Day 9: Nic In Obsesso-Geek Heaven

THESE EVENTS TOOK PLACE: June 8, 2009 (USPDT)

It was time to move on Monday morning at Banana Bungalow, Hollywood Boulevard. With my weekly booking having come to an end, along with that of the two Danish girls in Room 209 with me, Management informed me I'd have to relocate to Room 207 for the rest of my stay as Room 209 was having scheduled maintenance.

Hopefully fixing the constantly blocked toilet was top of the list.

The timing was perfect, a Bottom Bunker was moving out of my new room right as I started transferring my belongings so I called dibs on the best bunk in the dorm. Shveet.


New room


New bunk

My babysitting duties continued as I took pity on my now ex-roomy Thai Lady who was looking rather a lot like a rabbit in headlights. She had been excessively nervous for a few days about having to move rooms when there were only unisex dorms available. I had reassurred her many times that it would be fine and she had nothing to worry about, but on Moving Day my days of encouragement had clearly done nothing to comfort her.

Not long before I was ready to depart for the day, probably an hour or more later, I noticed she was still sitting on the balcony outside Room 211 with all of her luggage. I wanted to not care and leave her to her own devices, but it appeared as though that was the option everyone else had been taking... and I caved. I asked her what was happening.

As I've said, my ability to understand foreign accents and broken English is not one of my strong suits, I couldn't for the life of me understand what the problem was. My guess was that she seemed to think her room wasn't ready yet.

I asked her if she had checked in, yes, she had. I asked her if she had her key, yes, she did.

I took the key, opened up her room and discovered three empty bunks ready to be claimed. I returned to Thai Lady, grabbed half of her luggage and her pillow and lugged it all into the room. She still didn't follow. I tried to explain it was fine for her to move in but she still looked apprehensive. I physically took her hand, guided her to the bottom bunk I'd chosen for her and showed her around the room.

One of the males staying in the room timed his arrival perfectly and was conveniently warm and friendly... and un-axe-murderer-looking. I explained the predicament of Thai Lady and he assertively approached her, smiled, shook her hand and proceeded to carry in the rest of her belongings. He even helped her make her bed.

I took my leave with a grateful grin at Friendly Male.

Then it was off to Warner Bros Studios!

I've said before and I'll say it again, it's so easy to get around LA. Anyone who tells you the contrary is either clueless or cynical. Using trusty old Metro.Net's Trip Planner again, I found a bus that stopped right on Hollywood Boulevard and took me right to the Studio. All for the bargain price of $1.25. Most excellent!

Walking down the Boulevard I was completely clueless as to what the heck was happening on the sidewalk. All kinds of weird stuff was being set up but it clearly wasn't a film set. I can't believe that my memory deserted me so! I'm still cranky at myself.

As I discovered once I'd boarded the bus and we circled back past the Busy Spot: it was Kyra Sedgwick's Walk Of Fame Star Ceremony!

I knew this. I KNEW! Having frequently checked the infinitely useful Seeing-Stars site for just such events, I had been aware of this upcoming event and had wanted to attend. Totally forgot! Dang! My inner geek was thoroughly disappointed. These are exactly the type of things I wanted to wax geekish while in the States. Plus, my sister is a big fan of Kyra and I'd have been so chuffed to get some pics!

I came to realise this by spying on some obviously Aussie girls that had boarded the bus. They were all squeeing over their digital cameras and marvelling at a few photos by one of their group that were particularly impressive. I could see quite clearly from my seat that the photos contained Kevin Bacon.

DAMMIT!

I couldn't help myself, I had to get in on the action. The girls told me all about the ceremony and showed me the array of brilliant photos they'd managed *jealous*

It was at this point that I also learned a valid lesson about Trip Planning: it's not always precisely practical. i.e. I walked right down Hollywood Boulevard to Hollywood & Vine to board the bus where it instructed me to. After meandering about and having an [absolutely delicious Macca's] Iced Mocha, I found myself riding the bus back down the Boulevard, right past the Star Ceremony and, wait for it, right by my hostel!

LOL. Lesson Learned: check the trip route to make sure it's not creating for you unneccessary and unwanted exercise.

As we passed, Kyra was actually hopping in the car. I didn't manage to actually get her in any of my fly-by photos.


Kyra getting in the car (you can't actually see her)


That door open to the second car is Kyra!


Packing up after Kyra's Star Ceremony


Kyra's brand new star, from the bus!

