What I Read -- Why Not Me?

I read Why Not Me? a while back; I'm not sure how it escaped my blogging notice. It was one of our postal book club books, selected by K.

I did not read Mindy Kaling's first book, nor was I a big watcher of the American version of The Office.  (I did watch a fair number of episodes of the British version, but I still would not consider myself a devotee.)

Nevertheless, I did enjoy Mindy's anecdotes about working on the show, and making it big-ish in Hollywood.  I appreciate that she knows that her life story is not normal (not everyone gets invited to dinner at the White House!).  However, I think a few more years of life experience probably added some much-needed perspective that her first book may have lacked.  All in all, rather an amusing collection of stories.

What I Watched -- Someone Like You

It may have been on Christmas day that I watched Someone Like You.  In any case, it was that day or one of the ones shortly after, when I was still immobile for having over-eaten, and I did nothing but watch movies that S discovered on Netflix. 

Someone Like You came out in 2001, and stars a bunch of good-looking people: Ashley Judd, Hugh Jackman, and Greg Kinnear, to name a few.  It's a love triangle rom-com, but smart and funny.  And I love Ashley Judd's haircut.  Plus, as with anything set in NYC, it gets automatic bonus points from me.

Bottom line: I would have watched it even if had not been too stuffed to move and put on something else -- and that's saying something!

It's my birthday!

Christmas Extravaganza, Part II

Well, Christmas is over, but the fun ran through to December 26th!

On Christmas Day, S and I had K&J over for brunch.  Grandma came too, and we all chowed down on some eggs and potatoes, and drank a quite respectable amount of prosecco (mixed with OJ, if one so chose).  We opened gifts and K did a stellar job icing the sugar cookies.  Unfortunately the other G was housebound with an injured pup, but we had a couple of lovely telephone chats.

I continued my movie watching, with a new one recommended by C: It Happened on 5th Avenue.  Very cute!  It's old fashioned, it's set in New York, and it's about Christmas -- all of which are things I love!  In my food coma after brunch, I also watched a few not-so-good made-for-Netflix Christmas movies, which were tolerable in my semi-conscious state, but not recommended (not even named). And I watched one of my annual favorites, Little Women!  It's not Christmas without Little Women.

I'm not even sure the fun is over yet.  My birthday is coming up, and I might be able to swindle some more Christmas fun for the big day!

Happy Christmas!

Christmas Extravaganza, Part I

I must admit that I have done fewer out-of-the-house holiday activities this year than normal, which is a bit of a bummer.  However, I have done plenty of around-the-house stuff, so here's some of that:

1. I put up my Christmas tree!  I got a little creative after debating with S the merits of a real tree.  I may go that route next year, but for now, I'm quite happy with my version!

2. We had a Christmas lighting party.  A couple of weeks ago, we had people over for a dinner of pulled pork, mac 'n cheese, and Christmas cookies, and we put up my yard ornament (an inflatable snowman) and strung Christmas lights across the new deck.

3. I made Christmas treats.  Some were the usual - Santa Snacks, molasses cookies.  But I also tried out some Irish spiked brownies which were pretty delicious.  More to come!

4. I've watched some of my Christmas favorites.  S and I started out the holiday season with Love Actually.  Subsequent to watching it, he discovered a Love Actually drinking game, so we may watch it again.  I've also taken in The Polar Express and It's A Wonderful Life.  Interestingly, though this is the 5th or 6th year I've watched the latter, I noticed a few things in it this time that I hadn't before.  All the more reason to keep watching, year after year.

5. I've written about 2/3 of my Christmas cards. I'm a little late to the card-writing scene this year, so sorry if yours hasn't arrived yet!

What I Watched -- The Darkest Hour

Our last SLIFF film of the festival was Darkest Hour.  We arrived a bit late because it overlapped with the end of the narrative shorts I posted about the other day.

I have a reasonable knowledge of this period of history, which probably aided in my understanding of who was who and what was going on when we walked in mid-meeting between Neville Chamberlain and King George VI. (You might remember King George VI from The King's Speech.)  I knew more or less where things were going, and that Winston, the star of the show, would get the job which Mr. Chamberlain was about to vacate.

Churchill was played by Gary Oldman. He did such a good job as the heavy-drinking new prime minister that there were times that it was difficult to understand what he was saying. (Aside: I have a soft spot in my heart for Gary Oldman, since I first remember encountering him in the film adaptation of Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Dead, which is when I truly understood the comic genius of both William Shakespeare and Tom Stoppard.)

The remainder of the cast performed well too, although (not unexpectedly), Churchill is the center of attention.

Bottom line: I always love a historical biopic, and this was a good way to end the festival.

What I Watched -- The Lost World: Jurassic Park

S and I were discussing Jurassic Park after our symphonic experience, and it was revealed to him that I had never seen either of the sequels.  He happens to have the box set, so we settled in the other night to watch The Lost World.

As with so many sequels, you can already predict that I'm going to tell you that the first one is better.  Well, it is.  But as sequels go, this isn't terrible.  Jeff Goldblum reprises his performance as Dr. Ian Malcolm, with the same dour wit that he brought to the first movie.  But he now has a girlfriend (played by Julianne Moore), a daughter, and new colleagues.  Aside from brief appearances by the two grand kids Lex and Timmy, the only other repeat character is Dr. John Hammond (the late Richard Attenborough).

But the story remains largely the same: dinosaurs get out of control and hunt down the people.  Don't mean to spoil anything here, but a few people get eaten.  The film sports lots of rain and mud, a few extremely unhappy T-Rexes, and more colossally bad ideas development in the search for human amusement.

Bottom line: more entertaining dinosaurs.  Yay!

What I Watched -- A River Runs Through It

I have no idea how many times I have seen A River Runs Through It.  But when it became apparent that S had not seen it as he reviewed the DVD collection after the craziness of the holiday, it was the obvious choice for a low key evening.

It's a really good movie.  As far as I'm concerned, Paul Maclean is Brad Pitt's best role.  But it's not just him.   Craig Sheffer as the older brother Norman; Tom Skerritt as their father, the Reverend, and Emily Lloyd (in probably her only good role) as Jessie, all add substantially to the casting.

