Day 9...
Well. This is it: My last day in L.A. This day was really devoted to nursing my aching body and finding our ways home. Mine, especially. Because I cannot really afford to get home later than Sunday, we found a way to get me to the airport at around 9 p.m. so I can try my hand at finagling a spot on an earlier flight.
So far? Nadda. I am currently writing this in the International terminal at LAX. I wasn’t even allowed to look up my ticket when I got here because my name won’t even be in the system until the (official) day that my flight is begins. Since the American Airlines terminal closes at 1 a.m., I was forced to go over to the International terminal because it is open 24 hours. It is an exquisitely designed building with high ceilings and plenty of space to stretch out and wait in. Unfortunately, it is not where I need to be and there aren’t many open power supplies to charge my dying phone. I luckily found one under a row of phone booths after spending 3 hours on the phone with Vicky in the food court and 15 minutes charging it in a desperate panic in the men’s washroom. One too many odd looks later, I found myself frantically searching for another plug.
The day started too late. I blame myself. I was up at 8 and went back to sleep because I was in no shape to anything else. We ended up not even being able to shoot at Venice Beach because we had no ride until much later than we had thought. By the time our ride was available, we had only an hour until magic hour (which is, technically only a magic 15 minutes) so we decided against shooting there. Brian and Kamelya can do it tomorrow on their way up here (to the airport). Once this whole ordeal was set in motion, the next task was to find me transportation to the airport.
1. Cab – Out of the question due to it being around $80.
2. Drive – Nope. Our car does 37 mph (on a good day)
3. Carpool – All our people were indisposed.
4. Train – Only viable option.
So I took the red line to Union Station (I know, it sounds weird) and took a wonderful bus to LAX. The train system was impressive, though smallish. It was clean, smooth and fast. Not nearly as extensive as Chicago’s, but considering until 7 p.m. tonight I didn’t know L.A. had a transit system, I’d say pretty freakin’ good. I got on the bus free of charge and slept my way to LAX.
The rest you know and I’m hoping the rest I will soon know. For I have only 2 hours until I need to wake up and check in to try to get that 6 a.m. flight to Chicago. To home…
Now Playing: The sweet sounding voice of the Japanese public address announcer
Day 8...
Sorry about that last post. I don't really think an explanation is necessary. ^_^
So. Day 8... Since we cancelled the trip to CBS, we had an entire day to relax and pretend this was actually a vacation. We started by waking up later than I think we all wanted. This happens quite often due to our room being in a dark corner of the hotel where the window gives us not streaming sunlight and a view over the hotel, but a quaint view of some unecessary wall in front of the elevator. Anyway. We went out to eat at a great place called 'Islands' and had delicious food. Our waiter was a director and his brother (also a waiter there) was a cinematographer. This was great because we had a lengthy conversation that kept him from his work.
Afterwards, we finally took a trip to the famous Hollywood sign in Hollywood Hills. The view of the sign was one thing, but the view of every single part of Los Angeles was much more interesting.
We also found out on this day that we misunderstood our tickets. We don't leave saturday night. We leave sunday night into monday morning. Since I cannot afford this, I am heading to the airport saturday night and spend the night to try and get a 6 a.m. flight sunday. We'll see if I can get home around noon sunday...
Now Playing: Nick Drake - "Things Behind the Sun"
Day 7 and a half...
A little too messed up am I to report tonight.
Talk to you tomorrow.
Now Playing: Brian & Kamelya sleeping.
Day 7...
We are again greeted by the promise of a good day thanks in part to the weather when we woke up this morning. First off, I apologize to those who were trying to comment on this blog. I changed the settings so you can now comment freely. Sorry guys!
Today's studio was even better than yesterday's. Sony Pictures studio in Culver City was a very impressive place. Not only is it the home of the largest sound stage in the country but the television sets are so unbelievably elaborate that I could not imagine ever having a problem as an actor getting into character. One minute I was in Culver City walking in between giant buildings on a lot and the next, I was in an Indianapolis prosecutor's office. Fully realized and
functional, the work that
Nancy Mickleberry does is incredible.
Nancy gave us an in-depth and very personal tour much like Joanne did the day before. We even got to see the original stage that MGM used to film all the classics in the 30's and 40's. That particular stage is being torn down so it hasn't been used in years, but it was a great peek into the past of my industry,
no matter how dusty it was. Afterwards, we were allowed into the production design head quarters and chatted for a while.
Kamelya brought out our music video for Lazar
Malko as well as the production I & II films we did together. Nancy sat and watched them all in their entirety and even had us sign the copy we gave her. Later, I discovered that she was the head set designer on '
Star Trek: First Contact' as well as '
Star Trek: Insurrection'!!! No, these won't excite that many normal people, but me, as an avid Trekkie, I can honestly say I
was in awe. It was the sets and props that took the Star Trek franchise from the depths of cancellation after The Next Generation to three more successful films. The culture of the entire series was sky-rocketed into the next generation of film making due in no small part to her work. To be able to meet and talk with such a mind was truly gratifying to me.
