"A guy gets on an MTA and dies....think anyone will notice?"
If anyone doesn't know what the atmosphere of LA is like at night, see
Collateral. I mean, I didn't bump into any gangsters or hooligans while I was there (thank God), even though I had to wait at a bus stop with some dude who was rather unhinged, and ride the MTA with a bunch of tough-looking guys. Still, it's strangely lonely and surreal there, especially downtown when it's dark and quiet. Director Michael Mann captured the essense of LA with that movie. Wow.
My first high-class experience
Man, does Pomona have a lot of money to throw around when it comes to official stuff. The new bio building (which is tres hot, btw..) was dedicated today, and as a biology slave, I was obliged to attend and look busy in the labs.
We were all invited to a catered lunch, and usually when Pomona means "catered" they mean dining hall food, except not in the dining hall. But there was one very VERY important difference - there were trustees present.
And so they
really pulled out all the stops - real silverware (correctly placed), nice chairs, china plates,
silk napkins, salmon, filet mignon, fruit parfait, and a piano player in the corner. It was truly high class. My eyes (and taste buds) are still reeling.
Trip to LA! (part II - Staples Center)
Staples Center is a really nice arena, and the plethora of ushers were always willing to help out. My seat was in the corner, near the long side across from the stage, so I was happy that nothing would be blocking my view of the ice. Apparently some people were unlucky and had the ginormous Hyundai SUV (sitting at the short end just off the ice) right in their faces.
The show was called the 2005 Tribute to the Movies on Ice, and it was going to be taped for TV and aired on Oscar afternoon on NBC. In case anyone cares, the cast included
Brian Boitano, Kristi Yamaguchi, Elvis Stojko, Brian Orser, Yuka Sato, Jason Dungjen, Renee Roca and Gorsha Sur, Caryn Kadavy, Rosalynn Sumners, and Shae-Lynn Bourne (sans Victor Kraatz). Performers were
Michael Bolton (who I didn't really care for),
Franc D'Ambrosio (who I really wanted to see/hear again), and
Kimberly Locke (who I didn't know was going to be there so that was a nice surprise).
This was my first time attending a taped show, and it felt like a rehearsal, due to all of the random camera takes pretending there were people watching on TV ("Welcome back to Staples Center..." "Now, let's talk about the Best Picture nominees!") and the skater's/announcer's/singer's (haha) retakes at the end. Since this was going to be an Oscar fest, in accordance, they skated to all of the Best Song nominees and then some. For the record, I think the song for Motorcycle Diaries should win. As much as I love Josh Groban, that "Believe" song does absolutely nothing for him. I love Phantom of the Opera as well, but "Learn to be Lonely"...blah.
So, I realize that only hardcore skating fans will care about who did every jump, what they were, and what the music for each performance was, so I'll just get down and dirty with the important stuff:
- Highlight(s):
- Brian Boitano's Music of the Night, performed live with San Francisco stage Phantom Franc D'Ambrosio. They had to retake the number (more on that later), but still! I certainly wasn't complaining! I know that a lot of skating fans were hoping that Brian would bring this program back, and hopefully they'll all get to see it if it doesn't get cut. What a gorgeous number.
- Yuka Sato and Jason Dungjen's Lovers program from House of Flying Daggers. First, I have to find out who sings this. Second, I love Yuka and her classical numbers, so this was pretty much of a given. Beautiful program!
- Hardest jump: Brian Boitano's beauty of a tano triple lutz. (The triple lutz is the second hardest triple jump, after the axel, and he does it with his left arm over his head, which usually causes serious injury upon landing when attempted by other skaters, LOL.)
- Hardest jump by a lady:Yuka Sato's triple loop. I was expecting Kristi to attempt a triple lutz, but she didn't do anything harder than a triple toe loop. *shrug*
- Biggest reception: Elvis, I think. Brian was probably a close second. Everyone was the recepient of a cheering match between the three sides of the arena when taking their bows though, LOL
- Biggest "oops" of the night by a skater: Roca and Sur's costumes getting stuck together right before their ending pose. They tripped and fell in their other number too, so Roca and Sur get my "Oops" award for the show here.
