Wildfires and Universal Studios

So, if you have been hearing about wildfires in the mountains just north of Los Angeles recently, the reports are in fact true. There is a pretty big fire burning, and it's very visible from the Oakwood apartments and even as far as south of downtown LA. It's pretty crazy to look at. According to reports I have read, the fire is called the Station Fire and is centered in La Canada Flintridge. It has burned 35,000 acres so far and is 5% contained. Crazy Stuff! Here are some pictures I have taken:







On Sunday, the ICLA program went over to Universal Studios Hollywood for the day. The park is not a roller coaster heaven like Six Flags, or as big a place as Disney. However, it was a great deal of fun.



We were able to go on a tour of the studios, which featured some pretty cool movie sets. Some of the ones we visited were the War of the Worlds (which was by far the coolest), Desperate Housewives, Fast and the Furious, Jaws, and Jurassic Park. Here's a look at some of the sets:

War of the Worlds

Desperate Housewives

The Fast and the Furious

Jaws

Jurassic Park

We also went on many of the awesome rides at the park. My three favorite, hands down, were the Revenge of the Mummy, Jurassic Park, and Simpsons: The Ride. The Mummy was an indoor themed roller coaster that launches you in the darkness, and you even go backwards at one point. The launch was totally unexpected.



Jurassic Park takes place in a big boat and brings you through themed areas featuring dinosaurs. In the end, you have to escape from attacking T-Rex's and you go plummeting down a big drop into water. It gets you pretty wet, but it was very refreshing on a warm August day.

Splashdown!!!

All Wet!!

Finally, the Simpsons Ride is a motion simulator ride. You sit in 8-person cars and get raised into a giant IMAX theatre where you have to destroy Sideshow Bob's plot to kill the Simpsons. It was also very fun and feels like you are riding on a roller coaster.





We went on some other attractions too like Shrek 4D and the Hollywood House of Horrors. We also learned behind the scenes info about movies such as computer generated imaging (CGI) and how sounds are made. They were all cool but definitely could not top the other three. I had a really great time at Universal and definitely recommend spending a day there.

Los Angeles Kings Hockey Fest 2009

On Friday and Saturday, I was fortunate enough to spend part of my day helping out at the 1st Annual Kings Hockey Fest. The event runs from Friday through Sunday and is a celebration of both the Kings and the game of hockey. It was a great way to promote hockey in an area of the country where it is not as popular. The event was held in the LA Live section of Downtown, which is home to the Staples Center and the Nokia Theatre.

Kings Players and Alumni

Friday night featured an introduction of many different personnel in the organization, many past players, prospects, and almost the entire current team at the Nokia Theatre. There was a great turnout despite awful traffic and fans were giving loud ovations for many of the past greats. Players like Kelly Hrudey, Marcel Dionne, and Luc Robitaille (who is now the President of the team) all received some of the loudest applause.

Luc Robitaille Addressing the Crowd

The current team was also a big hit, with Dustin Brown giving a speech at the end. Brown, if you did not know, is actually from Ithaca and played hockey at Ithaca High School before moving on to bigger and better things. He's now the captain for the Kings and a great public speaker as well. Very cool to see!

Dustin Brown Addressing the Crowd

Saturday featured a ton of fan interactive areas inside the Kings Tent. There were many skill games featured such as Hardest Shot, Accuracy Shot, and the Goalie Challenge. I helped out at the latter where one person would shoot on another who was dressed in goalie gear. I sometimes had to stand in between the pipes and have plastic pucks ripped at me. It was quite fun though, and I met some really great people I will be interning with this season. There were also many autograph sessions that went on inside with current and former players. It definitely was a hockey fan's dream day!

Inside the Hockey Fest Tent

Finally, there were some panel discussions with Kings alumni inside the Nokia Theatre hosted by some of the broadcasters as well as John Buccigross from ESPN. It was cool to meet all of the announcers as well as John and just take in the entire atmosphere. They had several different discussion themes from Hockey Experts to Enforcers to a discussion with the Kings' famous "Triple Crown Line" of Marcel Dionne, Dave Taylor, and Charlie Simmer.

