chase the light

Yesterday we left on the road trip up the coast to San Francisco. I’m pretty sick so we didn’t leave until the afternoon. We stopped briefly in San Luis Obispo to get a bite to eat and I couldn’t stop shaking I was so cold. Ugh, feeling awful. We got up to Cambria late and looked for a place to stay in the dark along the coast. All things considered I think we chose wisely. Nice place and they still had some late night tea and cookies set out. Shhhh… I pocketed some cookies to take back to the room.

We got up this morning and had some complimentary breakfast in the tea room. Free is frequently good. Much like expensive is frequently bad. Make your own waffles and things. So we set off to go see some seals. Not your ordinary run of the mill lazy harbor seals, hah, we’re talking the seal monsters of seal monsters. So big they went, “hey they’re seals, but they’re like elephants!” Elephant Seals! Brilliant! You don’t see them saying Elephant Mongoose do you? No, no you don’t. They don’t even say Seal Elephants when elephants are having in bath in their watering hole. We first got to what we thought was Piedras Blancas but then noticed Liza’s jacket was missing, so I called back to the hotel and they went and looked for it. While we were waiting for a call back we checked out the seals bobbing their heads in the ocean right of the coast. Frankly I was kinda disappointed there wasn’t more flopped up on the beach. The ones out in the water were making funny snorts and stiff so that was cool.

While we were there we got a call back from the hotel and they had found the jacket so we hopped back in the car and went and got it. After the little back track we headed a mile or so farther up the coast then the original seals and came across the real Piedras Blancas. OH, look at that! Elephant seals galore!! Now we’re talkin’! Big floppy blubbery snorty fightin’ awkward swimming elephants! We spent about an hour out there watching them and got a whole bunch of info on elephant seals from a docent that was out there in her jacket with buttons on it. You know the kind… “I brake for elephant seals” and such. She pointed out a couple of big males but the bulk of them were scheduled to arrive in the next month to start mating. In a one question interview I asked Liza if she had a good time and she said yes very much.

OK, so long elephant seals! We have a long day of driving up the coast ahead of us. We wound our way up stopping occasionally for some photos here and there. Pfeiffer Falls being one of those spots. A waterfall! Into the ocean! And not a pain in the ass to get to! Took requisite photos and documentation and continued on. We finally got to Santa Cruz kinda late and drove around briefly but everything was closed. Liza liked the spookiness of it all and of course the Lost Boys connection. We spied a chinese place on the way in and stopped there for dinner. Rhyme ahead. Not bad for just pickin’ a place when pickin’s were slim. I had some chicken.

After dinner we headed on up to San Francisco and got checked in but then went for a little drive around the city. Headed over the Bay Bridge to Treasure Island to take some pictures of the skyline. At that point I was just too tired to go on so we headed back to the hotel. Lovely long day.

A few months ago I was talking with Carlos at work and he had a large art book on his desk. All it said was Murakami but apparently I’ve been under a rock for the last twenty five years because I hadn’t heard of him and he’s quite popular. Carlos tells me, “oh, you’ll love him, go check out the show.” Hmmm… So I walked back to my desk to do a little internetty searching on him and come to find out Liza had just bookmarked the Murakami show minutes before. Weird. She likes him too. Looks like we’ll be going to the show when she gets here!

Well, today was the day. After the aborted attempt two days ago of course. Fortunately it wasn’t too crowded and we got right in. Did I like it? “Not all of it” is probably the best answer. I liked the all the happy flowers and wallpapers, but the more anime style things not so much. We stopped in the museum store and Liza picked up a little plush Murakami doll. It has teeth and bites. It’s strangely cute with it’s one eye bigger than the other.

Afterwards we walked across the street to Little Tokyo and strolled through the stores where Liza also picked up a plush Totoro. I’m not sure I believe what kind of animal he’s supposed to be. I started feeling sick again but we stayed for a little while longer and watched a crowd form outside of Shabu Shabu restaurant. Hmmmm…must investigate. Very popular. Something good is happening there.

Yet another Beowulf screening today! Today with the parental units down in Orange County at the Spectrum IMAX. Haven’t seen it in IMAX yet but I’m thinking it’ll look too big and hard to see. I was right. But the movie’s still excellent!

This week I found a huge nail on the tread of my car so we had to stop at a tire shop before heading down. While we waited we walked across the street to a Subway. To eat. Not to go to Coney Island. That’d be really cool to do but that’s too long of a tunnel and I’d get bored. Sandwiches are better. So we got the car back and headed down the freeway to beautiful beautiful Irvine. We werea little early so we walked round the Spectrum for a bit and Liza pointed out that it’s Moroccan themed. Oh hey, it is! Cool. I hadn’t really noticed before. Why? Because I’m in freakin’ Irvine! “A planned community.” Argh! Rhymes with Bovine. Moooooo. Get out! Run for your lives! The mall does have a ferris wheel. That’s kinda cool.

Finally found my parents and we went in and enjoyed the movie. Popcorn and all. Liza even got a shaky cam photo of my credit.

Back in L.A. we hastily decided to get over to the Murakami show at Moca but discovered in was at the Geffen Moca and not the Moca Moca. A bit too late in the day to get over there before closing we hung around the Walt Disney Concert Hall and shot each other. With cameras. Mellow day and a nice dinner at Fogo de Ch?ɬ£o. Mmmmmm meat. [Meat is murder. Tasty tasty murder.]

Yesterday we sadly checked out of the hotel in Maui and had to sadly return the PT Cruiser. Sadly, because that car is a piece of junk and it cost money. Those things should be free. “A Honda Civic? Oh, those are $500 dollars a day. The PT Losers? Oh go ahead and take one, they’re free, the keys are in them.” That’s how I imagine it should go. Anyway, we got back to Oahu and checked into the airport hotel but had some free time so headed off to the Ala Moana Center for some shopping and dinner. We even took the bus! Ah yeah, classy. It’s the holidays so there was Santa things all around and even a Christmas parade through the mall. Weird being in Hawaii for this. We grabbed dinner in the food court (sweet!) and then caught the bus home.

It was nice to be near the airport for our flight out on Thursday. We got right over there and had plenty of time to get checked in and relaxed. Plus it was Thanksgiving! We’re soooo having Thanksgiving on the plane! And they did not disappoint! Turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, a roll, salad, pumpkin pie. It was all there! Except for cranberries! There’s your hard proof that everybody hates cranberries! Airlines won’t even serve them! I bet they even did a scientific study that every year the only thing left over from the Thanksgiving meals was the cranberries. Stupid cranberries. Liza’s first Thanksgiving. She was excited. Kinda not really.

Hawaii was great and don’t forget to wave goodbye to Diamond Head on the flight out.

On vacation you’re supposed to sleep in, not get up at 2:30 in the morning. But that’s what you have to do if you want to see a sunrise on top of a volcano and then bike down it for 30 miles. Good fun though, and no injuries! After going bed only slightly earlier then normal we got up quickly and grabbed our stuff and went down to the lobby and waited. It’s really dark and there’s no one else around and you start questioning if it’s going to be really worth it. Bed sounds really nice.

The day before I rang Maui Downhill to double check the reservation and they didn’t have it on file! Hmmm… I do have the email print out but they had no record of me and no payment information. I checked my bank and there was a payment to them. They seemed to take my word for it eventually but not without a lot of questions. They even told me a couple of times that they were full. The main reason I wanted to fly over to Maui was to ride bikes down the volcano! Had it not happened I would have been very peeved about it. So I’m not sure what happened but it all worked out.

The van was prompt, and on our way to the start we picked up a few more bleary eyed bikers. After we arrived at Maui Downhill they had some pastries and warm drinks for us. We also had to get some gear like helmets, gloves, sweet yellow jackets, and pants. We loaded up in the van with a trailer full of bikes behind us and headed up the volcano! Woo hoo! The driver of the van will follow behind us to provide a block as we ride down the hill, and our guide will be out in front of us showing the way.