In case you don't know, it's the story of two brothers growing up in small-town Montana in the first third of the 20th century.  The opening line of the book sets up the story: "In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing."  You meet the boys when they're about 8 and 5, and see them through to adulthood.

S's comment was that it portrays the complex relationship of brotherhood with the nuance that it's due, rather than the usual glossy exterior that is portrayed.

It's also a beautifully-shot tribute to fishing and the outdoors.

Bottom line: a must-see.

(And yes, the book is also totally worth the investment of time, if you haven't read it yet.)

What I Watched -- Casablanca

I have seen Casablanca before (although I'm not sure I blogged about it), but it's such a classic that I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see it on the big screen when it came to town.  Plus, S had never seen it before!

Before the movie, we went to grab some terrible-for-us food at The Village Bar.  We succeeded mightily: chili cheese waffle fries (delicious), a cheeseburger (pretty good), and a mushroom and Swiss burger (eh).  We dashed over to the movie theater, arriving 15 minutes after start time, but just in time for the opening credits.

As movies go, this one is just about perfect.  It has a little bit of mystery, a love story, great music, historical interest, fantastic one-liners, and a winning leading man.

Bottom line: if you haven't seen it, you must (and on the big screen, if possible)!

He Keeps Going, And Going, And Going....

My favorite little Mars rover, Opportunity, has survived the worst of another Martian winter, and even took a picture of his own long shadow.  Going on 14 Earth years!

What I Watched -- Narrative Shorts: I Do

More SLIFF short films!  All the ones in this series were related somehow to marriage.  As with all collections of shorts, some were better than others.  I can't remember anymore what order they were shown in, so here they are alphabetically:

Alpha.  I have almost no recollection of this film.  Which tells you something about it.

Annie Waits.  A girl just can't seem to find the right guy.  Not memorable.

Bonboné.  An tale of perhaps the world's most unusual attempt at conception.

Evil Woman.  A surprising story of a long-time girlfriend who isn't what she seems.  Interesting, but weird ending.

The Girl in the Dress.  A coming-to-reality tale whose main characters are the scorned ex-girlfriend and Henry VIII.  Very amusing.

Halvmand.  A middle-aged couple tries to conceive.  It works, much to the surprise of one of them. It was an interesting meditation on what surely happens in some people's real lives.

I've Got You.  An airline stewardess meets a stranger in a bar.  The predictable one-night stand ensues.  The rest is slightly less predictable.

In a Heartbeat (complete film).  An animated tale of timid young love.  Adorable.

Make It Up.  Neither S nor I think this film made the final cut.  Usually they make an announcement if one of the programmed films was not included for some reason -- and they didn't -- but neither of us remember it.

Rattled.  A young Muslim man struggles through the process of finding a bride.

Vows.  An animated film about a wedding day that isn't quite what one hoped, but accomplishes the goal nevertheless.  Another winner.

What I Watched -- Food Evolution

S and I had a marathon day on the final day of SLIFF.  Our fourth movie (the first of three for the day) was Food Evolution, a documentary about the activists in support of and opposed to genetic modification in the food supply.

The first realization that one must have in order to meaningfully participate in this conversation is that we all eat a lot of genetically modified food, whether we know it or not, and whether we like it or not. Genetic modification of plants has been happening since Gregor Mendel cross-bred pea plants 150 years ago -- and even before that, because he was only studying and quantifying what farmers were already doing.

Okay, glad we got that out of the way.  Now, on to the movie. The pro-GM spin (which was the dominant one) focused on genetic modification as a way to feed the planet's ever-growing population, even in the face of disease and drought.  It also addressed the question of whether the use of GM crops has caused an increase or decrease in the rates of pesticide use, and the toxicity of those pesticides.

The anti-GM spin was more diffuse -- probably intentionally so, given the angle of the movie. Some of them were in favor of organics, some were opposed to scientific meddling, some were just confused. Overall, the goal was to combat misinformation.

I was surprised that Monsanto played such a large role in the film. Though it would be hard to make a movie about genetic modification in the food industry without discussing Monsanto, merely saying the company's name inspires such vitriol that I thought they might try to avoid it, and just refer to Monsanto and their ilk as "Big Ag," or something like that. Not the case; it was dealt with head on.

Bottom line: a public win for the GM food movement.

Oh, and it was narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson, who is one of my faves! And if he doesn't inspire confidence, who does?

Goals 2017 -- December Edition

Oh, December. How has another year gone by?

I'm going to get into the heart of winter by doing something I should have done last summer: finish unpacking!

I did a flurry of unpacking shortly after I moved. Then, as is so often the case, I got distracted by something more immediate and lost steam. Once that happened, I never got it back again. There remains a stack of boxes along one basement wall that needs attention. 

Now is the time!

Goals 2017 -- November Recap

I did make some progress in my effort to move from a paper file box to a digital one, but I certainly did not complete the task.  Mush more to do. 

Pro tip: there are some things that are just going to be too difficult to scan, also (for example, the 150-page owner's manual for my camera).  For such items, in an effort to continue my move towards the digital, I have had some success finding PDF versions on manufacturer's websites. If that fails, I'm stuck with paper.

What I Watched -- Doc Shorts: The Unexpected

Our third SLIFF film was actually seven films -- Doc Shorts: The Unexpected.

Mickey's Pets.  Mickey has been taxidermying animals for some time, but this is her first entry into the National Taxidermy Championships.  When her deceased peacock arrives in the mail, she gets to work making it look alive again, and we follow her through that process all the way to the competition.  This was both S's and my favorite.

The Day of the Wall.  This is a wordless depiction of an Italian festival which I don't really understand.  A few words may have helped out.  The best part was the little girl rocking out to the music in her head during the end credits.

6 Toes.  Did you know that polydactyl cats (with more than the normal number of toes) are colloquially referred to as Hemingways?  I didn't.  6 Toes is odd: part autobiography, part biography, part history.  Reasonably enjoyable (and delightfully short).

