Went down to Los Angeles to see Annemarie (a friend from Brown) on Sunday. Drove down in a brisk 90 minutes. Got some good dim sum and then went to check out the new Disney Concert Hall. The building is tres cool, designed by Ghery. The building has this kinetic and organic feel to it, despite it being covered by rectangular sheets of metal (a shape, incidentally, which the building seems to avoid in every other aspect). At one point walking around outside the building, we all thought that it felt as if we were inspecting a rollercoaster. The curves and the infrastructure convey quite a bit of a sense of motion. I like it. Oh, we were poking our heads around outside because the concert was sold out and we didn't catch any student rush tickets.

We continued the downtown tour of sorts with the Dorothy Chandler/Taper/Ahmanson halls, as well as the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. *BIG* cathedral in downtown LA. Not terribly pretty on the outside or the inside. Not a fan. They do have a proportionately large honkin' organ in there. Some of the pipes stick out horizontally, looking rather like cannons. Goes with the Fortress-like exterior I suppose. We were also irreverent to the dead in the catacombs (well, irreverent to places of the to-be-deceased in the basement).

Then we headed off to LACMA for a concert of Couperin/Handel/Bach played by Schepkin. He was excellent. Annemarie liked his Couperin more and I was quite satisfied by his Bach. Before the concert though, we looked around some of the LACMA exhibits. Of note are some things we found in the modern art (1970+) section. A miniaturized elevator built into the foot of a wall. We didn't even realize it was there until we heard a "ding" and looked down to see a tiny little elevator door open, complete with a full interior and all details. There were too doors actually, and each worked. There was even a little up/down button panel in between. The doors were maybe 6 inches tall at the most. They were really cute. There was also an assemblage of an alleyway and a garage, filled with junk and a car with no engine but with a rubber ducky where one of the headlights is supposed to be. It was creepy. Walking through it was like a create-your-own horror fantasy, imaging what could pop out at you where. The doors were appropriately squeaky.

Dinner was at Antonio's, a good mexian place where some Spanish guy said "Arigato" to a Chinese dude (me). Ack...too many cultures... After dinner we played some Grand Theft Auto Vice City at one of Annemarie's friend's house. Hey, why not.

Monday (today), I spent sleeping in too late. Annemarie showed me around UCLA for a bit and then we headed off to the Promenade near Venice Beach. We wanted to see the crazies and the street performers but they weren't there! Not too many anyway. We ended up staring at an adorable kitten for a while and did some shopping. After that, I needed to get back up here to SB for some good old work. It was a fun trip and much needed break from studying. Thanks Annemarie!

Oh yeah, this will be pointless to most but if you're ever in the LA area, you have to check out the David house. E-mail me about it if you want to know what it is (it's better left as a surprise). It is wonderful. It would have been worth it, I think, to drive down to LA just to see that.

Oh right, and Annemarie and I were suitably irreverent not only in the catacombs but also up in the gardens outside (next to a molecular diagram of SARS on the floor). Here are some pics to prove it: