Dalmation/Relaxation

So this weekend was a little more low-key, and it was good.

I'll probably still manage to stretch this post to some obscene length.

Ha, well, Friday night after work I went bowling with my roommate Rob and a few of his friends at lanes nearby. His friends were all in like their late twenties/early thirties and married or close to it, but they were nice people and it was fun. Plus it was Extreme Bowling, or Cosmic Bowling as we call it in the Burgh, unfortunately, I only bowled really well before they turned on the black lights, then I started doing worse.

Saturday was a relatively low-key, but still fun day. I went for a run in the morning, and luckily the weather was beautiful in the morning. The temperature was perfect and the sun was shining. Played some Exile on Mainstream and I was in business. However, as the day went by, the rain and storms came as they have in the past few days. Still, the good thing about rain is that when it rains in the city, the mountains get snow, and then they look cool. I love seeing the mountains. They're one of my favorite things about this place.


Saturday night, Jenn (from my daap studio) and I went to the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood to see 101 Dalmations. As I've mentioned before, the El Capitan is the old Hollywood movie house that fell into disrepair until Disney bought it probably 10 years ago or so. Now they've restored it to its former glory (much like the New Amsterdam on Broadway) and now they show Disney movies there in grand Hollywood style.

Jenn and I opted for the VIP tickets, and for 20 bucks you get premium seating in the center orchestra or balcony section, a tub of popcorn and a bottle of pop. Not too bad of a deal. One of the cool things about the theatre is that when you walk in the organist plays a medley of Disney songs until showtime. Their resident organist was very good, and apparently has won some awards.


You can tell in the picture above that the stage is very beautiful and cool, and the rest of the theatre didn't disappoint either. Here's a shot of one of the boxes.


After the previews, we got to enjoy a great new animated short, "How to Hook up Your Home Theater" starring Goofy and in the style of the great classic "How to" Goofy cartoons. It was very funny, and hopefully is the first of many more to come.

After the short, the sparkly curtain closed again and Goofy came out on stage, and soon Cruella De Vil appeared as well. She made some jokes about Goofy being a dog and how much she loved dogs. She also poked fun at some audience members and was upset that Goofy had his own cartoon. Then Goofy reminded her that her movie was next. Cruella was then happy, and she and Goofy started to dance together. At their big finale, confetti canons shot little black and white "spots" into the air. It wasn't a big elaborate production, but was still fun and a nice touch.


The movie itself looked great, as it was the restored version coming out on dvd in a few weeks. Eventually, your ears kind of drown out the talking and in a few cases crying kids, and it was very cool to see a classic old movie like that on the big screen. Although the theatre was probably not even half full, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and clapped at the end of the movie. I've also learned after watching the movie that kids laugh the most when bad guys get hit with hard objects. It's a good thing to know.

I wanted to make sure I saw 101 Dalmations at the El Capitan this weekend because the next movies are all ones I don't really have any desire to see. Next weekend, The Hannah Montana Concert Movie starts, then after that comes Step Up 2: The Streets (a PG-13 movie that Disney isn't even releasing under their Walt Disney Pictures banner, but rather under their more adult Touchstone Pictures, whats the deal with that? Bad Form, Disney.) Who knows, though, maybe it will be good. Anyway after Step Up 2 in March comes College Road Trip with Martin Lawrence and Raven Simone. Nothing I want to see. Ohh well, at least I got to enjoy the El Capitan at least once while I'm out here.

After the movie, Jenn and I stopped by In-N-Out Burger, California's favorite fast food joint, and it was very delicious. The wait for food after you ordered from the cashier was about 10 minutes or so, and the drive through line was about 6 or 7 cars long. I could see myself getting skyline-like cravings for In-N-Out on occasion.

Today, has just been a day of relaxing, reading, getting some work done, and hanging out at the apartment. Its been storming off and on all day and weekend, so I thought I'd just relax today and it was a good choice.

I'm looking forward to work and the week. I think my bosses are starting to like me. Not to say that I thought they didn't like me, but on Friday, one of the creative directors said to me, "You're always smiling....that's a good thing." I definitely didn't feel like I was always smiling, but it's cool to hear things like that. I definitely want to make the best impression I can. Working at Crew has been and will continue to be such an awesome experience.

