On floating jets
I arrived in Chicago yesterday for a few days’ work on the next thing I’m writing.
In the cab leaving the airport, I saw a giant jet landing. Something about our relative speeds and angles created the illusion that the plane wasn’t moving forward at all. Rather, it was gracefully floating straight down.
It was levitating, basically. I pictured Magneto with his gloved hand stretched out, fingers bent, a look of weary concentration in his eyes.
Anyway. It was cool enough that it needed to be noted.
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November 2nd, 2006 at 8:10 am
Haha, that sounds so cool. Now you know what to put in your next script John!
November 2nd, 2006 at 8:12 am
I agree with Andreas- X-Men would have sucked without Magneto.
November 2nd, 2006 at 8:26 am
Try being on the New Jersey turnpike when a jet is coming in for a landing at Newark. You think it’s going to land on top of you.
November 2nd, 2006 at 8:40 am
While in Chicago, if you’re into the whole pizza thing — and if you haven’t already, make sure to check out Gino’s East on Wells, or Pizzeria Due’s on Wabash. Good stuff.
November 2nd, 2006 at 11:10 am
I always thought sir ian looked a tad… silly in that magneto helmet.
November 2nd, 2006 at 12:28 pm
Had the same kind of experience travelling down the New Jersey Turnpike for the first time. Except the airliner looked like it was suspended in the sky and didn’t want to come down any lower.
After a further ten minutes down the NJT, I could understand why.
(Sincere apologies to any New Jersey natives offended by this comment, especially the girl in the Upper East Side bar who tried to punch me in the face sixteen years back. It’s the English sense of humour. Honest).
Mmmm, Gino’s East. Better memories there.
November 2nd, 2006 at 1:31 pm
Good recs. on the pizza. I might add Giordano’s “stuffed” pizza really Rocks too.
November 2nd, 2006 at 2:06 pm
Sooo… after M-Day, Magneto wasn’t depowered, but just demoted to “airplane parking mutant?”
November 2nd, 2006 at 3:29 pm
Good times!
November 2nd, 2006 at 4:26 pm
Gino’s East is excellent. Lou Malnati’s is worth having FedExed across country (which they do).
November 2nd, 2006 at 4:35 pm
Lou Malnati’s is also a fantastic choice. I miss my pizza out here in CA.
November 2nd, 2006 at 6:01 pm
John — My apologies for hijacking your levitation post with the pizza talk…(but, it’s just so damn good).
November 2nd, 2006 at 7:51 pm
John,
Great site. Chitown is my hometown. Check out a wonderful restaurant called the ‘Green Zebra’ on Chicago Ave. Fantastic food and wine. Have a great trip.
T.E.
November 2nd, 2006 at 11:54 pm
I’ve seen this same illusion. In Spokane, the freeway parallels the airport. From the car, I could have sworn I witnessed a 747 float, unmoving, about 80 feet above the runway. I watched it as long as I could, and the illusion was so complete, it appeared to hang there, flaps extended, like a hot air balloon. When I finally had to look away (so as to not plow into another car on the freeway), it still had not made contact.
Gino’s is excellent, but for my money, the Village Pizzeria on Larchmont is the place to go.
November 3rd, 2006 at 1:20 am
I have no airplane anecdote, but I have met with Howard Zinn. I’m sure he flew a plane to get here.
November 3rd, 2006 at 3:34 am
FYI – Whilst evading the IRS, or whatever it is he’s doing, Wesley Snipes is currently in Namibia shooting some masterpiece called ‘Gallowwalker’, which, incidentally, is a zombie western. Paging the Academy…
November 3rd, 2006 at 10:49 am
A friend discribed a similar insident when on acid. Did you take something to help you with your flight?
November 3rd, 2006 at 10:21 pm
Anything that causes one’s imagination to drift to X-Men MUST be awesome. Sounds like a cool sight.
November 4th, 2006 at 1:15 pm
Sometimes there is so much beauty in the world… Next John you will be blogging about carrier bags blowing in the wind, and telling us about that dead bird you shot on another Zen rampage. Just kidding. Have you lost your mind?