Four Days in Los Angeles

It was a strange experience being back in Los Angeles for this quick four day trip. It felt familiar, and yet it didn't feel like my home. It looked similar, and in some ways the house felt like a time capsule from when I'd left it 2 months earlier. My office in particular had all of the boxes that I'd packed still neatly packed, and even some of the postit notes were still stuck to the desk just as I'd left them.

It was great seeing Tony, he looked very good, and that made me feel good to see that he was doing okay. He had me sneak up on the dogs to see how they'd react, and at first they barked at me as I came through the back door, but then they came running up to me and they licked me A Lot. They were very happy to see me, and that made me feel great. Pepper followed me around a lot and kept me in eyeshot for the next couple hours.

I went to see my apple tree, and it was LOADED with beautiful Fuji apples. I picked two and planned to make apple pancakes the next morning with them. (BTW- I've tried lots of apples: Honey Crisp, Braeburn, Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Red Delicious, and after extensive research, I've decided that most definitely Fuji Apples are the best.) I've managed to find some Fuji apples in London, but for the most part, Braeburn are the apples most commonly found there. One regret I have is that I didn't bring any of the apples back with me.

Tony and I went to Paco's Tacos that night to celebrate my safe return, and it was a really nice time. By far the best Mexican food I'd had in 2 months, and the best tortillas on the planet. I had a combination plate with a Tamale and a Chile Relleno - two items I haven't been able to find yet in London. A couple Margaritas later, and I was feeling much more relaxed.

Sunday was a challenging day. After walking the dogs for the first time in 2 months, and a breakfast of apple pancakes with the apples from my tree, We started on the work of sorting what items would be going to London, and what items would be staying in LA and going into storage. I'd hoped that we could avoid having to pay for storage while away in London, but the more I've seen the space that we have to work with in London, the clearer it is that we will never be able to take everything over and keep it in our small apartment. It's a challenge determining how much of ones life gets to go, and how much gets to stay. I think we did a pretty good job however sorting out the few items that would be going. One look at the piles of stuff that I've accumulated, and it's clear that I'm your typical hording, materialistic American.

I got to have the pleasure of surprising a few of my friends with my surprise visit, and that made for a lot of fun. We also had a nice BBQ one night out back on my beautiful BBQ that I built that someone else will now get to enjoy. . .

Mostly, the visit revolved around doing a laser scan of the star from John Carter of Mars out at a scanning facility in Burbank called Gentle Giant. They had a full size version of Ray Harryhausen's medusa. As he was one of the main inspirations of my career, I had to have a picture taken with her. VERY GEEKY, but very cool too. Ray Harryhausen lives in London. I'll have to make sure I visit him at some point when I get back to London.

A Surprise Trip Back to Los Angeles

If there is one thing that life is teaching me right now is that you just never know what might be coming. It's not easy being on the other side of the planet from friends, family, and loved ones. I'm making friends over here, but it gets a little lonely at times. But it is at times like this that life can bring you wonderful surprises, and I'm incredibly grateful for this latest twist in an already "twisted" life.

I got into work Friday ready to do some digital sculpting and texture painting, but I also knew that I would need to do a bit of organization for an Actor Laser Scanning session that was going to take place in Los Angeles on Monday. I've supervised numerous Scanning sessions such as this, so consulting on this type of project is common for me. It's afforded me such surreal opportunities as driving out to Will Smith's house on a Saturday Morning for an on-site scanning session. Surreal. The vendor who will be doing the scanning is a company that I've worked with many times, and I know most of the people there personally, so I was looking forward to talking with them and finalizing the details for the session. The actors slated to be scanned Monday and Tuesday were characters that would only have digital avatars who would not look like them, so the scans would be used only for basic reference. However, I quickly learned that, as often happens in production due to schedule conflicts, the actors tentatively planned for were unavailable, and production had replaced them with the two stars of the film. They would appear in the film as digital avatars with their exact likeness - quite a more difficult scanning challenge.

When building exact duplicates of actors on the computer, one uses a combination of head and full body scans as well as traditional plaster life casting techniques. To make this even more difficult, the characters will be appearing in the film in various stages of undress. Again, I quickly updated the document I'd been preparing and mailed it off to the vendor.