LOST starts back up on Thursday night and I am SO EXCITED. I think I'm going to go watch the season 3 finale before I go to bed tonight. To everyone who abandoned Lost in the second or third seasons because they thought it got stupid, you're wrong, and you should borrow the dvd's from a friend or at least watch the free Lost recaps and previews on itunes, because this season is sure to be AMAZING. Man I'm excited. Thursday night @ 8 on abc. Find Yourself.

If you're reading this blog, chances are good that I think you're awesome and miss you very much. If you've come across this blog by some other means and don't know me, if you've enjoyed what you've read then you and I would probably get along in real life, and I wish you well just the same.

I'm off to watch me some Lost before bed. Have a great week, call me I'd love to talk and hear how you're doing!

much love,

Alex

Bus Updates and stuff

How about a short Thursday update...that's the plan anyway

I haven't written too much about the bus lately, so on the bus ride into work this morning, I decided I would. One of the best parts of riding the bus is when you ride the same routes enough times that the same people start showing up, like supporting roles on a sitcom. Here are a few of the supporting characters I've run into a few times on the bus. (I don't know their real names, these are just the names I've given them)

Mr. Dole
Mr. Dole rides the bus in the morning and is on the bus before I get on. He's a biker, probably in his 40s or so, and is always dressed in biking clothes and wears a bike helmet. He leaves his bike on the bike rack on the front of the bus and gets off a few stops after I get on. I'm pretty sure he leaves his bike helmet on the whole time he rides the bus, he at least puts it on as before he steps out of the bus. It's usually when he gets off the bus that I look up and notice his bike helmet, which is for some reason covered in Dole stickers. You know, the little stickers on Dole fruits? The kind you always played with while eating bananas as a kid? Yeah those. His bike helmet is covered in probably a hundred or so. I get a kick out of it every time I see him.

The Crazy Couple
Ok, so I know so far these names are not that original or creative, but the crazy couple is this couple, probably in their mid 30s or so, a black woman and a white man. I first ran into them one Saturday afternoon when I was taking the bus into Hollywood. The bus was packed and I was sitting a few seats away from them. Anyway, the woman was really upset, and the man was trying to explain something to her. At first, the woman was just refusing to look at or talk to him, but then she started getting really upset, swearing at him and stuff, and soon she started slapping and hitting him. Don't worry, it was the only violence I've ever seen on the bus, but soon the guy got up and tried to get away from the woman, but she followed him in a fury, yelling and swearing and slapping. At that point they moved to the front of the bus, where I couldn't see what was happening anymore, because there were other people standing in the way, but people in the front of the bus were trying to restrain the lady and she was getting really upset and swearing at and slapping them, too. The bus driver stopped the bus for a while, and I couldn't tell what had happened, but couple got off of the bus.

I expected that would be the last I saw of this couple, but then just a few days later on the bus to work, I got on and heard people talking about wanting to see Cloverfield. I turned around and much to my surprise, there was the Crazy Couple, in good spirits and enjoying each other's company. At one point they started talking about how Alabama seceded from the Union in the Revolutionary War. I was happy that they had resolved their issues.

Loud Cell Phone Lady
On the bus rides home, after I get on the bus a woman probably in her late twenties dressed like a professional, gets on the bus talking on her cell phone. But she doesn't just talk on her cell phone, she pretty much yells into it. She's always talking to some great friend of hers (so it seems) and is always having a great time, making jokes and laughing and carrying on. She usually sits near the front of the bus, but if you wanted to, you could sit in the very back of the bus and follow her conversations word for word.

The Skateboard Kids
Often on bus rides home, a few stops before I get off, a Mother, her daughter and son get on the bus. The kids seem to be about the same age, probably around 8 or 9 or so, and both of the kids are always carrying their skateboards. They're cute little Hispanic kids and they're always well behaved, so they don't make for any crazy stories, but I still like them and see them a lot when I ride the bus home.

