Hollywood - Santa Monica
If you look closely at the full image above, you can make out the iconic Hollywood sign off in the distance. We took a drive out to the sign to take the requisite tourist photographs of it.
Then we drove off to Pink's, the most famous hot dog stand in LA. I had a Rosie O'Donnell 10" stretch chili dog with sauerkraut. It was delicious, and the price was very reasonable. Although the lines were quite long, it was totally worth it.
After eating we went out to Santa Monica beach and strolled out on the pier. I lathered up with some sunscreen this time, I had a bit of a burn from the previous day. I guess I wasn't ready for all the sun they get down here.
Finally time caught up to us and we had to head back on I-5 to Pleasanton... this time it only took us 5 hours. It was a great little break.
Now off to bed and back to work!
Labels: business trip, California, Los Angeles
Hollywood
I had a big post but Blogger ate it. So I'll keep it short and sweet. I hit Beverly Hills (pictured above), Rodeo Drive, the Sony Pictures International Headquarters, and Korea town.
Cameras were not allowed on the movie lot, so I had to secretly snap this picture of a huge inflatable spider man mounted on the side of a sound stage.
I saw Brad Pitt's trailer (he's working on a new movie... about a boat and snow - secret stuff) and Adam Sandler's pimped out golf cart.
Oh, and when I walked up to the
famous Chinese theatre in the morning, after eating breakfast at the
Saddle Ranch Chop Shop (warning it's noisy), I found my star on the walk of fame.
Labels: business trip, California, Los Angeles
Cali Coast
Yesterday I drove down the California coast on a twisty-turny trip from silicon valley to Las Angeles with my co-worker. The view was spectacular, but it was definitely the slow scenic route. Blind turns and the threat of plunging over cliff edges kept us well within the posted speed limits.
We stopped pretty often to enjoy the view, snap some pictures, and say hi to the elephant seals.
The throttle opened up a bit once we got closer to LA, and we made the trip in a total of 10 hours.
We're staying at a nice hotel on Sunset Blvd in west Hollywood. Last night we walked up and down the strip and saw blinged-out babes in crazy-tight jeans, richy-riches with status-symbol sports cars, and a good share of wannabes.
Today I'm meeting up with an old school buddy who will be showing me around the local movie studio. Maybe I'll catch a glimpse of someone's trailer...
Labels: business trip, California
Pleasanton Remix
Well I'm back in Pleasanton again. This is trip number 3 down here, and hopefully the adage of "the third time's the charm" will prove true. This emergency opportunity is huge, strategic, and unfortunately ripped me away from my long-awaited Las Vegas trip.
So far everything is going great, and my team was treated to some high-class Mexican dining. Right beside the neon sign pictured above is the "
Blue Agave Club", where I tried a tasty dish called mole poblano. Mole poblano is a tender boneless breast of chicken, stewed for hours in a dark rich sauce made with chocolate, chilies, seeds and nuts. Hungry yet?
I'm not sure if I'll be able to return to Toronto for the weekend - this is a long haul march - but I'm doing my best to finish all my tasks early. Otherwise my babies might die while I'm gone!
Labels: business trip, California
Grindhouse
Over the Easter long weekend, I watched Grindhouse with my bro, and it was great. It had zombies, hot girls, senseless gratuitous violence, and tons of cameos.
The trailers were also one of the best parts of the double-feature.
"Don't" was definitely my favourite. You'll understand once you see the movie(s).
Of course this got me in a pro-Quentin kind of mood, which resulted in me buying a Jackie Brown DVD. Unfortunately that was a let-down. 2.5 hours of fairly boring swear-encrusted triviality. I think I must be missing something since I didn't see the blaxploitation movies that this one pays homage to.
Labels: movie
Blight Exposed
I didn't want to come out and show everyone when I got it last summer, but some people found out so I thought I might as well just show you myself. It isn't that bad anyway.
Besides how can you be a bad-ass without a little exposed tat to go with your dyed duck-tail, shades, chunky bracelet, and open shirt. At first I thought I'd go for a little barcode - a bit of an ironic "I am not a number" protest while actually HAVING a number right right there. However in the end I decided to go for a tribal thing because it's more timeless.
And I didn't really want Derelict to be the only one to suffer the stigma that now prevents me from going to public baths in Japan.
If you look closely at the full image above, you can make out the iconic Hollywood sign off in the distance. We took a drive out to the sign to take the requisite tourist photographs of it.
Then we drove off to Pink's, the most famous hot dog stand in LA. I had a Rosie O'Donnell 10" stretch chili dog with sauerkraut. It was delicious, and the price was very reasonable. Although the lines were quite long, it was totally worth it.
Finally time caught up to us and we had to head back on I-5 to Pleasanton... this time it only took us 5 hours. It was a great little break.
