070309 – Left home for Griffith Park at almost 06:00, made it all the way to LA Zoo; had a little trouble finding parking for the Griffith Oby shuttle, but eventually got there, and was just in time to load onto the shuttle. The place looks almost the same as it ever did, except that all the sidewalks and lawns look new, and there are subtle changes around some of the “edges”; the entrances are now on the left or right sides of the building. The exhibits are for the most part all new and very cool. The new planetarium projectors (both Zeiss and all-dome video) were incorporated into a single show, not only with live narration, but with dramatic presentation, too. Took lots of pictures, but didn’t get to inspect the various displays very closely, as I only had 2-hours before I had to leave to sign-in at Mariott Burbank and attend the first day at ORC (the One Ring Convention - 2007). So I ran around all over to just see and photograph what they’ve got; and they’ve got a LOT; bought a couple small items from their gift shop for myself, and a few friends back home, and then took shuttle back to my car. I went from there to the Mariott Hotel and Convention Center in Burbank (just a few minute drive by freeway), signed in, and got my weekend pass wristband. I took photos and videos of attendees and vendors throughout the weekend; made a point to NOT see the Costa Botes “behind the scenes” videos. To me, those type of videos ruin the magic of the films, so I avoid them; I also avoid parodies for the same reason; however, the schizophrenic Gollum medley of “Middle-Earth Idols” was harmless enough, and very funny; after basic event (didn’t sign-on for the nighttime activities this time), went into Hollywood and checked-out what movies were playing – didn’t see anything that interested me, so instead went into the Hwd Wax Museum and Guiness World Records venues. Did a bit of shopping; got some nice new (brown) shoes to replace my trashed white shoes that I got in Vermont back in ‘03; used up the last of my Starbuck’s gift card that Tim gave me for Christmas (thanks, Tim!) to get a sandwich and drink – that was the first thing I’d eaten all day (besides choco milk and honey-roasted soy nuts on car trip down), and the day was almost over; looked at most all of the footprints at Graumann’s Chinese Theatre; got a $7(!!) choco-malt to go at the Disney Café; it was good, but I don’t know if it was $7 good. Went back to hotel and was in bed by 01:30.

070310 – Went to Fry’s and bought a new LED flashlight for my keychain, a 400W inverter for the car, and a rolling backpack. Do all Fry's look like that? This one had a front that looked like a big flying saucer crashed into the building, and inside the building there were lots of life-size alien sculptures, including a bug-eyed, 25-foot high octopus coming out of the back wall! Attended ORC and saw Billy Boyd and David Wenham on stage; sat in on costuming talk by Judy Grivich, and a talk by a Sideshow group (they're the ones who make all those LOTR statues I collect). I asked some questions: what kind of training do the scuptors get (self-taught); teeth and tongue done separately and then glued into mouth cavity; they use Super Sculpy for making the sculptures; the state of the art of laser scanning and sculpting isn’t able to handle fine details, yet, so they sculpt by hand; was thanked for asking them to consider using white Styrofoam for packaging as it is easier to recycle; found out they may have spare accessories to replace lost items (such as my statue of Strider, that’s missing the sword’s scabbard). At the trivia contest in the main hall, I asked a question that stumped the panel of experts and most of the audience (translation of the elvish script on Frodo’s sword); one person got it mostly right, so they gave it to him. I got David Wenham’s signature on my FFP (Five Foot Poster), and even successfully snuck in taking a picture as he was signing it. After, went looking for local movie complex and found Universal City a few miles SW of Burbank; HUGE place, multi-level, with shops, restaurants, lots of big, bright, flashing neon signs, etc. - the place was amazingly crowded with mostly teenagers and young adults; saw the movie Ghost Rider – I liked it, but I like almost everything I select to see. Magellaned my way back to the hotel; checked out TV (nothing of interest on); read my "Orion Mystery" book that Janet & John gave me for Christmas ages ago; and got to bed around 02:00 (almost forgot that this was “Spring ahead” day - going to a stupidly conceived early DST in the US – I almost stayed up later, which would have been bad for drive back, tomorrow).

070311 – Spent morning reading Hang Gliding magazine before today’s event started. Attended more talks on costuming and Sideshow; went in to the Daily Grill to order up a hamburger, but had to have ‘em box it as I was running late. Saw Andy Serkis on stage talk about his experiences w/LOTR and Kong. I picked up a raffle ticket, and then, while waiting for the higher-class ticket-holders to get their signatures, I went up to my room to finish my hamburger. I came back down, asked how long the raffle had been going on (5-mins) and immediately after, had my number called!. I won a nice picture of a drawing of Samwise autographed by the artist - how nice! Then, got in line for Andy’s two signatures (one as himself, and one as Gollum); he complimented me on the cleverness of my signature box. As soon as I got the signatures, I was outta there to try to get back home as early as possible. Left at ~17:00 and made it home ~23:00; got a little sleepy a bit after the Grapevine, so took a 30min nap at a highway rest stop, which fixed me up for the rest of the trip. I listened to all 13 episodes of the BBC LOTR radio play while driving down, driving around the area, and driving back up again. By the way - the Magellan GPS unit for my car worked great throughout the entire weekend. It was a great comfort to know I could always get back to the hotel no matter where I went. Once home, I reset my clocks to DST and hit the hay ~00:30 - perfect!

Note: I've posted a lot more pictures to my Kodak.com account, which I will invite you to view. I would have put them here, but I'd have to do it one image at a time, which is TOO HARD.

SUMMARY

Fri, Mar 9 (ODO = odometer)
05:58 ODO 27232 Starting out from home w/full tank of gas
10:05 ODO 27524 Stopping for gas just B4 Grapevine $34.81/10.85 gal (292 mi) = 26.9 mpg
11:27 ODO 27606 Arrived at LA Zoo Shuttle Bus for Griffith Oby

Sun, Mar 11
17:58 ODO 27666 Leaving for home
19:30 ODO 27777 Buttonwillow gasup $28.86/9.0 gal (253 mi) = 28.1 mpg
23:00 ODO 28028 Home
Trip Totals: 796 mi; Oak => LA Zoo ~5.5 hrs; Bur => Oak ~5-hrs

EXPENSES
115.00 Three general admission tickets to ORC 2007

121.00 Three autograph signature tickets (1- for David Wenham, 2- for Andy Serkis)

8.00 Admission to visit Griffith Oby

34.81 First refill of gas
10.00 Parking in Hollywood
7.00 Choco-malt milkshake at Disney Shop
17.25 Wax Museum & Guiness World Records
15.12 Chachka from Griffith Oby
86.60 New shoes from store on Hollywood Blvd.
68.70 Inverter, LED flashlight, rolling backpack, & 9v batteries from Fry's
20.00 Movie (Ghost Rider) + popcorn & soda at Universal City Walk AMC
14.00 Hamburger & soda + tip from Daily Grill
28.86 Second refill of gas
266.90 Two nites + parking at Burbank Mariott

813.24 Total Expenses For and During Trip