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The last couple of days have been great for city-dwelling tourism. Why? Well, the weather's been fantastic (though hot). And, well, they destroyed part of North Michigan Avenue:
And you know, despite the fact that this is for Transformers 3 and I can't do anything to stop them it's also really, really cool. Parts of lower Michigan are dressed up too (including part of the riverwalk), there's an overturned bus wedged between two buildings on Wacker just west of here, there are several lots full of fake rubble. And they set their base camp up... basically in a hole. It looks like a parking lot there, but it's actually one story down, so it is literally like a zoo. There are people gathered all along the upper railing staring down hoping to get a glimpse of the actors. Yesterday we got to see Patrick Dempsey leave his trailer, get screamed at by countless women, wave, disappear into his trailer again, and then come out and wave and go to the set. How exciting? But really, watching everyone else was amazingly weird. Also, it was worth it for the conversation my friends and I had about ten feet away from the crowd, in which we failed to remember which medical show Patrick Dempsey was on, then, once we figured that out, one of us kept insisting that the "Mc" he was was "McSweeney." From there we were able to segue beautifully into Optimus Prime's insurance claims.) We also ran into some Shia LeBoeuf fangirls underground next to the base camp itself, holding signs. I'm still not entirely sure I won't go back today with a sign that says something like "Love me, Optimus!" so I can stand next to them and alter the creepy factor slightly.
As you can see from the picture, I was able to secure a pretty awesome view thanks to a friend's office. There is also a video of the explosions we witnessed (sadly, we missed the base jumpers off the Trump tower), but it may never see the light of day simply because our unwitting commentary was so embarrassingly nerdy (we didn't know that one us had actually been taping as soon as they started adjusting the cameras. It's five minutes long, includes us failing to name actors properly, and parts of it actually bear comparison with double rainbow). It also may never see light of day because Paramount thinks films of them filming their film are copyright infringement. Regardless, if I get a hold of it, I'll definitely share. If there's one thing that belongs on the internet, it's terrible nerdy commentary. Paired with explosions.
Unfortunately, all this nerdy activity yesterday actually gave me a nightmare last night (either that or it was the migraine I had in the evening...). I dreamed that I was actually watching this movie (which I realize I'm going to have to do now), and after the credits, where things like Iron Man hide the teasers for the sequel, the camera zoomed up into this executive high-rise and slowly the whorp-whorp sound of the TARDIS started (I looked around the theater, put my face in my hands and said "Oh no"), then it appeared and out hopped three poorly-casted American actors who were supposed to be Nine, Rose and Jack (I think Nine was played by Shia LaBoeuf, and his jacket didn't fit at all). Jack took a look around, said "But the Fifth was the Sixth" with a hint of ominous premonition and then it faded to black. Then all the fanboys tried to kill me while explaining why having Doctor Who cross over into the Transformers universe was actually okay and I tried to run away into this epic rainstorm that destroyed most of Kenwood plaza (at which point dream-me went "Oh no, I'd better do my grocery shopping before this gets completely destroyed!" so part of the rest of the dream was me picking up various things I needed from Hyde Park Produce).
Oh right, um... spoilers for Transformers 3. Sorry.
And you know, despite the fact that this is for Transformers 3 and I can't do anything to stop them it's also really, really cool. Parts of lower Michigan are dressed up too (including part of the riverwalk), there's an overturned bus wedged between two buildings on Wacker just west of here, there are several lots full of fake rubble. And they set their base camp up... basically in a hole. It looks like a parking lot there, but it's actually one story down, so it is literally like a zoo. There are people gathered all along the upper railing staring down hoping to get a glimpse of the actors. Yesterday we got to see Patrick Dempsey leave his trailer, get screamed at by countless women, wave, disappear into his trailer again, and then come out and wave and go to the set. How exciting? But really, watching everyone else was amazingly weird. Also, it was worth it for the conversation my friends and I had about ten feet away from the crowd, in which we failed to remember which medical show Patrick Dempsey was on, then, once we figured that out, one of us kept insisting that the "Mc" he was was "McSweeney." From there we were able to segue beautifully into Optimus Prime's insurance claims.) We also ran into some Shia LeBoeuf fangirls underground next to the base camp itself, holding signs. I'm still not entirely sure I won't go back today with a sign that says something like "Love me, Optimus!" so I can stand next to them and alter the creepy factor slightly.
As you can see from the picture, I was able to secure a pretty awesome view thanks to a friend's office. There is also a video of the explosions we witnessed (sadly, we missed the base jumpers off the Trump tower), but it may never see the light of day simply because our unwitting commentary was so embarrassingly nerdy (we didn't know that one us had actually been taping as soon as they started adjusting the cameras. It's five minutes long, includes us failing to name actors properly, and parts of it actually bear comparison with double rainbow). It also may never see light of day because Paramount thinks films of them filming their film are copyright infringement. Regardless, if I get a hold of it, I'll definitely share. If there's one thing that belongs on the internet, it's terrible nerdy commentary. Paired with explosions.
Unfortunately, all this nerdy activity yesterday actually gave me a nightmare last night (either that or it was the migraine I had in the evening...). I dreamed that I was actually watching this movie (which I realize I'm going to have to do now), and after the credits, where things like Iron Man hide the teasers for the sequel, the camera zoomed up into this executive high-rise and slowly the whorp-whorp sound of the TARDIS started (I looked around the theater, put my face in my hands and said "Oh no"), then it appeared and out hopped three poorly-casted American actors who were supposed to be Nine, Rose and Jack (I think Nine was played by Shia LaBoeuf, and his jacket didn't fit at all). Jack took a look around, said "But the Fifth was the Sixth" with a hint of ominous premonition and then it faded to black. Then all the fanboys tried to kill me while explaining why having Doctor Who cross over into the Transformers universe was actually okay and I tried to run away into this epic rainstorm that destroyed most of Kenwood plaza (at which point dream-me went "Oh no, I'd better do my grocery shopping before this gets completely destroyed!" so part of the rest of the dream was me picking up various things I needed from Hyde Park Produce).
Oh right, um... spoilers for Transformers 3. Sorry.