The
Grissom Air Museum has an F-4 Phantom II cockpit for kids to sit in. Even big kids.
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| I debated including this picture because zombie nose, but what the heck. |
Went to see
Oblivion with Shootin' Buddy after the range and a stop for lunch at the mystical corner of Westfield and Westfield in the heart of Broad Ripple proper.
This is maybe the third really original SF movie for smart people I've seen in the last fifteen years (
The Matrix and
Inception being the other two.) Do not, for Hitchcock's sake, read any reviews or plot descriptions; especially avoid the Wikipedia article which gives the whole game away. Go see it as cold as possible and let the movie tell its own story. If you're like me, you'll thank yourself.
Now, photos from lunch:
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| ...and from outside looking in. Check out the supercharged Jag... |
Good to see that sitting in that weapons platform made you smile. I did not even notice the nose until I read the caption - smiles count way more than unblemished noses.
ReplyDeleteWhat Ed said. Smiles often make for gorgeous women and scars are hot but you knew that already.
ReplyDeleteOh man, did you go "pew, pew, pew!" while sitting there?
ReplyDeleteI totally would have.
Anthony,
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of fact, I did. And I have a witness. :D
Just looks like a sunscreen failure to me, a condition I'm sure you're familiar with.
ReplyDeleteF-4 Phantom, Oh Yea.
ReplyDeleteDid you happen to notice if they had room for a visiting 18-wheeler to park at the museum?
fast richard,
ReplyDeleteIt was a pretty spacious lot, right off the entrance to the air base... You might want to check it on Google maps, though.
http://goo.gl/maps/15ywS
Tam, I'm phreaking jealous!
ReplyDeleteBack in the day I sat in cockpits just like that. Didn't fly the F-4, maintained it. Glad to see they had a Phantom in your size Tam, it looks good on you! (Nose, what nose? Looks fine to me!)
ReplyDelete+1 to Ed and Scott. I didn't even notice until I read the caption, and then I had to look for it.
ReplyDeleteFighter pilots as a whole are smirfs.
ReplyDeleteGen. Dan Cherry shot down the first Mig 21 in Vietnam and his F-4 is restored here in Bowling Green. Dan maybe 5'5" first thing in the morning and he is still an outstanding flyer. He was also the lead pilot for the Thunderbirds during his USAF career.
His jet also has a strange place in history. The pilot of the Mig came to Bowling Green and sat in the cockpit of the very jet that shot him down. It maybe the only time that has ever happened.
Gen. Cherry and my boss are co- owners of a Cessna which we have redesignated an F-172.
Gerry
Gerry,
ReplyDeleteAs it happens, the seat of that F-4 is raised 6" so that parents can get pics of the kiddies more easily. :)
Tam - I've got about 3000 hours sitting in that cockpit (yeah, I'm hard to move once I find a comfortable spot). Just got back from Oblivion - great sci-fi.
ReplyDeleteThose that have seen the movie might want to check the behind the scenes video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9m6KzRMWnA - it doesn't really give away the plot, but I think the movie is indeed more enjoyable cold.
I seriously want to build one of those Bubbleships - who's with me?
Ms Tam,
ReplyDeleteI'm mostly a lurker here, I enjoy reading and only occasionally comment.
The picture is great, and the nose looks more like you ran into something or had a helmet smashed down against safety glasses. Or a sunburn. Or like the marks on someone who WON a fistfight.
Thanks for the tip on the G.A.M., I'll have to check it out if I'm through there, and thanks for the tip/warning on Oblivion as well.
And mostly, thanks for keeping the free ice cream machine running, I can't think of many of your writings that didn't improve my day as a reader.
All I see are 2 cars, where's the jag?
ReplyDeleteI was gonna say that seat was a 'tad' high until I saw your comment about the pics... Did they have any 'live' trainers? If you ever get to San Diego, the Midway has live trainers that are linked and you can actually dogfight the others in your party! :-) Fun way to 'win' dinner!!!
ReplyDeleteTAM
ReplyDeleteYOUR SCHNOZZ IS SIMPLY CHARMING IT HAS CHARACTER AND YOU ARE A SIMPLY CHARMING CHARACTER !
You look fine, Tam.
ReplyDeleteAs the others have said, I wouldn't have noticed anything amiss if you hadn't mentioned it.
And thanks for the tip on "Oblivion". The YF wants to go see it, so I'll avoide the Wikipedia!
I've got to be honest with you Tam, I don't know if I've ever seen pictures of another lady as pretty as you are. Please don't put yourself down, it's unbecoming and not at all true.
ReplyDeleteNose? I just got lost in those eyes.
ReplyDeleteAt 6'6" I can't fit into most cockpits.
I remember when Calvin & Hobbes was in the papers and Bill Waterston was always inking Calvin in these amazing F-4s lighting up dinosaurs and such in Sunday strips... I'd totally be in that headspace sitting where you were, not afraid to admit it! Pew pew,
ReplyDeleteHeh. Your 'zombie nose' just looks like what all of us fair-skinned types have after 4 IPAs.
ReplyDelete'Least mine does...
doubletrouble, well, _I_ wasn't gonna mention the drinking thing, but...
ReplyDeleteYeah, Tam, it's like they say about the difference between men and boys... yannow, the "cost of their toys" thing.