Balloonfest.  Back in 1986, the city of Cleveland attempted to shed its nickname ("the mistake by the lake") by making it into the Guinness Book of World Records by releasing 1,500,000 helium-filled balloons into the air.  They did it, but it didn't turn out quite the way they hoped.  Quaint and mildly amusing.

The Tables.  A world-champion table tennis player installed two permanent tables in Bryant Park, in the heart of Manhattan.  A diverse community has developed around them.  I liked this one a lot.

Molasses & Lemon.  An odd little attempt at comparing love and heartbreak, highlighting the similarities between the two.  More confusing than enjoyable.

Lost Paradise.  A facility originally built to house a nuclear warhead has been converted into a disaster survival bunker for the ultra-rich.  It was an interesting thing to learn about, but should have been about one-third as long as it was.

What I Watched -- What If It Works?

The second SLIFF show of the year was What If it Works?  The festival doesn't host many comedies; they don't lend themselves to the contemplative navel gazing that such festivals thrive on.

This one, though, with its additional subject of mental illness, made the cut.  And, boy, am I glad it did!

Where I think the film succeeded so well is in treating each person's mental illness respectfully, but keeping it light-hearted and funny.  Adrian's OCD is hilarious, but at the same time, you can easily see how his condition wreaked such havoc on his life.  Grace's multiple personalities are comically divergent, but come from a place of serious damage, which surfaces from time to time.

Bottom line: a totally adorable love story about two broken people.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sea Shepherds

There was a short film that preceded The Islands and the Whales, which focused on the animal conservation work that the Sea Shepherds do -- primarily, attempting to stop illegal fishing.  I had heard nothing about them before this movie (or at least don't remember it if I did).  As we were walking back to the car, S told me about a Animal Planet show, Whale Wars, which had been more or less cancelled back in 2013 after Sea Shepherd's founder, Paul Watson, was charged with several serious crimes.  There were a few more episodes aired in 2015, but it's not clear that any more will be produced.

As with so many organizations of their ilk, that the Sea Shepherds are polarizing.  Paul Watson and several others have been charged with serious crimes in some countries.  But they have also been given amnesty by governments of other countries.

There is no question that they take bold action to stop illegal fishing.  (Check out this fascinating article in The New York Times about their 111-day chase of one of the world's most notorious illegal fishing vessels, which was on Interpol's most wanted list.)  The question, I suppose is this: should the Sea Shepherds be taking such actions?  In all likelihood, what they're doing is illegal (hence all the criminal charges).  Is it worse than the illegal fishing?  Should ramming and sinking the fishing vessels be such a point of pride? (See the Appendix to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal's reversal of a denial of a request for injunction against the Sea Shepherds.)  Whose job is it to step in and prevent over-fishing, if the Sea Shepherds don't?  (There doesn't seem to be much argument that the over-fishing is, in fact, happening.)  And even if it's possible to identify the government or organization who should step in, will they?  Can we count on a government to do anything?

That injunction that was granted (link above) was sought by the Institute for Cetacean Research, a Japanese research organization.  The ICR claims that its whaling activities are permitted under the research exception to the International Whaling Commission's whaling ban.  But, if this 2007 New Yorker article is to be believed, "the institute has produced virtually no research of any regard, and all the whales that are purported to be under study are also butchered for the purpose of selling whale meat to the Japanese public."  Are they just exploiting the research loophole, knowing that no foreign government will call them out on their behavior?  The US government had an opportunity to make a statement, by upholding the denial of the injunction, but didn't (no surprise there).

It's a fascinating issue to read about.  Everyone has a perspective.  Photographs like these support one perspective.  The rule of law and desire for orderly and cooperative world operations supports the other.  Time will tell, I think, which one wins out.

What I Watched -- The Islands and the Whales

My first SLIFF film of the year was The Islands and the Whales.  The preview set the movie up as a clash between Faroe Islanders and the Sea Shepherds, an activist group whose stated goal is to protect the oceans and the animals who live in it (sort of like The Cove, except that it was about dolphins in Japan).

That really wasn't the case.  The heart of the story was the conflict between the Faroese people.  There is a local doctor who is alerting the islanders to the dangers of whale meat (and meat from sea birds, which the islanders also catch and eat), specifically the high concentration of mercury.  He is trying to educate the people on the dangers this causes, and encouraging them to eat less whale meat.

On the other side of the fight are stubbornness and traditions.  The islanders are a traditional people, and their all-hands-on-deck style of whale hunting dates back generations.  They live on desolate, rocky outcroppings off the north coast of Scotland, about halfway between Iceland and Norway.  Not much produce will grow there, and it's a long way from anywhere.  They depend on the whales and sea birds, whose meat makes up a substantial portion of their diet.

Though the film has an obvious perspective, it doesn't settle on anything.  It did, however, leave me with a lot of reading to do.  More on that in my next post.

Bottom line: beautiful shots of the desolate landscape make the conflict all the more understandable.

SLSO - Show #3

Technically speaking, Jurassic Park was not part of my SLSO subscription this year.  But when I was that the symphony orchestra was going to be screening the movie with a live score, how could I not go see it?

And boy am I glad I did.  I forgot how much fun Jurassic Park is, and it's even better when the music really rises and falls and resonates with all the volume and much more quality than it does in a movie theater.

There were times during the screening that I completely forgot we were even at the symphony, and there were other times that I was so engrossed watching the musicians that I missed sections of the movie.  But what a great opportunity, to see (yet another) classic early-90s film, support the local arts scene, and get to drink a special T-Rex cocktail!

Anyone up for North By Northwest or Harry Potter coming later this season?

SLSO - Show #2

The title piece of the second show of the season, a couple weeks back, was Beethoven's Symphony No. 5.  Who doesn't want to see that?

Well, in order to get there you had to sit through the first half of the show.  I didn't know any of the pieces, but it was interesting viewing.  We started out with a Strauss horn concerto. SLSO's own Roger Kaza was the soloist.  It was nice to see an instrument like the horn, which usually is relegated to the background except for the Christmas concert, get to do something that was written for it.  We were then joined by relatively-local soprano Christine Brewer for Berg's Seven Early Songs.  Again, it was not a collection I knew anything about, but I'm always entertained by having a vocalist on stage to watch.

Then, after intermission, everyone held their breath for those famous four notes.  In truth, I probably cannot write a very good review of the performance.  It was so great to hear such a famous piece live (for the first time!) that I was not paying sufficient attention to the details of the performance to say anything meaningful.  I would expect, however, that the performers feel the pressure of such a well-known symphony, and either have performed it before (so are comfortable with it) or spend the extra time to make sure it's as good as everyone hopes it will be.  For me, it was.

What I Watched -- Basic Instinct

In addition to Alive, I recently watched another early-90s production, Basic Instinct.

This was an "it's Saturday night and we're surfing Netflix" find, but neither S nor I had seen it, so we went for it.  I knew that the movie was somewhat risqué, but I didn't realize what a shock it must have been to regular movie-going audiences 25 years ago.  It was shocking to me now! S's comment was classic: "That's very porny for such an old movie."  He's not wrong.

The plot is as simple as you might expect: Sharon Stone plays the sex kitten who is suspected of killing her lover.  Michael Douglas is the cop who is investigating.  Shenanigans ensue.

Bottom line: definitely worth seeing, if only for the role it played in changing movie history in my lifetime.

What I Watched -- Young Frankenstein

On one of the many days that S and I struggled to find a movie to watch, I relayed to him some of the films on my list of movies to see.  He couldn't believe I hadn't seen Young Frankenstein, so that was the choice for the evening.

I'm not much of a Mel Brooks fan, but that's mostly because I don't know exactly what his work is, and I don't follow him in particular.  Upon investigation, it turns out that I've seen Spaceballs (stupidly funny), Robin Hood: Men in Tights (my favorite of his films that I've seen), and the remake of The Producers (if that counts).  And there's Gene Wilder as the title character, and I like him (mostly because he was Willy Wonka, once upon a time).

Bottom line: I'm not sure I'd call it a classic of American filmmaking, but it was definitely amusing.

Road Trip Adventure -- Part V

We drove south out of Salt Lake City headed for the Manti La Sal National Forest.  This turned out to be a bit confusing, because the Manti La Sal is broken up into three or four separate parts, but we managed to find ourselves a lovely spot near Grassy Lake.  We parked the camper, rolled out the sunshade, set up some chairs, and poured a drink.

And then the rain began.  And continued.  And continued.  I got a lot of reading done.

We were in the Manti La Sal for two days, and it rained for a day and a half.  The last evening was clear, and we had a nice walk around the lake and explored a bit near where we had camped.  All the rain made for a messy drive out, but messy in a good way.

The muddy truck took us next to Capitol Reef National Park.  The visitor's center was packed (it was Saturday), so we headed down the scenic drive farther than most people went.  Then, to get even more isolation, we parked and hiked away from the truck, roughly following a creek to keep our bearings.  It was a beautiful hike, and S spotted some petroglyphs, which unfortunately had been vandalized by previous visitors.

A storm was threatening, so we left the stone carvings and booked it back to the truck.  We found a beautiful campsite outside Goblin Valley State Park, and tucked in for the night under the beautiful stars.  The storm from earlier in the afternoon never did materialize.

We started out our Sunday by visiting Canyonlands National Park, but it's such a big park and we spent such a small amount of time there that I feel like it hardly counts.  Canyonlands is more correctly described as three adjoining parks: Island in the Sky, The Needles, and The Maze.  Though technically they are all part of the same National Park, no roads or bridges connect the three sections.  The only one we visited was Island in the Sky.

Again, since it was the weekend, the visitor's center was packed.  We headed off to hike Aztec Butte and see the Puebloan granaries.

We finished the day in Moab, looking for more bikes to rent.  Much to my delight, Rim Cyclery had the Scott Contessa Spark Plus that I had been looking for!  We rented that for me and one for S, found a campsite from our prior trip near the north end of Arches National Park, and decided where we should ride the next day.

As the sun was rising, a van came down the road, followed by a truck.  No big deal, it happens.  About 15 minutes later, a hissing noise was too loud to be ignored.  We looked at each other questioningly; obviously neither of us knew what the source was.  Had one of the propane tanks sprung a leak?  Was a tire losing air?

S stuck his head out the skylight.  He came back in.  "You've got to look at that."  "What is it?"  "Just look.  You wouldn't believe me if I told you."  Sure enough, I wouldn't have.  The van and truck that had driven by were, apparently, the start of that day's hot air balloon tour of Arches, and they had decided to set up about 50 feet from where we camped to inflate their balloon.  It was worth a laugh.

The bike riding we did that day was on slickrock, which I wanted to try for two reasons: (1) I had never done it before; and (2) I wanted to try this bike out on different terrain.  The trail we had ridden in Park City was an atypically-well-maintained mountain bike trail, with rocky climbs and smooth, swooping downhill runs.  The bike performed admirably, as did S's.  (And that auto-seal stuff in tubeless tires really works wonders.)

We were pretty knackered after a long day of riding, so we opted against doing it for another day and headed back to Durango that night.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Road Trip Adventure -- Part IV

Or so we thought.  It was about two in the morning when S woke me up.  The wind had gotten worse.  A glance to the west indicated that a storm was moving in.  The little offshoot road we had driven up to hide between the gravel piles was just the sort of road that washes out in a quick downpour.  Flipping through the local radio stations revealed that the incoming storm was a bad one, and all truckers had been ordered off the highways.

Well, great.

We closed up the camper, got back in the truck, and headed towards the interstate (the route we had initially decided against in an effort to avoid backtracking).

The interstate at night is often a lonely place.  The interstate at night when the truckers have all been ordered to pull over is The Twilight Zone.  It is a foreboding place, and S was fighting the wind the whole way into Little America, which is a truck stop that calls itself a town.  On the plus side, it was level, and we were pretty sure we weren't going to be attacked by Cyberdyne drones in the middle of the night.

