November 2002 Archives

After some hard work and integration magic, I have finally posted the all-new Disneyland Paris section with photos from 1996, Scott and Debbie's Trip in January 2002 and my recent trip earlier this month. There are a total of 298 photos in the collection now, and I think they look great. I have retouched a bunch of my recent ones due to the bad lighting conditions, but I think they came out good.

I was also able to create a separate version of Gallery running just for the Disneyland Paris section. This allowed me to play around with the headers and the footers to add some navigation back to the main index page. The only thing left to do is to add the descriptions of the photos and blow away all the old files.

Other than working on the site, Roger and I made it out to see "Die Another Day" last weekend. I had mixed reactions when watching it, but upon reflection I like it more and more. It reminds me the most of "From Russia With Love" and even a bit of the Dalton-era due to its darkness which most fans will recognize as Bond's true nature from the Ian Flemming books. There were some great scenes. What I can't figure out is that in the two Brosnan films with cars I like (Goldeneye and The World is Not Enough), the cars do nothing. In the two with cars that are cool, but not on my wish list, the cars have extended scenes doing really cool stunts. I guess a Z8 convertible wouldn't do so well in an Ice Palace.

And finally in the who-did-you-see-at-Disneyland-lately? category: Johnny Depp with his wife and child near Casey Jr. Railroad as well as backstage.

After some Googling around the web, I found a few press releases about Michael Palin's Sahara series and found out that the U.S. rights to the show were awarded to the Bravo network. Bravo is well known for their "Inside the Actor's Studio" program as well as being the current owners of broadcast rights to one of my all-time favorites, "Twin Peaks".

On the Bravo web site, I could find no reference to Sahara or anything Palin. I was worried since the press release also mentioned that Bravo bought the rights to some of the older travel offerings (including my fav Pole to Pole). Scouring their web site, I found an 800 number which offered "immediate answers to many of their inquiries". So I phoned them up and was a bit discouraged to get a recorded message. However, there was the opportunity to leave a message and they promised a call within 24 hours. I phoned them last Thursday, and first thing Monday morning I received a call. It might have been 48 hours instead of 24, but hey for a major cable network that isn't bad.

So for all of you U.S. Michael Palin fans here is the news: Bravo has tentatively scheduled the U.S. premiere of "Michael Palin's Sahara" for April 2003. They have not set an actual date, but keep checking the site as the month approaches. Woo Hoo! I wonder if the U.S. DVD will come out around the same time. I wish the U.K. version was region 0 and NTSC compatible...

My hero and inspiration for my Trip Diaries, Michael Palin has launched a new web site dedicated to his travel programs "Around the World in 80 Days", "Pole to Pole", "Full Circle", "Hemingway Adventure", and the forthcoming (at least to the US) "Sahara". Just like my Swedish trip in 1999, I was able to pick up Michael's book at the book store in the UK way before his show debuted in the states. I'm currently reading Sahara and I'm sure the program that will follow will be great.

Looking over his site has also inspired me to do a little more work into my own Trip Diaries site. I have always wanted to produce a more robust version of the site but have never found a good inspiration until now. I am not sure how long or what form it will ultimately take or if it will include many of the old City Musings Ideas but hopefully it won't take me forever and a day.

What does it mean for you, my loyal reader? It means that the photos of the journey will probably be up way before the journal. Hopefully not too long. I have squandered the last two days which I promised myself I would spend on writing the journal out, but it gives me an extra reason to get up a bit early (or stay up into all hours of the night). Let's just hope it doesn't take two years like the Europe '98 diaries did.

The cruel lords of Disneyland scheduling decided to welcome me back to the US by having me work Saturday and Sunday for full 8 hour shifts. Since I've been back, I've developed a bit of a head cold which has started to abate thankfully. It made me a bit loopy the last few days at the park, and guests were lucky to be treated to my Bea Arthur impersonation (always rearing its head when I'm sick) over the P.A. at Dumbo and the Tea Cups.

In my sickened haze, I managed to traipse out and see the new Harry Potter film (and given the box office returns this weekend, I was not alone). Roger was reading the book on the plane to London and on the way home and managed only to make it to page 150 or so. When he fell asleep on the way back, I started to read the book and managed to finish it in the taxi back to the Le Meridien to pick up the car. For the last movie, I didn't bother to read the book and liked the movie. I liked the Chamber of Secrets, but spent most of the movie uttering to myself, "Hey what happened to the Garden Trolls?" and "What happened to Mr. Weasley kickin Malfoy's butt?" and so on for the next two and a half hours. At least I knew what to expect with the spiders. But if you like the Harry Potter, go check it out.

This time of year is busy for me at the movies. On the docket are Die Another Day (I almost was on TV2 in France to discuss this movie, but alas no French-no interview- more in the diaries when they become available), Treasure Planet, Star Trek Nemesis, and Lord of the Rings - Two Towers (by the way the South Park episode last week was brilliant). Ok, four movies does not a busy man make, but hey, I haven't been to the movies since I saw Barbershop a few months back.

