EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J.—If any of you don't have any big movie plans in the works tonight...how about taking about 18 minutes of your time to watch my just-completed video—in two parts on YouTube—summing up my recent trip to Los Angeles?
Yes, my friends, I've finally finished putting this video—of which I offered a brief recent preview here—together...and I had a lot of fun doing so, I must say. I hope some of that sense of fun has found its way into the finished product; also, I hope I'll have as much fun when I finally get around to making that short film I've been kicking around in my head.
Other than those few words, I think I'll let the video speak for itself. Check it out below:
Showing posts with label California 2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label California 2010. Show all posts
Friday, June 04, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
California 2010: In Which I Assess How Los Angeles Played Itself
EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J.—As it turns out, my friend and I more or less stuck around in Los Angeles for the weeklong duration of our trip last week. No San Diego, no Sequoia National Park, no Santa Barbara wine country, as I had originally hoped; all will have to wait for my next voyage to the West Coast.
Nevertheless, Los Angeles offered its own considerable fascinations and rewards...and it's such a sprawling city that not even a week was enough to take in all there was to take in. I will surely be back.
For now, though...some rough impressions of Los Angeles:
Obviously, my impression of the town is skewed by the fact that I was a tourist for only a week, not a resident for years/life. But, if I had to boil my experience of the City of Angels down to one phrase..."fascinatingly contradictory" would sum it up, for me.
For many visitors, one of the great selling points of Los Angeles is the chance to explore the place which has become synonymous with American cinema; I speak, of course, of Hollywood. But "Hollywood" has become not just a section of the city of Los Angeles, but a state of mind, one associated with larger-than-life celebrity, international stardom, glamour, privilege. I imagine most people who visit, or even live in, Los Angeles come, at least in part, to tap into that mindset, both mentally and physically: to bask in that privilege, whether or not you are part of that class, and to walk the same streets as these real and/or imagined icons you've no doubt seen in the movies, in the news, in tabloids, or what have you.
Hollywood also famously carried the nickname "The Dream Factory"...and, at its best, walking along Hollywood Boulevard a couple days last week, as well as touring through Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Bel Air on the Starline Celebrity Homes Tour, the place felt like many of my classical-Hollywood-cinema fantasies flickering to life. (The fact that the sun shone brightly just about endlessly on those days only added to the splendor.)
And yet, as much as Hollywood holds the (unspoken) promise of getting physically closer to a lot of those celebrities you know and love, the town makes as much of an effort to enforce the bridge between a celebrity and his/her adoring public as it does encouraging that public to try to cross that bridge. I mean, why else stage a sumptuous red-carpet premiere for the recent romantic comedy-drama Letters to Juliet in front of the legendary Grauman's Chinese Theatre—out in the open, mind you—and implicitly encouraging a horde of people to gawk at movie stars coming out of stretch limousines...only to deny those adoring fans a particularly good glimpse of the stars they came out to see?
In that way, Hollywood is the equivalent of a parent who wiggles a reward in front of a child, then pulls it away from them with an "Unh unh unh" when that child expresses excitement at seeing that reward. Hollywood The Town teases us in the general public with the hopes of getting close to movie idols, but then it imposes further barriers, maintaining that distance. In that way, it truly is a "dream factory"—because it's all about furthering dreams.
That's probably not such a bad thing. Me, I love to dream; if I didn't, I probably wouldn't love the cinema as much as I do. As much as one may wish to get physically or even emotionally closer to movie stars in Hollywood, enforcing the mystique is perhaps the only way Hollywood can truly thrive. In any case, this contradiction that drives Hollywood The Town and Hollywood The State of Mind tickles me to no end—but only during my travels last week did I fully grasp it.
There's one other major contradiction in Los Angeles...though actually, it's more a "division" than a "contradiction," really—a class division.