It was still pitch black out when we arrived for the sunrise. Everyone sat in the van but Liza and I got out and goofed around. I borrowed Liza’s still camera to shoot some pictures of the Milky Way, but after a few of those we started sticking our heads in the shot and it became a mission of holding still and holding our breath for 30 second exposures. Which isn’t exactly easy to do. When you’re cold, hungry, tired…

So, the sun finally came up and can say it wasn’t all that spectacular since we didn’t have any clouds. It just kinda got light out without any big display. It was pretty but I could imagine what it would be like with some nice big tropical south pacific clouds to bounce around in. After the sun came up we suited up and hopped on our bikes to begin the ride down. Unfortunately we couldn’t ride down from the summit because someone had died the month before and all the tour operators were on a kind of lock down. From a heart attack, not a crash.

The ride down was really nice and smooth, but really quick. We stopped for some breakfast at a little roadside cafe before heading the rest of the way down. The whole trip down was probably an hour and a half but we were a pretty quick group according to the guide. we went through a grove of eucalyptus trees that smelled sooo good. Really nice and then we came to the end where we hopped back into the van and they took us back to the base. All in all a really great time. They shuttled us back to hotel where I was so exhausted I just wanted to sleep the rest of the day. Which I did. It’s our last night on Maui so we went down the beach to the other resorts and did a little shopping and ate at one of the restaurants along the beach. Beautiful night out.

This morning we had to get up early and then drive back towards the airport to catch the boat out to Molokini crater. We were running a little bit behind but the boat was still there when we arrived. After a few drives around the parking lot there was actually a parkingspot right by the check in. So we got checked at the table, hopped on the boat and we were off! It was a really nice morning to go out to the crater to do some snorkeling. It took about 45 minutes to get out there and then we dropped anchor and hopped in the water and paddled around looking at the fishies. One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish. Yes we saw them all. They served lunch with some hamburgers and chicken sandwiches and then we were off to Turtle Town. To see turtles. The weather was really choppy now and after swallowing a little too much sea water we were both feeling a little gaggy. haha When we got to the spot we did see one sea turtle off the side of the boat but I didn’t see anything once we were in the water. Ah well. About 45 minutes later we pulled up the anchor and went home.

We drove back to the hotel and relaxed a bit before going down the road to Lahaina for dinner. We walked around town for a bit and there was a nice sunset and some awful art galleries. We came across a Ruth Chris’ steakhouse and ate there. It was good, I suppose, but I got the I ate too much meat and butter heebee jeebees and felt a little ill afterwards. After dinner we checked out Hilo Hatties and picked up some Hawaiian chotchkies. Mugs, calendars, clothes, picture frames, etc. Must get to bed, because we’re getting up at 3am or something. Ack.

Today’s a bit of a travel day as we make our way from Oahu to Maui. Our flight isn’t that early so we can sleep in a bit and head to the airport at our leisure. We have the car too but I kinda forgot where the car rental place was. Somewhere over there, by the freeway thingie, but NOT by the other rental thingies. Approximately. We’ll find it.

And we did. Dropped the car off and everything was well planned… Thank you very much. Wah! Anyway we got on our plane and had a quick flight across the way to Maui where we picked up an almost too awesome for words PT Cruiser. Almost. So what do you do in a PT Cruiser? Go to a McDonald’s is what you do. Actually we were both kinda thungry, that’s thirsty and hungry and I just made that up. We had an hour drive to the kaanapali coast and who knew how long we’d be without food.

I’ve never been here but we’re definitely on the dry side of this island. We scientifically stuck our heads out the window and figured that out. “Yep, it’s dry over here.” Well, we wound our way down the road and along the coast. Very nice, and some beautiful trees along the way with the ocean sometimes right alongside the road to our left. We aren’t staying at one of the new resorts but at a more 60’s style hotel. The Kaanapali Beach Hotel. It looks like one of those vacation hotels you would have won a trip to on The Wheel of Fortune or the Price is Right showcase in 1976. And it did no disappoint in that category! It’s up to date and very clean though and we loved it. No taller than the coconut trees with old school tikis, volcanic rock, and torches layed out around the grounds. An evening show too!

After we got checked in and had a look around I thought we should try and get up the coast to see the blowhole. I had no idea how far it really was but it was a nice windy ride up and around the north corner of Maui. We got there with a little bit of time before it started to get dark, but it was a little bit of a hike down a hill and some rocks. Even had to dodge some guys on motorcycles putting around.

