A Sunday to Remember

Church yesterday was a really cool experience! It took place in a neat old theater. There was such an eclectic group of people there. Back home, you can usually stratify churches based upon some demographic group, but at Ecclesia Hollywood, there were ALL kinds of people. It was really exciting! The worship was great, and while I wasn't wild on the message's presentation, I like the message itself a lot.

We went to a mexican grill for lunch, and I got a superb mexican pizza. On the way out, I met a homeless man named Richard. It was a hot day, so I gave him my coke and talked with him a little. He had a bunch of bags with him and wore one of those yellow vests cops wear when they direct traffic. He was a neat character, and I hope I see him around.

We went to Venice Beach in the afternoon. We got held up at first by a flat on Jess' car, so I had to come to the rescue with my tire changing expertise. Of course, all of the tire shops were closed on a Sunday, so we took the Mini instead. I was worried everyone would be too crowded, but they seemed content. We had a really great time on the beach, even if finding a parking spot was a very difficult ordeal. I'll definitely be heading back there sometime soon. I also found a really neat Arbor board shop. I was familiar with their longboards, but the have a really nice line of snowboards with woody textures that I really liked.

We got back and went to Prayer and Praise, a worship session started by Ian and Colin, also students at LAFSC. He did a great job putting it on, and did a great job making a small apartment into a worship space. I'm glad to have something like that here. It reminded me a lot of Vespers back at Milligan. Afterward, Dave talked me into IHOP, and Esther decided to come along as well, despite her habit of following the crowds in social situations. We had a good time getting to know each other better. I learned a lot about Bethel University, as well!

I've already made it through my 'To-Do's' for today, so now I'm just chilling out contemplating what I'll do for dinner. While working on some homework at the cafe, I met a very interesting individual named Joseph. I've seen him there before. He's about my age and has a big purple dot on his forehead (Hindu, maybe?). He wanted to ride my longboard, so I let him. He said he really liked the feel of it. We started talking, and I found out he really loves the drums. He calls it his passion, though he feels like one day he his destined to be a guitarist. He also talked about his quest to dodge rent payments. He's up to two months now! He described his life like "Catch Me If You Can" with Leonardo DiCaprio. I recommended a job, but he's convinced that he's doing what he is meant to be doing at this point in his life, so I didn't argue with him. Anyway, I'll probably see him around the cafe in the future, provided they don't catch him first.

I just finished my interview for internships with Chris. We decided on Lin Entertainment as my top choice. They're working on Robert Rodriguez's new movie and Sherlock Holmes. If that falls through I'll do Alcon or work at ICM, which is one of the biggest agencies around here. All of them sound great, so I just kinda hope God takes me where he wants me to go.

"And the Oscar goes to..."

Yesterday's trip to the Kodak Theater was really awesome. It's definitely a worthwhile tour while you're in LA, in my opinion. Believe it or not, that theater they hold the Academy Awards in is located in a big mall with coffee shops, clothing stores, and restaurants. They dress it up come award night, but any other time you might look right past the theater. Outside their are columns marked from 1927 to 2071, each one marking the best picture for its respective year. Inside, it is very atmospheric. There are photo cells along the wall featuring pictures of past winners hanging in front of the shiny material they used to make the "silver screen" out of. When they brought us out on stage, my breath caught. It was so big! Plus, it felt really cool to be on the stage where many of my favorite filmmakers and actors have accepted their awards. Looking out into the audience was a different story. It was beautiful, to be sure, but much smaller than one might think. It's amazing what can be done with the right camera angles. There was certainly a neat feeling about the whole tour.

After the tour, we went to In-n-Out Burger again. That place is great! We then went to the pool for a couple hours and watched some twenty something guy try to hit on the girls from our program. His name was Ephraim, so I'm assuming he was Jewish, and apparently he liked to talk about his family and how successful they were. I'd never actually heard a guy use this tactic before, which further highlighted how different this place is to home.

