Tru Vu Drive In

It's been over 25 years since I've been to a drive in theatre.
Luckily, we have two drive ins within driving distance in
Delta and Montrose.  Tonight, we visited the Tru Vu Drive In
in nearby Delta.  Everything was very familiar, including the
old-time speakers available for you to place on your window.
However, there is now an option to tune your car stereo into
the soundtrack of the movie.  Also, most people here seemed to
set up their chairs in front of their cars to watch the show.  As it
was pretty warm at showtime, this was a great idea!  As for the
movies...meh!  We saw The Lone Ranger and World War Z.
Both kind of disappointing, but it was the Tru Vu Drive In that
was the real star of the evening!

Going Out FOR Business

We drove to Glenwood Springs the other day to see

"Rise of The Planet of The Apes" because it wasn't showing

at our favorite theatre in Grand Junction. While walking

toward the cinema, I saw this business and their sign. It

bothers me. Why, you ask? Because the human mind

doesn't typically read every word of a sentence. Remember

those studies that list a paragraph of words and every few

words is missing? You can still figure out what the paragraph

is saying anyway. This is kind of like that. I'd bet you a fair

amount of money that most people will not see the "4" on

their sign, go into the store, and think they are getting a

good deal. In reality, the shopper is being tricked into thinking

that the store is going out "of" business. All that is read is

GOING OUT BUSINESS. There was a store in Estes Park

that did the same thing when we lived there. You could stand

outside the store and listen to all the tourists tell each other

that the store was going out "of" business.

Illegal...No. Unethical...Yes!

Sioux Falls

Traveling from west to east, we spent the night in Sioux Falls, South
Dakota. We've driven through before but had never stopped. We were
very impressed! It's a nice small city that seems to be trying to be a
bit more cutting edge. There's a great downtown area, full of shops,
cafes, etc. and a wonderful park near the downtown that hold the falls
that give the city its name.


On our way out of town, we stopped at a really good coffee house,
named Black Sheep Coffee.


A few days ago, we watched an interesting documentary called, "God
Grew Tired Of Us", about the Sudanese refugees that were forced to
flee their country and go to other parts of Africa, and then the United
States to avoid persecution, and sometimes death. There was a small
group of Sudanese men gathered in the coffee house, enjoying conversation
and their coffee. I had no idea, but apparently Sioux Falls has a very
large Sudanese population and I'm glad we had watched the documentary
so I knew why they were in Sioux Falls of all places. It really is becoming

a smaller world.

The Thing

Even though my friend Dave would disagree, Lynn and
I watched tonight what I think is one of the best
Antarctic movies...The Thing, starring Kurt Russell.

It actually mentions McMurdo in one scene where
the trapped crew are calling for help over the radio.

The Thing is actually a better movie to watch during
the Winter season when it's dark and spookier!
I never saw any space aliens here during my winters
but you never know...they could be lurking anywhere!

We Few, We Happy Few...

Today is St. Crispin's Day.


On this day in 1415, the English and King Henry V
defeated the French at Agincourt.
Henry V is also one of my favorite movies.

Inception

Click on photo to enlarge

We did something rare this week and went to the movies. Between
Netflix, Cable and the Library, we don't feel the need to shell out
$8.50 for a matinee very often, but we go about once a month, just
to see movies that have been hyped or are supposed to be very good
and we can't wait to see them at home. We went to see the movie,
Inception. We both thought it was very good and I really enjoyed the
twists and turns. It was also a movie that made you think. In a way,
I'm surprised it's done so well for that very reason. Most folks go to
the movies to escape. They don't want to be challenged or made to
think too much. As a result, the buzz about Inception is that it is
confusing to many. Made perfect sense to me and I'll leave that as
it is without further comment.

The Best Policy

There's a scene in the movie, "The Family Man" where Nicolas Cage walks into
a convenience store. Don Cheadle (who is really an angel) is working at the
counter. There's a girl in line before Cage who is buying something for
99 cents. She hands Cheadle a dollar. Cheadle takes nine dollars out of the
drawer and counts it out to the girl, giving her way too much change. The
girl doesn't correct him and sees that he is handing her way too much money...
change for a ten. Yet, she picks it up and puts it in her pocket without saying
a word. When she is walking out the door, Cheadle stops her to give her
another chance and asks if there is anything else she needs. She shakes her
head and walks out. Cheadle looks over at Cage and says, "Did you see that?
She was willing to sell her character for nine dollars. Nine Dollars!"