Film scholar Thom Andersen touches upon this in his 2003 video-essay epic Los Angeles Plays Itself—which, thanks to a VHS rip floating around on torrent sites (the only way to see it short of keeping an eye out for rare theatrical screenings), I watched again on the way to and from L.A., and which gained so much more in resonance after I had spent some time in the city of which he speaks. In its closing stretches, most pertinently, Andersen extols American low-budget "neorealist" films like The Exiles (1961), Killer of Sheep (1977) and Bush Mama (1979) for collectively bringing to public consciousness the less exposed aspects of lower-class life in Los Angeles.
Even without fully refreshing myself on Andersen's insights before embarking on the trip, however...well, if you venture into Los Angeles's famously less-than-wholly-reliable Metro public-transportation system, as my friend and I did on a handful of occasions, you can't help but notice that, for the most part, only certain kinds of people seem to take Metro trains and/or buses: middle- and lower-class folk, college students, tourists and the like. Unlike in New York, you are far less likely to see, say, men in business suits in L.A. Metro subway lines; at least, I don't recall noticing any people of that type during the times I rode those Metro trains.
That, of course, is the side of Los Angeles most people don't really see in the media (and alas, I didn't think of trying to capture that hidden side with my own camera; that photo above is courtesy of the LA Times, not of my own taking)—and that, of course, is one of Andersen's core ideas driving Los Angeles Plays Itself. This side of Los Angeles, it appears, is often literally driven underground.
My visceral awareness of this wide gap between the haves and have-nots as it plays out in Los Angeles increased the more my friend and I spent swimming in wealth above ground: seeing all those luxe celebrity houses, eating overpriced food in chic restaurants, even exploring old-Hollywood stardom at the Max Factor Building-set Hollywood Museum. More often than not, we felt more like outsiders immersing ourselves in a faintly alien environment, feeling awkwardly out of place amidst the glitz.
Fitting, then, that, on the night before we flew back to New Jersey, we decided to have dinner at Noodle Planet, a cheap Asian-food place in the UCLA area. I can't speak for my friend, but I certainly felt more at home there than at, say, Spago or Mr. Chow. The latter, especially, was noteworthy for being an upscale Chinese restaurant that felt far more like a nightclub than any Chinese restaurant I went to in Beijing a couple years ago; they didn't even offer chopsticks as a utensil choice! (The food at both places was still quite excellent, I have to admit, even if way overpriced for the portions served.)
This is not to say that I necessarily felt more comfortable in those subways either; it's a bit disconcerting to see so relatively few people in Los Angeles subway stations compared to New York subway stations. (The fact that L.A. subway lines are essentially free to ride doesn't seem to have made a difference in that regard.) But then, New York's extensive MTA system actively encourages usage, since it extends just about everywhere in New York City that you would think to go. Los Angeles's far more complicated and less extensive Metro system, by contrast, seems to just encourage people to stay above ground and drive wherever they need to go—unless, of course, they're forced to take buses above ground.
No wonder there's that notorious big cloud of pollution hanging overhead!
Nevertheless, Los Angeles offered its own considerable fascinations and rewards...and it's such a sprawling city that not even a week was enough to take in all there was to take in. I will surely be back.
For now, though...some rough impressions of Los Angeles:
Obviously, my impression of the town is skewed by the fact that I was a tourist for only a week, not a resident for years/life. But, if I had to boil my experience of the City of Angels down to one phrase..."fascinatingly contradictory" would sum it up, for me.
For many visitors, one of the great selling points of Los Angeles is the chance to explore the place which has become synonymous with American cinema; I speak, of course, of Hollywood. But "Hollywood" has become not just a section of the city of Los Angeles, but a state of mind, one associated with larger-than-life celebrity, international stardom, glamour, privilege. I imagine most people who visit, or even live in, Los Angeles come, at least in part, to tap into that mindset, both mentally and physically: to bask in that privilege, whether or not you are part of that class, and to walk the same streets as these real and/or imagined icons you've no doubt seen in the movies, in the news, in tabloids, or what have you.
Hollywood also famously carried the nickname "The Dream Factory"...and, at its best, walking along Hollywood Boulevard a couple days last week, as well as touring through Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Bel Air on the Starline Celebrity Homes Tour, the place felt like many of my classical-Hollywood-cinema fantasies flickering to life. (The fact that the sun shone brightly just about endlessly on those days only added to the splendor.)
