Planning your day at the LA Auto Show

After going to the LA Auto Show for a few years, here's some tips I picked up.

1. The best days to go are weekdays. 

These days are the least crowded.  That means there's less waiting for you.  For 2014, the Auto Show ran from November 21-30.  I went on Monday the 24 and waited no more than 10 minutes for anything.

2. Prepare to spend all day there.

To get the most out of the Auto Show, be prepared to spend all day there.  If you scored free tickets, go multiple days.  Bring a backpack for snacks or medication.  Thick socks and gel soles for your feet.

3. Get there early.

The best part of the Auto Show is getting to test drive cars.  I arrived at the Auto Show this year around 2PM and missed a few brands.  In order to test drive at least once from every car manufacturer, you probably need to get there when the show opens at 10am.

Start at the main entrance at Pico and Figueroa and walk south towards Venice.  Find Figueroa Drive and there will be some test drives there.  When you finish, walk back to the entrance and then towards the overpass on Pico, there will be more test drives.  Next walk towards Staples Center.  You will find a lot of cars to test drive here.  For the last test drive, walk between the Convention Center and Staples Center.  Walk down Chick Hearn Court a bit for the last test drive from Ford.

My favorite drives from this year's show were the Fiat 500e electric and the Ford F150.  The F150 has massaging seats that blew my mind.
Test drives end at 5PM.  With a break for lunch, you should be able to finish all the test drives by sundown. Go have dinner and then buy your tickets to go inside.  That's right, you've had a full day and haven't bought tickets yet.  Test drives do not require admission, just your license.  You could go home and come back another day to go check out what's inside.

4.  Enjoy the show.

At this point of the show, I walk around and take pictures of cars.  Depending on the car and if there's a large crowd, I'll hop in a car to try the seats.  I love the interactive exhibits.  My favorite for 2014 were the booths that had an Occulus Rift setup. Don't forget to pick up free bags from Toyota and Hyundai for your groceries.  If you have any time left, go downstairs for the customs and exotics. 

Here are my photos from this year's show.

Soundgarden X nine inch nails X Hollywood Bowl: August 25, 2014

Lumia 925 - Hollywood Bowl marquee

Got free parking at the Metro in North Hollywood.  Paid less than a dollar for in Metro fares to get to Hollywood and Highland.  Broke a bit of a sweat getting up to the Bowl.  Stopped halfway at a cowboy sports bar for an Adios.  Wait a second, why is there a cowboy sports bar in the middle of Hollywood?  Stopped again at a small park next to the Hollywood Bowl entrance to empty my backpack of alcohol. In hindsight, I probably could have left my single serve alcohol bottles in my bag.


Lumia 925 - Hollywood Bowl at sunset

It was about 7:20 when I got to the gates, so I missed the opener Cold Cave.
It was really crowded trying to get in.  Lines for everything and people just standing in the middle of a crowd made navigation difficult.


Nokia 808 - Soundgarden

I decided to buy a tour shirt and hope I'd be done before Soundgarden started up.  The credit card machines were malfunctioning but I got lucky when it was my turn to pay. 
I went to find my seats and found I was in a 4 seated box.  This was really cool.  The last two times I was at the Bowl, I was stuck on a bench.  I didn't find out until afterwards I had a table to use as well.  The Bowl has hi-def monitors on each side of the stage and a few more for people in the middle and nosebleed sections.  I think those were new since my last visit.  One more note about the Bowl, the men's bathroom is stacked with urinals.  The line may seem long but it moves fast.


Nokia 808 - Soundgarden - Spoonman

Soundgarden played a shorter set compared to when I saw them in Vegas.  They started about 10 minutes later than the set times I saw posted on twitter.  Chris Cornell said it had been a lifelong dream to play the Bowl since he saw it on the Brady Bunch.  He also talked about how nice it must be for the people who lived at the top of the hill to get to watch shows all the time.  He then complained about how the whole show needed to be finished by 11PM.


Nokia 808 - Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun

The band's show was a bit different from Vegas.  Aside from being shorter, they didn't have a curtain drop to kick off the show.  At the end of the show, the band left one by one.  Guitarist Kim Thayil walked to the left side of the stage, picked up a beer, raised it to the crowd and walked to the other side of the stage.  When he got to the other side, he poured it out on the stage.  That was strange.


Nokia 808 - nine inch nails - 1000000


Nokia 808 - nine inch nails

nine inch nails put on a great show as usual.  The setlist was almost the same as the last time I saw them.  Sanctified sounded a little different from recent past performances, but that's about it.  Although my distance from the stage was the same, it seemed smaller due to the band shells.  Unlike Vegas, the show went down without a hitch and finished with 1 minute to spare before the 11PM curfew.   


Nokia 808 - nine inch nails - Closer


Nokia 808 - nine inch nails

I was really surprised with how many bootleg t-shirt salesmen there were.  I think it was because of my path back to the Metro station that I ran into nearly everyone salesmen.  Other big shows I've been to probably had more that I never saw. 


Nokia 808 - nine inch nails - head like a hole


Nokia 808 - nine inch nails

Queens of the Stone Age at Jimmy Kimmel Live

Nokia 808 Pureview | Queens of the Stone Age

I went to see Queens of the Stone Age last Monday at the Jimmy Kimmel Live stage.  Despite being up at the very front, I got a lot of blurry photos. Should have played with the iso or something. 


Nokia 808 Pureview | The Vampyre of Time and Memory

What was strange about this show is that it wont be airing until tonight, July 31. I know that other shows such as the Late Late Show cut and paste segments from multiple days.  It was strange to me that Jimmy Kimmel Live started doing it.  Must be due to the new time slot.


Nokia 808 Pureview | I liked how often they switched from guitars to keyboards

The concert started very late.  They said they wanted to wait for daylight to go away.  When I saw Depeche Mode here last April, they were already done by now.   They finished the taping of the show around 7:15.  There was a long wait until the band started to play. QOTSA played song extra songs before the ones that would be recorded for the show.  This was weird, since every show I've seen at JKL has had the TV songs first and extra songs afterwards.


Nokia 808 Pureview | Queens of the Stone Age full set on flickr

Mindless Self Inulgence at Club Nokia

808 - This was a silly night



808 - Chantal Claret was the opener.



808 - Limbo



808 - Jimmy climbing on the drums


808 - "You're gonna die alone"


808 - They're tired

Mindless Self Indulgence came back to LA to support their new album. I first saw them live opening for Rammstein back in 1999 and thought they sucked.  Now I can't get enough of them. 

This show was pretty weird.  The crowd skewed very young.  There were plenty of cosplayers on the floor.  Seated next to me was a teenager accompanied by her parents.

MSI have never added much to their stage show.  They rely on high energy and silly stage maneuvers.  A lot of songs have singalongs.  It's a very fun show.

808 - Watch some videos

depeche mode at Jimmy Kimmel Live

Back in April, I saw depeche mode at Jimmy Kimmel Live. 











All photos via the Nokia 808 Pureview.  4 hours of waiting in line to get about 5 rows deep.  No video this time, too cramped to get my arms up that long.  My sister was jealous of how close I got.


depeche mode - soothe my soul via Jimmy Kimmel Live

How To Destroy Angels - live in Las Vegas

808 - This was a great show.

I left my room at the Quad on the strip around 5:30. It took about 30 minutes to drive two miles to the Palms. Parking was a breeze. I entered the casino and found my way through the food court and to the line at the box office. I knew the Palms catered to a young crowd, but wow. I was standing next to a coat check booth and many young women in bikinis were showing up from the pool to get their clothes. It was a weird contrast with the mostly older and goth crowd in line. As the line moved into the venue and wristbands were distributed, I ended up in front of a drunk group. A girl was telling a guy he was a light weight and not drunk enough.


808 - Lights and boxes

I found a great spot up front behind two short people. I had two feet of space to either side of me. After the opening band, a waitress showed up and offered drinks. I didn't care that my bottle of water was $6. I have never been more comfortable in a pit like this.


