Finnished
L.A. Story and the Stunt Awards PART 2




The Morning of the Stunt Awards we get up early (10:00am) to go to magic mountain. No this may sound like fun but all I can feel is terror. If you know me you know I don't do rides well. Its not that IM frightened its just..... Ok IM scared Ok!!!! Must be strong, suck it up and act like things are ok. We arrive at the amusement park and I am anything but amused. As we finnish our Jack in The Box breakfast I can only think of how I will react to the rides. Its Sunday but IM still sick from Thursday.

As we get inside the park I am enjoying the whole set up and look of the place but the rest of the gang has caught on to my secret fear. Shawn believes he has the solution. "We do the GOLIATH first. Its the fastest, highest, craziest coaster here. Possibly on the planet!!" insists Shawn with is very American accent. Mike and Maja agree with Shawn but I want to do the log ride. The vote is three to one, Goliath it is. Ok well I will at least get a chance to get psyched up in the line right? WRONG!!! Its a week day in the off season. The park population is maybe 100 people including staff. So with out a chance to even whine a little I find my self strapped into this huge train clickedy clacking is way to what my inner most fear believes is my certain demise. Rounding the corner at the peak 250 feet above the empty line area Shawn laughs. I know this is bad but I think its because he sees my death grip on the handles contrasting the act IM trying to pull off. Looking cool like this is really hard. He suggests I hold my hands up as we go down the first drop. I would soon find out that the first drop on Goliath, the drop that makes it so famous and so frightening, takes you straight into the ground. A hole in the Ground. This is what Shawn was actually laughing about. This as the designers had hoped would give riders the feeling of a ride crashing. Thanks clever engineers. I really needed that. Who do I talk to about being reimbursed for my underpants. Having survived this first drop Ill be honest the rest wasn't so bad in all its twists and turns. I had been through the worst part or the sceriest ride in the park. Getting off I find my bearings and realize that #@& hole was right as I asked "what's next". The others smiled. It was sink or swim and it worked. I wanted more. I felt ok. So off we went. To the Riddler, Then The Viper, then this that and the other one I don't even remember. I was having fun but I was also still a little Fluie. This caused the G forces to really make me dizzy. "All part of the fun" haulers Shawn.







Shawn had been doing night shoots all week and hadn't slept the night before. He insisted on coming with us although he did shut his eyes every chance he got.
Shawn lives right next to Magic Mountain and has a seasons pass, so does his daughter. He goes all the time. He knows every turn of every ride there and he will tell you every turn. "Now comin up here is a bad loop, its just to slow" shouts Shawn over the roar of the coasters wheels on the traxs and the wind, "But just around this corner is a great spiral. I can never tell up from down". He may be yelling all this but its only so his voice would reach us. His tone reminds me of someone at a supermarket calling over the P.A. for a price check. Its a loud voice but only loud enough and enough energy and enthusiasm to be heard. Nearing the final turns or loops the comments always changed to the next ride we are doing. My hands are still so tight on me grips its all sensory overload but Shawns on the next ride before we finish this one. We plan to finish our day by riding The Xtream

This is the only ride in the park with a line. A TWO HOUR LINE!!! People come to Magic Mountain just to ride it. It easily challenges Goliath for best ride in the park. Goliath may be the fastest and most frightening but The Xtream is the most disorienting. The Seats flip and tumble free of the train as you travel through the loops. As we wait in line I can see I am not the only one feeling the effects of the rides so far.




The Xtreme with all its flipping and tumbling was a little more than I could handle but it was genius. It was done and I wanted to go again. Or maybe I just said that because I knew it wasn't possible with the long line and all.
So we left the park and returned to Shawns to get ready for the Awards.




We found our way to Parimount for the awards with the help of our overly talky GPS navigator. We got on the studio lot and were told to go down the red carpet. There was a large bottlenecked crown there and we were nobody so we tried to sneak around. No chance the organizers insisted "You must walk the red carpet!" Ok so we walk the red carpet. While waiting our turn we have fun spotting the Stars and such and notice there are an awful lot of guys on crutches. What can I say other than we are at the stunt awards. Out of all the celebs Maja spots an opportunity she cant give up. Wee Man from MTV's Jackass is there. Maja steathfully approaches from behind. "Excuse me would it be a problem if I got a Picture with you?" she asks oh so politely. Wee Mans reply "yah it would actually!!!". What an ass but Maja just says ok and begins to leave. Wee Man laughs. "IM kidding" he chuckles.


Out of all the movie stars she picks Wee Man that's so funny.

We finale get on the red carpet. Its still early so not to many celebs are there yet which means the photographers just stair at us trying to figure out if we are anyone worth taking a picture of. I am a stunt performer at the world stunt awards and they are waiting for celebs who have never done a stunt in there lives. I Find that funny. We enter the seating area and see for the first time the huge set created outdoors in the Paramount water tank. Yes it was all above water, cool eh.

We got our tix separately from Mike so we couldn't sit together. He wasn't far.

The Show begins. Its hosted by The Rock



There were so many cool stunts and such during the show. Some friends were nominated but they didn't win. After the show everyone was invited to the back lot where the party was set up. We wanted to find Cody who had stopped off in LA for a few day on his way back from shooting a movie in Mexico with Jack Black. Also Brian who just made it down for the day to see the awards. We found them and proceeded around back to the party and so many people were moving so slow it was like a human traffic jam. Brian was telling us all about his exciting trip down and the work he had done that week when he stops mid sentence to agnolege someone he had spotted coming the other way. "Hey Mr.T" He says to MR.T who was walking against the Current of the crowd. Mr. T replied "Hey how yu doin!!" in his Mr.T grumbly way and Brian continues his story like nothing happened. IM laughing hysterical. That was really Mr.T.


The Party was Amazing! It had an under water theme to it. They made the backlot (the fake buildings on the Paramount lot) into an aquatic wonderland. They had draped huge see through screens up on the buildings and projected sea life and mermaids on them. The also had huge jellyfish and sea horses hanging above the streets and performers being mermaids and scuba men. All sorts of madness! There were many different buffets that all surved awsome food. I would expect no less from a real Hollywood party. Everything was free including as much Red Bull as we could handle. Yes Ill plug them they treated us well.

"While in California Trevor and the gang enjoyed thurst quenching RED BULL. Remember RED BULL gives you wings." imagine that in a cool announcers voice. end of plug. I hope i get a check in the mail from RED BULL for that but I probably will not.











We bumped into many people we knew that had worked in Van and caught up on things. Zoe, whom Brian and I met on Catwoman won two awards that night for work on Kill Bill doubling Uma, recognized us and said hello. She was Im a circle with Tarantino surrounded by people trying to talk to him and we were trying to talk to here. They were on the edge of the VIP area which was protected by a guard. After the quick help Brian and I both had the same idea. VIP area!!! We waited on the side and pretended to chat till the guard stopped someone and we made our move quickly but not so quickly as to raise suspision. We made it and proceded to the bar to get a drink. The glasses they surved drinks in while in the VIP area were like the tix to get in and out. All other bars have nice plastic cups. We went to the bar and got our statis symbols and tested them out. Sure enough we showed the to the guard and free we were to rome around as we pleased. "Just don't put down the glass" said Brian.


We bumped into many people there that night and even a few friend from Van. As we tried to warm next to a heater Mike looked up and recognized a friend. It was Nesta, a Vancouver stunt girl who was in LA as part of a world record for the most women to link up while skydiving. While down she made it to the awards and in a crowd of 2 thousand came to our heater. (Nesta and the hundreds of other women all linked later that week to successfully get the world record). We also bumped into another Van stunt guy Mike who was nominated for best highwork. I saw him in a crowd but had to ask the Mike that was with us if that was him because I didn't recognize him. I had only met him once before two weeks earlier on the set of Dungeon Siege but he was in full armer with a very long bread, rockstar hair and covered in Mud. I couldn't just say hello because he wouldn't likely recognize me because I was in full prosthetic make up head to toe as a Krug. We had fought in the scene but Mike (our Mike) had to say hello after verifying it was him. Funny!!! After the party Mike, Maja, Brian and I headed off for food. We wanted In and Out Burger after so many people saying we have to try it but the navigation unit said the nearest open one was over 400 mile away. So at a traffic light on Sunset blv. at 4 in the morning Brian suggested the IHOP we just pasted. IHOP sounded good. Anything sounded good.



Maja slept in the IHOP


And in the car on the way there.


Earlier that day

The day before


On the flight down I missed getting a photo of Maja sleeping on the plane with a full hot coffee purched in her hand. She has talent.
She woke long enough for a picture before going back to sleep.

Mike and Brian look on baffled at this skill.


We returned to Shawn's for sleep. The next mourning we took our time getting ready to go and had a nice breakfast with Shawn at a place he likes to go. It was great but time to finnish packing. I spent this time sleeping. Ooops!!! So a rush to stick all in my packs and then off the the air port. Our flight was to be on time this time. Maja didn't want to go.


It wasn't the first time she had had a tantrum like this.