I called my producer Fay to speak with her about these new changes in the plan and the added complexity of the scanning requirements. I asked if we had anyone slated to go to represent Double Negative (the company I work for). Experience has taught me that these sessions are too important to not have someone there to quality control and approve the data. With my Supervisor out of town, she quickly suggested that I go. I had not planned on going to Los Angeles for the weekend, nor was my inquiry in anyway an attempt to wrangle a trip. In fact, I had a fairly full schedule of events planned for the weekend and the following week. I still plan to get back to London in time to go see GI Joe Thursday night at a special screening. However, the oportunity to travel home, if only for a short while, was a very attractive one and one that would be very helpful at this time as Tony has been pulling together a lot of details back home. Fay would need to get it approved by production, so I excitedly hoped that I might hear good news by the end of the day. Los Angeles businesses don't come on-line until almost 5pm London time. Around the time I was about to head off to the local Pub to meet my coworkers for the traditional round or two on Friday night, I got word that I would be catching the next flight out on Saturday morning.

I know it is going to be a wiz-bang trip, and it may be strange stepping back into the life I set aside 2 months earlier, but as I am riding the plane and blogging at 35,000 feet, I am excited about seeing Tony and my two dogs, Bentley and Pepper, who have matching yellow Paddington Raincoats they received as gifts to protect them from the London rain. I didn't think I'd get to walk with them on our street in Los Angeles again, or get to see Bentley howl at the Squirrels that live in the Carob trees. I look forward to BBQing in the backyard and having some of the Fuji Apples off of the apple tree I planted. There are also a lot of friends that I hope to touchbase with and see time permitting. Not to mention quenching my hunger for some good Mexican food.

Friday Night at the Local Pub

Friday Night at the Local Pub is quite a tradition at London Effects Houses. Each of the different companies have their own territorial Pub too. Double Negative has two that it patronizes: De Hems, a Belgian style pub featuring great Belgian Beers; and The Golden Lion, a tradtional British pub featuring locally brewed Cask Conditioned Ales. Both have great beer.

For the record, I have not had bad beer while in London. Most of the hand-pulled cask conditioned ales are really wonderful, with soft hop and yeast flavors. I hadn't had a German lager or pilsner for a while, and when I had one again after having only traditional british ales, I was surprised at how much sharper the yeast signature really was.

One Friday night at De Hems, I finally tried the elusive Belgian Kriek beer (a traditional mix of beer and cherry juice}. It was a warm evening, and I found the Kriek to be quite refreshing - not too tart and not too sweet, with just a hint of the bitter from the beer. By the way, the rumors about London beer being served warm, are highly exagerated. They don't chill their beers the way we do in America, but mostly they don't need to. The beers are usually stored in a cellar where it is cooler. Personally, I don't like my beer served too cold as it kills the flavor. A good beer should be served cool, not necessarily ICE COLD. However, the occasional cold beer on a HOT day. . .


Friday Pub Night is a great way to get to know fellow coworkers, and to develop new friends. I've been having a great time getting to know my teammates at Dneg. What is particularly nice about it is that it happens organically. I've seen companies sponsor parties or beer events, but this seems to just naturally occur. Around 6pm. People start to migrate down to the Pub. It is tradition that people buy rounds of drinks. It is rare that people simply buy their own beer (American style). In London, you buy yourself a beer and several of your coworkers. In fact, it is bad form to not let someone buy you a beer, or a glass of wine. This is how I've often ended up having 2 beers as opposed to just one. It is understandable however if one decides to stop at two, it's just not British.

Just for my mother, since I'm riding a bike, this limits how much beer I drink. Can't be too tipsy and peddle back up the hill to Angel.

A London BBQ

I was invited to a BBQ here in London by my coworker Negin. She is an American who worked at Tippett Studios, and I'm interacting with her a lot at work, as she is a texture painter. She has a cute flat with a nice little backyard area for her two very cute dogs.







I was very happy to see that it was as comfortable as a BBQ back home. I didn't think I'd ever be Q'ing again when I moved here, but where you have Americans, I suppose they will find a way.



Michael, another coworker from Sony who was part of the same layoff that I was, recently moved to London with his wife Lynn and they also attended the BBQ. Though Michael works at MPC, which is a couple blocks away from where I work, he still okay in my book. Looks like there may be an Ex-Pat Digital Artist support group forming here.









Several coworkers from Double Negative attended. A coworker, his wife, and child made an appearance. As well as Nick, Negin's roommate, who is a native Brit.














When I moved to London, I brought with me a couple bottles of fabulous California Zinfandel. I'd been saving them for special occasions, and this certainly was worthy of opening one of the bottles.

