hollywoodland
Nov. 18th, 2006 01:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theladyroseI've finally registered for classes for next semester: psych statistics, crises of a planet (i.e. intro to environmental science), adolescent development, a writing course about literature of the night and a workshop/seminar on creativity. My latest double major/minor scheme of the day is psychology + a minor in consumer behavior or communications or French. The problem is that there are so many options to double major and/or minor that I feel really indecisive in choosing my secondary area of study. I'm tempted to ask the psych department about creating an industrial/organizational minor as the consumer behavior one is too oriented towards marketing for my taste. But right now, I really should be focusing more on writing a paper for Monday and starting the papers/project due after the Thanksgiving holiday.
I could use more hours in the day in general, but so could probably mostly everyone else. I have to skip out on going to the zoo with the 4th grader I tutor, Shirley, because of the college student ambassadors tailgate tomorrow. I'm guessing that's where we start to learn how to brainwash prospective students to attend our fine institution of higher learning. Then later I'm passing up on the Birnkrant 616 shoot (which looked so awesome, darn it) as John and I are seeing Casino Royale. That should pretty exciting. I accidentally stumbled into the main campus movie theater yesterday during that really intense scene from the book; I didn't realize that they were doing an early screening for the film symposium class. It took tremendous willpower not to stay to watch the rest of the movie, but I want to see it from the beginning.
This evening I went out to celebrate my friend Nicole's 20th birthday. After waiting 35 minutes to get a cab that had been called hours in advance we went to this trendy Hollywood sushi restaurant, Geisha House, which we almost missed because there are no windows and an obscured sign tucked around the corner. Though the food was pretty good (although a bit too West Coast Asian fusion for my taste; spicy sauce doesn't need to be served with every seafood dish), it was the kind of restaurant that relies a lot on ambiance to justifying the prices. (Thankfully I just got my first paycheck from copyediting.) The building is windowless save for a sloping skylight roof obscured by horizontal bamboo blinds; there's a converted loft feel in the open atrium where patrons on the second floor can watch over diners and wannabe scenesters grabbing a quick drink at the bar on the floor below. Several plasma TV screens on the first floor played an anime film set in an urban setting resembling New York more than Los Angeles. Several modern, cut-off photos of heavily made-up Asian women were hung behind the booths. Save for those TVs, the only light came from the candles on the table and discreet backlighting illuminating the drinks on the shelves behind the bar. The chandeliers were strings of red, irridescent disks like the ones at Piz Gloria from On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The walls were painted a cliché blood red, and the wooden tables and square chairs were a strange bone white that reflected the redness. Asian women with heavy eyeliner and red lipstick wearing summer kimonos hovered around serving patrons on the first floor, while the female servers on the second floor had scarlet halter tops with generic Chinese embroidery. One could easily discern that the restaurant was aiming more for a fetishized kind of exoticism geared towards Western tastes rather than cultural authenticity.
We ended up sitting in front of the bar on the second floor, which was a little awkward as some of the servers kept stopping at our table asking us if we wanted any drinks, and only one person in our party of 15 was over 21 years old. It was a disjointed sort of group with a fair number of friends of friends, two of whom were UCLA students, in attendance, but they were entertaining company. The two girls sitting on either side of me would've felt quite at home at my old high school. I went back with a few people while the majority stayed behind to go clubbing.
I think I finally understand the first line of Fleming's Casino Royale novel; so it's not 3 in the morning in a casino, but I swear, I've seriously absorbed some of the booze and smoke thanks to osmosis via the air. How condescending of me is it to say that the 30-odd year old Asians celebrating the birthday of one of their own at the table next to us were behaving as racuously and narcissistically as stereotypicaly college student? I was blinded each time when someone was using his digital camera every four minutes or so.
I'm still not quite sure what to make of Los Angeles. Even after three and a half months, I feel like a perpetual stranger just because each sub-region is so self-contained that it doesn't resemble the neighborhood just a mile away. Downtown is the closest to glamour I've seen in my limited explorations, although that part of the city is nowhere near as being a cultural hub as most other metropolitan downtowns. But I can see the attraction for the international students; there are more of them here than at any other university in the US. I hate to be reinforcing a stereotype, but it really does seem that all of the Hong Kong girls I've met were more attracted to the clubs and the beaches than the academia. And the horribly pretentious snob in me is glad that I didn't end up going to school there because I'm afraid I would've become another one of those superficial, spoiled shopaholics. Here, I have some pretense of individuality.
I could use more hours in the day in general, but so could probably mostly everyone else. I have to skip out on going to the zoo with the 4th grader I tutor, Shirley, because of the college student ambassadors tailgate tomorrow. I'm guessing that's where we start to learn how to brainwash prospective students to attend our fine institution of higher learning. Then later I'm passing up on the Birnkrant 616 shoot (which looked so awesome, darn it) as John and I are seeing Casino Royale. That should pretty exciting. I accidentally stumbled into the main campus movie theater yesterday during that really intense scene from the book; I didn't realize that they were doing an early screening for the film symposium class. It took tremendous willpower not to stay to watch the rest of the movie, but I want to see it from the beginning.
