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Category: Travel

California Adventures: Pyramid Lake and Yosemite

1 February 2010

Golden state day trips to Yosemite and Pyramid Lake lived up to expectations this winter.

Bridalveil Falls

Bridalveil Falls/Yosemite National Park
© copyright 2010 Scott Holleran

In one day, I saw the breathtaking Bridalveil Falls, which is stunning, El Capitan (the largest monolith of granite in the world), Cathedral Rocks and spires, Half Dome, the famed Ahwahnee lodge and hotel, named after the Ahwahneechee Indians that roamed the Yosemite Valley, and a mighty black bear. Waterfalls roar, giant sequoia trees tower, meadows dance in the wind and it is a wonderful experience with nature. The park has it all: backpacking, rock-climbing, hiking, fishing, horseback riding, birdwatching, museums, buildings, and points of historical interest. This park, granted to California by President Abraham Lincoln, offers an authentic California adventure.

Visiting the vast, federal government-controlled Yosemite requires having an agenda, so plan ahead and be prepared, as the Boy Scouts motto goes. There’s a government-imposed fee for practically everything, including a new tax on hiking at Half Dome, in addition to other fees and taxes collected for the parks program (park admission is $20 per vehicle). Only the handicapped are admitted for free. Check daily for weather conditions, updates, and seasonal rules and regulations. Bring plenty of money if you plan to visit and stay inside the park, where everything from smoking, pets, and traffic to lodging is tightly controlled by the government and subsequently terribly expensive. I opted for a stay at a cabin located just outside the park, which was fine.

This swath of wilderness is bear country. Though guides claim that rangers patrol the park for safety, I spotted one ranger during the visit and that was outside the visitors’ center. This being my first bear sighting in the forest, I must say I’m glad I wasn’t close enough to be noticed. Deer also dart in front of a moving vehicle, as happened on this trip, and rocks near the waterfalls are of course wet, slippery, and dangerous. It’s a good idea to wear hiking boots, bring bottled water, and pack a camera and binoculars. You’ll probably want to remember your trip to Yosemite. I know I will.

Pyramid Lake

Pyramid Lake/Gorman, California
© copyright 2010 Scott Holleran

The manmade Pyramid Lake, near where gold was discovered in 1843, is located in Gorman off the Golden State freeway (Interstate 5) at the Smokey Bear Road exit (Emigrant Landing). The recreational lake is named after a pyramid-shaped rock carved by engineers who were creating the old highway 99. Here, there’s camping, picnicking, boating, water skiing, swimming, fishing (large and small-mouth striped bass, trout, catfish, blue gill, and crappie), and the Vista Del Lago Visitors Center, which sits on a bluff overlooking the lake and contains exhibits in the state’s water treatment and its version of the state’s and region’s history, which includes interesting facts about businessman Henry Newhall and the Newhall companies that built and developed the Santa Clarita Valley. According to Pyramid Lake’s Web site, most beaches are accessible only by boat because of the steep shoreline.

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Disney’s Train Tour for Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’

9 May 2009

Disney is getting the word out about its new, 40-city movie publicity campaign, Disney’s A Christmas Carol train tour, sponsored by Hewlett Packard. It begins in downtown Los Angeles (at our wonderfully Art Deco Union Station) on Memorial Day weekend (May 22). The tour, promoting the studio’s upcoming picture, Disney’s A Christmas Carol, based on Charles Dickens’ classic anti-capitalist Christmas story, will end at New York’s Grand Central Station the weekend of October 30. Disney’s computer-generated movie is directed by Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Back to the Future) and stars Jim Carrey (Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!) and Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight).

Disney says the tour will include artifacts on loan from the Charles Dickens Museum of London, artwork, costumes and props from the film, demonstrations of the movie’s performance capture technology (used in Mr. Zemeckis’ previous pictures, Beowulf and The Polar Express) and a chance to morph into one of the film’s characters using Hewlett Packard’s TouchSmart PC. Carolers, decorations and surprises will also be featured. America’s government-run passenger rail monopoly, Amtrak, will provide the four-car train’s locomotives and engineers. Dolby Laboratories will be supplying its Dolby® 3D Digital Cinema technology for an on-site mobile theater showing 3D footage from the film. Each stop on the tour welcomes guests of all ages and is free to the public.

Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook—who used to work on Disneyland’s Monorail—said in a company statement: “‘From Los Angeles to New York, and all points in between, guests are going to have a fabulous time discovering things about the making of this extraordinary film, participating in their own festive fantasies, and getting into the holiday spirit all year round.” Other stops include Seattle, Denver, Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, Memphis, Indianapolis, Miami, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Antonio and Houston.

It’s nice to see Disney doing something original and nostalgic, which, unlike its dreadful Disneyland and theme park campaigns, seems properly themed and integrated. It is a smart move to feature the original novel as a part of the exhibit, which Disney doesn’t do often enough (the studio’s 1996 animated adaptation of Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame comes to mind). The Christmas Carol campaign seems to embrace the author’s voice.

Doing Dickens has its drawbacks. While A Christmas Carol is well-known and popular, it is also terribly dark and gloomy and I wonder whether that will play across America through November. Will cash-strapped audiences pay to see another heavy-handed attack on capitalism at a time when capitalism is being all but destroyed by government intervention? A lot depends on Jim Carrey, an often vulgar actor who can come across as unhinged, and how the multimillionaire actor plays Scrooge. Is Scrooge depicted as evil because he makes money and because he doesn’t sacrifice himself for others—or as merely missing out on the milk of human kindness? Disney describes A Christmas Carol as a “thrill ride” which captures the essence of the Dickens tale in 3D. It opens in theaters nationwide on November 6.

As for the train tour, I wonder if waiting in line to see a special effects showcase is worth a Saturday. People may walk in thrilled by the anticipation of experiencing the train only to be disappointed by what’s inside, especially if it’s merely another glorified video game or a perceptual assault of 3D toilet humor, in which case people may not be keen to see Disney’s A Christmas Carol by fall. The movie’s emotional pull must come through. Of course, it could be a terrific event for an anti-profit movie that makes piles of money.

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Spot & Pop Shots

26 January 2009

Between recent earthquakes, I managed to hike in the neighborhoods near Lake Hollywood, the man-made Hollywood Reservoir beneath the Hollywood sign. Rain cleared the air—you could see Redondo Beach—and brought the coyotes out in daylight. While backtracking down the Hollywood Hills, one broke away from the pack, swooping down a narrow street and darting toward a small dog—whose owner scared the coyote off in the nick of time. A few blocks later, another one dashed near a woman walking her pint-sized pooch with baby in tow. By then, word had traveled that two other coyotes were spotted. Coyotes are bold when they’re hungry—and dog owners ought to keep their pets on a leash—and it made for an exciting afternoon.

Piano in the Background

I’m thrilled to have discovered Duke Ellington’s (1899-1975) Piano in the Background, digitally remastered from the 1960 recording and an exciting 14-song collection. “[I]t is as a pianist that Duke exists as a musician,” wrote Irving Townsend in the original liner notes, included here. “He composes at the piano, and he teaches the band at the piano. He heads for the piano in any room he enters, and no hotel room he ever lived in is without one.” With new arrangements of Duke Ellington’s best known compositions—“Rockin’ in Rhythm,” “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing,” “Take the ‘A’ Train”)—and new liner notes by his longtime publicist, this jazz session practically bursts from the speakers. Played on his special 91-key (not the usual 88) piano.

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Politics and Places

27 October 2008

Denouncing Sen. Obama as “anti-American,” Sen. Biden as a “windbag,” Sen. McCain as a  “moron,” and Gov. Palin as an “opportunist,” my former boss, Leonard Peikoff, briefly comments on the presidential election—he is abstaining—in his October 20th podcast. Dr. Peikoff, who warned of the rise of radical Islam—he diagnosed the threat of religion in America—decades ago, is usually right, thus I am willing to reconsider my lean towards Obama based on his objection alone.

Along those lines, Middle East commentator Daniel Pipes offers evidence of Sen. Obama’s troubling links to radical Islam in a recent article. I would be astonished if this apparently thoroughly vetted candidate has real, philosophical ties to Islamism—but then I was shocked, if not entirely surprised, at the 9/11/01 act of war.

