Day 19 - Blending In

Once we'd swiftly enjoyed the now standard morning routine of a great breakfast, primping and packing... we left Z's at around 10:30am. The main plan for today was to pay visits to the two main LA Universities, USC (Universtiy of Southern California) and UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles). They are also the most highly aclaimed and well respected places of study for those wishing to work in the film industry within LA, having extremely strong long-running film schools and invaluable industry contact set-ups. So, not only were J+J visiting as interested tourists, they were also visiting as prospective post-graduate students.

So we began with a walk to the bus stop... a walk that was interrupted by the excitement of seeing our 3rd T-Rex of the trip, this time made from a hedge! Our first stop was UCLA, located in the western realm of the city, near the wealthy districts of Bel Air and Beverly Hills. We meandered slowly through the very pleasant campus and, after a visit to the University shop (literally jam packed with UCLA merchandise), we located the film school. The facilities seemed excellent and we were able to speak to somebody briefly about the courses offered so the trip had been most fruitful indeed.




Then, following an essential visit to Subway for lunch, we made our way towards central LA, not far from Downtown, to visit the USC campus. Again, the campus was great, we were able to visit the student union and amble through the film school buildings (among which are the 'Steven Spielberg Music Scoring Stage' and the 'George Lucas Building'). We then had a close encounter (nope, not of the third kind) with a squirrel who was happily munching away on a twig upon a nearby branch. After spending a couple of hours at each Uni, we'd agreed that both were absolutely fantastic, it's hard to say which we prefer. On a few occasions during our wanders, we were mistaken for actual students, with a couple of people asking Joe for directions and one man cracking a University in-joke with a bemused John who played along with it just for the fun. Who knows... maybe one day we will be students out here?!




Once our educational research endeavours were complete, we made the long bus journey back across LA to Z's house in Santa Monica. However, it must be noted that before we boarded the bus, we both treated ourselves to an ice blended beverage from 'The Coffee Bean' cafe (Joe mixng it up with a 'Banana & Caramel', John having a dabble at a 'Pure Chocolate'). To not praise the blends with full voice would be a criminal offence of the highest order, as they were absolutely delicious! Joe even going as far as to say "Better than Starbucks" which is quite a statement. As we were just arriving back at Z's, the sunset overlooking the beach was stunning, a moment we proudly caught on camera...



As its been our last evening in Santa Monica/LA today, Z kindly took ourselves and Susan out for a meal, and the choice of venue was much appreciated by the J's. We went to... wait for it... 'Ye Olde Kings Head', a British pub located right in the heart of Santa Monica. John, feeling very patriotic all of a sudden, decided to hold his home close to his heart and selected 'Bangers & Mash' for his main course. Joe, deciding to stick with his all-time favourite pub meal, opted for the 'Scampi & Chips'. The food was wonderful, the decor was extremely authentic and we were even treated to a genuine British waitress (the first Brit we've spoken to since leaving Manchester almost 3 weeks ago).


After the meal, we took a stroll around Santa Monica, soaking up the local nightlife and divulging in cookies and brownies as a desert. We then casually strolled back to Z's place where we now sit, ready for a good nights sleep,

We'll back with more tomorrow,
Hope everyone is well.

JJ Grand Hotel,
620 S. Harvard Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90005
http://www.jjgrandhotel.com/

Day 18 - West Coaster

After another staggered start, we spent the early part of this morning just sleeping, primping and blogging at Z's. The plans for breakfast (which are always of high importance) were to go to a local diner - Cafe 50's - as a particularly special treat. The diner itself was impressive and fun in its nostalgic design; unsurprisingly harking back to a certain golden decade. However, we couldn't spend too much time looking at the wallpaper instead of the menu, and so it was soon down to business. We all indulged on variations of the 'power breakfast' - a smorgasbord of morning treats including eggs, sausage and a choice of pancakes or french toast. A truly American way to start the day.



The Cafe was located near the famous 'Venice' area just along the coast from Santa Monica, and so once finished, Z drove us through this region - a journey in which we also learnt about the series of canals that resemble the Italian original, and that give the place its name. He dropped us off just by (the even more famous) Venice Beach, where we enjoyed exploring various tourist-orientated shops and walking along the front. We gradually made our way through the crowds, the street-vendors, and the rollerbladers and walked towards the pier at Santa Monica.



Once there, we decided it was time for a quick roller coaster ride before we went back to Z's - see the video at the top of this post for another inventive video blog. After a short spell at Z's we then headed out for a jam at Frazier Park, as we were due a good freestyle session. Again, it was a highly enjoyable jam, and so with winds that were strong but fairly steady, we all shredded satisfactorily. Frazier is just perfect for frisbee, and definitely one of our favourite jamspots that we've visited.


