As we come to the close of the second season of the The World According To Jeff Goldblum (check it out on DisneyPlus!) I’m look back on all the amazing places we have visited and giving myself and the crew a pat on the back for a) shooting in a pandemic and all the challenges that came with it and b) having zero cases, so props to our COVID officers who did an amazing job keeping us all safe.
We actually started this season back in February of last year but only got one episode in the can before being forced to close down – eventually getting back to work in August.
This season took us to a few “other states” in the US. Namely Utah, Wyoming, Nevada and Georgia. But most of our filming took place in our glorious home state of California. From Eureka to San Diego and everything in between. We experienced extreme cold and blazing heat, but come rain or shine we were out there making telly.
If you don’t know much about our show, try to imagine Jeff Goldblum a curious alien who lands on planet earth and is learning about seemingly mundane objects or themes. Doing a deep dive into the science behind it and the connection of culture and people along the way.
Seems fitting that this week we were filming in Legoland, located south of here in Carlsbad. (This unique theme park is currently open to the public, and if you haven’t been it’s really quite remarkable. The rides are most suitable for kids under the age of 12, but it provides great nostalgia for adults too, I mean who has never built a Lego house from scratch? However, the creatives at Legoland are true artists…I found looking at their creations awe-inspiring. Imagine the It’s A Small World section at Disneyland but all built from Lego. Mind-blowing stuff.
Later that week we filmed in La Jolla Cove and got to see surfers do their thang, jumped aboard a boat to watch marine biologists dive into the ocean and witnessed some of the most spectacular sunsets imaginable.
It seems fitting that we will end our journey in a place called California City. Like, me you are probably wondering where the heck is that? Well, it’s located in the northern Antelope Valley about 100 miles north of LA. Go past Palmdale and Lancaster and you can’t miss it. With one hotel, a couple of restaurants and some decent homes backing onto the Mojave desert, it is basically a company town for Edwards Air Force base. The population is barely above 14,000, (most of whom are current or former employees at the base) but because of the size of Edwards, it is the third largest city in the state in terms of land area.
A few years ago you could not have paid me enough to visit a place like California City, but as I get older I realize the draw of places like this, if you are searching for stillness and a more simple life. It’s a place to slow down, take-up a new hobby and just watch some of the most incredible skies at sunset.
With Covid finally easing and the world taking tentative steps towards returning to a new normal, I can only recommend looking less at your electronic devices and a little more at that great big wonderful world out there we can all enjoy. I plan to take advantage of it, perhaps rent an RV and go make some new memories. And I hope you do too!
Till next time,
Craig