In the evening we all went to Rebecca's for a barbecue. She has a really cute house that I recognized from Brad Eastridge's video from last fall when he was here. Dinner itself was superb: barbecue chicken, sesame green beans, mashed potatoes, cornbread, and Italian salad. Jess, her roommates, and I checked out after dinner and went back to watch Lucky Number Slevin. I was really pulling for Requiem for a Dream, but I got voted down again. Dave joined us for the movie as well. Steve and Gabe showed up later and caught a little SNL with us, but it was the John McCain episode, which wasn't really one of my favorites.

This morning, several of my friends and I are going to Ecclesia Hollywood, a church where a lot of people from our school attend. Jess has been before, and she says it's great. It takes place in an old theater and apparently has a really good worship service. She also told me that the pastor there is the voice double for Jack Black. That could be interesting!

"We erase crime!"

The meeting with Doug Jones was incredible. He's such a great character, and I can tell he is really into what he does. It's great to meet someone so passionate about his craft. He has been in a lot more roles than I was initially aware of, to my own great delight. He was that big moon head guy in the old "Mac Tonight" ads for McDonald's, which means I have an action figure of him on a skateboard somewhere at home. He was also Billy Butcherson from Hocus Pocus. You know, that zombie with his mouth sewed shut. I can remember being a kid and thinking what a good job I thought the actor did in such a small part. Who knew he'd be the first one I'd meet in L.A.? Of most excitement to me was the discovery that he got the bit part of Pencil Head in Mystery Men! I cheered when he said this. His career is really taking off now with his involvement with Guillermo Del Toro and his familiarity in the world of movie monster creation. His future may yield yet more great roles, including Frankenstein's monster and certainly some part in The Hobbit.

Yesterday went by way too fast. We had an Expectations sessions where we met for the first time in our mentor groups. We mostly talked about what we wanted, what we were afraid of, and what our plans are. My mentor is Rebecca Ver Straten-McSparran, director of the program here, and she really encouraged me to continue pursuing my JD and MBA degrees, particularly the law degree. Apparently, JD's are made of gold in Hollywood.

In the afternoon, I watched Godfather Part II, which I found good but not better than the first as many have said. I guess that contributed to the short feeling of the day. I went for a swim to cool off, ate a quick dinner, then worked on my screenplay. Tory and I tried to see District 9, but they were sold out, so we just roamed The Grove with a group of friends who happened to be over there already. We bought some ice cream, went back to Jess' apartment, and put in a movie. Unfortunately, that movie was I Am Legend, which I've seen twice (two times too many), so I went back to my room to watch Brazil with my roommates instead, a film I am a much bigger fan of.

We're about to head off to the Kodak Theater, home of the Academy Awards. I don't think I'm allowed to take pictures, so if you want to see what it looks like, you'll just have to look up the website.

Things are about to take off here, so I just ask everyone to pray for me. It's a fast pace around here, and I can imagine it will be easy to forget why I'm here and who I am representing. My prayer has been for success, but only one defined by subservience to the will of God in all I do. No matter how well I do here, I don't think I could ever be content if I didn't know that I was doing what God wants me to do.

Hot day in L.A.

Today is by far the hottest day we've had so far. The high is 102! I won't lie, though. I've been enjoying the warm weather. Sure, it's pretty hot in our room given the lack of air conditioning, but we have the pool just down the street if we really need to cool off, so all is well. It has also had a nice impact on the performance of my longboard bearings, which is always a plus. I went for a nice ride down Wilshire today, took a look a the tar pits, got a little better feel for the area around the apartments, and finished it off with a Blue-Red-Orange Slurpee!!

We finally finished up our 3-hour internship orientation sessions. This morning we just had a two hour session by Jim and Karen Covell about being Christians in Hollywood. They wrote a book called "How to Talk About Jesus Without Freaking Out", and we each received a copy. I'm anxious to crack it open! They were a big encouragement, as they have been married a long time and raised a family here in L.A., and their sons are as gung-ho about being Christians in the industry as they are. It's good to know that it can be done!

