Air slow

Huzzah! Finally some rain.

Problem is, it came smack bang in the middle of the Avalon Air Show and those brave fighter pilots are too scared to fly in the rain so many spectacular air displays were postponed/ cancelled*.

Still, birthday boy Sammy J Atherton, whose middle name is a tribute to his late great-grandfather, Wing Commander J. Gooch, got to take his dad to the airshow. We were able to poke a stick at a few cool toys before the monsoonal weather moved in and threatened to blow the little Pitt specials and those ridiculously over-pop-rivetted old DC-10's away. Their wings did make handy shelters though, and their flapping was almost comical.

*this is artistic licence. Air Force pilots really are really, really brave. The displays were cancelled because they don't like getting their planes wet.

Sammy J's favourite- the C-17 Globemaster of the US Air Force. U-S-A !!

Phwoar. You could fit an entire BMX stunt track in the rear of that baby!!

Of course, a show-and-shine of this epic proportion will often be cynically dismissed as a hedonistic glorification of imperialistic war machinery, glamourous portrayals of death and destruction.

However, it would appear that many, many people enjoy these hedonistic displays of imperialistic war machinery and weaponry. I cynically suggest there is a name for such people: "Normal".

Yes there are some depth perception games here, but the little old Ansett DC was only 30 metres or so behind the Qantas A380 tail, so how's that for perspective?

We're quite lucky that Avalon Airport is a stone's throw away from our place. Lucky, because there aren't a gazillion flights going in and out to make it a daily annoyance, but we can sit on the roof of the house and see a kickbutt airshow. For free. Despite this, I still blew $75 to go and get rained on. Go figure.

Anyhoo, here are more pics.

"So when I flew upside down over the Iraqi pilot and looked down at him, I waved like this..Hey Abdul!!" Yeah, good onya, Maverick. Ty-pi-cal Airforce pilot...

"He couldn't have been more than this tall. Maybe he was Mexican."

Off to see the Colonials, what...

Sam looks disappointed when he found out that the Bell 206 Jetranger may be maneuverable for low altitude recon but lacks the serious avionics to reduce vulnerability to ground attack, something which will hopefully improve with the Army's forthcoming batch of Eurocopter Tiger HAP's. Phew!

The evergreen C-130 Hercules, a remarkable aircraft whose attributes include extreme high-speed descent capabilities, as well as the ability to fly whilst the propellers aren't actually moving

Call signs? Or just some Rowan Atkinson fans?


High-way-to....the danger zone...da.da.daaammm...

I have no smarty-pants caption. That's just a freakin huge airplane...


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Which Baldwin?

Okay, so maybe I don't have a problem with all celebrities! Although, whether or not Steven Baldwin is a celebrity is debatable. He certainly won't be now after these comments!



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I like Coldplay because I'm not cool. (...cool!)

I heard a very deep saying the other day: "Does someone steal a car because they're a car thief, or are they a car thief because they steal cars?". Hmm.

No, I'm not really sure what the point was either but I think I can paraphrase it thus:

Do I like Coldplay because I'm not cool, or am I not cool because I like Coldplay?

If you're wondering about what I really think of stardom, popularity and general fashionableness, see my previous post. But there can exist a sub-culture within the subculture where it can actually be truly cool to be fashionable in a way that doesn't appear fashionable. Or not.


Okay I'm not making any sense. Let's just say I'm glad I'm not cool. The more I read fashionable, wordy underground blather about how much Coldplay suck, the more well-adjusted I become. Here's an article called Why I don't hate Coldplay which explains it more clearly, and will probably be about the only time I ever link to anything containing the word "Indy" (unless it's about that automobile race in Queensland).

To explain my own way; I took Sharon with me to see them play at Rod Laver Arena last Tuesday night. She doesn't really like Coldplay that much (for musical reasons, nothing to do with fashion), yet she found it "entertaining".

There's Coldplay's problem right there. They're supposed to entertain, so they do. Instead they should curse a lot, abuse their public status, carry on angrily about global warming, George W and Palestine, or be brazenly homosexual. Then they'd be "fashionable".

They met at a university where they were studying not arts or philosophy, but useful things like commerce and finance and classical music. They formed a band and made music which people actually like but won't admit it out of fear of being considered uncool.

So there you go. I don't mind the entertainment industry. As long as they entertain.


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I love celebrities. No, really...

Now that I'm 40, I'm going to make a last ditch effort to fit into the mainstream. I've decided to stop being cynical about the entertainment industry, and cease insisting that it is full of shiftless, amoral, narcissistic, badly adjusted, willfully ignorant and poorly-brought-up substance abusers who should be pitied, not revered. I will stop pontificating about how pop stars pontificate about relationships while theirs constantly self destruct. Yessir. I'm going to take an interest and start reading gossip magazines. I will swoon at at such things as how crackingly good Jennifer Aniston looks in a frock.

Here's my first attempt. Let me know how I go:

Lindsay Lohan converts to Judaism

In order to marry her girlfriend, apparently.

Oh, GOOD GRIEF!! HAVEN'T THE JEWS SUFFERED ENOUGH??!



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