Another short spell at Z's followed, in which we were able to get brief showers and catch Obama do his thing, we walked out with Z and his wife Susan and made for the pier. Having just been there in the daytime, this was an interesting experience. Tonight, the pier played host to a reggae extravaganza, and literally thousands of people had showed up to hear the music, and soak up the buzzing social atmosphere. Not only were there hundreds of enthusiasts on the pier directly in front of the bands, but there were also an equal number sitting below (the 'wine and cheese crowd', as Z put it) on the sand at the side. Needless to say, the music was still clearly audible from this location. We had some food with Z and Susan at the top, then mingled inconspicuously below for a while - also taking the oppurtunity to show some real skills to one of the many people who had brought a light up frisbee to the event. We then went back to Z's.



Now it's time for another night's rest,
All our love,

J und J

Day 17 - Park Life

The day began with a pleasant lie in this morning, meaning we didn't leave Z's house until about noon. Our main plan for the day was to visit Universal Studios, one of the most highly anticipated days out of the entire trip, so both J's were brimming with excitement as the long journey across western LA & Hollywood was made (one might even go as far as to say we were more excited than when we were about to meet the High School Musical cast yesterday... okay, well, maybe not that excited).

We arrived at Universal at approximately 2pm and our eyes were instantly dazzled by what was beheld before them. We were standing on Universal City Walk - a shopping/dining street located on the studio site that was like nothing we'd ever seen. There was no chance of missing a thing as each store/outlet had a mind-blowing entrance to rival those of Times Square back in NYC.


Once we'd gawped our way through City Walk we came upon the place we'd been waiting to see... Universal Studios itself. For those uneducated in such film capitals of the world... Universal has been the home to some of the largest film productions in Hollywood ever since its opening in 1912 (you've all seen the logo at the beginning of movies!). In addition, it has long been tradition at Universal that the studio backlot (the area where all the sets/stages are constructed/filmed in) has been open to the public for tours. It has also had a theme park constructed beside it with the emphasis being on movie-themed rides and attractions. So, you can probably understand from the descriptions above why 2 movie boffins such as ourselves were excited.


Despite the temptations of the Simpsons ride & Shrek 4-D, the priority for us was the Studio Tour, so we made straight for that first. The tour lasted about 45 minutes and was truly fascinating from both a the viewpoint of a filmmaker and a film fanatic. It took us past all the sound stages, offices and sets used for some of the most successful movies of all time (and still being used to this very day... a few film crews could actually be spotted at work). Among the many sets/props, a few of the highlights included... the 'Delorean' from 'Back To The Future', the plane crash set from Spielberg's 'War Of The Worlds', the motel and house from Hitchcock's 'Psycho' and sets from many other visual spectacles (Jaws, Jurrasic Park, King Kong & Indiana Jones to name but a few!).






Following the tour, the temptation of the Simpsons ride just became too great, so we decided to give it a go. The official J&J verdict... OK, nothing special, its hard to get too thrilled on a simulation ride. Then, despite the prospect of becoming rather wet, we built up the courage to board the Jurrasic Park River Adventure. Well, unfortunately, we didn't get 'rather' wet... we got soaked! Nevertheless it was a great ride... just be sure you don't have any 'non-water resistant' valuable items with you as you go round. The natural follow up to Jurrasic Park was 'Backdraft', an exhibition of fire explosions that we selected in hope of being somewhat dried off. The pre-demonstration video became a bit lame after a while, but when the fire finally struck up, it did at least warm us up (sadly, the whole drying off idea hadn't really worked). Our favourite ride of the afternoon was that of 'The Mummy', an indoor roller coaster with one moment of rapid acceleration that took us both by surprise. After a quick walk around the 'House of Horrors' and a visit to the souvenir shop, we headed back to City Walk for some food.

We opted for the 'Bubba Gump Shrimp Company', much to the delight of Forrest Gump fanatic John. The restaurant itself was swimming in Forrest Gump memorabilia and the food was (you guessed it) fantastic! John opted for 'Shrimp & Veggie Stir Fry' from the 'Forrest's Favourites' menu, washed down with a 'Run Forrest Run' smoothie. Joe went for 'Mama's Southern Charmed Fried Shrimp' from the 'Bubba's Shrimp Specials' menu, whilst a 'Jenny's Favourite' was his smoothie of choice.



Once we were all shrimped out, we headed back into central Hollywood to meet up with Z for an evening of entertainment at comedy club 'Improv'. It was a great night, featuring many famous comedians from the LA area - some funnier than others, but on the whole a good laugh.

