I hope all is well with you. Here's a look back at March 2007 in the Cameron/Utt house.
COMPUTER PROBLEMS
First off, my apologies for the delay. On April 1st, our anti-virus software encountered a worm that was wreaking havoc on my Yahoo! account. I’m not sure if we fixed the problem or if it was an April Fool’s joke that corrected itself automatically, but being able to send e-mail again feels like a small miracle. On Good Friday. Coincidence?
OOPS! FEBRUARY VISITS
Believe it or night I left off two visits in last month’s update. Daryl and I spent a lovely evening at the Glendora home of my Uncle Glen and Aunt Charlotte. It’s not that far from Glendale , but it was so quiet and suburban that it felt like we were on a mini-vacation. As apartment-dwellers, time spent in a real house with a big backyard is a treat for us.
After touring the beautiful backyard and quizzing ourselves on all the plant names we moved inside for a terrific meal. For dessert, Charlotte had prepared a delicious lemon meringue pie using fruit from their citrus trees. [I’ll admit it—I had seconds.] Glenn and Charlotte have traveled all over the country and gave us some suggestion s for some other California sights to see.
Daryl got to catch up with his friend/former boss Kelley Semmelroth, who was in town overseeing commercial shoots for Bank of America. You may have seen the one with a silver man commuting to work that was shot in downtown LA. The second one, about forgotten coins, used the house from Little Miss Sunshine. The movie takes place in Arizona, but the house is right here in Burbank . The interior decor is straight out of 1970’s - plastic cushion covers and all.
Daryl and Kelley took the driving tour of Hollywood and ended the evening with dinner at Trader Vic's in Beverly Hills. If you love the tropical decor of the Tiki Room and a stiff Mai Tai - this is definitely the place to go in LA.
VISITORS FOR MARCH
The first Friday of this month we met up with Alyce Diamandis who was in town on business from Florida. Her high school buddy Johnny joined us for a delicious dinner at Pete’s Café before Alyce headed to the airport. I wish we could’ve spent more time together!
BTW, if you are in LA’s Old Bank District and looking for good meal, head for Pete’s. Daryl and Johnny recommend the macaroni and cheese and I’m a big fan of the Lamb Bolognese. http://www.petescafe.com/
Cid Stoll was in town the following weekend visiting lots of folks around the LA area. We got to spend a day and a half with her visiting sites like Grauman's Chinese Theater, the Hollywood Hills, and the Brady Bunch house. Here are three other places we visited:
MOUNT OLYMPUS
We have driven by the faux marble sign in front of the Mount Olympus neighborhood many times, and decided to finally drive up and see what all the fuss was about.
The streets are named for Zeus, Apollo, and Hercules. There are Italian Cypresses everywhere. A few of the intersections are punctuated with statuary and what used to be fountains. Some of the homes had a vague Caesar’s Palace vibe, but for the most part, residents who could afford to, had remodeled. Although it wasn’t as kitschy as we had hoped, we enjoyed gawking at the large homes and awesome views. I wanted to include an historical website with some worthwhile pictures, but I haven’t found one yet.
WATTS TOWERS
The next morning, after a Sunday brunch in Malibu, we headed to South Central LA to see Watts Towers, the National Historic Landmark. Cid and Daryl had never been but it was my second visit. We arrived just in time to join a 25-minute tour. Our guide Oscar, unlocked the gates and took us inside the structures and into the story of Simon Rodia, the man who spent 30 years building the towers.
It’s an amazing experience being able to look more closely at the folk art touches and to stand where Simon stood, wondering what compelled him to create this one-of-a-kind display. When you first arrive at the 100-foot towers, they may not look that tall; but once you walk around them for a while, and learn the history, they become enormous. Read more and see some pictures of it here: http://www.answers.com/topic/watts-towers
CARROLL STREET
Before the highways were built, Downtown LA used to be full of Victorian houses. Cid, Daryl and I got an idea of what it might have looked like by driving down Carroll Street. Located near Echo Park, Carroll Street is overflowing with homes built in that distinctive ornate style popularized before the turn of the last century. It’s really impressive but you don’t have to take my word for it. Someone has created a website with individual pictures of almost every house in the area. Careful readers may recognize the house from the TV series Charmed. http://www.you-are-here.com/victorian/index.html
MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO PALEY FEST 07
The Museum of Television and Radio (MTR) hosts an annual festival celebrating television that is groundbreaking, critically lauded and in some case, just popular. The twelve-night event—named for broadcasting pioneer and CBS president William S. Paley—lets fans attend a screening, participate in a Q&A, and get up-close and personal with the creators and performers.
