From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

City of Sound, Los Angeles.

Still sunny, still dry and hot, still tucked away in a corner, the passage of time seems to have temporarily forgotten this place, unnoticed by anyone.

The summer blockbuster frenzy has unfolded in several waves, yet it has consistently failed to reach here. The City of Sound seems to have been left behind by the world; they continue to advance and expand, but they forgot to bring this place along.

However, the paparazzi coming and going are always a rare sight, like flies on a garbage heap, or vultures circling a corpse, even if everyone around avoids them, they cannot be stopped.

The reason? There is only one, and only one is needed—

Anson.

Originally, the summer movie season's hot topics came one after another, the tide completely unstoppable. Although it's not as exaggerated as a new topic every hour now, Hollywood's fun is switching to a new topic of discussion every three to five days.

As you can imagine, the paparazzi simply couldn't keep up.

They absolutely didn't need to hang themselves on one tree. If they couldn't dig up an exclusive here, they would switch to another one. Anyway, this is Hollywood, there will never be a shortage of sensational stories, just a lack of eyes to discover them.

Anson, this rising star who had just emerged, could be said to not even be on the radar.

However, the actual situation was slightly different—

"Spider-Man" continued to show its power, the mighty wave of heat showing no end in sight. The subsequent box office trend became more and more astonishing, completely overwhelming "Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones," a scene that was also unexpected.

It is no exaggeration to say that "Spider-Man," single-handedly, completely rewrote the summer movie season, with almost all summer box office records going to Peter Parker, completely subverting the market's rules.

Against this backdrop, Anson, who was once so popular, disappeared without a trace. Was this normal? Was this possible?

The answer is no.

It was understandable that the media didn't have Anson's whereabouts, but if the paparazzi were also clueless, then it would seem like they had failed in their duties.

Thus, there was the scene before them.

Whether they were flies or vultures, no matter what, the paparazzi would come to the City of Sound every few days to snoop around, to see if they could dig up any news.

Unfortunately—

They returned empty-handed.

Gradually, slowly, the paparazzi's arrogance was also aroused.

Although they were not uncrowned kings, they were still figures that no one dared to provoke easily. After roaming Hollywood for decades, when had they ever been so useless and so embarrassed? The target that the paparazzi wanted to snoop on would not be let go even if they had to dig three feet into the ground. Why could a mere Anson be so calm under the paparazzi's encirclement?

Thus.

The paparazzi, one by one, crossed the sea, each displaying their own unique abilities, and indeed unearthed a lot of explosive material.

For example, Hayden Christensen.

He used to be Anson's roommate, and the commercial blockbusters starring the two of them were released one after the other this summer, engaging in direct competition, but the two of them never mentioned each other in public or in private. There was something fishy about this.

However.

Both Hayden's side and Anson's side, their agents expressed similar views:

Not mentioning each other was to avoid suspicion and avoid blurring the focus of the promotion. The two were just roommates, not friends, but there were no conflicts either.

Paparazzi: Heh heh, I'd only believe that if I were a ghost.

Unfortunately, the key was that there was a lack of information.

Paparazzi could exaggerate, stir up trouble, and fabricate lies, but as long as the agent made their position clear, it would be difficult to develop further. Randomly breaking news might waste a good source, and in the end, they could only wait.

Another example was Brad Renfro.

With Hayden's matter in front, even though there seemed to be no conflict between Brad and Anson, the sharp-nosed paparazzi noticed something fishy the first time they saw Brad moving to Santa Monica alone.

But!

Brad insisted that nothing had happened.

The paparazzi returned empty-handed again.

They frantically searched for a pile of suspicious clues, but not many could actually be used. Even the space for telling stories based on pictures and fabricating right and wrong was very limited, which also made the paparazzi deeply feel frustrated.

That's why, every now and then, paparazzi would detour to the City of Sound—

According to TMZ's photos and information, Anson was always recording here.

"...Anson is still inside?"

"That's what TMZ said."

"I've never staked out a recording session before. The Backstreet Boys going into the recording studio isn't news, but is it normal for them to lock themselves in the recording studio day and night like this?"

"Normal. Singers are like that."

"For such a long time, it's still normal? How long has it been? Two weeks? Or three weeks?"

"Haha, you can tell you're an amateur. Two or three weeks is just the beginning. Last year, NSYNC stayed in the recording studio for three or four months. God, that was a disaster."

"Oh, hell!"

Chattering and bustling, the paparazzi exchanged information with each other, trying to dig up some exclusive news from Anson, but obviously, it was difficult, very, very difficult.

"So, is Harry Peacy just foolishly guarding here like this?"

"Don't call him stupid, TMZ's click-through rate is relying on Anson now."

"But it's also easy this way, not having to run around everywhere. The paparazzi business has been turned into a white-collar job, which is something I didn't expect."

"If you don't run around, will you get exclusive news? I think Harry Peacy from TMZ won't last long..."

Gazes, seemingly unintentionally, drifted towards Harry—

Holding a newspaper, wearing a bib, he was opening his mouth wide to munch on a hamburger.

In the eyes of many colleagues, he was actually just an idiot.

Harry noticed the gazes here, didn't mind at all, and even waved to signal. The paparazzi gathered together also waved to greet him, but the whispered words still couldn't help but continue to complain with harsh words.

Until—

"Hey! Wait, have you seen the latest exclusive that TMZ broke?"

"What exclusive? The exclusive that Anson is continuing to record an album in the City of Sound? Haha."

"No, no, no, the exclusive that Anson just collaborated with director Gus Van Sant on an independent project in Portland."

In an instant, there was silence.

The paparazzi exchanged glances, one by one with either astonishment, shock, or incomprehension, but no one could make a sound.

"That's not right, wait, TMZ themselves said that Anson has always been in the City of Sound..."

"Right, the TMZ exclusive said that Anson deceived everyone, including themselves, who also thought that Anson was recording in the City of Sound, but in fact, Anson went to Portland and collaborated with Gus on this project."

"A project? How long did the collaboration last?"

"I don't know, the exclusive didn't say, it just said that it's a project with experimental nature, and Anson personally likes it very much."

One second, two seconds...

After the silence, they finally couldn't control themselves anymore and started cursing, their gazes converging on Harry Peacy.

Harry was all smiles. Noticing the gazes, he waved again and even asked loudly, "Have you eaten yet?"

Paparazzi: F*ck.

If they still didn't know that they had been completely played by Harry by now, then they should quit the paparazzi business as soon as possible.

In the first moment, one by one, they took out their phones and made calls, bustling and busy, and the crowd scattered like birds and beasts in the blink of an eye.

Harry smiled, "Enjoy your lunch!"