But at least I'd made some Aussie friends! I was very pleased to see they, and one in particular, were as stupid-excited about taking a tour of Warner Bros Studios as me.

The bus driver told us to get off at the wrong point. After approaching three different entrances one helpful staff member informed us we were on the wrong side.



On the up side, this meant I got to walk right over the spot where Ellen frequently plants and humiliates staff members. She puts this corner to good use when she wants to make an example of somebody, e.g. a candlelit meal with a stranger or wearing a pointedly embarassing signboard. It was a small compensation for the fact that The Ellen Show was on Summer hiatus and I wasn't able to see it filmed as I'd so desperately wanted to.


Ellen's corner

That and the oodles of other Ellen and other WB awesomeness I got to experience!

We walked past a gate that was evidently VIP-ish. A guy walked out at one point on a cell phone talking about scripts and producers. THAT was cool.


Soooo VIP!

Alas, my first photo of the water tower!



After what seemed lke the longest four block walk ever, we were on Warner Road! Tourist central, my goodness:














Even the trash cans are branded!

One [very thorough] security check later we were in the Tour Lobby and WB Store. As if I wasn't anticipating greatness enough, the first thing I see when I round the corner into this glorious space... *eep* I was officially in my own little heaven:








I knew I was being watched






Hey! I've seen that sweater before!

With our spots on Tour 16 booked, we ensured not an inch of the store was left undiscovered and enjoyed what we agreed was the nicest croissants we'd each ever had at the built-in Starbucks.

And then, after a far longer wait than I was mature enough to tolerate: TOUR TIME!

We were taken into a small cinema room and given a little intro before they played the coolest 10 minutes of footage I could possibly have hoped for. The least boring historical montage you could ever imagine.



The history itself was engaging enough, then it explodes into dozens and dozens of clips of everything from Harry Potter, Friends, Gilmore Girls, The Ellen Show, Dawson's Creek, My Fair Lady, Superman, Police Academy, Full House, The Bodyguard, Ace Ventura, Terminator, The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, 300, He's Just Not That Into You, Will & Grace, Fringe, just a few of my favourites! Not to mention: Batman, Two And A Half Men, Smallville, Buffy, Gone With The Wind, Gremlins, Lethal Weapon, Looney Tunes, Watchmen, Pokemon, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Gossip Girl.

Not surprisingly, one of my favourite clips was a fleeting progressive effects shot from Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban. In a matter of seconds they showed the evolution of Harry riding Buckbeak in the Hogwarts lake valley. First you have Daniel completely alone in front of a green screen and before you know it he's straddling a Hippogriff surrounded by water and mountains with beautiful colour and grading.

Sure, I'm such a huge film geek I'm aware of the depths of CG, but seeing those few seconds just blew me away. Phenomenal.

Another highlight, rather surprisingly this time, was a clip from Two And A Half Men. In the blooper reel (yes, y'all know, one of my favourite things on the planet) they showed a scene with both of the men and young Jake sitting around the kitchen table. As usual, Charlie and Allan are bicaring and Jake interjects with a smart comment while covering his food with ketchup. Charlie tells Jake to "Shut up and have more ketchup" but when Jake picks it up and violently squeezes the bottle it emits a loud farty sound.

All three actors attempt to hold themselves together but Jake cracks and they laugh hysterically.

Oh, how I love a good fart-oriented laugh!

Again, I was thrilled not be the only loser in the room that was totally buzzed by ten minutes of footage. At least half a dozen other people in the room looked as Christmas as I did when the lights went up.

Next we met our Tour Guide, James, whom I loved instantly (I want his job) and we were off!



James asked loads of questions about what we were all interested in, which pleased me immensely, this was going to be awesome. He explained that unfortunately a lot of the WB lot had just gone on Summer Hiatus so there wasn't quite as much action around and about as there usually would be. On the fortunate side though, this meant we had access to pretty much every area of the studios our heart desired. A nice compromise, methinks!

My heavenly experience just got better and better and better. Anyone who knows me knows that the smallest things excite me when it comes to my various passions. Seriously, anyone who looked at me throughout this tour might have mistaken me for having a mental disability. I feel like I have an idea how Charlie felt at the Chocolate Factory.

After seeing a cascade of thoroughly interesting bits and pieces, the first real attraction we passed was the final days of shooting on a J.Lo movie, "The Back-Up Plan". They were using the New York City Street set, cool! Apparently they'd been filming on location in New York City mostly, but were now doing some pick-up scenes, etc. We didn't get to see Jennifer, but we saw her trailer and loads of the action and crew and what not. Woop!