And like the others have said, didn't notice/think about the nose until you mentioned it. I six months you'll be saying "No! Honest! Look closer! They took half my face off!"
I have noted that the quality of the Free Ice Cream has not declined throughout this ordeal. And it appears you have more friends than you thought. Tolja.
And that's the thing about the F-4: It's the most inefficient way of converting dinosaurs to noise and smoke trails yet devised by modern man.
"debated including this picture because zombie nose, but what the heck."
ReplyDeleteTam, Tam, Tam .... you ARE SO NOT just another pretty face- those are a dime a dozen, and you have no doubt BTDT ..... there CAN ONLY BE ONE ... Lady Tam, "She of the Weapons Grade Snark", "Wielder of the +4 Blade O'Hypocrisy Wounding*", Defender of The (2A) Faith ........ Of all the personalities (living or dead) I could wish for my Kids' to sit down to dinner with ..... I choose you, Marko Kloos, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, Jeff Cooper and Ghandi .... throw in Lenin,and because kicking the defenseless yet deserving is a duty, and good duty, Nancy Pelosi or DiFi .....
Who Loves Ya, Tam?
We Do, and you could have a blue nose, or a black hole in your face .... you are still Lady Tam to me..... my world would be diminished without you.
Shine On, Ye Crazy Diamond.....
-jimbob86
*Slaying would be too easy- wounding draws the melee out, and in this Information Age that is a "Combat Multiplier",no?
Appears they have it set up so you mount the horse, er, ship, from the wrong side.
ReplyDeleteWhat is it about displays that seems to cause such mistakes?
The Photo makes you look ten, nice that you could let your little girl out.
ReplyDeleteYou're adorable in that shot.
ReplyDeleteThe nose looks to be healing very well.
ReplyDeleteOn my phone's screen it just looks like a bad sunburn.
Never having looked at a picture before, I had no idea what beautiful, mischievous smile you have.
ReplyDeleteThe snark, it all makes sense now.
Normally I don't go for the "me, too" comments, but just looking at that picture brightened my day. That smile! (And anyone who would get close enough to see anything wrong with your nose probably needs to be told to respect your personal space.)
ReplyDeleteMan, they sure didn't make those things any bigger than they had to, did they?
ReplyDeleteI think you would do well with an F 4, Tam. Perhaps as a replacement for the Zed Drei?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the warning against spoilers. I hate them as a general practice anyway. Hadn't heard anything at all about Oblivion and so will keep it that way.
ReplyDeleteThe nose looks to be healing beautifully. I wouldn't have noticed, honestly.
Great smile.
ReplyDeleteYou look like a sunburned teenager in that cockpit.
Right there with ya on Oblivion, I didn't think there were any more smart people working in Hollywood. Clean, crisp and refreshing with a good score to back up fantastic visuals all as a backdrop to a smooth and subtle storyline.
ReplyDeleteZombie nose? Pshaw! Arc-burn from the high-wattage smile...who's to notice?
billy.harvey, the Bubbleship needs to be done. I'm there.
Thanks,
JSG
Much better looking than the usual trained monkeys that sat up front.
ReplyDeleteDid you spend anytime in the back seat, ya know where the actual work of that aircraft was accomplished ;-)
Sorry, as a Mather AFB alumni, could not resist.
I have very much been enjoying your pictures of your visit to the air museum. I've got to visit it. And you need to come down the Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Addison, TX (where the museum pieces are fully operational, and you can get right up to them.).
ReplyDeleteThe sight of you in the cockpit was greatness, though. I seriously would not have noticed the nose until you mentioned it. I just looks like Happy Tam. And we all like her.
The "We're Batteries!" Matrix was for smart people?
ReplyDeleteWell, okay, by Hollywood standards, I suppose.
But still.
(Man, that part just deflated the entire film for me.
It's not like they couldn't have come up with a better premise - it took me two seconds to come up with "they're using us as massively parallel organic computers", which makes ten million times more sense.)
Sigivald,
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't the "we're batteries", it was the funky underlying gnosticism of the storyline that was pretty brainy.
Nose? What nose? All I could see was the mix of childish glee and devilry in her eyes!
ReplyDeleteAntibubba
The nose looks fine to me, if a bit red. "Ma'am, have you been drinking? Step out of the cockpit, please."
ReplyDeleteI betcha you still need to keep a huge stack of form letters for turning down marriage proposals.
P.s. At the Warner Robins museum, they have an F-105 cockpit simulator, in which I have sat (sitten?). That reminds me of Ed who is no longer with us. That makes me sad.
ReplyDeleteYour beak looks loads better since the last time I saw you!
ReplyDeleteDon't be so self-concious, you're still quite the pretty lady!
Good to see you out and about. I don't see any difference in the schnoz, either. Beauty is eternal.
ReplyDeleteUlises from CA
I had a friend going through a very similar situation (4 years in) and what I observed and fed back to her was that those that see her regularly quickly 'accept' the scarring as normal and really don't notice it anymore. Those seeing it for the first time needed to process it. Then with revision surgery, healing, scar coloring mellowing with time, I have to consciously look for it, and there will always be scaring there. Of course when she looks in the mirror she always has seen the first day zombie nose bite and probably always will, but that's not what the world at large is seeing.
ReplyDeleteYou look fine, sweetie.
ReplyDeleteAnd happy. :-)
I can't decide if you're adorably menacing or menacingly adorable!
ReplyDelete