Expectations

A friend of mine insists that your enjoyment of a film is based on how good you are expecting it to be as much as how good it actually is. If your expecting a film to be terrible, but it is in fact mediocre, then you're going to enjoy it a lot more than if you were expecting a masterpiece. Quite often good films get a terrible reception purely because the fans are expecting so much more. I mention this, because I feel something similar has happened to me in California. After San Francisco I stayed in LA for 4 days. For every person who told me how great San Francisco was, there was another one (or quite often the same one) who said how horrible Los Angeles was. It was described to me as dirty, grimy and fake. Imagine my surprise when it turned out I loved it.


One perception Ive always had of the city is that its full of failed and failing actors and musicians. It turned out to be completely true! Literally my first meal in the city, I was sitting at some diner eavesdropping on two guys complaining about how the guitarist they looked up to and respected so much consistantly refused to give them lessons. "He's just worried people will steal his licks dude", "Yeah! Its like - he's afraid of some competition. Last time I spoke to him I was saying his stuff was pretty cool, you know, talking to him like Im on his level. When I asked him for lessons he said he was too busy touring! Dude he sucks". They also worried that if they got proper jobs then they would be likely to give up on their dreams. Idiots, yes, but this was exactly the kind of conversation I wanted to find in LA.

I stayed in Hollywood so I got to see the sign everyday. After a few days I decided to try and actually walk up there. Three hours and four wrong directions later, I made it. This was the result:


Dont laugh - its difficult to take these photos by yourself. Hollywood also meant that I got to spend time at a movie studio. Now the Universal studios one is by far the most popular tour. It is also, unfortunately for someone with a budget such as mine, about £30 more than I can pay for a single tour. Also its more of an interactive rollercoaster ride than a movie studio tour. I ended up going to the Paramount studios tour, which is half the price and has the benefits of being an active studio. It was really fun. I got to sit on the bench from Forest Gump. The guide claimed that whenever Tom Hanks is working there, he takes his lunch break on the bench, and speaks in Forests accent to people. I hope its true. I also got to see the cast of Glee, a show which I havent seen but am sure will make people jelous. For the record, I saw the teacher and the kid in the wheelchair (who was not in a wheelchair).

I enjoyed my time in LA thoroughly. The thing is, was it better than San Francisco? Its tough to say. It all comes down to expectations. San Francisco was a great city which I was ecpecting to be amazing. LA was a great city I was expecting to be a shithole. On reflection both cities are fun places with more than enough attractions to keep anyone going. Just make sure you have low expectiations.