LA Stories

Here are some important facts about my trip to California.

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The town where my brother will probably go to college is kind of spooky. It's cool, too, but it's perfectly constructed. It's like a Hollywood set of a small town. There are quaint record shops and used book shops, and a quaint movie theater:

But all of the inhabitants are either exactly what you'd expect (like hired extras of old ladies walking their tiny dogs) or kids who look like they're in costume as Goth. This shop on Main Street would also imply there is a sizable pirate population. This shop was nothing but pirate costumes and treasure chests. It was decorated with posters from pirate movies and had a projection of pirate movies from the 50's on the wall. There were two parakeets (the most piratic of birds).

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This conversation:
Mark: You guys are both wearing boots!
Me and Sara: We did that on purpose.
Mark: That's how I know I'm a guy. I've never thought "Hey, Danny's wearing boots. *I* want to wear boots, too!"
Danny: Yeah.
Mark: I guess I've thought "Hey! Danny has a beer! *I* want a beer, too! Then we would both have beers!"

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We went to a great Thai restaurant. All the greater because of the Thai and Lebanese Elvis impersonators.

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We had Persian ice cream. I had rosewater flavor. We had just driven on Sunset Strip to get there, so we had this conversation:

Eric: Sunset Strip is where all the cool clubs are.
Me: Oh, so that's where all the celebrity feuds go down?
Eric: Yeah. And people keep track of who goes where. Like if Paris Hilton goes in a club one weekend, it'll be packed the next weekend.
Me: Why? People WANT to go where Paris Hilton might be? Or is it because they know she won't be there two weekends in a row?
Eric: Because her being there confirms how cool the club is.
Me: Yeah. It sure does.

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We went to the Museum of Jurassic Technology again. I don't want to upload all the pictures I took from that, so you'll just have to see the "MJT" pictures from the camera phone link at right. They are Artistic.

We watched a film about how the Russian space program was founded by crazies. It was a good video, but I fell asleep during Chapter three. We also looked at all the portraits of the Russian space dogs, including Laika.

I also was about 20 minutes into a film about Microminiatures when a kid came into the room, and didn't see me. But when he turned his head from the video, he jumped out of his skin and just said "OH!" and left. Then another kid came in, and stood right in front of the screen, and just when I was about to ask him to move, he just said "Ohh, cool, hey! Mickey Mouse!" and then reset the whole video. Which was kind of obnoxious, but I guess he just didn't see me. That was the day Willie and I were invisible to all.

In the tea room, several groups went up at the same time. A boy and a girl (David and Molly) came in and David said "Hey are you here for the party?" Eric went right with it, and said yes, and we began talking about the museum. A group of girls (Andrea, Carol and someone else) came in, and we all talked. Then we all dispersed as though nothing had ever happened. How many things in LA can I liken to a David Lynch scene? The tearoom was like a bright white box in the center of the dark, bizarre museum. Maybe it was more like that place with the little girl and the panther in Angel.

Speaking of David Lynch, Sara's house is right by the cafe where they shot Mulholland Drive. Also, Pulp Fiction. We walked past it, and it took forever "just to get rid of this god-awful feeling."

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We passed that diner on the way to LACMA, where we saw Indian artifacts, and Gustav Klimt paintings for free. Sara's friend worked there. I had never seen Gustav Klimt's "Beech Woods," but I think it was my favorite.

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The last night in LA, we went to a Rock Paper Scissor throwdown under the first street bridge. Willie dressed in drag. (awesome). Sara and I dressed in wigs and various eccentricity. I didn't get very good pictures of us with my camera phone, but hopefully Sara will send me hers. People kept taking pictures of us, too. Here's my brother. He kind of looked like Hyde from That 70's Show with those glasses. So, he was wearing a dress and a cute pink leather jacket, and a pair of purple wings, but I guess I shouldn't say he was in drag, since he's got that beard. He was just dressed up as fairy. I mean, mystically, not derogatorily.



The best part of the night was at the end, when 2-time undefeated Rock-Paper-Scissors champion Caine was being interviewed about his streak, and Sara heard him say "The key to RPS is to have a sense of when your opponent is going to throw Rock."

We got a picture of my brother with Caine's RPS trainer. I hope Sara sends that one.

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Saturday morning, they were shooting a sketch in the back yard. It was a 3 minute sketch, and they must have shot for 4 hours starting at 6am. So we had it memorized by the end. Willie and I were asleep, and I said from the floor, not sure if he was awake, "Here comes the loud part again..." and he answered "Yeah. Are they yelling the Rime of the Ancient Mariner?" I said I didn't know (it turned out they were), because the only line I could make out clearly was "I CAN'T HAVE SEX IN FRONT OF VEGETABLES!!!"

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Oh, right, so I met James Woods at a wrap party for a new pilot the first night. It's a legal drama, currently called Shark, sort of like House, but for lawyers. He was a wee man. Sara talked to him for a while. Then I talked to a guy who was really nice and funny, and he and Sara kept talking about Spike. All I could think was either James Marsters, or my dad. Then later I remembered the pilot was directed by Spike Lee, and it turned out the guy I was talking to was his assistant. He was really nice. Then he said I looked like Mallory from Family Ties!!! Remember a few updates ago when that happened? Let me look up a picture of her. Oh, good, I like the way she looks.

Sara, incidentally, has met Mallory from Family Ties because Sara worked on Arrested Development and was on the last episode along with everyone else from her production company.