Tonight we're hearing from Doug Jones, a Christian actor with such credits as Abe Sapiens from the Hellboy films, the Silver Surfer, and the faun and the weird eyes-in-his-hands creature from Pan's Labyrinth. I'm anxious to hear what he has to say, particularly as an actor with a guaranteed role in all of Guillermo Del Toro's films from here on out (The Hobbit inclusive!)

I've also started my first short film script. I'm about two pages in, and I'm feeling pretty good about it. It's due in a week, and I already know what I want to write, so I plan to spend a lot of time refining it after I get it all out.

Still no internet in the apartment. It keeps me from wasting my time, but it takes a while to get used to not having a world of knowledge at your fingertips. Still, I can't complain: I'm in Hollywood!

Coverage. Lots of Coverage.

In-n-Out is officially my favorite west coast burger chain. It'll hold me over until I get back to Pal's. Very yum, and not too expensive.

I read my first script last night, and it was quite laughable. I really hope it's the worst one I'll read while I'm here, but I have a feeling the worst is yet to come. What was ever worse was trying to write the coverage for it. If you don't know, coverage is kind of like a synopsis/commentary where I discuss my feelings on the script. In an internship, I'd turn it into my boss who would use it to decide if it should become a film. After all, I'm part of the target audience. It's all done, though, and it wasn't too painful.

Jess made me realize how southern "Fry me up some [fill-in-the-blank]" sounded. Maybe I have a distinctively southern way of speech after all. I guess you've got to get away to really see how your own culture has affected you. I've got the rest of the day off, which is nice. My toughest decision is what I will "Fry me up" for dinner. Or bake. Or boil. Or microwave...

Stay on Target

Yeah, other than the obvious Star Wars reference (well, maybe obvious to those who have memorized every line of A New Hope), the title of this post really only refers to a trip I just made to Target.

Last night we had a very long orientation meeting, which seemed even longer considering we were packed into a room with no A/C. That gets ridiculously hot with 50 people for 3 hours. Thank God for popsicles and their corny joke glory! We mostly laid down the community law and ironed things out among our roommates considering food, parties, visitors, music, etc. Everyone was ready to leave, and I even took a shower when I got back to get all the nasty sweat off of me. My roommates popped in The Royal Tenenbaums, which I really wanted to watch since I haven't seen it in years, but I already made plans to watch Edward Scissorhands with Jess and her roommates. They have a much nicer room than we do. Not fair.

We had another orientation this morning pertaining to internships. It really got me excited about getting started. We played a really neat game called BuFaBuFa (I think) that taught us about perceptions of other culture in a really neat way. I'll not spoil the details in case anyone here has yet to play it, but as strange as it is the end result is pretty cool. A/C made that meeting much more bearable.

After a lunch of tuna sandwich and carrots, I headed to Target to get some supplies. I found velveeta, eggs, bacon, and macaroni noodles, so there are about four or five decent meals I'm prepared to cook now and two or three more I can do with a quick trip to Ralph's. Sounds like the plan is for In-and-Out Burger tonight, which I'm pretty excited for. I'll be doing that once I finish up the equipment lab that starts in half an hour.

I'm once again blogging from under my tree by the cafe since we still have no internet in the room. I'm sipping on a triple layer slurpee from the 7-Eleven across the street where I met some kid named Daniel who's brother allegedly works for Loaded Boards. He said he could get me some sweet deals, so I took down his number. Not that I can afford another Longboard at the moment, but it's always good to network in Hollywood.

The Sound of Settling

First of all, internet access has been intermittent and not quite up to snuff with Blogger and Facebook, so you'll have to wait a bit to see the pictures I've taken the past few days. There are some cool ones coming, though, so stay tuned.

I'm just about settled here in Los Angeles. The Park La Brea area is really nice and is certainly deceiving about what life in the city must really be like. However, this is a transitional experience, so why take it all at once? My apartment is nice and roomy enough. I wish we had a bit more furniture. Air conditioning and internet would be nice, as well. Even though we don't have cable, I think the internet could make up for that. Right now I'm just sitting in the grass under a nice little shade tree updating this here blog, and it's quite nice actually. However, I'd hate to have to come all the way down here every time I want to check my email. They tell me it'll be fixed soon enough, so I'll take them at their word for now. The RD seems like the sort of woman who gets that kind of thing done.

