The Oscars

I LOVED my first Oscar's experience. From the frocks to the show, I really enjoyed it.

It wasn't perfect, and never is, but going out to 1 billion peopl it is sooooo subjective. According to many groups Seth McFarlane went too far upsetting multitudes of people. This guy created Family Guy and Ted - what on earth did the organisers expect. I thought he was a pretty good host, and enjoyed his jokes.

I don't think at 3 hours the Oscars was too long, but maybe that is because I was in the zone and just loving it.

I watched it with 6 other people and we all got dressed up. I was inadvertently representing Skyfall, with a blue dress, red lipstick and nails, and a fabulous skull necklace that my parents got me for Christmas. Of course my obligatory Union Jack purse also made an appearance!

I correctly predicted 15 out of 24 of the winners (a few lucky guesses) and won absolutely nothing for my efforts other than the adulation of the other people watching with me (ahem).

I wish they had introduced each movie up for best film individually rather than in groups of three, and I wish that each of the songs up for best song had been performed. Scarlett Johansson's song, "Before my time" only got 10 seconds air time! So I have put it here for your listening pleasure. I think it is haunting and beautiful. 

So pleased that Argo won. It was my favourite of the movies up for Best Picture, although Life of Pi was stunning and definitely deserved to win cinematography. 

So awards season is over for another year. Who knows where I will be watching next year's Oscars?!

One last hurrah downtown...

So friends treated us to a delicious meal in Chinatown followed by a short walking tour downtown. We went to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which I hadn't actually seen at night.

We then went onto the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, where they perform opera etc. There was a great fountain outside, with a hideous statue in the middle of it:

We then walked down through the new 'Grand Park' which links the music center to City Hall via steps, ramps, shrubberies and a rather wonderful fountain that changes colour...

It was fab! I wanted there to be music like at The Bellagio. The new park is pretty cool as well. Shame they don't have a coffee shop or similar open there after 7pm at night. 

We then went back down the hill past the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) where there seemed to be what looked like a Transformer outside...I believe the polite way of describing it is "Not my cup of tea!"

Then onwards for a G and T at the Omni hotel next to an outdoor firepit. What a lovely evening!

Celeb gossip in a minivan

So I got a couple of half price groupon tickets for the TMZ tour, showing us the celeb spots of Hollywood and surrounding areas, and I dragged my friend along.

It was a fun way to spend a couple of hours, but really geared towards viewers of the TMZ show (it airs daily here, bitching and picking over the carcasses of celeb gossip)

My friend spotted Jessie Metcalf at The Ivy, although she didn't know his name, or really who he was!
A lot of the hot spots I already knew, but then this is my 9th time in LA, so I guess that was unsurprising. I did not know that Josh Hartnett had called 911 from the Chateau Marmont when he had D and V...However I don't think my life is richer for knowing this information...

One thing I didn't know was that Beverly Hills is home to only 35,000 people and the average cost of a house is $4.5 million...

our host

Viper Room where River Phoenix passed away

Beverly Hills City Hall

2nd Bugatti spotting of the trip

Channel, innit!

Diamonds are a girls best friend!

D and G

Rodeo drive baby

Pretty Woman's hotel 

cool palm trees

We had fun but really if it were my first time in LA, I wouldn't choose this tour!

Rubbing shoulders in the Palisades

Pacific Palisades is a really lovely area. It is very very green, right on the Ocean, just before Malibu, and surrounded by awesome canyons to be hiked in. *NB no hiking was partaken in for the writing of this blog.

The place has a really villagey feel and seems a very family orientated place. Importantly there are a number of frozen yoghurt joints, one of which gives you your froyo for free if you get the price exacly right (I was 26c out - dammit!) The restaurants are pleasant little independent places and it is just altogether a very calm place. 

I met British director Mick Jackson (LA Story and The Bodyguard) inadvertently when I had to change my tyre on his drive! I also spotted Ray Liotta walking round the village (he lives in the Palisades) This was a real thrill , as Goodfellas is my second favourite movie of all time! Better than my earlier Kylie star spot.

The East/West divide is similar to London in terms of money splits. The majority of money is in the west, and north west and that is where you find the whopper houses.

The biggest issue with being on the westside is trying to get east at any time of the day. It is just always so busy on the freeway (the 10 is the only one that comes in and out of that area and it is rammed going east any time of day I have ever seen it!) I guess a lot of people who live out this way think that the views of the ocean and their lovely little communities is worth the pain in the butt it is to travel east. Or probably more likely, I guess they just don't bother going east - and who can blame them!

So whilst I love Palisades, and indeed Santa Monica, I don't think living on the westside would be the best option for me. If I were to come and live out here, East would win, just like at home. 