The following morning we headed off for a historical tour of Fort Bridger, then drove the rest of the way into Park City to have dinner with S's family friends.  They were also kind enough to loan us two of their bathrooms for some real showers!

Park City, we discovered, has great mountain biking.  Through this and our prior trip, I had been on several rented mountain bikes, but none that I liked as much as the early-90s Trek ZX 970 that I got from Dad when he upgraded.  It's a steel-framed hardtail, and tracks like a dream.

At the bike shop in Park City, though, I rented a Scott Contessa Spark Plus, and it's the only one of all the bikes I've ridden that can give the Trek a run for its money.  (My favorite feature: the handlebar push-button lock-out for both the front and back shocks.)  The guys at the shop refused to sell it to us though!  S was beside himself.  "This is a bike shop, right?  And you make your money from selling bikes?  Do you often tell people who offer to buy one of your bikes that you will not sell it to them?"  It was comical.

After doing a bit of research on the bike, I learned that I was not the only person who was in awe of the machine.  That particular model sold like hotcakes, and there are very few available on the new-bike market.  Scott had not at that time announced the features for the next version of that bike, so people were snapping up the known commodity and not letting it go.  Including the bike shop.  Just my luck.

That night, we headed into Salt Lake City for dinner with A&L.  What a treat to have A's delicious Pakistani food again!  It wasn't long before he was extolling the virtues of SLC and trying to get us to move there.  He might be on to something!  It was a lovely night with old friends.

Road Trip Adventure - Part III

After returning our bikes in Palisade, we headed out the northwest corner of Colorado en route to Dinosaur National Monument.

That was a pretty neat spot.  A hundred years or so ago, an archaeologist discovered a wealth of dinosaur bones buried in the desert.  There are all kinds.  The belief is that there was a big flood which washed a bunch of dinosaurs down into a basin, where they all drowned and their bones were buried.

There is now a building built right over the spot, and you can go into the lovely and temperate conditioned air and stand in awe of the variety of fossils arrayed before you.  When we were there, there was even someone up on the wall with something that appeared to be scientific equipment, a pad, and a pencil.  Whether she was doing anything or whether it was for show I will never know.  But I like the idea that there is still active scientific research happening on that very spot.

From there we attempted to visit the Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Wyoming.  To get there, we drove north out of Utah, through the Flaming Gorge Reservoir and the Ashley National Forest. It was a beautiful drive.  I love that part of the country.

Unfortunately though, mosquitoes love me, and they were EVERYWHERE when we got to Seedskadee.  We hopped out to see if the visitor's center was still open (it wasn't), and we were immediately swarmed. You couldn't swat a hand at your leg without killing a half dozen of them. We ran for the refuge the truck and killed all the mosquitoes we could catch who managed to sneak in behind us. 

Then, as we were quiet listening for more buzzing, we heard what sounded like raindrops. But it wasn't raining - so what was that? 

It was the crazy kamikaze mosquitoes dive-bombing the windows and the windshield trying to make dinner out of us!  Gravel flew behind us as we high-tailed it out of there.

That left us with an important question to answer though: where would we sleep?  It had been a long day of driving, and there isn't much around in that corner of Wyoming.  Our plan the following day had been to head west towards Salt Lake City.  Our present options were to backtrack southeast towards the interstate, or to head southwest on a smaller road to a town called Granger.  Heading westerly was in line with our plan, so that's what we decided to do.

Now, on the way up the road to Seekskadee, we kept seeing signs for a mysterious company.  For the purposes of my computer's safety and hopefully not being hacked, I'll call it Cyberdyne. There were signs all the way up the road, every mile or so, that said "Cyberdyne" and often nothing else.  Obviously this was a thing, but we didn't know exactly what.  It was a weird mystery.

We Google-mapped our directions to Granger, which routed us on a gravel road for 8.8 miles, whereupon we made a left onto the road into town.  As we turned onto the gravel road, there were more Cyberdyne signs, but this time with added language: "PRIVATE ROAD BEGINS IN 9 MILES."  Okay Cyberdyne, sure, it's your road.  But we're turning in 8.8 miles, so no biggie.

There isn't much in this part of Wyoming.  There are some rolling hills, but you're not in the big mountains. 

PRIVATE ROAD BEGINS IN 6 MILES

We're cruising slowly down this gravel road in what is now pitch darkness, no light from anything but the truck headlights.  We're trying to puzzle out exactly where on the map we are.

PRIVATE ROAD BEGINS IN 2 MILES

Then, as we crest a small hill, we see Cyberdyne.  It was a monstrous industrial development looming in front of us.  Blinding spotlights looked for anyone who shouldn't be approaching, and smokestacks reached for the stars.  It was a hulking beast.  Scary music came from somewhere, possibly inside my own head.

Remember that road we were supposed to turn on to get to Granger?  Turns out that was also a private road owned by Cyberdyne.  So, fearing for our lives and brain waves, we donned our tin foil hats and headed back down the 8.8 miles of gravel looking for a place to camp.

It was late.  We were tired.  It was getting windy, which makes driving on the open road difficult in a vehicle that big.  As S drove, I puzzled my way through the history of land grants along the western railroads.  Here's what I learned: as a way to promote the building of quality infrastructure, the federal government, which still owned much of the western land, gave away every other square mile to a private railroad company or developer.  This created a checkerboard pattern that extends for several miles on either side of the subject railway, with alternating private and public ownership.  Much of the land retained by the government was later given away in an effort to draw homesteaders west.

The problem this created for us at 10:00 on a Tuesday night was that we were looking for a place to camp, and sure as hell didn't want it to be on Cyberdyne's private property.  There are no markers along the road, though.  "Entering public lands," "entering private property."  Wouldn't those signs be nice?  Yeah, but they don't exist.  Instead, I was looking for a sharp bend in the road or a dry creek crossing that might indicate our exact location along the 8.8-mile stretch, so I could then determine with certainty whether we were on public or private land.

(I would just like to give a shout-out here to the Delorme Atlas & Gazetteer series -- great map books!)