The rest of the day was basically spent in the middle of L.A.'s infamous traffic. Thankfully, I was so tired from my romp on the Sony lot that I slept through most of it. Brian and
Kamelya went out after getting back to the hotel in their best dress and left me behind. They were planning to hit up some celebrity red-carpet gala event that, quite frankly, didn't interest me all that much. I was able to stay back and get some work done and talk to Vicky for a long while for the first time since I've left.
Well, I've got two more days here and then it's back to Chicago. I believe we've cancelled the trip to CBS tomorrow, which is good because the rest of the trip now can be devoted to relaxing and getting much needed coverage footage for
Kamelya's documentary on the Rubik's Cube.
Now Playing: Manual - "frequently"
Day 6...
You think you're over the hump halfway through but, no. Today was massive. First we go up a little on the late side and headed down to the WARNER BROS. lot. They have built entire neighborhoods on this lot. And ea
ch set is a fully-realized and functional home at times. Others are just 'swing sets' which are sets that can be moved in and out and replaced easily. Most of what we saw was the sets of 'Gilmore Girls.' We also went by
the set of 'E.R.' so I like to think that I traveled from Los Angeles to Connecticut to Chicago in a matter of minutes.
These sets were amazing. I couldn't believe the amount of work put into every detail of their creation, and yet, I could. I've been on some pretty elaborate sets so far and realized that those were just smaller budget versions of what I saw today. Still, it was trul amazing to see an entire part of the city devoted to realizing a very elaborately told story.
Afterwards, we came back to the hotel and I finally got to the gym. It is just a few cardio machines and a very rudimentary weight machine, but it is much better than nothing. I did my normal workout there and came back to see that we were going out yet again with Helga and Adam. We are all party animals. Obviously. ^_^
We started out with the plan to go to the Santa Monica pier, but since it rained almost all day, we scratched that and decided we were all just
too damn hungry to do anything but eat first. So we found a place way in Malibu (about 45 mins from our hotel in Burbank) called Moon Shadows. Well. This is where the fun BEGAN...
Adam's super-enhanced-awesome GPS in his car took us on a winding mountain tour way the hell above all land level with the sea and created a stir in the girls that could only
be equal someone scooping their insides out with a large spoon... Neetodless to say, they were frightened. I, on the other hand, was absolutely excited. It reminded me of the drives we would take with my family in Colorado (the only state west of home I could see myself living) many summers ago. No lights created by man other than the headlights to light our way and nothing stopping us from flying off the edge of a cliff other than a bush and some disc brakes... The views? Absolutely breathtaking.
After getting lost up there and finding our way again, we ended up on the
3rd st. promenade in Santa Monica. We walked that strip of land for a while until we found a restaurant still open and we headed in. Barney's, the place we ended up in, was full of life and color (and good food). It was the perfect place for us all to end up on this crazy night. We ate, drank, talked, walked and laughed the rest of the night away. Adam dropped us back at the hotel and we were about to complete the most enjoyable day of this trip yet.
So here I am, sitting in bed remembering the fact that I was walking on a set seen by millions and comparing that feeling to the feeling of enjoying my time here with these new people here and thinking; there really isn't much of a comparison at all. I am greatful to everyone here not only for making us feel so welcome in this place but also for appearing to enjoy every second of it themselves.
Now Playing: Moby - "Protect Write"
Day 5... (The Midway Point)
Five days in. We are halfway through our trip. Today was a chill day because the weather here in sunny
Los Angeles was... well... Not sunny. It was cold and rainy all day. This is, of course, due to the fact that where ever I go, I bring Chicago with me.
We started the day eating breakfast at a 50's style diner run by what seemed like one single Armenian. He was a really nice guy and was running around from table to table, serving, taking orders and
conversing. This lead to a trip around downtown Burbank which reminded me of downtown
Evanston in a very pleasant way. We shopped a little bit more and I (about time) found something for Vicky (surprise, surprise). The weather brought me back home for a few moments at a time. Each raindrop that hit the bill of my hat gave a jolt down my neck that said I had better hurry into my car to beat the traffic on the Kennedy...
We finally got to see the Japanese Garden and Tea House at Brand Park today. Though not huge on space, the atmosphere was very calm and relaxing. The visual plethora of colors from the green grass to the white cherry blossom trees to the giant gold fish in the pond certainly did a number on my senses even in this grey, dreary weather. I don't have any pictures but perhaps soon I will because Kamelya had her camera with her.