Dad helped me move in yesterday, which was much easier than moving into Milligan since I had so few things packed. We then went out to eat with Bob Hayden at a really interesting Jewish deli called Canter's. Apparently it's been there since the 20's or something! We then went over to check out the school, which is really nice. It has a really good hi-def theater, nice edit bays with FCP3, and an excellent student lounge with couches, tables, a blu-ray equipped TV, and a wall covered in DVD's. I'm not going to be bored.

After Dad left for Sacramento, I met the rest of my roommates and then went to the dinner planned for the students. It was a typical getting to know you sort of thing. Afterward I went with 8 other friends to see Inglorious Basterds at the ArcLight theater, which was an AMAZING experience. Everyone there really loved movies, and they clapped, laughed, and cheered at all the right places. The screen was huge, and I was probably in the worst seat in the house (which wasn't bad at ALL). They even gave out free soundtracks to certain people. Seth, my roommate, was sitting to my right and got the first one! There was a lot of crazy stuff (all of it kosher) that happened that night, but it all turned out okay. We got back at 3 a.m., which left us about 5 hours of sleep before our meeting the next morning.

We had a breakfast over at the school at 9:30 followed by worship at 10. We also heard interesting stories from various alumni at the program, which pretty much reminded us that Hollywood is a tough place to work. After that, I got a few groceries, then headed back to the room, and now I'm here. It's really a much better story with pictures, but let me assure you, it has been awesome so far. I can't wait for more!

Arriving in Los Angeles

This entry is going to be postdated, so here it is:

8/22/09 8:37 AM

Now we can get on to the good stuff. Yesterday was our last day on the road. We left St. George with a hearty McDonald’s breakfast. There was still a lot of interesting formations to see, but the landscape was beginning to flatten out into a bare desert. We had a few too many close calls, as well. I almost sideswiped a guy who was in my blind spot; especially large given all the luggage I have in the back. About an hour later, a guy almost sideswiped me as I dodged a truck tire. We also stopped at a particularly scary rest area that Dad and I were both happy to leave behind us.

Rolling into LA, I learned quickly that driving here is going to take some learning. I think my apprehension was similar to what I would feel swimming with sharks. The GPS wrapped us around downtown a little, but with a little intuition we found the hotel. The first room they gave us was on the Penthouse floor, but we never got to see that room because there was already someone inside. They gave us another about halfway up the building, and fortunately that one was actually empty.

We headed on to the Dodger’s game, which fortunately required no freeways to reach. It was a very nice stadium, particularly for its age, and Dad and I were glad to find that they had very good hot dogs (or Super Dodger Dogs as they call them). About halfway through, Jess and David showed up. I hadn’t met David yet, so it was good to get to know someone else from the program. After the game they had Friday Night Fireworks, where they let all the fans come down into the outfield and watch the show from there. It was a fun little event.

I’m just about to move into my apartment. We’re packing out of a hotel for the last time in our long journey, but I’m excited to know that the journey for me is just beginning. I’ve got a lot to learn about this big city, and I’m ready for the lessons to begin.

Welcome to Zion

While Jess decided to head the whole 12 hour trip to L.A. from Grand Junction, Dad and I made plans to stop in St. George, Utah and visit Zion National Park. After a good breakfast at the Marriot and some Starbucks, we headed out. I was surprised with a call from Justin! The road ahead ended up being just as beautiful as the evening before. There were so many bluffs, gorges, canyons, and mesas all along the route! Dad and I stopped at every view point. There were probably ten in all.

I finished up No Country for Old Men. It made the movie make much more sense, and also included more detail that fleshed out some of the characters much more. I put in the Hobbit to listen to for the remainder of the trip, though I doubt I'll finish it.