Eventually we found a small offshoot road that went up a steep hill in one of the public land square miles.  On top of the hill were two large gravel piles, and we parked between them.  We had a pretty good lookout, but were also tucked in and hidden between the gravel piles.  We felt good about that.

Finally, sleep....

What I Watched -- Alive

When I was a kid, I remember being told that I couldn't watch Alive because it wasn't kid-friendly.  That much is true, although it isn't particularly visually gruesome, especially as movies these days go.

The story, however, is among the more awful things one could probably imagine.  It is the more-or-less true story of a plane carrying the Uruguayan rugby team, among others, that crashed into the Andes mountains.  The survivors were left for dead after search and rescue efforts were abandoned.  With little in the way of food and supplies, they resorted to eating meat off their deceased fellow passengers in order to survive.

One might call the remainder of this post a spoiler, but the outcome is pretty well known:

Two of the players, Nando Parrado and (now-Dr.) Roberto Canessa trekked for ten days through the mountains, with minimal gear and nothing in the way of direction, to find civilization and alert the authorities that there were still survivors awaiting rescue.

In all, 16 passengers survived the 72-day ordeal in the mountains.

Bottom line: what a story.

And, you can see the whole thing on YouTube!

BC Stables and Training Center

S and I spent a recent weekend outside of Fair Grove, Missouri, at BC Stables and Training Center.

We were delighted to have a bit of R&R. If you ever find yourself in need of any equine, canine, feline, bovine, alpaca, or chicken therapy, Karin has you covered!  She is an animal lover through and through; when we pulled up, one of her friends was there trying to find a home for a blind lamb. If he survives his infancy, little Stevie Wonder will surely find a home at BC!

Tim runs the barn, and took us out on a ride each day. I rode Right (formerly one of a pair, but Left is no longer in residence), and S rode Kickin' Wing (named after his Joe Dirt counterpart).

Saturday was warm, but after getting our bearings and having lunch, we headed out for out first ride, accompanied also by Karin, her daughter L, and a friend of theirs. How nice to be on a horse again after so many years!

We had dinner with the family, laughed at the antics of Snowflake Ferret, the new kitten, and learned the wonders of Jello pudding and Oreo pie.

We stayed in the larger of their two cabins, which was quite comfortable. I very much enjoyed the rain- and windstorm that rolled through in the middle of the night. Because of the attic above the master bedroom at our house, I usually sleep right through such storms at home; it was nice to get to hear it for a change!

Sunday started out with a waffle breakfast (even some of the dogs got to join in), and then watching L train a captured Mustang. I learned a bit about what to look for in the horse's body language, which will tell you how he feels about whether the human is in charge. The transformation in just half an hour was impressive.

We relaxed for much of the day; S took a healthy nap, I read a book. We strolled around the yard, played with dogs, laughed at the baby alpaca, made friends with the cow, and generally enjoyed the much cooler temperatures.

That afternoon, we rode the same horses (the most docile ones - that's why we got them) along a different route, and were accompanied by Compton and Jake.  Because what barn doesn't need a dog named Jake?

It was a lovely and very relaxing weekend, and I'm looking forward to our next visit!

Goals 2017 -- November Edition

I really want my goal this month to be "prep for the holidays"!  You all know how much I love Christmas, so that's a no-brainer.  This year, for the first time, I'm going to host a big Thanksgiving too!

But, in an effort to continue the goal of improving myself and not just getting through the requirements of life, I will pick a different goal.

In the process of cleaning off my desk, I located a number of documents that I want to keep but that it is not necessary to have on paper.  My goal for the month is to create (or supplement) my digital file box.

This is one of those goals that will then have to continue into eternity, so that more papers don't accumulate to fill the space of the ones I've removed.  If I can stay on top of the incoming paperwork and work my way through the backlog as time allows, I think I'll be in good shape.

Goals 2017 -- October Recap

At the very last of last minutes, I made some excellent progress on my desk!

Happy Halloween!

What I Watched -- Hyde Park on Hudson

Hyde Park on Hudson didn't get good reviews, but I like Bill Murray and Laura Linney, so I decided to watch it anyway.  Plus, S and I were really struggling to find something on Netflix, which seems to have gotten harder since they eliminated the opportunity to give star ratings.

Having seen it now, I can see why it's ratings weren't great.  Despite having some great actors in it, the characters felt a little flat.  Aside from one scene between Laura Linney and Elizabeth Marvel (who I thought was Allison Janney until I looked up the cast list), the characters didn't have a lot of depth or personality.  Despite that, it was a good enough way to distract myself from some other mindless tasks I had to do.

Bottom line: unfortunately, the negative reviews are on point.

Quote of the Day

"Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand."
  -- Mark Twain

What I Watched -- Es Por Tu Bien

S and I watched Es Por Tu Bien on the flight home from E's wedding, and it was a vast improvement over our entertainment on the way there. It's certainly not great filmmaking, but when the bar is low, it's easy to succeed.

This is the tale of three brothers-in-law, each of whom is unhappy with the boyfriend selected by his daughter. The brothers make an agreement to try to break up all three relationships.  As one might guess, their attempts are laughable, but well-intentioned.

Bottom line: silly, but good entertainment on a plane.

Bourbon Trail, Trip #2

S and I revisited the Bourbon Trail, a trip we first made a year ago.  Our travel this time was with S's dad and stepmom, so it was a bit more civilized than our last trip -- which is to say, more driving and eating at nice restaurants, less biking and drinking of one's dinner.  I think.

We stayed at the Central Park B&B in Louisville.  It is over-the-top Victorian; staying there, I felt like I should have been wearing a dress with 28 layers of fabric and have feathers springing from my elaborate hairdo.  (I had neither a 28-layer dress nor feathers.)

We headed down early Friday and revisited Buffalo Trace (S's and my only repeat performance from last year), before doubling back to Louisville for a culinarily experiential dinner at Proof on Main.  Most unusual thing we ordered: roasted bones.  Most unusual thing on the menu that we didn't order (though I wanted to but couldn't get anyone to share): lamb fries.  Which is code for lamb testicles.

Also interesting about Proof: it is on the ground floor of a hotel.  Which has an extensive lobby hosting a contemporary art gallery.  Including bathrooms with semi-translucent walls.  So I suppose it's safe to say that it was a multi-sensory experience, if horror is one of the senses.

Buffalo Trace rickhouses

 The Louisville riverfront

Saturday we started out at Angel's Envy.  AE had a nice (brief) intro followed by a tasting, which is something that I wish every distillery offered!  From there we headed to Peerless, and they did us one better: a free tasting, with a piece of chocolate included!  After that we paid a visit to Copper & Kings, a brandy and absinthe distillery, but did not do a tour or tasting.

Tasting room at Angel's Envy

We had a late lunch at Doc Crow's, which is an interesting combination joint: smokehouse and raw bar.  We all opted to stay on the smokehouse side, which was decent.  The fried okra were especially tasty.  Our final stop of the day was Evan Williams, where we took part in our only full tour (though it's an abbreviated one) and tasting.

Because we had such a late lunch, we picked up a few snacks at the grocery store and forewent dinner in favor of some afternoon wine back at the B&B.

Sunday we treated ourselves to two breakfasts (hobbit-style!) -- one at the B&B, and a second one which was a charity brunch hosted as part of the Kentucky Bourbon Festival.  In between our two breakfasts, we entertained ourselves with a stop at the Jim Beam distillery.  Unfortunately they require a tour to do a tasting, and by then we were all well-versed in the bourbon-making process, so we forewent the whole experience.

Our final stop of the trip was a fundraiser brunch, at which I had just about everything but the fried chicken, although I heard from S's dad that it was a shame to miss that - and I can't believe I did!  Fried chicken at a southern brunch and I passed up the opportunity.  What a shame!

What I Watched -- The Little Hours

The Little Hours was a weird movie. We found it when we were looking for something to watch on the plane ride to E's wedding. I like Aubrey Plaza, and Kate Micucci is great in her role as one-half of Garfunkel and Oates.

This movie, though, is a major flop. It was a mix between confusing and not very amusing, which does not leave me many good things to say about it.

Bottom line: just don't.

SLSO - Show #1

S and I have attended our first symphony of the season, and it was a Mozart spectacular!

On the schedule were the following:
  Don Giovanni Overture
  Piano Concerto No. 16 in D Major
  Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major
  Symphony No. 40 in G Minor

S and I both agreed that the second half of the performance was superior to the first, but the whole show was quite enjoyable - as Mozart usually is.  As G said, "probably the only thing better would be an all-Beethoven show."

I'll keep an eye out for that one....

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th and Halloween in the same month?!  This can't be good...

Game Of Thrones -- Take 2

I finished Game of Thrones while I was in NC for E's wedding. Instead of lugging that brick along with me so I could read the last 50 pages, I downloaded the ebook.

I have tried a few other ebooks since The Martian, but this was the first one that I was able to get through in ebook format. Much like The Martian, I think ebook may only work for me if the story is compelling -- suspenseful, funny, or otherwise somehow keeping my attention from being distracted.  I tend to be easily distracted; something that requires a lot of focus (such as a dense history book) is not a good candidate for me to read as an ebook.  I read them on my phone, which is designed to promote distraction.  So that's something that just isn't going to work, unless perhaps I am on an airplane or otherwise have no cell or wifi service.

Back to GOT! The first book does a lot of scene-setting, following a few of the major families in their quest for the crown (or to avoid it, as the case may be).  Since I have seen 6+ seasons of the HBO series based on the books, I have an idea of where things are going, and I don't want to say too much.

However, I will reiterate the good advice that I received: if you are not a world-building reader on a regular basis, it may be helpful to watch the show first.  The books have a lot of funny names and strange language, and I found it extremely useful to have a face to put with the names.

Having said that, this is the longest book I have gotten through in some time, and that alone should tell you something!

Quote of the Day

Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind."

   -- Henry James

Road Trip Adventure - Part II

On our last camper trip, we headed south.  That made sense, since it was November.  On this recent trip, in July, we went north.

We took off from Durango with our first stop at Palisade, Colorado.  (Delicious peaches, by the way.)  We rented a couple of mountain bikes and headed up to the top of Grand Mesa to spend a couple of days.

Oh, Grand Mesa.  Perhaps not surprisingly, the views are stunning.  It's also lovely because, though it was 90 degrees down in Grand Junction, it topped out near 70 upon the mesa.  Excellent weather for mountain biking.  We rented from Rapid Creek Cycles in Palisade, and the guys there were great.  They gave us their cell phone numbers in case we needed anything after hours, set us up with a dropoff in case we wanted to leave the bikes when the shop was closed, and gave us maps and tips on where to go.  Plus we got a free half-day rental.

The bikes we rented, unfortunately, were not so awesome.  We were both on Ibex Mojos, and neither of us felt like we had good control over the bike.  I really struggled with the tracking; I couldn't pick a line to save my life.  Even if I could manage to get my front tire between two boulders, I always seemed to slam dead into one of them with my back tire, and just couldn't get over them.  So that was clearly not the bike for me.  Or S, whose comment was "'responsive' and 'agile' are not the words I would use to describe them."

We did, however, see some lovely things.  For our free half-day ride, we did a trail near the base of one of the local ski areas.  The wildflowers were amazing, but as twilight grew closer, the mosquitoes came out in force, so we turned around and headed back to the car a bit shy of the end of the trial.

We had a beautiful campsite atop the mesa that night -- cool breezes and sweeping views could not be beat!

The following day, after a delicious breakfast of Pop Tarts and peaches, we rode the Mesa Top and Indian Point trails. On the way out, the trail was quite muddy, which was lots of fun.  (Rentals, right?)  Once you get a bit farther into the ride, the trail takes you right out to the edge of the world.  There were some really fun swoopy sections of singletrack through the meadows, but again we were disappointing by the Mojo's ability to best even the smallest of obstacles.  By the time we were on the return leg, the trail had dried out significantly (love that mountain sunshine!), and the bikes were much cleaner, after 14 miles of having the mud bounced off of them.