Later, we went to some more shops on
Glenoaks Blvd. and came back to the hotel. After an
hour of waiting around, Helga and Adam came to pick us up for more Persian pizza at 7 Stop Pizza. Adam continues to try and get more hookups for us as we can only rely on phone calls from friends of friends to get us onto studio lots. What a sweetie. ^_^ I talked with Vicky for a while on the phone outside the retaraunt while waiting for the food and kind of felt like a jerk, but it didn't matter... I miss my girlfriend.
After
being dropped off at the hotel, Brian and I played a round of 501 at our newly-discovered bar area on the first floor. After coming out triumphantly, we found the gym and then taught
Kamelya how to play Texas Hold 'em in our room.
Tomorrow we go to Sony Pictures and meet up with Adam and Helga for the Pier and beach walk. A fun time being had by all, not even the crummy weather could squelch this day. Good. Day...
Now Playing: Monika Rost - "Sor: L'Encouragement, Op. 34 - Valse"
Day 4...
More shopping malls! Today we took a trip down Rodeo Dr. and found ourselves in the Beverly Hills Center. A very nicely layed out mall. Spacious and clean. Too bad the reason not so many people were there is because all the stores were WAY THE HELL OUT of my price range! ^_^ I can't really hold that against L.A. because that's the culture out here.
After seeing the fabulous mall, we got lost in places that ranged from Beverly Hills to downtown L.A. to Glendale to Hollywood and back to our little Burbank. We did, however, stop in to visit
AFI. Very small, very exclusive little bank-account-drain of a school. If I were to apply there, I'd need a hefty scholarship to even think about attending. And when I say 'hefty,' I mean 'full-ride.' At this point, we had spent over 6 hours driving around and were dead tired. We came back to the hotel and awaited Helga and her boyfriend, Adam's, call.
Around 9, we were on our way, galavanting around L.A. in Adam's beautiful Infiniti sedan. Adam turned out to be not only a great guide around the city, but an extremely down to earth guy. He even pointed out how he strives for something more than L.A. can provide. It's reassuring to know that there are people here who recognize the inherent flaws in the lifestyle led by much of the population here in the glamorous western United States.
After viewing the city from atop the mountainside resturaunt
Castaway, we went bowling nearby at
PINZ and had a few drinks until their ball-return machinery decided to break down and kill our fun. We were not given a refund and were not allowed to move to another lane either. Our night was over according to them. Lucky for me Adam is such an amazingly sweet guy that he paid for the whole evening (minus a few rounds bought by various people) and decided not to put up much of a fight because it probably would have killed our moods.
We drove around, got dinner and then came back to the hotel after a night of good fun, great conversation and rewarding connections. It was a good day.
Now Playing: Tranquility Bass - "We All Want to be Free"
Day 3...
This was finally a day for work. We met up with Tyson Mao at CalTech (California Institute of Technology) and put him to work. The interview went extremely well
and the visit to Pasadena was absolutely gorgeous. The scenery seemed to differ from block to block and the campus at CalTech was just a dream. Tyson's friendly personality added to the already wonderful morning. Not
only did I get to film a stupifyingly smart guy solve a Rubik's cube behind his back, but I got to flex my cinematography muscles afterwards by capturing coverage from around the beautiful city of Pasadena. Trust me, there was plenty to work with.
We came back to the hotel and recharged for a bit and watched the footage we had so far. We got a call from Kamelya's cousin, Helga, and she demanded to pick us up and be our guide around Hollywood and Sunset Blvd.
Arriving around 8:30, we hit up almost every souvineer shop in the along Hollywood Blvd. It was a mind-numbing task, one that paled in comparison to the breath-taking scenic views of Pasadena, but everyone always needs souvineers, I suppose. We had fun walking the streets and seeing Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne's house and then we ended up at the Chinese Theater and
the Kodak Theater as well. Very tourist-type photo ops that I had to have. It was a very pleasant night and we all had loads of fun doing the tourist thing for a night.
I will very easily get used to this weather. This much is obvious. I cannot, however, leave the seasons behind in the midwest. Nonetheless, the weather here is gorgeous right now. Never too hot and never too cold. I have yet to become acclamated to the people from the area, however. I truly believe that just a few years of living in a mid-western town would make these people much happier and much more appreciative of life as a whole.
I am not judging them because who am I to judge? But, still, the way of life in this region is such a culture shock to me as a humble (lol?), low-key mid-westerner. I cannot begin to break down the psychological reasoning behind the things Californians say and do, but I will tell you that I often find myself rolling my eyes and asking, 'Why?' I really need to work on that. The problem is that it is so hard for these people to let their guard down and discuss something of importance. Then again, it appears, and this is not a judgement, merely an observation, that the biggest concerns out here are all material. Therein lies my problem. Once a true connection is made, however, they become real people to me. This is a work in progress, and I will keep you updated.