The LET'S GO Person
I don't have any proof that this person is the same person, but sometimes I've ridden the bus when the bus driver waits a minute or so at a bus stop to make sure they stay on schedule. Well, a few times there has been a mysterious voice coming from the back of the bus that is upset and yells, "LET'S GO!" "What are we waiting for?" "Come On!" "Let's Go!" I have looked back to try and see who is saying this stuff, but I can never get a good look. It always just mysteriously comes from the back of the bus. The voice sounds in such a way that I can never tell if it's a woman or a man doing the yelling, hence the "person" in their name. I of course have no way of proving that it is the same person, but the voice sounded very similar, and if my life was a sitcom, this ghost voice would always be the same person.



There are probably some other people on the bus I can write about, but those are some of my favorites. Also, can I say how much I get a kick out of it when you're riding the bus and the Transit TV newscasters report a story of another bus in the city being in a crash? It makes me laugh every time, and I think they've reported minor crashes twice in the last few weeks.

Also, a very talkative old woman sitting in the front of the bus a few nights ago got out her clippers and started to trim her finger nails. The face of the grossed-out woman sitting across from her watching her trim her nails was priceless!

Jorge gave me a ride home from work last night. It was raining pretty hard and he apparently lives close to me, so it was great. It took like half as long getting home. I might get some more rides home in the future, so I might not run into the night bus riders as often, which is a shame.


Unrelated to the Wonderful World of Metro, Tuesday was Amanda and I's Nine month-iversary. Exciting, huh? I can't believe its been that long. It sure has been great, though! It's tough being this far away especially with the time change, but I know we'll be okay. The webCams I cleverly bought us for Christmas are helping a lot, especially since Verizon sucks for some reason in my Apartment. Anyway, Amanda bought her plane ticket a few days ago to come visit at the end of the quarter, and I'm going to show her around and we're going to go to Disneyland, too! I've never been there before, of course, but I'm going to wait until then to go myself, so that it's extra special for both of us. Talk about something to look forward to!

Sorry that I'm writing posts so often and it's hard to keep up. Thanks everybody for letting me know how much you're enjoying reading this thing. I'm having a blast writing it, too!

I'm hoping to go to the El Capitan to see 101 Dalmations on the big screen this weekend. Those are all my plans at the moment.

Keep it real everybody

-Alex

Amazing.

A day off of work means another day of exploring and a blog post!

I had the day off of work today and so I decided to take the bus downtown and check out the Walt Disney Concert Hall.  It had looked very cool in pictures, and I was looking forward to seeing the building in real life.  

Well I took the 45 minute bus ride downtown, got off at 1st street, and started walking a few blocks west.  It was very cool to be in the heart of downtown for the first time.  There's some really cool architecture.  Extremely modern stuff and classic older buildings, also.  On the bus ride over it had been raining kind of hard at times, but I was glad to see it letting up.  Toward the top of a small hill on first street, I started to see the sweeping metalic sides of the concert hall.  As I got closer, I paused across the street and looked straight on at the concert hall.  

It was a beautiful sight, and experiencing the building is almost difficult to put into words.  I paused and took some pictures, then walked closer and began walking around the building.  It seemed as though every view was designed to be so aesthetically perfect and stunning, no matter how you framed the building.  I found myself taking pictures of every angle and all the slopes and billowing sides.  

I was very surprised to find something that I hadn't seen too many pictures of, the large but very intimate garden that wraps around the rear of the hall and sits 30 feet up from the street below.  

As I was exploring every path, walkway and stairway, I was noticing many people holding up large phone-like wands to their ears as they walked around the building, and I realized there was an audio tour.  After I had circled the building once, I knew I hadn't gotten enough and I wanted to learn and hear more about the hall and how it was built.  I walked back to the lobby, where I suddenly felt very hungry and was in no hurry to leave, so I walked over to the Cafe where I bought a very overpriced lunch, but I was inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall, so nothing was going to upset me.  

I finished lunch, walked over and picked up a wand and started the audio tour.  Much to my happiness, it was hosted and narrated by actor John Lithgow, and many people involved in the design and planning of the building spoke on the tour, including Walt's daughter, Diane Disney Miller, and architect genius Frank Gehry.  