Interactive Fan Challenges

I had a lot of fun during my two days at the event and am now even more excited to be a part of the Kings organization. I feel like this team has a lot of good, young talent and a tradition of true appreciation for their fans. It should be a fun time this fall at the Staples Center!

Staples Center: Home of the Kings (Lakers, and Clippers too)

California Fast Food

So, when I was a kid, I was pretty much a fast food junkie. I ate it very often and always would go to grab a quick bite before Karate Class or some other thing I did. Today, with the busy lifestyle I often live, I find myself having to resort to eating fast food just to have a quick fill-up. Here in California, I have been able to experience a few places that aren't see on the East Coast much, or at least have driven by them. Here are a few with some of my reviews:

In-N-Out Burger
Probably the staple of West Coast fast food. This place is famous for their very good burgers and very simple menu. Basically, your choices are burger, cheeseburger, double double (self explanatory) and fries. Soda and milk shakes for beverages (shakes are very good). They have a "secret menu" which allows you to craft your burger in different ways. Very very good food and a very easy choice to decide what to eat!

The first In-N-Out Burger I went to in San Francisco

Carl's Jr.
This is another place that's famous for their burgers. I really enjoyed the variety they offered here. Everything from their famous Big Carl burger, to Western Bacon Cheesburgers, and even Teriyaki Burgers, complete with grilled Pineapple. They had regular burgers or "six dollar angus" burgers which are probably better meat. They also had chicken sandwiches and other options. Very good if you like burgers and probably my #2 choice.

Funny Ad I Found

Jack in the Box
This was another place that had multiple burger choices as well as pretty good chicken sandwiches. Overall a good variety, but the quality was much lower than what I was hoping for. The Sourdough Jack was pretty good though. Can't rate it higher than #3 on the list. Something about that clown though really creeps me out (maybe it was the large mural of him right next to the table I ate at).

Crazy Clown!!

Places I've Yet to Try, but Certainly Will:

Wienerschnitzel
They claim themselves as the "World's Largest Hot Dog Chain" but apparently Wienerschnitzel is not even a hot dog. We'll see when I go there. I hear mixed reviews.



Bob's Big Boy
Seem's like a very good place that's not far from the Oakwood Apartments. Definitely think I'll enjoy what they'll have to offer.



Places That Are Also in California and the East Coast:

McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Subway, Quizno's, KFC, Pizza Hut, and best of all............A&W!!!!!!

Heaven in a Mug!!

Classes and Internships

Hello Again,

So today marks the unofficial end of summer as today is the first day of classes for Ithaca College and for me. I know! It's ridiculous, right? I have to take classes while I'm in the middle of enjoying one of the most fun cities in the world?! Well, unfortunately, I do.

I will be taking two classes this semester, as I mentioned in my first ever post. Those two are Issues and the News & Government and Media. Both classes are on Wednesday, so it helps to free up the other six days of the week for internships and other fun things. However, both classes are about 3 hours long. It should certainly be an interesting time! All of the students in the LA Program are also required to take a 1-credit seminar called Media Industries where people from around the media industry are brought in to speak to us. That seminar takes place four times during the four months on a Monday night. Classes are held at the Pendleton Center (in picture) which is located right down the street from the Oakwoods.

Now for the exciting stuff. I have finalized the two places where I will be interning while I am in LA. They are with the Los Angeles Kings and Torrance CitiCABLE 3!!



The LA Kings are the professional hockey team out here and former home club for greats such as Wayne Gretzky, Luc Robitaille, and Marcel Dionne. For the internship, I will be helping out in the radio broadcast booth at the Staples Center with broadcasting great Nick Nickson (whom the broadcast center @ Staples is named after) and former Kings great Daryl Evans. I will be doing anything from statistics to helping choose the 3 Stars of the Game to conducting player interviews during pregame and postgame for all home games while I'm out here. When there's no home game, I will do some work at their practice facility in El Segundo (just south of LAX) such as proofing pages for the media guide or program, editing game notes, helping the media at team practices, etc. It should be a great opportunity and is exactly the kind of experience I wanted while out here.