We got down the hill and the blowhole was shooting up pretty high! Very nice. So of course Liza told me to go stand near it to get a picture with it. It wasn’t the blowhole I should have turned my back on, it was the ocean. Yes! Rogue wave! Just like the band! Thanks. So giant wave decides he’d like to show me a thing or two and comes barreling over the wall of rocks making stupid blowhole look weak in comparison. Good thing I wasn’t holding my video camera. Oh, I was? Well, I hunched over clutched it to my chest and took the brunt of the wave. And what do you know? It only got entirely wet!

OK, I’m cold now lets finish up and get to the car. As we were walking back up to the car a rainbow was hanging about, which was nice. We got back to the hotel after dark and went down to the bar and watched a little bit of the show before heading back to the room. Took a warm shower to get the wave off me.

Wedding Day! The reason we’re here!

The wedding is at 2pm so we have time to get ready and not be rushed. We took some photos around the lobby of the hotel and it was good that it was next door as we only had a 3 minute walk. Found out quite quickly that it’s more like arrive at 1:30, and they’ll be at the alter at 2pm. So we were a little late, but we got to see everything and it did lessen our time in the blazing sun. Vedy vedy hot! So Steve f i n a l l y married Vicki after 83 years of dating and I got to see some old work friends. After the ceremony Matt came with us to have lunch at the restaurant underneath the huge banyon tree. Out of the sun. It was vedy vedy hot. And I was hungry and had lousy mexican food and fries. Vedy bad.

The reception is at 6pm at the Hong Kong Harbor View restaurant so we have some time. Just hung out a bit around the hotels. When we got ready to leave we were going to just get a cab but a limo pulled up and we grabbed that and went in syle. That’s how ya roll in the islands!

After sitting at our assigned table we realized we were sitting at the difficult dietary peoples table. Vegetarians, no shellfish, no red meat, etc. Well except for me. I’m an equal opportunity eater. So we ate, Liza and I shot photogs, we listened to toasts, watched a number game that was quite fun, and had cake, and then danced! No, really! Then we got tired and went home. And they lived happily ever after. Congratulations!

They’re trying to spell [867-5309]. Jenny, they don’t quite have your number.

This morning we got up and said goodbye to Turtle Bay. Bye Turtle Bay, I hate to break it to you but we saw no turtles. We checked out but stayed around to take a swim in the ocean before hitting the road. After the swim, the first thing to do was to stop by and see Gus about the tiki carving. We headed down and there he was! He had finished the tiki and it was awesome! Liza’s face on top, mine on the bottom. Very nice. He also had a nice one carved in some darker wood that Liza also bought. We thanked Gus and turned around to go back to the Polynesian Cultural Center to see the rest of the “lands” there.

In the land of Tonga I kicked some serious spear lobbing ass. Right in the circle. I should go live there. From my travels in Fiji, Tahiti and New Zealand it’s amazing how each of the lands is. Not really some Disneyland style representation. We spent a few hours finishing the park and did some shopping before heading down the coast and across the island. We’re staying on Waikiki for the next two nights at the Outrigger on the Beach. It’s next door to the Moana Surfrider where the wedding is tomorrow, so I thought it best to be near there so we can relax and not worry about much. I totally understand why Waikiki is so famous now. Amazing beach and the sand is like powder. It was dark before we got there but the hotel is spectacular and the view off the balcony is amazing! …and the breeze blowing in from balcony. Perfect.

Tomorrow… the wedding.

Today we had a few things on the schedule which included a drive across the island to go to a pre-wedding bar-b-que in Kailua. That was from 1-6pm so we had a bit of time in the morning and afternoon to see a few things. After an hour long photoshoot on the beach in full hawaiian regalia, we had breakfast at the restaurant on the sand and enjoyed the views.

We’re on our way to the Dole Plantation tis morning to take the tour and see pinappley things, eat pineappley things and be pineappley things. On our way down I spotted a carver on the side of the road so we turned around and stopped by to see what he had. He was a nice fellow named Gus and chatted for a few minutes. Just then another couple pulls over hops out and snakes the nice big carving he had out on the table. Um, thanks people., we were eyeing that one. humpf. Well, he was really nice and had a piece of wood there that was ready for carving. So we gave him a little cash and he’s going to carve a custom tiki just for us that has both of us on it and he’ll have it ready tomorrow! How cool!

Off we went very excited about that, and 20 minutes later we arrived at the Dole Plantation. Kinda hot in the center of the island. We bought tickets for the train and the gardens. We hopped on the train for the ride around the plantation and it was pretty interesting but I really could have used some pineapple to eat. After we got back we went into the shop and bought a couple of Dole Whips which are just basically pineapple ice creams. Very good, very melty in the sun, very quickly eaten. Chris wishes he had one right now he writes this. Pineapples are good. And prickley.

Right then, back in the car… So this is where not having the gps turned into a mess. Sometime during the trip I took a wrong turn by following some cars and ended up in the Schofield Barracks Army base. Ooops. The gate guard looked a bit annoyed when I told him I was trying to get to Kailua which is on the complete opposite side of the island. He let us turn around though and off we went back on the main highway. We had to go back through Honolulu to get to Kailua and a nice rainbow came out and then we headed through the mountains. Once we came down through the mountains I had no idea how to get us there without a map. All I could do was try and recall the route and get us in the area. We were already way late and no sign of actually getting there. So I called Steve a few times and we eventually got there but errrr, I tell ya.

Saw some old friends and one guy was from England so Steve of course introduced him to Liza, because that’s what you do with two english people. Turns out… grew up near each other. Ha! See! Anyway, we hung out a bit and sat by the pool for awhile before we headed back up to Turtle Bay. Before we left town though we stopped to get something to drink… at a Drive-thru! A rare thing for an English tourist. Ha!

Pineapple dreams tonight.

We’re up here on the north shore and drove down to Haleiwa for breakfast. We stopped along the way at Sunset Beach, Pipeline and Waimea. The surf was really rough and breaking again right on to the beach. Nice though. Click on the pic to heed the warning. After breakfast we walked around Haleiwa for a bit and grabbed a couple of Shave Ice’s at Matsumoto’s. Why is it only in Hawaii?????? Shave Ice is soooo good. Guess it’s kinda nice to be one of those things you get while in the islands.

After lunch we headed back up the coast to go to the Polynesian Cultural Center which was really a nice surprise. As touristy as it was it’s worth it. All of the major island groups are represented by people from those islands. Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Tahiti, Marquesas, New Zealand, and Hawaii. All doing demonstrations regarding their culture through arts, dance, singing and daily life.

We kinda ran out of time but planned to come back on Friday because we had to get to the Luau. Yum. The luau area was huge and had a small stage show where they also cooked a pig in the ground. That little piggy didn’t quite make it all the way home. The food was really good and I think I actually went back for thirds. Ha! And dessert seconds. This little piggy had a good time.

After the luau we wandered back down to the entrance of the Cultural Center and waited for the main show in the arena to start. “Horizons”, ooooo sounds grand doesn’t it? Psych-out! It was! Lots of torches, singing, chanting and ushers carrying around signs saying no flash photography. That were lit up. “No flash photography” “No flash photography” “No flash photography” “No flash photography” OK, we get it. Show was great though. May be a bit pricy, but thumbs up.

So, the Polynesian Cultural Center is great. All that and it’s run by Brigham Young University. Mormons, running a theme park. You’d never now.

Tonight we’re on our way to Hawaii!! That doesn’t suck. Friend Steve is getting married to Vicki this week in Honolulu. Sooo… we’re going to go early and hang out on Oahu this week and then after the wedding flying over to Maui. Liza’s never been to Hawaii and I’ve only been to Kauai once, so Oahu and Maui are all new adventures. Hawaiian airlines has a wedding discount so I got the tickets for a great price. As you can see the airplane food was nothing short of amazing. Handmade penne pasta, fresh bread sticks, a hand tossed gourmet salad and some fresh baked cookies. It’s like we were at the flying French Laundry or something. OK, more like Norm’s on La Cienega.

