Another great day in Hollywood

I may have to admit I've taken life to seriously the last few years. This week here in Los Angeles has been nothing but big smiles from early morning to late night.

Yesterday we ordered one of those Lincoln luxury cars to drive us up to Hollywood. We had an appointment with fellow Norwegian, director Ray Kay, to have lunch and maybe get to know a little more about how life is in the capital of film and TV industry.

Ray Kay, for those who don't know him, is like us from the town Haugesund on the west coast of Norway.

Ray Kay mostly directs music videos and has worked with artists such as Cher, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Jessie J, Nelly Furtado, Beyoncé Knowles, Destiny's Child, Gloria Estefan, Steven Tyler, Enrique Iglesias, Adam Lambert, Cheryl Cole, Alesha Dixon, Diddy, Willow Smith, Amerie, Sean Paul, Christina Milian, The-Dream, Backstreet Boys, Melanie C, Ciara, Snoop Dogg and Ghostface. He also photographs fashion stills and album covers, and has directed commercials for brands such as Pepsi, AT&T, Mango and KFC.

We met Ray Kay near his home on the corner of Sunset Avenue and Vine to have lunch at a Tendergreens restaurant.

He told us he was in the editing stages of a new music video for country crossover artist Hunter Hayes shot in L.A. a week ago. Hayes premiered the song live on Grammy Awards Sunday.

Ray Kay is a busy man and agreeing to meet us for an hour was far more than we expected.

To get a quick spin around the block in his limited edition Lamborghini Nera simply made my day.

We're not talking about breaking speed limits or anything. In the highly trafficed Hollywood streets he just showed us the raw acceleration on this beautiful machine.

After our meeting with Ray, when we sat down at a bar nearby to have a quick drink, André got a text from the people working with the Jimmy Kimmel Live show on ABC. 

It turned out we were welcome as audience for last nights show with guests actor Andy Garcia, famous chef Norman Van Aken and music from Broken Bells live from the Sony stage in Kimmels backlot.

We decided to jump on the train for a second time in a week and this time we finally managed to get our happy faces on television too.

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VIP Studio Tour

CENTRAL PERK: The set of Friends café "Central Perk" is still the most popular in Warner Bros Studios even thought it's been years since they stopped filming.

As a tourist in Los Angeles you can't avoid the film and TV industry. Universal/NBC, Warner Bros, Sony, Disney all have their studios here.

Yesterday we went to Warner Bros where we had a great VIP Tour.

Warner Bros studios is both an outdoor and indoor facility. The exterior is currently used for TV-series like "Hart of Dixie" and "True Blood", we were told. Inside the different sound stages you find both TV-series and films filming interior scenes.

I've put together some of the pictures I took yesterday to show you how it works.

TRUE BLOOD: Bellefleur's Bar and Grill, formerly known as Merlotte's Bar and Grill, was a restaurant owned by Sam Merlotte, but is now owned by Arlene Bellefleur.

HART OF DIXIE: Exterior scenes being shot for the popular TV-series. We were also invited inside, but unfortunately no pictures or video were allowed to be taken.

HART OF DIXIE: Some of the actors from the popular series chosing costumes.

ACTOR: J.T. Miller on his way into shooting in sound stage 10.

SPIDERMAN: Where the famous upside/down kissing scenes were shot.

Talk show host Ellen Degeneres also has her studios here in Warner Bros Studios.

Found her office and parking spot.

Harry Potter

The most popular props on display in the Warner Bros Museum are all the props from the Harry Potter movies. Here are some of those we were allowed to photograph.

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Look who I met today!

Today I had a great encounter with one of my favourite documentary directors - Mr. Sam Dunn.

Quietly enjoying my beer in the beautiful sunshine outside the 3 Square Café by RöckenWagner in Abbot Kinney here in Venice, I notised a tall longhaired man I somehow recognized. Told my friend I thought he made rock documentaries, but I wasn't sure myself at that point.

I left it with the thought, but later when we bumped into the same guy in a crossing, I went up to him and asked.

