We attempted to see Avatar in 3D yesterday at the local AMC movie theater. There weren’t 2 seats together in the entire theater, so we got a refund and left. I’m not paying $25 to watch a 2-1/2 hour movie sitting in crap seats halfway across the theater from my husband.
Anyway, outside the theater were movie posters for coming attractions, including this one for an upcoming Jackie Chan movie called The Spy Next Door. And it doesn’t take a helicopter expert to recognize all three helicopters in the poster are R44s.
This is the first time I can remember seeing a Robinson helicopter in a movie poster.
Eventually, we’ll see the movie. I don’t think we’ll see it in theaters. Frankly, it doesn’t look very good — just the usual family farce. We like Jackie Chan — his comic style of martial arts fighting was showcased perfectly in the first Rush Hour movie — but goofy slapstick turns me off and I have a hunch this flick will be full of it. (Gotta keep the kids entertained, after all.) We’ll see it when it hits Netflix.
Detail from poster. With a tag line like this, I’m not likely to rush out and see the movie.
Mike and I were wondering why R44s are featured in the poster (and likely, the movie). Let’s face it: they don’t look nearly as slick as some of the turbine helicopters that usually appear in movies. Mike thinks they needed several helicopters for the movie and R44s were a good low budget alternative.
I’m thinking that depending on how the helicopters are used — or abused — it might be good exposure for Robinson products.
I’m pleased to see R44s so prominently displayed on the poster. I’m just hoping they belong to the good guys and don’t end up as fireballs — as so many movie helicopters do.
I just watched Bill Maher’s documentary, Religulous. It’s been in my Netflix queue for some time now and I recently let it ride to the top. I watched it on my second monitor while doing some relatively mindless work on the other.
The movie was just what I expected: Bill Maher trying to talk reason to religious zealots. While his breakaways to movie scenes and comic subtitles were generally amusing, much of the rest of the movie was quite disturbing. It isn’t Maher’s views that bother me — I share them. It’s the stubbornness of the religious zealots he spoke to. They simply did not want to listen to reason.
Want some specific examples?
He spoke with Christians about Jesus and pointed out that an ancient Egyptian god named Horus shared much of Jesus’s history, from virgin birth to crucifixion and resurrection. This is documented in ancient Egyptian writing. Yet the Christians refused to acknowledge that the Egyptian myths exist. How can they be so stubborn?
He pointed out to Christians that the New Testament, which forms the basis of Christianity and Christian beliefs says nothing about homosexuality being a sin. He pointed out other things that are and are not in the Bible. If what he said contradicted current Christian beliefs, however, these people denied what he said. They clearly had no clue what was in the holy scriptures they swore was the word of god.
He pointed out to Muslims that the Koran contains multiple references about violence against non-Muslim “infidels.” They either denied the meaning of those references or tried to claim that they applied to another time.
He had similar confrontations with Jews, Mormons (and ex-Mormons), and members of other religions.
This went on for nearly two hours.
This was exactly what I expected and, to be honest, I didn’t enjoy it very much. It’s an argument he’ll never win. None of the atheists will. People have faith — blind faith in whatever it is that they believe. They ignore the evidence that they’re wrong. They go on believing, thinking that they’ll be rewarded someday while the non-believers — or the people that believe in Brand X religion — will be punished.
Meanwhile, they keep fighting and hating and killing and keeping their women and children in the dark ages intellectually — all in the name of their god.
It makes me sick.
I’m not quite sure what Maher intended to do with this movie. He’s obviously not going to convert anyone. There wasn’t enough comedy to make it fun to watch. Was he just trying to give atheists a bit of support in their quest for reason? To convince us to speak out as he has?
What’s the point?
This reminds me of a post I read last week on Think Atheist, “Why Talk About It?.” In it, the blogger compares religion to collecting stamps:
When you are in safe company, you poke fun at the stamp collectors and their silly beliefs. You find comfort in the fact that you are not the only sane person around. In a world of stamp collectors, you are one of only a few non-stamp collectors.
Maybe that’s what Religulous was all about: To remind us that we’re not the only ones who don’t collect stamps.
One shot every ten seconds, compiled at 30 frames per second.
The forecast called for a 30% chance of rain late in the day yesterday, so I thought I’d set up my time-lapse camera and capture the cloud build-up. This video starts at about 7:20 AM and ends at 7:30 PM, right when it had gotten dark. The first 25 seconds is a typical Arizona day — perfectly blue sky with nothing going on. Then some light clouds chase each other across the sky. Finally, the storm builds and moves in. This is one of my better efforts.