Flashback to my Sendoff from Los Angeles

I attended a BBQ in London this weekend that was gratiously held by an American Coworker. The weather cooperated and made for a lovely afternoon. My mind went back to my sendoff dinner in Los Angeles and the friends I miss from back home. It's not easy being 1/3 of the planet away from home, my family, and so many friends that I dearly love.



I remember thinking about that day of the party a lot and planning the menu. I broke out a bottle of Brunello that I'd been saving for a special occasion. I remember also harvesting all of the beets that I'd been growing for the year, and we had a huge roasted beet salad.





My old boss and Jedi Master Eric, whom I credit for teaching me much in my career came with his lovely wife Penny. My collaborator on many projects at Sony, Luis, and his wife Leeza came. My friend Domi and his wife Mimi came, as well as my dear old friend Lynda.





It was the backyard dinner that is a classic California staple. I hope to be able to find that sort of wonderful evening here in London. Tony and I love to cook and host dinners, so I'm sure we'll attempt to recreate that here as best we can.

An Evening of Chess

I pass an Odeon theatre a couple blocks from my work everyday. I noticed that they were having a "simulcast" of a prerecording of the 25th anniversary stage presentation of the musical Chess, which was performed about 6 months earlier. . . It was starting Josh Groban, Idina Menzel, and Adam Pascal - quite an all-star cast. It was only £12, so I bought a ticket.

When I showed up, it turned out to be a reunion for a lot of the cast and crew. The director Hugh Wooldruge was there as well as the famous broadway writer, Tim Rice. I had no idea! It was a terrific evening.

Adventure in Kiev - Part 9: Fun Signs

One thing that amused Yakov to no end was me atempting to read signs. As the signs are in the cyrillic alphabet, and though some of the symbols are similar to english, the sounds associated with the symbol is completely different. As an example, Kaca is pronounced Cash. This is a cashier station sign.






I found that if I crossed my eyes and let them go lazy, sometimes, I could actually figure out what they said. Look at these other signs and see if you can read them.

Adventure in Kiev - Pt 8: Ukrainian Beer

Here is a very common image in Kiev during the warm summer months. It is the little yellow tanker with the word "KBAC" on it. They are serving a traditional near-beer that tastes more like sweet tea than beer.

Lest you think that they don't have regular beer here too, I tried several different Ukrainian beers that were quite good.










I had one last meal before heading back to the hotel to get ready for my early morning taxi to the airport. Thankfully, Yakov made all of the arrangements so that I wouldn't have to negotiate the summons of a taxi. It was a USSR themed restaurant, and had statues of the Soviet Boy Scout equivalent, that Yakov explained were part of the societal status control.

At the end of the night, we stopped into a McDonalds and I bought an espresso and a muffin, so I'd have something to eat when I woke up. It was fun to see a McDonalds with signs in Ukrainian.

Adventure in Kiev - Pt 7: Mother Russia

One of the most impressive things I saw in Kiev, and how could one not be impressed, was Mother Russia. One might call it the russian answer to the statue of liberty. . . except that Mother Russia is holding a sword and a shield and looks like she would kick your ass if you get out of line. She was built as a gift from the Soviet Union to the people of the Ukraine in salute for their part in helping to win World War II. He isn't actually that old having been built in the late seventies early eighties. It is somewhat ironic that this warrior mother is looking down over the soviet apartments where everyone lives. Of course she is facing east in the direction of Moscow, but given the tenuous relationship that Russia has had with Ukraine over the years, one has to wonder if there isn't a "small" hidden message that if the Ukrainian people get out of line, Mother Russia will come in and kick some Ukrainian booty.

In the base of the Statue, there is a World War II museum. It is interesting to see how this major event in world history is perceived by different countries in Europe. Millions of Ukrainian Jews were systematically murdered in the war. We didn't go see it, but there is a mass grave memorial site not too far from Kiev where hundreds of thousands of Jews were taken, killed, and buried. On display in the museum was a glove made from human leather, and soap made from human fat. I can only assume that this was Jewish leather and fat. About halfway through the museum, I'd had enough of man's inhumanity to his brother, and I was reminded again of how hideous we as a people can be to one another. It's simply horrific.

Next to Mother Russia, poised to last for eternity is another piece of irony: the eternal torch of the Soviet Union. Of course we know now that despite the clear permanence of the massive torch, the Soviet Union fell apart. Next to the torch is a terrific piece of soviet sculpture it is a salute to the people who fought in World War II. It shows happy dignified workers setting aside their tasks to answer the call to war, and going into battle to defend the Soviet Union. It is a terrific piece of fascist style sculpture. It is massive and emotionally powerful.

