Well, I managed to avoid reviewing this for quite awhile! Hmm. I clearly remember one impression: if this wasn’t a love story between two women, it would be complete sap and I would never watch it. The lesbian angle, some good 80’s nostalgia, and a few steamy scenes kept me into it
Back in Fort Collins, we shake off the holiday sloth and torpor for an outing to Mount McConnel. It’s one of those hikes that always makes you work a little harder than you expect. The summit is cold but bathed in a golden afternoon light today.
Finding a spot to pitch a tent for the night isn’t so easy in the Poudre Canyon in the winter. The many state campgrounds along the river are closed and gated. A few small forest roads are invariably signed, NO CAMPING. We feel fortunate to find some primitive sites a little way up the Pingree Park road. Despite being joined by some late-night revelers nearby, we spend a pleasant and not-too-cold night out under a young moon.
The cast at Dad & Sarah’s this year includes Grandma Zita, Tanti Bertie, Jezze, Sarah’s son Adrian and his dog Jasmine. The usual fare was preceded, at Adrian’s request, by an appetizer of giant prawns and scallops that made a delectable meal in itself. No one had the wisdom to stop there, of course, and we managed to pack in the turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, string beans, cabbage, rice, cranberry sauce and another pie made from the pumpkin we picked last month. I got a good side ache on our after dinner walk with the dogs around the neighborhood. On the history channel afterward we learn that a true Indian Hills remembrance of the events at Plymouth Rock would include a host of armed natives, but the remaining Wampanoag boycotted even the official feast in Massachusetts this year. We feel very American. It is the one time of year we see Zita and Bertie, and we resolve to try to visit them again before next Thanksgiving.
Even more astounding in many ways than March of the Penguins. This is a huge production that presents itself quietly, slipping you into the world of migrating birds in a surprisingly effective way. Like the penguin film, it also raises many more questions than it answers, and supplies a “making of” featurette to remedy this. The two together are a visceral, educational experience.
A day spent scrambling around on the rocks at Vedauwoo is never wasted. Doug and Liz join us on a cold morning while we’re still brewing our coffee, and wait patiently for us to get ourselves together for a hike. The snow makes rock scrambling a less certain affair, especially for Liz who is new to this kind of stuff, but we manage to find a route over the main Vedauwoo massif without getting too scary. Moving over snow-covered rocks uses all kinds of muscles, and we’re ready for a trail when we hit the Turtle Rock Loop. Back at the car I finally realize why the day seems so surreal: There’s not a breath of wind! That’s like magic at Vedauwoo.
We miss sleeping outside, so we decide to see if we can acclimatize to the colder weather at Vedauwoo. Even in below freezing temperatures, this place always feels welcoming to me. We have a pleasant evening hike, followed by dinner under the stars. A couple of Leonids flash in the sky. It’s hard to keep our hands warm through dinner, but we have enough layers of clothing to keep the rest of our bodies warm. In the tent we have our summer sleeping bags combined the “car” bags procured by Mom at a garage sale. It’s plenty. Partway through the night the temperature seems to rise, and I switch to the sleeping bag alone. We’ll be set for some winter backpacking if we get warmer pack bags, I think.
A low-budget indie lesbian film that, despite some stiff dialog in places, manages to keep an interesting story rolling and supplies some unexpected surprises.
As I’ve come to expect from documentaries on politically charged topics, especially when there’s a narrator telling you how to interpret what you’re seeing, there is plenty of spin going on in this. Even so, I found it worthwhile. Not being a TV watcher, I didn’t even know the faces of the key Enron players, or much about how the debacle was played out in the media. Just seeing a bunch of the available footage grouped together is educational. At the very least, this ought to provide a few signs to look for when the next Enron goes soaring to the top of the stock market.
For pure unadulterated, wah-infused 70’s style this flick is hard to beat. Beyond that, it’s a pretty standard heist story.
Referred by Ted
Mile 2640. Pete drops me off back at the fifth wheel where we started, with plenty of time left for him to join Jess in Denver for a family dinner. For me the physical travel is done. Pete will get on a plane tomorrow and fly back to Chicago. It seems like we have covered many miles on the planet, but many more in our minds, which are still traveling. The results of these travels, and the ultimate meaning of our Pacific Crest Trail pacts, remains to be seen. Much more will be revealed when Pete finishes the book he’s creating for his MFA…
All recorded:
