And The Award for Streetside Awareness Marketing Goes To...

Living in LA is unique from living in other large cities.  For one, we have a traffic problem known the world over, and boy, it's a doozy.  It only complicates matters for me in that I live about 2 miles from the major intersection of the 101 and the 110 (which feeds into the I-10)... and yes, those numbers do resembler binary code more than they do freeway designations, and they blur together too often for many drivers who end up on the wrong freeway.  (Seriously?  I-10 and 110 look identical... couldn't we just call the freeways "the 1", "the 2", and "the 3",  or at least some other combination of numbers besides the 1 and o and capital "i"?)  Actually come to think of it, I do use an actual freeway called "the 2" more times than not, so scratch that... we'll have to call them "the 1", "the 2.5" and "the 3".  There.  Problem solved. 

Anyway, all of this is well and good, but you quickly learn when living here that you have to schedule more driving time to reach destinations.  If it takes me 20 minutes to drive to someplace anywhere else in America, it could take me twice that amount of time or longer here in LA to drive the same distance.  I've found myself leaving the house at 5:30am to get to Santa Monica by 7am, and it's only 15 miles away... and you'd be surprised how many times I need the hour and a half I've given myself to actually make sure I can still get to my job on time.  

Well another unique thing about living in LA is the marketing for Hollywood here.  I've been to other big cities where you see the occasional billboard or ad for an upcoming movie or TV series.  But here, in the heart of Tinseltown itself, advertising is big business.  They know you'll be stuck in your car most mornings for a good 45 minutes or longer, so they bombard the freeways with billboards, bus stop posters, and even mobile advertising on the bus sidings.  I'll give you $100 of you can drive 2 miles in any given direction in LA and not be assaulted with some sort of movie or television promotional advertising.  So, I decided to hold a little experiment on my own time to see which films got the most advertising.  The rules were simple: over the course of 48 hours I tried to tally and count every advertisement I saw for any and all upcoming movies.  I figured I'd get a good idea of which films had the bigger advertising budgets based on which films I saw marketed most in this fashion.  Now I know this isn't the only form of advertising... TV spots, internet ads, newspaper space, magazine pages, etc are all used just as well.  But I wanted to see which films were really "taking it to the streets" so to speak, and plus, it gave me something to do on my morning commute.  Think of it as a giant game of "I, Spy" to keep yourself occupied while sitting in bumper to bumper traffic on the wonderful highways of Los Angeles.   So based on my research, here were my findings over the course of the 48 hour time window in which the experiment was conducted, in which all billboards, bus stop ads, and bus siding ads were accounted for.  See how many of the titles you recognize to determine for yourself if these films are being promoted properly, they're all either already out in theaters or coming out soon in December.  

Four Christmases: 16 ads

Bolt: 12 ads

Australia: 9 ads

Seven Pounds: 8 ads

Twilight: 6 ads

Madagascar II: 6 ads

Punisher: War Zone: 6 ads

The Tale of Despereaux: 6 ads

Yes Man: 4 ads

Quantum of Solace: 3 ads

Bedtime Stories: 3 ads

Valkyrie: 3 ads

Role Models: 2 ads

The Spirit: 2 ads

Body of Lies: 2 ads

Kung Fu Panda on DVD: 1 ad (and this sucker was a giant hand-painted display on the side of a building... see above picture... incredible.)

I guess it's fitting that Four Christmases was the number one film of the weekend, it also topped my little pole with the most visible examples of outdoor advertising.  You'll also note that films which have already been released, such as Quantum of Solace and Body of Lies don't have as many ads up, that's because once a film comes out they start covering most of the old ads out there with new ads for as-yet-unreleased movies.  Interestingly enough, two films I have not seen any outdoor ads for but have seen at least 3 or 4 television spots for each are Transporter 3 and The Day The Earth Stood Still... perhaps these films have chosen to dump all of their ad money into TV spots as opposed to outdoor marketing posters? Regardless, it was a fun little experiment, and I've even included a few pictures to show you what I'm talking about... most of the TV ads have died down since the new seasons started, and TV shows weren't part of my experiment this time around, so the old pictures of House and Heroes billboards/promotional posters are just to continue to paint you picture of life out here... 

