Thursday, May 31, 2012
SOL START ONE
CHAD IN SEATTLE, WA - EMERALD CITY
Seattle - Starbucks - Space Needle
Pike Place Market - watch out for flying fish
Living history
Ebbets Field Flannels
Blackbird in Ballard
Filson Store and Factory
The last stop on my trip was Seattle, the largest city in the Northwestern United States. Just 114 miles south of the Canadian border. Birthplace of Starbucks and Grunge music. It's great to visit Pike Place Market, but be aware of flying fish. Get in line for a cup of coffee in the first ever Starbucks or walk to another corner and get your coffee directly. Near Pioneer Square you find a shop called Ebbet's Field Flannels, here you can buy yourself baseball hats & jersey's of long gone teams. From here it ain't far to the Filson Factory and Flagship store on 4th Av. It's difficult not to buy a canvas bag or some Filson by Sebago boots. My last stop is Blackbird, located in the hip neighborhood Ballard. The store is filled with Filson bags, Aden shoes, Billykirk belts, Obey, A.P.C. etc.
Spring cleaning playlist
With the weather being like it has in the past week here in Winnipeg, we've spent a lot of time inside cleaning and purging! It feels so nice to get rid of stuff and make room for new things! We made a little playlist of some of our favorite songs to get you guys in the cleaning mood! Have a happy day!
Blacula (1972) & Scream, Blacula, Scream (1973)
For a few funky years in the early ’70s, the blaxploitation genre was so popular it produced subgenres—including a string of campy horror movies whose titles were urbanized puns on the names of classic monsters. The first and best of these flicks was Blacula. Starring Shakespearean-trained actor William Marshall, whose elegant bearing and resonant voice class up the inherently trashy surroundings, Blaculasmoothly transposes characters and themes from Bram Stoker’s classic novel Dracula into an African-American milieu.
The story begins in Transylvania circa the 1700s, when Count Dracula (Charles Macaulay) greets two visitors from Africa, Prince Mamawulde (Marshall) and his beautiful wife, Luva (Vonetta McGee). Bad host that he is, Dracula takes a chomp out of Mamawulde’s neck and buries him, cursing the prince to half-life beneath the earth. Then, when Mamawulde gets released 200 years later in modern-day L.A. (don’t ask), black-on-black bloodsucking ensues until the vampire meets Tina (also played by McGee), whom he believes is the reincarnated Luva.
Capably directed by William Crain, Blaculamoves along at a good clip and stays focused on the soulful story, while still delivering blaxploitation tropes like pimptastic clothes, streetwise trash talk, and wah-wah guitars on the soundtrack. The picture also boasts one or two genuine jolts, and the gloomy finale has a bit of an emotional punch. This isn’t sophisticated stuff by any measure, but Blacula is moderately better than one might expect—and, hey, the fact that Mamawulde sprouts bitchin’ sideburns every time his blood gets boiling adds an extra blast of campy ’70s flava.
In addition to triggering a series of imitators (yes, Blackenstein, we’re talking about you), Blaculainspired a quickie sequel that lacks the kitschy charm of the original, even though Marshall reprised his role. (Rather than bringing Crain back as director, the producers hired Bob Kelijan, helmer of the underwhelming Count Yorga pictures, to put Marshall through his paces.) Bearing the fabulously lurid title Scream, Blacula, Scream, the foll0w-up suffers from a drab story and a shortage of exciting moments.
The story begins when a dying voodoo queen bequeaths her power to her friend/apprentice Lisa (Pam Grier) instead of her immediate relative, the craven Willis (Richard Lawson). Eager for payback, Willis uses voodoo to summon Mamawulde, who promptly turns Willis into a vampire slave. (That’s what you get for thinking you can control a vampire,) Soon, Mamawulde meets and becomes smitten with Lisa—an understandable response, given Grier’s casting. He then asks Lisa to cure his vampirism with that voodoo that she do-do.
Unfortunately, it takes forever to get that far into the narrative, so the first hour is very dull, and the whole movie is so enervated that even Grier’s formidable charisma is stifled. Except for some tribal-drum-led tension during the movie’s climax, Scream, Blacula, Scream fails to get anyone’s blood pumping—and, sure enough, its unspectacular box-office performance helped kill a promising franchise.
Blacula: GROOVY
Scream, Blacula, Scream: LAME
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Little Lakes Valley Sierra Nevada + Dangerous Roads
Another very picturesque spot in the Range of Light
Karakorum Road
Please visit my website
http://www.hiking4health.com/
10 of the Worlds most dangerous roads
Karakorum Road
http://www.hiking4health.com/
WORTH WAITING FOR.....
