture of rejection. This year, I did tashlich on the beach next to the Santa Monica Pier.]

Back on a bus after my week with a convertible, my flash-in-the-pan-all-is-vanity car, mine on loan from a friend like a body from God, God who presides over all things – body, convertible, deeds, punishment, and repentance. 

The Day of Judgment looms. After two days of sumptuous meals, round challahs dripping a mess of honey over my holiday clothes and oozing through my fingers, after two days of wishing people a good year, the mood drops from a cheer to a whisper. Somber tones conquer conversations, as people wish you a good fast, or meaningful fast, when really, what it means is you’ll be hungry, or thirsty, more likely, as you sit and stand and sit and stand invoking mercy and compassion from the One True Judge. 

But that’s next week. Today, down by the water’s edge, I pray for the opposite of the holiday. I pray for no judgment at all. I’ve tried to do what’s right this year, but there is so seldom a path that is clearly straight and narrow, and any judge worth his salt – and let’s face it, God deals his salt in pillars – would consider the evidence and have to return a verdict of guilty. 

That’s the point, isn’t it? That behind our blogs and sunglasses and convertibles, we’re all, always, guilty. Every year. 

That’s why I’m heading back to the beach, not for sun and fun, but to dig into self in stead of in sand, hoping even within my Judaism for some holy baptismal moment. In that immersive instant, as my shoes slip off, feet into soft sand, then approach the sea, where they submerge and are washed until they’re…something. Dirt on my feet, even when freshly emerged from water, indicates that just because you’ve washed something doesn’t mean it’s truly clean.