Pre-Thanksgiving Pizza

The night before Thanksgiving my family all got together in Tulsa, Oklahoma (where we always go for Thanksgiving) and went out for some pizza. We were going to try a new place, that is supposed to be pretty good, but when we got there it was packed, and there was a 40 minute wait. None of us were having that, so we went up the street to the Hideaway. Now, I’ve written about the Hideaway before, so I’ll keep it brief. It is good pizza, and I’ve been going there my whole life. That’s about all you need to know for this post. Also, it was not crowded at all. I guess everyone was up the street at the new place.

They sat us in this outdoor/indoor patio area. It was outdoors, but it was enclosed and had big heaters overhead. I got a picture of one of them. I’ve never been in a tanning bed, but I’m pretty sure I know what it feels like now, because this thing was really beating down on me. It was cold outside, but toasty in there.

I don’t really have much else to say about this trip to the Hideaway. It was good, and the food was good. I had planned on shooting nothing but my Hassy on Thanksgiving, so I decided to give my old friend the 20D some work that night. It’s a good camera; just an all-around good camera. Sure, it doesn’t have all the things a 5D Mark II has, but I don’t need all of that (although I would like to play around with a dSLR with full video capabilities). Anyway, enjoy these digital pictures.

Hollywood

I’ll be honest with you (when am I not?), I wasn’t impressed with Hollywood. I went there a couple times, once at night and once during the day. The day was much more manageable, but still nothing too exciting. At night it was a zoo, an absolute zoo; weirdos and partiers everywhere. During the day it was homeless people and tourists; better than at night, but still pretty crowded.

I went down there because I felt like I had to see it and give it a chance. I also used it as an opportunity to see a movie at the ArcLight Theater, which boasts having a very loud sound system (which it definitely does) in each of their theaters; specs that beat THX standards. That was kind of cool, but since I’m already being honest, I’ll tell you that it just sounded like it was turned up a little too loud. It didn’t help that I saw Iron Man 2, which had some big explosions.

I found it interesting and frustrating that it was so hard to get a good view of the Hollywood sign. For such an iconic sign, there sure weren't a lot of good views. Most of the views are just off of residential streets, and you’re pretty far away. Earlier in the year my Mom and Brother were out visiting and we couldn’t get a good view of it. My brother wanted pictures but we never really found a good spot, so I came back and got a few for him.

Honestly, I didn’t mean to make this a negative blog post. Everyone should make their own decisions about Hollywood. And if you want a good view of the Hollywood sign, bring a zoom lens. You could also trespass, but I wouldn’t recommend that.