And yet, as much as Hollywood holds the (unspoken) promise of getting physically closer to a lot of those celebrities you know and love, the town makes as much of an effort to enforce the bridge between a celebrity and his/her adoring public as it does encouraging that public to try to cross that bridge. I mean, why else stage a sumptuous red-carpet premiere for the recent romantic comedy-drama Letters to Juliet in front of the legendary Grauman's Chinese Theatre—out in the open, mind you—and implicitly encouraging a horde of people to gawk at movie stars coming out of stretch limousines...only to deny those adoring fans a particularly good glimpse of the stars they came out to see?
In that way, Hollywood is the equivalent of a parent who wiggles a reward in front of a child, then pulls it away from them with an "Unh unh unh" when that child expresses excitement at seeing that reward. Hollywood The Town teases us in the general public with the hopes of getting close to movie idols, but then it imposes further barriers, maintaining that distance. In that way, it truly is a "dream factory"—because it's all about furthering dreams.
That's probably not such a bad thing. Me, I love to dream; if I didn't, I probably wouldn't love the cinema as much as I do. As much as one may wish to get physically or even emotionally closer to movie stars in Hollywood, enforcing the mystique is perhaps the only way Hollywood can truly thrive. In any case, this contradiction that drives Hollywood The Town and Hollywood The State of Mind tickles me to no end—but only during my travels last week did I fully grasp it.
***
There's one other major contradiction in Los Angeles...though actually, it's more a "division" than a "contradiction," really—a class division.
Film scholar Thom Andersen touches upon this in his 2003 video-essay epic Los Angeles Plays Itself—which, thanks to a VHS rip floating around on torrent sites (the only way to see it short of keeping an eye out for rare theatrical screenings), I watched again on the way to and from L.A., and which gained so much more in resonance after I had spent some time in the city of which he speaks. In its closing stretches, most pertinently, Andersen extols American low-budget "neorealist" films like The Exiles (1961), Killer of Sheep (1977) and Bush Mama (1979) for collectively bringing to public consciousness the less exposed aspects of lower-class life in Los Angeles.
Even without fully refreshing myself on Andersen's insights before embarking on the trip, however...well, if you venture into Los Angeles's famously less-than-wholly-reliable Metro public-transportation system, as my friend and I did on a handful of occasions, you can't help but notice that, for the most part, only certain kinds of people seem to take Metro trains and/or buses: middle- and lower-class folk, college students, tourists and the like. Unlike in New York, you are far less likely to see, say, men in business suits in L.A. Metro subway lines; at least, I don't recall noticing any people of that type during the times I rode those Metro trains.
That, of course, is the side of Los Angeles most people don't really see in the media (and alas, I didn't think of trying to capture that hidden side with my own camera; that photo above is courtesy of the LA Times, not of my own taking)—and that, of course, is one of Andersen's core ideas driving Los Angeles Plays Itself. This side of Los Angeles, it appears, is often literally driven underground.
My visceral awareness of this wide gap between the haves and have-nots as it plays out in Los Angeles increased the more my friend and I spent swimming in wealth above ground: seeing all those luxe celebrity houses, eating overpriced food in chic restaurants, even exploring old-Hollywood stardom at the Max Factor Building-set Hollywood Museum. More often than not, we felt more like outsiders immersing ourselves in a faintly alien environment, feeling awkwardly out of place amidst the glitz.
Fitting, then, that, on the night before we flew back to New Jersey, we decided to have dinner at Noodle Planet, a cheap Asian-food place in the UCLA area. I can't speak for my friend, but I certainly felt more at home there than at, say, Spago or Mr. Chow. The latter, especially, was noteworthy for being an upscale Chinese restaurant that felt far more like a nightclub than any Chinese restaurant I went to in Beijing a couple years ago; they didn't even offer chopsticks as a utensil choice! (The food at both places was still quite excellent, I have to admit, even if way overpriced for the portions served.)
