To the Observatory!

After five years worth of closed-to-the-public renovations, this weekend was the grand re-opening of the Griffith’s Park Observatory. Excited to confirm my suspicion that its telescopes have been pointing in the general direction of my shower for the past half-decade, I navigated their seemingly friendly but genuinely sinister website to make reservations for myself, Bill and Christina.

Ah, online reservations for shuttles. There’s nothing quite like ‘em when it comes to generating a false sense of exclusivity for a venue and confusing the elderly. Believe me when I say that the observatory came through with flying colors (their reps insist I use “suspended quasars” instead of “flying colors” for some reason that probably involves books) in both departments, with a massive lineup comprised of infants and the infirm greeting us following our high stakes sprint through “The Who”-related concert traffic. One quick, third world-quality bus ride later, we were more than acquainted with the rules of the observatory and the sweet, supple curves of all those packed in alongside us.

?While this was my first visit to the observatory – having only seen it in THE ROCKETEER, BOWFINGER and CHARLIE ’S ANGELS – FULL THROTTLE (which the free literature refers to as “obligatory”) – I’m going to go ahead and say they did a bang-up job on the restoration. The building, at least what I could see of it through the teeming mass of humanity that had the same bright idea of visiting on opening weekend, is in pristine condition, with its walls covered by all sorts of stunning murals and hi-tech displays. The coolest sections were definitely the Tesla Coil – which came with the promise of a fiery, impartial death even in its powered-down state – and the Sun wing, which gave Bill and me the chance to come face to face with our age-old cable-related enemy (see left). I can’t comment on the new plane(silent ‘t’)arium since the observatory’s foolproof reservations system doesn’t allow you to buy show tickets online, leaving us the awesome surprise of showing up at 6 to discover that every show was sold out. C’mon Griffith. Not rocket science.

So needless to say, our visit was a little brief. Pretty much exactly the amount of time required to walk around the property, snap a few pictures and check out the breathtaking view of the city, as a matter of fact. But since the skyline and the company were worth the visit all by their lonesome, I can hardly say the trip wasn’t worth taking – especially since our shuttle ride back to Hollywood and Highland was scored by a musical luminary who dared to press the ‘Demo’ and ‘Repeat’ keys on their synthesizer…at the same time. Also because I managed to capture either Dodger’s Stadium or a small nuclear detonation in the left-hand side of the image below.

?And I have to say that last night was just what we needed to get into the swing of things for tonight’s premiere screening of SHOOT FOR THE MOON at Flicker’s “Attack of the 50-Foot Reels”. It starts at 7:30 at the Egyptian, and while I have no doubt that the 8mm films of 21 emerging filmmakers will prove to be a near-overwhelming draw (don’t listen to those rumors about rioting because they’re just that – rumors) my guess is that there still might be a few tickets available. And for those of you north of the border, don’t fret – a full account of the screening, including a report of how the movie actually turned out, will be up tomorrow.

So until then, keep your fingers crossed for us…and stay away from Dodger’s Stadium. Just in case.