Languages in LA

Here in LA, there is apparently a big call for movies so dreadful that they go directly to DVD. They’re a step above porn, but not a big step; zomblie flicks with lots of gratuitous nudity and blood, that sort of thing. They aren’t even slated for theaters. They go directly to DVD and to the Horror or Adult section of the video store, turn a nice profit, and everyone’s happy.

Enjoying them is a matter of having low expectations, I suppose, or knowing exactly what you’re after when you rent a movie like this: campy gore, played more for laughs than thrills. It’s the artistic embodiment of irony.

I stumbled into these odd thoughts as I was working as an extra for The Journeyman. Between takes, the two leads were joking around and tossing cliché’s back and forth, like “just be yourself.”

Kevin McKidd, who is Australian, suggested “just stay in touch with yourself,” and Moon Bloodgood, who is… well, I don’t know what she is, with a name like that, but she seems to be American, trumped him with “just keepin’ it real.”

“Oh right,” he nodded, “keepin’ it real.” They both laughed.
I cringed. I hate that phrase, keepin’ it real, but it’s nice to see I am not the only one who despises it. It’s not the typical kneejerk hatred of slang that has outlived its cool and begun to stink. Keepin’ it real, unlike most slang, never had a moment in the sun as far as I can tell. It was a stupid statement the minute it was coined. I’ve never heard anyone use it unless they were being ironic or joking. It went directly to DVD, if you know what I mean.