When we hit I-15 in Utah, we saw so many control burns. It was like the mountains were all on fire! (Oh yeah, I guess they were). The interstate became much less steep there and much easier to drive on. We took the Zion National Park exit and headed to the small town of Springdale to park my car. We took Dad's into the park. All along the way the cliffs rose higher and the landscape became more and more impressive. The park itself was its own kind of wonder. The cliffs were very high and quite impressive to look on. The sun was setting, so we got to see some really amazing light and color play. On the way back out of the canyon, we saw so many animals, mostly deer (including bucks with huge racks) and turkeys. We stopped and took a quick two mile hike with what light we had left in the day. The trail ended at the Zion lodge, where we sat down for some dinner. It was a great finisher. At the end of the day, I was once again very ready to hit that hotel bed.

Today is our last leg. We'll be shooting across Nevada, through Las Vegas, and into California to catch the Dodgers-Cubs game tonight at 7:00! Hopefully we'll make it in time to drive around a little and get familiar with my part of the city. It all begins tomorrow!!!

Colorful Colorado

As Dad and I were about to leave Hoyt, Kansas, I got in contact with Jess, who was leaving from Ohio for LA the day after we left Virginia. She ended up only being an hour and a half ahead of us, so we decided to meet up at a rest area. On the way, we saw the beautiful Kansas plains, many fields of sunflowers, and a lot of other random sights. Dad started worrying about his oil level when his console was telling him that it was too high, but we eventually agreed that it was just the higher elevation causing the oil to expand.

When we met Jess, she had been driving for about 24 hours straight! I was duly impressed, but she was willing to go four more hours to Grand Junction, Colorado with us. Fortunately, other than Denver traffic and some scary trucks in the mountains, it was a delightful and very beautiful drive. I had finished The DaVinci Code, so I put in No Country for Old Men, which I have been amazed to see how faithfully the Coen brothers preserved it in their film version. We timed it out perfectly, as we pulled into the hotel right at sunset. We went to a neat restaurant for a dinner that was a bit too big for any of us. We went back to the hotel room and enjoyed an awesome night of sleep in big beds with LOTS of comfy pillows. It was welcome rest, probably for Jess in particular.

Today, we've got a short trip over to St. George, Utah, where we plan to visit Zion National Park, which we missed out on when we were vacationing here in the summer of 1999. The trip from there to LA isn't too bad, either. I just hope I can finish No Country and The Hobbit in those two trips!

I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...

Actually, Kansas is exactly where we are: Hoyt, Kansas. After another long day of driving, Dad and I got here just before midnight last night. Our relatively late start from St. Louis didn't help our arrival time, and neither did our extended stop in Kansas City. That's not to say it wasn't worth while. We stopped by the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum to explore a little history. Dad read the David McCullough biography and knew their was some interesting history surrounding our former president, and after our trip there, I agreed. He seemed to be a principled man, intelligent, and most of all, genuinely concerned about using his position to better America instead of just as a grab for power. He had some pretty great quotes and seemed to be pretty witty behind the podium.

Since we hadn't eaten lunch, we decided to get a genuine Kansas City steak dinner. We used the wonderful power of Blackberry to find a highly regarded restaurant. We settled on Jess & Jim's, a long standing family owned restaurant on the edge of town. It was certainly worth the trip out of our way! Dad and I both got a huge ribeye and an amazing (and also huge) twice baked potato. My stomach was hurting afterward, but in the good "I just ate a big dinner" way.

Our last leg of travel seemed pretty long. Most of it was after dark, which always makes travel a little more boring. However, as we neared our destination, we began to see lightning in the distance. Also, we came over a hill and saw a see of flashing red lights in the distance. It took us a long time to get to them, and all the while I wondered what they might be from. Even as I was in the midst of them, I was still at a loss as to what they were from. Then the lightning flashed, and it was at once a beautiful and yet haunting sight, kind of in that way that nightmares come in mysterious flashes. Against the flashing lights of the sky, I saw the silhouettes of hundreds of wind turbines spinning in the stormy night. It was certainly one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen. I think it will stick in my memory for years to come.