There was a special exhibit of soviet weapons. It included many of the cold war weapons we'd all grown up fearing including a Missle launcher, several MIGs and quite a few tanks from various eras. land.














It was cool to see the weapons of the country that was considered to be our enemy for so many years.

Fascinating, and a Movie Geek playland.

Adventure in Kiev - Part 6: Kissing Corpses

I began today by heading down into the intimidating Ukrainian Metro to head off to meet Yakov just south of downtown Kiev. For the record, they do not hand out subway maps like in London, though the system is not as extensive and complicated as London. It is made up of 3 lines that intersect at the center of town and radiate outward. This was the soviet way. Of course, there is no english printed anywhere either. However, thanks to the power of the iPhone, I was able to download a map, and use the homing beacon to place a pin where I was staying, so I felt I was at least heading off into the Ukrainian unknown equipted. Thankfully, I also had Yakov's mobile number in case of emergency.

I made my way to Arsenal'na. I arrived before Yakov, so I sat down on a curb and listened to "American Idiot" by Green Day as though I was feeling good about having sucessfully navigated the Soviet subway system, I was feeling about an out of place as I could be. I must not have looked that out of place however, as people came up to me and began asking me directions in Ukrainian. It must have been the headphones.

We walked through the streets and underground markets stopping briefly at a Video store. There you could buy any movie you might want: released on video or otherwise. Piracy is huge in the Ukraine, and many of the films currently in theaters were available for purchase already on DVD. Complete with commentary. . . (Explain that one to me. . .)

We made our way to a memorial to the famine victims of 1933. At that time, the Ukraine was resisting the pressures of Russia to join the Soviet Union, so Stalin's plan was to starve them into submission. He had their crops burned, and anyone trying to grow food shot. Simply hideous from our "enlightened modern perspective".


From there we made our way to a beautiful church Kiev Pecherska Lavra. It is famous for its beautiful gold onion domes, its monastary, and its devout Christian followers. It also has an extensive underground catacomb system full of martyrs and saints. Yakov and I entered the catacombs and followed along with the many people paying their respects to the saints. Many people would genuflect and kiss the glass caskets.

It felt both incredibly reverential and pagan at the same time. It was a strange custom to see from my American perspective, but it was explained to me that here in these catacombs among the saints, one had a direct communication link to God.

Adventure in Kiev - Part 5- Bull Testicales

The CAVE, restaurant in Kiev. Restaurants have themes in Kiev, and this restaurant runs a caveman theme. It looks like a cave complete with fossils, running water, and a fullsize caveman. It also has women running around looking like something out of 1,000,000 years BC.





When Yakov recommended this restaurant, I knew where we'd have to go for dinner. I had no idea however that this would bring me an Anthony Bourdaine food find. Under the appetizer section of the menu I found that they served "Bull Testicales".



Since we were a party of 3, the question of how many testicales would come on an order came up. I was confident that there would only be two on a plate, so we might have to order 2 plates for us all to try them. We asked our cavewoman (thank God Yakov speaks Ukrainian, because though many restaurants have english versions of their menus, I'm not convinced that the wait staff understands english) about the testicales, and she said that they are not served as distinct items, but are more of a congealed mass so one order would be suffient for the 3 of us. After much debate and speculation, sadly, none of us proved adventureous to order them.

Adventure in Kiev - Part 4: European Street Party

After a busy day of sightseeing, we ended up back at the center of Kiev at Independence Square where a massive steet party was underway. The streets were blocked off, and everywhere, beer was being sold irregardless of age, to people.






A stage was set up on top of the fountain, and everywhere people were dancing the in the water. It was an amazing site to see.

I didn't do the travel through Europe thing that many people do right after high school or college, and in some way, I feel I've seen what that crazy experience must have been like in this one evening. My pictures will never do it justice, and the energy was amazing. Yakov explained that this goes on every weekend during the summer months.

Yakov asked why we don't see more things like this back in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, we would be so concerned about controlling access to alcohol and restricting people's behaviors that it would kill the excitement that events like this create. We would worry about lawsuits and predicting ways that people might hurt themselves. We'd never allow people to dance in the waters of the fountain for fear that they might slip in the water and hurt themselves. This may protect our society, but it also hobbles it. Youthful exhuberance is what keeps a society alive.