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An Open Letter to Central Casting
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LAist has noticed a disturbing trend that must be addressed: the disproportionate number of sea monster stories coming from the Asian side of the Pacific Rim. Clearly leading the industry right now is Japan with their ancient shark,giant squid, and humongous jellyfish swarms.
Coming in second would be Australia (happy Australia Day BTW!!!) where a man recently survived a great white bite to the head! Not to mention their fearsome saltwater crocodiles.
Competing with that, we have dramatic maritime tales of unreported raw sewage, and fearsome stomach viruses?
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We’re not suggesting an insurmountable "sea-monster gap" is emerging, but as a leading member of the The Ring of Fire, we can do better! At the moment, obviously, the market is totally dominated by the Asiatic side of the ocean. Would it be asking too much, to wrangle up some undiscovered (and local) sea-monster talent that we all can be proud of?
Photo by Trois Tetes TT
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
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