What’s that, you ask? You want more inane pictures of my Australia trip from 2004?
Why, I can help you.
Remember the scene in the original Matrix when Morpheus and Neo are in “the Construct”? They’re at a fountain, with people walking by, bumping into Neo. Here’s a picture to jog your memory:
Yes, I stole that picture off the Internets, as I don’t have any illegal frame-grabbing software for my DVDs. And no, I’m not sure why those people have their heads circled, nor is it important to this story, though no doubt I’ll get comments on it.
So anyway, in the next moment, a blonde in a red dress walks by, distracting Neo:
Ah, now you remember.
Well, that fountain, called the Martin’s Place Fountain, is in Sydney, Australia. I visited there on my first day of the trip. Little did I know people would be shooting at me, and I would have to dodge bullets a la the Matrix:
That should fulfill your silliness quotient of the day.
July 14th, 2005 at 8:53 pm
I think I can answer the circled heads thing. They used twins to film that scene so that it would look… er… weirder (for want of a better word). The two circled heads are those of two twins.
So there you have it.
July 14th, 2005 at 11:36 pm
It is a weird experience when you see familiar locations on the big screen. You Californians are probably used to it, but for us lives in the sticks of the antipodes its all new and shiny still.
July 15th, 2005 at 4:53 am
Three specific comments:
1. What red dress? Oh, that one!
2. Too bad we can’t see the level surface you’re obviously walking on (the rest of the picture is apparently out of phase by about 50 degrees).
3. For screen-grabbing I use a completely legal software application called PowerDVD from Cyberlink. Heck, I even paid for it!
In general, nice, amusing, light-hearted blog entry!
July 15th, 2005 at 11:38 am
Aw! It always spoils a little bit of the magic when you know where movie elements are in real life.
Aaah, the Matrix. Great stuff! Too bad only the first one was good. It was my philosophy teacher’s favorite movie when it came to teach us some of Socrates’s stuff… Something about a cavern. I forget the name of that text. And at least I THINK it was said by Socrates.
July 15th, 2005 at 11:41 am
It’s good for a couple days of silliness fullfillment.
Of course the first thing I thought looking at the the picture of you BA was, one too many Fosters.
July 15th, 2005 at 12:07 pm
Did you get distracted by the lady in red too?
July 15th, 2005 at 3:16 pm
Hey, Phil. Did you forget to pack your dark suit so you could look the part
Rob
July 15th, 2005 at 3:56 pm
That’s great. When I was in Chicago for the first time, a few months ago, I made sure to pass through the intersection of Wabash and Lake as I was walking downtown. Your stop is cooler, Phil, but then your travel budget is bigger.
July 15th, 2005 at 4:48 pm
[JAKE]
That’s where they got that Picasso, don’t they?
[/JAKE]
July 15th, 2005 at 7:09 pm
All those Sydney landmarks in Matrix took me right out of the movie and plunked me back into reality again.
July 15th, 2005 at 8:06 pm
To Michelle Rochon, that was Plato who made the comment about how all we see are shadows projected on the wall of a cavern (or something to that effect)
All in all, great entry once again BA! I wouldn’t be suprised if you stumble into more matrix landmarks
July 15th, 2005 at 8:11 pm
Dodging bullets in Martin Place? How very Californian.
They must be virtual bullets — you know we’re not allowed to carry guns in Australia.
July 16th, 2005 at 8:08 am
Phil, I always suspected you were the O-N-E!
Very funny blog entry.
July 16th, 2005 at 12:51 pm
To Samara!
Yes, but Plato was mostly writing what Socrates said, isn’t it? I’m almost sure it was a text of Plato with Socrates in it…
July 16th, 2005 at 5:23 pm
You think that’s air making the flag move on the moon?
July 16th, 2005 at 6:38 pm
The “twins” in the picture show an error in the Matrix… but… wait a minute…. this is in the Contruct not the Matrix so there can’t be an error here…. but…. wait a minute….look at the picture of BA at the fountain and extrapolate to the profile…. almost looks like the twins…. wait a minute….could this be a dual cameo appearance of the BA himself????? and just maybe those hoaxes that he writes about are created by the “twins” and he de-bunks them…..wait a minute here…. I think I’m on to something here ….AT LAST!!!! I’ve found the truth….or….maybe not?????
July 18th, 2005 at 8:00 am
Nah, the twins aren’t an error in the construct. Mouse, who designs that stuff, is just as lazy as any other teenage hacker and copied and pasted most of the people to make it. Of course he spent an awful long time making The Lady in Red.
The rest of the post blew my mind though.
July 18th, 2005 at 12:17 pm
Nice one, BA. I’ll add that one to my list of places to vist. It’s a shame the bullets aren’t slowed down in your photo – we can’t see them!
July 22nd, 2005 at 6:06 pm
Forgot to remark on your special effects.
Most people these days resort to wire work or blue/green screen or both, but you did your effect “in camera”, neat! It looks so real that only Plan 9 from outer space did it better!
Bad Astronomer, you are so bad that you are good, just like plan 9….