Change

I needed change. The monotony of my every day routine was driving me to depression. A lack of progress in my career despite my best efforts was turning me angry. Seeking the truth through the Bible was leading me to some dark places and forcing me to face things I didn’t want to face (and some wonderful things too). My job includes shooting and editing, which I realize is a blessing, but my heart is in writing and acting. I’d let my hair grow long and hadn’t shaved in weeks, meaning I had virtually no chance in the dating game, because, unless things have changed, girls don’t usually like wrecks. Plus my living conditions weren’t ideal.

 

I had 1,258 roommates.

 

Every once in a while, a guy’s just gotta change. So I moved to the Theater District in Downtown LA, I stopped making the weekly videos, I started writing, and I cut my hair. A lot of people were concerned for my well-being Downtown. It’s a rough place, just a few blocks from skid-row, teeming with all sorts of different people. During my move in a guy told me to hide my stuff because “someone might want to steal it”. My friend Vince and I walked the street one night and saw a guy run out into the middle of the road and start yelling at the cops, telling them to “arrest me right now!” Then he whipped off his shirt and HOLY LORD it was a woman!

 

She did not look like this.

 

It’s great. Inspiration is right around every corner. There are homeless people digging through trash, rich people buying jewelry, sketchy types hanging out by stores and watching passers-by. You never know what’s going to happen down town. And the city! Wow! I’ve never lived in a place so big! Sky-scrapers everywhere. Old buildings line the streets. And I live in the Theater District! There are eleven old theaters on the same street as me. Old vaudeville houses turned silent film houses turned movie palaces turned shops and now turning back to movie palaces. When I step outside and look left I see United Artists theater, founded by Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and Charlie Chaplin. If I look right I see the Los Angeles Theater, where Chaplin’s “City Lights” premiered. Every street contains movie history. It’s where I belong.

My writing here has been free and easy. I’ve been writing a web series with a very simple plot: boy sees girl, falls in love, pursues girl. I’m doing this one right. I’m not going to start shooting it until it’s fully written. And I’m not going to rush it. When it’s time to shoot it, I’m gonna shoot it will all the bullets I have. But I’m gonna make sure it’s fully marinated and cooked first.

Another part of the Kyle Renaissance is my acting career. I’m going to actually get an agent and start auditioning. Even for commercials. To those that know me, this is a rather major development. I loathe auditioning and usually come away dissatisfied with acting in other people’s projects. But that’s gonna change. I’m gonna act just for the money. Don’t talk to me about art. It is about business. Kyle’s shooting and editing shop is closing. Kyle’s writing and acting shop is open.

Now for the religious portion of my blog. I can sum up my very complex feelings easily: God is perfect, man isn’t. There hasn’t been a thing God’s created that man hasn’t messed up, but you can still see God everywhere. I asked a pastor what Christianity boiled down to and he told me, in one of the more depressing moments of my life, “exclusivity”. Christianity isn’t about exclusivity. It’s about welcoming people in. Loving and caring for them, and feeding the poor. I don’t think any theology in the Bible compares to the simple act of giving a poor person some food.

Noah Sife and I were on the radio last night. Thanks to Naomi and Chenene for getting us on! It was a great show. There were callers from all over the US! I even had a fan call in all the way from Florida! Wow, it was refreshing. Now I want to start making videos again every week. I didn’t know people were watching like that. But stay tuned, because Noah and I are gonna bring some funny stuff back to the internet soon. So in this way, I changed, and am changing back.

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