Glass

The first poster for the movie Glass, which is a sequel to the films Unbreakable and Split, was released today.

It will be interesting to see how M. Night Shyamalan ties both of those movies and original casts into a trilogy of films. I really enjoyed Unbreakable when it came out 18 years ago and Split is on my list to watch soon.

Here's hoping it turns out great.

Glass opens on January 18th.

People in glass towers

I decided to spend the day wandering around the city...trying to get an idea where everything is and how to get there. I walked down by the waterfront and checked out the many boats and other water-central stuff.





Nothing too exciting or out of the norm, but it's always nice to chillax around water regions. There is also this cool brick building down by the water that I enjoy for some reason. It kind of reminds me of a building that would be in London or Torrence.



Then, I decided to go up into the Sky Tower. Geez...it's a wee bit up in the air...





They even have these open glass floor areas that, although it says it's as solid as the concrete floor in the rest of the place, it's still creepy and a bit unsettling to walk on them and look straight down to the ground.

Dear Lord in heaven above....



I tended to stay away from those....gave my knees the wibbly-wobblies.

But, the 360 degree view of the city is amazing and you can pretty much see everything for a bazillion miles around.









I also saw someone bungie jump off of the tower above us and caught it on video. Now, if I can just figure out how to get it to upload to YouTube (tried twice...not working so much), I'll post it.

If not....just imagine looking at one of those incredible views and suddenly a body, in an ill-fitting jumpsuit, comes flying down from above and then, just as quickly, it disappears from view...screaming to the ground far below.

Now add some soiled undies to that image....

Yeah...that pretty much covers it.

Atlanta

We took it as a good sign for our trip that we ran into the "Sweatin' to the Oldies" guru himself, Richard Simmons, at the airport on our way to Atlanta.

He was as nice and friendly as could be and, when he saw Oscar's bald head said "Oh, look at little Oscar's head" and proceeded to grab it and plant a kiss right on the top.

Hilarious.

We got to the Atlanta airport and picked up our rental car (a new Saturn VUE, the newer sister to my car in LA) and headed to the Georgia Aquarium to meet my friend David. It's one of the largest aquariums in the world, so we were looking forward to visiting the fishes of all sizes and shapes.



When we got out of our car, the first thing we saw was a rainbow over the city....which seemed to go perfectly with our Richard Simmons greeting at the airport a few hours earlier. It didn't have a pair of spandex shorts on, but it certainly had his flair for welcoming us to our new destination.





The aquarium is amazing and was filled with people bustling around for the last Jazz night of the season. After making our way over to the adult beverages section and partaking, we headed through the enormous see-through walkway under the "sea".



The variety of sealife was almost overwhelming as it flowed all around you and above. From there, we headed into the gigantor viewing room where, when you walked up to the glass, you felt just like you were standing on the bottom of the ocean as it flourished all around you.



I could have spent all night just sitting there...it's so relaxing. Plus, you get to see such a variety of creatures swirling around together....hammerhead sharks, shark whales, and the like. Rather than just write about them....take a look...











From there, we wandered around to other sections to view more chickens of the sea...



This crabbie-thing reminded me of those horrific creatures from "Cloverfield"...



After quickly moving away from there, we visited the Jellyfish region...







Pretty to see through glass, not something I'd ever like to encounter first-hand.

Then a quick hello to the Beluga Whales...



and a few more critters...









David getting a fish-eyed view from the side...



Then a quick stop by the petting zoo, where Oscar braved the stinky water...



While I took pictures and kept my hands stank-free off to the side.

I grabbed a quick night picture of the Coco-Cola museum (which I think we'll visit while we're here)



Then, David took us to a cool restaurant with a nice view of the city...



Then to his condo for a MUCH needed night's sleep.

Snore......SNORE.....snore.....zzzzzzz

Got Windex?

Corning created this cool promotional video, A Day Made of Glass, about what the near future will hold for us...



TLC better start ramping up for production on their new show focusing on OCD folks who have a problem with fingerprints on glass..."Streakers".

Don't look, Ethel!

Fall in Christchurch...

It's so odd for me to think about it being autumn here in New Zealand, especially since we're still in winter in the States. But, Fall is my favorite time of year, so it kind of works out in my favor. It's nice to walk around in the cooler air (not missing the 100 degree heat from Melbourne) and watching the trees change color. The best place to do that, of course, is to go to the Botanical Gardens.



It was a beautiful day for walking around this HUGE garden. The flowers seemed to be bloomin' all around...







Even the cactus appeared to be happy (and I'm not a big fan of the cacti...)



Plus, the river runs around the garden too...



At one end of the garden is the Canterbury Museum. Lots of Maori history (the people who originally settled this area) and artifacts...





There was also the Antarctica exhibit that focused on the early days of exploring that "slightly" chilly region (no one enjoys exploring a chilly region).



Imagine sleeping with 6 other people in that dome...tight quarters. Over time, it was used for storage, then eventually as a bathroom on one of the bases. Yeah...it still has a "not so fresh" smell...

Then there was a "History of Christchurch" area that looked almost like a studio backlot, with building facades...



And even a few creepy "people" lurking about. Check out the hours for the nurses. They certainly don't have those hours now...



There were costume displays...





Even furniture in glass cases (you don't want them to get out!)...



Confucius was actually here and, although famous for all of his "sayings"....he was remarkably silent the entire time I was visiting...



Even "Oh, Mighty" herself was here....Isis.



It was a pretty cool museum and when I headed out the front door, there was a large group of local children in their school uniforms waiting to come inside...



They looked like the Von Trapp family and I was very disappointed that they didn't burst out into "These Are a Few of My Favorite Things" or "Edelweiss".

I walked past the Coronet Theater, a cool old structure (just like Bea Arthur)...





It reminded me of the Hogwarts School of Magic...but without the magic....or the kids. Maybe they were all just out at the museum refusing to sing for the tourists. Kids are dumb...

I was getting tired and headed towards the hotel. Of course, I passed this huge glass building...



It turned out to be the Christchurch Art Gallery. Hmmm...gallery...nap....culture....NAP...wonder if they have any scary baby doll art....



Baby with shears. What is it about dolls with creepy eyes in almost every art museum? That's always my cue to leave....baby with shears....walk faster....RUN....

I was almost home and passed, yet, ANOTHER museum. Hmmm....more art...NAP...modern art....NAP NAP....maybe more scary babies....oh, okay...let's go see.

No scary babies, but I thought this piece was funny. Of course, as I was taking the picture in the empty gallery, someone came by and said "You can't take pictures of the art" and I said "Sorry, I'll erase it"...and I did.

Right after I uploaded it to this blog....