New York City Street set, I look forward to seeing that truck in the movie!


The rest of the cast's trailers


The set from the opposite angle


Zoomed right in on the action, we'll compare this shot when the film's out!


J.Lo's trailer


The Extras' area

I won't go into the every detail of the tour because I'm almost certain nobody wants to hear that crap. The people that do will no doubt ask me about it when I'm home and get the infinite details in a slightly more fun context. So I'll try to stick to the highlights. That will be hard though, knowing me, being the long and exciting tour it was!

Extra photos not added here will be in my Flickr, for the keen ones.

E.R. fans will recognise the set:





I really wish I could remember what this set was, in the background, dang. James told us it was from a pretty famous big scene in a massive movie from years ago. Bugger. Sorry. Anyone recognise it?! LOL.





One of the major things currently in production with WB is "Eastwick", a television show based around the plot concepts of "The Witches Of Eastwick", coming to the small screen in the US in September.


Packup from the "Eastwick" wrap

To my somewhat disappointment, much of my beloved Stars Hollow is now actually Eastwick. This did nothing to take away from my excitement when we rolled into the Stars Hollow town square set later though!

In the mean time, rolling through other filming spots used for both Gilmore Girls and an array of other television and film was a trip. Again, I won't bore you, but James was a wealth of trivia and behind-the-scenes knowledge. Man, I was constantly saying either inwardly or outwardly "Oh COOL!".


Picture this dam with a bridge and filled with murky water, then picture Scott Patterson pushing Milo Ventimiglia INTO said water and you've got Stars Hollow! This "Jungle" area is used for dozens upon dozens of other film pickups though

OK, help me out here Ash. I took a photo of this hut, I think because it was used for Gilmore Girls. I can't for the life of me remember! Can you put your finger on it?




The frequently used Jungle set from a different angle, apparently they shot some really dodgy pickups here for "The Thin Red Line"

Some "True Blood" (TV show riding on the vampire fame coat tails of Twilight, HUGE in the States) filming had not long finished up. Apparently this set is central:




Webby crap for "True Blood" not yet removed for Summer Hiatus

Oh! One of my favourite little insights! The wagon behind the fellow tourists in this photos is a, drum roll, portable bush! James told me it was frequently used in Gilmore Girls because Stars Hollow is supposed to be in Connecticut... where there are no mountains in the background... as there are in Burbank, California.





A spot constantly dressed and redressed for WB productions. Used at least a dozen times in Gilmore Girls alone, apparently:



My excitement takes another hit: we must be approaching Stars Hollow!


[Ron voice] Must be gettin' close!

Definitely getting closer... I yell out "It's Christopher's parents house!" as we pass and James looks at me as though he's considering whether I need to be locked up and rehabilitated before being let loose on the world again:



We pass through the street that had been being used for "Eastwick" filming that I snapped above:





And finally, Stars Hollow! *squeeeeee*








Previously Doose's Market

So here's some fun trivia, none of the brick in Stars Hollow (yes, OK, I know it isn't really Stars Hollow and isn't presently even being used for the fictitious town, but it will always be Stars Hollow to me! And several other people I know!) is actually real brick. It's all painted on, check it out:


"Guess what guys, there's no real brick to speak of in this place, it's all rubber and paint! Poke it!"


Brick sidewalk


Poking fake rubbery brick

My god, this was a massive peak for me! No longer actually Luke's Diner, but close enough for me:


Luke's window, now no longer Luke's window






That's right, Luke's has no ceiling, never did!


Seriously, no ceiling to speak of


The view from Luke's


Yes, I'm thinking what you're thinking "Gee, really looking like a huge doofus in your once in a lifetime Luke's Diner photo"


Everyone pokes the doorframe because, for some unknown probable stunt reason, it's rubber! (Anyone remember Luke having to shoulder charge the doorway?)


The Luke's Diner counter stored away in the back room that leads through to the Soda Shoppe


Taylor's Soda Shoppe!


The infamous Traffic Light


Miss Patti's! Eep! Gaining some kind of addition...








Lane & Zac's place


Sookie's house



Then came the moment I'd been waiting for, completely unexpectedly, given we were walking through Sookie's back door. Both me and my almost-as-equally-passionate fellow fan and fellow Aussie, Rachel, hadn't even stepped over the threshold of Sookie's back door when we both shouted "LORELAI'S HOUSE!".