What I'm getting at, is an eerily similar thing happened to me today at the mall.
We stopped at the food court for lunch. Our bill came to approximately fourteen
dollars. I gave the woman a twenty and she immediately gave me back a ten and
a five in change. I didn't really look at it, but it seemed odd. When I got to our
table I thought about it and realized that she gave me nine dollars too much
change. I thought about it for a couple of seconds and then went up to tell
her she made a mistake and gave me too much change. She was very happy
and even blessed me!

Am I a saint? No, of course not. Far from it. But whenever something like that
happens, I think of the scene from the movie and ask myself if someone above
is watching me, seeing what I'd do. Kind of a test. Weird that a scene from a
movie would make me a better person, but I think in this case it has. Maybe
someday more people will think like this and make the world a better place.

Harvey Pekar

Harvey Pekar died today. He was 70. From Cleveland Ohio, Harvey
was best known as an underground comic writer whose best known
work was the "American Splendor" series. A movie by the same
name, starring Paul Giamatti as Harvey was made in 2003. Harvey
wrote from the unusual stance of the everyman whose experiences
are much more often downs as opposed to ups.

In an article provided by Exclaim! Magazine, Paul Giamatti quotes,
"Harvey was one of the most compassionate and empathetic human
beings I've ever met. He had a huge brain and an even bigger soul.
And he was hilarious. He was a great artist, a true American poet,
and there is no one to replace him".

Avatar

I believe that everyone in the Western World has now seen the
movie, Avatar. I was the last and Lynn and I went to see it
today in our very nice stadium-style theatre in 3D. Totally
a fun experience.

The Powell Family Theatre

My friends, Christine and Antz, invited me over to their house
in Southshore (less than a block from the beach) for dinner
and a movie at the Powell Family Theatre (PFT). The PFT
actually rotates in location. I've visited it before on the Ice,
but this is my first time in NZ. The theatre basically just
consists of really comfy chairs, a projection screen and
great projection theatre and sound system. We watched
Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp. Of course, I forgot
my camera, so I didn't get any photos of their nice house,
but since they're both very tech savvy, I figured they would
enjoy a photo I made of their house using Google Maps
Streetview!

Netflix

Yes...even miles and miles away from the middle of
nowhere, you can take advantage of Netflix and
see movies of your choice and not just what is being
shown on TV. For those who do not know what Netflix
is, it's a program where you can order up to three
DVDs at a time and keep them as long as you want.
When done watching them, you send them back and they
send you three more from a list of movies you have
chosen. All this for a low, monthly price. Lynn's
been using it for several months now back home but
I just started this week and received my first three
movies yesterday. The biggest difference between
Lynn's movies and my movies? Hers take about a day
to receive...mine? 10 days. Ugh. Still too much
in the middle of nowhere for my tastes...

Chick Flicks

Since I won't be in touch with anyone else's feminine side
until I see Lynn again in just over four months, I might as
well be in touch with my own feminine side! I've been
invited to show up every Sunday afternoon by several
friends (who happen to be women) to watch a "chick flick"
with them in the Dorm 208 2nd floor lounge, which happens
to be next door to my room. Lynn would have been invited
if she were here, but since she's not, I'm the only Hamann
they can invite. Today we watched "My Fair Lady", starring
Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. I'm not a huge fan of
musicals, but I had never seen the whole thing and three
hours later, I had. It won't go down as one of my all time
favorites, but I didn't run screaming from the room either.
I probably never would have lived it down if I had since
there were seven women in the room and I was the only
guy.

