CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE FUN TIMES
After the two amazing weekends for Tribeca Film Festival, scifidvm and I decided we needed to repeat this. With our work schedules, we figured we could do the LA Shorts Fest, where Record played last year. I think when we planned this initially we had hoped Penance would show at LA Shorts (that and another short film we fell in love with called "Today's the Day") but after seeing all of the other festivals Penance was playing at, we gave up hope of seeing that. Of course LA Shorts didn't announce the schedule until two weeks before and that's when we noticed that Tim Guinee's short film "One Armed Man" was premiering. Fran Kranz from Dollhouse was also in another short film "The Lord of Catan" that we both wanted to see.
Thursday we land at the airport, rent a Camaro because, why not we're in California, and drive around. We had lunch at some little sushi place not too far from our hotel. After that we headed to the movie theater to watch two separate short programs, program 3 and program 4 of LA Shorts, which happened to be the Opening Night Program. At the end of Program 3, the directors of the shorts talked a bit before program 4 started. Richard Dreyfuss starred in the first short so after it aired, he came up and talked and he seemed like a guy who takes no bullshit. He is what he is, and that's exactly what you're going to get. Then Tim Guinee's film, which was certainly interesting. It's based on a play by Horton Foote and I think it works well as a short but I felt the ending left a little bit to be desired. Then Tim talked a bit about Philip Seymour Hoffman because Phil was the one who produced the short. Next was Luke Wilson's short about the Endeavor shuttle being moved to the California Science Museum. It was highly entertaining. After the film was this nice reception with tons of fancy foods, but first I got to talk to Tim who was super nice!
While we were at the reception, we set at a table with other directors who were impressed we came just because we love films. Apparently most film festivals are just people in the industry, which we kind of figured based on what questions were usually asked at the Q&As. Seriously, they were SOOO HAPPY to hear about fans and we had never met these guys before but they were super nice. It's a shame we weren't able to see their films because we were only in LA for the weekend. We next attempted to go to this rock venue but when we got there it looked kind of sketch and empty so we headed back to the hotel.
Friday morning we had crepes at this yummy place called Chill. Then we tried to find David's office on Sunset Boulevard but we ended up turning down the wrong way on Sunset and ended finding out just how diverse LA really is. We checked out Rodeo Drive which happened to have our favorite chocolate shop, Vosges (there's one in New York, Vegas, and Chicago) As we are wandering around we see something about a Lost exhibit and we had been talking about Lost so we checked it out.
OMG It's the Paley Center for Media and Television or whatever the actual name is. So we paid for the admission and headed upstairs to check out the Warners Bros. television exhibit. Despite not seeing David in person this weekend, we did find his badge from ER. Afterwards we drove to Santa Monica to stroll the pier and walk in the ocean.
Just prior to starting this trip, scifidvm saw Alan Tudyk's tweet about his film premiering Friday night at some theater in LA, so we decided to purchase tickets to this. It's "Premature" and basically is American Pie meets Groundhog Day but funnier. Every time the main guy orgasms, he gets sent back to the beginning of his day. Alan plays the college admissions interviewer and he is great at it. We knew there would be a reception afterwards but we were incredibly impressed with the trendy place it was at. Prior to the movie we had met friends of the main actor and talked to them for a bit afterwards because really, this was a super small theater and there didn't seem to be anyone who wasn't in the industry there. We waited around because everyone was sitting down eating and we didn't want to be rude, so just as Alan was leaving, we went over and talked to him and asked to get a picture and he took the selfie. When we told him we found out about the show through his twitter, he got incredibly excited. Seriously, this picture was an amazing shot and he took it!
I wasn't sure if the Hollywood sign was lit up at night but I knew one of the good viewing sights was only a few blocks away. We walked the Hollywood Walk of Fame and then realized that the sign is not lit up, but we did get to walk in front of the Kodak Theater where the Oscars are held. We also saw Grumann's Chinese Theater and the area where they put the hands in concrete.
Saturday morning Sci is checking twitter and Nathan Fillion tweets about being at "The Thrilling Adventure Hour and Welcome to Night Vale" live podcast at San Diego Comic Con. Neither of us are really sure what to expect but hey, it's only a two hour drive, why not? We only planned on seeing Penance at lunch time so we had the whole evening free and the show was at 8. We bought the tickets and headed off for brunch at the North Hollywood Diner before going to the Pan-Pacific Film Festival in Little Tokyo. It was a Christian film festival and I'm not sure how they picked Penance because it's not exactly a happy or very faith-based movie. We sat through it and then hit the road. WE WERE ON OUR WAY TO SAN DIEGO COMIC CON!!
