Hostylefax: SoCal
I'm just back from spending parts of the last four days in Southern California. My only celebrity sighting, however, came in the Sacramento Airport where I saw Flava Flav sitting by himself two gates over. He had no entourage and was signing a magazine for some guy who had gone through just security ahead of me and had his bag searched because he was packing drumsticks. I was searched also, because the women at the security counter noticed the expiration date on my drivers' license. Incidentally, no one at LAX noticed that I intended to fly with an expired license, so you can take that for what it is. The thing is, though, if I were every going to spot a real movie star in SoCal it should have been this weekend. I mean, they were all in town for the Oscars. Maybe there weren't any staying in Culver City, but there might have been a few with places in O.C., and I spent nights in both areas.
Actually, staying with Detroit Joel is sort of an interesting experience. He knows a lot of people who are "industry people," which means they have some connection to the film companies, however minor. So while Anna and I sat at home (I complained about the totally insane stuff and Anna critqued the dresses), it's funny to think of all the people sitting in L.A. watching the show and trying to calculate if they have become more or less important as the envelopes are opened. Also, my sense is that many people who are "industry people," don't actually make any money in the industry. I have to imagine that job satisfaction in L.A., extremely low in United States anyway, is probably worst there.
The first half of the trip was spent in Irvine, visiting Marisa and Mary, learning about how graduate students live in Southern California. It's similar, from what I could tell, to how they live in Northern California. The campus at UC Irvine is pretty nice, as is the graduate student housing. I spent much of my time there in a huge shopping mall that was clearly designed to absorb disposable income from students. Parking seems to be most contentious issue everywhere. I also sat in on an informatics lecture, which is the program Marisa is in. I can't really explain what that is, so I'll wikipedia do it for me and you can take or leave it.
Then it was up to L.A. where Joel and I ate sloppy burgers and chicken wings in Santa Monica (although we avoided Hooters this time). Saturday I played poker with some industry people, going from short stack to big stack to last person out before the payout slots in the space of about six hands. I won't bore you with the details of my poker hands, though, only wankers do that. Then Sunday it was an early wakeup call and a quick flight home.
Actually, staying with Detroit Joel is sort of an interesting experience. He knows a lot of people who are "industry people," which means they have some connection to the film companies, however minor. So while Anna and I sat at home (I complained about the totally insane stuff and Anna critqued the dresses), it's funny to think of all the people sitting in L.A. watching the show and trying to calculate if they have become more or less important as the envelopes are opened. Also, my sense is that many people who are "industry people," don't actually make any money in the industry. I have to imagine that job satisfaction in L.A., extremely low in United States anyway, is probably worst there.
The first half of the trip was spent in Irvine, visiting Marisa and Mary, learning about how graduate students live in Southern California. It's similar, from what I could tell, to how they live in Northern California. The campus at UC Irvine is pretty nice, as is the graduate student housing. I spent much of my time there in a huge shopping mall that was clearly designed to absorb disposable income from students. Parking seems to be most contentious issue everywhere. I also sat in on an informatics lecture, which is the program Marisa is in. I can't really explain what that is, so I'll wikipedia do it for me and you can take or leave it.
Then it was up to L.A. where Joel and I ate sloppy burgers and chicken wings in Santa Monica (although we avoided Hooters this time). Saturday I played poker with some industry people, going from short stack to big stack to last person out before the payout slots in the space of about six hands. I won't bore you with the details of my poker hands, though, only wankers do that. Then Sunday it was an early wakeup call and a quick flight home.
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