Meet Me in St. Louis

After a long morning of vehicular repair and maintenance, Dad and I finally got on the road. We went down I-40 through Nashville, then north up toward St. Louis. Originally we were going to stop by my grandparents' house in Vandalia, Illinois, but they were in Chattanooga, so we went on the extra hour to St. Louis. Apart from on and off rain and hail storms, relatively rough road conditions, and a late night close call with a coyote, it wasn't a bad drive. The worst part was getting in at 2 a.m. to our hotel after about 10 hours of travel. However, we made it all right with the help of McDonald's coffee (though I swear mine must have been decaf.)

This morning we went to the Mini Cooper Service Center here in St. Louis to get my brakes fixed. We're just waiting around now until that gets taken care of. We may go by the arch museum or Harry Truman's home.

Tonight, we were going to go to Kansas City, but we may go on to Salina, KS to take a bit off the drive tomorrow. We bought Dodger's tickets for Friday night, so now we've got a deadline. It should be easy so long as we don't have any more trouble...

(101) Days of Summer

I figured I'd be on the road by now, but since I'm not, I might as well update my blog.

We brought Dad's new car in to have them look at the faulty A/C system. Fortunately, it was only a problem with the freon charge. We decided to get the Mini looked at while we were stalled anyway. It needed an oil change before the trip and some silicone to pin down that annoying piece of trim that keeps flapping and hitting the top of the car. The mechanic discovered I needed new brake pads all around and new front rotors. I guess that explains the "Check Brakes" light that's been on the past few weeks. They're about done with both cars, but I'll have to go without fresh brakes for a while. I may stop in one of the dealerships in the towns we're staying at, or I might just have a new friend drive me to a dealership in L.A. I guess we'll just play it by ear.... or I guess by total brake failure. Nothing I'm not used to.

My semester's belongings are in a heap at the base of the stairs. I can't believe I can fit it all in the Mini Cooper! Normally I have two van-loads. It kinda feels good, though, this whole living light thing. Maybe I'd have been better off if my college were too far away for multiple trips.

I'm just biding my time now, listening to the (500) Days of Summer soundtrack and that really awesome Coheed cover of "Under the Milky Way". I really hope they record that; it's beautiful! I'm looking forward to getting on the road. I've got five books on tape, plus the entirety of my iPod. I can't decide which I should start with: Wicked, No Country for Old Men, or The DaVinci Code (yeah, i didn't read it when it was big. I wanted to evade the hype.) That (500) Days soundtrack has me thinking I should definitely pick up a Regina Spektor album on the way, as well.

I guess that does it for the posts from home. My next should be from somewhere between here and LA, provided my hotels have free internet.

T-minus Seven Days

Work is finally done. Friday was my last day on the roof, so this week is entirely devoted to preparing for my journey to L.A. I went to Milligan this morning and wrapped up the last bits of paperwork necessary for the semester on their end. The were installing a big buffalo statue, which surely spells certain doom for that poor thing. Buffalos don't last long at Milligan.

I still have yet to do any packing. Over the next couple days I'll probably just straighten up my room and other things around the house. I have washed my car (well, the outside, at least), but she still needs a trip to the shop. I hope we get that done in time. Dad and I are going to Banner Elk to pick up the new car he bought on eBay. It's a pretty slick Mercedes 500 SL. He figured the convertible hard-top made it the perfect California car, so he and I will be forming a two-man caravan cross country.

It's funny: up until today, I was really bummed about not being at Milligan for my final fall semester. Thinking about past falls made me miss the fun and adventure I had in them. However, being on campus today, the thought of being there again almost turned stale for me. There were a few things I still missed: the familiar smell of Derthick Hall and the prospect of warm evenings on the longboard. But as for the rest, it seemed to much like I was trying to recreate my past, which is always a disappointing endeavor: it's never as good the second (or third) time around. The real adventure lies ahead, 2300 miles west of here and everywhere in between. The journey begins in one week.