Inflight Entertainment

As anyone who has trawled through my photos would know, my favourite inflight entertainment is the window. But on those dark nights over the ocean when there is nothing to see outside and I can't sleep there is nothing better than watching a movie. It doesn't have to be a good movie; in the oxygen starved environment of an aircraft cabin even a bad movie can be enjoyable. Light, fluffy, mindless action, slightly crazy, it's amazing what is watchable at 30,000 feet up.

What I don't want to watch, let alone pay for, are the entertainment offerings of the low coast carriers. I joke that on Jetstar it's always a Steve Carell movie, but at least their long-haul flights have free cabin screens, though movies about the invention of the windscreen wiper, endlessly looped Two and a Half Men and surf sports are not to my taste.

Scoot have just posted news about their new inflight streaming entertainment where you can either bring your own device or hire an iPad for the flight. I was curious to see what's on offer [pdf] for our upcoming flights in March, seeing as they have absolutely no other form of cabin entertainment and both B and Alex will need amusing.

Surprise, surprise, it's not so different to Jetstar, but as befitting Scoot's poorer comfort levels, worse. There's a Steve Carrell movie (Date Night) and Two and a Half Men, a show barely worse than The Librarians. Bridget Jones' Diary was funny when we saw it on our honeymoon flight back in 2001, but the DVD has been sitting unwatched for a long time now. Black Swan was responsible for a midflight emotional meltdown a couple of years ago. I've read that it's a movie nobody would watch a second time.

Maybe Alex would like Rio and a bit of Tim Burton's Corpse Bride might be more my thing, but I think I'll be continuing the arduous process of converting our own videos for the iPad and Android devices, along with card games and stories. I had the (fastest in our house but now too slow) computer running all night and all day with the first batch, then it had the temerity to shutdown without warning before they were all completed. What I really want from the IFE (and this should be possible through streaming!) is the flight map. If only we were flying on a proper airline...

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The Kamioka mines: from silver to supernovas

Part of the Kamioka zinc mining and smelter complex Just after posting about the Kamioka Railway another photo from that 2006 set piqued my interest. Up there in the mountains the landscape looked blasted not just by winter but by something more. It was the kind of lonely place where you would not expect to find major industry, so this sight was quite surprising. Even more surprising is the history associated with this photo. According to some sources mining and refining of ores in Kamioka dates back to 710 AD and only closed in 2001. Undoubtedly the mine was a major reason for the existence of the Kamioka Railway. Refining of zinc still continues to this day under the parent Mitsui Kenzoku zaibatsu . Gold, silver, copper, zinc and lead were all dug out of the rock here. Unfortunately, the process released cadmium into the river, which, when taken up by the rice that was grown in the river, caused the terrible itai-itai disease - meaning "It hurts! It hurts". Cadm...

Down the Oito Line

Riding the length of the Oito Line from Itoigawa to Shinjuku (well, Matsumoto, really, but you might as well go the whole way) has long been a dream of mine. It suddenly gained urgency when I read that the last length of it between Itoigawa to Minami-Otari would be closed once the Hokuriku Shinkansen to Kanazawa and Toyama opens by next year. Now, as mentioned last time, B and Alex are among those that would much rather catch the very fast Shinkansen, but in the end she decided to follow me, despite the very early morning. We rode the Hokuetsu Express from Toyama to Itoigawa, completing a little more of that West Coast for me. Though the coastal stretch was short there were some nice views at times. I should like to see more of Itoigawa one day, explore its geology. But now we had to quickly cross over the platform bridge to catch our train to Minami-Otari. To my great delight it was a KiHa 120 railcar, my favourite. I felt a degree of sadness standing up at the front...

To Melbourne on the XPT sleeper

Excited by the prospect of reliving the experience of seeing my very first movie and hearing the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra perform it I bought tickets to The Empire Strikes Back in Concert in Melbourne back in February. Then I did nothing about actually getting there. Much as I love Melbourne, due to family commitments I didn't want to spend more than the Sunday away. Flights there and back made sense, but my flight down to Melbourne in late October reiterated the fact that I usually don't enjoy descending into the city. And the concert was in December, a season of summer storms. I really didn't feel like driving the whole route alone and in a hurry, so that left one choice. The train. My very first trip up to Sydney from Melbourne was aboard the luxury Southern Aurora. Or it was supposed to be luxury. I wouldn't know because I spent the whole ride up very sick with the flu lying in the top bunk, unable to stay awake for my whole of night vigil. Now only...

travelling allrite

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