The next catch up

EDIT: It appears that even though it's still processing, the vblog might not work because compression did something weird to it. The one from August 23rd won't be able to be uploaded due to length and file size restrictions, but I will see what I can do about the main one soon if it doesn't end up working.

EDIT NUMBER 2: It should be working now (or soon)! If you would like to see the other video... I CAN burn it onto a CD, but it would be better to wait until I get back! It's seriously nothing special anyway though.

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Well it has certainly been a while... But, well worth the wait! As you can see there is a vblog today! Hopefully it will be processed by Youtube soon, but it might take some extra waiting... But it's there! The video from August 23 ISN'T uploaded yet, as the end of this one lies, but if I can get the size down... It might be. If not than I'll see if I can upload it somewhere else, otherwise it will just be emailed to those who want it. It's just people on Hollywood Blvd doing a Hiphop skit anyway, it's not incredibly exciting. As for this vblog... I apologise in advance for the crappy camera work (even when Kristy was holding the camera, I apologise on her behalf, hahaha *gets hit*). I'm not so used to just using cameras with hand held movement, and I guess it's especially obvious when I zoom in on something, I do not have the most steady of hands. It's something I'll have to work on and I'll try to pay more attention when I'm next filming.

I haven't actually been out on many of the day's I've not posted, it has been so hot! Yesterday it got up to 41 degrees Celsius, and when the temperature finally went down later in the day, the humidity shot way up! So it's been a bit like Hell's kitchen, and everytime I've been stepping outside, I've been regretting it. You've only had to just stand there doing nothing for the most fit of people to start sweating. If I haven't made myself clear... IT'S HOT!!!

I'm also (obviously... Because I have a vblog now...) set up on a computer to myself, so I've been catching up on a few things that I wasn't able to do such as some artwork for a competition I had started on and the deadline was approaching, some of my personal writing which I had been itching to get saved onto a file, chatting over Skype and MSN... Lots of stuff like that in between usual stuff like laundry.

But with that said, I HAVE been doing some interesting stuff!

Friday 24:
The day after visiting Ripley's, I managed to drag myself out of bed (eventually) and head off into Hollywood once more. Today's mission was to find a the Hollywood Entertainment museum or something like that, but what I didn't realise was that the reason I didn't find it at the address I went to was because I had to take a lift to find it... It's apparently very well hidden! So instead I ended up going to ANOTHER museum, this one found in the original Max Factor building. It was pretty interesting, lots of stuff especially on Marilyn Munroe (including some nude calendar pictures back from when she was Norma Jean... She had blonde hair by then though) and Lucille Ball. They also had a basement with a huge section on Hollywood movies with an Egyptian theme, and a remake (or at least I don't think it was the real thing) of the set from "Silence of the Lambs"... The row of cells ending in Hannibal Lector's. It was one of the freakiest things ever, especially with the music playing, and I didn't stay very long!!!

I'd also picked up an advert for a thing called "Psychiatry: A Museum of Death" which was run by some group called the CCHR (Citizens Commission on Human Rights) ... I didn't know who they were at the time, but research when I got back would tell me. I thought it deserved a look anyway, because I'm interested in the whole stigma that often surrounds psychiatry. This place took the EXTREME negative, and while some of the things they said I agreed with (they showed a lot of horrible stuff about shock therapy, lobotomy and some drugs which more or less are lobotomies in pill form), a lot of the stuff was weird and without basis (such as claiming that Suicide Bombers are made by Psychiatrists, and that Psychiatry and Psychology are generally to blame for all that is wrong with the world). Of course, if you look at the link you will quickly find out why the view was so extreme!!!

I had to leave early because I hadn't told Kristy I was going out, and she was worried about me being alone in Hollywood after dark, but I got a DVD of the documentary they were showing throughout it, which is interesting to say in the least!

Tuesday 27th:
After a weekend of mucking around with computers, discovering how crap Vista is, Kristy going up to her grandparent's anniversary and me having a computer but no monitor, Kristy had a day off and her parents had a monitor... So we went up to Santa Barbara to pay them a visit!