DIRECTOR: Sam Dunn.

- You're perfectly right, I'm Sam Dunn, he said.

So cool. I told him I really appreciated his 2009 "Iron Maiden: Flight 666" documentary and that I later also saw his film "Global Metal" (2008) and his "Metal Evolution" from 2011.

The Iron Maiden live video "En vivo!" is also a product of Sam Dunn.

Dunn co-directs most of his work with Scot McFadyen

Turns out he has also made a documentary about progressive rock band "Rush" and a concert DVD of the same band.

This man really has met most of my favourite metal rock artists.



In our short encounter on a street corner today Mr. Dunn told me he's been to Norway several times to document the metal scene in Bergen, Stavanger and Oslo.

He has also had great help in Stavanger based Canadian photographer Martin Hawkes who has filmed in several of Dunn and McFadyens projects.

Mr. Dunn also let us in on his ongoing work - soon to be released.

Legendary shock rocker Alice Cooper is getting his own documentary named "Super Duper Alice Cooper". Dunn and McFadyen co-directs with fellow Canadian director Reg Harkema.

I have to admit I was really stoked to meet Mr. Dunn today. I really respect his journalistic work with some of my favourite bands.




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Give it up for the L.A. Breakers

Nothing is like having a surprise mindbreaking experience while strolling down the boardwalk on a Sunday afternoon.

Just outside our hotel hundreds of people were gathered to watch legendary L.A. Breakers street show today.

The world famous L.A. Breakers were established in 1982 and have produced some of the best Breakers, Poppers & Street Dancers that the world has ever seen.

Link up with the L.A. Breakers on Facebook.

I really warmed my heart to see people giving donations to there wonderful and talented youths today and we also emptied our pockets.

Having kept a lot of kids of crime and given the something creative and positive to do for over 30 years now they deserve more than a big round of applause.

As one of them said to the crowd today;

"You giving us 20 dollars today, means you don't have to go out buy a new TV tomorrow". 

Instead of doing burglary the kids are going to practice their moves and steps.

I managed to film some of their performance to share with my blog readers and I chose to present it in this matter to give full focus on the art.

Enjoy!

Innlegg av Together we're better.

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Grammy Sunday food and drinks feast

After a couple of hard days working with the blog and being ultra tourists it's time to relax.

Jetlag finally left me last night and I managed to sleep for eight full hours.

Woke up to the sound of the waves hitting Venice Beach and a beautiful sunshine. Temperatures will be 25 degrees celcius by midday and our plan is just to take in a lot of great food and drinks just to collapse on the hotel bed in time for the Grammy Awards later this evening. 

The Grammy Show is live from the Staples Centre downtown L.A.

We actually went downtown last night when we met Andrés cousins who lives in this great metropole.

At the over a hundred year old restaurant "Phillipe" near Union Station we had French Dipped Sandwiches and really enjoyed our company.

The evening ended with celebrations of Andrés Baywatch video at Hooters on Santa Monica Boulevard. Oh boy did we see some great "Hooters". 

Vodka Red Bull were like $4 each so we just told the waitress to keep them coming.

As I said, today is relaxing Sunday. 

We're at the Mexican Baja Cantina right here in Venice.

We plan to stay here through the day!

Exclusive: New Baywatch fan video

BAYWATCH FAN: André Torgersen has been filming on location at Venice Beach and Santa Monica Beach.

This Saturday Norwegian Baywatch fan André Torgersen has been living out one of his life dreams at the famous beaches of Los Angeles, California.

Since childhood, when Baywatch was on TV in Norway every afternoon, he has been a number one fan.

He has met David Hasselhoff two times and once was on stage with him under a live show in London.

LEICESTER SQUARE THEATRE: On stage with Hasselhoff in London 2012. (Foto: Helmut Harringer/Speedlight)

Filmed on location at Venice Beach and Santa Monica Beach he now has his own Baywatch intro to show his friends and family.