Damn I need to win the lottery soon to move to the westside in London and LA!!! I could definitely get used to this view...

Recreating Roman Villas in Malibu

So! Having been here almost 6 months I finally got to the Getty Villa in Malibu. The Villa was created when Jean Paul Getty relised he was running out of space for all his fabulous antiquities in a gallery next to his own home.

It is based on the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum, which was buried by lava from Vesuvius and forgotten about for hundreds of years. It was found by a monk digging for a well in the 18th century. Jean Paul Getty died before he had chance to see this labour of love, but it truly is lovely and worth a look the if you are coming to LA.

It is less gaudy than Hearst Castle and like the other Getty location, it has been designed in such a way that it  feels very tranquil.  (It certainly got a lot more tranquil once the 200 odd school kids left to go back to school mid afternoon!)

The Greek and Roman pieces inside didn't massively grab me, but that is probably because I have seen so many of their type before in the British Museum and studying them for GCSE and A-level! They had an amazing horse/lion statue on loan from a museum in Rome: 

My favourite area was the large courtyard out the back. The water is actually very shallow, but the thought of sitting in there with a glass of champagne filled me with glee. Alas I didn't do it, but the thought did cross my mind a number of times! The best view is if you go up onto the first floor and look out across the courtyard to the Pacific. Smashing!

Out of the two Getty locations, the other one (the Getty Center) is my favourite in terms of architecture and the art it houses, but this was still a gorgeous way to spend an afternoon!

Hanging on the westside

So here are some photos of the view from my new digs. They are taken on different days, hence some cloud and some clear skies.
Unfortunately I don't have a telephoto lens on either of my digital cameras to really do it justice, so you will just have to believe me!
The views are pretty lovely as I think I mentioned before.
 It rained last night, which led to a really clear day today. As I gazed out of my bedroom window I could see snowy mountains over to the East shrouded in clouds, and then south of me LAX, and right the way down to the Port of Long Beach (about 34 miles). Then to the South West, Palos Verdes, and beaches all the way up from Torrance to Santa Monica, where I could just make out the big wheel on the pier. 
It was windy today, so mesmerizing to sit here and watch the waves come in.
Here are a few shots of the view:

Santa Monica to the right, and the bay with Palos Verdes in the distance

close up of Santa Monica

the bay today - bloody bamboo is too tall!

Catalina island

sun sneaking off 

Here are some shots of the communal areas where I am staying:

Pretty darn cool aye?

So long final cat and just over 2 weeks to go...

So I have spent the week in a very nice place in Santa Monica. I was cat sitting for colleagues of the lady I cat sat for over Christmas.

Their place was a fabulous 2 bed, 3 bath combo which architecturally was really cool, with exposed pipes and metal work. It was pretty darn fab and the kind of place I would love to live in at home if my bank balance would allow. Unfortunately I think it would be around 5 times the price of my apartment and the equivalent neighbourhood is probably Belize Park...

Jezebel, the cat I was looking after was pretty self sufficient, a bit shy and she didn't hang out with me a huge amount. But she was very sweet when we did hang out!

She was also very rolly/roley?! Don't really know what term to use. The video probably shows it better. This was a short version. She would do this for in excess of 5 minutes at times!

So today I moved again. I am in a studio room in a very large house in Pacific Palisades. This is a quite chi chi neighbourhood nestled betwen Santa Monica and Malibu. 

The house seems pretty cool and the owner is a German artist and musician.

I left the house before sunset today, but I will update the blog with some photos of the view. It is pretty spectacular! My camera does not do it justice at night, but here is an idea of the view from my bedroom window at night. 

On the right hand side just next to where the balcony is, is the ocean. First ocean view bedroom I have had since I have been here, so that is pretty darn wicked!

Just over two weeks to go and one thing I know I am going to really miss in Mexico City...The Pacific Ocean.

Go Getty 'em

So the Getty Centre is an awesome Museum in Brentwood on the west side of the city, just next to Bel Air (No I didn't spot any Fresh Princes). It stands majestically above the 405 Freeway and offers stunning views of the city. It was set up by the oil magnate, Jean Paul Getty.

This was my second time to the Getty, and I had genuinely forgotten how amazing the actual building is. The art is of course gorge, but the building is stunning. American architect Richard Meier designed it, and it uses lots of white, his trademark. 
There are beautiful curves, with massive tiles, water features abound and the gardens and grounds punctuated with a number of world famous sculptures.

Rather than blather on about, why don't you just look at my photos and see why I think it is one of the most stunning museums in the world...(I edited these down, but you will gather I absolutely love this building!)

And there is also some art here...