And before I start, this was not just a realization but I've known of all these celebrity deaths and all of that in Hollywood/California, it definitely gives me an impression that Hollywood/California is an unsafe place especially if you're a celebrity. This is celebrity related really because I've noticed a trend of famous celebrities who have met serious fates there from Sam Cooke to John Belushi to Marvin Gaye and on down, and now with Michael and Whitney, I just wonder what's this thing with Hollywood and deaths and I wonder if it's just coincidence or what.

Just wanted a debate on this.

Hollywood is about exploitation 2 it's highest degree.

Most humans are NOT built 4 what it really stands 4.

I've seen it 1st hand. Only the TRULY strong survive.

Graycap23 said:

Hollywood is about exploitation 2 it's highest degree.

Most humans are NOT built 4 what it really stands 4.

I've seen it 1st hand. Only the TRULY strong survive.

I've kept reading people who gave their views on Hollywood and can definitely agree to what you're saying.

I have childhood friends that are out there in film; they switch back and forth between there and New York (their original stomping grounds). Can't say that I'm really happy when they're California bound, because though they're grown ass people I do worry about what craziness they can (and sometimes do) fall into getting their hustle on in the Hollyweird machine. It's so damned toxic I pretty much wait with (metaphorical) baited breath for them to burn out, and then return to the east coast every few years. I personally have never had a Hollywood/LA experience that didn't read like some carbon copy of

or even this surprisingly dark show

I started watching this show because I thought it would be a typical night soap (like Melrose Place)...good lord did this shock the **** out of me, it's dark and bloody (but good tv that pushes the envelope). As much as I enjoy it I can really be glad that most of my friends and I are old, settled, and out of that hungry, crazed phase of our 20's when anything goes, and especially in places like LA.

Hollywood and LA don't make up the majority of the state.

Genesia said:

I don't think it really changes people. I think it magnifies vulnerabilities that are already there.

I've seen 2 change folks in a MAJOR way.

Genesia said:

I don't think it really changes people. I think it magnifies vulnerabilities that are already there.

I agree with this.

^ I agree. It's not all of Cali. If you drive an hour or two south (San Diego) it's another world entirely, if you go to Nothern Cali, it's also another world. Hollywood/L.A. proper, OMG! The worse!

I started a thread awhile back about my new favorite show on HGTV - Selling L.A. vs Selling New York. It's sickens me how the poeple are In L.A.. At least in New York, you know who you are dealing with from Jump, in L.A., you may as well be talking to manniquin!

G3000 said:

^ I agree. It's not all of Cali. If you drive an hour or two south (San Diego) it's another world entirely, if you go to Nothern Cali, it's also another world. Hollywood/L.A. proper, OMG! The worse!

I started a thread awhile back about my new favorite show on HGTV - Selling L.A. vs Selling New York. It's sickens me how the poeple are In L.A.. At least in New York, you know who you are dealing with from Jump, in L.A., you may as well be talking to manniquin!

I always heard if you come to Los Angeles that people can tell where you're from and you automatically are looked on as foreign to them. Like they have their own language in L.A., Beverly Hills, etc.

Timmy84 said:

G3000 said:

^ I agree. It's not all of Cali. If you drive an hour or two south (San Diego) it's another world entirely, if you go to Nothern Cali, it's also another world. Hollywood/L.A. proper, OMG! The worse!

I started a thread awhile back about my new favorite show on HGTV - Selling L.A. vs Selling New York. It's sickens me how the poeple are In L.A.. At least in New York, you know who you are dealing with from Jump, in L.A., you may as well be talking to manniquin!

I always heard if you come to Los Angeles that people can tell where you're from and you automatically are looked on as foreign to them. Like they have their own language in L.A., Beverly Hills, etc.

Los Angeles is made up, probably, of more transplants than natives. I'm a native and people are always surprised when I tell them I'm from Cali.

Los Angeles is AMAZING. The opportunities here are unlike anywhere else. I love L.A.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Timmy84 said:

I always heard if you come to Los Angeles that people can tell where you're from and you automatically are looked on as foreign to them. Like they have their own language in L.A., Beverly Hills, etc.

Los Angeles is made up, probably, of more transplants than natives. I'm a native and people are always surprised when I tell them I'm from Cali.

Los Angeles is AMAZING. The opportunities here are unlike anywhere else. I love L.A.

Why would I be surprised? If you didn't know me, you'd think I was some "Blackneck" from the "Dirty South". It's funny how Los Angeles have emigrants and yet if you just visit, they act like they BEEN from there.