This evening I went out to celebrate my friend Nicole's 20th birthday. After waiting 35 minutes to get a cab that had been called hours in advance we went to this trendy Hollywood sushi restaurant, Geisha House, which we almost missed because there are no windows and an obscured sign tucked around the corner. Though the food was pretty good (although a bit too West Coast Asian fusion for my taste; spicy sauce doesn't need to be served with every seafood dish), it was the kind of restaurant that relies a lot on ambiance to justifying the prices. (Thankfully I just got my first paycheck from copyediting.) The building is windowless save for a sloping skylight roof obscured by horizontal bamboo blinds; there's a converted loft feel in the open atrium where patrons on the second floor can watch over diners and wannabe scenesters grabbing a quick drink at the bar on the floor below. Several plasma TV screens on the first floor played an anime film set in an urban setting resembling New York more than Los Angeles. Several modern, cut-off photos of heavily made-up Asian women were hung behind the booths. Save for those TVs, the only light came from the candles on the table and discreet backlighting illuminating the drinks on the shelves behind the bar. The chandeliers were strings of red, irridescent disks like the ones at Piz Gloria from On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The walls were painted a cliché blood red, and the wooden tables and square chairs were a strange bone white that reflected the redness. Asian women with heavy eyeliner and red lipstick wearing summer kimonos hovered around serving patrons on the first floor, while the female servers on the second floor had scarlet halter tops with generic Chinese embroidery. One could easily discern that the restaurant was aiming more for a fetishized kind of exoticism geared towards Western tastes rather than cultural authenticity.
We ended up sitting in front of the bar on the second floor, which was a little awkward as some of the servers kept stopping at our table asking us if we wanted any drinks, and only one person in our party of 15 was over 21 years old. It was a disjointed sort of group with a fair number of friends of friends, two of whom were UCLA students, in attendance, but they were entertaining company. The two girls sitting on either side of me would've felt quite at home at my old high school. I went back with a few people while the majority stayed behind to go clubbing.
I think I finally understand the first line of Fleming's Casino Royale novel; so it's not 3 in the morning in a casino, but I swear, I've seriously absorbed some of the booze and smoke thanks to osmosis via the air. How condescending of me is it to say that the 30-odd year old Asians celebrating the birthday of one of their own at the table next to us were behaving as racuously and narcissistically as stereotypicaly college student? I was blinded each time when someone was using his digital camera every four minutes or so.
I'm still not quite sure what to make of Los Angeles. Even after three and a half months, I feel like a perpetual stranger just because each sub-region is so self-contained that it doesn't resemble the neighborhood just a mile away. Downtown is the closest to glamour I've seen in my limited explorations, although that part of the city is nowhere near as being a cultural hub as most other metropolitan downtowns. But I can see the attraction for the international students; there are more of them here than at any other university in the US. I hate to be reinforcing a stereotype, but it really does seem that all of the Hong Kong girls I've met were more attracted to the clubs and the beaches than the academia. And the horribly pretentious snob in me is glad that I didn't end up going to school there because I'm afraid I would've become another one of those superficial, spoiled shopaholics. Here, I have some pretense of individuality.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-18 04:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-19 08:55 am (UTC)Your description of LA is interesting. I went there on a family trip two summers ago but I can't claim to really know the city. I'm really interested in the character of places, what defines them, etc.
I'm curious as to your thoughts on Casino Royale. I keep meaning to write up a post about it in my journal, maybe tomorrow..
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-09 05:40 am (UTC)Consider yourself friended.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-29 07:27 pm (UTC)Speaking as a native Angelino, I'm here to tell you that our city's cultural hub is located in West L.A., not downtown. It's an odd city, but if you give it a chance, it can grow on you.
By the way, to really appreciate L.A., get a car and drive around. It can be a lot of fun.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-30 06:44 am (UTC)I really wish I had car or knew someone who has a car as I'd love to explore the area more. A friend and I took the bus to the Beverly Center just yesterday, which was a nice taste of Beverly Center. Are there any neighborhoods/other local spots in particular you'd recommend? I've been meaning to see the Santa Monica Pier and Griffith Park, and the Getty Museum and Huntington Library are quite lovely.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-09 10:39 pm (UTC)Santa Monica (especially the Third Street Promenade & the Santa Monica Pier)
Venice Beach
Farmer's Market/The Grove shopping center (Fairfax and Third)
Old Pasadena (along Colorado Boulevard)
Burbank (San Fernando Road)
Los Angeles Art Museum (on Wilshire Boulevard)
Westwood (near the UCLA campus)
Universal Studios
Disneyland/California Adventure (Anaheim)
Knott's Berry Farm (Buena Park)
Gene Autry Western Museum/L.A. Zoo (Griffith Park)
Downtown Glendale
Hollywood/Highland shopping center
Southwest Museum (you might have to locate it via the Internet)
Redondo Beach Pier
San Pedro Pier
Queen Mary (Long Beach)
Drive along the Pacific Coast Highway (going north or south)
The above are a few sights you might want to check out.