Learning to Love LA, Snow Patrol Style

The last few months have been truly interesting for lack of a better word, and many of you who I've talked to over the phone have learned that I've developed a very close knit love-hate relationship with the city of Los Angeles.  For better or for worse, I'm currently here and that's where I'm going to be until the Lord in his infinite wisdom and timing leads me elsewhere.  This stay in LA could last less than a year or for the rest of my life.  Heck, the rest of my life might only be less than a year long, none of us can predict our future with certainty.  All that said, I've been listening to the "new" Snow Patrol album recently, and I put the word new in parenthesis because if you're a fan as I am of the Snow Patrol, the album is no longer really new, and you probably have all the new tracks memorized like me.  The title of the CD is "A Hundred Million Suns" and the first single is a track called "Take Back The City".  In effect, this song really captures how I feel about LA most of the time, particularly the part where is says this city is "a mess, a start, and a flawed work of art." Yet, this is "Your city, your call".  I couldn't have said it better myself, feeling called to be here amidst some of the most flawed works and people imaginable (myself certainly included!)  I have no idea the story behind the song, I doubt it was written for and about LA necessarily, but it moved me enough to blog about it, so without further ado, here are the lyrics to "Take Back The City".  

Take back the city for yourself tonight

I'll take back the city for me

Take back the city for yourself tonight

Whoa

God knows you put your life into its hands

And it's both cradled you and crushed

But now it's time to make your own demands

Whoa

All these years later and it's killing me

Your broken records in words

Ten thousand craters where it all should be

Whoa

No need to put your words into my mouth

Don't need convincing at all

I love this place enough to have no doubts

Whoa

It's a mess, it's a start

It's a flawed work of art

Your city, your call

Every crack, every wall

Pick a side, pick a fight

Get your epitaph right

You can sing, 'til you drop

'Cause the fun just never stops

I love this city tonight

I love this city always

It bears its teeth like a light

And spits me out after days

But we're all gluttons for it

We know what's wrong and what's right

For every time it's been hit

Take back the city tonight

Tell me you never wanted more than this

And I will stop talking now

One perfect partner, one eternal kiss

Whoa 

Take back the city for yourself tonight

I'll take back the city for me

Take back the city for yourself tonight

Whoa

It's a mess, it's a start

It's a flawed work of art

Your city, your call

Every crack, every wall

Pick a side, pick a fight

Get your epitaph right

You can sing, 'til you drop

'Cause the fun just never stops

I love this city tonight

I love this city always

It bears its teeth like a light

And spits me out after days

But we're all gluttons for it

We know what's wrong and what's right

For every time it's been hit

Take back the city tonight

I love this city tonight

I love this city always

So there you have it... for those who keep asking how best to pray for me, pray that by God's grace and hand of providence I'll be able to help truly Take Back The City.... 

Election Day in L.A. 2008

I snapped a few pics of the polling places I passed on the way to work on the morning of November 4th.  It seems like it was so long ago, but it's only been a few weeks since Americans elected Barack Obama their 44th President of the United States.  I'm not going to get caught up in a blog about what is or what could have been, what's done is done folks.  Anyway, I thought these pictures were kinda unique... a nice little slice of democracy and what it looks like, all that jazz, etc.  Anyway, better to post them late than never at all, right?  Enjoy. 

In Case You Missed It...

For those who didn't see with your own eyes but perhaps heard the rumors... well... here's the proof.  I dressed up as Martin Luther for Reformation Day (Pagans call it "Halloween"). Cheers.    

New Pictures of Life in LA

They say a picture says a thousand words, so until I can sit down and adequately write a thousand words about my most recent experiences, check out this album here to see what I've been up to lately.  Special Features include pictures from all of the following: You'll learn of the Reformation Party where I dressed as Martin Luther, you'll see pics of election day in LA, you'll marvel at the fun I'm having working for my uncle at Backyard productions on a Nasonex commercial, you'll see pics from the great gay LA riots of 2008, and you'll also catch a pic or two of yours truly partying in style atop the Roosevelt Hotel at the AFI film festival where we all got to attend the world premiere of Last Chance Harvey and see Dustin Hoffman.  Boo-yah!  Things are going well (and don't worry Mom, the pics may look a little interesting at times, but I didn't have a drink... promise).  I'll write a lot more later, until then....