Gather 'round, everyone. It's time to meet the Angry Reader of the Week, spotlighting you, the very special readers of this website. Over the years, I've been able to connect with a lot of cool folks, and this is a way of showing some appreciation and attention to the people who help make this blog what it is. This week's Angry Reader is Oliver Saria.Who are you?
Oliver Saria. My friends call me "O" or "Ollie." My Tagalog nickname is "Berong."
What are you?
I'm Pilipino. Not quite the alibata tatoo-wearing kind, but I do speak Tagalog and I do spell it with a P.
I'm also the former (and-still-occassional) drummer for the Bay Area indie-pop band, The Skyflakes.
Where are you?
East Los. Echo Park/downtown L.A., specifically. L.A. is really two cities. East and West. I don't have the abs to go west of Fairfax. They have checkpoints, you know.
Where are you from?
Stockton, yo! 209! Home of the fighting Diaz brothers, the Stockton Ports, Pavement, the Little Manila Foundation, and rampant unemployment.
Forbes named it America's Most Miserable City for two years running. We, in turn, named Forbes the most Miserable Magazine for Bourgie Jerk-offs! (or we would have. No one in Stockton reads).
I'm also from Bindlestiff Studio, South of Market, SF. It's like my artistic home.
What do you do?
I'm a regular contributor to KoreAm (thankfully, they don't seem to mind that I'm not Korean). I cover mostly entertainment so I've had the pleasure of interviewing some of the most interesting Korean-American entertainers out there like Ken Jeong, Grace Park, Tim Kang, Margaret Cho. I also write culture pieces on topics like dating, drinking culture, and hopefully soon I'll get to contribute on an upcoming sex feature, which ties in nicely with dating and drinking.
I'm also a pro-bono copywriter for the Taproot Foundation. Currently, I'm working with Inner-City Arts, an amazing arts education center in the heart of Skid Row in downtown L.A.
What are you all about?
At the moment, marathon running. I just finished my first one. At one point during the race I thought, "Never again. Why am I doing this? This is not enjoyable in any way, shape, or form... Are my nipples bleeding? Did I put enough Body Glide on? ...God, I gotta pee. I drank too much. But I'm also hella thirsty... I think I overdid it on the carb-loading. I hope that gooey energy gel doesn't give me diarrhea... wait, is that a Kenyan runner right in front of me that I'm about to pass? Holy shit, I must be flying! ...Oh, wait, hold on, maybe he's just a really skinny Black man. East Indian, perhaps? God, I'm a racist. I am a horrible, horrible person. I deserve to lose a toenail... Ooo! Water station. And porta-potty. I don't know which one I should do first. I've never simultaneously had to pee and drink so badly before in my life... this is just fucked up. Never Again."
But afterwards, once feeling was restored to my legs, I kept thinking about the whole experience. And decided that I must be one really sick individual because I want to sign up for another one. So, I'm doing SF in July.
What makes you angry?
Two things really chap my hide:
1) partisan politics
2) republicans
3) hypocrisy
4) math - it was never my best subject