This is not to say that I necessarily felt more comfortable in those subways either; it's a bit disconcerting to see so relatively few people in Los Angeles subway stations compared to New York subway stations. (The fact that L.A. subway lines are essentially free to ride doesn't seem to have made a difference in that regard.) But then, New York's extensive MTA system actively encourages usage, since it extends just about everywhere in New York City that you would think to go. Los Angeles's far more complicated and less extensive Metro system, by contrast, seems to just encourage people to stay above ground and drive wherever they need to go—unless, of course, they're forced to take buses above ground.
No wonder there's that notorious big cloud of pollution hanging overhead!
***
By the way, I say all this not to denigrate the town. I could certainly be mistaken in my impressions; Angelenos, by all means, feel free to correct me if you think I'm presenting an inaccurate view of your city! I still very much enjoyed my week there, and if nothing else I loved the experience of being able to step way outside of my geographical comfort zone and experience, on my own, an unfamiliar part of the world.
I guess that's another way of saying that I've come to love traveling. Maybe all these years of traveling to all sorts of imagined cinematic worlds have instilled a wanderlust in me in the real world.
I guess that's another way of saying that I've come to love traveling. Maybe all these years of traveling to all sorts of imagined cinematic worlds have instilled a wanderlust in me in the real world.
Monday, May 17, 2010
California 2010: Drumming at the Edge of The United States
LOS ANGELES—My week in the City of Angels has come to an end; later today, I will be flying back to the East Coast after an interesting and sometimes eye-opening week here. A fuller round-up of the trip will be forthcoming here at My Life, at 24 Frames Per Second.
In the meantime, here's a brief blast of sublimity I experienced yesterday while my friend and I wandered along Venice Beach.
I was walking along Venice Beach when I saw a large crowd arranged in a circle and heard a lot of loud drumming coming out of that circle. Naturally curious, I walked closer to the action and found myself in the midst of a gathering of the Venice Beach Drum Circle—not an official musical group, but a kind of subculture that embraces anyone willing to participate in drumming and dancing for hours on end. The experience of simply watching them in action was simply enthralling. As I witnessed this intoxicating spectacle of rhythmic splendor and passionate movement, I realized that no photo, however imaginatively framed, could really capture the essence of the moment—so I turned on the video-capturing option on my Canon Powershot SD400 and shot the little snippet above.
Consider this my return gift for you all: an infectious dose of positive energy. Because we could always use more of that, can we not? Enjoy! Feel free to get up and dance in your own room as you watch this, if you'd like!
In the meantime, here's a brief blast of sublimity I experienced yesterday while my friend and I wandered along Venice Beach.
I was walking along Venice Beach when I saw a large crowd arranged in a circle and heard a lot of loud drumming coming out of that circle. Naturally curious, I walked closer to the action and found myself in the midst of a gathering of the Venice Beach Drum Circle—not an official musical group, but a kind of subculture that embraces anyone willing to participate in drumming and dancing for hours on end. The experience of simply watching them in action was simply enthralling. As I witnessed this intoxicating spectacle of rhythmic splendor and passionate movement, I realized that no photo, however imaginatively framed, could really capture the essence of the moment—so I turned on the video-capturing option on my Canon Powershot SD400 and shot the little snippet above.
Consider this my return gift for you all: an infectious dose of positive energy. Because we could always use more of that, can we not? Enjoy! Feel free to get up and dance in your own room as you watch this, if you'd like!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
California 2010: Images To Whet Your Appetite
LOS ANGELES—Once I return to East Brunswick, N.J., I'll try to put out a few posts summing up my experience of Los Angeles this week—because there is much to say about this city, for well and ill.
