Travelling from Las Vegas to Los
Angeles is like a trip from the Id to the Super-ego or from the brainstem to
the pre-frontal cortex. Both communities are based on imagination. Las Vegas is based on the dopamine controlled
reptilian hindbrain whereas Los Angeles is based on the serotonin-controlled mid-brain
buried just behind the pre-frontal cortex.
Both have no reflection on reality.
Although referring to Los Angeles as a thoughtful community is like
saying Molson Canadian is fine wine.
Disneyland, Universal Studios,
Hollywood, MGM, Knot’s Berry Farm, Six Flags, etc. etc. etc. Need I say more? This is a more innocent imagination than Las
Vegas. Don’t get me wrong I love
imagination. Most of my life has been
spent wandering through the imagination and I have not always been positive what
is real – my dream world or this world.
That presupposes that either one is real.
My only concern with the imagination
industry here in Los Angeles is when fiction is purported to be reality. The
US, as I have said, is good at two things; space and entertainment. The entertainment industry, intentionally or
not, has a huge effect on the attitudes and understandings of the
audience. What a great and subtle way
to influence people to your way of thinking.
Portray the “enemies” as stupid, evil and fanatical and the Americans as
clever, noble and unbeatable when, in fact, things are often the reverse. This
is called propaganda and the US is very good at it.
The place we stayed in Anaheim, the
Hotel Peppertree, is worth mentioning.
It is a small, independent hotel in an area that is primarily
Mexican. The hotel itself looks as if it
was smuggled across the Rio Grande in the middle of the night and is hiding
from the authorities behind a huge stand of Palm Trees. The room was large with a kitchen and it’s
own courtyard that included a fountain.
The grocery store across the street is called the Vallarta and reminded
us of the grocery chain in Mexico called “Mega” and it primarily caters to the
Mexicans. We thought we would stay a few
days to give Telen a chance to study for her conference and me a chance to dig
out my sketch stuff.
On our first night, as we were
sitting watching TV Telen heard water dripping that was not the fountain. We went into the bathroom to find water
pouring in through the ceiling – not dripping – pouring. I ran down
the hall to the desk and reported our inadvertent downpour and the clerk came
down to view. He said a number of abrupt
words in Spanish that are probably best left un-translated. The upshot was that the tenants upstairs had
left the bathtub running. So that meant
we had to relocate to a different room on the second floor that was nicer (flat
screen TV, gas stove) although it had a balcony rather than a courtyard. I liked that courtyard. And, it was cheaper!
Since we were in Anaheim we had to
make a visit to the Big Cheese. I
thought we should go during the week because the kids would be in school and it
would be less crowded. Telen suggested
we go on Sunday because they are open until midnight and they had
fire-works. We went on Sunday. Everyone
goes to Disneyland on Sunday. The seven-kilometer
trip to Disneyland took slightly more than one hour to complete. We managed to go on four rides that day
because the line-ups were at least one hour long. Except the “Rivers of America” ride which
had no waits and ties with a Steven Harper speech for excitement. The interesting thing about the River’s of
America ride is the way they refer to it as the Rivers of (reverential pause…wait
for it….) AaaMEricaaaa!!
Almost woke
me up!
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| Telen on the Disney Wild Thrill-ride: the Carousal |
Disneyland is a great idea. The imagination and creativity is wonderful
for children. I loved seeing the little
girls walking around (or being carried) in their “Princess” dresses and the
little boys wearing their pirate hats. I
even saw one guy wearing a Mickey Mouse hat, a Disney T-Shirt, a Yoda backpack,
carrying a Light-Sabre and had his face painted like a cat. I think he was right into the spirit of
things.
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| The "Incredibles" in the Pixar Parade |
Disneyland, however, is a little too
“America the Beautiful” for me. It has
American flags flying everywhere and tries to portray Mainstreet USA as an
American ideal. The Fantasmic show in
the evening has Mickey Mouse killing or destroying his evil enemies. A simplistic answer to a complex
question. And this is for kids? Indoctrinate them young, I guess. It is also looking a little shop-worn these
days – a little in need of an upgrade.
Maybe I am getting a little old but the magic in the Magic Kingdom has a
need for an infusion of pixie-dust.
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| Disneyland-Pixar Parade - seriously! |
I love the weather here. Warm (maybe too warm – but I am NOT
complaining) and not too humid. I love
the palm trees, the banana trees, the hibiscus growing wild, the bougainvillea
hanging down over the balcony and the blue skies. Southern California has something to say for
it climate-wise. I wonder if we could
trade Labrador for it. I think Labrador
is bigger…
Ok, maybe we will throw in Winnipeg.