To give all of you a little background on the building, it was the brainchild of the late Lillian Disney, Walt's wife.  In 1987, she gave a gift of $50 million for the creation of a new concert hall for the Los Angeles Philharmonic as a tribute to her husband, Walt, and a gift to the people of Los Angeles.  Finally in 2003 after much planning, fundraising and construction, the Hall opened.  Interviews with Frank Gehry and Diane Disney Miller offered great insight into the character and life of Lillian Disney.  Much of the building pays homage to her, most notably an amazing large rose-shaped fountain in the garden and the surprisingly colorful abstracted-flower pattern of the carpet, which is named "Lillian," that covers much of the interior floor.  

The tour offered many great stories and explanations of many aspects of the building's planning, design and construction.  The building itself is a designer's dream.  Famed graphic designer Bruce Mau created all of the signage and did stunning work with an amazing wall of donors in which metallic letters are placed onto a grey industrial felt that looks like stone until you walk up and touch it.

The tour wrapped around, through and outside many amazing spaces in the building, including the garden I mentioned before and past a side of the building that offered a view as to how the complexity of the sides was actually relatively deceptive and was in fact made up of simple straight steel beams.  This is for all of you Engineers and Architects.

The tour led up a few flights of stairs onto an amazing walkway near the top of the building that offered a great view of the rest of downtown LA.  Here you can see a curve of the concert hall frame the beautiful Los Angeles City Hall, made familiar to me by watching the Naked Gun.  You can see here the sky was relatively stormy as this picture was taken on my first circle of the building.   

At one point in the tour, I walked by a woman who was directing visitors along the tour route, and she asked me how I was doing.  I told her I was great and that I thought the building was amazing.  I went on to tell her I was a design student in town for an internship and that I went to school in Cincinnati where we have the works of famous architects as well.  She introduced herself and told me she was actually the head of the tours at the Concert hall and she was covering for another person in her spot, but she recommended that at the end of my audio tour I meet a woman named Joanne in the lobby who she said was their best tour guide and that I ask her any questions I have.  The woman told me she would let Joanne know I was coming.  

So after I finished the tour in the lobby, I returned my wand and walked over to the woman I assumed was Joanne.  I introduced myself to her, a small, older Asian woman, and she had been expecting me.  She asked me if I had time, and I certainly did, so she began to lead me outside to get a great view of the building, and then led me up to the second floor pointing out many of her favorite aspects of the Hall.  This woman definitely loved this building, and it was wonderful to be personally shown around by someone so passionate about where she works. 

At one point I dropped the big question, "Is it pretty impossible to go inside the Hall right now?"

She said she didn't think we would be able to, but then she said she would try.  She got on her walkie-talkie, called her supervisor (the woman I had met earlier) and said, "I'm here with Alex, is it possible to go inside the Hall?"  Soon the supervisor showed up, and we followed her into the elevator up to the 4th floor, got out and followed her over to the door into the Concert Hall.  The supervisor swiped her access card, and the door unlocked, allowing us to walk into the concert hall.  Words can't really describe how beautiful it was.  I knew the outside of the building would be amazing, but I had never expected the interior to be so warm and beautiful, something that Lillian Disney had wanted, I learned on the tour.  I stood at the back of one of the seating sections in the concert hall, listened to Joanne, and asked questions of my own.  The Lillian pattern of the seats, the enormous organ, the beautiful wood; it was amazing.  I was very, very thankful to Joanne and her supervisor for giving me such special privileges, and they made sure I knew that no visitor was every allowed in the Concert Hall.

After going inside the hall, we walked back downstairs, and I thanked Joanne again very much.  We said goodbye, and I walked back out to take some more pictures.  All in all, I spent almost three hours exploring, touring and experiencing the building, and was never tired or bored.  It was full of so much adventure and excitement, I was thrilled to be there.  

I will definitely be doing whatever it takes to go back for a performance to really see and hear the building sing.  Even if I don't make it back for a show, visiting the Walt Disney Concert Hall is an experience that will stay with me for a long time.

Who would have thought that one of the most profoundly moving and spiritual experiences I would have so far in California would revolve around an enormous building made of metal.  It is astonishing that man is capable of creating something as beautiful and powerful as the Walt Disney Concert Hall is, and I don't use those words lightly.  This is a building that needs to be experienced by everyone.  It is full of hope, promise and realized dreams, and is a fitting tribute to Walt.

I am sure he would be proud to be associated with the concert hall and all of the amazing people who put so much effort into its planning, design and construction.  Lillian Disney and Frank Gehry have not only given a great gift to the people of Los Angeles, but to the world.

Wow, I'm sure I sound crazy saying all these things about a heap of metal, but hopefully these pictures I took gave you a bit of an idea what the Walt Disney Concert Hall is like.  If you ever get to see it in person, you might understand more about what I'm talking about.  Yes, all these pictures were taken today by me.  At first it was stormy and rainy, then it cleared up and the sun came out, which is when the majority of these pictures were taken.  

I also saw Cloverfield in Hollywood with Kyle Shepard today, but as awesome as it was, it won't get a blog post right now.

I hope everyone has a great 4 day week!

much love,

Alex

Consorting with the Enemy

Sorry these posts can be so long...but enjoy!

So I just got back from nice run on another amazing Los Angeles morning.  This weather is crazy.  Sunny, not a cloud in the sky, in the 50s...perfect running weather.  I love it!  Now if only I could get up early during the week to run...

Anyway, yesterday I had a great day at Universal Studios Hollywood.  I'll be happy to tell you a bit about it here.  Everybody who's out here on co-op from my studio at UC got together and went to Universal.  It was Klye, Alyssa, Jenn, Jenn's roommate out here, Tessa, and I and we all had a lot of fun.  It was great to see familiar faces!

Universal City sits on the side of a hill looking out into the Valley.  I had heard people always talking about the valley, but I didn't really know what it was until yesterday.

In this picture you can see the Universal backlot down at the bottom, past the golf-course is the Warner Bros. studio which I can't wait to check out as well, and I think there's a possibility that the Disney Studio is down there in the valley behind those tall buildings on the left, but i'm not sure.  

Anyway, the first thing we did at the park was the Studio tour.  The studio tour is probably the coolest thing at the park, because you see sets that are actually used for real mainstream movies on a regular basis.  At the beginning you drive by a bunch of huge soundstages and your tour guide basically tells you that there's cool stuff inside, but if you want to see that stuff you have to pay like a lot of money for the VIP Tour.  

Then you get to the backlot where things get cool.  They drive you through many streets of city sets.  These sets are used all the time by movies, tv shows and music videos, Bruce Almighty and U2's Vertigo video to name just a few.  Part of the city is the Courthouse square where the Back to the Future trilogy was filmed.  Unfortunately, the courthouse has been remodeled since then and is now used for filming on Jennifer Love Hewitt's show Ghost Whisperer, but I guess that's part of the coolness of the backlot, that it is always changing and being utilized.  While down in the city they take you into a huge soundstage where you meet a big King Kong animatronic that's pretty cool.  

You drive past some Western sets, used for countless movies and a set that they said was used when the Pirates sacked Port Royal in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie.  The cool thing about the Western sets is that some of the doorways are smaller than normal to make the heroes seem larger than life when standing in front of them and some doors are extra large to make the damsels in distress seem even more helpless.  

You drive past some cool cars used in movies like the Bluesmobile, an original Delorean, some sweet Jurassic Park trucks and cars and Fast and the Furious stuff.  I don't remember the orders of everything, but the tour also takes you into a soundstage with a massive Earthquake scene.  There's a somewhat disappointing Jaws scene where the shark kind of jumps up out of the water and flies as he goes by the tram.  

The tram also drove us through all of Wisteria Lane, where they film Desperate Housewives.  and past a very cool set from the War of the Worlds, where a plane crashes into a neighborhood.

One of the coolest sets on the tour is also one of the most historic sets anywhere, the Bates motel and house from Psycho.  It was pretty terrifying, but I do love that movie.  I know Kevin isn't scared of it, but I definitely am.

