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StevoTrip2006 Sunday, March 18, 2007
Photo Round-Up
I'm coming back to this months later just to post a round-up of the photos, because I still find myself occasionally referring people to this address so that they can read about my trip, and because now my photos are largely sorted. So the following is a collection of my favourite shots. Some of these were published as I went, and some weren't; some you'll see are things I've published before but which have been tweaked once I got home and got some time alone with my photos on the computer. An even more thorough "best-of" can be found on Flickr here. And remember, you can click on any of the photos below to enlarge.                          Friday, October 27, 2006
Stupidly Beautiful
On the last Monday of my trip I got myself a hire car and braved the nightmare of driving the L.A. Freeways in the frightening mirror-world of right-hand-side-driving, heading up to Yosemite National Park. The contrast between Yosemite and L.A. is, to understate astoundingly, quite something. The whole drive up to Yosemite, in fact, is exceedingly ugly: the intrusive billboards; the blighted, hazy plain outside Bakersfield; the treeless desert hills; and the crumbling, pock-marked freeways themselves. Even the farmland lacks the default prettiness that even the drabbest rural countryside usually has. Even up to the gate of the national park, where it gets hillier, is nothing special. It's as if Yosemite acts as some kind of scenic black hole, sucking all the natural grandeur out of central California and into the park. The centre of the park is Yosemite Valley. To give you an idea of what the valley is like, imagine that you took a crystal clear mountain stream:  Let it meander through a through a pine forest...  ...dotted with peaceful meadows...  Punctuate the valley by adding a 3500 foot high granite monolith at one end...  ... and a giant half-sphere of rock at the other.  Fold the mountains up around the valley so that wherever you are you feel almost embraced by the rock:  Then pepper each side of the valley with waterfalls.  It's quite something.  On the first day I went for a long (20km) hike along the valley floor. Yosemite has a reputation for crowds, but it wasn't very hard to get away from other people: despite its length, the trail I did was pretty accessible, yet I still only came across maybe a dozen other people walking it, and didn't see anyone else for as much as an hour at a time. That took me pretty much all day, but the views (such as that directly above) were well worth it. On the second day, I drove up to Glacier Point. This is a spot where you basically get a panoramic view of the whole valley, and in particular Half Dome. There are a few photos from there on Flickr, but for a slightly different perspective, here's a video give you an idea of what's before you as you stand at the point. On the way back I went to the Mariposa Grove, which is a grove of giant sequoia trees. They were doing a controlled burn at the time, which was a mixed blessing - parts of the grove were closed, but it also lent the grave an eery atmosphere that had a certain appeal. Amongst the trees in the grove is the Grizzly Giant, which is reputed to be up to 2700 years old. According the Wikipedia it is "only" the 27th largest tree (by volume) in the world. Who keeps track of these things?  After my drive I returned to the valley and did the walk up to Vernal falls, which is at the top end of the valley (those are the falls in the photo earlier in the post). Most of the falls aren't at their best in October, and a lot have dried up completely - there are 9 major falls along the 20 miles or so of Yosemite Valley at the end of winter, but I only saw three (two from close, one from a distance). As you can see, they're still pretty spectacular; I can only boggle at the thought of how it must be earlier in the year. I would have liked to keep going up to the next falls (Nevada Falls) but time was against me: I continued up a bit further up and then cut back onto a different trail and descended as darkness approached. I definitely have to go back to Yosemite: I didn't have nearly long enough, and it's a place so beautiful even the squirrels stop to enjoy the view.  Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Exploring the LA Cultural Scene
After arriving in the US, I stayed from Wednesday evening to Monday morning with Margaret (a friend from my UCI days) and her boyfriend Chris in L.A.. Despite my longstanding disdain for L.A. as a city generally, it was a great few days thanks largely to the hospitality of Chris and Margaret. After I spent Thursday largely just recuperating after the flight in (Margaret had to work so I didn't have a car and couldn't really get anywhere anyway), we went to Venice Beach on Friday. Because it was a weekday there wasn't that much going on: but afterwards we went and visited Chris at his work, which was much more interesting. He's an assistant director on American Dad, so it was very cool for an animation nerd like myself to get a look around the studios where they make both American Dad and Family Guy (although I was slightly embarassed that I had seen basically nothing of either show). Seeing an actual working animation studio was an exciting first for me. On the Saturday afternoon we went to a barbecue with a lot of Chris' colleagues; this time there were ex-Disney people and at least one person who'll be working on the revived Futurama. It was a tough task not to overnerd. On Saturday night we really digged into LA culture when we went to roller derby. This was something I had assumed had died out many years ago, but no, it turns out there is a grassroots roller derby revivial going on. For those who have the image of roller derby as basically just organised brutality, the