By the time it was over, we were all very tired, so headed back to Z's for some sleep,

Another fabulous day comes to its end.

J@J.com

Day 16 - Woohya! Its Hollywood

We got started this morning at around 9am (or slightly later for a certain J), and enjoyed breakfast at Z's. For those keeping up with our culinary exploits, this was just a simple case of a bowl of cereal, but an enjoyable one. This morning we had basically decided to travel from Santa Monica into LA - more specifically the Hollywood / Beverly Hills area, so we packed our sightseeing bags and left.

The LA public transport system wasn't too bad at all, and our journey ran fairly smoothly (speaking metaphorically...the actual roads were quite bumpy in parts) once we'd managed to hunt around for the right stop. After two buses, and a discussion with both drivers about having to have the right change to pay for the ride (when we didn't, one kindly let us on for free), we found ourselves at Beverly Boulevard.

Here we found an ideal Cafe that had been recommended to us, and we there met up with a friend who works in LA, and that we know through his involvement in the charity 'FOMO'. After an enjoyable and relaxing hour, we moved on, and headed towards Hollywood Boulevard itself (via Sunset Blvd, of course). This is one of the main tourist spots in LA, which is not surprising, given the variety of interesting and iconic sights that are there. Firstly, stretching along the sidewalk (UK translation = pavement) is the famous 'Walk of Fame', the classic stars with names of various people from show business who have impacted Hollywood.

Another hotspot is Grauman's Chinese theatre, a famous location for world film premieres, and one of the most historic cinemas on the planet. A key feature is the pavings at the front entrance, which have been embellished with foot and hand prints from a multitude of global megastars, and so this was a further photo oppurtunity not to be missed.

Neighbouring the Chinese is the Kodak theatre, noteworthy because it holds the Oscar award ceremony each year. This also has an interesting central courtyard, with raised bridges giving great views of the Hollywood sign; surely the most iconic sight in the entire city. As well as posing in front of this, we also snapped up a shot next to probably the next most iconic sight in LA - a poster of the one and only....Jonas Brothers (who, as you can see from below, have now become 5 rather than 3).

After a brief spot of souvenir shopping (where we coincidentally met the whole of the High School Musical cast in one LA shop), we walked to find some tea, and (shock-horror!) settled on a 'convenience' store to provide the goods. We'll refrain from a 'blow-by-blow' account, but suffice to say that we enjoyed a couple of chicken-related hot meals.

The journey home was reasonably straightforward as well. We had bought some 50 cents chewing gum to provide us with change for the buses, and we were all the more familiar with our return route. The second bus, a Metro 720, did actually break down on the way back, and a couple of confusing minutes of the driver talking to the bus and encouraging it to work ("come on girl...I don't want to be stuck out here either....") didn't quite do the trick. Luckily, we weren't far from our destination, and another 720 showed up quickly, so the whole affair was simply mildly amusing. Further raising the amusement stakes at the end of the day was an encounter with a young chinese man and his girlfriend. The poor man clearly wasn't accustomed to surprises, and so for him, coming around a corner at the same time as us (whilst looking in the opposite direction) seemed to be a near-death experience - his instinctive shocked exclamation of "Woohya!" sending all four of us into fits of laughter. The look of sheer terror on his face when he turned round to find two Brits centimetres away will long be remembered, but this quickly faded into a smile, and we departed on good terms.



Once we'd finally managed to stop laughing, we took our rest, and got some sleep after a great first day around LA.


We can't wait for the rest of the week,



J to the J

Day 16 - Coming Soon...

Hey Everyone,

We've decided to todays blog tomorrow morning LA time (evening UK time) so be sure to check back for it then.

Thanks

JJ Abrams

Day 15 - The Frazier Dream

We had a reasonably early start this morning as we had a lift down the coast to Santa Monica with Mark Regabutti at 7:30am. Once packed and the farewells had been said to our much loved hotel room, the journey began. The drive down took about 1.5 hours, meaning we arrived in Santa Monica at about 9am.

The first stop was Frazier Park, one of the premier freestyle locations on the planet, providing perfect wind from the sea (it's right beside the beach!) and superbly trimmed grass. Ourselves and Mark were shortly joined by Dave Lewis and John "Z" Weyand, and once the boom box was up and running, we began to strut our stuff on the jam-floor. It was also an extra special moment for us as Frazier Park was the very park used in the 'Secrets Of Pro Disc Freestyle' instructional DVD (for those who aren't familiar with this top selling title, it happens to be the thing that taught myself and Joe to play freestyle in the very beginning!). Not only this, we were jamming there with Dave & Z - the two people who made/starred in the DVD. The jam fully lived up to our expectations with us all landing top moves, and enjoying every minute.



