Oh, My Life is Cool
17/12/09 15:26![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madrobinsI got up at O-Too-Early this morning and went off to work with the Spouse. See, there's a screening of Avatar at Skywalker Ranch tonight, and he got us seats, but we only have the one car, so the only way I could get to see it is if I came up and spent the whole day sitting around in the "hospitality area" of the Tech Building, writing, drinking coffee, listening to the glamorous sound people milling by. My life is soooo hard. You may hate me now.
No, really. The Tech building is this big, vaguely barn-like structure (red brick, but with exposed timber galleries and sort of 30s dude ranch furnishings. I'm sitting in a little conversation nook kind of area off the lunch room: two long benches, a sound system, a fireplace (which for some reason is populated with those hurricane candles with the faces of suffering saints on them). Very cozy. For lunch the Spouse took me over to the main house to the lunchroom there, and then we wandered about looking at things. The grounds here are gorgeously maintained, and the various buildings are set so that wherever you are, you never quite get the fact that there are hundreds of people doing business in this valley. And valley it really is--the Ranch is literally nestled at the bottom of a stack of small, green hills. With hawks wheeling overhead. I swear, I'd almost think they hired the hawks to provide local color.
The exterior of the main house looks like the smaller sister of the Disney Grand Floridian hotel--white woodwork, broad porches, circular rooms, a conservatory... Inside, the whole place is decorated in very handsome Mission-elegant style stuff (there are a couple of light fixtures I would kill for). Every fireplace has a Christmas decoration of boughs and Lucas-themed ornaments (Darth Vader with holly on his helmet; ArtooDetoo bearing gifts, etc.). And the reference library--OMGOMMFG--is like a platonic dream of a Mission-style library, including a stunning spiral staircase, all dark wood and gorgeousness, and full of useful books. I could stand to just sit in there for a coupla years taking notes. In the front hall of the main house they have a gingerbread replica of...the main house. Including the willow tree behind, the white-and-green striped awnings over the windows, the decorative woodwork over the porch. And Artoo and Threepio, in frosting and gingerbread, hanging at the foot of the porch stairs. There are little displays of movie stuff here and there, very low-key (there's the idol Indiana Jones exchanges for the bag of sand in the opening gambit of Raiders; his bullwhip and hat; the glow-in-the-dark heart-stones from Temple of Doom, and of course, the Holy Grail from Last Crusade. Also four different lightsabres--Obi-Wan's original one that he built, the one it "became" by the time of A New Hope, Luke's, and Darth Vader's. Basically, everywhere you look, something new to see, but all of it very low key.
We went to the Company store and bought presents for the family (because what every girl really wants is an Skywalker Ranch EMS/Fire Department t-shirt) and wandered around gawking at the general gorgeousness of the day. The olives have been harvested and pressed (we got a bottle of Skywalker Ranch olive oil I may never open, just cause it's so beautiful), the grapes are off being made into wine, the cattle are wandering around being, well, cows and stuff.
After all this (and getting 5000+ words retyped and restructured) I get to see a movie, too. Today, my life really is cool.
No, really. The Tech building is this big, vaguely barn-like structure (red brick, but with exposed timber galleries and sort of 30s dude ranch furnishings. I'm sitting in a little conversation nook kind of area off the lunch room: two long benches, a sound system, a fireplace (which for some reason is populated with those hurricane candles with the faces of suffering saints on them). Very cozy. For lunch the Spouse took me over to the main house to the lunchroom there, and then we wandered about looking at things. The grounds here are gorgeously maintained, and the various buildings are set so that wherever you are, you never quite get the fact that there are hundreds of people doing business in this valley. And valley it really is--the Ranch is literally nestled at the bottom of a stack of small, green hills. With hawks wheeling overhead. I swear, I'd almost think they hired the hawks to provide local color.
The exterior of the main house looks like the smaller sister of the Disney Grand Floridian hotel--white woodwork, broad porches, circular rooms, a conservatory... Inside, the whole place is decorated in very handsome Mission-elegant style stuff (there are a couple of light fixtures I would kill for). Every fireplace has a Christmas decoration of boughs and Lucas-themed ornaments (Darth Vader with holly on his helmet; ArtooDetoo bearing gifts, etc.). And the reference library--OMGOMMFG--is like a platonic dream of a Mission-style library, including a stunning spiral staircase, all dark wood and gorgeousness, and full of useful books. I could stand to just sit in there for a coupla years taking notes. In the front hall of the main house they have a gingerbread replica of...the main house. Including the willow tree behind, the white-and-green striped awnings over the windows, the decorative woodwork over the porch. And Artoo and Threepio, in frosting and gingerbread, hanging at the foot of the porch stairs. There are little displays of movie stuff here and there, very low-key (there's the idol Indiana Jones exchanges for the bag of sand in the opening gambit of Raiders; his bullwhip and hat; the glow-in-the-dark heart-stones from Temple of Doom, and of course, the Holy Grail from Last Crusade. Also four different lightsabres--Obi-Wan's original one that he built, the one it "became" by the time of A New Hope, Luke's, and Darth Vader's. Basically, everywhere you look, something new to see, but all of it very low key.
We went to the Company store and bought presents for the family (because what every girl really wants is an Skywalker Ranch EMS/Fire Department t-shirt) and wandered around gawking at the general gorgeousness of the day. The olives have been harvested and pressed (we got a bottle of Skywalker Ranch olive oil I may never open, just cause it's so beautiful), the grapes are off being made into wine, the cattle are wandering around being, well, cows and stuff.
After all this (and getting 5000+ words retyped and restructured) I get to see a movie, too. Today, my life really is cool.