CREDITS: Thanks to Los Angeles County Lifeguards for letting us film on location, Jim Jamison for the brilliant intro song "I'm always here". Video and very quick editing: magnusberning.blogspot.com.

Watch the new video:

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Crazy rides and Minions

What a dream day! Second day in L.A. and straight up to the Hollywood Hills to enjoy the film and TV theme park Universal Studios.

FULL OF EXCITEMENT: On our way in to the park.

I woke up early and went for a 30 min. run on the boardwalk and the beach here in Venice. After a quick shower we were picked up by a bus from Amazing L.A. Tours at 8.40AM and taken to the theme park.

January is perfect for parks like this. Not to hot and not to crowdy. We got first in line for most of the rides and never had to wait more than 10 mins. in line.

Universal Studios is first and foremost the place were the film company has made motion pictures for over a 100 years. The guided studio tour took us through and around some of the 35 sound stages on the premises.

The amusement park part of the studios today consists mainly of four great rides; The Mummy, Transformers, Jurassic Park and The Simpsons Ride.

On the Studio Tour you also ride through the worlds largest 3D- experience on King Kong 360 - 3D created by Peter Jackson.

The park also has a great House of Horrors and a live set of explosive action in Waterworld.

Innlegg av Together we're better.

 

Despicable André

The Minions and the other characters of Despicable Me will get their own ride in April, but the Universal Studios are already flowing over with the yellow minions.

FUNNY? Not at all.

MINION: - What's wrong with you man? Seriously!

LET ME GO: - Put me down on the ground again you giant Minion. "Banana, bananana. Banana, Bananana"

I can assure my readers that there is not a second without a laugh on this trip.

Talking about animated films the Universal Studios are also great for us The Simpsons fans. I even managed to get myself into a couple of stupid pictures.

Continuing on the animated scene there is also a 4D Theatre at the premises playing an action packed special from Shrek.

Outside the theatre in a waffle boot André had a little chat with Donkey and I had the pleasure of filming this.

Innlegg av Together we're better.

As I stated earlier; we have a lot of fun over here.

After eight hours inside the park we went to the Hard Rock Café outside the studio walls to have dinner.

We have a lot of pictures and videos from today, but I leave you with a couple of more or less stupid poses.

Tomorrow is Saturday and I plan to relax on the beach. André wants to combine relaxing with acting out his Baywatch set at Santa Monica Beach.

I will bring the camera to document the hopefully hilarious events.

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Kimmel screenshots just in

I managed to get hold of some screenshots from the Jimmy Kimmel Live show that me and André attended last night.

We sat in the back of the stand and it is not easy for the viewer to spot us, so I put a red circle round our heads to make it easier.

Kim Kardashian was a guest on the show and I think it was me she waved back at when she entered the studio. :-)

You can see excerpts (3 parts) from the show here:

And my own video from the Jason Derulo mini concert at the end of the show here:

Innlegg av Magnus Berning.

You can read more about our day in Hollywood yesterday here.

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Eventful first day in L.A.

The first day in L.A. has been brilliant for the two Norwegian travellers, even though we're jetlaged and tired.

VENICE: The homeless and the hippies waking up after another night at the beautiful Venice Beach.

After being on and off planes for 24 hours yesterday we arrived at LAX one hour before midnight local time (08.00 in Norwegian time).

At the Radisson Airport hotel we hoped for a good night sleep before moving on to Venice Beach. Travelling nine hours backwards in time, didn't do any good in that sence. We were both dead tired after a quick round in the hotel bar, but after a couple of hours on the pillow I woke up. After all my mind was still set on Norwegian time.

My travel companion André managed to sleep more than me on the flights and seem to have adjusted easier to the new time zone.

Fun in Hollywood

We went down to our hotel at Venice Beach, Hotel Erwin, early this morning and had to leave our stuff in the luggage room for later chech in.

We decided to go for breakfast at a café on the boardwalk and sat outside enjoying the beautiful sunshine. There was already a lot of activity in the area with surfers riding the waves and skateboarders enjoying the famous skate park at the beach.

