To Serve And To Protect..

ermz.. I'm back..

and as the topic goes.. I'm on Reservist right now.. on training.. so I spent the entire week trying to stay awake in class..

cant complain though.. coz my friends who served in the army had it much worse..

anyway.. I got back from Tokyo and Los Angeles on 17th, reached home at close to 3am.. and got ready to go for my reservist at 6am..

hmm.. things that I do for my country..

*sigh*

and still they dont allow me to smoke at Coffee Bean..

*another sigh*

must put a yellow box somemore.. ridiculously small.. end up looking like some cattle within a fence when everyone tries to cramp inside to smoke..

spent the past few days with the Pirates..

yey..

and we had a full band jamming today!

after so so so long..

I miss the band.. dammit.. and I think all of them felt the same way..

chilled out at Yishun Dam several nights ago.. and saw a Hayabusa which skidded off the road.. and on the other side, across the centre kerb.. therez another car badly damaged..

which means that the rider had skidded and thrown across the road and got hit by the car..

hope he survived.. though I really doubt that he did..

and before I continue this post.. I just wanna apologise to Noris for not being able to get the stuffs that she asked for.. yet.. coz I didnt get to pass by the stores as I was caught up in Los Angeles..

I'll try to get it before ur wedding k?

so.. Los Angeles.. the beautiful.. sunny Los Angeles..

let's see how it looks like..



ermz..

thatz just abt 5 mins away from the hotel that we stay in..



and the number of homeless ppl.. hmm..

thatz a common sight in the United States..

actually.. this is just a short distance away from a place called Toy District.. or Toyland..

itz not really a fun place to be in.. no Santas giving presents.. no Toys R Us..

but Toyland has one of the highest concentration of homeless ppl.. and it was said that if u walk thru it, u might not even get out alive..

not that homeless ppl are bad though.. just that we should stay away from the place.. for good reasons..

but of course.. there ARE lots of fun places in Los Angeles..

Like Disneyland/Disney California Adventure, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Knotts Berry Farm.. where I think the rides are scarier than Magic Mountain.. and of course.. Universal Studios..

thatz where we went to.. me, Lawrence and Alicia..

started the day by going thru Hollywood coz the two new crew had never been there before.. so.. being the nice tour guide that I am.. *ahem*.. I brought them there..



the Hollywood sign from Kodak Centre.. again..

ok.. and right after that.. we headed down to..



Universal Studios!

yey!

I had been to the vicinity and shops around Universal.. but didnt go in coz we got there in the evening, and it wasnt worth spending just a couple of hours in..

it cost USD$59 to get in if u buy the tickets at the entrance.. which I think is abt SGD$85.. but coz we got our tickets from a counter in the city, we saved abt USD$20.. at USD$39 per person..

which means a LOT of discount..

ok.. and so.. Universal Studios.. is a FAKE place..

dammit..

but I love it..

how the heck do they make it look so real in the movies.. and yet most of it are confined to a small space in Hollywood..

yeah.. thatz Hollywood.. they can really do wonders..

they can make Aliens destroy the world..



from the set of War Of The Worlds..

they destroyed a real Boeing 747 Jumbo aircraft..



and placed debris all over..



destroyed cars..



just next to the Wild Wild West..

we were told that a lot of the cowboy movies were shot here..

they can change whatever parts that they want in the scene to make it fit to what they want..



itz all a matter of rearranging the parts around..

and some of the buildings are not real buildings.. they are just facades..



meaning, only the outer part looks like a real building.. with walls made of foam so they can change it as and when they want..



they can have a tunnel bridge cutting thru a river..



and shoot it from the side if they need a broken, run-down one..



have a fake house.. where fake families live in..



with a fake lake..



or a fake Subway station in fake San Francisco..



and a fake shark..

ermz.. with real fire..

thatz from Jaws.. obviously..



in a fake town called Amity..

they really can recreate the entire world.. or even a fake universe here in Hollywood..

therez a lot of Stages.. which looks like big warehouses.. where the set are created and the scenes are shot indoors..



