The Bodies Exhibition

This was intense, interesting, and very creepy. At the University of Texas football stadium, the exhibit is housed on the 5th floor. Be prepared when you go in! The exhibition travels, so look for it in your closest city. No cameras were allowed, so no pics this time.

There are several rooms, each devoted to a major organ system (e.g., circulatory, digestion, nervous, etc.) Each room contains at least one dissected human, preserved by drying and coating with silicone rubber. The dissections are meticulous and fully revealing. They are also very disturbing.

All the bodies are Chinese, as the dissections were done in China by medical students. The bodies are posed in various ways, as if they were involved in living. For example, one is posed in the Pele position (upside down, kicking a soccer ball over its head). One body stands upright, with its front surface skin draped over its arm. Someone commented on the wispy chin hairs still being in place.

Despite being a bit pricey, the exhibit was very well attended by people of all ages. Most of the comments as people left the exhibit seemed to indicate that it was interesting to them.

Movie makings in Austin

The Coen brothers are making a new version of True Grit. Part of it is set in Austin. Jeff Bridges will star as Rooster Cogburn. Matt Damon is also involved. We spent part of yesterday watching the process - now we understand why movies are so expensive to make!

We arrived early to find an empty set at the Austin Club on 9th Street.

This old-timey building would serve as a train station in the movie. In front were a bunch of buggies - sans horse.

This club has lots of old-timey detail, along with the veranda on the second storey.

Street signs had been removed, along with any sense of 20th century, even though the movie was to be set in 1903. Two trailers of horses and a giant generator were in evidence.

The horses (and their keepers) had tons of patience. They needed it, as it took hours to get anywhere near shooting.

The area was well-protected, mostly by motorcycle cops. This guy apparently has enough seniority that he get cushy gigs like this frequently. He had the shade and an entire cooler full of cold drinks.

After a couple of hours the horses came out to eat their lunch.

Even though this was a short scene without the stars (unfortunately we did not know that until later), it had tons of staff involvement. There were lots of trucks around from the Film Fleet (an Austin group that is part of Paramount Pictures).

A giant truck pulled in at the far end of the scene. Six guys swarmed around it while the lift gate came down. This fake gas light was bundled out of the truck. Two ladders appeared. Four guys stood around drinking soda and coffee while two guys put the light on the post. Then they went away.

Shortly after ward they reconvened, brought back the ladders, and took the gas light down. The light disappeared, along with the ladders. Two guys stuck around to move the post a couple of feet.

Then, eventually, some guys reappeared and put the light back up.

No wonder movies cost so much...

One of the guys waiting around had a wife involved in the production (as an extra). She was texting him the whole time, so he reported to the surroundings.

"Fifteen women still to be made up."
"Four women still to be made up."
"Oops, they are serving us lunch now."

Meanwhile, in true Japanese Just-In-Time fashion, this arch had been transformed from raw plywood to the appearance of sandstone.

Parts of the film gear were starting to accumulate.

Guys were walking around spraying sand slurry to make the asphalt street look like a dirt street to the cameras.

People in period costumes started appearing.

More and more trucks appeared, with more and more complicated equipment.

The horses started suiting up,

and were led onto the scene.

Then they were put in the traces on the various carriages.

Finished with their lunch, several busloads of extras dressed in period costumes appeared.

Some got into the carriages...

others milled around on the street.

The gas lamp looked just right.

But some extras were caught in our world, waiting to walk into an imagined one.

More and more equipment appeared,

while the local news crew set up a camera.

Then, unfortunately, we had to leave. Our van was needed for the last bit of household moving. You can see the Coen brothers and cameras in this piece from Austin360.com.

Barton Creek (with water)

Barton Creek is a recurring theme in Austin. It winds its way through the southern part of town, providing shade, rocks, and trails for walkers, bikers, and dogs. In prior visits to Austin we had done some hiking through a mostly dry canyon. This year we visited while the spring run-off still ran. It was nice to see the change. This shot kind of sets the scene. There are lots of pools, as well as burbling brook sections.

This cliff had lots of cactus hanging over the lip.

It also had evidence of climbing activity (more later).

This day we started off downstream from the Route 360 entrance, toward a portion we had hiked from another vantage point. The trails are dry now, but the creek sights are still pretty,

both upstream and down.

During this wet season there was a lot of active plant life.

If it doesn't happen now, there won't be enough moisture for it later.

This was one of my favorites. It looked to me like a bug with fuzzy eyes on stalks, giant, lavender ears, and legs with bends.

As we ended our hike we were back by the climbing area in time to see someone scale a bit of the wall.

O'Henry Annual Pun-off

This event has been an annual phenomenon in Austin for many years. This year it was in Brush Square Park, behind the O'Henry Museum. William Sydney Porter (aka O'Henry) lived for years in Austin.

We took a lot of pun-ishment over the afternoon, including a song about a yoga teacher. A many-times punning champion sang it with guitar accompaniment. Part of the way through he started yodeling "Yoga lady, yoga lady, yoga lady, hooo." The audience died inside a little bit, while laughing like crazy.

Once again, characters abounded. Some, like the guy below with the excellent mustache, became contestants later in the show.

Some were just interesting. It was a good people-watching day. I like a whimsical, well-done tattoo like this.

The story of the day for me, despite the good competition, was hats. There just seemed to be a terrific collection of hats going on.

One of my favorite punsters, expounding on the BP oil well disaster, won the hat of the day contest (in my head). I was just gushing with enthusiasm.

Redirect /Austin

Another Friday on the City Hall Steps, listening to the free concert by Grupo Fantasma. This is an 11 piece Latin music band, with two front men. They were wonderful! The crowd was bigger than usual, with a nice mix of working stiffs, families with children, and unusual characters.

The bird and bee couple appeared in support of infertility awareness.

 A whole lot of dancing was going on, together and

alone

Babies enjoyed it!

Other characters enjoyed it.

Grupo Fantasma had a big sound, with brass

woodwinds

lots of percussion

and strings. One of my favorites was the baritone sax, coming in as an accent and occasionally taking the lead.

It was a fun day at City Hall, Austin.