This was a business trip when I got on the plane in Chicago and has now begun to take the form of a vacation. This is the best and most obvious sign that all is well and I am having fun.
Now Playing: Stars of the Lid - "Ballad of Distances, Part 2"
P.S. - Vicky, I miss you... 
Day 2...
The second day has come and gone. We spent most of the day in various shopping malls or at the Japanese Garden in Glendale. Very beautiful place... At least it was from the outside
looking in. We went there to film the interview with
Tyson Mao, the world champion Rubik's Cube master. Once there, we found that the location was... let us say 'Not available for our use at the moment.' Luckily for us, there seemed to be a city-wide terror alert because of some bomb threat in downtown L.A. This scare gave the LAPD reason to shut down all freeways until further notice, thus blocking Mr. Mao from visiting us until tomorrow.
*PHEW* Dodged an embarassing bullet there. No problem, we rescheduled for the next day and went home to make sandwiches.
Afterwards, we went shopping at a few very large, very familiar malls. One in Burbank and the other in Glendale. Good times.
Later in the evening we all went to visit Kamelya's uncle and aunt (Goorgen and Anoosh). We had met Goorgen earlier in the day to aquire
transportation for the week. Once at their home, we talked for a while and had an all-around jolly time. Most of which was spent watching Goorgen's very own music videos. Not gonna lie, impressive for a man who barely speaks english and knows nothing of computers to do all on his own. Still, we can do better. ^_^
We have come back to the hotel and though Kamelya still insists on going out, she is visibly tired and has (now that I'm typing this) already fallen asleep. Tomorrow looks to be a long and busy day. We are shooting the interview and then going to Hollywood during the day followed by much schmoozing and partying at night. It should be a work-related morning followed by a night on the town.
California has beauty. There is no doubt about it. The people have shown us hospitality and the scenery (away from the highway
and urban areas) is filled with giant mountain ranges that becon me with every mile we drive on concrete and pavement. Still, I miss Chicago. I am not homesick by any means just yet, but there is a lacking in variety here. There is no architecture that captures my imagination like my city and the grid system which I have become so used to driving on is non-existant here. My skills as a navigator are being pushed to the max, so I suppose the lack of beauty in the urban landscape is a positive in that I have to navigate, not sight-see. ^_^
Now Playing: Bach (JS) - "Fugue in G minor"
Day 1... (We Have Arrived)
Well. We finally got into L.A. airspace around 9 am (11 am Chicago time) and I can honestly say when we first got there, I was blown away by the view from 30,000 ft. An almost never-ending array of humanity and construction interrupted only by the stern presence of the mountains which seemed to almost wave a finger in progress' way as if to say 'No further, understand?' The only thing marring this awesome display was what I saw as we came closer to the City of Angels. I thought I saw massive fog clouds rolling over the city from the ocean, but to my dismay, it was just the thick blanket of pollution putting it's overcoat on the city.
We touched down much sooner than expected so we were stepping onto L.A. soil in an environment not much different than the one we had left. It was 53˚ and beautiful. Once under the covering layer of smog, the sky looks gorgeous, but the air I breathe tells me otherwise. Still, it feels like summer to my body and I'm not sure I was ready for that jolt to my system, especially after landing in such comfortable (to a native Chicagoan) conditions.
Kamelya's cousin, Helga greeted us a couple hours later with a funny story and a car far too small for our luggage. She had been pulled over twice by the LAPD on her way here. Not gonna lie... That was pretty telling of what type of person this girl is. Anyway, we tried to pile our stuff into her tiny BMW and the stuff was having none of that so we put the two largest bags in the car with us. Welcome to the city of UNCOMFORTABLE.
We went out for pizza (Boston style, I'm told) and then proceeded to our hotel at the Ramada Burbank. The sun is bright and the colors are vibrant. The sky is blue and the temperature is rising. The City of Angels has taken us under it's wing and here we are, mostly asleep after a long first HALF of day one, ready to take on the rest of the trip.
Now Playing: Illyah Kuryahkin - "Foam"
So far? Nadda. I am currently writing this in the International terminal at LAX. I wasn’t even allowed to look up my ticket when I got here because my name won’t even be in the system until the (official) day that my flight is begins. Since the American Airlines terminal closes at 1 a.m., I was forced to go over to the International terminal because it is open 24 hours. It is an exquisitely designed building with high ceilings and plenty of space to stretch out and wait in. Unfortunately, it is not where I need to be and there aren’t many open power supplies to charge my dying phone. I luckily found one under a row of phone booths after spending 3 hours on the phone with Vicky in the food court and 15 minutes charging it in a desperate panic in the men’s washroom. One too many odd looks later, I found myself frantically searching for another plug.