I tried guessing which side of the plane would be best for flying into Honolulu at night. My guess, the right side. The correct side? The right side! Woo! Thank you very much. We got some beautiful views out the window on the approach and then a quick right u-turn and landed. It was beautiful out. Not humid or hot at all. So we got landed, got the car rented, got the gps going… oh hold on, the gps is dead? Noooo!?!? I came unprepared for not having the gps. Hmmm… Oh well, we hit the road with about an hour drive up to the north shore and easily found Turtle Bay Resort. Um, hello?? A nice deluxe room over looking the ocean! 3 days here? We’ll take it.

So far it’s been the season of 3D so I thought it would be good to catch the Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D at El Capitan Theater. It’s a holiday tradition at the theater but Liza has never seen it and Blaine and Erin both love the film so they went also.

Earlier in the day we just kinda hung around and shot some photos before heading back across town to Hollywood and Highland. We ate at the Mongolian BBQ place, which I had a craving for and was talking about at work earlier in the week. So who shows up craving the same thing? Blaine. We sat and finished dinner with him and Erin then headed over to the theater. We got there a little late only to see the organist going down below the stage. Oh no, bummer.

Anyway, the 3D in Nightmare is kinda weak as it’s a film that has been converted from a *flat* film. Unlike the 3D masterpiece that Beowulf is. You should go see that.

After the movie we went downstairs and they had an exhibit of movie props and sets from the film. Including the signature moon set, which is also the [theatrical poster]. Rollover the image above to see Liza with the set. Vedy nice. After the film we drove down Sunset to the Coffee Bean and hung out by the firepit. There’s a very massive and disconcerting billboard that hovers right above all of the Coffee Bean. If that thing comes crashing down, lots of death would be involved. Me no like. Ah well, time to go, even with a caffeine boost, feeling sleeeeepy….

FINALLY!!

With the writers strike now ended those greedy bastards can finally get back to the writing of my website! I mean seriously! Bet you never realized I had a stable of scribes actually doing this stuff. Oh, totally. For 7 years I’ve just handed them photos and they just made shit up. So easy!! They’d write, “Oh, I did this, I did that, I went here…” It was great! Now that I have a 3 month backlog of brilliant things they better be on their game. But first let’s get you caught up. Let’s see, where were we?? Oh yes, so Beowulf came out… I’ll let my writers take it from here. They might be a bit rusty, so bear with them. ~Chris

Eh hem… With Beowulf wrapped and endless hours of work behind me I now get to take an extended period of time off! Yea time off! I decided 1 month would be great, but then I told work and they were all, “well were going to be kinda slow for awhile so if you want anymore just let us know”. So I said, “OK, how about putting a month on the front of that and a month on the end?” Sho’ ’nuff I’m on a, erm, short sabbatical, kinda. Well, until my vacation accumulation runs out and holidays stop happening. With that, I don’t have to go back to work until February 4th!

First up, Liza is taking three weeks off and were going to sloth around a bit here, then go to Hawaii, drive up the coast to San Francisco, and be rather care free. My brain is too shorted out to think about anything other than sleeping in, taking photos, eating at restaurants, and playing some Wii on my shiny precious new 60″ plasma. Plaaaaasma. Oooooo Pretty. Go Blu-ray! er…

So, yes, Beo finished but I sat around at work for a couple of weeks and waited for Liza’s vacation to kick in and then we were off! Woo! I picked her up on Saturday, with some sunflowers of course. It’s been terribly rainy in the England, so something to get her quickly adjusted to the golden state would be needed. Pretty eh? The flowers ain’t to bad either. bah-dum-bum! Awwww… haha.

So yes, vacation has begun! So stay tuned for the epic tale to unfold over the next few weeks! Intrigue, danger, action, and anarchy, all made up by us, the writers. Oops… we mean him. Oh wait, no Me!

I can’t even begin to explain last night. Craaaaaaazy.

I spent the last year and a half working on Beowulf so of course I felt it my civic duty to go see the stars walk down the red carpet at the world premiere! Right?! No? I really had no idea what all would happen. It was mayhem with all the yelling and screaming. And in the end I got into the theater.

