Over the weekend, my husband and I took a trip to Beverly Hills/Los Angeles to attend the second night of Paleyfest at Saban Theatre to listen to the panel of ABC’s show LOST. (Why? Because I LOVE LOST and begged the crap out of him to take me!) This trip we didn’t get that many good photos because it was really rainy on the way there and we weren’t sure if we could take our camera into the panel (edit: the pictures in this post of the panel, theatre, and hotel room were taken with my Google Nexxus One.. it takes great pics! I just resized them for Facebook & Twitter). I did, however, get a few good shots on the way there (like the photo of a Almond Blossom orchard above) and some cool ones of the hotel room. Driving around in Beverly Hills was truly amazing. We went down all the famous streets where celebrities shop and let me just say WOW. Everyone is driving a Mercedes or better. I mean, the best cars around here are the worst cars around there! I’d have to say we saw close to 15 Bentley’s in one day! It was amazing. And we drove around the residential areas… the houses were absolutely amazing! Beyond my wildest dreams! All in all, the trip a lot of fun I just wish we would’ve brought our SLR camera to the panel :( So here are some high lights/low lights of the trip:
On the drive there, the conditions were really crappy. Some spots were pouring rain, others were not raining but lots of stop and go traffic. Regardless of the traffic or weather, there are always bad drivers. We saw so many people fly past us in the worst conditions and we just looked at each other and said “Seriously?” So, naturally, we were bound to see an accident. I tried to take my camera out as fast as I could to snap up this car, because it was pretty messed up. I don’t think any one was hurt, as there were no ambulances to be seen. But that just goes to show you… drive slow and be careful or else! We saw another accident on the way home and the car was completely upside down. I think our whole time there we saw 3 or 4? That’s a lot :(
My shout out to my blog from the hotel stationary! We stayed at (if you can’t read it in the picture) Hotel Palomar on Wilshire Blvd. It was the least expensive/nicest (best deal) on Wilshire and it was really nice! The hotel was ultra modern with a funky throw back feel (i.e. weird wood paneling around the all-chocolate colored room doors.. very Shining-esque). We would definitely stay there again. The bathroom had a really cool over-the-counter stand alone sink with a big ornate mirror, the bed had an amazing wall-covering headboard and the bed had sweet damask pillows. We had a 45″ flatscreen TV and a cool lounge chair next to the window (which had a decent view). Granted, the room wasn’t the big and we didn’t stay long enough to try out any of the amenities, it was still a good stay. I had a really crappy headache after Paleyfest, so much so that we were willing to pay $5 to take the Tylenol in the hotel room but when I opened the box? No Tylenol. So Matt went to the desk and asked and they promised to bring me some up, no charge. They never came. That was the only downside. Parking was $33 a night but we parked down the street in front of some condos for free :) So all in all, I would not only stay there again but I would also recommend it!
Because we didn’t bring the SLR to Paleyfest–as you can see I’m pretty upset about–we came back to the theatre the next day to snap some photos of the sign board. The theatre (you can see pictures of the inside of it online) was truly amazing. It was so ornate and beautiful! I know “LOST” is over but I may have to go back for another show–Dexter, The Office, maybe?–and take pictures of the theatre because it was just that cool. We got to the panel at 6:00pm–actually maybe a pinch earlier–and there was a line about 400 feet long. 400 feet! When we were walking to the back of the line I kept thinking “How are all of these people going to fit?” but somehow they did. And even though we were in line for 30 minutes, the line moved really, really fast for a line of that size! Every 2-4 minutes the line moved up around 5 to 6 feet so it wasn’t that bad. I’ve never seen so many Dharma jumpsuits and LOST shirts in my life :) Anyway, our seats were in the mezzanine–and they were great. I mean, if I could do it over again I would be paying attention to the day the tickets come on sale and I would buy Orchestra seats before they were sold out.. because once they’re sold and you have to buy them from places like StubHub.com, the price nearly triples (that’s what we did)! But if you buy orchestra seats, they’re normally only $60-$100 and it’s totally worth it! At the end of the panel all of the people sitting in the orchestra seats got to go to the stage and get autographs! And while Matthew Fox (and many of the big stars from the show) were not there, Terry O’Quinn and Michael Emerson WERE there and they were beyond amazing! I would’ve killed for an O’Quinn autograph! But now I know for next time! Now for more about the actual panel…
The panelists were: Terry O’Quinn (John Locke), Michael Emerson (Ben Linus), Nestor Carbonell (Richard), Zuleikha Robinson (Ilana), Elizabeth Sarnoff, Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, Jack Bender, Edward Kitsis, and Adam Horowitz. The moderator was comedian Paul Scheer (you might know him from MTV’s Human Giant with Aziz Ansari, or Funny or Die Presents) and everyone was really great. They opened with a sneak-peek of next week’s episode (short but really great scene of Sayid and Miles… Miles telling Sayid that he actually is dead and that he is no longer himself!) and went straight to the panel. People went ABSOLUTELY CRAZY when Emmy winner Michael Emerson came out. Then Emmy winner Terry O’Quinn came out and they went even more crazy! It was great to see that kind of love for the LOST characters who aren’t Josh Holloway and Matthew Fox! It was super interesting to hear about the writing process, how they decide what stays in an episode and what gets cut, and what they do when someone wants off the show. Listening to the writers was most interesting than seeing the actors! But here’s a jist from what was discussed: in the flash-sideways we learn that Jack is married and has a son… his wife in these flashes are someone we have already met on the show (could very well be his ex wife), Charlie is coming back, they are trying to work in a way for grown-up Walt (the actor is 17 years old now) to come back, we will learn the significance of Libby to Hurley, Rose and Bernard may not get revisited much more in the name of time, the love triangle between Jack-Kate-Sawyer will finally come to a head (yes!), and we will find out who the smoke monster was pre-Locke at the last episode. Everything will–they promised–come full circle! If I remember anything secret or interesting I will update the post. For now, that’s all :)
All in all it was a great trip but, like always, I am very glad to get home. While on our 6 hour car ride (yes, 6 hours!) Matt and I discussed a lot of our internetting (fake word but love it) plans and goals and I come back home feeling renewed and dedicated to making my full-time living from websites.. maybe one day so I can buy an amazing house in Beverly Hills? Hmm. All in all the trip was great. Wouldn’t do much different. Am REALLY looking forward to tomorrow night’s episode of LOST. But since last week was a Jack episode.. I may not get to see him :( But now that I’ve seen O’Quinn in real life, my interest in him has greatly risen! Long live Locke!
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