Saturday had been arranged as a visit to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, in particular, the special exhibition called "ACTION! An Adventure in Moviemaking". Myself and Lillie both have an interest in film so decided to go and see what was on offer. The exhibition consisted of a number of different parts, each spolighting a different aspect of the film making process. There were many exhibits on display,such as Indiana Jones' whip, hat and leather jacket; the model of the elephant shaped building used in Moulin Rouge and costumes from Spiderman,X-Men and models used in the Star Wars films. The conclusion of the exhibition was a chance to "star" in a movie.
As well as being a lot of fun for the kids, it gave some of the dads a chance to ham it up in front of the camera. The more educational side of it was to show how some of the special effects are created in films. At the end of the "shoot", everyone in the group was shown the finished product, some parts of the sequence having already been shot, as well as inserting a car chase sequence from The Bourne Identity, The Abyss and Passenger 57.Safe to say my part as henchman number two was the hightlight of the film, all two seconds of it. Well if Dame Judy Dench can win an Oscar for best supporting actress based on about eight minutes screen time, there's hope for us all! At the end you had the opportunity to purchase the finished film. You can also download it online here. Watch my "blink and you'll miss me" performance as Zircon's Henchman Number 2!
. It's a 4 Mb Windows Media File, so if you're not on DSL be patient!
The rest of the afternoon was spent looking around the rest of the museum, my particular interest being the Henry Crown Space Center. Part of the exhibition there included the Apollo 8 module. It was watching the Apollo 8 mission on TV in the 60s as a child that fired my interest in space and science fiction literature. The Aurora 7 capsule, one of the many Mercury spacecraft, is also on display. Looking into this craft shows just how small it was. It seems to have been no more than a tin can with just enough space for a suited astronaut and a plethora of instruments. The Apollo astronauts seemed to have had it slightly better with a little leg room and the relative comfort of canvas seats! It's claimed that the total processing power in the computers on board the Apollo series of craft was the equivalent of the processing power found in today's microwave ovens.
The evening was spent at the home of Lillie's friend Marion, who at one time was the entertainments editor of the Chicago Tribune. Marion lives with her mother Lena in the suburb of Berwyn. If ever there was any one who has seen it,done it, been there and worn the T-Shirt, Marion is that person. She has flown with the Blue Angels aerobatic team, a photo of which proudly hangs on a wall. Now retired she has also finally done the two things she had never done in her life - ride in a hot a balloon and have a tattoo. She has now ridden in a balloon and has a tattoo of a rose on her wrist!
I was made to feel very welcome and a fine meal of pasta and meatballs was the order of the day. I was still suffering from the effects of jetlag so a combination of pasta and a very good Merlot meant I was occasionally nodding off towards the end of the evening. Lillie once again played cabbie and drove me back to Downtown Chicago as well as showing me some of the other sites around town.
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