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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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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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Big Rock
We wake up to clear skies, and I feel excited about getting a couple of routes in today. The whole family packs up and heads for Big Rock at Perris Lake. The gate is closed, which adds half a mile to the approach but also thins the crowds. Today there’s only one other pair of…
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New Lines to Paragraphs
WordPress, the software behind this site, uses a function called autop(), originally written by Photo Matt, to convert new lines to proper HTML paragraphs. It didn’t really handle some common HTML structures too well, so tonight I took a stab at hacking it a bit. Code follows.
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Movie: Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood
Another movie I can’t remember why I added to my queue. I wish Netflix would allow me to write a note to myself which they would then send with the movie. Many mysteries could thus be solved. Anyway, this movie shows what can happen if you run around carrying sharp plot devices. The internet movie…
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Whisky Flat Trail Day 2
In the morning, after 13 hours in my tent, the verdict is that tent-shopping is in our future. The North Face Canyonlands is nice at just under four pounds, but too claustrophobic for weathering big storms together. We aren’t hungry yet, so we pack up and start walking. We are in a tight canyon crossing…
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Whiskey Flat Trail
We park at the Whisky Flat trailhead in Kernville, planning to hike north for an over night trip, but there is a ‘DAY USE ONLY’ sign at the trailhead. Ann convinces me to ask about it at the ranger station. It turns out a local rancher owns the parking area, and will tow any cars…