Author, Ursula K. LeGuin once said, “There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.” In the modern world, technology has progressed far beyond the wheel, and aspects of storytelling have also evolved by making use of advanced technology. For writer, director, producer, and all-round filmmaker extraordinaire, Christopher Coppola, technology and storytelling complement each other like PB & J. A member of the famously talented Coppola family, Christopher has been using cutting edge technology to impart meaningful stories on film for years. I was thrilled to be able to chat with Coppola to discuss his current ventures.

Art is a beautiful thing. Art is even more beautiful when its sales benefit a good cause. For Andres Miguel Espana, Executive Director of Global Art Exhibit, art and good causes go hand and hand. Espana’s non-profit organization teams up with generous, talented artists in order “to help end poverty though increasing access to primary education and educational material in underdeveloped regions of Tibet T.A.R China, Cambodia, Thailand and Southern India.”

Los Angeles is a curious city—massive in population and geography, but broken down into different areas and neighborhoods like downtown, Hollywood, The Valley, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and the list goes on and on. From the 20th floor penthouse of Sunset Vine Tower, the tallest building in Hollywood, I was able to see the very vastness of this metropolis. From high up, looking out onto the great expanse, LA looks like one, big, glistening glare of brake lights and neon signs extended for miles and miles.

Men suck. Well, not all men, but too many. All it takes is one look on the television or one listen to the radio to realize the accuracy of this statement. I’m not sure when exactly in the history of civilization men decided to become complete d-bags, or if they perhaps just “evolved” that way. All I know is, male behavior toward women has progressively become more and more derogatory. Long gone are the days of Ricky loving Lucy or The Beach Boys serenading sweethearts across America. No Ma’am, what we have on our hands now is one giant Petri dish brimming with bigoted, arrogant, chauvinistic specimens.

With the anniversary of the birth of our nation this past weekend, it is the perfect time for Americans to pause and reflect on what those early days as a country must have been like when there were no such things as the iPhone, or the internet, or even the automobile. A world void of technology may be scary to some; I mean how would we communicate and get around from one place to the other? Well, unlike many Americans including Angelenos who harbor a strong dependence on the beloved motor vehicle, a large number of Parisians have captured a piece of a simpler time and place by using bicycles as the primary mode of transportation. Even in this advanced day and age, the French have found a very basic way to master transportation that is healthier not only for the human race, but the environment. Not only that, but they manage to make riding bikes look sexy at the same time! Luckily Gil Garcetti went abroad to Paris to shoot these beauties in action, obtaining clear proof that cruising in a convertible Porsche is not the only way to look cool when going to the grocery store. The beauties in this case are not so much the actual bikes, but the people riding them—French women. I’m sure French men on bikes are photogenic too but Garcetti focuses on the women as they seem to posses something extra special, a kind of air it seems. One trip to the Annenberg Community Beach House where the exhibit is on display will give you a better picture, literally.