Nobody Walks in LA

World of Wonder Productions is a production company based on Hollywood Blvd in the center of swinging Hollywood. They are the company behind "RuPaul's Drag Race" and "Million Dollar Listings" they also produce a smaller bunch of web series and one of these is "RuPaul Drives...". The concept of the series is very simple RuPaul picks people up in his vintage Volvo and drives them around LA. "Everyone needs a lift in LA" say RuPaul. The show videos or about ten minutes long and hilarious. Ru picks up some very interesting people and they chat with him while he drives his car fitted with Go-Pro cameras. His riders are an eclectic mix of people. He has driver Henry Rollins, John Waters, Sharon Needles, Olivia Newton-John, the list goes on and on. Every week Ru picks up someone new and has more fun than anyone just driving around. The old episodes can be found on the World of Wonder You Tube channel and at the World of Wonder website (www.worldofwonder.net) 

Hooker Makeover

World of Wonder the producers of RuPaul's Drag Race have a new web series starring Michelle Visage called "Michelle Visage's Hooker Makeover". The show is hosted by RuPaul's good friend and Drag Race Judge Michelle Visage and drag queen Morgan McMichaels. The premise of the show is Michelle and Morgan walking along Hollywood Blvd by the World of Wonder offices and asking girls on the street if they would like a make over. When they find a willing participant they take them into Busy B a shop on Hollywood Blvd that specializes in togs for the tarty. Some how Michelle and Morgan do talk ladies into becoming their inner hooker. When the make over is complete Morgan then takes the new hooker out onto the street to get drivers to honk at them. For every honk the neo-hooker receives $10. The show is very funny and all the girls seem to be having the time of their lives. The episodes are only 5 minutes long so by the time the viewer is getting weary of the show its over. This is a great use of Visage and McMichaels as they are funny in short doses and these doses are just right.

"Ave 43" What is Happening?

What is going on in Highland Park? Everything if you watch the web series “Ave. 43”. Highland Park is a quiet neighborhood between downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena known more for craftsman style houses ripe for real estate flippers and as the home of Forever 21 stores.  Playwright Justin Tanner has created a fast almost dizzyingly paced web series set in the quiet neighborhood that leaves the viewer both stunned and laughing. Murder, drug addiction, time portals, witchcraft and pederasty are just a few of the subjects that fly at the viewer. When Tanner’s characters aren’t sleeping with one another they seem to be murdering and blackmailing each other. If a character dies he or she may just come back to life or appear again as a ghost. Family secrets aren’t secret and families may not even be families but lies.

The series shot almost entirely in Tanner’s home revolves around characters played by local Los Angeles actors who bring the stories to life at a break neck speed. The episodes of “Ave. 43” are short, most under seven minutes long, packed with deadpan acting and twisted story lines. Is it a soap opera? Is it a comedy? Is it an accurate slice of life in Highland Park? Men hop from bed to bed usually with an ulterior motive that eventually is revealed. Engagements and divorces are the causes of murder plots that always seem to go unsolved and awry.  The shooting style evokes voyeurism with its tight shots and funky angles making the most of the home that Tanner shares with his husband and musician Kristian Hoffman.  The viewer gets so sucked into the story that the fact everyone’s bathroom and front door looks exactly alike doesn’t register.

“Ave 43” can be viewed on you tube and needs to be watched from the beginning. It won’t explain anything but it doesn’t hurt. Characters appear and disappear sometimes coming back as ghosts or in disguises.  Making sense of the plot is at times useless but always a lot of nasty fun. All sins are committed, nothing gets left out. Pornography and Satanism along with greed, lust and incest are plot points that whizz by in this twisted funny web series skewing reality TV and night time soap operas. Just when the viewer has seen it all something new and more shocking comes along.  What will happen next? Only Justin Tanner knows.