Thanks to a cheap Spirit Airlines flight I would land in LAX with
Friday
Within 5 minutes of touching down we see Jake Gyllenhaal. We were going to chase him down for upgrades but he was on the phone and since we had photo ops we did not try too hard.
We waited about an hour to see if we would see anyone else, but saw nothing then decided to get our rental car and head to our first spot.
When we arrive we park and see other graphers. Wow quite the difference between NYC graphers and LA graphers. LA graphers are more relaxed and care free. Joresky spots Ewan McGregor crossing the street but chooses not to chase him down due to shades. I had him so I didn't care. Sadly the spot wouldn't have the greatest access as celebrities would have to come over. But Christian Bale did! Joresky already had 2 photo ops with him. So I handed him my camera with a mission to get me the shot! He started signing and I got him to sign my Batman figure! Then he agreed to pose, and his handler tried to stop me but I pushed him away (these actions can be seen in the picture). After the shot was taken he goes "don't push me" I then yell back "don't YOU touch me".
This officially marked not only my first ever combo in LA, but my first ever combo of 2016! And what a good way to start the year! The final live action Batman I didn't have a photo op with! I now have photo ops Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, and Ben Affleck!
In this spot I would also meet markedout member Samantha AKA DarkDefender for the first time.
Other names attained at this spot were Michael McKean and Ice Cube's son O'Shea Jackson Jr. Sadly this spot was not without misses. Peter Fonda, Stephen Speilberg, and Reese Witherspoon did not come over. In the case of Reese she was a few feet away from us and ignored our pleas. She then got into a regular car and drove herself. Ridley Scott did a roll down and signed I begged for a photo op he said he doesn't do them. Damn. JJ Abrams also came over but since I have two photo ops with him I didn't even bother to lift a finger. Let those that do need him get a chance.
Next place was convenient because there essentially were 2 spots next to one another. But nothing was happening so we went to a Fred Stoller book signing. After his speech he didn't even do a signing and people didn't even care to stay. But if you followed him in the store you would get him. I got a photo op didn't spend money on a book. So that worked out.
Back to the original spots where I get more photo ops. Unfortunately there was a garage where most big names seemed to use. The best photo op is Milla Jovovich from The Fifth Element and Resident Evil movies. Other first time meets were Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting), Odette Yustman (The Unborn, Kindergarten Cop), and Isabelle Fuhrman (The Orphan). Got an upgrade with Alexandra D'Addario and a repeat with Common among other photo ops. Some notable blow offs included Natalie Dormer (who I had) and Katie Holmes.
This concluded the day.
Christian Bale
Notice how you see the guy's hand and me pushing him off.
Milla Jovovich
Minnie Driver
Full list of Friday photo ops part 1
Full list of Friday photo ops part 2
Signed Batman figure
Saturday
This day would start with the main reason for coming to LA, Hollywood show (see previous report).
We then go to the next spot that seemed to be winding down and get a couple of photo ops. On to the next spot with more photo ops. Christian Slater came over but I didn't bother to fight for it as I have a shot, and Sam Smith did nothing.
We now had two spots, one spots for celebrities which had horrid access, and one spot for singer Peter Cetera. Based on the info we had we thought we could get Peter and go to the celeb spot. Unfortunately the time info we had was bad. So we missed the celebs. Due to access no one big came over but we missed names like Alicia Vikander, Michael B Jordan, Leonard Maltin, and director Ryan Coogler. Already had Michael but the rest would have been nice. Although on the flip side if he were at this spot the whole time we would not have known if Peter were still here or not.
We were joined by our buddy Bob who had just gotten some names from the other spot and we continued to wait for Peter. At that point a security guard was stationed. As I looked across I saw a guy loading stuff in a trunk and alerted everyone that I think I spot Peter.