We knew we couldn't get in to the actual convention, but who knew what we would see outside, plus we were going to see a show. OMG TRAFFIC SUCKED. It was miserable and took us forever to get there. We were tired by the time we got there so we stopped at this random restaurant to eat. We find the Spreckles theater where the podcast is being held and then head towards the convention center. On our way, we pass the Balboa Theater where they were doing a Nerdist podcast at 7:30 and 10:30. We wouldn't be able to make the 7:30 one but we ended up buying tickets from some guy for the 10:30 show. Because again, why not?
The Thrilling Adventure Hour and Welcome to Nightvale podcast was really entertaining considering we had no idea what to expect. The Thrilling Adventure Hour is done in the style of 40s radio shows and Welcome to Nightvale is a community radio varrated by one guy in a town where anything can happen. Apparently they do joint ones at conventions often. Wil Wheaton was the narrator for the whole show so it was pretty neat. We left just as it was ending so that we could get in to the Nerdist podcast because it was just around the corner. If you ever get a chance to see the Nerdist live, I recommend it. We had a really good time and were entertained that in the beginning the screen kept showing the tweets that used the hashtag #NerdistSDCC. It was interesting to hear what the audience thought and everyone who cheered. We ended up leaving San Diego really late, but it was so worth it
Since we had gotten in so late on Sunday, we had decided a day at the pool and then a nice dinner in LA. Well it was cloudy so instead of a pool day we went for brunch at this French place called P'tit Soleil for poutine and crepes. We didn't have any plans so hey let's watch more shorts! We watched some more entertaining ones though we definitely felt one of them left a lot to be desired because there wasn't much us an explanation. We went to Wood & Vine for tapas and good drinks. Food was really good and the atmosphere was super nice. It was just sunset so we tried to once again see the Hollywood sign. Of course it got too dark by the time we got there so as we're walking back we just happened to find Giancarlo's star! It was super random and it's a random part of the Walk of Fame, but they all seem to be that way.
Monday was once again a relaxing day. First up was heading to Griffth Park to FINALLY see the Hollywood sign and take a picture in our Monroe t-shirts, because again, why not?
We decided to drive up the coast a little bit and drove up through Malibu. I had checked twitter that morning and @midnight was looking for people for the audience, so hey the taping was at 3:15, both of our flights were late at night, plenty of time! So we drove up the PCH, had fun playing House Hunters (why no, I can't afford $8,000/month rent!) We head over to the @midnight studios which are some super non-descript building. You're not allowed to bring any phones or cameras into the studio but it was a lot of waiting around and the studio is absolutely freezing!! It was highly entertaining to be a part of a taping and it goes really quickly. There really isn't THAT much edited out because I of course had to watch the show when I came home. After the show we ate dinner at some deli place in Culver City before returning the car and flying home.
Main Lesson Learned from this Trip: Let twitter plan your vacation and you won't be disappointed! That and celebrities are super grateful when you support their projects.
Thursday we land at the airport, rent a Camaro because, why not we're in California, and drive around. We had lunch at some little sushi place not too far from our hotel. After that we headed to the movie theater to watch two separate short programs, program 3 and program 4 of LA Shorts, which happened to be the Opening Night Program. At the end of Program 3, the directors of the shorts talked a bit before program 4 started. Richard Dreyfuss starred in the first short so after it aired, he came up and talked and he seemed like a guy who takes no bullshit. He is what he is, and that's exactly what you're going to get. Then Tim Guinee's film, which was certainly interesting. It's based on a play by Horton Foote and I think it works well as a short but I felt the ending left a little bit to be desired. Then Tim talked a bit about Philip Seymour Hoffman because Phil was the one who produced the short. Next was Luke Wilson's short about the Endeavor shuttle being moved to the California Science Museum. It was highly entertaining. After the film was this nice reception with tons of fancy foods, but first I got to talk to Tim who was super nice!
While we were at the reception, we set at a table with other directors who were impressed we came just because we love films. Apparently most film festivals are just people in the industry, which we kind of figured based on what questions were usually asked at the Q&As. Seriously, they were SOOO HAPPY to hear about fans and we had never met these guys before but they were super nice. It's a shame we weren't able to see their films because we were only in LA for the weekend. We next attempted to go to this rock venue but when we got there it looked kind of sketch and empty so we headed back to the hotel.
Friday morning we had crepes at this yummy place called Chill. Then we tried to find David's office on Sunset Boulevard but we ended up turning down the wrong way on Sunset and ended finding out just how diverse LA really is. We checked out Rodeo Drive which happened to have our favorite chocolate shop, Vosges (there's one in New York, Vegas, and Chicago) As we are wandering around we see something about a Lost exhibit and we had been talking about Lost so we checked it out.
OMG It's the Paley Center for Media and Television or whatever the actual name is. So we paid for the admission and headed upstairs to check out the Warners Bros. television exhibit. Despite not seeing David in person this weekend, we did find his badge from ER. Afterwards we drove to Santa Monica to stroll the pier and walk in the ocean.