The Third Wave

Tonight, after a wonderful dinner with our friends, Anna and
Chris at the Bodhi Tree (a local Burmese restaurant), we went
to watch the documentary, "The Perfect Cappucino". It was a
wonderful film, and made me miss being a barista. A major
aspect of the film discussed the effect Starbucks is having on
the coffee drinking world. However, one part I found especially
interesting about the film was a reference to "The Third Wave"
that was discussed in the film. This refers to coffee drinking
in our society coming in three waves. The first wave was the
habit of millions drinking really bad coffee like Folgers and
Maxwell House because for the most part, years ago there
wasn't anything else. The second wave involved(s) millions
drinking coffee at places like Starbucks. Basically very bland,
but finding a familiarization with the product and buying a
higher end product in general. The third wave is moving one
step beyond the Starbucks phase and trying really good
coffee at independent coffee houses and roasters once
they've reached a comfort level with the Starbucks style of
coffee.

For those of you who don't know me that well, Lynn and I
owned an internet coffee house in 1997 in Estes Park
Colorado. We were ahead of the times, providing an
internet availability to customers and did well. However,
the market wasn't busy enough for the entire year and
we cut our losses and closed after a year. That's the
Reader's Digest Condensed version. Anyway, at the time,
I thought that the Starbucks brand was a good thing to
have around (I still think they're ok and frequent them
occasionally). Here was my reasoning; people should
go to a Starbucks, get comfortable with ordering, the
types of drinks available...the total coffee experience.
Then...when they get comfortable, they would want to
try out the "local" businesses to see how their product
tasted, and hopefully that product was better. The
customer wouldn't feel intimidated by going into a
local coffee house and would be able to enjoy a better
product. I felt the same could be said for McDonalds
with hamburgers and AOL for computer internet use.
So...long story long...I didn't invent the term "The
Third Wave" back in 1997 but I definitely was right
there when it came to envisioning the concept.
Yay for me!

Film Festival

Tonight, we went to one of the showings of the DOCNZ
2009 Documentary Film Festival, being held in Christchurch.
There are about 50 documentaries being shown during the
week and we'll be seeing four of them. Tonight's show was
called "The Wild Horse Redemption". It takes place at the
Colorado State Penitentiary in Canon City. Wild Mustangs are
brought to the prison where volunteer inmates train and tame
the horses so that they will be able to become useful horses
in society. Kind of like how the program helps the inmates
learn patience and maybe a trade and will help them become
more useful members of society. It was a good movie and it
made both Lynn and I homesick for Colorado.

This is Ricardo Montalban...

A favorite of Lynn and mine passed away this week.
Ricardo Montalban was 88 years old. He was best
known in his roles in Fantasy Island and in Star
Trek, the Wrath of Khan.


However, we remember him best for our trips to New
Mexico. When one would cross the border into New
Mexico on Interstate 25 or Interstate 40, there would
be a sign inviting you to turn your radio dial to either
530 or 1610 and Ricardo Montalban would appear on
the airwaves. "Hello...This is Ricardo Montalban for the
State of New Mexico..." The message would then go on
telling you something about the history of New Mexico
in Ricardo's relaxing, hispanic voice. Over the past
few years, I've noticed that the signs and messages are
gone...just like Ricardo. He will be missed.

Red River

This morning my Dad and I watched one of his favorite
movies of all time...Red River, starring John Wayne.
For years, my Dad had never seen the whole movie in
one sitting because it came on so late and he would
always doze off during the show. A few years ago we
bought him a copy. Today he told me there were scenes
of the movie he'd never seen before. I explained that
those were the parts that he had dozed through. I
think he enjoyed it even with the "extra" scenes

Now Entering Level 5

This morning I received a shot in the arm. Not just any
shot, but the "Southern Hemisphere Variety" flu shot.
Supposedly this will make us less susceptible to getting
the flu from the Orange People that will be down here in
45 days. Any time I think of viruses, my mind immediately
goes to "The Andromeda Strain". This movie surprisingly
holds up well even though it was made over 35 years ago.
I kind of feel like McMurdo is the movie's version of
Wildfire which is the uber-secret sterile lab where germs
are studied. If I get the flu because of this shot I
received, I may hallucinate and think that small viruses
from other planets are out to get us. OK...maybe not
but it certainly makes getting a flu shot more interesting.