flyer they gave out at the track noted - somewhat defensively I thought - that: This is a REAL SPORT and there ARE rules.Fancy that. Wikipedia explains roughly how it works: While traditionally a sport for both women and men, roller derby has developed a predominantly female circuit during its current revival... Two teams of five skaters, wearing protective gear such as helmets, mouth guards, and pads, take up positions alongside each other in a pack formation. Each team consists of either four blockers and one jammer, or, rarely, three blockers, and two jammers... A signal is given and the jam commences... Initially leading the pack are special blockers known as pivots, who set the pace and give the other blockers direction in order to strategize and keep the pack relatively tight. Blockers who stray too far from the pack may not be allowed to engage opposing players. Blockers (including pivots) start skating at the referee's first signal. A second signal is given to launch the jammers, who must catch up to the rear of the pack. Jammers navigate through or around the pack, then lap around the track until reaching back of the pack again. The first jammer to get through the pack legally (for example, without cutting the track, going out of bounds, or acquiring any penalties) is dubbed lead jammer and may call off the jam at any time. Scoring commences when the jammers lap around the back of the pack and go through for a second time. One point is scored for each member of the opposing team passed by an inbound jammer (passing is determined by the skaters' hips). Blockers try to stop the opposing jammer from passing them, while defending their own jammer, whom they can assist by pushing or pulling (whipping) in an attempt to advance them through the pack. The jam concludes after a fixed period of time, usually 2 minutes, or when the lead jammer calls off the jam. Until then, both jammers are free to lap the pack again and again.... Physical contact between players is frequent and sometimes violent. Body blocking is allowed, and elbowing is allowed in some leagues, but participants are not allowed to trip or intentionally punch other players. Violence may leave the track and may include striking opponents with available objects... Well, it didn't leave the track in the derby we saw, but it constantly threatened to. The track had padded barriers around the edge, but there was a gap underneath it, and the crowd stood right behind that, so there seemed to me a fair possibility that players could get knocked off from the track and into the crowd. Certainly it's the only sport I've ever been to where every member of the crowd had to sign a (dubious) legal disclaimer in order to enter the track. Here, for the record, is one fairly typical "jam." This might appear very dark on some monitors - if you turn up the brightness enough you will be able to see something. I can't shake this image in my head of people in ancient Rome at the Colosseum reading little flyers saying "Gladiatorial Combat is a REAL SPORT and there ARE rules." Monday, October 23, 2006
Along the Seine
A couple of river views along the Seine to wrap up Paris:  This is near the Ile de la Cite, with the square du Vert-Galant visible in the background.  Just a little further up the river. The bridge in the background is the Pont Neuf, which means the "new bridge," although it is now the oldest remaining of the bridges in Paris.  That is looking east from the bridge between the Ile de la Cite and the Ile St Louis.  This is looking east along the Seine from near the Louvre. (The bridges are, in order from nearest to furthest, the Pont Royal, Pont du Carrousel, Pont des Arts, and the Pont Neuf, for anyone keeping track of such things).
No, I Didn't Go There Because of the Cartoon
I went To Notre Dame twice. Once was as part of my extended walking tour on the Sunday. At this point they were performing mass, which made for a most uncomfortable experience. They don't close the church to tourists when the ceremony is being performed, and the tourists were wandering around, talking, taking flash pictures (which you're not supposed to), climbing on the pillars to see areas that were out of view, and so on. I felt so uncomfortable being there that I rushed through and didn't really appreciate it properly, so I came back on the morning I left had another look. The second time was a little better, and I got to appreciate the place a bit more. It certainly is as beautiful as its reputation suggests: not overwhelmingly grand like some other cathedrals I've been too, but intricate, very well designed (the inside has very dramatic proportions that give it a really strongly vertical feel) with particularly impressive stained glass. I also very much liked its very extravagant flying buttresses at the back.  
Le Arche de Ridiculousle Grande
On the Monday in Paris, after going to the Disney exhibition, I headed out to La Defense. This is basically the corporate bit of of Paris, and is the most un-Parislike bit of the city I went to. Instead of the four and five storey buildings orderly arranged along interconnecting boulevards that define the centre of Paris, La Defense is the best of the twentieth century: various randomly placed, diversely sized and haphazardly designed builings scattered along each side of the axis that extends all the way down to the Louvre (via the Arc De Triomphe). That is the reason I was out there: the Grand Arch De La Defense (roughly translated: "The Grand Arch of Defense.") It's a crazily huge arch that terminates the other end of the Louvre / Champs Elysees / Arc De Triomphe vista. The Arch itself houses offcie buildings (can't have a grand civic gesture that doesn't pay the rent) and they say that Notre Dame would fit under the arch - which is the kind of thing that's always good to know, in case you ever need to put it there.  