After transfering our gear from Mark's car to Z's truck, ourselves and Z made the journey across Los Angeles (Santa Monica is located on the coast, just outside LA) to visit a true frisbee legend... Dan "Stork" Roddick. Stork was at the centre of freestyle development right from the very beginning in the early 70's so it was extremely fascinating to chat with him and raid his extensive archives. We also took the chance to interview him for a future episode of DiscCast before having several hours of freestyle-related discussion.


At approximately 6pm, we left the Stork residence and headed back towards Z's house, stopping off at a Japanese restaurant called 'Maya'. We all opted for the 'special meal' option which included chicken, rice, sushi and various fried delicacies. Not to mention the mango ice-cream that was thrown in for dessert. Once the tastebuds had been adequetly stimulated, we left for Z's house, located right beside the beach (quite literally!). We've spent the evening settling in, sorting out our beds, and...as usual - updating the blog.

Should be an interesting day around the LA area tomorrow,
Will update you then,

JJ Binks

Day 14 - The Hat and The Hoops

Breakfast failed to disappoint again this morning, repeating yesterday's meal with an added healthy twist (Raisin Bran instead of Lucky Charms...though we'll keep an eye out for the hourglass shaped Charms tomorrow). We also pulled off a trademark J&J manoeuvre by stocking up for lunch from the breakfast selection -with two cream cheese bagels that came in handy later on. The obligatory morning primping session then followed swiftly, before we made our way down to the main Aloha festival area for the start of the day's proceedings.

Kicking off the events was a few freestyle demonstrations for the crowds -J&J started off (putting the dogs to shame) with a neat, well executed routine, and then Chipper and Dave gave another great show (putting us to shame). We also spotted a few interesting festival-going characters during our post-demo cool down. The first was an earnest, heavily-moustached individual who had decided to wear the morning newspaper on his head. Dave Schiller gave us a good historical perspective on the matter - his interpretation being that the man was symbolising the nation's current oppression from the press by invoking the imagery of the helmets worn by the once-opressive spanish conquistadors that colonised Mexico. Absolute genuis. The second notable character stood out because of his talent - he managed to successfully spin not one but three hula hoops around his knees at once...a humbling experience for the many enthusiastic children around him.

After hanging out around the main festival area, we walked down to the beach for our morning jam session. We met up with the rest of the freestylers, and were also excited to see Dave Lewis join us for today. Dave, for those who don't know, is the man who introduced us to freestyle through the Nike commercial, and then taught us to play through his instructional DVD. He also happens to be one of the greatest players in history, and we've always admired his game. Needless to say, we took the oppurtunity to jam with him, and doing so for the first time was quite a special moment, one that we'll long remember for the sentimental value. The winds on the beach, though, were strong and unforgiving this morning, and it was another challenge as far as conditions were concerned. This being said, we gave it our best shot, and managed to sneak in a few good moves. As the beach jam drew to a close, the Schillers, Dan and Doug got ready to depart from the festival, so we said our goodbyes to them, took a quick group photo, and then made tracks for the festival grass area with Dave and Mark.

It was here that the breakfast bagels came into play. They made the perfect lunch snack, and set us up with enough energy for the next stage of the afternoon - performing another demo for the crowds, this time with Dave (Lewis) and Chipper. The winds weren't great on the grass either; it was extremely choppy and inconsistent, making the disc near-impossible to set up steadily. Nevertheless, we gave a heroic effort, playing it safe at times, and gave a great performance. It had clearly gone down a hit, anyway, with many people coming over to us exclaiming how impressed they were...a couple even wanting photos and autographs.

After we'd pulled ourselves away from the screaming hoardes of fans, we made the decision to go and relax, and went for a coffee/milkshake with Dave (guess who had which...), whilst having a few interesting discussions about freestyle, and picking up some top-secret coaching tips that we couldn't possibly share.

Dave then dropped us back at our hotel, and we had an extremely strenuous evening. We first took a casual stroll along the Ventura coast at sunset, observing the final remnants of the festival. Next, we wound down back at the hotel with a quick dip in the exclusive hot-tub and pool. To top it off, we returned to our new favourite Ventura sports bar for a further delve into their menu which had looked so thoroughly good last night. A highlight whilst there was managing to watch (by request) the closing ceremony of the Olympics -and particularly enjoyed the London themed festivities towards the end. Is that how all buses are going to be by 2012?! Leona will be busy.

We're now back at base camp, and hope to get a reasonably good night's sleep before we take our travelling circus down to Santa Monica early tomorrow.

Signing off...

The J Bros.