Leonieblog

Part two of my Free Web Comic 'Job Search' over at Indie Review.

Posted by Leonie at 05:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So…as I mentioned before, we went to California to film a documentary. I can’t talk much about the actual documentary and I can’t show photos from it (maybe I can at some point in the future), but I can tell you that it all went very well and it should turn out great. Editing hasn’t started yet, but we’re already working towards our next projects.
We landed in LAX and expected to spend ages trying to get in to the country, but it was fine. The airport is hideous but the security isn’t as bad as everyone makes out. Or maybe we were just lucky. Terminal 5 at Heathrow was also better than we’d been led to believe. We got there and back with all our bags.
The drive from the airport to the hotel took three times longer than route planner had said, because it doesn’t take the traffic in to consideration. The hotel itself (Resident Inn Oxnard) was awesome. I would definitely recommend it, should you ever visit Oxnard. Friendly staff, a swimming pool, hot tub, and a huge complimentary breakfast bar made it a very pleasant place to stay. There were also Happy hours and free BBQs, but we missed all of that. The food in California is amazing. I have never eaten so much in my life and I can eat quite a lot! We tried Mexican, Hawaiian, Japanese and of course In and Out burger. The portions were massive, and everything was super cheap. After a few nights I was wary of the massive portions and decided to order a starter instead, foolishly thinking it would be more manageable. I ended up with four burgers, salad and a mound of potato wedges. Yep, that’s a starter.
On Saturday I met up with my brother and his family who live in San Jose, which is really far from where we were staying, but they decided to come visit us and camp nearby. On Sunday we started filming. We went to a shooting range and I got to shoot some guns! I had some expert tuition and it’s lots of fun. I wasn’t great, but I reckon I can shoot better than a stormtrooper.

The guy we were making the documentary about was really friendly and by the end of the week we’d all become friends. He took us out for meals and he and his wife showed us great hospitality. Everyone we met in America seemed really friendly, it was a bit of a culture shock coming from England, where people don’t tend to talk to strangers unless they have to.
We spent the rest of the week filming, mainly watching people fighting, looking at weapons and dead animals. My job involved making sure that everything we did was within the contracts, okay for insurance, and that we had all the right paper work, etc. So I basically made people sign things and then I just stood around. It’s a pretty neat job.
We got to see some of the area, we went to LA, Santa Barbara, Oxnard, Malibu and Topanga Canyon and some beach between Oxnard and Santa Barbara, I’m not sure where that was. The beaches were stunning and there had been a Great White attack in the area a week before we arrived, so I was hoping to spot one swimming about. I didn’t see any though. Apparently a live Mako washed up on one of beaches along there too, but I didn’t get to see any of those either. There was plenty of thresher shark on the local menus, that’s as close as I got. I’m determined to get a dive in this year. Somehow, somewhere!
L.A. was….smoggy. It was cool to see it. We went to High Voltage (the tattoo shop used in the show L.A. Ink) and I saw Cat Von D milling about. Herod swears we saw Orlando Bloom and Andy says we passed by Nick Lachey too. So we did some celeb spotting while we there. I got pictures of all the important stars too:

We went to the Griffith Observatory,, Sheriffs excellent suggestion, and got an amazing view of the city.

We checked out the farmers market, which had some great food stalls and a cool little Americana antique place. We also went to La Brea tar pits:

Santa Barbara was one of my favourite places.

The beach was lovely and there were a lot of squirrels (which are probably a great annoyance to the residents but very cute for tourists).

I think it was the only place where I had food that wasn’t deep fried and didn’t have any meat in it. But I did follow it with ice cream, so it can’t have been that healthy. The harbour near where we stayed was great too, I loved the local architecture and there was a really nice Mexican café by the beach. We checked out the local retail outlets too (everything was silly cheap over there, I got a great Mutts t-shirt for $4.00!) and we checked out the thrift stores (which were massive!) and Andy got to check out the hospital because his finger got infected. There are a lot of places I want to visit, but I would love to go back there.
Set of photos on Flickr: California set

Also, I’ve put up some work on Lulu. It’s available as stock images or art prints. I don’t know what the quality is like yet so please bear that in mind if you decide to order something.

Posted by Leonie at 03:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Do You Want To Kiss It Better? the charity comic is now available to buy. I haven't bought a copy yet because I just got back, I think I might have some work in it:
http://www.forbiddenplanet.com/products/34529
I will tell you all about my California adventure, with photos, very soon, I'm just very very tired right now.

Posted by Leonie at 02:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)