Hero Captain To Become Heroic Movie Star

Today it was announced that Richard Phillips, the Captain of the ship who fought off the pirates, and then was rescued signed with Creative Artists Agency. They will be helping him navigate the waters of film and book deals.

This is just one example of how life is becoming a movie. I mean, it's not that surprising considering the whole saga of Captain Phillips plays like a summer blockbuster. Pirates, courageous crew members, badass NAVY SEALS, noble captains, bravery, valor, you know the usual dope action movie business. I mean how can Hollywood resist?

The really interesting question here though regards the future of Captain Phillips. Is he going to continue at Sea, or will the waters of Hollywood prove more thrilling and perhaps more profitable?

How I feel about pirates?

Way back in September, I wrote in this blog about how cool the new modern day pirate is. I must say, I should serve some time in the brig for this post. As this new pirate problem continues to escalate, I think it's time we look past the "Holy Shit, Pirates!" mindset and really take a look at what is going on here. POVERTY.

Somalia is a country roughly the size of Texas and has a national GDP that is not even close to that Lone Star (and apparently seccesion happy) state in the South. These pirates are born out of poverty and a lack of stable government, and while as I stated before, it's tough not to get a little excited about badass naval SEAL snipers and daring sea battles, the fact of the matter is, this is a serious problem. Not necessarily for the ships, but for the people of Somalia.

The answer to stopping piracy is not in more naval battles or gunfights, but on the shore. As my Dad put it, you can't just string up the bodies of the pirates in the port as a sign. Instead do what somebody did in the Caribbean. Instead of robbing the boats, just invite them to your docks, charge high prices for trinkets and drinks, and rob people of their loot legally.

This LA Life: Meter Maids

THE METER TEAM OF LOS ANGELES

There are no meter maids in LA. Rather there is a meter armada, full of battle trained meter checkers determined to give you a ticket. The other day, I was cruising on Highland (for all you Non-Angeles residents, that a big street in Hollywood) and saw 4 meter maids working together printing up tickets like Willy Wonka, except there were no Golden Tickets, just astronomically costly ones.

The average ticket price in Hollywood is 55 smackarooos, that's a lotta loot. It's make me wonder about the life of the Meter team. I mean these people are consciously ruining peoples days. Yeah I know it's their jobs and that's the way the circle of life (or parking) works, but what do these people do when they park their cars? Are they part of secret society that gets them off the hook for parking violations? Perhaps there is a special way they arrange their wipers when they park that signals to their brethren not to give them a ticket.

Bottom line, be on the lookout, the meter team doesn't sleep, they subside on a diet of parking tickets and broken bank accounts, and they're coming for you. Crazy, yeah, but it's part of thislalife .