Emmy Trip

2007.09.15 - Saturday

Well I know the outcome isn't in doubt or anything, but a trip to the Emmys deserves a post, and a few pictures. Most of the crew from Atmosphere who was going to the show left during the week, either on Thursday or Friday. Having just gotten back from Greece, and having plenty to do, I didn't end up heading down to LA until the morning of the show. I was up early to catch the 6:30am flight on Alaska Airlines and ended up walking out of LAX around 9:30 or 10:00. I caught a cab to our hotel, a different spot from the place we stayed for the VES Awards in February. After around thirty to forty minutes and fifty dollars, I was at the Sunset Marquis in West Hollywood. I must say that place is nice! Plus, it's also quiet, being tucked away in a bit of a side street. It is and it isn't the kind of hotel you would expect to find in Hollywood.

While I was originally bringing my girlfriend down, that ended up not working out, so I had a whole room to myself. I'm pretty sure it was about the same size as my apartment, but with a bigger balcony and a much, much nicer bathroom. Before checking in I met up with Drew, my boss and one of the company partners, as well as his girlfriend and second of three company partners Tom, for brunch. The food at the hotel was great as well, and with our high dollar these days, not ridiculously expensive. I suppose it's all relative, but fourteen dollars is pretty much what I'd expect to pay for a large omelet breakfast at a nice hotel, Hollywood or not.

The Emmys were supposed to start at 4:00 this year, and with the limo picking everyone up at the hotel around 2:30, that didn't leave too much time for lounging around. I got settled, relaxed for a few minutes while watching a movie and it was quickly time to get ready. Everyone who was staying at the Sunset Marquis met in the lobby for a quick photo session, then it was into the limo and off to the Shrine Auditorium.

Getting near the Shrine didn't take too long, but getting right to it was a different matter. There was a huge lineup of limos waiting to drop off their passengers at the entrance. Even though the show was supposed to start at 4:00, I don't think we even arrived until then, and there were plenty of people behind us. It wasn't a big deal, as I imagine the Emmy folks wouldn't be too interested in starting their awards ceremony with a half-empty theatre. Eventually we got near the entrance, got out, walked up the red carpet and met up with Brenda who was staying in a different hotel, and got inside the theatre. There wasn't a huge rush, and I imagine the show only started a half our late or so. I can't be sure, since I wasn't exactly paying attention to my watch.

The creative arts Emmys is a long show. There are a lot of awards to be handed out, most of them for technical achievements like ours. There are also a few awards each for things like casting, documentary programs, a bunch of editing awards, sound design, original song, commercial work, and a few guest actor awards. There are a lot, so the whole awards show takes about four hours. That's four hours of sitting in a theatre seat with no breaks, so it can get a little uncomfortable, and by the time the home stretch arrives people aren't laughing at any of the jokes anymore or smiling when someone's acceptance speech runs long. Thankfully, our category came up around the half way point. Now everyone in our group expected "Rome" to win. It's a popular show with some really good work in it, plus with the curse of being from Vancouver, where no studio has won an Emmy after over a decade of steady nominations, I didn't really think we would be going up on stage. I knew our show was good, certainly good enough to best the other nominees apart from "Rome", but a win? Nah! Still, when you're at an awards show it's impossible not to hope. Our category was presented and a short clip from each show was played on the big screen. The presenters, Greg Grunberg and Kristen Bell from "Heroes", opened the envelope and read the winner. My mind was saying "the team from Rome", but my ears heard "the team from Battle..." That was about it, because Tom let out a huge yell halfway through the word and everyone leaped from their seats. A quick walk down the isle and a few steps later and we're all on stage along with Mike Gibson, who's the visual effects producer on the production. Drew took the Emmy and Mike spoke for everyone in what I'm told was a somewhat lame acceptance speech, but really, no one cared. I wasn't really listening to what he was saying, instead just trying to soak up the moment.

Once we walked off the stage, Drew handed the Emmy to a guy who passed it back to a woman presenting the next award. They just use one for the on stage stuff, obviously. We were led backstage past all of the people running the show, and out a back door where they had a table set up and full of Emmys. It's here that everyone picks up their individual statue, signs for it and has its number recorded. Next we headed inside an outdoor tent to have pictures taken. Pictures, pictures, and more pictures. There were three separate "stations", the second being the most intense with around five or six photographers snapping several photos each second of all of the winning groups. I just remember thinking "keep your eyes open", despite the incredible urge to shut them or squint at the repeating flashes. The first photographer took pictures of us with the presenters, all of the nominees, the group from Atmosphere, and a whole bunch of individual shots of everyone. You have to buy these photos online later, but hey, it's the Emmys, and the company was nice enough to order a few this past week. We were in there for a few minutes, waiting for each photographer's station to work through the people who had won before us. After the photo-fest it was back outside. I called my Dad to let him know we'd won, but didn't have time to get into details since we were quickly led back inside the theatre, around the back of the audience and then back down to our seats. I'm not sure how long the whole process took, but it was fantastic, not only to win and get that whole experience, but just to stand up and stretch!

