Baltimore...Charm City

Okay, so here is something that I was thinking yesterday. Baltimore is a damn fine city. In fact, I like it. And you know what? I might just grow to love it. Things come full circle. I was born in Baltimore. Lived in Eastwood/Colgate in Southeast for 8years. Then we moved to Ocean City, Maryland, where I grew up after 8. Now I live in hagerstown, md. About 1 hour or so from Baltimore.
I'm taking my girlfriend to the Amtrak station at BWI on Thursday. She leaves. And I'm thinking, well, ya know what? I'm gonna visit my grandparents in town for the hell of it. Surprise them. Show'em a little love. So off I go.
Little background here...I LOVE CITIES!!! I just, in general, love cities. I Love city skylines (I know most cities now by their skylines, because I'm a pitiful phillistine who will look at skylines on the web like a loser with no life), I love urban design, I love the history, the diversity, the culture, everything! So I take 95 sraight through downtown Baltimore instead of getting on the beltway. And it hit me, I want to move to Baltimore! I want to live here for a while.
Now, you're average person might go, "Wha??? Baltimore?" And I use to think the same thing, after we left. You know, you always despise the place you came from until you grow up enough to appreciate it. Of course, that could just be me. Well, that's probable. Anyway...
For those of you millions of readers, you may know that I am into filmmaking. I want to write and direct. Naturally, I've had a hankering for good ol' Los Angeles for most of my life. I love the west coast. love the southwest. Wanna be where it's happenin'. Then there's New York. That is probably the greatest city in the whole world. That goes without saying. I mean if I was offered some nice apartment in Manhatten...you know a little place down in Greenwich (is that spelled right?) or something, I wouldn't turn it down. I mean, I would saw off my elbow for a place there.
I digress....
But I've been gettin' Baltimore in my blood lately. It's like the little city that could. The underdog. The dark horse. The older gentlemen who thought he was past his prime, went through a life crisis, but has more wisdom and character and eccentricity that most of those other younger, more slick boys (cities, as it were). But the thing is...that older man is about to show everybody that he can still kick ass. It's like Baltimore is Bill Murray or Paul Newman, ya know? I mean Deniro and Scorcese are New York. We know what they're about and they make no excuses about it. Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts are L.A...and who knows what LA is about (palm trees, at the very least), but at least we know we don't know. Chicago is sports and mobsters, and Oprah. But Baltimore...Baltimore is Murray and Newman. I'm talking Lost in Translation Murray here. Is it funny? Quirky? Oddball? Well, yes without a doubt, I mean "Hairspray" is based in Baltimore as is the infamous John Waters. But it's also a little gangster. I mean "The Wire" and "Homicide" are about Baltimore. But then there is the beauty of the Inner Harbor. The mystery of the Middle Class exodus, and the gutsiness of the city to stand in the face of utter despair and urban decay and say, "We're fighting back." And now, she is. She is rebounding. It's a beautiful thing to behold.
Sorry about the metaphors, but I also see it as that battered wife you would see on Oprah. Taking it for years, once strong and vibrant, now weakened and unsure. But then she got the guts to take the kids, pack the bags and leave town never to look back. Now she's a strong, assertive woman who is stronger and wiser and deeper because of her past. (damn, I'm good)
Baltimore does not gets it's respect and ya know? The great thing is, it doesn't need it or entirely want it, because it is comfortable with who it is. It's complex and mysterious. Get's too drunk at the family reunion, makes a fool of itself, but at least has the goodness to apologize for it in the morning and make breakfast for it's family. Good, but flawed.
Baltimore and Pittsburgh are cousins (which makes them rivals), except Baltimore is a little bigger and wiser (and isn't stuck in the middle of nowhere).
Anyway, sorry for that rant, but it's on my mind and as you know, if it's on my mind it goes on the page. I don't care if I'm the only one who reads this page, because it helps clear my mind.
The point is, I feel like I am going to live in Baltimore for a while. Not now, but in a year or two, I'll find a place, hopefully Southeast or North, and I'll stay. For 5 years, maybe more. I don't know. I figure if a job opens somewhere I'll go there of course. But if it's my choice. I'd rather not go right to New York, where everyone is a struggling artist and I'll feel like a brick in the wall (albeit a very amazing, inspiring, one-of-a-kind wall). And as much as I'm a West Coast guy (so I hear, but I think I'm changing), I'd rather not go to LA and "try to make it (although sometimes that sounds good)" and become part of the ongoing joke on people who go to LA. That's like not only being a small fish in a big pond, but being a small fish in not only our oceans, but the oceans of any yet-to-be-discovered worlds in the universe put together.
So I'd like to join the ranks of Barry Levinson and John Waters and the guy who directed "Saved!" (I forget his name, but great movie!) as a filmmaker who hails from Charm City.
There's just somethin' about it, ya know?
Oh, and before I cut myself off, I have to say something. Why has Baltimore's Downtown Skyline at the Harbor NOT been used in movies? Okay it doesn't have the insanely tall skyscrapers like new york, chicago, or LA...but if you have seen a pic of the Balt. skyline at night at the harbor it might take your break away. anyway. sorry about all the metaphors, honest to God I don't know what came over me. I was just feelin it and I went for it.