James gave both of us the Asylum Look this time, but no true fan could not have recognised it. Looking through the doorway and out onto the porch and front steps, it was unmistakable. So YES people, Lorelai's House, the external anyhow, is actually just the back porch of Sookie's House!






Babette's!


Lorelai's yard is now fenced off as it backs onto a newer lot, the Gazebo was stored behind it!


Lorelai's [ever moving] garage


One piece of the stenciling preserved inside Lorelai's garage, yay!

I could have died and gone to Heaven after that. Just toooo good. Shame Rachel is such a crap photographer, I'm sure the pics I took of her in front of Lorelai's were far better than the ones I have. LOL!

James had earlier pointed out a certain set from afar that he promised to show us, "special" apparently. I couldn't believe it when we came upon it. What had looked like buildings on a typical sidewalk was actually just a painting!



I'll keep it concise at this point being that from here we toured the Sound Stages. For people like me, Ash, Nikki and other uber-geeks that love this kind of frivolous stuff, this part was endlessly exciting. For others, you might have found this part of the tour fairly boring. It was basically passing by giant square concrete warehouses and hearing the history of what was filmed there and the cool trivia that goes along with it.





The FRIENDS stuff was my favourite. They were on a smaller stage to start with and moved to a bigger stage after Season 2 that has permanently been labelled "The FRIENDS Stage" ever since despite having no sign of FRIENDS to speak of anymore. I had asked James early in the tour if the FRIENDS set was preserved in any manner and he'd said he'd "kinda get to [it] later".

The "Two And A Half Men" set was definitely a highlight, despite the show never really tickling my fancy much. The three other Aussie girls and a British couple were all HUGE fans so that really fuelled the excitement. As well, it is currently a functioning set and still screamed "live TV show filming" as it had only gone on Summer Hiatus a few days before.





Our cameras were locked up in the buggy safe as no photography is allowed in certain areas of the Sound Stage District, particularly on the stages themselves.

I really loved hearing how live studio audience TV show filming works. It made me burst with envy that no shows were filming while I was in LA, especially none of the calibre of FRIENDS, etc. "Two And A Half Men" is BIG in the States though, I can't tell you how huge it is.

It was cool hearing all about how Angus T Jones ("Jake") has functioned as a child actor on such a show and the ins and outs of a typical workday for him. I got a kick from hearing how rehearsals and preparations work for live audience filming. It was really interesting to learn how they pre-shoot any necessary pickups and how they incorporate them with the live audience. Apparently they'll shoot the scenes on the Tuesday or Wednesday around the lot then air them in sequence with the live acting when the audience is present.

Super cool, I loved it all. James took loads of questions and I got to ask a lot of relevant questions as to how FRIENDS functioned when they were in season. James had yet more trivia and was asylumly impressed with the bits and pieces I knew too. When someone asked about live script changes and we got into a discussion about how Matthew Perry was a big contributor on FRIENDS, I was stoked to hear that James got to see several shoots during the tenth season and confirmed my knowledge of how capable and valuable Matthew was with live scripting editing.

Later, as we were running out of time on the tour, we finally got around to heading for the Props District that James had been talking so much about. Driving through enormous factories where tradesmen were literally there building sets and props totally spun me out. Brilliant!

We reached the far end of the Props District and came to a different looking building. It was almost like a Props Garage Sale, the way the giant wooden building was laid out. Pretty cool.



We came to a door and James stopped to give us a little speech on how sacred this area of Props is. He showed a bright red light that signalled when people were inside this space and made it infinitely clear that we were to stay to the far right once the door opened, to touch nothing and not set foot over the red tape due to the value of the props contained within this "special" room. Ooh, it was all very serious.



He totally pulled one over me, I had NO IDEA I was about to walk onto the FRIENDS set!

Unfortunately it's not in the best space you could ask for. There's kind of a wall jutting out where the far right end of the little Central Perk stage should be and it buts right up to where the armchair at the right end of the horseshoe of lounges is. But nonetheless, it was FREAKING AWESOME! The chalkboard is still the same as it was in the last episode filmed.








I really do wish I'd made more of an effort on my appearance this day, dag




Wanker


Preserved exactly how it was from the final episode of FRIENDS

At this point I wasn't even sure whether I had died and gone to Heaven. Yikes. The excitement!

Walking along this road, James pointed out Ellen's Sound Stage and asked if anyone knew what was around the far corner in a restricted area we weren't allowed in: "George Clooney's Bungalow!!!". Any credibility I had left was lost then, I'm surprised James didn't pick up his radio and call for security.