For now, though...a few images from the trip so far to whet your appetite:
For now, though...a few images from the trip so far to whet your appetite:
Along Hollywood Boulevard
Humphrey Bogart's very personal tribute to Sid Grauman, he of Grauman's Chinese Theatre
Even the big outdoor mall along Hollywood Boulevard exudes cinematic extravagance, here in a tribute to D.W. Griffith's 1916 epic Intolerance
One of the stops on the Starline celebrity-homes tour: the house in which Michael Jackson died
The Beverly Hills of my movie-inspired dreams
In which I contemplate George Clooney's wax likeness at Madame Tussauds
As in much of Hollywood, a clash between old and new
The Getty Center, wonderful from its eye-opening exhibits to its intoxicating modern architecture
I both toured through Universal Studios and indulged in my long-dormant kiddie side via its rides (none of which I had been on before)
One particularly explosive moment on Universal Studios' studio tour
In awe of the view of Los Angeles
Runyon Canyon
Thursday, May 13, 2010
California 2010: Hollywood Beginning
LOS ANGELES—Greetings from L.A.!
I apologize for not being able to squeeze in much time for blogging about my first-ever trip out to the East Coast, but my friend and I have been so busy with sightseeing, touring and social engagements in the past couple of days that I always find myself ready to collapse with exhaustion by the end of each day.
Somehow, though, I've summoned up the energy to dash off this quick update about how things are going on this trip. Well, so far, it's been going pretty awesomely, if tiringly. I'm finding myself genuinely intrigued by Hollywood, although not so much in the "ooh, I can spot a lot of celebrities here" kind of way (though don't get wrong, that is certainly one of its big draws, and I'm certainly not immune to that). It's the nature of celebrity in this town—of how much Hollywood tries to enforce that celebrity by keeping a certain distance between a star and his/her adoring public—that fascinates me.
Sorry if that sounds somewhat cryptic; I hope to delve more deeply into what I mean by that in a later post, and also to set out some other reasons why I'm enjoying my time here so far. For now, though, a photo, to tide all you readers over; you can call this a teaser of sorts:
Oh, and did I mention the weather has been beautiful here so far? Bright and sunny, but not too humid? That's certainly a plus, compared to the weather reports I've been getting over in New Jersey/New York. Guess I picked a lucky week to go traveling.
I apologize for not being able to squeeze in much time for blogging about my first-ever trip out to the East Coast, but my friend and I have been so busy with sightseeing, touring and social engagements in the past couple of days that I always find myself ready to collapse with exhaustion by the end of each day.
Somehow, though, I've summoned up the energy to dash off this quick update about how things are going on this trip. Well, so far, it's been going pretty awesomely, if tiringly. I'm finding myself genuinely intrigued by Hollywood, although not so much in the "ooh, I can spot a lot of celebrities here" kind of way (though don't get wrong, that is certainly one of its big draws, and I'm certainly not immune to that). It's the nature of celebrity in this town—of how much Hollywood tries to enforce that celebrity by keeping a certain distance between a star and his/her adoring public—that fascinates me.
Sorry if that sounds somewhat cryptic; I hope to delve more deeply into what I mean by that in a later post, and also to set out some other reasons why I'm enjoying my time here so far. For now, though, a photo, to tide all you readers over; you can call this a teaser of sorts:
Oh, and did I mention the weather has been beautiful here so far? Bright and sunny, but not too humid? That's certainly a plus, compared to the weather reports I've been getting over in New Jersey/New York. Guess I picked a lucky week to go traveling.
Monday, May 10, 2010
"California! California! Here We Come!"
EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J.—By the time you all read this, most likely I will be (picture me wincing while I say this) up in the air, on my way to California for a week around the SoCal area—Los Angeles, principally, but perhaps other areas like San Diego.
I would like to try to update this blog during my venture, in order to give you all a reasonably live peek into what I'm doing/observing over there on a regular basis. We'll see if that pans out.
In the meantime, as a parting gift to you all...how about a clip from Metropolis?