- Biggest "oops" of the night by a non-skater: Announcer Dan Hicks talking about sponsor Hyundai's committment to the "fight against kids with cancer." I dunno if anyone else caught that slip, but I certainly did, LOL...
Okay, with that done, here are my random notes:
- Brian Boitano is soooo much more impressive live than on TV. He bores me to death on TV. But in person, his speed and power and line really really shows. I'm so glad I got to see him skate live. He was my favorite skater here, surprisingly. In the same vein, people who've been to live competitions say that one needs to see Jeff Buttle skate live to truly appreciate him as well. Oh, poo. Yet another thing on my agenda...
- Love Brian Orser's delayed single axels. They're huge and airy and nobody appreaciated them but me! (When you watch the broadcast and if you hear someone screaming after he lands one, that's me, LOL.) He did a number of backflips, including one in the retake cause we were waiting for the cameras to get set up and Lea Ann Miller (the choreographer) was on the mike and had him do one for us just for the heck of it, LOL. Then, during the actual retake, he landed the triple toe and skated riiiight up until the point where he did the backflip...and he didn't do it, LOL. He held his hands up as if to say, "Gotcha!" and the audience went, "Aww.." He was one of the slowest skaters there, which was kinda surprising, but I love his classical style anyway.
- Elvis relates to the audience tremendously, probably better than anyone there. Still, his skating itself doesn't interest me. The woman in front of me (who was probably there to see Franc as well, since she was wearing a Phantom of the Opera shirt) was jumping up and down in her seat in excitement everytime he took the ice!
- Kristi redid her group program with Brian O, Jason, and Gorsha. Not sure why, but it's a nice program as well so I wasn't complaining, LOL. I've always liked watching her skate, and she's one of the few female skaters who can successfully pull off sassy numbers.
- Poor Caryn Kadavy. I had never seen her (or Rosalynn) skate, so it was really nice to witness old-school grace and technique. But she couldn't land a double axel! She must have done it at least 3 times in the retake, and when she popped it, she would put her head in her hands in light-hearted embarrassment. Several members of the audience were encouraging her, so that was cute. Needless to the say, when she did land it, everyone cheered. :)
- Michael Bolton? Absolutely unmemorable, LOL.
- Kimberly Locke has a serious set of pipes. Amazing singer.
- Poor Franc D'Ambrosio. He was the only singer to have to redo his number, which really surprised me since he's used to singing live - he holds the title for longest-running stage Phantom in the world AND he was doing "Music of the Night." However, he was off on the timing with the tape, which was a weak elevator-music version of the original orchestration. If I had to perform with a tape that banal, I'd mess up too. His voice also cracked on the high A. ("BEEEEEE*iiiee*") Poor guy. I expected him to redo the song, and he did. Wasn't complaining though - he has a gorgeous, flowing, powerful, haunting voice. (He held the long notes forever!) IMHO it isn't really suited for anything but the Phantom role, since it's on the nasal side (especially in his low register) and he pronounces his vowels strangely. But it really suits Phantom quite well. Of course, I may be biased since he's the only stage Phantom I've seen and I loved him in it. :)
After all of that, it was pretty late and you know the rest. I experienced a feeling of surreal existence on the way back, which probably stems from my being cold, starved, exhausted, and not at home when I really should have been home, LOL. I should organize an overnight stay downtown the next time I do one of these crazy adventures..
Trip to LA! (part I - MOCA)
Er, I started to write this as one entry, but it got waaaaaaaaay too long, so I'll split it into two, LOL.
First off, two things I would not have survived without last night:
- Umbrella
- Knee-high boots
Granted, the umbrella started to leak and even my boots could not protect me from water flying up from the curb as cars zoomed by. Yes, it happened to me about 3 times but I was already cold and wet so I didn't really notice...