Not only was Santa Barbara cooler weather wise (Mediterranean weather... If Italy is like that I must visit it some day), it's also very cool itself, and very pretty!

Kristy's family was pretty cool, we went to the Santa Barbara marina for lunch (it was a big lunch as usual which I again, didn't manage to finish!) where it was pointed out that I hold my cutlery in a "European way"... Americans generally use a fork in their right hand, and only pick up a knife if they need it... And when they do, they hold it weird and swap their fork to their left hand, use the knife in their right... and then swap the fork back to their right hand. It's very odd.

Afterwards Kristy's 'Mom' took us around for a short drive around the area. They have this awesome fountain, and we also went to the Mission... A place the Spanish had set up to convert the Native Americans to Christianity, well known for being an excuse to kill a lot of them. It was beautiful all the same, and they still had some chalk drawings from an event called "I Madonnari", which is just an arts festival, but pretty cool all the same. There was an awesome rose garden with some Spanish style houses across the road too.

On the way back, I saw my first squirrel... As it got run over... We drove around though until we found another one that was moving a lot more! It was pretty cool. Since then I've also added possum to my list of American animals I've never seen in real life. American possums are dumb and ugly unlike Australian ones. Both like to get into roofs though, so I suppose that's where the similarity comes from (leave your metaphors for American people aside!!!). After that we went back to Kristy's family's place again for a few hours, had Mexican for dinner (including home made nachos with fresh Guacamole... The Avocados were picked off the tree in the backyard!) and then set off back to the oven in the valley.

Saturday 1:
Saturday brought around something that I'd been looking forward to for some time... the tour called "Dearly Departed". I've tried to describe it a few times, but I never seem to quite catch how awesome the thing is. Basically it's a tour of many, many, many of the infamous places around Hollywood. The tour guide Scott, was pretty cool and while the van which only seated 13 people besides him (well, 15, but he always leaves two seats at the back empty so there is space for the people in the back) was nice and small for it to be personal enough, I was lucky enough to ride shotgun. Check out their website though for maximum awesomeness: http://www.findadeath.com/DDT/tours.htm

So yeah it was pretty cool, and while I thought it would be rude to bring the video camera, I did get some photos despite failing batteries and the camera just not wanting to work properly:

The house where Elizabeth Short, posthumously aka the Black Deliah was supposedly murdered before her body being moved (Don't look up images of her body unless you have a very strong stomach... We had the option of looking at them in the book we were given and they weren't pretty)
"Storybook architecture"... The tour guide had recently been on an architecture tour and so also told us a bit about that. He even told us who designed the house in the previous picture... Though I forget his name.
John Marshal High School... As seen in Mr. Novak, Bachelor Party, Boy Meets World, The Wonder Years, Smart Guy, Sister, Sister, Grosse Pointe Blank, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Can't Hardly Wait, Rebel Without a Cause, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Boston Public, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Cory in the House, Pretty in Pink, Like Father Like Son, Girls Just Want to Have Fun. Lucas Tanner, Slaughterhouse Rock and...
Grease! (The last scene with the carnival)
I think this had something to do with the Manson Murders... It may be the LaBianca house, I can't remember!
RKO studios!
An orphanage, where a little girl named Norma Jean used to look out the window...
...And dream of stardom
Ravenswood Hotel, where Mae West once lived on the top floor
The Cunningham's House from Happy Days!
The Osbournes' house until recently, you can still see where the Gargoyles used to be.
The Key Club, known to many famous people as an awesome joint
Whisky a Go-Go, another famous club...
The Viper room, previously owned by Johnny Depp and the place where River Phoenix died of... A lot of drugs including Cough medicine. Oh, and cocaine.

There was a lot more and it's a pity I don't remember why a few of the photos were so special! Sorry about that!

I have recently obtained a 3 day "Go LA" card which will allow me to do some pretty awesome things this week, so stay tuned!