June 25 - 27. Hollywood, The Castle, Special FX And Perfection

After two enjoyable days with David and Penny Alexander, I relocated to the Highland Gardens hotel on Franklin Avenue, West Hollywood. There are lots of things I like about this hotel and only one thing that gets a little bit annoying. More details here.

To mark my first evening in West Hollywood, I enjoyed an evening at the Magic Castle with my friends Renata, Bill Palmatary and Jim Harmon. Bill is a card-carrying enlightened hedonist like myself, and one of those naturally entertaining people who doesn't have to try hard to be fun to be with. As well as being a skilled internet guru, Bill also created Import Precision, a business which is just cooler than cool: check it out. Jim is another keen amateur magician and equally good company. At the Castle we were guests of David Regal, a first-rate magician and one of the nicest guys in magic.

The Castle itself is wonderful in just about every way. We had ourselves a great time sampling the various bars as well as catching all the magic we could in the time available.

My second day in West Hollywood turned into a social whirl. First I went for a mid-morning 'brunch' up on Universal City Walk with my friend Craig Adkins, a traveller, writer and businessman with interests in magic, philosophy and skepticism.

Craig is one of those people you could just listen to for hours and never get bored. It was a pleasure to 'shoot the breeze' with him, and I'm glad he suggested meeting up.

Next, a late lunch with Darrin Butters, a talented computer animation artist.

Darrin shares much of my own sense of humour, but despite this handicap he's actually good fun to hang out with. If you want to discover Darrin's dark secret, and the secret behind the secret, then click here.

In the evening I was very privileged to have dinner with a wonderful group of talented people. Bill Taylor is a leading special effects wizard in the movie industry, and also a very helpful friend who did a lot for me during my visit. Jim Steinmeyer came along, as well as his delightful wife Frankie Glass, a top TV producer originally from the UK (Frankie and Jim below right). Magic legend Mike Caveney and his wife Tina also joined us, as well as David and Penny Alexander. It was a splendid evening.

Bright and early the next morning. I attended the opening day of 'VES 2003: A Festival Of Visual Effects'. This was a trade convention for the artists and technicians who create the amazing visual effects we see in today's 'blockbuster' movies. This side of movie-making interests me greatly, and so I was delighted that Bill Taylor, being the wonderfully generous person he is, had sent me a pass for the entire event. I attended as many of the presentations as I could, and I found them all to be uterly fascinating.

In the evening, joy of joys, I had booked dinner at the Hotel Bel Air. As far as I'm concerned, the Bel Air is more or less perfect. The gardens are beautiful, the ambience is perfect, the service is perfect, the wine list goes on forever and the food is heaven on a plate (many of the dishes they serve could pass for works of art). Who could ask for anything more? Of course, these occasions are always so much more enjoyable with intelligent female company, so I was pleased that my friend Janet kindly agreed to come along. All in all, the perfect evening!

June 28 - 29. 

The VES (Visual Effects Society) Conference was still in progress, and took up most of my time over the weekend (28th and 29th).

I saw several fascinating presentations concerning movies such as Terminator 3, X-Men 2, Hulk and The Matrix Reloaded. I already knew that the visual magic in these movies was the result of much talent, artistry, sweat, effort and ingenuity. However, to see some of the leading lights in this field explain their work, and how specific effects were achieved, greatly boosted my admiration for these Merlins of the silver screen. All the presentations were very slick and professional, with plenty of footage showing how effects were built up, step by step, until the desired result was realised. On very ambitious shots, the process from first scribbles to completion can take 18 months.

Los Angeles is a city of many secrets, but I guess most people reading these pages want to know one thing above all else: where, in this sprawling metropolis, can you find good old-fashioned rice pudding for dessert? The answer is Musso and Frank's, the oldest restaurant in LA. During the VES Conference Bill Taylor arranged lunch there for a small group consisting of Bill himself, his charming wife Kay, myself, my friend Spencer Cook and his partner Brenda. The restaurant, which dates from 1919, is charming in every way, and wears its age well. After we had eaten, Bill asked if I'd do a little close-up magic for Kay, as she hadn't been able to attend my Caltech show. I was only too happy to oblige. If anyone takes me to interesting places for lunch or dinner, the optional free magic show is always on offer!

My friend Spencer Cook is a lead animator at Sony Imageworks in Culver City. He is something of a star in the digital animation world, not least because he animated Spider-Man. I don't just mean that Spencer worked on the Spider-Man movie. I mean that, as lead character animator, he actually animated the Spider-Man character!

Spencer invited me down to Culver City to spend a little time in his office, learning more about his work and contemporary digital animation. I work full-time in magic, but I'm interested in the special effects side of movie-making. Spencer works full-time in the movies, but is interested in magic. I send him stuff from the magic world, and he gives me the inside track on whatever movies are in the pipeline (as far as he's allowed to). This is a very satisfactory reciprocal arrangement. As I've said before, most of the fun of travelling is the people, and part of the fun of people is the extraordinary things they can do.

This concluded my 10 days in Los Angeles, the second third of my Way Out West vacation. The next 10 days would be spent in San Francisco, so the story continues here.

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