I am always looking for methods and things I can endeavor in for self-improvement. I was listening to a podcast from the TWiT network called FrameRate. Its about digital media and the intersection of hollywood and new media distribution. If you are at all interested in the subject area I would fully endorse it for a listen.

They got a letter from a listener who brought up the age old subject of how to feel when something small and indie you like blows up and becomes super popular. This is mainly noticed by hipsters and indie music fans who feel like something is lost when small bands they follow get a bigger following and more attention.

But something else that they touched on struck me. Tom discusses how part of that feeling is how one tends to think you found something cool and special and sharing that secret with a few trusted, worthy friends. There is a rush you get with sharing this new discovery and that feeling that it is something just for you and your friends. You are above the masses and know something great that everyone else doesn’t.

I really related to this, but in a different way. I have incredibly low self-esteem. I am decidedly uncool. And, tragically at the same time I am not that bright or clever. (any success I can take credit for is based solely on my work ethic and my ability to buckle down and put in twice the effort and time, so I simply outwork my competition) So, I don’t fit in the with the cool kids nor the geeks.

Instead, I always have felt my value was in knowing something someone else didn’t. I would figure out that secret shortcut, or have some key information that someone else didn’t. Sharing that information gave me an in, or proved my value. This earned my keep for whatever group I ran in. However, the downside of this is that I often come dangerously close to being painted a know-it-all. I have to constantly keep myself in check to not stray too far into a smug spray of needless oneupmanship of facts and corrections.

You can listen to the full episode here: Frame Rate 109. The key part I am interested in is from 01:01:27 – 01:03:32

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 28,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 6 Film Festivals.

Click here to see the complete report.

Recent fellow Los Angeles transplant Julia Allison wrote an opinion article in the New York Post this past week. It was regarding the issue of a new series following the characters of “Sex and The City” during their younger formative years. Basically Julia warned her younger readers not to be caught up in the romance of the story of being an “it” girl in NYC because reality is much different.

However, that is not what I focused on (obviously). I focused more on how Julia compared the NYC frenetic stressful lifestyle to the more laidback LA one.

“Sex and the City” may have been responsible for our move to NYC at 22, but long before we hit 30, we were ready to get out. We made the move to Los Angeles this past October, and it’s been positive in every way.

We used to get stressed about how everyone seems so much more relaxed out here, but now we’ve become those same chill West Coast people. Why? Because it’s easier. Turns out you can get the same amount of work done, but people know how to switch off. They know how to get outside, take hiking meetings, dedicate time to people. There’s a creative energy flourishing that seemed to be stifled in New York.

She isn’t alone in this position. Even critics who found faults with her column agreed with her premise that LA is more relaxed:

Funny, I moved to LA in September. I feel relaxed here too! I’m quite happy in Los Angeles, despite how devastated I initially was to leave NYC. And yes, it’s easier to drive to Costco and Target and hang out at friends’ houses. Sure, the outdoors are more accesible due to LA’s 24/7 glorious weather, but I find New Yorkers just as — if not more — committed to experiencing nature in whatever way they can. At 5 a.m. on a Saturday Central Park is packed with runners, while the Silverlake Reservoir sits empty until 8 a.m.

What is interesting to me is that NYC seems like the harder place to live, and LA is “easier”. Almost as if those who can’t make it in New York, or don’t want to put forth the effort fall back to Los Angeles. But believe me, I am working my ass off to “make it” here. I assume I’m not the only one.

And I certainly romanticize NYC like everyone else – or at least Woody Allen’s idealized version of it. But why is it the end-all-be-all of great metropolitan cities? Perhaps Angelenos have simply figured it out. I prefer Bill Maher’s take on the feud:

…the city I’ve always had a problem with is New York. I’ve paid a price for that, because the press is mostly in New York, and they’re very thin-skinned. Anything you say other than the conventional wisdom—that New York is the greatest city in the world—is treason. I don’t like living in an urban setting. I don’t like living in a building. I don’t like the weather. I know a million people who started in New York and moved to L.A. I don’t know anybody who did it in reverse. It’s nice out here. This life is just easier. It’s very seductive. It rained a lot the first three weeks I was here, but it didn’t take long before the sun came out, and I realized I was wearing a very light jacket in January. That said a lot.

Why is “roughing it” the more appealing situation?

First, the weather is so temperate, even slight fluctuations are unusual. I now complain of being “cold” if it dips below 60 degrees.

Second, while the lack of humidity makes for quite comfortable summers, in the winter it is incredibly dry, and my skin is suffering. I am peeling on my face.

On that note: any suggestions for a masculine moisturizer I could use to prevent my face from peeling off like that scene in American Pyscho?