Jeetan Meets LA-LA-Land

So I have a friend who historically has always talked about places he would like to go to, and/or live. Whenever the conversation comes up, I have always been vehemently opposed to living and even visiting that city known as Los Angeles, which means the City of Angels. To me the name itself is Orwellian, in that my impression of it would more accurately be labeled the "City of Demons". My mind has always pictured LA as a modern day Sodom to LVs Gomorrah. Succinctly stated, I have imagined LA to be more the City of LOST Angels.

Yet, this month came an event that so captivated me that attendance to it was all but mandatory: The World Baseball Classic. So there I was, ME, traveling to the City of Lost Angels (forever tormented by the Demons who control that city; a destination where the Angels of the midwest and elsewhere travel to become "stars", only to more often than not crash from the firmament into their hellish situations that I can not imagine is what they expected.

My impression of Orange County was not wrong I should say. I expected Orange County to be Nassau County if it was the size of Suffolk County, and that is exactly what I saw. The parts of LA I saw were nice. Justin and I hung out on the outskirts of the UCLA campus, which was very cool (nice campus), as well as at Manhattan Beach (which was very cool in the other meaning of the word cool. Pictures of Justin pretending to be the "Lone Polar Bear" will attest to that). The famous Getty museum was unavailable, but its older version was a nice site. Nothing spectacular, but still nice. The Greek and Roman face sculptures had piercing eyes on black granite (I can only assume) that I found fascinating. I suppose its a simple matter of the chiarascuro effect, but still, it was aesthetically pleasing.

As for the "main event". Going to Japan vs. USA was awesome. As I had suspected, the American fans just didnt get into chanting U-S-A. I have "felt" a general antipathy and anti-patriotism with regards to this event. I suspect it is really more a "we dont want to seem jingoistic" reaction, but it is quite stark compared to the nations of the rest of the teams in the competition.

For example, the second game we saw (a TRUE double-header it was!) was Korea vs. Mexico. The stadium was packed, and absolutely rocking. There was not a moment when either the chant of Me-Xi-Co or Dah-Hahn-Min-Gook were not trying to drown out the other! There was not a moment when this one guy who had this giant basin-drum didnt stop beating. The game was over 3 hours long! I dont care what other Americans think, but the WBC was an absolute success, and I know cause I was there. I could see the absolutel passion of the fans. This was Baseball on the World stage as it belongs.

It is fair to say that perhaps I do not have a comparable situation. Well, I am planning to go to the Cricket World Cup next year, so expect me to get a better understanding and comparison after that.

All in All, LA was as I expected it to be. The women are tall and blonde, the people seem a bit shallow. One of the highlights of my trip was driving down Rodeo Drive in a pimped-out Dodge Charger with the song "Rodeo" by Rage Against the Machine playing in my head (the lyrics go: "I'm rolling down Rodeo with a Shotgun, these people haven't seen a Brown-skinned Man since their Grandparents bought one!"). I truly felt and understood what Zack De LaRocha was saying.

Still, to be fair, LA is a very diverse city. I love the fact that it has a large Japanese and Korean population. New York's North-East Asians are mainly Chinese (and for that matter, mainly the Cantonese variety), and as much as I like Chinese culture (having studied its history, its art, and taken one year of Mandarin-Chinese), I have always found the Korean and Japanese cultures far more enticing and interesting (not to mention their women are FAR better looking than Chinese women, who I dont really find attractive -generally speaking of course). Perhaps it is the Korean and Japanese affinity towards Indian culture that drives me to them (Lord Buddha in particular). Either way, it was quite refreshing. I tried Korean food for the first time (something I had wanted to do BADLY for years, but didnt know anyone with the "know-how" to actually go with and do so). My love for Japanese food is well known.

Speaking of trying new foods. I am not a burger person. I will eat burgers if its at a barbecue, but I dont think I have had a burger from a fastfood place in 20 years until this past trip. Brian was kind enough to bring Justin and I some "In & Out Burgers" when we arrived in LA. WOW, I have never had such a good burger at a fastfood joint (and as my parents can attest, before the age of 6, I was a "Burger-connoseur" lol), and it was certainly right up there with some of the best burgers I have ever had. I wish they would bring "In & Out Burgers" to New York, but perhaps it is best they dont (I'm already fat enough).

When it all comes down to it, LA was "ok" and Orange County was cool; I felt at home in Anaehim, since it basically is Long Island. Still, I prefer the "RVC" to the "OC". :)