808 - bathed in green light

The set featured an amazing light show.  Pulsing strobes, rotating curtains of light, and mindbending visuals. 


808 - Mariqueen Reznor

After a couple of songs, the curtains would part and Mariqueen would come out to sing some somber songs.


808 - Pink lights

I watched the Coachella stream the night before.  Some of the songs were sloppy.  The Vegas set had better performances.


808 - HTDA in blue

If they tour again, I hope they bring a live drummer.  One of the weirder moments was when Trent was jamming on his guitar and the sounds of the strings getting hit was louder than what was coming out of the speakers.


808 - Circles

I stuck around after the show in hopes of getting a guitar pick or the setlist.  Instead the roadies gathered them up and put them in a box.  Afterwards, I went to the merch booth and scored a tour shirt.  Then I went outside and was pleased to see the marquee was still up.


808 - 34 megapixels


I recorded 7 songs between photos on my 808.  Great sound quality.  Enjoy!

Sword Swallowers

Last Saturday I went to Hollywood for World Sword Swallowers day.  This happened to be Oscars weekend, so much of Hollywood Blvd was blocked.  I got there early enough for a spot that I thought was great.


I saw this big dog as I arrived.


She howled along to the far away police sirens.


This is George the Giant. He stands 7'3" tall. Although he is the record holder for longest sword swallowed, he couldn't perform that trick due an injury. He did perform this bottle lift using hooks, chain and his eyelids.


Here he snorts milk from a long straw wrapped around a girl from the crowd.


Amy Amnesia lying on a bed of nails in her first public performance.


Donny Vomit driving a spike into his head.


The Mighty Torres about to swallow a big screwdriver.


This is a longish video that recaps most of the performances. Stick around for the big finale.


Amy Amnesia, Donny Vomit, Brett Loudermilk, Vincent Wolf, The Mighty Torres, George the Giant and Robin Marks pose before the big swallow.


Also during the show was a fire performance from Ted Shrek.

Dethklok at the Hollywood Palladium

I saw Dethklok last Tuesday at the Hollywood Palladium. Here's some photos.

I used my html skills to make a table.


Look for the clown who likes cocaine.



These videos came out amazing.  I found a nice spot with a barrier to rest my arm on to get very stable video.

Machine Head at the Hollywood Palladium

Here's some photos from Machine Head at the Hollywood Palladium last night.








Machine Head opened with "This is the End". While the Palladium was incredibly loud, the sound recorded on my Nokia 808 Pureview is remarkably clear.

Butterflies at the Pacfic Science Center

After visiting King Tut, I visited the Butterfly garden at the Pacific Science Center. This was quite a challenge for me and my Nokia 808 Pureview.   Setting up close up shots with rapidly moving subjects was quite difficult. 


I got the focus wrong on this one.


A still butterfly and a blurry one in mid-flight.


I use this one as a background on my main homescreen.


Lots of species were in the garden.


The butterflies had plenty to eat.


It was very warm and humid in the garden. I guess to simulate a rainforest.


More feeding and another blurry butterfly in flight.


Here's a good one.


Couldn't get good shot of that blue one.

King Tut at the Pacific Science Center

I visited the Pacific Science Center to see their Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs exhibit. I was not allowed to use my Nokia 808 Pureview's flash in these photos.

Here's some statues.

Some heads.

More statues.

A relief of a woman.

A toilet seat.

A cat sarcophagus.

Left, a stela. Right, a relief of a pharaoh.

Large relief fragments.

Left, a very large statue.  Right, a queen's coffin.

A golden mask.

A cup and a vase.

A collar and a diadem.

A tiny statue, a necklace and a ring.

A boat.

A little bird statue.

Emblem poles.

Close up of the first one.

Fancy gold work.

Gold fingers.

Gold shoes.

This is a replica of King Tut's mummy. It was made using x-rays. This is the last thing you see after exiting the gift shop.