The rest of the show seemed to go a little faster, but it was by no means short. There was a loud cheer when the final presenter came on stage and announced that she would be presenting the final batch of awards. More than a few jokes fell uncomfortably flat as people were tired and just wanted the whole thing to be over. Eventually it was, and everyone grabbed their stuff and headed for the theatre exit. Next stop, the creative arts Emmy ball!

While we didn't have to leave the Shrine, everyone had to make their way through the lobby to another part of the building. It took a while to get there with all of the people, all the while reaching into pockets for tickets while trying not to drop the Emmy I'm carrying. The room where the ball was held was quite large. Tables were set up all around the floor, with more on a second "balcony" level running around the outside of the entire space. We made our way over to table 617 which was sort of on the opposite side of the room from the entrance. In the middle of the space was a rotating stage with a live band, some lit up Emmy-stenciled decorations around the floor, and a large curtain across the ceiling that was being hit by coloured lights. It was all very nice. Appetizers were all set up at the table when we got there, and everyone just kind of got settled before starting the food. By the way, the food was great. Lobster, salad, and some really nice breads to start. Steak for dinner. A couple kinds of chocolate things for dessert, and everyone seemed to be enjoying the open bar, some perhaps a little too much. Speaking of bars, they had a couple of ice bars setup, sponsored by some vodka brand or another. I don't know how long an actual bar made of ice lasts, but obviously they can hold together for the four or five hours they need to, though they're melting the whole time. It was definitely neat to see.

Around the time dinner started to arrive everyone was interrupted by an announcer saying the "show" was about to start. The long curtain over the ceiling pulled back in the middle and this large half-dome thing dropped from behind it to float over the stage. There were lots of lights and such of course, and eventually some broadway star ran, litterally, up on stage and launched into some show tune. I can't remember his name, just that he's got some new TV show on CBS coming out, and that he made a really bad joke about being a last minute replacement because "Pavarotti couldn't make it." Ugh!

The rest of the evening was spent hanging out, talking with people, including another group from Vancouver who were seated a couple tables away. A few of the people who were nominated for Battlestar didn't come to the show because they were working on a huge delivery. Mike called them to let them know we'd won, obviously, and one of them decided to at least show up for the ball. Apparently Adam, or "Mojo" as he's called for some reason, is a huge "Battlestar Galactica" fan from back in the day. Not having a tux rented, he put on his vintage '70s "Battlestar Galactica" pilot's uniform and came to the ball wearing that. He's even got the plastic gun on the side. Crazy, but certainly an attention grabber. "Mojo" did all of the previz, the basic animation, for the space sequence in the episode, and it was good to have at least one person from the in-house team there.

I don't think there's much else to say, really. The band played, the singers performed, people were dancing, and we stuck around until the ball started to close at midnight. Pretty soon it was back to the hotel to finally get out of that damn tux, relax for a bit at the bar downstairs and then head to bed. Having been up since 3:00am, it was almost twenty four hours for me. Certainly an eventful day.

I spent the Sunday sleeping in a bit, then heading over to Santa Monica to visit friends before coming back to the hotel and going for dinner with everyone on the strip. Monday was a nice lazy morning, and pretty soon it was off to the airport to catch the afternoon flight home. So there you go, the 2007 Creative Arts Emmy Awards. A great weekend all around.

Ouch!

2007.09.13 - Thursday

After 12 Innings, Nats Left Feeling Vacant

Take a look at the picture in this article. That's what 400 people sitting in a stadium with a capacity for 75,000 looks like. I thought hockey had attendance issues in the States; this is just brutal.

Emmy Win!

2007.09.10 - Monday

We won! I couldn't believe it, but we won. "Battlestar Galactica" episode 303b, "Exodus, Part 2" gets the Emmy for "Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series". Great work once again by everyone involved, and I'll have a more complete report once I get some pictures organized and a little bit of time. For now, here it is sitting at home on my table. Crazy!

Greece

2007.09.07 - Friday

I've had my pictures organized since the weekend I got back, but I hadn't decided on which ones to post until tonight. I figured it would be a good idea to get it done before the Emmy trip this weekend. As I said before, Greece was amazing. I got to see a great deal of fantastic and interesting stuff, reconnect with some extended family, and meet some great new people. While I was there Greece was in the midst of some disastrous forest and brush fires. Luckily for me at least, they didn't impact the trip beyond seeing plenty of water bombing helicopters and aircraft, dealing with some smoke and ash, and driving past a few smaller blazes in the distance. Still, the fires have been a pretty big deal, and as anyone in Kelowna can tell you, sometimes you just get a bad year. Hopefully the recovery won't take too long, the authorities will try to be more prepared for the next time, and crazy people will stop setting them on purpose as ludicrous political stunts, or whatever it is they think they're doing.