We had another beautiful campsite, and it was cool enough that it made sense to build a fire.  This is me, cooking over the fire.

We decided to forego another day of biking, each being sufficiently convinced that the Mojo was not a good choice.  We ventured back into Palisade to return the bikes, and discovered that the only place in town open for breakfast on a Sunday morning is the local bar.  Nothin' wrong with that.

Congratulations, E!

Road Trip Adventure, Part I

Recently S and I had occasion to take a road trip to Colorado in a lovely Dodge Caravan secured by S's friend Z, who is our hook-up at Enterprise. It turns out it's extremely difficult to rent a minivan in the summer and our other option was a small U-Haul, so Z really came through for us.

We left on a Thursday afternoon and stopped at Char Bar in Kansas City for dinner.  The interior was mind-numbingly noisy, so despite the gnats and 90-degree temps, we sat outside.  At least they had seats in the shade.

The food was good. We had the Trifecta platter with potato salad and an extra side of mac 'n cheese. My favorite of the meats were the burnt ends, but they were all good. The potato salad was made with very small pieces of potato, which is unusual but was a nice touch. Mac 'n cheese can't be bad.  We had an energetic waiter who gets extra bonus points for bringing us a free beer.

We hit the road after dinner and stopped for the night at the Midland Railroad Hotel in Wilson, Kansas.

It was built in 1899 and was a frequent stop for railroad travelers, but the interior was destroyed by a fire in 1902.  It was renovated and reopened, and operated more or less continuously (including during the Great Depression), until it closed in 1978.  The 1973 movie Paper Moon, starring Ryan and Tatum O'Neal, was filmed there.  (P gave me Paper Moon several years ago for Christmas, and I highly recommend it.)  In 1997, the Wilson Foundation bought the building for $35,000 and then spent $3.2 million renovating it. It's now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Our hotel room was small but we'll appointed. There was a nice comforter on the bed and good-smelling shampoo, but I had a problem that I don't often have when I went to take a shower: I couldn't get the water cold enough!  Yes I know, that seems impossible. But true. I guess that's what happens when you're in the middle of Kansas in the middle of the summer.

The beautiful main staircase in the hotel.

 

Though it is a small town, Midland has an Opera House (under renovation) and a museum.

The hotel had continental breakfast, which we helped ourselves to before hitting the road again.  The remainder of the trip across Kansas and into Colorado was uneventful, though the scenery improved drastically as we neared and then entered the mountains.

Upon arrival, we traded our minivan for a camper and headed to points north.  More on that to follow...

What I Watched -- Nightcrawler

S picked out Nightcrawler at the library one day while he was waiting for me to get off work.  I didn't really know what we were getting into, but it looked like an action film of sorts from the cover.

It is not an action film.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Lou, a "night crawler" who listens to the police scanner then goes zooming off to crime scenes as a freelance videographer hoping for juicy footage he can sell for top dollar to the local news stations.

What makes the movie interesting isn't Lou's line of work or the stuff he sees; it's he super creepy ability to manipulate everyone he comes into contact with.

Bottom line: this is not a happy movie, but if you're in the mood for disturbing (and who isn't, really?), it's good for that.

Goals 2017 -- October Edition

It's a new month, and I need a new project.  A change of pace.  So here it is:

Clean off my desk.

My poor desk - which is a lovely, large, flat surface - has been the repository of much paperwork and other miscellany lately, and I have been too busy or uncaring to deal with most of it.  Now is the time.

Goals 2017 -- September Recap

Guys, huge success!  I didn't have one truckload of stuff for K&J, I had two!  And thanks to S for driving the second truckload of stuff to their new house on his day off!

What I Watched -- The Godfather

Many find this difficult to believe, but until this past weekend, I had not seen The Godfather. 

Sure, I had seen a few clips here and there, and knew some of the more famous quotes ("Leave the gun; take the cannoli"), but I had never seen the whole things start to finish.  I didn't really know much about it other than what one knows about every mob movie just by knowing that it is a mob movie -- vendettas, murderous rampages, etc.

When S and I got to our B&B in Louisville on Friday, we were greeted with a giant wall of DVDs lining the second-floor landing of the staircase up to our room.  We discussed many possible options, but lighted on The Godfather because apparently I am not the only person in the world who had not yet seen it!

We made it through the first half on Friday night and the second half on Saturday.

It was everything I expected from the movie -- vendettas, murderous rampages, etc.

Bottom line: after all these years, it meets expectations.  In a good way.

What I Watched -- Amour

S picked up Amour from the library a while back.  I had it on my list of movies to see, but I couldn't remember the details of it.

Having now seen it, I remember why I wanted to, and I can say that it is heavy. It's the tale of a long-married couple, whose lives in retirement are lovely until Anne suffers a stroke.  Georges takes wonderful and delicate care of her in her limited state.  The end of their relationship leaves so many questions and so much space for reflection that even many weeks later I don't know how I feel about the film.

Perhaps that's the sign of a well-made movie.

Bottom line: a story of life and love and loss that will leave you thinking for a long time to come.

Goals 2017 -- September Edition

We are nearly halfway through September (as we also were when I published my August recap), but no matter.  I can still have a goal.

And my goal is to have a truck load of stuff for K&J's new place by the end of the month when J drives into town.  I worked a bit already on packing up some kitchen goods, and I'm hoping to have more fun stuff to fill the truck before October starts.

I hope you guys are ready!

What I Watched -- The Bad and the Beautiful

The Bad and the Beautiful is another one of those film classics that I never saw, since somehow in my younger years I never developed a taste for old movies.  Now that I'm trying to correct that oversight in my cultural development, I've moved this one from the "haven't seen" to the "seen" list.

What I liked about it immensely were the multiple story lines.  The story comes at you from three different points of view: an actress, writer, and director.  Each one recalls his or her interactions with a director they all worked with in one capacity or another.  The common thread: each one refused to take his call when he reached out to them in need, because he or she felt slighted by him in the past.  As they share their stories, we find out why.

Bottom line: there's not much that's terribly surprising about this film, as is true with so many of the classics.  But watch it at least once, so you know what it's all about.