Heroes, Ugly Betty, Nip/Tuck, The Office, American Idol and even George Lucas were featured this year. The PaleyFest scrapbook has great photos from each night, many suitable for framing. http://www.mtr.org/festivals/paleyfest2007/album.htm
The MTR has also posted five-minute video segments of each Q&A here: http://www.mtr.org/festivals/paleyfest2007/highlights.htm
You won’t see us in the scrapbook on or the video clips, but we were there for Brothers and Sisters and The Simpsons.
BROTHERS AND SISTERS
After watching an episode titled “Valentine’s Day Massacre” the cast took the stage and answered questions from the moderator and the audience. Some nuggets:
Mathew Rhys (who plays lawyer Kevin) was raised in Wales and normally speaks with a Welsh accent. The three “brothers” on the show appear to get along like real brothers on the set. (Sally talks about it towards the end of the video clip.) Dave annable had the biggest laugh of the night. When asked why he signed on to do the show he looked over at Calista Flockhart and said “I only took the gig so I could meet Indiana Jones.”
At the end of the Q&A, Daryl headed to the stage to get autographs and to talk briefly with Rob Lowe and Sally Field. Then we went to California Pizza Kitchen with our friends Diana and Kim. It was my first time at CPK since we moved to C.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
Could you please not sound like someone from Middle Earth? --Director Ken Olin reminding Matthew Rhys to stop slipping into his Welsh accent.
THE SIMPSONS
Even though the audience questions were pretty lame—“How much is your signature worth?”—The Simpsons panel discussion was very funny. Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart, Nelson Muntz and others, entertained the crowd with a series of classic lines uttered by dim-witted character Ralph Wiggum. She did two of my favorites: “My kitty’s breath smells like cat food!” and “Tastes like burning.”
Matt Groening (rhymes with “complaining”) talked about his last-minute decision to base the show after his own family. In order to keep the characters straight in the pitch meeting, he used the real names. His dad really is named Homer and his sisters are named Lisa and Maggie. The name “Bart” was randomly chosen for the 10-year-old boy because calling him “Matt” would’ve made it look like Groening was just making the thing up on the spot. Which he was.
The writers and producers talked about the challenges of keeping a show fresh in its eighteenth year. They often have to change a joke in the script because it has already been used on the series. In a few instances, they haven’t caught the error until the day after the show airs, which is understandable for a series celebrating its 400th episode next month. Some other revelations from the evening:
- Paul McCartney only agreed to be on the show if the character of Lisa Simpson remained a vegetarian for the run of the show.
- Ralph was not related to Sheriff Wiggum until the second season.
- Mr. T told the producers that when he gets up in the morning, he says to himself “I wonder which fool I’m gonna pity today.”
If you’d like to know more about the show—such as every instance of Homer uttering “D’oh!” or “Mmmmm”—here’s a comprehensive fan site that has compiled just about everything there is to know. http://www.simpsoncrazy.com/
CELEBRITY SIGHTINGS—PALEY FEST EDITION:
Dave Annable, Jon Robin Baitz, Greg Berlanti, Nancy Cartwright, Peter Coyote, Sally Field, Calista Flockhart, Balthazar Getty, Matt Groening, Al Jean, Jason Lewis, Rob Lowe, Sarah Jane Morris, John Pyper-Ferguson, Matthew Rhys, Emily Van Camp, and
Patricia Wettig.
WHALE WATCHING
That Sunday we were on our way to Redondo Beach with our friend Cynthia to go whale watching. Our printed instructions were very specific: We had to buy our tickets and be on the boat before it pulled out of the dock at 10:00 am sharp. Unfortunately, at about 9:45 we realized that the directions the tour organizer had distributed were incomplete. We arrived at the wrong pier on the wrong side of the marina just in time to see our boat heading out to sea.
Disappointed but undaunted, Cynthia located the correct ticket booth and the three of us decided to come back for the 1:30 sailing, even though it meant paying the full price. When our group returned three hours later and told us they hadn’t seen anything, we felt better about missing that tour, but we were also concerned that our more expensive experience was not going to be worth the money. We needn’t have worried.
As we left the marina, we passed by buoys crowded with sea lions. There was even a baby sea lion laying on its mother’s back which was pretty darn cute. Passengers tossed fish to the guys and everybody rushed to that side of the boat to get in on the action and snap some pictures.
A little further out we turned South onto the “Whale Highway” which is what they call the migratory route of the Pacific Gray Whale. The whales summer in the Bering Strait and swim down to Baja , California to spend the winter months mating, calving and putting on some blubber. We were there to see the whales head back to Alaska .
With an overcast sky, and a gray ocean, searching for those gray whales wasn’t the easiest task. These guys don’t jump over the boat like Free Willy; they come to the surface to get some air and then head back down to continue their trip home. As big as these mammals are, I still felt like I was bird watching since we had to pay close attention for the slightest sign. Somebody would yell "3-oclock!" and we'd all whip our heads to the right to see some spray falling back to the surface. A minute or so later a second spray would appear and then the tail or fluke would become visible momentarily as the whale dove back down. Five or six minutes later the behavior would repeat.
We got to see this cycle several times during our trip. At one point, there was a whale off the bow and another one off the stern. Even though they never came closer than a few hundred yards, it was still exciting. There were guides from the American Cetacean Society onboard to explain what the Pacific Gray Whale was doing during the five minutes underwater. Here’s a quick explanation:
http://www.acsonline.org/factpack/graywhl.htm
After an hour or so following the whales, we slowly headed back to the dock, and got to see a pod of Rissos Dolphins swimming nearby. Sometimes these creatures will swim next to the front of the boat; other times they will perform in the undersea tour of Grease. This pod did neither but it was still awesome. http://www.acsonline.org/factpack/RissosDolphin.htm
If you think it’s hard to spot a whale, try photographing it. I only got one photo where you can actually see a fluke, but you have to enlarge the image to 400% and squint; otherwise you might as well be looking at a Magic Eye picture waiting for a whale shape to magically appear.
We had a terrific day whale watching and sightseeing around Redondo Beach. Thank you, Cynthia!
WHALE RESOURCES
If you'd rather not spend $17 for a boat trip with experienced guides you can grab some binoculars and stand on the shore. The season is almost over, but this Park Service site has lots of whale-sighting tips including my favorite: "Look west toward the ocean." http://www.nps.gov/archive/cabr/whales.html
BEST PICTURE OSCAR WINNERS
A few Christmases ago, I received the book 70 Years of Oscar from my in-laws. Reading through the book I made it a goal to see all of the Best Picture winners. Thanks to DVD and cable channels like Turner Classic Movies, I finally managed to see all of them, from 1929's Wings to last year's The Departed.
The 79 winners are by no means the best movies ever made but they make an interesting record of the American movie industry's evolving taste and technique. Choosing a favorite or my top ten from the list is surprisingly difficult. Picking the bottom ten isn’t much easier, so here are three factoids, instead:
- The Apartment was the last completely black & white film to win Best Picture.
- Marty is the only winner that was first produced as a TV movie and then remade for the big screen.
- Oliver! is the only winner whose title has an exclamation point.
For the complete list, just go to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Oscar Database, select "Best Picture" and "Winners Only." How many have you seen? http://www.oscars.org/awardsdatabase/index.html
GONE WITH THE WIND ON THE BIG SCREEN
The other Best Picture winner we saw this month was the 1939 classic Gone With the Wind. Our friend Diana invited us to the Arclight to see it on the big screen and we immediately said yes. Our friend Bavhani came along too. She had never seen the movie or read the book so we were looking forward to her reaction to this 68-year-old classic.
The screening was sold out and the audience was into it from beginning to end. I had forgotten how witty the script was and how well the risqué material is handled.
SPOILER ALERT—Skip this next paragraph if you haven’t seen the movie!
That last hour is pretty emotional with Scarlett falling down the stairs, Melanie dying, Bonnie being thrown from the horse and Rhett leaving. When the lights came up, Bhavani was shocked that Rhett didn't "give a damn." She knew the famous line but figured it was somewhere in the middle. "After all they went through, how could he just leave her? Does he come back to her in the book?”
It was great seeing the movie through her eyes and it showed how well the film holds up today. I wonder what it must have been like to experience Gone With the Wind in 1939?
The New Georgia Encyclopedia examines Margaret Mitchell’s book and its impact from a variety of angles including those of her detractors. It’s a quick but informative read. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2427
Did you know there was a musical version of the book staged in London and LA?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlett_(musical)
FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN
Two days later, we were walking out of a Burbank restaurant when Daryl noticed ash falling around us. We climbed to the op of a parking structure and saw flames climbing up Griffith Park towards the Hollywood Sign. It was a scary site.
Two visiting teenagers had been lighting twigs behind the Oakwood Apartments when the fire got out of hand. By the time the authorities got it under control about two hours later, almost 160 acres had burned. Here’s the article from the LA Times with some video. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fire1apr01,1,4170070.story
Here’s how the fire looked from the more famous side of the hill. (See attachment)
STAR SIGHTINGS—DARYL EDITION
Roger Bart (Desperate Housewives, The Producers) was driving outside by Daryl’s office building. Daryl saw Faith Ford (Murphy Brown/Hope and Faith) in full makeup prepping for a shoot on the Disney lot. Movie buff Leonard Maltin was at the Disney Animation building for a screening of Meet the Robinsons. Daryl was working the press event and escorted him to the theater.
NEXT MONTH
April means more visitors, more writing, and more adventures. I'll tell you all about it next month.
Until then,
James & Daryl
Happy Easter!