BREAKFAST: Enjoying the view at Venice Beach.

THE AMERICAN WAY: BLT with extra avocado and Venice Style potatoes.

André ran straight out on the beach to get a closer look at the lifeguard towers. He promises he will dress up in his Baywatch gear during the week.

After breakfast we walked all the way up to Santa Monica beach were we ran into the set of the TV series "New Girl" in action.

NEW GIRL: On the beach set of the TV series.

By then the morning fog had started to clear and the sun made great opportunities for taking some photos.

GREEN DOCTORS: There is a lot of "doctors" and "pharmacies" at the beach, but they are only for Californians.

FLEXING: André at Muscle Beach, Santa Monica.

We were invited to be in the audience of the Jimmy Kimmel Live TV show and had to be in the queue at 3 pm in the afternoon. We wanted to be early at the location in Hollywood and started walking up Santa Monica Boulevard at noon. After 20 blocks and sore feet we ordered a taxi and the friendly driver took us for an informative tour through Beverly Hills and Sunset Strip before dropping us of at The Hollywood Walk of Fame.

This city is huge!

At the Walk of Fame people were crazy running round trying to find their favourite stars. We quickly found the theater were Jimmy Kimmel Live is filmed, talked to his chief of security and decided to come back after a quick meal at the new Hard Rock Café in Hollywood.

This particular store sold and advertised a new signature series of Kiss T-shirts and pin. That was enough to attract me to the place, having been a fan since I was five years old.

SIGNATURE SERIES: At the Hard Rock Cafè superstore I had to do some shopping.

The pulled pork sandwich and local IPA i ordered was perfect before a long night in the TV studios.

At 3.15 pm we queued up outside 6840 Hollywood Boulevard. We knew that Kim Kardashian was going to be a guest on the show, but we were really surprised when one of the friendly security guys told us Jason Derulo and his crew was going to perform live in Jimmy Kimmels backyard after the show.

THE MAN: Comedian and talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.

After a couple of hours in the queue we were finally security scanned and we could begin preperation for the show. We were not allowed to film or take photos inside the studio, so I'm sorry about the lack of photos, but I can try to describe a little. About 70 percent of the audience of around 200 were foreigners or people from out of state on holiday.

Under pre-presentation André was asked were he was from by the comedian warming up the audience. He was told he looked like an army guy, but André was quick to point out for the rest of the audience that he had never been to the army. Tell us something about Norway, the comedian asked André, but he stalled after saying that Norwegians were famous for skiing and I tried to help him rasing my voice telling the crowd that our country also is famous for its beautiful fjords.

- Are you also from Norway? You look like a crystal meth dealer, he said and we all laughed our a** off on my behalf.

The Jimmy Kimmel Live show is a comedy talk show. Last night Kimmel focused on the fact that Justin Bieber had been arrested in Miami.

Kim Kardashian was beautiful in real life too. She talked about her life with Kanye West and their baby and the fact that they are going to get married in Paris sometime during this summer.

After the show we went outside in the backyard and Jimmy rounded off the show with presenting Jason Derulo from the stage.

TALK DIRTY: Jason Derulo and his band and dancers performed five songs in front of the Jimmy Kimmel audience.

ANDRÉ: Enjoying the mini concert.

By that time we were allowed to bring our phones and I managed to shoot a video to show my readers.

Innlegg av Magnus Berning.

We were really exited to be there. Next Thursday we're back in Hollywood watch the Jay Leno Show live.

After chatting with three girls from Huntington Beach and having a couple of drinks at the bar at Hard Rock Café, we ordered a taxi and went back to the hotel.

BLOG FAN: This girl we met at Hard Rock Café wanted me to take a picture with her, so I did.

I actually fell asleep writing this blog post (ha, ha), all worned out after a long and adventurous day.

But, I'm up early to finish the blog.

Today we're going to Universal Studios and I will be back with a new blog post later.
 

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