On Saturday, I went to Film Forum in New York to see the new, near-complete restoration of Fritz Lang's 1927 sci-fi epic, and at the very least, it proved to be a thrilling and necessary palate cleanser after sitting through Iron Man 2 the night before. To be fair, Lang's vision of a futuristic society strictly divided into workers and planners is perhaps not much more nuanced than a comic book, in some ways—but man, what obsessive invention and visionary freedom Lang brings to this world compared to Jon Favreau's dull, uninspired image-making! And while some may find Lang's "hand and brain must have the heart as mediator" message to be somewhat cheesy in retrospect, the nutty conviction and sincerity he brings to the material easily outclasses the breezy, if admittedly often funny, snark of Iron Man 2. Metropolis was always a mad, passionate, glorious spectacle; now, thanks to 16mm. footage discovered at the Museo del Cine in Buenos Aires, there is more of it to savor (at least, amidst the heavy wear and tear of the new footage).
See it, if this new version is playing in a theater near you, and remind yourself of what real cinematic daring, unencumbered by Hollywood box-office dictates, looks like.
In the meantime, I'm off to have my own potentially daring adventure on the other side of the States. I'll try to stay out of trouble, I promise!
I would like to try to update this blog during my venture, in order to give you all a reasonably live peek into what I'm doing/observing over there on a regular basis. We'll see if that pans out.
In the meantime, as a parting gift to you all...how about a clip from Metropolis?
On Saturday, I went to Film Forum in New York to see the new, near-complete restoration of Fritz Lang's 1927 sci-fi epic, and at the very least, it proved to be a thrilling and necessary palate cleanser after sitting through Iron Man 2 the night before. To be fair, Lang's vision of a futuristic society strictly divided into workers and planners is perhaps not much more nuanced than a comic book, in some ways—but man, what obsessive invention and visionary freedom Lang brings to this world compared to Jon Favreau's dull, uninspired image-making! And while some may find Lang's "hand and brain must have the heart as mediator" message to be somewhat cheesy in retrospect, the nutty conviction and sincerity he brings to the material easily outclasses the breezy, if admittedly often funny, snark of Iron Man 2. Metropolis was always a mad, passionate, glorious spectacle; now, thanks to 16mm. footage discovered at the Museo del Cine in Buenos Aires, there is more of it to savor (at least, amidst the heavy wear and tear of the new footage).
See it, if this new version is playing in a theater near you, and remind yourself of what real cinematic daring, unencumbered by Hollywood box-office dictates, looks like.
In the meantime, I'm off to have my own potentially daring adventure on the other side of the States. I'll try to stay out of trouble, I promise!
Monday, May 03, 2010
California 2010: Some Initial Plans
EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J.—
In about a week, I will be on a plane whisking myself away to the West Coast!
...or, at least, one part of the West Coast.
Alas, as much as I really, really wanted to, I don't think I will be able to make the 6-hour (so I've been told) drive to San Francisco. I could do it, of course...but even if I was able to find a place to stay overnight, I would have already wasted half a day driving, and would then have to waste another half a day driving all the way back, leaving my friend and I with not even a day to explore there. With all of that in mind, I reluctantly concluded that a visit to San Francisco was just not going to happen this time around.
To be honest, this does take a bit of the original luster off this trip, if nothing else because I really had my heart set on exploring the physical landscape Alfred Hitchcock explored so memorably in Vertigo (a film which has a nice, comfy spot among my Top 5 of all time). Also, most people also tell me that San Francisco is a far nicer city than Los Angeles (less polluted air, for one); shame I won't be able to confirm or deny that this time around.
Nevertheless, my trip will go ahead as scheduled...and I hope, in the week ahead before the trip commences, I will have a more definite handle on what I aim to explore day-by-day. My friend has more or less commissioned me to be the one to come up with some kind of daily itinerary, and frankly, I've been overwhelmed by a) the sheer amount of choice and b) the desire to hit as many of the tourist hot spots as possible, and the fear of missing a major one. (There's also the issue of trying my best to accommodate the wishes and preferences of my friend, but I won't get too much into that here.)
Here are some of the things I'd like to do:
What say you all, then: good plans, bad plans, could-be-better plans?
In about a week, I will be on a plane whisking myself away to the West Coast!
...or, at least, one part of the West Coast.