These shots were taken from just outside my front door with the camera pointing almost due north. And no, the cactus isn’t crooked. Its the wide angle lens distorting the shot.
For those of you who don’t know, I’m living in an RV park at Quincy, WA’s Colockum Ridge Golf Course. I’ve been here since June 8 and will likely be here until at least August 8.
Once again, I’m the only camper at the RV Park. That’s okay with me.
The RV park is small and not very fancy. It has five full-hookup parking spots along a gravel parking lot and at least another dozen of so with just water and power. The spots are short and you have to back into them — no pull-throughs here. There are no amenities like a pool or showers. Of course, there is an 18-hole golf course, but that’s not really of much interest if you don’t play golf. I don’t play golf.
The campground — as I like to call it — does have one feature that I seldom see in campgrounds: thick, luxurious grass between the campsites. For me, this is a real treat. We don’t have a lawn in Arizona — it’s really stupid to have a lawn in the desert where water is scarce. Our “yard” is a mixture of sand and fine gravel that we spread when we did our limited landscaping and natural desert that we simply don’t mess with.
At home, the very idea of walking around barefoot outdoors is silly. But here — holy cow! Brings me back to my childhood, when I rarely wore shoes in the summertime.
The grass adds a few quirky things to my stay here. The first has to do with the sprinklers. When I first arrived, the sprinklers in the campground started up every day at 4 AM. I know this because I could hear them. My camper’s bed extends out over the back of my camper, right over the grass. The sprinklers come on and one of them sprays the side of the tent-like covering over my bed. There’s a lot of quiet noise: the hissing of the sprinklers as they start up, the stead stream of water, the rain-like sound of the drops on the side of my bed tent. It wore me up every morning. At 4 AM.
This went on for a few days. Finally, I stopped by the golf course office and left a message for the manager. I requested a 5 AM start. After all, I’m usually up by 5 AM, which was about the time the sun rises here in the summer.
The next morning, the sprinkler didn’t go on at 4 AM. It didn’t go on at 5 AM either. Instead, it went on at 9:35 PM. And it stayed on until about 10 PM.
Well, at least it wouldn’t interfere with my sleep. But it also ensured that I wouldn’t be enjoying my lawn in the late evening, not long after sundown.
It also made for some entertainment when new neighbors arrived and attempted to enjoy their lawns in the late evening. I’d hear their squeals of alarm when the sprinkler cut short their outdoor activities.
Of course, I have to put away my canvas chair and zip up the screen on my bed tent every night.
In this shot, you can see my bed tent, my “garden,” and the sunflowers growing around the electrical box. The planter is from last year; I replanted it with tomatoes, basil, rosemary, and some flowers when I arrived this year.
The lawn also adds responsibility regarding the grass. My site includes a flat-bottomed round table. The bottom of the table suffocates the grass. So every two days, I move it to a new spot to give the grass beneath it a chance to recover. I also use 7-gallon water jugs as tie-downs for my awning. I have to move those every two days or so, too.
Throughout the week, I pull out the dandelion flowers so they don’t have a chance to go to seed. Once in a while, I weed around the electrical box for the site next door, where I’ve planted sunflowers. This is mostly so the weed-wacking guy doesn’t cut my sunflowers down, like he did last year.
Lawn mowing day is a big deal for me. I untie and move the water jugs and move the table and any other furniture out of the way. The guys come through with a weed-wacker and a lawn mower. They usually put the table back for me — it’s heavy! If it’s not windy, I give the grass a rest from the water jugs.
A video tour of my campsite and its luxurious grass.
Anyway, I made this little video this morning so you can have a better idea of what I’m talking about here. The campground may not be fancy, but it’s relatively pleasant, safe, and cheap. This is my second year here and everyone knows me. I have a [barely] passable WiFi Internet connection, mail delivery, and access to a restaurant and its ice machine. My helicopter is across the street and down the block, about 1/2 mile away. (Blocks tend to be one mile square around here.) Can’t get much more convenient than that.
Anyway, outside the theater were movie posters for coming attractions, including this one for an upcoming Jackie Chan movie called The Spy Next Door. And it doesn’t take a helicopter expert to recognize all three helicopters in the poster are R44s.
I just watched Bill Maher’s documentary, 
