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I had the opportunity to try cross country skiing with my dad this past weekend, you know, during the huge blizzard we had here in the Northeast? My dad is crazy like that, and clearly I am too because I went with him.
Anyway, I dressed appropriately for it and practiced on the skis for a few minutes in the driveway before taking off with my dad. I was a bit unsteady, but able to move along okay. I am in reasonably good physical shape, so I figured, nothing to it. Between the wind in my face and my poor balance on skiis, it was quite a workout. We trucked it around the field across the street from my dad's and then down the snowmobile trail where we encountered some hills *gulp*.
Dad kept telling me, 'nothing to it, just bend your knees and you'll be just fine'. So I try it after watching him glide down the hill as gracefully as can be. The term 'nothing to it' did not quite describe my expereince. I started out okay at first, but then came to a dip in the hill that threw me way off balance, I fell backward onto my butt and slid down the rest of the hill will by butt on my skiis and my poles in the air. My dad, at the bottom of the hill, kept trying to say something, but was laughing to hard to get a word out. I slid to his feet and threw him a very dirty look. 'Nothiing to it, huh?' I said. It took him a couple minutes to compose himself and ask if I was alright. I was fine, but I was reminded of why I never used to trust what my dad said when it came to adventures in the wild.
There never is 'nothing to it' when it comes to my dad. Trust me.
I have always been such a huge fan of Batman. I mean seriously, he is the only "super" hero that doesn't have any actual powers, he just has all the coolest gadgets and is in peak physical condition to enable him to do all the stunts that he does. It makes one wonder if perhaps they too could become a secret vigilante, protecting the streets from villans...
...but I digress.
"The Dark Knight" was a fantastic movie, really. If you have been a fan of Batman all these years and if you happen to enjoy the eye candy of such gentlemen as Aaron Eckhart and Christian Bale, you'll definitely love this movie.
It is a darker tale than most of the others, with a less than happy ending. It sets the scene nicely however, to make another installment. We start with Batman's internal and external struggle as Batman by night and Bruce Wayne by day. He is suffering from this double life and is warned repeatedly to ease up. But he is a hero and the city is in desperate need of a hero. Batman/Bruce finds what he believes to be a light at the end of the tunnel however, in a man named Harvey Dent who is the new DA for Gotham. He is out to make the city better just like Batman, but can be in the public eye, unlike Batman. So Bruce puts a lot of hope and effort into creating Gotham's White Knight in Harvey. The anarchist mastermind, the Joker, has other plans for Gotham and for Harvey and Batman however. Meanwhile and on a more personal note, Batman's love Rachel is now dating Harvey, which is obviously hard for him, but he is all about the greater good.
I really can't tell anymore. This is such an excellent movie that I would hate to spoil it. Go and rent it or put it on your Netflix list if you haven't seen it yet because it is mind-blowingly awesome folks!
Hiking is one of my favorite adventures in the wild. I love to conquer a mountain from time to time and enjoy the view at the top. Recently, I invited a friend to hike up Chick Hill with me, a relatively easy hike in my opinion, that follows an access road right to the top. There were, however, a few problems to note: It was rather icy in places on the road, my friend is one of the clumsiest persons I have ever met and she is also 6 months pregnant.
So we get to the mountain and start up. Mind you, she isn't even on the icy parts, just the snow, and she already starts tripping. I immediately offer to call it quits and we could just go for a walk at one of our houses. She says no, and we press on. I chalk it up to the pregnancy, but she denies it. She claims that she has always been clumsy. She continues to trip every few steps and I start to wonder how she has made it this far in life without dying or at least causing herself serious brain damage. I have not tripped or slipped once and I am the one walking on the icy parts so that she can walk safely in the snow!
We stop a few times so that she can rest, pee, take off her jacket, have a snack and we even observe some deer and moose tracks in the snow. We finally reach the top. It is a gorgeous view. As chilly as it is this winter day, it is even worse however, at the top, as there is no shield from the wind. We take a few pictures and head back down.
I am nervous as we start to head down, thinking that she is bound to hill herself going down this thing if she had trouble coming up. I am regretting bringing her up here and thinking that I will burn in Hell for all eternity if anything happens to her. As I am beating myself up all the while down, she is striding down without a hitch. I am in shock! I am going slowly and carefully to make sure she is okay and she is getting ahead of me! Fair enough, so I start to increase my stride, confident that if she is not tripping, I'll be just fine.
