So you don’t feel like paying to celebrate the coming of the New Year? I cannot blame you. I would rather have fun for FREE than to pay a hundred bucks or more to party. Good for us then, that there are other options for New Year’s Eve.

How about going to Citywalk at 100 Universal City Plaza in Universal City, California on the 31st of December? They are holding what is dubbed to be the largest FREE New Year’s Eve party in Los Angeles!!! This year, they are going to outdo themselves by lining up two bands to welcome year 2009. The Cinema Plaza Stage will be featuring FAST TIMES while the Globe Fountain Stage will be featuring 80s Rewind. Having these bands will be sure to give you a great party on New Year’s Eve. Of course, there will be fireworks that night – and double the fun, too, as they will be set of at each end of the street.

How to get to Citywalk? Here are the directions from some of the closer areas:

From The Los Angeles International Airport:
Follow signs from the terminal to the 105 Freeway. Take the 105 Freeway East to the 110 Harbor Freeway North. After passing through the downtown area, get on the 101 Hollywood Freeway North. Follow the 101 Freeway to the Universal Studios Blvd. exit. Turn right on to Universal Studios Blvd. and follow the signs to Universal Studios and our parking areas.

From Santa Monica:
Take the 10 Santa Monica Freeway East to the 405 Freeway North. Exit to the 101 Ventura Freeway East/South. (Signs to Los Angeles.) Continue on the 101 Freeway and exit on Lankershim Blvd. Turn right and follow the signs to Universal Studios Hollywood.

Here is another option for a memorable New Year’s Eve for you: the Giant Maximus New Year’s Eve at Downtown Los Angeles. This event is being held for the 3rd year in a row and some say that it is the biggest New Year’s Eve party that you can go to in the whole world. Naturally, some people would argue about that tidbit but it doesn’t matter really.

If you are in the area, you might want to head on over to downtown LA and join the throngs of people that are sure to be present. This event will start at 7 in the evening and end (officially) at 4 in the morning. What is it all about?

Under 3 Climate-Controlled Big Top Arenas, the 3rd Annual GIANT MAXIMUS continues its reign as This Planet’s Largest 21+ New Year’s Eve Celebration!

Situated on a seven-acre private site in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles with the soaring skyscrapers towering above, GIANT MAXIMUS offers 3 Stages with an indoor capacity of 8,500 and a 1,500 capacity courtyard featuring the ‘Monster Midway,’ presented by Monster Energy, with High Flying Acrobatix, Psychedelic Circus Antics, Amusements, Games, Carnival Rides and, of course, the GIANT Ferris Wheel.

Nice, huh? And it is a lot cheaper than the event at Social, which I posted earlier. For general admission tickets, you only have to pay about $80 tops. If you want to be a VIP, then you have to pay double the amount. They also have super extra VIP tickets for even more but hey, if you are on a budget, the general admission looks good enough.

What have you got planned for New Year’s Eve? Don’t call me a loser but I have nothing concrete on my agenda. Let’s just say that I am playing it by ear and will see how things go and then decide when the time is right. After all, adventures can crop up anytime and any sort of planning will just go to the dogs if they do, right?

If you are the type who likes having solid plans before any event, though, here is an idea for you. Why not go to the D.A.S.K. New Year’s Eve Ball 2009? This event is actually an annual thing and is held at the Citrus at Social, 6525 Sunset Boulevard. This year’s bash is going to be held on the 31st of December, naturally, from 8 in the evening till 2 in the morning of the 1st of January.

For the price of $275 – $125 of which you pay in advance (plus tax and service charge) and $150 at the door – you can enjoy dinner appetizers, desserts, and 2 drinks of your choice. The menu that they are offering seems tempting enough (cheese puffs, Michel’s neo-chicken salad, tartine crabs robaire, tuna tartar, Michel’s chocolate bar, chocolate ganache, and more) but I am not sure if the food will be enough if you have not had dinner.

You can also enjoy music and various performances in the multiple rooms that will be open to ticket holders. It sounds like a good party is going to happen that night at the Social. So if you’re not all set for New Year’s Eve, why don’t you check it out – they still have some VIP tables open.

I’d want to be there too. It’s not just any presidential inauguration. It is the inauguration of the President of the United States. More so, this isn’t just any other president, this is the Barack Obama who has made history with his big win over John McCain. It is the end of an era, and the beginning of one.

Apparently, the A-listers of Hollywood think and feel the same way so much so that they have paid astronomical amounts of money in order to get the best seats in the house. I honestly did not know that you can do this kind of thing! But here’s a story that says that the stars are willing to part with big bucks – and that they have, in fact, done so:

Top Hollywood stars, including Halle Berry, Sharon Stone, and Jamie Lee Curtis, have shelled out big bucks to watch US create a new chapter in history at Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration ceremony.

According to the contributors list released by the Obama Inaugural Committee, music executive Nicole Avant, New York movers and shakers Barbara Lee Diamondstein-Spielvogel and hubby Carl fell into the 300,000 dollars group, reports Fox News.