Alas, as much as I really, really wanted to, I don't think I will be able to make the 6-hour (so I've been told) drive to San Francisco. I could do it, of course...but even if I was able to find a place to stay overnight, I would have already wasted half a day driving, and would then have to waste another half a day driving all the way back, leaving my friend and I with not even a day to explore there. With all of that in mind, I reluctantly concluded that a visit to San Francisco was just not going to happen this time around.
To be honest, this does take a bit of the original luster off this trip, if nothing else because I really had my heart set on exploring the physical landscape Alfred Hitchcock explored so memorably in Vertigo (a film which has a nice, comfy spot among my Top 5 of all time). Also, most people also tell me that San Francisco is a far nicer city than Los Angeles (less polluted air, for one); shame I won't be able to confirm or deny that this time around.
Nevertheless, my trip will go ahead as scheduled...and I hope, in the week ahead before the trip commences, I will have a more definite handle on what I aim to explore day-by-day. My friend has more or less commissioned me to be the one to come up with some kind of daily itinerary, and frankly, I've been overwhelmed by a) the sheer amount of choice and b) the desire to hit as many of the tourist hot spots as possible, and the fear of missing a major one. (There's also the issue of trying my best to accommodate the wishes and preferences of my friend, but I won't get too much into that here.)
Here are some of the things I'd like to do:
- Do a tour at a Hollywood movie studio. I'm still not sure if I want to go the Universal Studios route and ride some theme-park rollercoasters as well (I'm really not much for theme parks, as my mostly miserable experience at Busch Gardens Williamsburg during a high-school trip proved) or do a more formal studio tour at, say, Warner Bros. studios. But I'd like to tour one studio, if not more than one.
- Go to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- Take a ride along the Pacific Coast Highway and go to a bunch of beaches.
- Visit San Diego, mostly on the recommendations of a few friends/acquaintances on Facebook and Twitter. But what's in San Diego worth exploring? SeaWorld? The San Diego Zoo? I know the Hotel del Coronado is there, and that would be nice to see, if nothing else, just for its connection to Some Like It Hot (that's the hotel at which much of the action in the film's second half is set).
- Spend some time in nature at a national park. Since Yosemite National Park is too far away, Sequoia National Park seems like a closer alternative, and hopefully a just-as-worthy one.
- Perhaps try to re-enact parts of Sideways and do some wine-tasting in Santa Barbara Wine Country. (Will we meet a Virginia Madsen/Sandra Oh pair to make the parallels complete?)
- Possibly take in a film at one of Los Angeles's reputable repertory cinema houses.
- Drive around Mulholland Drive at night and see if I can somehow tap into David Lynch's twisted inspiration there.
- And finally, visit some people living in these areas, whether old friends from my East Brunswick schooling years, or new friends made through Twitter.
What say you all, then: good plans, bad plans, could-be-better plans?
Monday, April 12, 2010
California Dreamin' No More!
EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J.—It is now official: Next month, from Monday, May 10 to Monday, May 17, I will be taking my first (and hopefully not only) vacation trip of the year.
I'm going here...
Haha no, I'm not going to Romania. I'm going to California!
In all of my 24+ years of living on this earth, I have never, ever been to the Golden State. Well, I guess that technically isn't true: I've been to Los Angeles International Airport as a stopover between flights in traveling overseas, but I have never ventured outside of the airport. Now, from May 10 to May 17, I will.
There is no special purpose for this trip, really: This is strictly for tourist-y pleasure. I've always wanted to visit California—as a movie buff living on the other side of the country, how could you not? But only this year did I resolve to finally take the plunge.
I wasn't entirely sure if this trip was going to happen this year. Everyone and everything I consulted—from a high-school friend who used to live in California, to the used Lonely Planet California book I bought in January—was strongly suggesting that it'd be far better to rent a car instead of relying on public transportation to get me around, at least in the big cities. But I had not realized that most car-rental companies required a minimum age of 25 order to be able to use one of their vehicles. When I discovered this, I was initially figuring that it might be best to put this off for another year...until a hometown friend of mine, who will be turning 25 next month, expressed interest in tagging along.