I spent the first night at the family's place just on the outskirts of Athens. The following day we drove to catch a ferry to the island of Evia, crossing over to the town of Idipsos before continuing on to the summer house in Gialtra. It was great fun driving in Greece, except for the horribly pathetic rental car I had. Everyone drives fast, people on motorcycles are downright insane, and road markings seem to be suggestions. You need to pay attention, but I didn't find it to be as awful as people were hinting at. If you were a typically timid Vancouver driver, I could understand, so it's a good thing for me I tend to fall on the aggressive side more often than not.

Gialtra was great. Almost one solid week of relaxing with very little touring. The water is amazing there; almost like a pool it's so warm and clear. That kind of experience is going to make just dipping my toe in the Pacific torturous. I have a feeling I'll be passing on the Polar Bear Swim this year. After Gialtra it was on to Livadia. We had a few days there, spending one driving through Arahova on our way to Delphi. That was a wonderful sight all around. There's just nothing like ancient ruins, especially when you come from a place which doesn't have such things. Between Delphi and the Acropolis in Athens a few days later, I think I've got my fill at least for a while. Other than a visit to the Acropolis, nothing much was done in Athens apart from a bit of wandering, shopping, and visiting with the family.

That pretty much sums up the trip, at least in short hand. With my Mother's side of the family coming from Greece originally, one thing I didn't experience while there was this "connection" to the place that a few people told me I would feel. I'm pretty sure that for whatever reason, I've been predisposed to thinking of myself as having more of a Scottish background, even though the family connection to Greece is much more recent. The last name doesn't help, of course, but maybe when I visit Scotland one day, I'll experience that sensation then. Time will tell. For now, here are a few more pictures from the trip.

Pavarotti Dead

2007.09.06 - Thursday

Tenor Luciano Pavarotti dead at 71

It's been coming for a while but it's still too bad. His was a pretty amazing life, and it's nice to see a short but proper biography on CNN instead of a headline and three sentences. As morbid as it sounds I imagine he'll sell a few more albums over the next little while. I certainly don't have one, though I wouldn't mind.

Bourne Ultimatum

2007.09.02 - Sunday

You know, every year in Vancouver it's like the weather knows exactly which day the beginning of September falls on. We had a bit of sun yesterday, but a lot of cloud, and this morning I woke up to rain. Every year, it never fails. Vancouver doesn't ease you out of summer, it slaps you across the face with the cold hard truth: "Summer's over suckers. Get back to work!"

I went to see the third Bourne film yesterday and really enjoyed it, same as the first two. This time we finally get some payoff with the story, but basically the whole film is more of the same intelligence and counter-intelligence drama, with a few action set pieces. It almost never slows down and remains really engaging the whole time. I wouldn't say it's required to see the first two films first, but it would definitely help.

Home Sweet Home

2007.09.01 - Saturday

I loved Greece, it's a beautiful place with great sights. However, whenever I go anywhere for any real length of time, coming back to Vancouver always reminds me of how much I love this city. One of the things that became very obvious in Athens, at least for me, is that Vancouver is really a city built for living. Where other places are more fun or more interesting to visit, Vancouver so perfectly suits that "west coast" active and natural lifestyle that you realize you've missed once you come back. There's green everywhere; trees, grass, flowers, bushes, parks. Driving up Granville street is like driving through a forest compared to Athens. Almost every street is lined with large trees and bushes, often forcing you to actually search for the house behind them. The streets make sense, the only blight on the grid being disgusting Kingsway, which in every way seems to have been transplanted from Detroit or Winnipeg. There aren't any trees along Kingsway, and the whole thing is lined with run down business areas, dirty stores, questionable restaurants and shameful housing. I think it's the only part of Vancouver I really don't like.

I snapped this photo from the plane on Thursday. We flew right over South Granville before circling around to land, and unfortunately I was on the wrong side of the aircraft to get any decent shots of downtown. So, Stanley Park and North Vancouver will have to do. The city centre would be off to the bottom right. After so many hours en route from London, flying over barren northern Canada, finally seeing the Rockies and eventually the North Shore mountains was wonderful. The mountain lakes, snow caps, and rivers seem to go on forever and I couldn't help staring out the window for the last couple of hours of the flight. Landing with Richmond, my home town, in sight was nice, and seeing the familiar North Shore mountains always makes coming back from vacation a little easier. As hard as it always is to come back from an amazing trip on the other side of the world, at least this city makes the whole thing a little bit easier.