Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Great Debate Locations

It turns out that the two touristy buildings I took my friend, and former Kodak engineer, to see on Sunday wound up being the CA locations for the presidential debates this week. The Kodak Theater was closed for unspecified reasons, which given the red carpet stuff that happens there regularly, I didn't question. I just heard this morning on NPR that it was because they were preparing for the Democratic invasion. We wound up taking in a flick at the other theater upstairs, a repeat for me of Charlie Wilson's War, and wandering around the mall looking at the Hello KittyKuromi aka Goth Hello Kitty and rainbows.

Speaking of which, there were rainbow sightings aplenty this weekend. The combination of heavy rain
Rain running off roof in front of slab of Ber.lin w.all
and sunshine alternating every 20 minutes or so for 70+ hours had some nice payoffs, like this
Rainbow and American flag in Santa Barbara
This one was in Santa Barbara during the film festival. I don't know what to think about the rainbow whose arc appeared to end on a Wa.lm.art sign. [Fun rainbow fact: I could only see the right half of this rainbow unless I cocked my head to the side due to the polarizing angle of my sunglass's lenses. The left half was reflected 90 degrees off from the right half apparently. I didn't even know I was missing it until I saw the whole arc in my friend's camera. I should probably go repeat a physics class somewhere.]

For those watching the GOP debate at the Rea.gan Library as I was crafting this entry, you might have seen this platform. I wasn't allowed to use a flash, though, so maybe not.
heavily backlit platform for GOP debate

That's ok, it looked better from below, the space where we had our company's annual party.
scaffolding
Notice the column on the right topped with wheels. Those wheels are connected to Air Force 1 #2700 which ferried 7 presidents about in wood-paneled style. The display is cool, but makes me nervy here in earthquake country.

I felt I got my 12 bucks worth, though, when I saw L.arry K.ing getting his face powdered and girding his loins in front of a retired presidential limo for a television spot.
celebrity pulling up pants

Is it wrong that I first recognized him as a celebrity by the color of his shirt? This was his pose for the commercial spots. Familiar?
Larry Live in electric blue shirt
Behind him a view that normally looks like the surface of the moon, but is bright green due to two weeks of rain. I thought LA had beach weather all the time! If I wanted chilly and damp, I'd go to Ireland. Even Larry looks chilly rather than tough. I want my money back.

2 comments:

Quiet Corner Resident said...

We did have quite a patriotic weekend didn't we? I even started singing the America the Beautiful in my sleep and saying the pledge of allegiance!!!

You know I'm kidding right?! Thanks for the great time. Hope to see you again in person soon!!

CrankyOtter said...

You'll notice I left out the "driving around lost for 2 hours" section of the day when I tried to get somewhere from the 5 instead of the 405 and failed totally. But we did get to see two good views of the Hollywood sign. And I didn't stop for a sale.