February 26, 2006

• PhotoPost: Universal City

   

   So far this year, I haven't been out on too many Photo Excursions. I'm still planning the Pacific Coast Highway series, of which I did post a few images on February 11.  I created my Video Blog #1 last Saturday while snapping some photos for the PCH series. Also I and Liz haven't gone out that much this year so far. The last couple of times we've spent time together has been watching movies at my place or just going out to dinner. A few weeks ago Liz expressed an interest in going to City Walk, which is the colorful "mall" right outside of Universal Studios in Burbank, north of Hollywood. Since the studio theme park is right there, I suggested spending a day at Universal Studios, finsihing with a meal at one of the restaurants on CityWalk.

   

  A typical "tourist shot" of me standing in front of the Universal Logo right before the entrance to the park.

  

  The CityWalk "mall" was created as an "urban center" complete with shops and restaurants as an adjunct to the popular theme park at Universal Studios. There is a CityWalk in Orlando and at Universal City. (Universal Studios is not in Hollywood, but in an unincorporated area of L.A. near Burbank) Here is a view looking toward the entrance to the theme park. King Kong had been hanging from that building since CityWalk was built, and is not an ad for the recent film.

  

  This shot shows some of the signage at the eastern part of the mall. Your eyes can almost overload on the amount of visual information they are given while walking along the mall street.

  

  When Ang Lee's "Hulk" debuted here a few years ago, the cartoon superhero made an appearance above the ticket booth of the movie theater complex. He's still there, although his movie tanked. Ang Lee is up for a Best Director Oscar this year for his current film, "Brokeback Mountain". Since it's a Focus Feature, there was no mention of it of course at Universal Studios. 

  

  Sparky's Candy shop has the flavor of a candy shop of the 1930s. All kinds of Pez dispensers are presented in the window display.

  

  This is one of the themed sections of the actual theme park at Universal City. This one is the "London Street". Parts of "Nob Hill" were filmed here.

  

  A little bit of Paris in Universal City.

  

  You can pose for photos with King Kong, who is "life size" and towers above the crowd. He doesn't move, however, and you can't pose in his hands, which was sort of disappointing.

  

  Speaking of posing, here is another "tourist shot" of me with Marilyn Monroe after she finished shimmying on the hood of this classic Oldsmobile.

  

  I can never get enought of the Universal Studios backlot tour, which weaves it's way through the only remaining backlot in the Hollywood area. Here are some facades on the "New York Street". Even though the tour has been a tourist attraction since the 1920s, they still film movies and television shows on the lot. In 2001 I sat on the right hand side of the tram and shot the tour on video, and yesterday I sat on the left side and shot some more video for a "Universal Studios" MikeVideo I've been planning for years. Now I have the "other half" of the tour to present.

  

  Here is Liz right after we got out of my car and walked across the pedestrian bridge to the beginning of the CityWalk complex. She is using her digital camera, which has a new 1 Gig memory card which allows her to shoot over 1000 still photos or almost an hour of video. Below is Liz's first "published video" on the YouTube service. Click the little "play button" to see the video, which is really rather good. You can visit Liz's Xanga site, "The Queen of Swords" and comment on the video HERE. As usual, if you click on the photos, full size versions will appear in another browser window.

  • 11:32 am
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