Let's see, what else?  Well, they also take you into a tunnel in a Mummy scene that's pretty cool, and past the house that was the log cabin at the end of the Mark Wahlberg movie Shooter, which is really cool because a few of us just watched that movie a few months ago. 

Soon after, the tour comes to an end.  All in all, it's a pretty packed tour, lasting almost an hour, and is probably close to worth the price of admission.

There are, however, a few other rides and shows that are cool.  Let's see, Jurassic Park: the Ride is a pretty cool water ride, although shorter and not as scary as I had imagined.  Still, anything Jurassic Park is cool, and it does the movie justice, not to mention making sure John Williams' awesome theme song is stuck in your head for the rest of the day.

Surprisingly, the walkthrough based on the rarely-remembered Ron Howard/Kurt Russell movie Backdraft was really cool.  They show you a movie set with A LOT of fire and throw in a surprise or two to really knock your socks off, which I didn't know could happen in a walkthrough.  

Revenge of the Mummy, a roller coaster based on the Mummy movies, was very cool but not quite as scary as I expected either.  I thought more stuff would be jumping out at me.  Maybe I'm just getting older and hard to scare.  

Let's see, the Shrek 4-D movie was disappointing, because it doesn't give you any frame of reference or tell any real story.  You essentially sit in a movie theater and watch a ten minute long 3-D Shrek Movie while your seat moves and they spray water and air at you.  But it's not like you're actually riding in the carriage with Shrek, you're watching Shrek ride in a carriage, so when your seat rattles like a carriage, it doesn't make sense.  But what can you expect from a Dreamworks/Universal collaboration?  Ha.  

Unfortunately the famous Back to the Future ride is closed and being replaced with a Simpsons ride.  I'm disappointed that I never got to go on the Back to the Future ride.  I'm sure it would've been cool.  

Luckily, there still was fun to be had at the House of Horrors, a walkthrough Haunted House.  It actually was very cool, Kyle, Alyssa and I went in.  Many famous Universal horror stars show up, including Lon Chaney's Phantom of the Opera, the Wolfman and Chuckie.  The sets were great and very spooky.  It's always good being a guy to go into a Haunted House with a girl, because then the people inside don't try to scare you, they always try to get the girl to scream.  I did get scared at one point though, when there was this freaky maze of mirrors, and towards the beginning there was an opening with a shower curtain.  I was in front, and as we walked by the shower curtain, Mother from Psycho stabbed through it with her knife.  I of course was terrified and she chased us as we started running through the hall.  I think Mother could tell that I was seriously scared, because even though I was in the front of the group of three of us, it seemed like she was trying to get to me.  Luckily when we got to the end of the mirrors she disappeared.  It was a lot of fun though.

The last thing we did was the Waterworld show, a surprisingly cool stunt show based on the big budget Kevin Costner flop.  It was very cool, though, with some impressive Jet Ski driving and big explosions like this one at the end of the show.  Good job Universal!

In conclusion, Universal Studios is a cool place, but it isn't the rides, shows, or in-park areas that make it cool.  With only a few exceptions park itself doesn't really completely transport you into a movie or out of the real world.  It is the fact that real movies and tv shows are filmed here that makes it so cool.  In terms of capturing the "Spirit of Hollywood," I'm obviously biased but I think that the former Disney-MGM Studios does a better job of that.  

Still, I had a blast and am not disappointed that I paid to be an Annual Passholder and can go back to the park for free anytime in the next year.  I'll definitely go back, especially if the writers strike ends and production amps back up and when the Simpsons ride opens.  Universal Studios isn't Disneyland, and that's okay.  I don't need it to be to have fun there.  I had a great time with some great people, and I'll look forward to going back.  

Just don't get me started talking about Universal's "deals"...I'll save that for a future post.

I hope everybody has a great rest of the holiday weekend!  

Oh and guess what, Friday night I decided to splurge and use my ticketmaster gift card to buy a floor seat for the Matchbox Twenty concert here in March.  I'm stoked!

much love,

Alex