The security guard outright tried to prevent me from proceeding, both with his words and his body, but I simply ignored him and his demands, went on the street, and skirted around him via running. As Bob told him "you have no say on the street". Plus we were 4 and he was 1 so not much he could do. I then stopped about 4 feet away from Peter and asked for a photo op. A minute later he agrees to pose but says he's not signing. I actually had nothing for him to sign so it didn't affect me. We then all got photo ops.
On to the last spot that looked like it was winding down. We were tiered and left. I was so tiered I had to even pull over and nap a little bit before going on. Unfortunately for Joresky about 10 minutes after we left the spot Santa bearded Lars Ulrich came out and did photo ops. Though for me it wouldn't have done anything because I had him and this shot would have been a downgrade.
Peter Cetera
Full list of Saturday photo ops
Sunday
After a few errors in judgement on Saturday, Sunday would start with some guarantees! Namely the Los Angeles Comic Book and Sci Fi Con. I enter the con and go for Stephen Costantino AKA the Gamorrean Guard from Jabba's palace in Return of the Jedi. I negotiated a photo op only price. Next up Mark Rolston from Aliens, Lethal Weapon 2, and RoboCop 2. Again, I negotiated a photo op only price and saved a bunch of money.
Next up Carrie Henn AKA Newt from Aliens. Someone in line was only getting the autograph for a friend. And a photo op was free with a purchase. I offered the man $5 for the photo op but he didn't care and said I could have the photo op. Works for me!
Then I went to the table of Julius LeFlore who had some minor roles in Return of the Jedi. Since the handler wasn't looking I managed to mooch a photo op. So that worked out nice.
This con ended with a me and Joresky splitting a Herbert Jefferson Jr photo op.
We then had a choice between 2 spots. We went to the first one and saw no other graphers, but it had all the other inklings that celebrities could be there (police, security, nice cars etc). So hopefully that would mean we would have any celebrity we saw for ourselves. After a little while of spotting no one we left to the next spot where we found out we missed Sam Smith, Alicia Vikander and Patti Smith! UGH I am cursed with Alicia I can never seem to get her. Hindsight is 20/20 we should have gone to that spot.
After this we felt defeated and then went to the Chinese Theater where we met up with Joresky's buddy Matt then to In and Out Burger where another one of Joresky's buddies joined us. I couldn't believe the crowd at In and Out Burger because the burger and fries tasted like plastic, and the milkshake like melted plastic. $7 gone down the drain
After this we tried to mooch into the Beverly Hills Hilton. I befriended a random Asian girl hoping her presence may help us mooch inside. But even she couldn't mooch in. We then took her with us to the next spot where it was ultra chaotic and success looked grim.
BUT we get our first post con success for the day, namely young actor Nick Robinson (Jurassic World). Also got actor Jeffrey Donovan.
We then decided to try the Beverly Hills Hilton again. This time with managed to casually mooch, in part at least thanks to the Asian girl looking all nice and taking pictures here and there. Once inside we found out Bob racked some lower tier names. We saw Derek Hough and Diego Boneta. I got Diego but Derek denied us. Bob followed him and via begging managed to get him.
After this back to our original spot where we found out we missed some names. Most names I either had or were nothing significant. But one name, Alicia Vikander, was a significant miss! WTF? The curse strikes again! BUT we scored director of Jurassic World and Star Wars 9, Colin Trevorrow! I also got another shot with Kiefer Sutherland.
This ended the evening.
Monday
We decided to try again for Alicia Vikander and others at one of the spots we missed her at. But Joresky wanted to sleep in and shower. I warned him that people could leave early but he wanted his all important shower. We arrived and never saw anyone, indicating that people left early. We then head to LAX where we hoped we would see some celebrities before our flight out, but sadly no dice. This ended the LA trek.
On a humorous note, when we went to the area where we thought we might see celebrities to the area where we were supposed to board our plane, it was like night and day. Like comparing the Crowne Plaza to the Motel 6, or like comparing Rodeo Drive to Walmart. Wow what a difference.
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