While the 50,000-dollar category included Hollywood names of Will Smith manager James Lassiter, director Ron Howard and Samuel L. Jackson, the 25,000-dollar group consisted of director Reginald Hudlin, Lionel Richie’s ex wife Brenda, and “Terminator” producer Gale Hurd.

All I can say is WOW. Would you pay $300,000 – or even $50,000 – to be present at the inauguration?

What are your Christmas plans? The average person will probably spend the holidays with his family. Either he will hit the road to visit or family members will come over for the holidays. Have you ever wondered how the stars spend their Christmas? Here are some snippets from a news article to give you an idea.

Mariah Carey
She shares: “I am hoping for peace, and for the world to turn itself around for the New Year. I’m going to be in Aspen, where I have been during the holidays for the past few years. I love it there! It’s a really fun place to be!”

Her wish is reminiscent of a beauty pageant answer, isn’t it? Her holiday plans sound exciting, though!

Emma Thompson
“We live in Scotland, as well, so for me, holidays are spent there. That also means I don’t wash my hair for six weeks (laughter). I go wash in the river. Last summer, we were there for seven weeks. I wore one of my husband’s old shirts and several pairs of his underwear. I washed them. They were nice and soft. I wore the shirt and underwear for the whole summer. We made hay. We planted things. We have a sauna. We swam in the river. He grew a beard, and I practically did, as well (laughter). It was most upsetting!

Christmas in Scotland is a dream for the average person, don’t you think? Well, unless you live thereabouts.

John Travolta
“Every year, we have a tradition of having Christmas at our house in Maine. It’s a small group this year.”

Just like most of us…funny no one’s spending the holidays in Hollywood, eh?

Happy holidays you all!

There is absolutely no doubt about the fact that Hollywood was key to the historical win of President-elect Obama. Not long after his win, however, it seems that some of his Hollywood supporters are already feeling awry about the turn of events. Their main bone of contention? The fact that Barack Obama has chosen pastor and author Rick Warren to lead the inaugural prayer.

So why are they so disappointed in this choice? After all, Rick Warren heads his own mega-church and is an award winning author by his own right. The reason behind the discontent is that Rick Warren was a huge figure in the recent issue of the ban on gay marriages. The LA Times has this story:

Obama’s selection of Orange County mega-pastor and bestselling author Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his swearing in has hit liberal Hollywood in one of its sorest spots: the passage of Proposition 8, California’s ban on gay marriage, which Warren strongly supported. In fact, he has compared same-sex nuptials to approving polygamy and pedophilia.

“Barack Obama is a very smart student of history,” said longtime celebrity publicist and gay activist Howard Bragman. “He saw that Bill Clinton did damage to his early presidency by appearing to pander to the gay and lesbian community. Obama has chosen a different tack.

This is indeed an interesting turn of events, especially in the eyes of the liberals. Is this a sign of discontent with the new president in Hollywood’s neck of the woods?

These are hard times. No one can deny that and no amount of denying can change that fact. Perhaps it is better to think and behave much like the characters in many Hollywood movies which, based on an essay I read earlier, uphold the spirit of Christmas. In the essay titled “In Hollywood, hardship boosts Christmas spirit,” written by John Petkovic, the idea that things will get better in the end was highlighted.

Petkovic writes:

The way Hollywood sees the holiday, these are hardships that reveal the true meaning of Christmas.
Picking up on a sentiment born in the Dickensian 19th century, Christmas movies have made the most of the least, spinning tales of holiday woe that are meant to assure us. It doesn’t matter if you’re broke, because Christ, your fellow man and maybe even Santa Claus — if you’re good and lucky — will come through in the end.

Indeed, there are countless Christmas movies wherein the protagonist meets hard times and yet experiences the true meaning of Christmas. This may happen in various ways – with family, friends, or whatever other agent – but the theme is recurring. An ordinary person meets seemingly insurmountable problems and then somehow, help is given along the way. It is the classic happy ending that all of us dream of at some point. This theme is actually even observed in movies that are not about Christmas.

This year is perhaps of the most difficult years that we all have experienced. This is especially true for those in their 20s and 30s. Let’s be reminded by Hollywood movies – they may be make believe but there are some insights to gain from them.

I suppose it’s a sign of the times. Everyone is hard up and not ready to make any concessions. We have heard of this issue about the tiff between the Screen Actors Guild and the studios – it has been going on for quite some time. Now, instead of things becoming better and instead of the two sides reaching an agreement, rumor has it that they are pointing fingers at each other! Trust Hollywood to turn something already dramatic into something even more dramatic!

The news has reached even the farthest points of the earth – here is a feature article over at Xinhua News:

Hollywood studios and the major actors union of the U.S. entertainment industry are pointing fingers at each other after the two sides failed to reach a new labor contract and an industry-wide strike is looming again in Tinseltown.

In a “open letter” singed by chief executives of eight major studios, Hollywood’s top management said SAG was demanding the entire industry literally throw out all its hard work because the union believed it deserves more than the 230,000 other people working in the industry.

So now, they are at an impasse once again, with the possibility of an industry-wide strike on the horizon. Not a good way to end the year, if you ask me.
What are your thoughts on this issue?