Oh yeah, thank you Mr. Postman. My Sperry Top-Sider by Band of Outsiders are delivered. Let the Summer begin.
Dear Creatures Fall 2012 Collection.
Yes, we know we have already posted about Dear Creatures several times, but they are one of our all-time favorite fashion labels! We love how much influence they take from past eras, especially the 1960's, to design their classic yet playful clothing line. We really appreciate all of the attention to detail, from the beautiful color palettes to the pretty piping that frames the peter pan collars.
We know that it isn't even officially summer yet, but we are already longing for Dear Creatures' amazing fall collection. Get a load of these stunning pieces, which even come complete with a set of cat ears! A girl can't ask for much more than that!
This darling cap with little cat ears is probably one of the greatest things that we've ever seen! It is absolute perfection. This is definitely at the tops of our dream fashion wish lists!
That brown dress with the knee high socks is adorable! That is definitely a look that we will be trying.
Those collars! Those dresses! (Swoon.)
...wait, on second thought, could we just have one of everything please?! ;)
For more shopping and lovely clothes be sure to stop by www.dearcreatures.com.
Marjoe (1972)
An Academy Award winner for Best Documentary Feature, Marjoeoffers a mesmerizing glimpse behind the curtain of big-time American evangelism, and the backstory of the movie is fascinating. In the late ’40s, a child named Marjoe Gortner became known as “the world’s youngest evangelist,” receiving ordination and performing weddings when he was still four years old. (Marjoe features incredible archival footage of the towheaded young Gortner performing feverish sermons.) The son of a Californian preacher, Gortner ended up becoming his family’s primary breadwinner until his teenage years. Convinced his parents had siphoned the money he snookered from gullible audiences at revival meetings, Gortner set off on his own until his mid-20s, when he returned to the revival circuit expressly for the purpose of making cash.
This film documents Gortner’s final revival tour, because by the time he was asked to participate in the movie, Gortner had decided to quit hustling rubes and become an actor. Thus, Marjoe is equal parts confessional, exposé, and reportage. About half the screen time comprises exciting scenes of Gortner working rural audiences with his frenetic stage presence, and the rest features Gortner in hotel rooms and other locations revealing the methodology of those who prey upon the Pentecostal circuit. The level of cynicism in these private scenes is staggering. “If I hadn’t gotten into evangelism heavily, I probably would’ve been a rock singer, because I enjoy working a microphone,” Gortner remarks, explaining that he copies moves from Mick Jagger. ”I enjoy getting it off onstage, but I really wish I was getting it off as a rock star or an actor, which is something I have to get into.” At one point, the filmmakers show Gortner and his business associates giggling while they count donations backstage after a rally, literally giddy from the high of ripping off susceptible patrons.
In one of the film’s most striking devices, Gortner describes gimmicks that work onstage, like laying on hands and speaking in tongues, and the picture cuts to Gortner demonstrating those maneuvers; it’s bracing to see big-time religion reduced to showbiz slickness. Somehow, the movie elicits a certain amount of sympathy for Gortner, who was pushed into evangelism before he was old enough to choose his own way, even though his motivation for reentering the Pentecostal world as a grown-up was morally bankrupt. “I am a hype,” he says, “but I don’t feel that I’m a bad hype.” True to his word, Gortner quit the ministry after the tour featured in Marjoe, embarking on an unsuccessful singing career before transitioning to acting with appearances in the disaster movie Earthquake (1974) and assorted B-movies and telefilms.
Marjoe: RIGHT ON
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
CHAD IN VANCOUVER, BC - RAIN CITY
Vancouver, Canada...Poeh what can I tell you about the city of Vancouver? It's named after a Dutch family called Van Coevorden. It's also called Rain City, and the birth place of Brian Adams. My first impression wasn't the best I guess, I arrived late in the evening and the streets (E. Hasting) was packed with homeless people and that gave me a little strange feeling. The next morning, when I hit the streets it was raining cats and dogs, so also that didn't do any good to the city, but.......I found some gems. Walking into the Old Faithful Shop on Cordova Street made me smile again, beautiful products from the Hill-Side and bags from MAKR and Souhtern Fields, special tea from Bellocq etc. all packed in a great atmosphere. I love the canoe hanging from the ceiling. Next stop in Gastown was Inventory Stockroom on Powell Street. Which started some years ago as a web shop. As the rooms of the apartment soon became too small to stock the merchandise, they decided to open a store as well. You might know them from the magazine called Inventory. All this makes you hungry.....waiting in line to order the Sandwich Special of the day at Meat & Bread isn't a punishment, the sandwiches are great! A little away from Gastown on East Broadway you can find a store called Mr. Lee General Store. In a decor of antique props like a frame of a canoe, a Marlin, stuffed animals etc. you find not just clothes, but also coffee, magazines, bow ties, Pendleton blankets etc. When you plan a trip to Rain City be sure to bring some wellies and a rain jacket.
