Shorts that document the <em>real </em>California

California is so saturated with reality TV that it can be hard to stay in touch with true reality, as most people are so busy tryin' to keep track of who's got a Real Chance at Love, they don't even realize Tommy Lee Goes to College! Bringing you back down to earth, California is a place.

From an Oakland-based filmmaker and an LA-based photographer, Cali's a video/photo-blog composed of gritty, 5-10 min mini-documentaries and snapshots, which brilliantly tell the stories of overlooked and/or disenfranchised people VH1 wouldn't dare touch with a ten foot pole, unless...that actually might make good TV. Examples include:

Borderland: Tells the story of armed vigilantes in San Diego County who scour the borders for drug runners with prejudice, not out of any political party affiliation, but to simply protect their property and families/earn that "Armed Vigilante" from their business cards.

Scrapertown: Chronicles the life and times of East Oakland's undisputed King of Scraper Bikes (bicycles that kids personalize with foil spoke decorations and spray paint) from his scraper club membership requirements (must ride single file, must have GPA of 2.0+, etc.), to his dreams of opening a "green" bike shop with "Apple computers" -- probably 'cause the Dell dude's too busy eating a snack.

Cannonball: The foreclosure crisis has devastated no township worse than Fresno, and no one person's taken bigger advantage of that fact than this skateboarder, who's got more empty pools to rip these days than ever before...best Fannie Mae internship EVER!

The blog's in it's infancy, which means plenty more segments to drop in the near future, plus there's a bevy of bonus clips, like the one of the pool skater guy having a beer at his favorite Fresno bar that also happens to be a strip club, which is a hard place to keep track of reality in, especially when you're the Bachelor.