I managed to shoot just a lil portion of an Ark in one of those stages.. the indoor version of what is supposedly to be something like the Noah's Ark.. from Evan Almighty which is currently in production.. the sequel to Bruce Almighty.. minus Jim Carrey..

talking abt Jim Carrey..



this is from How The Grinch Stole Christmas..

itz a wonder how they built a set next to one another.. so close, and yet a world apart..



the real Bates Motel.. from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho..

and I saw...

THE CARS FROM FAST AND FURIOUS!

yey!

I couldnt get a nice angle of the Skyline though.. so I decided not to post the pics here.. but I saw it nevertheless..



the Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder..



Jack Slap's Toyota Supra..



and the 1970 Dodge Charger..

and talking abt cars..



nothing beats the Deloreon from Back To The Future!

in Universal.. u can feel safe..

real safe..

coz there are Superheroes riding around taking care of everyone and fighting evil..



evil fellas like the Green Goblin..

but he's being chased by none other than..



Spiderman!

but I think he's too busy posing for pics..

but itz ok..

really..

coz there's always..



Captain America!

yey!

but he's too busy scratching his groin..

but its still okay..

coz..



therez Storm and Wolverine!

Wolverine looks bored though..



there's King Kong too.. but I dont think anyone could fit in *THAT* costume..

anything smaller he'll look like just another ordinary angry monkey..



and therez a silly dancing bird called Woody Woodpecker..

ok.. now for random pics..



ermz.. itz not really scary.. the rides were too short.. the excitement came too fast and gone too fast..

I'd stick with Disneyland's Space Mountain..

or the Ghostrider in Knotts Berry Farm..

THAT'S scary..

or the Batman or the Riddler's Revenge or the Viper in Magic Mountain..

they have better rides there..

the rides in Universal is not made to be scary..

itz more for..



Nickelodeon..



and The Flintstones..



only Lawrence got scared of the Rex..



this was one of the first thing I noticed when we took the tour of Universal..

Jah Idol!

Bob Marley Avenue..



just a random pic.. of Coke-sponsored area..

with Angelina Jolie-inspired lips..



and a view of the lower level of the Universal Studio..

thatz how big the recreation area is.. thatz not even inclusive of the place where the stars shoot their movies and TV shows..

thatz it abt Los Angeles..

and for the guys..

stop reading here..

if u wish to continue..

DISCLAIMER:

I'm not gonna take responsibilities of whatever headaches that u might incur from looking at the upcoming pics..

I had a severe one after spending an entire day looking at PINK..

headed back to Tokyo after Los Angeles..

and spent a day in the Hello Kitty's answer to Disney..



Sanrio Puroland..



there'z even a Town Map located outside the train station.. the nearest would be the Tama Centre station, abt 15 minutes walk from the Hello Kitty Land..

and if u cant understand the map..



therez an entire legend made of Hello Kitty and Friends..



inside the Puroland..



a random pic of girls in Kimono..

dunno why.. therez a lot of girls wearing Kimonos suddenly..

maybe coz it summer..

or maybe coz itz just Japan..



the store within the Puroland.. selling Hello Kitty stuffs..

and ermz.. no.. I didnt buy anything.. I had enough of Hello Kitty and friends coz one of my Ex-Gf, Noreen, was a Hello Kitty addict..

so much so that she made me carry some Bad Badtz Maru stuffed toys for my flights..

*gulp*

ok ok.. when I was with her.. I did it willingly..

and I memorised most of the names of the characters..

and I queued up for a total of 37 hours in front of MacDonald's..

ok.. I did it.. so shoot me..



Purin and Bad Badtz Maru..



Little Twin Stars..



a weird family..



My Melody, on the second floor.. waving at the fans..



Hello Kitty and Bad Badtz Maru dancing on stage..



Kitty got her own house..



with weird Kitty living room set..

I didnt go in for good reasons.. so the interior pics were taken by the 3 stewardesses with me.. Alicia, and my two teamgirls.. Joleen and Jezz..



Alicia with Hello Kitty..



I cant imagine Joleen going for flight like this..



and Jezz messing up Hello Kitty's bed..



and a random pic.. of an Ice Cream Machine..

a real one..

I think the average age of the population that visits Puroland is 3..

small little 3 yr old girls..

and some act-cute teenage girls too..

thatz it..

and what happened to the guys then?





thatz what they do..