Campus Conversations

4AM Haunts and Tim Burton

October 31, 2011

So, most people spend Sunday nights in the library doing homework. That's usually me, too- except this weekend was the closing weekend of the Tim Burton Exhibit at the LACMA. Tim Burton, you ask? ONLY THE GREATEST VISUALIZER IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. Well, maybe I'm a little biased.

A Nightmare Before Christmas

He did the artwork for Alice in Wonderland (The Disney version) and A Nightmare Before Christmas (Jack Skellington, yes?) among other things (like the original Batman movie and Planet of the Apes). Anyway, so I was going to get tickets like a normal person and go, except they got sold out- the only tickets available were between 3AM and 9AM on Sunday night/ Monday morning. So I should have dropped the idea of going, especially since I don't have a car. Right? Theoretically, yes. Blame Google Maps, but it is actually possible (and relatively uncomplicated) to get from Oxy to the LACMA and back between 11PM and 6AM. I wouldn't recommend doing it alone, though. So, a fellow die-hard friend and I called pulling an all nighter and set off for the LACMA at 10:30PM-once we got on the bus it was pretty easy to get there, although it felt like the beginnings of an adventure. We ran into Halloween night and there were people dressed in outrageous costumes everywhere, but my favorite was a couple who had gone all out dressing like The Joker and Harley Quinn. We ended up sitting at the LACMA and doing homework until 3AM (Libraries? Psssh!) and then finally got into the exhibit. It was AMAZING. There were original sketches by Tim Burton, unrealized projects, future manuscripts and even props from the Batman and Edward Scissorhands movies. It's incredible, the number of things you discover in the city if you just look. I am very sleep deprived, but very happy I went-there's something transformational about waiting in the bitter cold for a bus at 4AM-like those songs that talk about taking one-way trains going anywhere... I feel like I've had a tiny piece of that adrenaline rush. It's probably the craziest thing I've done in a while, but it was well worth the effort.[gallery link="file" columns="4" orderby="rand"] [slideshow] Happy Halloween!