That's so true! I'm from the south (Louisiana), but moved to L.A. 25 yrs ago, I go back to visit and people say, "you look like you're from Cali/L.A."? Like I'm from another planet. WTF does that mean??

But then, I now look at them the same way.

I don't buy into the L.A. mentality, but I understand it.

I Can actually agree with Timmy on this, i love in West Hollywood. And before then on Hollywood & vine, i went to film school with some great peeps. But a lot of them got into the Hollywood lifestyle, glamours parties, drinking, some even drugs. And i'm not just talking marijuana sadly... i'm talking coke, acid and all kinds.

They began to get full of themselves, not show up to class often and would get outside help on school projects. Because we where ''not creative'' enough or ''unreliable''

Mess

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

I would really love to leave this place, but I'm kinda stuck. It was cool for awhile, but I really hate it now!!

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Genesia said:

I don't think it really changes people. I think it magnifies vulnerabilities that are already there.

I agree with this.

Go from "normal, 2 semi star, 2 star with serious loot in the bank and people start kissing your ass on a regular basis. Trust this, that would change 99% of most humans.

Hilarious.

I agree 1,000%.

My daughter had the chance to try out for some parts. But my wife and I ultimately passed.

We just couldn't think of one young girl who went to Hollywood and stayed normal/a non-smoker/a non-drug addict/a non-boozer. Not one, although surely there must be one.

The only person we came close to was Taylor Swift, who seems to have kept her morals intact. Of course, she is a little older, and didn't go to Hollywood but rather to Nashville.

.

[Edited 2/17/12 13:09pm]

Genesia said:

I don't think it really changes people. I think it magnifies vulnerabilities that are already there.

The many people who worked the Hollywood machine and emerged just fine are rarely in the headlines, so they're forgotten or overlooked.

People, there are other jobs in LA than just moviestar!

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

People, there are other jobs in LA than just moviestar!

Seriously. And uh, 'Hollywood' / 'California' are hardly interchangeable. There's 38 million MFs in that state and 156k square miles of land.

If you just wanna seek work doing something besides entertainment, of course it's not any different. I wasn't talking about normal folks.

not all of us are hollywood casualities. it's just the casualities that make for interesting tabloid fodder.

some of us have done our time, and moved on.

To quote Miss Yvette Stevens, "Everybody makes believe in Hollywood. Whoooooa!!!".

BlackAdder7 said:

not all of us are hollywood casualities. it's just the casualities that make for interesting tabloid fodder.

some of us have done our time, and moved on.

I know. I was just saying in general. Of course not everyone who goes to Hollywood easily fall victim. Like Genesia said, people may have had hidden demons before moving or going there.

back when i lived in a big white mansion at the top of the hollywood hills i'd always hang with the brilliant crowd, they'd come to my parties, laugh my jokes, listen to my music, eat my food, swim in my pools... it was groovy. we were all so young back then. and the fame~! but after a while it got so the sun was just a little too bright and i just couldn't take the altitude in those hollywood hills anymore. i guess life just got too fast for me. too many happy shiny parties and late nights and i can't hardly even remember the what else of it all. so i came back home to minneapolis, the cradle of real civilization. i had to save me from myself before it was too late. i guess it's true what they say, hollywood can change a person. it changed me, but i lived to talk about it.

It's not Hollywood/Cali, it's the entertainment business itself. I was just talking about this at work. Drug, alcohol abuse and high divorce rates goes hand and hand in this business. I'm sad to say that when I hear someone in the entertainment business died because of drugs/alcohol, i'm not surprised. It's a helluva sacrifice to give up your identity, privacy, peace of mind, etc to be rich and famous. I can definitely see why they turn to drugs/alcohol to cope esp when they are no longer on top. Only the strong can survive.

That's just my 2 cents

debbiedean2 said:

It's not Hollywood/Cali, it's the entertainment business itself. I was just talking about this at work. Drug, alcohol abuse and high divorce rates goes hand and hand in this business. I'm sad to say that when I hear someone in the entertainment business died because of drugs/alcohol, i'm not surprised. It's a helluva sacrifice to give up your identity, privacy, peace of mind, etc to be rich and famous. I can definitely see why they turn to drugs/alcohol to cope esp when they are no longer on top. Only the strong can survive.

That's just my 2 cents

That's actually what I meant to say. The business. I surely didn't start this right... thanks that's exactly what I was trying to say.