The VENICE FIRST LOVE episode of VENICE BEACH SKETCHES. VENICE FIRST LOVE , a variant on Turgenev’s short story, is about  a shy college student, who  stalks the dazzling coed of his dreams, only to discover, to his dismay, that he is not that great a stalker after all. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsxeY4Xsx4M&feature=youtu.be VENICE BEACH SKETCHES explores the decline of the American male as a heroic figure as a result of the gender wars in contemporary California. Each episode is a variant of a short story or play from Turgenev, Coward and Sartre .