It rained like a bitch in downtown LA last night. It was alright in the afternoon, which was great cause I could wander around and look for appropriate bus stops without much hesitation. After the torrential downpour started (complete with thunder and lightning directly over my head) I could only pick a corner with a bus sign on it and hope to God that the right bus would come. Eventually. After half an hour it did, and man, never was I so glad to see a bus in my life. (Well, okay, maybe the first time I went to LA by myself ranks higher because of the crazy dude waiting at the bus stop with me. This time, it was only the rain and the fact that it was late and I was tired and I had to get home.)
But, I'm getting ahead of myself. I took a bus from Claremont to MOCA mid-afternoon, cause from what I've read, Staples Center is a shady place to be when you're by yourself, and the event I was going to see was in the evening and I wanted to get there semi-early but didn't want to be wandering around the shady arena for two hours.
Heck, the entirety of downtown LA is supposed to be a shady place when you're by youself at night. I had three people tell me to be safe or something of that nature during my adventure. Maybe I
am crazy, or maybe it's because nobody expects a young woman to wait around alone for a bus downtown at night. Somebody upstairs must have been looking out for crazy ol' me, cause it typhooned and all of the shady people were nowhere to be seen, LOL.
So! Yes, MOCA. It's a lot smaller than I thought it would be, and there are some really strange things, and there are some really neat things. There's an exhibit now called
"Visual Music," where the artists take inspiration from musical pieces or sounds and incorporate it into their work. Music has always been an emotional inspiration to me, probably even more so than art, so this was definitely something I didn't want to miss. I was a little bit disappointed since a lot of them seemed to be a bunch of flashing colors and shapes that I couldn't relate to, and made me dizzy otherwise. However, there were some pieces which were fascinating - Thomas Wilfred's "sculptured light" films (or...whatever they're really called) were amazing. Three screens were in a dark room, showing what looked like glowing, colored smoke moving slo-mo across a black background. It was nebulous, dreamlike, and awe-inspiring. Three of us sat on the floor and stared at the wall, absolutely transfixed. There was another film - I don't think I wrote down the artist's name, darn.. - which were a group of constantly-moving points of light forming circular shapes, reminiscent of a mandala. The entire film was done with Indian music, which matched quite well with the moving shapes. I too was transfixed with this piece...until it moved on to the next film, which was seizure-inducing, LOL.
All in all, I don't think really abstract, contemporary art is my cup of tea, but still, you realize how important color and composition are in pieces where there really isn't much going on. A modern abstract artist
must be able to know when a piece is finished, or when it needs something more. Finish too early, or add too much, and that can ruin the work.
After MOCA closed, my next goal was to eat, since I was starved and knew that whatever was offered at Staples Center was going to seriously break the bank. My meal at some fast-food chicken place also burned a larger hole in my pocket than expected, but it was good chicken (despite there being not much of it), and the yam was yummy. (Yay for yams!) Unfortunately, the bus stop was somewhere obscure, where a bunch of streets intersected haphazardly, so I must have missed the bus I planned to get on. As time passed, I was starting to worry whether or not I would be able to make the show in time. I was seriously contemplating the possibility of walking the +1 mile to the arena (in my high-heel boots, haha) but then a Dash bus headed for the convention center arrived and I figured I had nothing to lose and asked. I must have seemed really concerned, cause the bus driver let me on and told me not to worry about the fare. I even offered to pay him when I got off, but he said, "Don't worry, it's on me! Be safe!" So yes, apparently being a crazy girl gets you pity points from people, LOL.
Valentine's Day...
Just came back from a "Let's have a party for singles cause we're depressed" Valentine's Day get-together. Although, I disagree about the mentality that you have to be with someone to be happy. I mean, for me being single is as follows:
Pros:- I don't feel guilty about my severely screwed up sleep schedule.
- I don't feel guilty about wanting to go somewhere like the 2005 Tribute to the Movies on Ice show this Friday and having to drag a completely uninterested person with me.
