(Note: Since my Tumblr deplatformed my blogs without warning, rhyme or reason in 2020, I'm thinking to start posting bits and pieces from my archives here. Ultimately, archives will be posted for paying members, and small donations, but for now, here's a freebie...)

Back in what I call "The Last Days of Silverlake", a bunch of us converted our diesel Benzes to run on recycled veggie oil.

Personally, I was inspired to do this when MOCA (or was it LACMA?) blasted Los Angeles with an advertising campaign wherein they posted art descriptions all over town. Like, above a strip joint, they would have a billboard that looked like the Helvetica-fonted descriptions posted next to paintings, which said "Depravity: nudity, alcohol, and dollar bills" the way that artists' materials are listed next to their works.

One day, I was at the gas pump, filling my then Honda Civic, and there was one posted on the pump itself which read: "Middle East Dependency: fossil fuels, war, death" (or something similar). It hit me HARD, and I switched over to an ancient Mercedes, and converted it to run on veggie oil, immediately.

We had a really cool underground recycled veggie oil scene going, until then Governator Ahnold made it illegal, because corruption. That was how I met Deepak, lead singer of Deepakalypse, who delivered the cleanest recycled oil in town, at all hours of the day and night. If you're not hip to his music, I recommend checking him out on Spotify. He's rad.

Anyhoo, my Ashtanga yoga friends Anastasia and Ian recruited me to be in their commercial. I was the only one they styled, and I HATED my stupid pink outfit and the dumb bow around my waist. Like, with the hot burning passion of a thousand suns. Ew.

Fun fact: My Benz was rear-ended while parked on a side street in West Hollywood the day before we shot, which meant they could only shoot it from the front and the side. I drove to a wedding in Palm Springs later that day, and thus changed clothes in the car en route, only realizing AFTER the wedding that I had put my blouse on backwards, and looked like a retard the whole time.

When they asked me to jump on the hood and dance, I asked for some music. I'll give you one guess as to which artist I chose (Hint: it rhymes with play-dee-OH-read

Also, you can see what my teeth looked like in this little video before I grew an ever-widening gap that makes no sense whatsoever - in this dimension, at least.

Anyways, this video makes me smile, because the Eastside of Los Angeles was such a special place back then, and we were all so hopeful and optimistic, and confident that we were effecting positive change.