$717 or so later—my friend and I reserved an airplane + hotel + car package online, so that price is not just for flying there, in case you were wondering—I'm making that 2010 resolution a reality!
Now, of course, comes the difficult part: What are we gonna do during our week there?
That's where all of you fine readers of this blog come in. Sure, I plan to consult that Lonely Planet book for suggestions and all...but, in addition, I'm opening up the comments section of this post and soliciting advice from anyone who has any to offer on what I should see and do in California. Best parks? Best restaurants? Best movie theaters? Best beaches? It's a huge state, and the possibilities are endless; help me narrow them down, please!
I'd even be open to suggestions as to what kind of music I should listen to in order to get me in the proper California mood...or even what movies to watch—of which, I'm sure, there are legion. (Maybe it's time to finally devote another three hours re-watching Thom Andersen's Los Angeles Plays Itself via that file I downloaded via BitTorrent a while back.)
If anyone wants to submit any pieces of advice about my upcoming California trip privately, feel free to email me at kenjfuj@gmail.com.
Finally: I tried to throw a curveball with the graphic above that introduced the revelation of my California trip. I haven't seen the late Cristian Nemescu's Romanian comedy California Dreamin' (2007), but I figured it'd be an unexpected choice compared to the way I was originally going to make the reveal—with this video:
Too obvious, right? But yes, I love Wong Kar-Wai. And Faye Wong. And Tony Leung. And Chungking Express. As if you all hadn't figured that out by now...
I'm going here...
Haha no, I'm not going to Romania. I'm going to California!
In all of my 24+ years of living on this earth, I have never, ever been to the Golden State. Well, I guess that technically isn't true: I've been to Los Angeles International Airport as a stopover between flights in traveling overseas, but I have never ventured outside of the airport. Now, from May 10 to May 17, I will.
There is no special purpose for this trip, really: This is strictly for tourist-y pleasure. I've always wanted to visit California—as a movie buff living on the other side of the country, how could you not? But only this year did I resolve to finally take the plunge.
I wasn't entirely sure if this trip was going to happen this year. Everyone and everything I consulted—from a high-school friend who used to live in California, to the used Lonely Planet California book I bought in January—was strongly suggesting that it'd be far better to rent a car instead of relying on public transportation to get me around, at least in the big cities. But I had not realized that most car-rental companies required a minimum age of 25 order to be able to use one of their vehicles. When I discovered this, I was initially figuring that it might be best to put this off for another year...until a hometown friend of mine, who will be turning 25 next month, expressed interest in tagging along.
$717 or so later—my friend and I reserved an airplane + hotel + car package online, so that price is not just for flying there, in case you were wondering—I'm making that 2010 resolution a reality!
Now, of course, comes the difficult part: What are we gonna do during our week there?
That's where all of you fine readers of this blog come in. Sure, I plan to consult that Lonely Planet book for suggestions and all...but, in addition, I'm opening up the comments section of this post and soliciting advice from anyone who has any to offer on what I should see and do in California. Best parks? Best restaurants? Best movie theaters? Best beaches? It's a huge state, and the possibilities are endless; help me narrow them down, please!
I'd even be open to suggestions as to what kind of music I should listen to in order to get me in the proper California mood...or even what movies to watch—of which, I'm sure, there are legion. (Maybe it's time to finally devote another three hours re-watching Thom Andersen's Los Angeles Plays Itself via that file I downloaded via BitTorrent a while back.)
If anyone wants to submit any pieces of advice about my upcoming California trip privately, feel free to email me at kenjfuj@gmail.com.
Finally: I tried to throw a curveball with the graphic above that introduced the revelation of my California trip. I haven't seen the late Cristian Nemescu's Romanian comedy California Dreamin' (2007), but I figured it'd be an unexpected choice compared to the way I was originally going to make the reveal—with this video:
Too obvious, right? But yes, I love Wong Kar-Wai. And Faye Wong. And Tony Leung. And Chungking Express. As if you all hadn't figured that out by now...
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