29/09/05: In which we find ourselves in the movies
Saturday, 24 December, 2005
(Here is the point where I must rely on my memory instead of my notes because I stopped recording things in my journal ... I think I never got around to it.)
We were up and out the door. Kenneth dropped us off at Universal Studios, Hollywood, then he, my father and Helena went off to do more shopping at some ritzy mall (I think). I don't remember where it is because, once again, I fell asleep in the car. LA is such a sprawling mess, I never know which part is which anyway.
We were dropped off near the entrance to what is called CityWalk—a small village of swanky looking shops and another one of those random water-squirting areas like Disneyland. They lead all the way down to the Universal Studios proper entrance. Because Uncle Joe didn't have a printer, I wasn't able to print out the tickets so I wasn't sure what I ought to do. We went and queued at the wrong window (and this other tourist—an old man—kept stepping in front of us and then, seeing us, would step back and apologise for pushing in which I thought was extremely strange of him). We were directed to the right window (which had no queues in front of it), we were given our tickets and then we went through the bag checking queue and into the park.
Again, it was another hot day and we had come reinforced with a bit of sunscreen, hats and water bottles. According to the suggestion of the attendants, we decided to do the studio tour first (which is my favourite part of Universal Studios but it's a little twee if you've seen it before). There was a long queue but it was all under cover, with devices which sprayed cooling mist overhead to keep things cool. While in the queue, I made a reluctant Ben practice his Greek vocab. Then we climbed into the tour tram and we were away down into the valley (past all these signs showing posters of movies filmed at the studio which had won Academy Awards) where the rest of the studio was.
Unfortunately you don't actually get to see anyone filming (though one of my cousins once claimed that she saw them filming Back to the Future II—one of the scenes in front of the town hall/clock tower). We were told to be quiet, though, as we drove past one of the sound stages because Crossing Jordan was being shot there.
The tour guide showed us all these buildings and gave us information on which buildings had been used in which movies but of course I don't remember much of it. We saw a bridge which has been featured in at least three different films, a mini house which was used for explosion shots, and of course there was this Mexican street which I think was in one of the Spy Kids movies and where we saw a flash flood:
The tour also took us into several specially-rigged sets and sound stages where we saw Jaws,
an animatic of King Kong and a subway station devastated by an earthquake (very interesting pyrotechnics there!) We also drove past the set of Desperate Housewives,
The Grinch's house (unadorned), the Psycho house and the set of the War of the Worlds plane crash (and apparently they bought and dressed a real plane for that one):
After we got off the studio tour, Ben and I started going on rides. We went on the Back to the Future one (there's this complicated plot with the Professor talking on a television screen and they put you in the DeLorean which gets hoisted up in front of a giant screen and you have to chase Bif through all sorts of times and landscapes), the Terminator 3D (another one of those shows where they have some live actors, lots of smoke and mirrors, and they throw things at the audience), and then we were just in time to catch the Waterworld show which, you have to admit, was pretty amazing; I can't believe they set the water on fire!!
Lunchtime but Ben wanted to see the Blues Brothers dancing on stage. I didn't so I went hunting for some lunch. I got myself a turkey sandwich but forgot to get mayo (so it was extremely dry). I came over to where Ben was just as the Blues Brothers show was ending (felt so sorry for the two guys who had to wear full suits, ties and hats in the heat) and a guy asked me where I had gotten my lunch from because he wanted to get one too. All these people drifted away so I was able to sit down and eat properly while Ben went off and got his lunch.
Then we went into the Van Helsing haunted house (where I held tightly onto Ben's hand and tried not to shriek when the actors jumped out of me ... it helped that we were following another couple so they got assaulted first). My brother told me later that it used to be The Mummy house. Now there was The Mummy rollercoaster. Shrek 4D followed (another show where you bounce up and down in your seat, you get Shrek's snot sprayed all over you and there's lots of smoke, bells and whistles). I was beginning to get the idea; all the rides were like a continuation of the movies they were linked to. Despite the movie's resolution, something still wasn't quite right and it was up to you in the ride to finish it off once and for all. So the Princess Fiona was being abducted by the ghostly Prince Farquar to join him in marriage beyond the grave; the Terminator was still alive somewhere and so the T1, Sarah and John Connor have come back to blow up Skynet, etc. etc.
