As a means by which to chronicle what is going on in the American cultural zeitgeist and how we cater to that, The Hollywood And Highland Character Count is an infrequently occurring sociological examination. Every few Fridays, we’ll share who the performers are that are clogging the Hollywood and Highland sidewalks and see how they change and shift in relationship to what is happening in the entertainment world. We’ll make predictions, keep count of who stays and goes, and log just what is happening at the best microcosm of what is on the world’s mind: Hollywood and Highland.

Since we’ve been slacking on our character counting and it’s a rainy Friday, we figured we’d see how a wet late January trip to H&H was like. Here are the results for a visit to the area at noon today.

The Character Count
• Jack Sparrow
• Bumblebee

Recurring Characters
• Two sexy cops who were tag teaming people.

Real People
• Marilyn Monroe
• Elvis

Friends
• The two sexy cops because duh.
• Elvis and Jack Sparrow were buds.

Etc.
• There were a total of four CD guys and two DVD guys. One was an old man, too.
• Characters At Madame Tussaud: only Shrek was seen from inside their space. Wax hates rain!
• Surprise: tons of people out despite bad weather. From tour groups to familys to general wanderers, it was bumping. That was a surprise since it was so rainy.
• There was a guy handing out free tickets to see the Jay Leno Show. As always, no one talks to him.
• There was a guy quietly playing a guitar to himself. There was also a guy who kept pointing at people with his harmonica.

Observations
• The giant interactive Lunchable thing is gone! The giant Noodle is still there. The Metro construction is gone, too.
• It was overall very sad today. Although there were a lot of people, no one looked happy. All the performers were so blasé. I even watched Marilyn Monroe grovel for money. It was all sad today.
• Fun fact: when it rains, the Everything’s $10 Store whips out all of its umbrellas and tries to get you to buy one for ten dollars.
• The Coffee Bean on Hollywood got a fancy makeover. Looks nice!
• There was a gang of guys riding around on Razor scooters. By “guys” I mean “grown ass adult men.”
• The Bumblebee was so low rent. I did not like him at all.
• The Elvis was such a creep.
• All the people there did not give any fucks about performners.
• …unless you are the sexy cops. Old white dudes love them some sexy cops.
• I am shocked today was such a bust: I drove past the area yesterday and it was swamped with performers, tourists, traffic, etc. Today? Nope. Nothing. No one cared!

Awards
• Sad: Elvis
• Sadder: Marilyn Monroe
• Saddest: Bumblebee
• Best All Around: Nobody.

Surprised We Did Not See…
• An Iron Man
• A Batman
• The normal Bumblebee
• A Darth Vader!!
• Santa (I only say this because I saw a Santa yesterday.)
• A horror character
• Anyone else because there were so little people.

Character Predictions And Questions For Upcoming Weeks
• Abraham Lincoln?
• Some Hobbit somebody?
• A Les Mis person?
• Manny T’eo?
• Happiness?