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Movie: Little Voice
This movie showcases the impressive Jane Horrocks impersonating show tune stars. Michael Caine and other cast do some very amusing acting too. But the movie never really gets past the feeling of being an artifice for the actors to strut their stuff, and the perfomances are much less moving for it. IMDB
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Movie: 32 Short Films about Glenn Gould
All I knew about Glen Gould to start with was that he was a Canadian pianist. The short films seem a bit artsy and disjointed at first, but coalesce into a progressive series of statements on Glen Gould’s life. Nearly all of them incorporate amazing music, mostly piano music. One gathers that Glen Gould gave…
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First Virus of the Year
Ann has caught some kind of virus, has a sore throat, and is losing her voice, so we say goodbye to our friends and head for beds and movies.
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New Year’s Eve
This evening our group site is much more animated. We have a potluck, with addictive barbecue chips from John, crab dip from Oscar, brats and kielbasa from Mary and Clint, Ann’s buffalo stuffing, apple pie from Ingrid, chocolate chunk cookies from Karen, with wine, beer, and champagne from all directions. Matty and Ann, who we…
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Indian Cove, Joshua Tree
Karen and her friend John have joined us at Indian Cove group site #9. We don’t know what the crowds will be like, so we just head to see what climbs are available. To my surprise Driving Limitations, 5.8 **, is free on the Billboard Buttress. This has one set of pretty hard slab moves…
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Blue Cut Loop Hike, Day 2
Pushawalla Canyon to Pinyon Well Parking Area 10 mi :: 5 hr :: 1870 ft The night doesn’t provide any rain to test our new tent, but it is comfortable and the double doors are great. Today Ann’s navigation instincts are correct, and we pass a wash I think might the right one. We do…
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Blue Cut Loop Hike, Day 1
Pinyon Well Parking Area to Pushawalla Canyon 4.5 mi :: 2.5 hr :: 960 ft After a last-minute stop at Sport Chalet for a fleece jacket we couldn’t find at REI, and an omelet at Coco’s, we pull in to the trailhead on Geology Tour road around 2 pm. Ann navigates using the trail guidebook…
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Movie: Return of the King (Lord of the Rings 3)
To me these movies are just a means of reliving the glory of the books, and this is best of them for that. The essential events are shown, but they are far more exciting to me when I fill in all the blanks in the background story, the history of the characters, and the shape…
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Gear Acquisition
It is REI day, time to make a dent in our gear list for the Continental Divide Trail and our bank account. Some of our acquisitions: North Face Slick Rock tent. It weighs 4 lb 9 oz, maybe half a pound more than the lightest options but with some important features. It has two poles,…
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Splitting Up
“Let’s split up” was a phrase oft-repeated by my new cousin Jonathan over the holidays, playing Rescue Hero. Today as we all started splitting up for our respective plans we realized the time for a family photo had slipped past. We decided to at least get some sibling pics before Ryan hit the road.