What. A. Day.

Seriously.  What a day!  There were so many points throughout today where I just took a step back and said, "wow." 

We left the hotel this morning and made our way over to the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.  You know during the Emmy's when celebs say, "I'd like to thank the academy.".....?  Yeah, that's actually a real place!  We walked around the front outside for a little bit while we waited for Nancy Robinson, the executive director of the ATAS Education Foundation.  This is the woman who gets you the scholarships.  We wanted to be very nice to her.

Sittin' with Desi and Lucy

Giant Emmy

The Academy!

Nancy finally came out (after we had all taken pictures of every single thing possible outside) and greeted us, and then brought us in to a room with 3 other women who all have different fields in the Academy.  All of these ladies were either representing internship or scholarship information for us.  So either free work or free money.  Sounded pretty good to all of us, I think.  We just spent a quick hour there; no tour or anything.  Just a lot of really good information.

Since we had a little down time before our next scheduled event, Roger decided to take us to the Hollywood Walk of Fame for some sight seeing.  Sight seeing we did.  We climbed the steps of the Kodak Theatre so that we could get a better look at the Hollywood sign.  It's so funny how 9 white letters stuck into the ground a few miles away could make anyone so giddy.  But it's so iconic that it's hard not to get really excited!  

THE SIGN

On Hollywood Blvd, there were people setting up for the premier of Sucker Punch, which was totally cool to watch.  They even rolled out the red carpet!  It was a bummer we couldn't stay longer to actually see celebs walk out of there limos and such.  Oh well.

The Walk of Fame was so cool.  So many famous people I've forgotten about.  And I am glad to announce that I saw neither Katy Perry nor Justin Bieber's name on any star.  Phew.

Tinker Bell, my idol

Another idol, great music

Biggest idol of all? Looks like it.

I play his music! And she was pretty cute too.

This one's for you, mom!

Downtown Hollywood was pretty cool, and maybe a little creepy too.  I saw about 4 Michael Jacksons, two which collaborated for quite some time, probably about who had the skinnier nose.

We all kind of went our separate ways for a while (using the buddy system, mom, don't worry) and met back up on the corner of Hollywood and Orange at 1:45pm, 15 minutes before our Panavision tour.  I was just looking around, waiting for the last of our kids to show up, when someone caught my eye.  I could have sworn he was someone I had gone to high school with, but I quickly disregarded that hunch; I mean come on, what would the freaking odds be.  Well, the freaking odds were probably like a billion to one, but in this case, it was the one.  I said his name just for the heck of it.  "Bobby?"  He immediately turned around and both of us went ballistic, running to each other in slow motion to the Chariots of Fire theme.  Well, not really, but I feel like if this scenario was in a movie, that's what probably would have happened.  "Angela?"  I then turned out of his hug to see Alyssa, another old friend from high school, practically in tears because she couldn't believe what was happening.  After the three of us had stopped acting like little school girls and calmed down a bit, I asked them what they were doing here, of all places!  Their reply: "VACATION!"  Nice.  L.A. during spring break: apparently the trend is catching on quickly.

Alyssa, me, and Bobby.  Crazy!  :)

We made our way over to Panavision.  This facility houses almost every camera in the world.  Big time movie producers and little time television directors go to these guys to rent out cameras, film reels, lenses, 3D cameras, and a whole lot more.  They've supplied cameras to television shows such as Joan of Arcadia, CSI, Malcom in the Middle, Glee, and a lot more.  Movies like Knight Rider, The Roomate, Iron Man, etc.  Very cool.  They explained to us how a 3D camera works and showed us a bunch of different cameras as well.  They are basically all film-based, which won't be good for them in about 10 years because pretty much everything (movies, television, music videos, animation) will be shot in digital and not actual film anymore.  It's a little sad, I suppose, but that's the world of technology!  Always, ALWAYS evolving.  I'm sure these guys will find some way to keep up.

At 5:00, we headed back over to Warner Bros studios for the live taping of one of their newer show, Mike and Molly.  Unfortunately, we were not allowed to bring our cameras and cell phones into the lot, which was expected.  We went into the studio and sat down just as the show's MC was coming out.  He told us we were going to watch one of their most recent episodes first, and then the "show" would begin.  

After the episode was over, the MC brought out each actor for an applause and also announced the executive producers and directors for an applause of their own.  It was amazing to see the amount of people behind the cameras.  Makeup artists and wardrobe people, prop people and camera men.  Everyone had their own job and did it so efficiently.  Watching the actors live on the set, and then also watching on the television's up above us, simultaneously, was also so incredible.  They tape it as a multi-camera show, meaning there were 4 cameras all together so the continuity of the scene was never faulty.  Each time an actor would screw up a line, he or she would let out a blow of exhaust or a swear word and get right back on track according to the directors cues.  It was absolutely fantastic to watch.  So fast paced and so professional.  The time in between scenes was long, so the MC would bring people down to the front or do a little entertaining of his own while actors and actresses would change outfits or get their makeup reapplied.  Out of the 4 hours we were there in the studio, we probably saw about 45 minutes to an hour of actual acting, tops.  That's it!  All of our laughing was not cued; they told us to just laugh as it felt natural.  It was actually a pretty easy thing to do.  Hopefully one of my snorts made it into the sound reel on the real show.  Probably not though.  It's slightly obnoxious.

After the show was over, the actors and guest actors came out for one last bow and applause from the audience.  We all left the studio and filed outside into the cold!  8 of us students and Roger were outside waiting, waiting, waiting, for the rest of our group.  5 minutes...10 minutes passed, and the last of the audience members came outside and walked back to the parking garage.  "Could they have gotten past us?"  says Roger.  He asked one of the security guards if he could go back inside to try and find his lost little ducklings, and she reluctantly agreed.  He came back about 5 minutes later with no little ducklings trailing behind him, but he was smiling.  "So," he says, "the cast of the show are signing autographs for them right now, they'll just be a few minutes."  "Very funny, Cooper," I said.  He just looked at me very confused.  "No.  Really."  After the 8 of us had a mini freak-out, we asked the security guard, who had heard this whole thing, if we could go back inside.  "No," was her very straightforward answer.  Lame.  Papa Duck went back inside to get them a few minutes later, since he could see we were all in agony between standing out in the cold and thinking about our fellow classmates meeting famous people.  Grrr.  I mean, Quackkk. 

Finally, out they come, with signed mugs, bags, and programs.  We booed them to make ourselves feel better.  All in all though, it was truly a great night.  What an experience.

I'm slightly worried because I feel myself being less tired throughout the day, meaning I am starting to adjust to this west coast time zone.  NOT GOOD.  Especially because the Monday I go back to school, I have an 8am class.  Eeek.  This was a long post, and for those of you still reading these words, thank you and I am glad I have not bored you.  Tune in tomorrow!