Three weeks into Los Angeles

So I guess it has been three weeks since I got to Los Angeles. It has gone by so fast. Week one was mostly hanging around the apartment. Looking for internships, settling in, watching TV. Not much interesting. Oh except for an interview with Glassman Media.

Sunday (5.31.09) I went with Kelly Archer (Patrick and Michael Johnson's cousin) to Grace Community Church. AMAZING choir, full orchestra, nice people. I met Kelly's friend Andrew who took us to Grace. After church we went to California Pizza Kitchen (and yes it is even better in California). We were going to go to Santa Monica beach but CPK took too much time (I mean good time spent, good food, good conversation) so we went to the Griffith Observatory. Yes there is a building but most of the fun was being on top of the largest hill in the area and just looking out over the city(s). It was an amazing view and fun to see what my dad had mentioned earlier:

Once there were a lot of little towns in the area and they all had their own streets and street names, and street directions. As the towns grew bigger, the streets met together and that is why when you are driving down a street, it swerves around and changes names, you are driving through what used to be lots of little towns.

I saw the streets and the way they intersected and swerved around. That night Kelly and I went to Christian Assembly of Eagle Rock. Kelly's father knew someone who knew someone who works at Christian Assembly (CA). Very fun church, great people, great music. Met Cheryl (Kelly's Father's Friend's friend) she introduced Kelly and I to many people and to a guy working in the industry who leads a small group (Shannon). Food afterwords with these cool people, I went home to get rest for class on Monday.

Classes started Monday (6.1.09). I went to all three classes on Monday. 9am was "How Hollywood Works" good class, it will be very informative and will help in understanding the industry. 1pm was "The creative process" discussing the... well creative process and how ideas get from ideas into stories. 7:30pm is "The Music Industry" very fun class, we talk about music (can't complain about that).

The rest of that week was mostly in the apartment, working on internships. Thursday (6.4.09) I went in and talked to Glassman Media about the internship. Thursday afternoon I went and visited Mechnology Visual Effects, amazing studio, really cool audio rooms, full folley rooms, big computers. Actually while I was there they were finishing up a little intro for a Disney Show called "Sunny With A Chance" real cool little animation. It was cool to see how things work inside a VFX studio. After was "New Media" class, very interesting stuff but not my cup of tea.

Friday (6.5.09) I went and visited Chiodo Bros. Productions. They do stop motion animation (like the intro to Elf and some claymation for the Simpsons). I got to go over and talk to the guy for a while and he let me help with the project he was working on. Stop motion animation take a long time (we spent like 2 hrs on a 4 ft camera move across a set) but it was a lot of fun, just getting to help out. After we were done, we looked at it and we did some calculations wrong and he said "Oh well, Ill re-shoot it tomorrow" like it was nothing, but it did only take 2 hrs. not like it was three days of work that had to be done over. Friday Night I went to see "The Hangover" with some people from UTLA program. By the time we got there at 9:00 the earliest available show time was 11:50. So we bought tickets and went to Fudruckers. We went to the show, it was pretty good, pretty funny but almost too formula for me. Anywho home and sleep after.

Saturday (6.6.09) didn't do much but Saturday night I joined a group going out. After we went back to someones apartment and watched "Tropic Thunder". By the end of the night it was real late.

Sunday (6.7.09) I slept in, I was going to get up for "The Hollywood Church" but I slept in. Brunch at noon, and Kelly and I went to meet some of her friends in Santa Monica. Lunch at Three Squares, then went to the outdoor mall in Santa Monica. On the street I saw this guy playing guitar on the street, his style reminded me a lot of Jimmy Needham. Well it was fun, he played a couple of covers that were really fun to listen to, including "Irreplaceable". We went to CA after and home to get ready for Monday classes.

Monday (6.8.09) "How Hollywood Works" class, fun. That night for the music class we went to Molly Malones to see Amy Wallace live. She plays really fun country/rock and played a couple of cover references (songs inside her songs). Went home and to sleep to get ready for Tuesday.

Tuesday (6.9.09) I woke up and went to my internship at 10am. I got there and was put immediately to work. I was placed in a PA position so I was doing all the grunt work. The first thing I did was park cars, "Crew Parking" was up on a hill and I had to get as many cars as possible in a very small space. It was fun, but tedious, lots of people not wanting to park on the hill, or where I direct them to, understandingly so. The production office for the show was at the bottom of the hill and the house they were filming in was of course at the top of the hill. I was able to run errands for people, OH and I got a walkie talkie with an ear piece, and not just a "headphone" ear piece but one of those FBI style, with the bungee and the talk part that you can hide in your hand. It was so cool. There is a lot that I learned about "Reality TV" and how things are put together, how a schedule works, how secrete things need to be from the contestants. The contestants came in for the first time to the house, they each had 4 bags. Yes 4 bags each, 20+ guys in one house. I was there on set from 10am to 12:30am. By the end of the night I was definitely ready to go home.

Wednesday (6.10.09) 12:00 call time. A lot of what I did was help out the art department in making "trash". We filled trash bags with paper, and food.

Thursday (6.11.09) I went in at 12:30 and left at 4:00. There was a lot of issues with 20+ guys using 3 bathrooms. I cleaned out a Land Rover, and detailed it. I went home at 4:00 so I could make it through traffic and home before the men's group. Went to Shannon's house (yes, Shannon is a guy). We talked a while, prayed a bit and went to "The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf" I had a really good frozen Chi Tea Late, like an icee, it was sooo good. Home, sleep and today was rest day.

14hrs on Tuesday and 12 hrs on Wednesday and not resting on Thursday make me very exhausted.

oh I forgot to mention: i posted video Dad and I took on the way to LA, just of the landscape, and interesting things on the way, at the end is a quick tour of the LA Apartment.

Today I was able to read Haley's blog, it was really cool.

Check in for more later. Love to everyone.