In the gift shop I found a wall full of Oscar and awarded the one for “Best Husband” to Ben:
Doesn't he look thrilled!
Having finished with the Upper Lot, we headed to the Lower Lot where Ben went on the Jurassic Park ride (I refused because they drop you down an 84-foot vertical waterfall—84 feet!!!). I did manage to get a nice picture of Ben's carriage as it came down.
Ben also went on The Mummy rollercoaster (where they jerk you back and forth, up and down, in the dark, while horrible scary things leap out at you—no thanks!) and I wandered around the gift shops. We went to the special effects show (which was amusing and featured a wolfman whom everyone thought was mechanical and remote-contreolled until it started going crazy and then you realised it was just an actor in a suit), we saw an I Love Lucy exhibition and then we decided we had had enough so went back up to the Upper Lot. At the top you could see across the San Fernando Valley and the smell of burning was in the air; a tuft of smoke was rising on the other side which must have been where some of the LA bushfires were.
We headed back to CityWalk and found a shop called Hot Topic which sold goth clothing, anime figurines and The Labyrinth collectors cards. Ben bought himself a new Beatles T-shirt (because his old one got so mottled full of holes we had to throw it out). It featured the cover of Revolver.
I got carried away by this window display:
which meant, of course, I had go inside to buy myself a proper Hello Kitty pez dispenser. They had a window display full of pez dispensers. Note in particular the one of Boba Fett:
It was about time to ring Uncle Joe about getting a lift back and he said he was on his way but he was stuck in traffic and would probably be there in about half an hour. I was really thirsty so lined up to get a drink from Jamba Juice which had a big queue with people commenting on the fires. I got my juice and shared it with Ben but he didn't think it was that special. We walked along CityWalk, poking into various shops and feeling bored. In the square there was a massive guitar for the Hard Rock Café:
Uncle Joe called and said he was at the entrance and couldn't find us. I told him that we were at the CityWalk entrance. It took several more calls before he finally got to where we were and we climbed into his Audi and were away.
On the way back to Malibu, the fires lit up the sky like a Turner painting—soft hues, blurry edges, with light and shade, chiarascuro. We listened to opera in Uncle Joe's car which was a very nice change from continuous radio R&B the my brother would subject us to whenever he drove (where everything is the same tempo, continually repeating these irritating riffs that never go anywhere, and all the songs by guys are about sex and all the songs about girls are about relationships). I also quizzed my uncle about his life because I don't actually know that much about him (apart from the fact that Auntie Ruth is his second wife).
Dinner that evening was at an Italian restaurant in Malibu. I didn't want to be completely stuffed with food again so I only had a main course of pasta and skipped dessert.
Current:
Bible: Isaiah (ESV) 28/09/2010
seen: Tropic Thunder 26/09/2010
seen: The Life of Mammals 24/09/2010
seen: What a Girl Wants 19/09/2010
seen: Jerry Maguire 19/09/2010
seen: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 06/09/2010
seen: Tomorrow Never Dies 05/09/2010
seen: Nanny McPhee 28/08/2010
read: Mercury (Hope Larson) 27/08/2010
read: Spellcheckers Vol 1 (Jamie S Rich, Nicolas Hitori de, Joelle Jones) 16/08/2010
read: Solipsistic Pop Vol 2 (Solipsistic Pop) 16/08/2010
read: Chiggers (Hope Larson) 15/08/2010
seen: Josie and the Pussycats 14/08/2010
seen: Mr & Mrs Smith 14/08/2010
seen: Step Up 2 13/08/2010
Blinks:
How to recalibrate the home button on your iPhone.
Unsolicited manuscripts accepted by Pan Macmillan with certain conditions.
Thought Balloon is a group blog in which the writers tackle a new theme every week? month? with one-page scripts. This URL is for their Phonogram ones.
How to sew a zipper on a knitted garment.
Issues organised by tale.
Online magazine that publishes fairy tales that are not reworkings of old tales.
Journal that publishes fairy tale writing.
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