Torrance CitiCABLE 3 is a small TV channel out of Torrance, CA (just south of El Segundo) that focuses on local news and sports. I will be interning with their show, The Sports Desk, as an on-air reporter covering local high school sports. Torrance has four public high schools (Torrance, North, South and West) and one public school (Bishop Montgomery). There is also one college we cover called El Camino College. I will be focusing most of my reporting on South High School and will try to cover as much High School Football as I can. Basically, I will get to go cover a game, do interviews, and then edit together a package that will air on their weekly show. It is a fantastic opportunity that doesn't usually come often in an internship. I hope it will provide me with some more great stuff for my resume tape.

Overall, I'm really very excited to get things going at both internships and with my classes (as scary as that sounds) considering those are the real reasons why I am out here. However, I'm sure I will still be doing a bunch of sightseeing while I'm out here, so I'll have a lot more great posts to come! Thanks for reading!

The Oakwood Apartments

Yes, I know, this is very much delayed, but I have been so busy checking out LA that I haven't been able to post these pictures from my new apartment. I live with three other guys here in a complex call the Oakwoods. Many other people live here including people in the film industry, other college students, and people just visiting or working out here.



The apartment has two, two-person bedrooms. One is a master bedroom with a bathroom attached to it. The other (my room) is like a guest room with the bathroom across the hall. The apartment also has a very nice kitchen with a bar-style countertop. It comes complete with a full-size refrigerator, oven/stove top, sink, and dishwasher, along with bountiful cabinet space. There is a dining room next to it with a table for four. In the same area, there is also a living room with a couch and love seat (fairly comfortable), small desk, and TV stand with free cable (you have to supply the TV though).







The complex also has two pools and two hot tubs, as well as clubhouses which have small business centers, gyms, conference space, and movie screening rooms. One has a convenience store in it as well. There is also dry cleaning service available on the complex.



This gated community is really a nice place to live and not terribly far from anything!

Soaking Up the Sun!

One final trip today before our classes start on Monday. We ventured out west to the coast for a day at Venice Beach. This is just one of the many beaches that line the Southern California coast, and it was certainly one of the nicest I've been to.

The sand on the west coast is so much different than it is back east. Very smooth, very grainy, not water-logged and gross like the sand in New York. It was excellent to walk through and lay down on. The only problem is that the sand gets much hotter and becomes difficult to stand on.

The waves are without a doubt the best part of the beach. They are at least twice if not three times the size of normal waves back on the east coast. While the water was cold at first, we got used to it quickly, and the day was filled with body surfing, swimming, and amazement of the power these waves carried.

The beach also had a tremendous boardwalk. Someone noted that it was like "Ithaca on Steroids." There were many little shops with souvenirs and other odd items that you would find in a laid-back town like Ithaca. There were also street vendors and performers doing all wacky types of things. The walk also featured Muscle Beach, which was a place you could work out right on the oceanfront, as well as basketball courts and a skate park.

I would definitely recommend a visit to Venice Beach. There is plenty to do over the course of a full day there and is a great place to catch some sun and ride great waves.



For all my Venice Beach photos and pics from other places, check out my Facebook photos.

Hike to Fame!!

Well, I can't remember the last time I walked that far and that high!! Today, the ICLA Program went on a hike to the famous Hollywood sign in the mountains north of Los Angeles. The sign is one of the most recognized landmarks in the world, and today, we got to get a glimpse of the amazing view the sign has!

The hike is pretty long and steep. It starts as a dirt road down near the bottom of the mountain and connects to a regular road that winds around to the top of it. The best part of the hike is that there are plenty of great places to stop and take pictures of the fantastic views. At points you can see everything (as best as possible with the smog and haze) such as downtown, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Burbank, the San Fernando Valley, and more! There are a few places that you can get a great glimpse of the Hollywood sign!





When you finally reach the top, it feels so good not to have to walk up anymore! The view is tremendous from up there and you can see all the letters up close. The only negative is that they are fenced off, so you basically are looking at the backs of them. However, it is still pretty cool to get up close to where the sign sits and see just how spread out and amazing LA is.

Unless you like walking up steep mountain trails, I don't recommend doing the hike more than once. However, it is something that must be done at least once! After the hike, I took a nice and relaxing dip in one of the two pools located on the Oakwoods complex! It was very much needed after the long trek!



If you want to see all of my pics from the hike, the Dodgers game, and a trip to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, check out my Facebook Photo Albums!