Thanks to a recommendation from my Linkedin connection (and Facebook friend) Anu, I visited the modernist architect John Lautner exhibit, Between Earth and Heaven: The Architecture of John Lautner, at the Armand Hammer Museum in Westwood just before it closed and it was fabulous. I have a new, deeper appreciation for Lautner, who studied with Frank Lloyd Wright. Blueprints, short films and partial models—full-scale versions would have been better—were informative as an introduction to his inspiring work, which generally integrates man and nature.

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Writers’ Strike Update

13 February 2008

News broke this weekend that the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike in Hollywood may be ended before members approve a final contract. According to the WGA, members will consider the three-year tentative contract during a ratification process before a final vote.

This puts the cart before the horse. Why end the strike, which began on Nov. 5, 2007, before the writers approve an agreement?

Hollywood’s establishment, especially the entertainment press, has tried to lay a guilt trip on the union since the strike was initiated. This argument was based on altruism—the idea that writers should put self-interest aside for the sake of those who have been adversely affected. There has been particular disdain for striking writers over whether the Academy Awards would be upstaged by the contract dispute, as if awards, not the creation of motion pictures, are what moves Hollywood.

The union’s demands, such as compensation for content used through new technology, are based on legitimate points (the studios never really made a case to the public) so ending the strike now blunts the union’s contractual gains. The WGA consistently put the writers’ position at the forefront of the debate and they succeeded in getting most of their demands met. But ending the strike without a member-approved contract deprives the writers of having the last word.

Disney Theme Park Changes

WGA President Patric Verrone’s statement acknowledged the efforts of Disney’s CEO, Robert Iger, who helped to broker the deal. Negotiating skills aside, Mr. Iger’s doing an excellent job running the Walt Disney Company these days, with a string of movie, cable and home video hits adding up to double digit returns on investments.

Last quarter, Disney’s theme park business spiked an impressive 11 percent in spite of the economic downturn and the New York Times published a major article on upcoming theme park changes at Disney’s California Adventure (DCA) in Anaheim, California. The piece focuses on a new attraction called Toy Story Mania, currently under construction, which sounds like a giant video game.

The name of the attraction alone is a turnoff to those who prefer Disneyland’s classic immersion in storytelling to manic, whim-worshipping perceptual assaults designed for the short attention span but read the article for a good sense of what Disney has in store.

Through the grapevine, I have heard that, while DCA changes will incorporate an attraction based on the brilliant 1989 animated classic, The Little Mermaid, DCA will not build the thematically superior version featured in computer simulation on last year’s Platinum DVD edition. That’s not a good sign.

Implementation of DCA’s proposed changes, which generally sound like an improvement, is a crucial test for Mr. Iger. If he’s as respectful of the Disney creative philosophy—that works be built around a high caliber story—as I think he is, he’ll rebuild the maligned park, Little Mermaid attraction included, in the bold spirit with which the studio’s founder built the original theme park, Disneyland.

Judging by his sharp, sober and optimistic interview on CNBC last week, Mr. Iger has all of what it takes.

Clinton vs. MSNBC

CNBC’s sister network, MSNBC—Microsoft’s joint venture with NBC News—punished political reporter David Shuster, for pointing out that the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign is using an adult Clinton relative to get nominated—he used a slang term—prompting an outraged response from the Clinton camp. What a crock.

That MSNBC suspended Shuster, who is a total professional, is the real outrage. How can anyone take seriously a campaign that employs another prominent relative—the former president who is the candidate’s spouse—who openly discussed his underwear on national television and despicably played the race card a few weeks ago? Informative Shuster, who already apologized for his choice of words, is an important part of TV’s best political coverage. He should be reinstated without delay.

Roy Scheider Dies

Roy Scheider has died. He was 75. Though known for his cop roles in The French Connectionand Jaws, he was underestimated for top performances in Robert Benton’s thriller Still of the Night, in Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz and in the 1973 New York City action picture The Seven-Ups. Sad-eyed Scheider was a strong, reliable screen presence during five decades of motion pictures and he’ll be missed.

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