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Movie: Sexy Beast
It’s hard for me to come up with anything that makes this movie special. Ben Kingsley won an Oscar for his performance, but I have to suspect it’s at least partly due to the contrast between the crass, swearing character of Don Logan and other Kingsley roles such as Ghandi. All the acting is good,…
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Vedauwoo Cold and Rainy
We were planning on two or three days of hiking and climbing in Vedauwoo, so we didn’t hurry there on Saturday. We arrived after noon and I took off to scout out climbing within hiking distance. I ended up scouting for a couple of hours, enchanted as always with this place, always drawn to look…
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Book: The Blue Nile / Alan Moorehead
This book was given to me by a man who’d been touring the world by bicycle for 10 years while I was on my own little ride around the country. I expected a book about adventurous explorers, and there is some of that, but I quickly learned that most of the exploration of the shorter…
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Movie: Rabbit-Proof Fence
Having done some desert hiking last summer, we really related to the three half-caste aboriginal girls who escape a white reculturation camp to walk home through hundreds of miles of desert while being pursued by trackers and police. Based on a true story, it doesn’t seem to be over-dramatized. It’s definitely critical of the whites…
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Abyss Lake Trail
This trail starts fairly high up the south side of Guanella Pass, intersects the Rosa Lee trail, and continues to Abyss Lake. From there one could climb Mount Evans and Mount Bierstadt without the throngs that crowd the other routes to those summits. We had a leisurely breakfast at the Cutthroat Cafe in Bailey, and…
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Live Music: Olga Kern and the CSO
I’ve been looking forward to this concert for months. The first half, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra playing Sibelius’ Finlandia and Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major, was an excellent primer. Jeffrey Kahane, the conductor, gave a really fine introduction, without notes, and seemed to revel in the performance. I had heard Finlandia before, but it…
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Quickie at Golden Cliffs
We didn’t have much time, but we figured we could squeeze a climb or two in (yes this post is about climbing) before meeting my Dad for a concert. Just like we thought, the place was clearing out in the afternoon, and we got right on a popular route. It was hot, but tolerable. A…
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Live Music: Kevin Utter and Doc Fergy
I was looking forward to seeing the university’s “mighty Wurlitzer” organ played, and Kevin Utter did not disappoint. Blind from birth, Kevin’s seeing eye dog waited patiently beside the giant organ console during the entire show. Both Kevin Utter and his saxophone accompanyist Harry “Doc Fergy” Ferguson are really good at educating the audience while…
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Movie: Shoot The Piano Player (1960)
A fairly standard story of escape from vengeful gangsters is the format for a lot cinematography that seems progressive for the time, and interludes of sincere philosophical conversation between all the characters, good guys and bad.
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Low Water Mayem on the Arkansas
After a leisurely breakfast and some logistically challenging car shuttling, we put in to the Arkansas River in a 14′ raft and a kayak. Pete, Jess, and David have all spent a lot of time on the Arkansas, and the water is as low as anyone has seen it. ‘Bony’ seems to be the word…