If you happen to see a guy in LA wearing a hoodie, shorts, and flip-flops, he could very well be one of the new, powerful faces of LA’s resurgent tech scene.

Someone like Paige Craig (pictured, out of uniform), the former Marine who now dispenses cubicle orders at Santa Monica start-up Better Works. At the top of today’s enlightening VentureBeat article, Craig offers an intriguing and succinct explanation as to why, in the past three years, LA has been able to lay a real claim to the nickname “Silicon Beach:”

Beyond the colorful nightlife and perfect weather, Craig defines what is, for him, the crux of Los Angeles’ entrepreneurial community: a connection to average consumers’ needs and the all-important hustle.

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Jarl Mohn, a.k.a. Lee Masters, has thrown his support behind the ambitious themed online chat show network ThisWeekIn created by Kevin Pollak, Jason Calacanis and Mark Jeffrey. The founder of E! Entertainment and E! Online has made an undisclosed investment in the company and is joining the Board of Directors.

Per today’s press release:

“Jarl’s background reads like a veritable ‘Who’s Who’ of the media industry,” said Jeffrey, co-founder and CEO of ThisWeekIn. “He has successfully ushered in multiple new media paradigms, from celebrity entertainment to music videos, digital, and now – live and social. Insights like his can only come from experience, and we’re confident his vision will accelerate ThisWeekIn’s prominence as the go-to Web TV network.”

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Yet another sign of the impending 500,000 channel universe is the staggering array of programming being spawned out of the Santa Monica studios of ThisWeekIn.com, the start-up co-founded in 2010 by Jason Calacanis, actor Kevin Pollak and Mark Jeffrey.

Former CineVegas maestro Eric Tinch co-hosts This Week in Movies; stand-up comic Ed Crasnick tees up This Week in Comedy; and for the 11th edition of The Annie Duke Show posted January 4th, the namesake poker playing hostess welcomed actor-Huffington Post contributor Steven Weber and magician Jamy Ian Swiss.

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