There is NO Sanctuary

In honor of our friend Sandwich's recent 30th birthday,
we hosted a two film filmfest on Sunday of Tron, followed
by Logan's Run. If you haven't seen Logan's Run, here's
the premise...Life is perfect, you have everything you
need. Only one catch. You have to die at age 30. It's
one of my favorite movies and we have a DVD copy of it that
I've practically worn out. Lynn had never seen the whole
movie before and since she's now seen the whole thing...is
not a big fan. The remaining people toward the end of the
viewing felt the same unfortunately. My only ally, Jed
left early to call his girlfriend...traitor! Anyway, I'm
sure that Sandwich was either renewed or reached Sanctuary
and she is no longer a Red-29 and is not flying around on
Carousel anymore. Me? I've been officially a "Runner" for
12 years now. No Carousel for me!

48 Hour Film Festival

Our friend Antz is hosting this year's

Annual Antarctic Winter 48 Hour Film Making Competition

He sent an email out to a number of other Antarctic
stations but I thought I would help him out by posting
the info on my blog in case he missed anyone.

Greetings Everyone,

I am bound to have missed a lot of people with this message,
so feel free to forward it to anyone in the Antarctic community.

On the Weekend of August 2nd - 3rd, McMurdo Station and Scott
Base will be having their annual 48 hour film making competition.
We would love it if you would like to join in to make this a
continent-wide event. There is no limit to the number of entries.

How it works:
On Friday August 2nd, a list of required items to include in the
film will be distributed.
These may be specific props, a line of dialogue, sounds, or a
type of character etc. For example you may be asked to make a
film that includes an ice axe, a teaspoon, the line "What on
Earth is that?", and a sleeping person.

You then go about making a film. The only real restrictions
are to keep the length below 5 minutes, and have the film
completed by Sunday night. Films should be made in Antarctica
on the weekend, but may use one or two existing stock footage
shots if really needed.

Submissions will be electronic.
Because there are band-width restrictions on many bases, we
will have to rely on a bit of local honesty in the completion
deadline, and allow a few days to get films uploaded.

Some samples of films from the 2006 completion can be found
on line here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk3bT-_OK1w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v8_qntZ9c4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQOTDXB5LNA

The following items were required in these films:
A Bowl, A Sleeping Person, the sound of a Phone, an Ice
Cream Cone, and the line "We've lost another one".

If you are interested in participating, or would like to
see the films everyone comes up with, let me know.

---------------------------------------------------------

We are holding our local winter film festival on August 9th,
which will also include other general films made by the local
winter staff. We would love to see something from the other
Antarctic Bases to check out what life is like for you.
If you have any other films you have made, we would love to
show them, but once again, we would like the length to be kept
down to 5 minutes maximum.

A few of my clips from previous years can be found on line here...
http://www.youtube.com/Antzarctica

One of the easiest way to send files is with a free account at
www.yousendit.com You can send files up to 100Meg in size for
free, which is about ideal for a short video clip at a reasonable
quality in WMV or QuickTime format.

Cheers,
Antz.

My Interview with Antz

Many times on this blog I've mentioned Anthony (Antz)
Powell, Antarctic photographer extraordinaire. Last
summer, Antz received a grant from the National Science
Foundation to produce a film about spending a year in
Antarctica that primarily focuses on Antz's Time-Lapse
Photography. More information about his work can be
found on these websites:

http://www.antarcticimages.com
http://www.frozensouth.com
http://www.youtube.com/Antzarctica

Last month, Antz sent out an email asking for people
on Ice to volunteer to be interviewed for his film.
He plans for this movie to be shown in theatres
sometime in the next few years (depending on editing
time) and wanted to have some Antarcticans talk about
their experiences here. He's interviewed a fairly wide
range of folks. People who are spending their first
season here as well as others like George (who works in
the office next to me with 9 winters) and me (with 6
winters).

The interview lasted about 20 minutes and he asked these
questions, among others...

What is the best part of life here?
What is the most common question you get asked about
Antarctica?
What do you think is the biggest misconception people have
about Antarctica?
What does being here on the Ice mean to you?
And many many more.

It was fun and Antz said that I gave him some good stuff to
use (maybe he was just trying to make me feel good) but
someday, I could be seen in a theatre near you!