I may have done just fine heading up, but challenging myself to keep up with my "clumsy" friend on the way down proved hazardous to my health. This time I was slipping and tripping several times over. She kept asking me if I was alright. I told her no problem, just trying to keep pace with her. Luckily, we reached the bottom with no injuries to either one of us, especially me. I guess it just goes to show...
... be careful hiking in the winter, especially with clumsy friends and clumsy selves!
I watched this movie for the third time ever last weekend. I own it by the way, but then again I own many, many, many movies. So anyway, I watched it for the third time ever and also checked out the special features, as it is a DVD. I had no idea that this movie was based on the book by Bret Easton Ellis. There was a lot of discussion surrounding the controvesy that this book created when it was first published. Interesting...
This film gives a first hand peak into the psyche and life of Wall Street yuppie Patrick Bateman, who's nighttime homicidal tendencies are beginning to spill over into his day time life. It is scary and hillarious all at the same time. I can't help but laugh my butt off while he's dancing to Phil Collins and getting dressed in a rain suit to kill his colleage Paul Allen with an axe. Christian Bale personifies Patrick Bateman to a T
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I have hiked a lot in my life. I have always tried to maintain a good level of physical fitness, with some years being better than others for this of course. I have hiked Borestone Mountain before when I was a kiddo and recalled it being quite easy.
A little over a decade had passed and I had the opportunity to hike it again with my dad and my husband this past summer. My dad is in peak physical condition, always has been. I would describe myself as having a moderate level of physical fitness. My husband...well let's just say I have to dangle a steak in front of his nose to get him to do anything physically active with me
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As a general rule, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? This does not usually apply to those of us with adventureous streaks.
During the Souadabscook Stream canoe race here in the great state of Maine several years ago, my dad and I were nearing the end of the race, which happens to be the best part, as it contains the best whitewater. We came to a section that travels beneath an interstate bridge and forks off into two different paths. We normally would take the drop to the left, as we knew it like the backs of our hands. This particular year however, where the water was unusually high, we thought we would chance the right side, as it was shorter and we needed to gain a few seconds on the competition who were nearing. We headed for it, only to find that it was approximately a five foot drop! In a kayak, you can very easily bounce back from that and keep going. Not so much in a canoe. We did not fall in, surprisingly enough, but we did manage to almost fully submerge the canoe as it quickly filled with water. We hurridly paddled as best as we could to the bank nearby and hauled with all of our might to get that canoe out of the water. We somehow managed it and were able to dump the water out, a feat that was met by pure adreneline, I swear. We saw our competition nearing the drop above us, so we quickly piled in and shoved off to finish the last leg of the race
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I just can't help myself. I love a good movie where humankind faces complete annihilation at the hands of something we never even knew existed. It is such a facinating concept to me.
"The Day the Earth Stood Still" is based on the original movie made in 1951. This time it stars the ever dramatic Keanu Reeves as the humanoid alien, Klaatu, who has come to save the Earth, from us. He came to offer a warning originally, but is shot by a soldier as he tries to make contact with Dr. Helen Benson. He later speaks with a representative from his race that has been living on the planet for 70 years and is told that humans are destructive and will not change, only destroy themselves and the planet in time. Interestingly enough, this representative also has a certain respect for humankind, refusing to leave as all are destroyed, stating that they are his kind now and that he loves them nonetheless
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If you love a movie that really makes you think, you have got to see the classic film, "The Boys from Brazil", based on the book by Ira Levin.
The concept of the movie is that a Nazi doctor has cloned Hitler 94 times and placed them as babies in various families around the world. The families have to meet certain conditions to be able to adopt the boys, like the father has to be 43 and the mother 29. The father has to be distant and stern, the mother doting and loving, just like Hitler's parents were. The movie begins with the Nazi doctor, Dr. Mengele telling a group of men that they need to commit 94 assassinations around the world, killing men that are all 65 years old. They go about their orders, while the Jewish Ezra Lieberman tries to decifer why these assasinations are taking place. To his horror, he discovers this plot of recreate the same conditions that Adolf Hitler grew up with for the 94 boys that were cloned from him and in effect create 94 Hitlers all over the world. Dr. Mengele is hoping for the perfect Arian race and has high hopes that his 94 boys cloned from Hitler in Brazil will make his dream a reality
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My favorite genre of movie is generally thrillers or historical dramas. However, on a whim, I borrowed the new Disney-Pixar flick, "Wall-E" from a family member and checked it out.
First of all, I found the whole story line to be very intriguing, the idea being that humanity filled the world with trash and had to move off the planet while robots stayed behind to clean it up. While in space, humankind evolved into very fat and lazy beings, as they were inadvertently being controlled by robots
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