In trip news, I am a bit frustrated with the Gallery program, there seems no easy way to add navigation back to the main section of the site. However, as I work on it, here is a tantalizing preview of the pictures from the trip:

Gorn pictures from Europe 2002

Some of the pictures came out much darker than I had thought. I looked them over on the laptop and they seemed OK, but looking at them on the main PC at home, some really reflect how cloudy it was at times. next time, I force the flash all the time. Either that or get myself a new digital camera.

I have returned from vacation to 120 emails in my inbox and over 600 photos on the laptop, awaiting processing and sorting for the web site. I also have a ton of noted to pour over to complete my trip diary. I have the first two chapters completely written, but after the third day, it became harder and harder to sit down and write. I blame it on the jet lag.

A good one-third of all the pictures are devoted to Disneyland Paris. Let's just say I went a little nuts with the digital camera and took over 200 pictures. My friend Nathan just shook his head in disbelief when I told him. I am going to go through the photos I have on my Disneyland Paris Page and see what is duplicated (some on purpose) and what is new.

Roger and I managed to have a good time in Paris despite a few setbacks. On the flight over from London, Roger's suitcase developed a large rip to match the one in mine that happened on the trip from LA to London. Another difficulty, adjusting to French Hotel staff indifference after spending a week with the bend-over-backwards friendliness of the British. Even Disneyland Paris had a few sore spots as our welcome was quickly worn out when the clock struck 20:00h. That place closes up quick! More details in the Diaries I'm sure.

I've just arrived back home, so its time for my tired body to try and stay awake for a bit longer and then get some sleep - after all I'm no Dave Attell.

Another quick update from London. Today is our last day here before we are off to London to see Nathan and Disneyland Paris. We have been here 5 days and its time to move on. Yesterday was the big Avenbury - Stonehenge - Salisbury tour via Astral Travels and I must say I like the intimate coach much better than the big coach tours of Evan Evans and Golden Tours.

Today was a kickback day with mainly shopping and a quick photo-op at Buckingham Palace. We also managed to do some quick shopping at Oxford Street and watch the fireworks show for the new Lord Mayor of London who had the big ceremony and parade for his first day in office (a big hullabaloo for a person who only spends one year in office). So our time in London ends with a bang just like when we arrived on Guy Fawkes night (also full of fireworks).

I am not sure if I'll get a chance from Paris to post, but expect photos and more details when I return next Friday.

Cheers!

Commuication from overseas is proving a bit more difficult than I had anticipated. However, I have come across an address to a Wireless enabled Starbucks and I will try and make it over there in the next few days before we venture off to Paris.

Today was museum day as we hit both the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum in one day. We then toured Harrods and Harvey Nichols. The only problem is that I was left with the distinct impression that the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon are right next to the Food Halls in Harrod's. I tried to take decent notes so that I can sort the pictures when I post them.

That's all for now, the meter is running. Check back in the next few days for more.

Roger and I spent most of the day running errands and getting ready for the big trip. Our plane doesn't depart until 8:30pm tonight, so we are still trying to squeeze everything into the bags and make the journey over to the Le Meridien at Beverly Hills to catch the cab to LAX. Just like the Walt Disney World Trip of 2000, we are using the Le Meridien as a jumping off point, the main difference is that we are not spending the night.

However like Tahiti, we are off to spend some time at the finest Le Meridiens in Europe:

Le Meridien Piccadilly
Le Meridien Etoile

Our flight will be around 10 and a half hours, shattering Roger's longest time on a plane by a good 2 and a half hours. Both of us didn't sleep well last night, so hopefully it means we'll get some good shut-eye before landing at London Heathrow at 3:00 in the afternoon tomorrow.

While out shopping for a new jacket and some last minute items, I found the Sketchers that I tried to replace with Target shoes to no avail. Following Mom's advice, I bought two pairs, and I am going to try and break them in while walking around London and Paris.

I'll try and post while I am overseas, and also try and get some pictures up from the business center of the hotels. If not, expect a full trip diary upon my return!

Two years later, we headed out to West Hollywood again. This year, we avoided the Pacific Design Center's horrible garage and opted to park at a friend's house several blocks away. A good time was had by all and I even ran into Mandel in one of his rare WeHo appearances.

Along for the ride was Daniel who came dressed as a pilot. He was happy that we didn't see another pilot the entire night (ok, we saw a co-pilot and a lot of stewardesses, but no pilot as good as Daniel). I was equally happy to not see any other guys dressed in a Hawaiian shirt wth beads around their head and a groovy straw hat.

There are only a few days left before the trip, and Cooper was kind enough to point me in the direction of a cool new web gallery program. By just uploading some photos, the software automatically creates thumbnails and galleries. You can preview two new Gorn galleries I created in about 30 minutes.

Gorn in Europe 1997
Gorn in Europe 1998

I am going to try and get the new photo galleries from the forthcoming trip in this format and if all goes well, I will convert a lot of the old galleries to this format. It has a nice management system and comment capabilities that I think will be very cool over the long run.