Probably just because it’s a coming of age flick I thought of Scent of A Woman after watching this. Only the kid is the dour, promiscuous one, the women are smiling, motherly prostitutes, and the outlook is Parisian, with life flowing in an endless cycle of shoplifted sardines, books of true wisdom, diluted Beaujolais, and kitty food paté.
The saving grace of this film is its portrayal of the media. When “Rowdy” Roddy Piper’s character puts on the sunglasses of truth, billboards, TV, magazines, signs, and papers show their true messages in black and white: “OBEY”, “BUY”, “CONSUME”, “WATCH TV”, “MARRY AND REPRODUCE”, etc. And the movers and shakers of society are revealed as aliens bent on subduing the human race and turning the planet into their ideal desert slave world. Almost no amount of cheesyness could ruin such a premise.
We set out with my dad to scout the climbing in the Cathedral Spires area. To our dismay, a Jefferson County Open Space sign at the trailhead declared the entire area closed from March 1 to July 31 (for Peregrine Falcon nesting, I later found out). We went looking for the Top of the World campground on forest road 538 instead, but eventually figured out that this road had been closed, probably for the recovery of a large burn area. We decided to hike in instead, and I soon recognized the area as a scenic part of the Colorado Trail that I mountain biked in 2001. On foot now, we’re able to scramble up the El Slabbo formation. Making our way to the striking Chair Rocks formations, we scramble some more. There are fabulous views of the Cathedral Spires across the valley. It wasn’t the day we expected, but turned out to be very fun anyway.
I’m proud that after introducing my mom to blogging, she took to it with the same passion that fuels her many creative endeavors. She turned to her blog as a form of therapy when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her blog attracted some attention, and when the Health Central Breast Cancer Site discovered it, they hired her to blog for them. You can now read Mary’s Breast Cancer Blog there, updated twice weekly. Congrats Mom!
For those who found fault with Sean’s earlier pictures of me bouldering, try these.
I drop Ann off at a trailhead at the base of the foothills, then drive up to Rotary Park to meet Sean. We boulder for awhile, stopping often to admire the setting. There are these bushes in bloom – not lilacs but similar – just going nuts right now. Combine it with the sunset and the boulders, and you get frequent stops to take in the view. Ann appears, having hiked 4 miles up to Rotary, and enjoys a few moves before we start to lose the light.
A modern story of Irish immigrants in New York, this movie is really about coping with the loss of a child in a family. It’s clearly a deeply personal, autobiographical film, that presents its insights slowly, intimately, and honestly. For someone without children it serves to illustrate some of the forces that create families and threaten them. If you have kids it would probably hit closer to home.
No surprise, this isn’t a great movie, but it managed to beat my expectations of it. Here there, admidst drowning in its own clichés, it manages to hit on some of the damage done by our cultural definition of beauty. A couple of the more symbolic absurdities are funny. Some good acting by Gwyneth Paltrow helps, and a dash of good writing.
This climb is so popular that we shunned it all last year rather than wait in line to climb it. Today we are there early, but still not the first. We decide to wait for it this time, and get ready at our leisure. It’s worth it. Edward’s, 5.7, is a beautiful hand crack. We climb in two pitches for some multipitch practice. The roof move at the top is as awkward and satifying as I remember. We both enjoy the climb immensely, and the weather is made to order. Despite having to wait our turn for this route, there are very few people out climbing.
Rather than come straight down we walk over to the top of Fall Wall, where we drop a toprope on Neon Cowboy, 5.9, a slabby, flaring seam. You would have to be an artist with the small pro to lead this one. Next to it is Mickey Mantle, 5.10b, a dicey slab with intermittant knobs that are a mixed blessing. These routes are enough to wear us out, just in time to head back home for dinner with my dad. We’re blissed out the whole way.
In years past the first night of the year outside has always been a bit of a shakedown, even if it’s just car camping. This time it all falls into place, and we casually make it to Vedauwoo just about sundown after work, and set up the tent at one of the new tent sites in the park. We have the place to ourselves, possibly because the advertised opening date is May 1. A quiet walk among the rocks in the last light seems the perfect way to end the work week.
brown=past, green=future
Ann maps our campsites
