Music City Nashville

It's autumn in Nashville or as the local call it 'Fall in Music City'. Hopefully we won't. fall. So today we'll have a look around.

Making an Impact on Earth

They say everybody's dream is to end up in a Hollywood movie. Well, I never thought I would. But this morning I did land a small part in a forthcoming movie called Impact Earth, released early next year. S-I-L Bernie plays the lead in this futuristic flic about meteorites crashing towards earth.

Bernie had to go to the sound recording studio to do a couple of dubs of scenes they had already shot. He invited me along for the ride. Meeting the director and sound engineers, one of them said to me, Hey man, we can use you in the movie. My answer, I don't come cheap.

So I sat down and watched Bernie speaking dialogue to the existing vision, while the sound engineers recorded and matched the words to the vision. It was fascinating to watch them work.

When all the tracks were recorded, the director handed me the script and asked me to step into the sound booth. There I was asked to read a newsflash in a foreign radio announcer's voice, announcing the immediate impact the meteorites would have crashing onto earth. After a few takes, the director picked one version which the sound engineer then mastered into a genuine radio voice. My name was written down for the credits of the film.

Bernie with Tom Berrenger on screen with the sound engineer looking on

Bernie in the sound booth

Maybe a future star in the sound booth

After the recording session, we picked up the boys and drove to the UCLA campus to see Sonya at work. She showed us the entire theatre department and the various theatres where she works.

Unfortunately I was so in awe with her work environment, I forgot to take my camera out of my pocket.

The UCLA is a fantastic campus

There are some great buildings

 Finally, it was dinner time and we went to the local Japanese restaurant for a great fish dinner.

At the Japanese Restaurant

Santa Monica CA

We took the boys to Santa Monica pier for a play and dinner this afternoon. It's been a few years since we were there. It's where the old Route 66 used to end. Last time we were here with our New York to Los Angeles tour, the tour director took us to the Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant on the pier and I recall that the food was quite good. So tonight we repeated the experience.

Santa Monica is where Route 66 used to end

Santa Monica Pier is a large entertainment precinct with lots of rides, restaurants and shops to entertain tourists to Los Angeles.

The boys had plenty to occupy themselves

Artist on the pier

The boys tried their luck with rings

The Smurfs were there too

Fox proved that he was big enough for the rides

Finally we saw the sunset over Santa Monica

Bernie is working on his movie tomorrow and has invited me to join him on the set. Who knows, I might get 'discovered.' Diane is babysitting the boys, so we'll both have fun. (???)

Life in L.A.

We took the boys up the hills to a lake last night to see the ducks and turtles.

Today, we're on baby sitting duties. 

Grandma loves playing with the boys

Fox loves playing the drums (with cars)

Banjo is a lovely lad

Apparently we're taking them to the movies this afternoon.

More soon.....

We're in Los Angeles

After a long flight, we are in L.A. staying with Sonya and Bernie and the two boys. We have a lot to catch up on, but it's fun.

Fox and his little brother Banjo

We caught the Travel Bug Again

I know I said I wouldn't travel overseas again, but the thought of seeing my two little grandsons, Sonya and Bernie again persuaded me to once again sit in a hollow tube hurtling through the air for hours on end. Plus Kathy and Rob, a couple of our neighbours have asked us to join them on a Mississippi cruse from Memphis to New Orleans, hence the reason we're once again at Brisbane International airport, boarding a Virgin flight to Los Angeles.

Another reason we're travelling, is Brisbane will experience major disruptions between the 15th and 16th November with the hosting of the G20 Summit in town. The bigwigs of the top twenty economic countries descend on Brisbane with a lot of them bringing their own security forces with them. Naturally that also attracts the rat-bags from all around the world coming to demonstrate against Obama, Putin, Cameron, Abbott and the others. Then there are the ones who want to save the whales, the forests, the planet. gay rights, women's rights and poverty. Not that I personally have anything against any of those things.  A lot of these protesters will battle it out with the police forces in the streets. There'll be water canons, tear gas, you name it.

So, we're off to miss it all.

Travelling on a 777-300ER to L.A.

My First Car in Australia

Diane recently posted on her blog Adventure Before Dementia, how we met back in the late 60s. In it she mentioned that my car got flooded. This evoked a few comments and questions from her readers. I thought I'd explain.

I shared a flat in Boroko, Papua New Guinea with a few work mates. On the day, Diane left for Sydney, we all took her to the airport in Port Moresby to see here off. We then all went to the Gateway Hotel for a few drinks and lunch, which extended to mid afternoon, when I decided to go back to the flat for a snooze.

I awoke shortly before dinner by a tremendous thunderstorm which must have been raging for some time. I got up to investigate. Our flat was about a meter off the ground and when I opened to front door I discovered the water was almost up to the floor of the flat. Another inch and it would have come in through the door.

To my horror, I saw that my car was deep in submerged water outside the fence. My mate Willy's car was already gone.

I swam out to the fence but by the time I got to the car, it was floating away. I couldn't hang on to it. 

An hour later, the storm had gone and the water was receding. I eventually found my car in the nearby creek balanced on top of Willy's ute (Pick-Up truck).

 To make matters worse, I was due to fly to Rabaul on Monday morning very early and couldn't do anything about my car either on the weekend or the following weeks. I phoned my boss and asked him to organise both cars to be towed to local car dealer's workshop, tell them to strip the engines, clean them and put them together again. Of course he forgot to tell them that.

When I returned to Port Moresby a few weeks later. Our cars were at the back of their garage, just as they had picked them up. No need to tell you, they were both ruined. Such was life in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea.