Peter O’Toole faces old age and death with longing, lust, and humor. It felt really good to laugh through a movie after the heavy film diet we’ve been on. The subject is not belittled at all though, this is the sort of laughing at ourselves that gets us through the hard times.
Not at all what I expected - I would call this primarily a war horror movie. The gore was nearly too much for me. I made it through because it is a good concept, following both the inner and outer life of a child in a war situation.
Ann, Dad, and I make our way up the road to the Grays Peak trailhead, and have a nice run back down again. (Ann literally had a run, in her snowshoes.) I’m still playing with flash slideshows - mouse over “Notes” to see captions on this one:
Grays Peak Road Ski at EveryTrail:
Due to some imprudent timing of caffeine and alcohol intake, I was drowsy when we arrived at Boettcher concert hall. As a result, the energetic program of 20th century big-hitters thrust me into a turbulent half-dream world that I won’t soon forget.
Britten’s “Four Sea Interludes” from Peter Grimes began the spell with an hypnotic sloshing back and forth between bliss and anxiety. I was thoroughly under by the end, and when Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg took to the stage in her black-and-white-striped sequined pants I wasn’t sure what sort of world I had entered. Whatever it was, when Nadja tucked her violin under her chin and began the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1, the force of it plunged me into that world irrevocably. Never have I felt notes accost me with such insistence, even the softest of them. When Nadja launched into the Scherzo, all thoughts of returning to daily consciousness were demolished. Up and down she danced like some mischievous imp, easily and irresistibly flinging my enslaved psyche wherever she wished.
I don’t think I floated back to the surface until halfway through the intermission, but that didn’t last long. Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring quickly had me chasing Pan through a dark wood, rutting and wallowing in the green earth. What an evening! The guest conductor Douglas Boyd deserves some kudos for a gripping program from start to finish.
I went to this pre-meeting mostly just to listen in and see what’s up. My only contribution was when people were yelling out ideas for the website. Everything people wanted I recognized as features of a wiki, so I yelled out “Make it a wiki!” And everyone yelled out, “No!” Here are the minutes mailed out afterward (from horsetoothhang@yahoo.com):
The first meeting of the Northern Colorado Climbers Coalition (NCCC) was a great success. Climbers from across Northern Colorado showed their support and provided valuable input regarding which areas and issues will be addressed by the newly formed group.
Popular areas near Fort Collins such as Horsetooth Reservoir, Arthur’s Rock, Carter Lake, Redfeather and the Poudre Canyon were high on the priority list, however, crags such as the Monastery, Combat Rock, and various Estes Park areas will receive attention as well.
Climbing related issues deemed to need immediate attention were further trail designation/improvement (at all areas), preventing abuse of access (Kingpin/Poudre), replacement of unsafe anchors at popular areas (Greyrock, Combat, etc), and leave no trace ethics education.
The overall structure of the NCCC was also discussed at length. The coalition will be an official non-profit entity with 501(c)3 tax exempt status. The organization will be comprised of a Board of Directors (3-9people), 4 officers (President, VP, Secretary, Treasurer), an Access Fund Liaison, and members. All positions (except members) will be elected by a majority vote at the next meeting (TBA). Officers hold terms of one year, while board members are elected for 3-year terms. We will also settle on an official mission statement at the next meeting.
Based on the feedback at the meeting, the organization will serve the Northern Colorado climbing community by acting as a representational group to promote collective climbing related interests, positive resource stewardship at NOCO climbing areas, and the development of the Front Range climbing community. In addition, the group will serve as a major educational resource for Front Range climbing areas.
Upcoming projects include a trail day at the Piano Boulders (late spring ’08), reconstruction of the Rotary Park Trails (April ’09), the development of a website that will include information regarding climbing areas, access alerts/updates, public forums, and educational content on local issues, ethics, and concerns.
Our hope is to foster a strong, educated and united climbing community for the Northern Colorado region. Thanks to everyone who came out to show their support and provide input in order to get the coalition going. We will be having our next meeting in mid February (date and location TBA) and hope you can make it.
Steep would have been enough ski porn for awhile, but then I saw that Return to Schralptown was playing at New Belgium Brewery as a fundraiser for the excellent Colorado Avalanche Information Center. With beer. For donations. A cause too worthy to ignore.
I enjoyed this movie more than Steep. The emphasis is less on stunts, and more on the places and the environmental issues facing them. Their own description pretty much hits it - “a film that captures the emotion, struggle, and elation of backcountry skiing and snowboarding while focusing on environmental stewardship, avalanche awareness, and innovation in the sport.”
A movie in the same vein as Amores Perros (also by director Alejandro González Iñárritu), several disparate characters with some common tie are followed. This time the settings spread across the globe instead of just Mexico City. Also like Amores Perros it’s very effective, but unrelentingly heavy. The title theme seems to apply at least in part to prideful families being sundered and scattered. The twist, and hopeful aspect, is that this rendering is often what it takes to create communication in the family - not destroy it.
I knew nothing substantial about the uranium mine being proposed near Fort Collins, so I went to a panel discussion held by the Fort Collins public library to see what it’s about. I’ll summarize what stood out for me in the three-hour discussion.
The setup was like a scene from a movie: white-faced, white-haired men in suits on one side of the panel, and a disparate array of activists that oppose the mine on the other. All my stereotypes were disconcertingly reinforced by the scene, and nothing happened to cast any doubt on them. It probably would have degraded quickly into hair-pulling and eye-poking, but the library moderators were keen to keep tempers at bay, and they did an admirable job.
Mining permits are being sought by Powertech Uranium Corporation to mine uranium from (approximately) the yellow area on this map:
The opposition (featuring Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction) came largely armed to display the horrors of open pit mines, which Powertech had previously indicated interest in. Powertech threw them a curve ball by announcing that they would not conduct any open pit mining. That should be clear on the library tape. Instead they are focusing on a method called In-Situ Recovery (ISR) that essentially involves drilling boreholes and pumping water through the ore and back out of the ground. Whereas open pit mines have a history that includes some disasters, it seems that that ISR mining has a shorter, more subtle past and will be easier to defend.
The concerns and questions from the public were what I expected - worries about health effects, groundwater contamination, environmental and economic impacts. More interesting and new to me was what I perceived to be Powertech’s strategy. These are not direct quotes, but my perception of their position.
One more fact stuck with me: this company has no history of In-Situ Recovery mining. This would be their first try, right next to town.
We’re hanging out at the Bean Cycle with Kate and Mark when I notice this movie starts in ten minutes at The Lyric Cinema Cafe. We try not to make Kate run on her recently injured ankle. (Every time Mark says “slower”, we slow down for about 2 seconds - why is it so hard?) The promise of social movie watching with beer and couches is pretty much delivered on. Ann has a little trouble seeing from her seat, but manages.
So what about the movie? It’s a history of extreme skiing, and I think a pretty honest presentation of it in all its white-male-infused glory. There is definitely some genuine insight into the characters that populate this short history, and some deftly edited comic moments for contrast. The footage is all spectacular and makes me long for the mountains, but it gets caught by the trap I see inherent in these movies - the mountains become just a setting for death-defying stunts. It’s exciting, but feels cheap the next day - I guess that may be part of the origin of the term “ski porn”.
It makes me worry, will I ever be able to express the joy I get from much tamer outdoor experiences without having to sell it with stunts? I hope so.
It must be really daunting to make a historical film featuring characters who are still alive, telling a story that is remembered so well. I found this really convincing, although I don’t remember the death of Princess Diana nearly as well Ann, or probably most people. The tension and dependencies between the British monarchy and parliament are very well portrayed in the characters of Queen Elizabeth and Tony Blair.
All recorded:
