A note on the (re)naming of the blog

This blog has gone through many name changes, none of them worth repeating now, and finally I’ve landed on this: “Valleywood.” Slightly cheesy I know, but I feel its strangely fitting at the moment. I currently live in Hollywood (still weird for me to say that) and its probably the only time I can get away with attaching this title to anything I’m doing.  The idea actually came from my good friend Aryan Kaganof ( a man who is not unfamiliar with renaming) during the creation of Afrikaaps. He was adamant that I needed to start a company and that “Valleywood” should be the name. Apparently there’s already a Valleywood Productions in LA, plus my future business partner (Antoinette) is not too keen on the name. So at least I get to use it for this blog.

I also don’t imagine the blog will live beyond my stay in LA; I struggled in the past to blog here regularly, but now it will serve as a good way to keep my friends and family in South Africa updated on what I’m up to while I am away. Since I am studying journalism at USC, in the future I plan to focus my writing on stuff I can actually publish on Africa is a Country and elsewhere.  On here I’ll be sharing some of my class projects, videos and writing. In the future I’ll be showcasing my work on my website, which is still under some construction. So for now, welcome to Valleywood. I’ll be your guide, enjoy the ride….

One Month in L.A.

I can’t believe it’s happened so fast, but already a month has flown by. I remember getting the letter from USC (University of Southern California) to say I had received a Pulitzer fellowship and that I was being offered full tuition to study an MA in Specialized Journalism. I was listening to an Ahmad Jamal record, a song where he plays a frenetic piano refrain that perfectly matched the storm brewing inside me. Finally, the dream is coming true, and yet now I everything has to change. Freak out.

Long story short, I promptly started packing up my life, went to Joburg a couple times to see Antoinette, said goodbye to friends and family, and hopped aboard a very very long flight. Erna (one of my professors, acclaimed journalist and all round amazing person) picked me up at LAX airport and we proceeded to the nearest Soulfood place…. HELLO LA!

When I first got to LA, I had this dread feeling of “What have I done?” I felt so far away from my friends and family… and getting engaged just before I came threw some extra emotion into the mix! (That story is a whole post in itself that will probably never happen.)The first few days was really hard and I missed Antoinette but I found solace in small mercies … my housemates were cool South Africans (one of whom I know from university), I found a nice coffee shop close by (essential), and  living close to one of the best record stores in the world didn’t hurt either…

Once I settled into my neighbourhood (Hollywood, of all places) It was time to get ready for classes to start. The building where we were having our Summer Multimedia Bootcamp class was a beautiful old Victorian… the classes went well and the professors, instructors (Sasha Anawalt, Erna Smith and Jon Vidar), and classmates were all cool. They called it “bootcamp” because we were in class from 9 to 6 everyday…luckily coffee and Trader Joe’s snacks were always at hand. Bootcamp was a great experience because we were able to forge strong friendships in an intense non-stop learning environment. We were able to rally together around a single cause… getting through bootcamp.

On the first day of bootcamp, Kool A.D. performed in Echo Park. Needless to say, he’s from one of my favourite groups of all time, Das Racist. I missed his set trying to finish my homework for the next day but myself and my friend Tricia hung out till we spotted him… and subsequently approached him for a picture. He was really obliging. All round cool guy. Trip made. I can go home now. Oh wait, school just started.

One of the projects we did in our bootcamp was an audios slideshow, which I made on one of the servers at this taco stand in my neighbourhood, The Cactus. I saw this place in one of my favourite LA blogs before coming here. Incidentally I also met Earl Sweatshirt here (turns out one of my friends from class is a family friend.) Best taco stand ever. (On a side note, I got to meet Fatlip from Tha Pharcyde on the bus…  he sat down right next to me. )

Also something crazy and awesome happened. I got to meet Jared Hess, director of the cult hit Napoleon Dynamite, one of my favourite indie movies. Jared was in Cape Town shooting a commercial and saw my friend Kent’s (Alpha Longboards) piece that CNN did on him. Long story short, Jared met up with Kent, Kent made him some skateboards and told him about me. Jared looked me up when he got to LA and we had dinner together. Surreal? Definitely. But also so normal. It was a great experience because it showed me how there are still people in showbiz who are down to earth , ‘normal’ people, regardless of their success and talent. 

I also got to meet up with some old friends from SA and meet some new ones…

Which brings me to where I am now… in the swing of things with Fall semester just started. I’m starting to get comfortable with the idea that LA is my home for now. This is the kind of place where anything seems possible, where anything you wanted could be out there, and probably is. Reflecting on the month that was, I have already learnt a lot, not just in terms of schoolwork, but in terms of what’s possible. I am starting to realise more and more that in setting our intentions for goals and dreams, we might be surprised how obtainable they are. That in itself is a scary thought.