See the plaque on the wall? This was the only shot I managed to get of one given the restrictions on photography in the Stage District. Each stage has one of these plaques with a list of any productions, film or television, that have been filmed there. I loved them. I perused every single one I had a chance to!

Cameras stayed locked up as we headed for the Pinnacle: The Harry Potter Museum.

I literally need never celebrate a Christmas again after having visited this place. I can die a happy person having been in the same room as authentic props from the actual Potter films, some actually worn and touched by the stars themselves.

And yes, I am officially a loser.

I quickly covered the bottom floor of the Museum first which was jampacked with props and costumes from an array of WB productions. By far my favourites were Heath's "Joker" costume and the several wax dummies of Hugo Weaving as "Agent Smith", from a distance you'd have deadset thought there were a dozen Smiths in the room. Freaky! I also loved the Oscar trophies along one wall. Totally ripper.

Then upstairs I walked.... to Heaven.

After getting sorted by a functioning Sorting Hat, I considered just lying down and dying a happy, whole human being.

I'm pretty sure the guy that runs the Sorting Hat tries to gauge the type of person approaching and presses a button to given them a desirable Hogwarts House. i.e. one of my Aussie buddies that obviously wasn't that into Potter got Slytherin, whereas I got Gryffindor. I became certain this was the case when three schoolage children dressed in Gryffindor capes all got sorted into their beloved House in a row.

I appreciated being indulged.

Either that or all of my dreams have come true and there really is such a thing as magic and I possess the qualities of a true Gryffindor.

The Marauders Map, Harry's wand, The Goblet Of Fire, Hermione petrified, Hedwig, Quidditch Robes, Riddle's Diary, the Basilisk Fang, The Sword Of Gryffindor, the list is endless.... my favourite by far being The Triwizard Cup, a sight for sore eyes!

I'll totally confess that I completely broke the rules and snuck a quick index finger touch of Cedric's Twiwizard Outfit, just because Robert Pattinson wore it and I know that I can make several people jealous for the rest of my life with that story.

*waggles right index finger*

So then Nicole Thompson died and went to Heaven.

The End.

No, actually, I did one more thing before I died. I procrastinated for at least half an hour in the Store on the way out trying to decide what, if anything, I might buy. I resolved that I'd come back on my way home if I wanted anything really desperately and decided upon buying the most practical souvenir: a FRIENDS "Central Perk" thermace.

A-WOOOOOOT!

I use it every single day *grin*











We got a free poster at the end of the Tour that apparently you can only get by going on one of WB's VIP Tours. If Lachlan is really lucky, I might give it to him.



You probably can't see it very well through the bus window screen thing, but the artwork on this outer wall of Warner Bros Studios is what's on the poster. It appears as though this mural is quite well known. Apparently, on this giant wall at night time you can not only see the superheroes, but also the villains, in glow-in-the-dark ink!

Edit: I found a photograph that somewhat reveals the hidden villains.

A little trivia that didn't find its place amongst the editing: Apparently, during his famous "iron fist" heyday, whenever Jack Warner was having trouble negotiating business the way he wanted it with his Board, he'd take the stubborn culprit outside, point to the water tower and say "Whose initials are up there? Huh?".

Heading home, we pass the Hollywood Bowl:



I love America's passion, it never ceases to amaze me:



This little music venue, where Green Day had a huge gig a few nights before, always has cool phrases up:



As I was taking this photograph this revolting human being came up and started harassing me. I'm no scaredy-cat, but he frightened the bejeepers outta me. He was dirty and smelly, clearly unwashed with disgusting teeth and breath. He got all up in my face and kept badgering me to take a photo of him. I was so freaked out that I couldn't shake him that I took the photo, walked away then immediately deleted it and tried to erase the horrible memory forever. Blrk.

California Dreamin', the view from the Boulevard:





In Day 10's narrative you'll hear about the buddies I made in my room when I got back from WB and the rockin' time we had the next day... with yours truly as the tour guide!

P.S. Having already dogged Chris once for a DVD night and being too buggered to do anything else, we watched "What Happens In Vegas" in the Screening Room this night. Surprisingly, I liked it. I dont mind Cameron Diaz but I can find her kinda annoying and repetitive at times. I also don't find Ashton Kutcher to be the greatest actor in the world unless cast perfectly. So I didn't have high hopes. Good movie. Pleasantly surprised.