Blue & green all over
It's another dreary day over here...perfect timing for a little colorful pick me up!
This dress from the 60's is perfection!
original photo source unknown, sorry!
The perfect little floral set! Perfect for your next BBQ!
Cute little lucite napkin holder!
Anyone need a beautiful floral 50's party dress?
A classic photo album in blue and green floral!
Scallops, stripes and dots all on one mug? Yes please!
The Last Tycoon (1976)
Despite an impressive literary pedigree, the participation of a legendary director, and the presence of a high-wattage cast, The Last Tycoonis a lead balloon of a movie, so overcome with its own importance that barely any traces of life show through the artificially imposed veneer of highbrow seriousness. Were it not for the inherently lurid storyline, and the ease with which the varied film professionals involved in the piece skewer their own industry, the picture would be a chore to watch. As is, The Last Tycoon is bearable though not particularly enjoyable.
Based on an unfinished novel by Jazz Age scribe F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose manuscript was completed by editors for posthumous publication, The Last Tycoon is a veiled biography of Hollywood wunderkind Irving Thalberg, the brilliant but physically frail MGM executive of the 1930s. In Fitzgerald’s narrative, Thalberg becomes the fictional Monroe Stahr (played in the movie by Robert De Niro), a ’30s studio executive struggling to keep various projects on track despite egomaniacal stars, labor unrest among screenwriters, and romantic entanglements.
Director Elia Kazan surrounds De Niro with a constellation of stars, so the cast includes Tony Curtis, Ray Milland, Robert Mitchum, Jeanne Moreau, Jack Nicholson, Donald Pleasance, and Peter Strauss. In fleeting moments, the script (by esteemed British playwright/screenwriter Harold Pinter) gives these actors material worthy of their skills, as in the tense scenes between Stahr and a crass union organizer (Nicholson). Sequences pulling back the curtain of the Golden Age filmmaking process have some zing as well, since it’s fun to watch Stahr screen rushes of in-progress films and bark out instructions for improving lackluster footage.
Based on an unfinished novel by Jazz Age scribe F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose manuscript was completed by editors for posthumous publication, The Last Tycoon is a veiled biography of Hollywood wunderkind Irving Thalberg, the brilliant but physically frail MGM executive of the 1930s. In Fitzgerald’s narrative, Thalberg becomes the fictional Monroe Stahr (played in the movie by Robert De Niro), a ’30s studio executive struggling to keep various projects on track despite egomaniacal stars, labor unrest among screenwriters, and romantic entanglements.
Director Elia Kazan surrounds De Niro with a constellation of stars, so the cast includes Tony Curtis, Ray Milland, Robert Mitchum, Jeanne Moreau, Jack Nicholson, Donald Pleasance, and Peter Strauss. In fleeting moments, the script (by esteemed British playwright/screenwriter Harold Pinter) gives these actors material worthy of their skills, as in the tense scenes between Stahr and a crass union organizer (Nicholson). Sequences pulling back the curtain of the Golden Age filmmaking process have some zing as well, since it’s fun to watch Stahr screen rushes of in-progress films and bark out instructions for improving lackluster footage.
Alas, Stahr’s professional life is only partially the focus of the movie, since Kazan devotes inordinate amounts of screen time to stultifying romantic scenes. It doesn’t help that De Niro gives a weirdly lifeless performance. One suspects De Niro wanted to work a different groove after several years of playing volatile characters, but he’s restrained to the point of catatonia throughout much of The Last Tycoon; combined with Kazan’s chaste camera style and Pinter’s characteristically terse dialogue, De Niro’s non-acting becomes deadly dull. Plus, there’s the basic problem of the source material never having been properly completed. Although the movie’s narrative runs a full course, it’s anybody’s guess whether this was the actual story Fitzgerald would have told if he finished his novel.
