Saturday, January 27, 2007

Snow!


This is a view of the football field from my apartment about five months ago.


This is pretty much the same view (with a bit of zoom) last week. Enough said. :-)


Pristine white in the morning after the snow.


This is what I look at when I daydream at work. :-)

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Los Angeles - VIII


Ending the day at Universal Studios: (From top left) The Terminator (with crushed skulls at feet), the two of us standing in front of a gigantic less-evolved cousin, the inside of the Shrek Superstore (you can buy great-tasting, albeit horribly named treats called "eyeballs" and "snails" and "spleen" there), The Mummy (and not her mummy) returns and attacks Minnie Mouse, sitting awkwardly in front of the statue of a filmmaker's crew at the Universal entrance, the neon sign in all its glory, a drunk cowboy mannequin in front of a restaurant, the iconic Universal Studios globe captured in horrible light, and a better version with an admiring onlooker.

Looks Familiar?


(Starting from top left:) The sign outside the Amity Island Beach from "Jaws", the plane crash scene from "War of the Worlds" (this is a real 747 that has been stripped to look like a crashed plane), the entrance to "Jurassic Park" (yes, there is a park, there is water, and there are 100-foot Brachiosauruses and menacing, attacking Tyrannosauruses, too), the captured great white shark from "Jaws", the house of Norman Bates' mother from "Psycho", a real-life Shrek walking the streets of Universal Studios, a passerby reading a sign offering a reward for an Ogre, the Incredible Hulk (and the incredible bulk), and the famous restaurant from the Flintstones.
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How to Create a Flood


A demo of a flood special effect at Universal Studios. First, we arrive at this deserted Mexican-looking town.

Then we just look around at the dilapidated houses and the quiet path leading up the hill.


Woah! Millions of litres of water come down the hill in a deafening gush!

And we have a flood! For what it looked like 10 seconds later, refer to picture no. 1.
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Los Angeles - VI


A spacesuit. It was actually used in missions, and is now kept at the California Science Center after restoration.

A used heat shield. That's what re-entry does to you. See the burn marks diverge away from a point? They're not diverging from the centre, which means that the module probably did not drop down with the shield perfectly perpendicular to the ground.

Thrusters of varying forces. The larger one exerts about 100 pounds of force. The tiniest one does exactly one pound. These are used for precise positioning of spacecraft.

Every man's dream vehicle - the Blackbird SR-71. This is a real plane, the only trainer ever built. For the uninitiated, this plane was built by Lockheed, is made almost completely of titanium, flies at Mach 3 at an altitude of ~29,000 m, and was used in reconnisance missions until its decommissioning in 1998. The best thing is it comes in black!
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Los Angeles - V


The Apollo command module that splashed down successfully in the Pacific after completing the Apollo Suyoz Test Project mission. You can see the partially charred heat shield at the bottom, and burn marks all over the module.

A (supposedly) real moon rock brought down by the Apollo 11 Mission. Disclaimer: If you don't believe that Apollo 11 landed, then the label should be "one of the props used in the most popular Stanley Kubrik film ever".

A one-man command module (don't remember which mission).

Cramped, isn't it?
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Los Angeles - IV


The Disney parade. Check out Santa's dancing reindeer, Ariel the Little Mermaid, Buzz Lightyear the toy astronaut, Santa Claus waving to me, Cinderella and her handsome prince, the walking Christmas tree, a dancing snowflake (watched eagerly by Minnie Mouse), and Snow White.
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Los Angeles - III


The legendary C-3PO at Star Tours. It's a real robot, not a guy in a gold suit!


Awww, isn't that cute? A robot repairing another robot.

Minnie Mouse, Mrs. Incredible (a.k.a. Elastigirl), and Mr. Hair.

R2D2 on one of the Spacecrafts at Star Tours. Beeps whistles and all.
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Los Angeles - II


They take a picture of you as you drop on almost all the rides. So you try to not look terrified while dropping 20 m almost vertically.


A Jedi master training some young Jedi knights in the ways of the force. . .

. . . when Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers pop up from the ground!

Darth Maul also wants to join the party (don't worry, the surprised-but-confident 6-year old Jedi Knights whup them all in the end).
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Los Angeles - I