Louvre At First Sight
 As mentioned, on the Sunday afternoon in Paris I went for a quick tour to the Louvre. I didn't quite dash in and out in the way you might have gathered from my hectic itinerary that day: I spent a few hours there. But in a place as vast as the Louvre, that is a pretty quick visit. Basically, I did a fairly speedy survey of the rooms that chronoligically covered the history of French art, and then ducked over to the Italian area to see this old thing (or rather, see the crowds seeing this old thing):  What I discovered at the Louvre is that basically I'm a philistine. You may have already worked this out, but exposing myself to the world's finest art collection really rammed it home. It's not that I didn't enjoy it: it's all good stuff. But I just can't get as excited about great art and sculpture as I know I should. I mean, with the Mona Lisa, I agree that Leonardo managed a great enigmatic smile on that thing. An exceptionally good enigmatic smile even. But given the Mona Lisa is apparently valued for insurance prupsoes in the order of $650 million dollars - well, it's not that good a smile. I'll freely admit this is my own ignorance showing. Basically, I just don't know enoguh about these things to really appreciate the importance, the significance, and the context of what I'm seeing. That's why I get much more excited about the architecture of the Louvre itself: I know a little more about that side of things. Having seen I.M. Pei's famous (and formerly controversial) pyramid, I can confirm I like it. (Much to the relief of the French I'm sure). Call me dense though - I'd never realised that it isn't actually attached to the original Louvre buildings. This makes the "But they added a pyramid to the Louvre" argument that has been the catch-all rationalisation for ghastly additions to heritage buildings since 1989 therefore seem even more tenuous. If I can dwell a little more on the way knowledge and ignorance has shaped my artistic priorities, the next day I went to the Grand Palais to see an exhibition of artwork from the Disney studios that happened to be in town. As far as I can establish, this has been the largest public display of material from the Disney arhcives ever. They had a lot of the concept and desing drawings by people like Mary Blair, Eyvind Earle, Albert Hurter, and Joe Grant, as well as background drawings and - best of all - original animation drawings, including some of Ub Iwerks stuff for the earliest Mickey Mouse shorts and some of Bill Tytla's original drawings of Chernobog for the Night on Bald Mountain sequence in Fantasia. They even had some stuff that might have impressed people interested in proper art, most notably Salvador Dali's drawings for Destino, the short that Disney and Dali started work on in 1945, and which wasn't completed until 2003. Because I actually know about this stuff, it meant a lot more to me, and I got a real buzz out of seeing the Tytla drawings in particular. Tytla was the best animator at the Disney studio at the time when it was producing the finest animation that has ever been produced, and if the art of animation has had a Leonardo da Vinci it's Tytla. And if he has a Mona Lisa, it's the Chernobog sequence, which is often cited as the best bit of animation ever done. So this is why I got such a thrill out of seeing it, and why for me at least it meant more than seeing the really important stuff the before at the Louvre.  As I said, I'm such a philistine.
Friday, October 20, 2006
Eiffel Tour
I went past and around the Eiffel Tower a few times before I went up it. As I mentioned before, it was near my hotel, and it was an easy detour on the way to various things, notably the Arc De Triomphe and the Champs Elysees. So on both the Saturday I arrived, and on Sunday, I had a good walk around the base of it. But the queues were crazy, and so I saved my proper visit until the Monday, and spent most of a morning there. It gets more and more spectacular as you get closer: not so much just because its size becomes more apparent - though there is that - but because it looks less and less like the picture-postcard image. From near to underneath you can start to make out the incredible detail of the structure, and once you're under it the shape becomes really interesting, with lots of unusual angles and interesting new perspectives on its symmetries. And of course it's unusual in that it's such a tall structure that you can get under and within, and still see: like a transparent Empire State Building.    I went up via the lift and came down via the stairs (which take you up and down from the second of its three levels - only the lift goes to the top). This might sound silly, but once you start going up it, it really surprises you how big it is. When it was built it was the tallest building in the world, and it's very hard to believe that it was originally constructed as a temporary structure. The best way to convey what I'm talking about is to show you the lift ride up. Here's ground to level 1: I missed level 1 to 2 (I was expecting to have to change lift, so it caught me by suprise) but here's level 2 to the top. This really gives you a sense of how unexpectedly high it is: Once up there, the views of Paris is everything you'd expect - the central / historic area of Paris is otherwise free of high buildings (the nearest are at La Defense, at the far end of the Champs Elysees axis) so it really towers over everything. However, I still found myself most taken with the structure itself.      I'd like to thank the nice man who took the photo above for not stealing my camera. |
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Stupidly Beautiful Exploring the LA Cultural Scene Along the Seine No, I Didn't Go There Because of the Cartoon Le Arche de Ridiculousle Grande Louvre At First Sight Eiffel Tour A Day in the Life of Paris Chobham |