I was touring through the major California studios with my filmmaker friends as part of the Animation Show of Shows and we had a special screening at Apple, birthplace of the glorious iPhone. The official address of Apple Headquarters, and what it says on the street sign is literally "One Infinite Loop". Clever. Nice ring to it.

However, since there was a pre-arranged screening of the Animation Show of Shows scheduled, we thought they were expecting us, so we went through the side entrance, 4 Infinite Loop, which doesn't seem to have as nice a ring to it. 

The first thing that you will notice walking through the hallways is that it's very bare, and virtually everything is white. The walls, the counters, the uniforms. You feel like you're literally inside of an Apple product. We joked about drawing on the walls, and when you're on tour with crazy animators who love to draw on white surfaces and who all carry art markers in their back pockets, it's tempting. 

Luckily for Apple, there are Apple guards. Apple guards or Apple police are trained CIA type security personnel standing on guard, 24/7 (I presume) to make sure no corporate, technological or competitive espionage is taking place. They are equipped with the curly security ear pieces which are also in white.

As we entered, we noticed a big quote on the wall, from Steve Jobs. We pulled out our cameras to take a picture of the quote, and one of the Apple guards came rushing off his post, down the hallway screaming and shouting to put the cameras away and asked us who we were, and asked us for our identification.

Instead of trying to find out just how serious these Apple guards were at their jobs, we opted to get signed in and were given name tags. The tour guide finally came to meet us and showed us around the lush, green outdoor campus. The main interior meeting place has a café with indoor trees, where employees meet with other employees sporting their latest Apple gadgets.    

Below, I'm trying to bootleg my own film during the screening.

Of course, the main attraction of the trip. The Store where they offered us discounts on Apple products. I didn't buy anything new, and as a result, I am still typing this blog on an ancient 2008 Macbook Pro, which still works!

And finally, we were able to draw on white surfaces at the hotel with the help of red wine later in the evening...

In fact, Ula would simply order the red wine by drawing pictures of wine glasses with a red pen and pointing to them.