The Book of Eli
March 10th, 2009
“A post-apocalyptic Western, in which a lone man fights his way across America in order to protect a sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind.”
Staring Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis, Michael Gambon (Dumbledoor), Jennifer Beals, etc…
They are currently filming this movie in Carrizozo. It sounded interesting, so I persuaded Shiva to take a drive over there today. The 20x zoom came in handy! I thought it was nice that they allowed spectators. We were relegated to the south end of the street, which was a couple hundred yards from the action, but I was able to get a few good shots. The one above is Gary Oldman and Denzel Washington squaring off in the street… no idea what is going on of course. Also no idea what that step ladder is doing there. I wanted to climb on top of a busted bus nearby to get a better angle, but Shiva deterred me…
Looking at one of the photos below, I get the impression that the post apocalyptic world is taken over by Rainbow kids! Or maybe Burning Man participants. Though I’m sure they would adapt easily to the environment and grunge, I doubt they would have the necessary survival skills. I mean… after a nuclear holocaust I’d expect the begging opportunities to be very limited.
I so wish I was an extra… but I missed the casting call! Even then the odds would have been very poor, but still… it would have been a unique experience. Boring and tedious for sure… but at least I’d be in major movie… and this looks like one I’d actually like…
Look here for some more info on the show… http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1037705/
BTW, if any “movie” sites want to use these I have bigger ones and they are for sale…. doh!
I know it has been a long time since the last update… but as usual my life is too boring for comment. Or maybe I’m too senile to remember. Anyway, I do recall that we had a maybe 2 weeks of winter way back in Dec and since then it has been in the 50s and 60s nearly every day, and sunny. Not bad… at least not for riding. One day back in there when we still had snow, I managed to get some sort of frost-bite like thing that is still bothering my toes (thanks Klaus), but it takes my mind off the other aches and pains… which is ok.
I got Shiva’s road bike all put together and it is nice! Darn near as good as mine. Better yet she has even been riding it… even when it is below 70 out. She realized that the “concept” of riding in cool weather was an opportunity to buy a bunch of new clothes and that was all the encouragement it took. Proof is shown below… she has even been out on 50 degree days… I swear.
And one day Klaus, Karen, and me were just riding home from Capitan… and we were attacked by a goat. Actually he was friendly… very friendly… too friendly… especially when he kept running between Klaus’s legs (check out those horns). We were afraid he’d get run over by the cars since he was oblivious to them. We checked at the nearby houses and nobody claimed ownership or knowlwedge, but someone did find a leash, and it was out of our hands.
I must be getting grouchy in my old age. I’ve had hundreds of “encounters” with motorists… especially when I lived on Kauai where the traffic is insane… and I’ve always managed to keep my cool… but…
A couple of weeks ago I decided to go for a little ride before dinner. I live near the top of a 1.5 mile 8% grade going north, so whenever I head in that direction, a high speed descent is how it starts. As I approached the descent, I heard a loud truck behind me so I pulled over to the side to let it pass. Nobody else was close behind, so I stood up and started getting up to speed. A few seconds later, going about 35 and sitting back down, I hear a loud horn right behind me… and it doesn’t stop. I’m startled of course, and besides that I’m like… what does he want me to do? There isn’t a shoulder… besides, in few more seconds I’ll be going over the speed limit anyway. Bonk! Bonk! Bonk! I guess a switch flipped somewhere. Seemingly by itself my left hand raises up and expresses my displeasure via sign language. Immediately he stops honking and pulls up next to me… and veers to the right. I slam on the brakes and just miss his rear bumper. Now I’m really annoyed. He takes off down the road and I sprint to get close enough to get his license plate number … and he slams on his brakes. I burn a flat spot on my tires but slow down enough. Close call #2. By this time we’ve caught the truck that passed earlier so I can leisurely cruise behind him and make note of his license plate. I was hoping he’d stop at the bottom, but like most of these cowards he was only willing to pick on me when he had “vehicular superiority”. Later when I get home I call the sheriff, but they have no record of that plate number. He didn’t seem surprised… says their records are often screwed up, even for people who are registered. This is New Mexico after all.
Of course it was stupid of me to escalate things. The smart thing to do would have been to slow down and stop in the beginning… I doubt he would have run me over.
What else… oh… we went to TorC last week for a couple of days. Really a nice little trip. We got a motel room with a huge mineral spring fed waterfall tub… easily big enough for both of us. I think we got our use out of that! It was nice enough that we had to go through withdrawal after we left… awe luxury.
Is the economy bad? At least we don’t have to worry about losing our jobs… since we don’t have any to start with. I’ve noticed less “activity” for this time of the year, but I’m not worried yet. I don’t like to work too much anyway, and I’m looking forward to not being so rushed this spring. Seems like Shiva is still doing fine, so we are staying afloat at least, and shouldn’t have any trouble unless things get a lot worse than they are. The best security is low expenses and a lack of debt except for the land we are buying… plus we know how to live on very little money if we need to.
