Thursday, June 14, 2007

greetings from LA.

hello everybody from the entertainment capital of the world. i'm still alive! i have no time yet for photo-uploads. so you'll have to deal with my ramblings for now.

highlights of new york
museum of modern art - one of the best museums i've ever been too. the installations and permanent works there are very good and acclaimed. the only disappointing one was their sculpture park, which only featured 4 sculptures. well once you've been to hakone open air museum, it takes a huge deal to top that.
statue of liberty - i met 2 new friends who study in LA, but are from argentina and guatemala. we explored the lady together, and seeing the statue up close and going up to the pedestal and having lots of adventures and laughs, it was great.
broadway - watched 2! les miserables and beauty and the beast. both of which were very good. much better than phantom of the opera actually.
brooklyn bridge - it was fantastic looking at it. seems quite impossible such an engineering feat could be accomplished at that time.
magnolia bakery in greenwhich village - got the address from sex and the city. it's this old-fashioned bakery that's really famous and i could smell it before i reached the shop. and it has pretty and very good cupcakes!
5th ave/central park - walking down 5th ave in midtown and just window-shopping all the big brand names. walking around central park is nice. i understand why new yorkers go to central park in order to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. in there, you almost won't hear the traffic sounds.

highlights from las vegas
grand canyon - was absolutely absolutely beautiful. an amazing work of nature. we went to the south rim, which was further away from vegas. long bus rides but it was all worth it.
cirque du soleil's mystere - great show! i love this arty circus show with great lighting, music and stunts. very tastefully done without being over-the-top.
buffets at bellagio and wynn hotels - 2 of the biggest names on the strip. great food. great variety. great spread.
ocean's 13 - we watched the movie along the strip. which was really apt since the movie is set at the strip. it's even better than ocean's 12, and it's a very witty script. great chemistry between george clooney and brad pitt.

highlights of LA (so far)
wicked the musical - played at pantages theatre. it was SO good. the best musical i've ever seen. the singing was absolutely brilliant. the costumes, set design, lighting, music, orchestra were all so good. so was the plot and acting. i was so glad i got $60 tickets, because everywhere i asked and looked, they were all above $110. we were walking along hollywood boulevard at the walk of fame, just exploring the street on our first night, and i saw the theatre! it was like 7.45pm and we got tickets for the 8pm show. how lucky. =) loved loved loved it.
universal studios - today, loved the studio tour, it was SO cool! saw wisteria lane aka desperate housewives outdoor set, war of the worlds set and lots of sound stages and sets. we saw some filming going on at the outdoor sets, which houses facades of new york streets, london streets, europe streets, and even ancient streets like the one used in the scorpion king. we also saw filming for a eddie murphy movie, starship something. and they were doing major publicity for their new movie evan almighty and their tv shows like heroes. oh i think NBC merged with universal studios. and i learnt that networks buy tv shows made by production companies like universal, warner brothers etc. i always thought networks like ABC, NBC, CBS all filmed their own stuff. anyway the park isn't very big, and we went to every attraction except one show. and we took the revenge of the mummy ride twice! it was this indoor roller coaster ride. and because it was indoor, it was much scarier as it was pitch black and you have no idea if you're going to turn or turn upside down or go backwards until it happens. so the first time i closed my eyes most of the time. the 2nd time, i opened my eyes and it was exhilirating! =) the terminator 2 show was not bad. so was the back to the future and jurassic park (which we got ALL wet) rides. we had dinner at a wolfgang puck restaurant! actually it's a cafe like thing, so the prices weren't that bad. and the food's great!

well somemore days in LA before heading to SF. been spending way too much money. oh i got back my results for spring quarter! my political science/communication class got 3.9/4.0! i'm so glad. my human resource management got 3.7 which was not too bad. the other 2 were non-graded but i got my credits.

ok. tired. going for a warner brothers studio tour, santa monica for a sunset and some shopping, disneyland, downtown LA, maybe a trip out of LA to napa valley for some vineyard-hopping or to santa babara or OC. sounds exciting. but hollywood is not as glam as i expected. at least hollywood boulevard is not as glam. although kodak theatre and jimmy kimmel live are located there. well more thoughts another day.

good night world. =)

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