Just prior to starting this trip, scifidvm saw Alan Tudyk's tweet about his film premiering Friday night at some theater in LA, so we decided to purchase tickets to this. It's "Premature" and basically is American Pie meets Groundhog Day but funnier. Every time the main guy orgasms, he gets sent back to the beginning of his day. Alan plays the college admissions interviewer and he is great at it. We knew there would be a reception afterwards but we were incredibly impressed with the trendy place it was at. Prior to the movie we had met friends of the main actor and talked to them for a bit afterwards because really, this was a super small theater and there didn't seem to be anyone who wasn't in the industry there. We waited around because everyone was sitting down eating and we didn't want to be rude, so just as Alan was leaving, we went over and talked to him and asked to get a picture and he took the selfie. When we told him we found out about the show through his twitter, he got incredibly excited. Seriously, this picture was an amazing shot and he took it!
I wasn't sure if the Hollywood sign was lit up at night but I knew one of the good viewing sights was only a few blocks away. We walked the Hollywood Walk of Fame and then realized that the sign is not lit up, but we did get to walk in front of the Kodak Theater where the Oscars are held. We also saw Grumann's Chinese Theater and the area where they put the hands in concrete.
Saturday morning Sci is checking twitter and Nathan Fillion tweets about being at "The Thrilling Adventure Hour and Welcome to Night Vale" live podcast at San Diego Comic Con. Neither of us are really sure what to expect but hey, it's only a two hour drive, why not? We only planned on seeing Penance at lunch time so we had the whole evening free and the show was at 8. We bought the tickets and headed off for brunch at the North Hollywood Diner before going to the Pan-Pacific Film Festival in Little Tokyo. It was a Christian film festival and I'm not sure how they picked Penance because it's not exactly a happy or very faith-based movie. We sat through it and then hit the road. WE WERE ON OUR WAY TO SAN DIEGO COMIC CON!!
We knew we couldn't get in to the actual convention, but who knew what we would see outside, plus we were going to see a show. OMG TRAFFIC SUCKED. It was miserable and took us forever to get there. We were tired by the time we got there so we stopped at this random restaurant to eat. We find the Spreckles theater where the podcast is being held and then head towards the convention center. On our way, we pass the Balboa Theater where they were doing a Nerdist podcast at 7:30 and 10:30. We wouldn't be able to make the 7:30 one but we ended up buying tickets from some guy for the 10:30 show. Because again, why not?
The Thrilling Adventure Hour and Welcome to Nightvale podcast was really entertaining considering we had no idea what to expect. The Thrilling Adventure Hour is done in the style of 40s radio shows and Welcome to Nightvale is a community radio varrated by one guy in a town where anything can happen. Apparently they do joint ones at conventions often. Wil Wheaton was the narrator for the whole show so it was pretty neat. We left just as it was ending so that we could get in to the Nerdist podcast because it was just around the corner. If you ever get a chance to see the Nerdist live, I recommend it. We had a really good time and were entertained that in the beginning the screen kept showing the tweets that used the hashtag #NerdistSDCC. It was interesting to hear what the audience thought and everyone who cheered. We ended up leaving San Diego really late, but it was so worth it
Since we had gotten in so late on Sunday, we had decided a day at the pool and then a nice dinner in LA. Well it was cloudy so instead of a pool day we went for brunch at this French place called P'tit Soleil for poutine and crepes. We didn't have any plans so hey let's watch more shorts! We watched some more entertaining ones though we definitely felt one of them left a lot to be desired because there wasn't much us an explanation. We went to Wood & Vine for tapas and good drinks. Food was really good and the atmosphere was super nice. It was just sunset so we tried to once again see the Hollywood sign. Of course it got too dark by the time we got there so as we're walking back we just happened to find Giancarlo's star! It was super random and it's a random part of the Walk of Fame, but they all seem to be that way.
Monday was once again a relaxing day. First up was heading to Griffth Park to FINALLY see the Hollywood sign and take a picture in our Monroe t-shirts, because again, why not?
We decided to drive up the coast a little bit and drove up through Malibu. I had checked twitter that morning and @midnight was looking for people for the audience, so hey the taping was at 3:15, both of our flights were late at night, plenty of time! So we drove up the PCH, had fun playing House Hunters (why no, I can't afford $8,000/month rent!) We head over to the @midnight studios which are some super non-descript building. You're not allowed to bring any phones or cameras into the studio but it was a lot of waiting around and the studio is absolutely freezing!! It was highly entertaining to be a part of a taping and it goes really quickly. There really isn't THAT much edited out because I of course had to watch the show when I came home. After the show we ate dinner at some deli place in Culver City before returning the car and flying home.
Main Lesson Learned from this Trip: Let twitter plan your vacation and you won't be disappointed! That and celebrities are super grateful when you support their projects.