The Last Tycoon: FUNKY
Worldwide Climbing News and Trip Reports
http://www.baercave.com/ -- baercave -- California -- New Member -- North Face of Pico de Orizaba video
http://www.kentoncool.com/ -- Kenton Cool -- UK -- Summited Everest
http://www.summitpost.org/cave-dweller-5-10-4-pitches/791618
http://dowclimbing.com/ -- Dow Williams -- Utah and Canadian Rockies
http://www.rockandice.com/news/1997-renan-ozturk-and-freddie-wilkinson-qredpointq-tooth-traverse
http://www.thenamelesscreature.com/ -- Freddie Wilkinson -- USA
http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?l=2&keyid=39602
http://www.stephan-siegrist.ch/ -- Stephan Siegrist -- Switzerland
http://hi-adventure.com/ -- dblblack -- Idaho --
Cy Kaicener- Posts: 5338
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Re: Personal Websites
by seano » Sat May 26, 2012 12:10 am For those who care but don't know, I'm back on the road for the summer, so posting will resume: http://drdirtbag.wordpress.com/
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Cy Kaicener
Re: Personal Websites
by Cy Kaicener » Sat May 26, 2012 5:38 pm For those who care but don't know, I'm back on the road for the summer, so posting will resume: http://drdirtbag.wordpress.com/
Thanks Seano and welcome back
http://sierramountaineering.com/blog -- Kurt Wedberg -- California -- Mt Everest summitday pictures
http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.325975410810977.74687.100001955630281&type=1 -- Fabrizio Zangrilli -- Colorado -- now in Alaska
http://fabriziozangrilli.blogspot.com/
Thanks Seano and welcome back
http://sierramountaineering.com/blog -- Kurt Wedberg -- California -- Mt Everest summitday pictures
http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.325975410810977.74687.100001955630281&type=1 -- Fabrizio Zangrilli -- Colorado -- now in Alaska
http://fabriziozangrilli.blogspot.com/
Cy Kaicener- Posts: 5338
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 10:59 pm
- Location: Rialto, California, United States
- Thanked: 67 times in 64 posts
Re: Personal Websites
by Cy Kaicener » Sun May 27, 2012 12:52 pm http://www.summitpost.org/this-is-my-america/791856 -- Josh Lewis -- Washington
http://www.joshklewis.com/
http://followtheclimb.blogspot.com/ -- Sophie Denis -- France
http://www.summitpost.org/bacon-peak-spring-conditions/791929 -- Steph Abegg -- Washington
http://www.stephabegg.com/
http://www.joshklewis.com/
http://followtheclimb.blogspot.com/ -- Sophie Denis -- France
http://www.summitpost.org/bacon-peak-spring-conditions/791929 -- Steph Abegg -- Washington
http://www.stephabegg.com/
Cy Kaicener- Posts: 5338
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Re: Personal Websites
by Cy Kaicener » Mon May 28, 2012 1:00 pm http://www.humanedgetech.com/expedition/an2009/ -- Ryan Waters -- Lhotse summit
http://www.ryanwaters.net/
http://rickkent.net/ -- Rick Kent -- California -- Mt Williamson day hike
http://davesearle.me/ -- Dave Searle -- UK and France -- Good photography in the Alps
http://www.ryanwaters.net/
http://rickkent.net/ -- Rick Kent -- California -- Mt Williamson day hike
http://davesearle.me/ -- Dave Searle -- UK and France -- Good photography in the Alps
Cy Kaicener- Posts: 5338
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 10:59 pm
- Location: Rialto, California, United States
- Thanked: 67 times in 64 posts
Re: Personal Websites
by Cy Kaicener » Tue May 29, 2012 4:12 pm http://calicokat-hiking.blogspot.com/2012/05/clouds-rest-052412.html -- calicokat -- California -- Half Dome
http://www.globalalpine.com/ -- Andrew Wexler -- Canada -- Baffin Island video
http://alanarnette.com/blog/index.php -- Alan Arnette -- Colorado -- More Updates
http://www.facebook.com/#!/alan.arnette
https://picasaweb.google.com/fossana/EButtressOfWhitney#slideshow/5744630737699080226
http://www.globalalpine.com/ -- Andrew Wexler -- Canada -- Baffin Island video
http://alanarnette.com/blog/index.php -- Alan Arnette -- Colorado -- More Updates
http://www.facebook.com/#!/alan.arnette
https://picasaweb.google.com/fossana/EButtressOfWhitney#slideshow/5744630737699080226
Cy Kaicener- Posts: 5338
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 10:59 pm
- Location: Rialto, California, United States
- Thanked: 67 times in 64 posts
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