Hollywood Babylon

.
Beverly Hills
Century City
Everything's so
Nice and pretty

All the people
They look the same
But don't they know
They're SO DAMN LAME!

— Circle Jerks


I had to download that song so we could listen to it while driving along Sunset Boulevard (which runs from Malibu beach, through Beverly Hills, and into Hollywood).

See the palm trees?

This is Will Rogers Park in Beverly Hills, where there is a pool full of ginormous koi (sp?).

And there that is...

Okay, two things about this photo. First of all, it's Jed outside of Nickelodeon on Sunset, where they film all of Jed's favorite TV shows, such as the pictured iCarly; unfortunately, it is not open to the public. Second of all, early in the trip I was critical of Jed's habit of smiling for the camera so woodenly that he would end up saying, "Hurry up and take the picture" through clenched teeth with the corners of his mouth pulled up and back. I told him to stop doing that, and he took that to mean that he should stop smiling altogether. So now I have a lot of pictures of a very solemn-looking Jed.

The Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard! It's amazing how many people there are on there that you've never heard of. Wayne King, for example.

I would like to say that I realize how inappropriate this picture is, and I feel just awful about it.

This is Jed and Shane, an employee of the Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood. Shane's job is to walk around the restaurant all day and take requests for rock music videos, which play on the many widescreen TVs in the place. He thought Jed was awesome, because Jed requested The Offspring, and then Motley Crue, and then Korn. Shane is also an actor; he apparently was a stunt double for one of the main characters in the new movie Vampires Suck, which looks like it's probably horrible, but what the hell. Being a kid though, Jed was only mildly impressed. "Why can't I ever meet a big actor?" he asked afterward. Really? Jed can be good in those places though. We ate at the bar, and he says to the bartender--not kidding--"Hey, do you know who Pierce Brosnan is? Because you kind of look like him." The guy, who was very nice, gets this big smile on his face and goes, "Hey kid, are you trying to get something from me or something?" But of course it was Hollywood, so the guy had met Pierce Brosnan a couple times, and said he was very nice. I don't know what that means.

I did appreciate this plaque on the wall of the Hard Rock, despite the irritating prose (in all seriousness, at first I thought "The Socal Smartpunk Overlords" was the name of some ridiculous side band he was in).

They have a zillion t-shirts for sale on Hollywood Boulevard. I thought this one was funny.

That's it for today!