Cons:- I need to take public transportation in order to get to Staples Center in order to attend said show. (But, with the traffic in LA as it is, it would probably take less time for the Metrolink to get there than with a car...) It does look like I'll be wandering through LA in the dark again in order to get home...but hopefully the area about Staples Center isn't shady/ghetto. And I WON'T have to walk to my transfer. w00t.
*chortle*
Best quote taken out of context, EVER:
sleepy: i'm more powerful when i'm not wearing pants
Speculate away!
Thoughts from first camping trip
Whew! Does a hot shower and a soft, warm,
dry bed feel good! Things I have learned from my first weekend camping with a bunch of bio nerds:
- You get your money's worth, when it comes to tents. (Becky admitted that OTL bought a bunch of tents, including the one I rented out, from a clearance sale at Target.) Kat and I didn't have it too badly - the tent leaked at the seams and the door zipper didn't close all the way, but we slept in the middle of the tent and were relatively dry in the morning...
- Fires are cool. Gas lamps and gas stoves included.
- Clean bathrooms that don't smell like "butt" (in Colleen's words) are heaven. Or, in my words, "an orgasm for the senses."
- Walkie-talkies are very cool, but only if you have fresh batteries in them.
- A must: lots and lots of warm socks.
- Mafia is infinitely more entertaining with bio nerds. Sample causes of death: slit in the throat with a cormorant beak, beaten with a frozen raccoon, and drowning in a bucket of elephant seal semen.
- I haven't yet decided whether it's really cool or really disturbing that there were a lot of couples at the seal beach:
"Hey, honey! Let's check out elephant seals frolicking in the surf (in reality, it was more like, "females squashed into submission") for Valentine's Day!"
"Sure sweetie!"
And a list of memorable quotes/events:
- Me, listening to the walkie-talkie: "..I think they just said, "ramrod.."" (Turns out some people made up code names without anyone's knowledge: Gray Surburban was Ramrod, blue Surburban was Omega Bull, and the blue Subaru was Omega Cow.
- Colleen and Co. playing "Shoop shoop" in Ramrod over the walkie-talkie for Megan in Omega Bull (since Omega Bull did not possess a sound system). And Megan's subsequent singing along to "Shoop shoop" over the walkie-talkie.
- Colin unsuccessfully trying to split firewood with a teeny tiny hatchet, and Deedee's successful (although unwieldy) attempts at doing the same.
- A raccoon making off with a bowl of salad dressing the first night. It literally carried the entire bowl off into the bushes.
- The giant rubberbands I stole from choir being very useful...
- Colin: "My stick is very monogamous!"
- Dr. Karnovsky, on the prospect of seeing the elephant seals: "Ooooh, I'm so excited!" *wiggle*
- Suzy stopping the entire caravan at a turnout since she spotted gray whales in the ocean. While we were there, we also saw 8 sea otters (one of them a baby), a group of sea lions waving at us, and a pod of common dolphins. Why can't family trips to Monterey be this cool?
- Going around the walkway at the (crowded) elephant seal beach, asking everyone in our group if they wanted to go to the bathroom...since the nearest one was 2 miles away and we were organizing a bathroom trip there.
- A subordinate male elephant seal faking his retreat from a female every time the alpha male looked his way, then chasing after her again a minute later. (He'd actually remove his flipper from the female's back and turn away a bit, then jump on her again when the alpha male wasn't looking)
- Megan stripping off her shirt at the beach across the campsite and running into the ocean.
- CJ finding a ginormous stalk of kelp on the same beach and bringing it back with him.
- Our theme song of the trip (probably due to us watching the elephant seals mate for half a day): "I wanna have sex on the beach! C'mon move your body! Sex on the beach..."
- Megan and/or Dr. Karnovsky singing loudly in order to wake us up at 7:30AM...
- CJ blasting aforementioned song from Ramrod early in the morning the day we left the campsite.
- Becky and I getting stranded on the sandbar in our kayak...three times. ("Uh, Becky? I think we're on the beach again...") Three other kayaks in our group were unfortunately following us, and had the same predicament.
I'm sure I'll think of more later...but laundry calls!
