Pilot's Log

(I think theidolhands might want to hear about this little "space oddity".)

Today, my buddy Paul gave me an audio CD copy of content he acquired though his Disney contacts...

...Soundtracks from the Moonliner and Mission To Mars attractions at the Disney theme parks.

Listening to them threw me back thirty-one years to the first time I visited Florida and Walt Disney World. Mission To Mars was my favorite of the attractions then. The concept was a flight-simulation theater that took the crowd on a semi-realistic journey to the Red Planet, with rudimentary motion seating and panoramic projection screens of the spacecraft's external views. Before entering the theater itself, the crowd would go through a "Mission Control Brief" led by an audio-anamatronic character, who stood in front of banks of NASA-variety high-tech consoles "manned" by other robotic mannekins. The far wall of the room had large screen video and movie projectors. Going through that was, to a twelve-year-old kid, like living the future.

This disk had all fifteen minutes of audio from that attraction, and now my imagination can flit back there and remember it all. Three other tracks were from the earlier Moonliner incarnation of the ride, with public address chatter of a ("transistor-punk"?) aerospace passenger terminal, engine noise from a George Pal-era spaceship, and overture music from when it was 100% acoustic orchestral hardware. No better evidence of how much the world has changed...and also, how much the world's future avoided what we thought we wanted, back in those decades after WW2.

I'll go back to Florida, but I'm not sure I'll go back to Walt Disney World. Mission To Mars was replaced before I finished my flight training around 1990, and space tourism is either alive and well, or about to be swept aside by history, depending on who you ask. In the meantime, I'm the Dork Who Fell To Earth, looking for the next hyperspace portal and saving up for a ticket to Anthea. Hope you'll be on the flight with me. I could always use a travelling companion.

PS: Thanks to www.lunar.org...some visuals of what space tourism looked like to Disney from the outside: ( Read more... )

And from www.davelandweb.com...Mission Control: ( Read more... )

Sagittarius Horoscope for week of June 18, 2009

Metaphorically speaking, Sagittarius, you have unearthed or are about to unearth a rare fossil. I think it's a pretty sensational discovery. It's a missing link that could help you make sense out of episodes in your past that have always mystified or frustrated you. I urge you to learn all you can about this fossil. Follow every lead it points to. And ask your intuition to run wild and free as it dreams up possible interpretations to its multiple meanings.

How come I'm thinking of the David Bowie act in which he's on stage with a skull in his hand? Of course, with my being a research addict, the process of searching and learning is always more important than what is being found and learned.

PS: Skull and Cross-Referencing...Since my Tag count is approaching the dreaded 1000, I went to the Manage Tags part of LJ, sorted them by Usage, and copied all the ones that are only used ONCE to a .txt file which I printed out. I will use this as a checklist for the purpose of repurposing, purging and otherwise straightening out my Tags. I think about a third of all my Tags have only been used ONCE.

The PBS program Great Performances is presenting this week the opera "The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny". Some of the hands behind the Broadway production of "Sweeney Todd" are behind this production as well. And yes, there is a song in this play that was made into hit rock records by the likes of David Bowie and the Doors.

Check your local listings.

FP

PS: Producers Are Money-Grubbing Scum.