Thursday, January 5, 2017

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

IMDB
Rogue One (2016): A rollicking fun adventure...just like all the others. Fighting an authoritarian regime has new relevance in 2017. Sad! C-











Wednesday, January 4, 2017

OTBR: Along the Similkameen River

Latitude: N 49° 15.402
Longitude: W 120° 00.810

A child on a road trip with his family asks, "Where are we?" and the father answers, "Let's check the map. We're off the blue roads [the Interstate Highways marked in blue on the road atlas]. We're off the red roads [the US and state highways]. We're off the black roads [the county highways]. I think we're off the map altogether." It was always my dream to be off the map altogether.

After the jump, a few of the random places (and I mean random literally) that I visited vicariously last month that are "off the blue roads".

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Who Votes for Sam Johnson?

He's not my Congressman. Even if I lived in Sam Johnson's Collin County district, I wouldn't vote for him. But it's not just because I don't agree with his politics of tax-breaks-for-the-rich and safety-net-cuts-for-the-middle-class. It's because he isn't honest enough to tell us what he's really doing. He's lying by omission, if you will.

Monday, January 2, 2017

Repeat Tweets: The Stuff They Call Country Today

Repeat tweets from December, 2016:

  • Dec 2 2016: "The stuff they call country today is more like bad rock groups with a fiddle." -- Tom Petty
  • Dec 3 2016: RT @cristinadaglas: "BADGERS BADGERS BADGERS."
    Well that sucked.
  • Dec 3 2016: RT @andrewflowers: "Let me be clear: I think Ohio St. should make the College Football Playoff over Penn St."
    Either the CFP is screwed up or the Big Ten is.

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Friday, December 30, 2016

Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)

IMDB
Florence Foster Jenkins (2016): Bad singing raised to high art. Something missing. Can't laugh at her or with her. Great acting though. B-











Thursday, December 29, 2016

POTD: Green Gables

From 2016 09 07 Charlottetown

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Cavendish, Prince Edward Island. It's the obligatory shot of Green Gables, the homestead that inspired Lucy Maud Montgomery to write "Anne of Green Gables." I knew nothing of the spirited orphan, Anne Shirley, before visiting, but I've become a huge fan since.

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

POTD: Steep Red Sandstone Cliffs

From 2016 09 07 Charlottetown

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the north shore of Prince Edward Island. I'll let Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author of "Anne of Green Gables," describe the scene.
The shore road was "woodsy and wild and lonesome." On the right hand, scrub firs, their spirits quite unbroken by long years of tussle with the gulf winds, grew thickly. On the left were the steep red sandstone cliffs, so near the track in places that a mare of less steadiness than the sorrel might have tried the nerves of the people behind her. Down at the base of the cliffs were heaps of surf-worn rocks or little sandy coves inlaid with pebbles as with ocean jewels; beyond lay the sea, shimmering and blue, and over it soared the gulls, their pinions flashing silvery in the sunlight. "Isn’t the sea wonderful?" said Anne, rousing from a long, wide-eyed silence.