We were to change planes in Las Vegas and the first flight although only an hour was a hoot. The video screens have a trivia game on them. Maja ruled! Mike Did ok. and I gave up after coming to the conclusion that its more important to have useful information in your head then silly info like how many in a bakers dozen and whats the national plant of Brazil. This is what a loser tells himself to not feel stupid. In the end I got one right but it didn't have the courage to vocalize it, so it dosn't count. No points for "I knew that one!" We landed in Vegas and discovered gambling because the LAs Vegas air port has slot machines. Maja and I, the high rollers that we are, played the 5 cent machines.


With $1 you can play a long time. Me I lost for a long time. in the end only one dollar down but its about my pride.



If I had lost $10 in one go it wouldn't have been so bad. Only one loss, Alright! Just call me glass half empty. Its all part of the fun.

Flying into Vancouver the trip almost done I am excited to sleep in my bed.


WE get off the plane and go through customs. Im wearing the expensive boots from Santa Monica to try and avoid the duty. They just let me right through. YAAA! We go out side and wait for the shuttle to long turn parking. We laugh as we discuss the trip. We all look haggard and beat.


We all go home, Mike first because he live near the air port but Maja and I live in North Van so another half hour to 45 min drive. I drop off Maja then in my door drop my bags and into bed and this is the end of this story because theres not much more to tell. No tossing and turning even just sleep. I could have set my clock but didn't. Just slept. Could have got out of my clothes but didn't. I only took the time to remove my nice new boots. I love those boots.



P.S. I am actually wearing them right now as I type this I just discovered. Good night.

L.A. Story and the World Stunt Awards PART 1


Now as my first post on this I give old news just to catch us all up. As a voting member of the Taurus World Stunt Awards (The Oscars for Stunts), I was sent two tix to the Awards in L.A. My first thought was "hey that would be fun to go some day" then coming to my senses I decided to go. With the crazy schedules of my friends and I no one could commit to a trip even if it was only the week end. Finally I convinced Mike, another stunt guy, to go and my Friend Maja who was more difficult to convince being that she was just coming back from New York and would have to leave again. I told here there are rollercoasters there and she was in.Maja Likes Rollercosters. We arrived in L.A. on a Friday after noon. I was sick as a dog. Not even 24 hours earlier Mike had taken me to the hospital to treat a nasty Flu and bad dehydration. The doctor said the flu was caused by bacteria in the costume I had been wearing on set the night before, and the combination of a hard days work and the flu is what dehydrated me. Two I.V. bags I was sent home. I packed sick didn't sleep much and had to get up at 4am to pick up friends and catch a 7am flight. We got to the air port to discover that the flight had been delayed till 9am because the flight crews hotel had caught fire the night before and they, as the nice ticket lady said,"were still in there skivys on the side of the road. The flight left on time (as delayed earlier) and we made it to L.A. We got our rental car and proceeded to Cascadic California to stay with our Buddy Shaw, another stunty, who was offended with the phone call I gave him a few days earlier informing him of our tip to L.A. The trip didn't offend him but the hotel we had booked did. He insisted we stay with him. What a nice guy. So we had Shawn's address which was all we needed with the navigation system provided with the rental car. In a robotic voice in rush hour traffic the voice told us every turn we needed to make which was great. Not so great was the voice, I'm sure to reassure us that we were on the right path told us not to take any other possible exit or street around. That night we ate at the elephant Bar. .
So a sick boy sleeps. The next day we had considered going next door to shawns to Magic Mountain but slept in. Plans change so off to Santa Monica it is.



Then Maja Got Sick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just Kidding!!!!!!!
Later we met up with Cody a buddy who was also down from Van for the awards. He was staying with a friend and was in the area so we all went shopping. Out of all the stores along the three blocks of the 5th street promenade we only bought stuff from one. It was a very out of place country western store I ended up with cow boy boots, they have square toes, very trendy. Maja Bought a leather jacket and Mike bought a nice belt. Mike also nearly bought and quick draw holster and some replica six shooter to go with it but decided the flight home might become a prob, so he didn't. They loved us in there so much they were ignoring other possible customers to help us. I guess no one really buys anything there. Leaving there I got one more purchase. Jeans from the Gap because cowboy and skater shorts don't go and I wanted to wear the boots to Medieval Times.
If you ever have a chance go to Medieval Times. It was so great. I have been whoring on Medieval films since April or May too so that helped my enthusiasm. Also its great to see 1000 people all excited to be wearing paper crowns.
Please notice the Boots and jeans as described above.

Check out The Jacket also purchased earlier





look at the splinters of the Jousting stick after the collision


So I enjoyed it so much I have to steel the cool plate.

After the show we returned to Shawn's for sleep tomorrow much fun will be had!!!!!!!