I got up and decided to head over there before lunch to scope out a spot on the street. Someplace that I could get some good photos. I drove around Westwood briefly and saw that they were building a huge stone fa?ɬßade and setting up the walkway. I figured the parking structure we all normally park in would eventually fill up or get blocked so I parked there. It was already full up to the roof. I was starving so I walked around the carpet area for a short while and then decided to eat at South Street. A fave lunch spot of our lunch club. So I sat in there for a bit and watched the big screen TV but got bored with the sports they always show.

After lunch I walked to the corner and noticed some people had already gathered at the corner I wanted. Damn. I found they had actually left the very corner at the end of the railing open. So I sneakly nabbed that and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Oh, and then… I waited. Then I waited. Then I decided I should wait some more. And I waited. And then even waited some more until I couldn’t take it anymore and then waited. Funny thing right after all that waiting… I waited a little more. So you can imagine the dilemma I’m in right now. I’m by myself and worried I’ll have to pee. ack. We’ll see.

My thinking was I’m being a total fanboy by sitting out here, but I am not one of these people. I neither have an Angelina Jolie shrine at home or I’m not working for some company reselling autographs. They are seriously a weird bunch. I’m not even a slight fan of Angelina Jolie, but every single person there was there to see her. Ugh. There are the autogrpah hounds who are there just to get autographs to sell. Then there are the ones next to me who have self confessed Angelina shrines in their house that they want to add to. OK then. coo coo.

So I’m just sitting out there. Breaking the monotony, I got a call from Liza and got to describe the scene a bit. It starts getting dark and limos start pulling up and it’s gets nuts. All the yelling starts and stars come over and it’s a bit crazy but funny to watch. Then Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt show up and the place goes nuts. Ack, who would want to deal with that in their day to day life. All told I got Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins and Alison Lohman to sign my Art of Beowulf book. I think autographs are really kinda silly but what the hell. Everyone that was supposed to be there was now there and it quieted down and the security guard motioned to me. Hey, the guy back there is handing out tickets. Oh yeah?? I turn around and some guy had a handful of tickets so I scored one and ran back to the car to dump my camera and bam, I’m in!

The film? Amazing. By far my favorite film I’ve ever worked on. Best animated feature? Ha! Kid’s stuff. Let’s go for Best Picture. It’s really that good. Extremely proud to have worked on it.

A fowl beast I was. Left to right… Chris E., Chris C., and Chris G. No matter what party we’re always herded together for the 3 Chris’s photo.

Ah, the dearly departed. And a whole day, eh hem, deadicated to them! So you have a cemetery, people in skeletony things, cool arty magical goods, and tasty food stands full of all you can pay for taquitos. Not that I had any of those tasty tasty taquitos. Or the huge pina colada in the hallowed out pineapple with the umbrellas and flowers. Nope.

I went over to the Day of the Dead Festival at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and this year I was on time. Last year I was running late and missed a bunch of cool stuff. Like convenient parking. Not this year! I got killer parking and no lines for taquitos! Ooops, I mean the taquitos I just looked at and kept walking. So yes it was excellent, and it was so cool I volunteered to help decorate the Day of the Dead float for the Rose Parade. Check out the [float].

Parents evacuated out of Fallbrook. Homes destroyed. Choking smoke. Red polluted sunsets. Hey, just another day in paradise! The sun through the clouds and on the water was so saturated my camera just gave up and put flourescent orange in.

While I was sitting inside playing the Wii to avoid the nasty air, I was also sorting through old video tapes and found my footage of the Laguna fires from 1993. I was at work when someone pointed out that a hill nearby was on fire. So I went out to check and noticed Laguna was a huge smoke cloud. That’s more than just a hill! I left work right then because I couldn’t quite tell what it was burning towards. That night the flames came over the hill towards Laguna Hills but stalled there. Laguna and Malibu burned to the ground that year. Anyway, these are the first hours of the massive fire that roared through Laguna for 10 days. Just awful.

Out the window at work. They’ve been shooting the show Las Vegas out back this week. Lots of trucks, dressing rooms, catering, porta-pottys, and directors chairs. Just slap some duct tape on the chair… Insta-movie star! Although I haven’t actually seen any talent sit in the chair.

And who designed that Star Waggons logo? Grab your torches and pitchforks, we’re going after them.