Was it a Rip-Off?

Have you ever gone to a movie, and as it's playing, you know, you just know your spouse hates it.  Well.....  First of all, I pick 90% of our movies.  One of Drake's expectations is I will keep up with all the movie releases, sift through the reviews, and then suggest what I think we should see.  Of course, I know the odds of getting him to an animated movie or a highly rated children's movie are about 20%.  We both agree there's never been a horror flick we EVER want to see.

We love independent films, and here in CS, we were thrilled to discover there's an independent films theater right in the middle of downtown - it's in the old 'downtown' theater, there was one in every decent sized town - and the downtown theater of my Tulsa youth ran 'Sound of Music', 'The 10 Commandments', and every Disney movie of the 1950's and 60's both live action (think Hayley Mills) and animated (think Sleeping Beauty).  Colorado Springs is valiantly trying for a downtown revival similar to Fort Worth's, so surrounding this revamped downtown theater, "The Peak", - yes, you can see Pike's Peak from the entrance,  there are clubs, happy hours with cute cheap snacks, as well as several decent restaurants.

This has been our 'go to' movie theater since we arrived in town.  First, we went to see "A Hologram for the King", then we went to see "Love and Friendship" which I loved, and Drake liked.  (This movie is based on an early Jane Austen novella, and it helps if your ear can hear and decipher upper class English accents.)   Then, it was the new Susan Sarandon movie, "The Meddler", so today I suggested we go see "The Lobster".

This is a highly rated movie with big time actors.  Every critic's review I read suggested this is one bizarre movie, but worthwhile.  In essence, the screenwriter creates a society in which it is a moral and legal imperative to be part of a couple; no exceptions.  I won't go any farther than that about the plot line.

Drake's position when we walked out was he got ripped off for $14, but then we proceeded to discuss themes and aspects of the movie for a solid 40 minutes. That doesn't seem like a rip-off to me.  Can you imagine having a 40 minute serious discussion about any of the comic book movies so prevalent these days at the multi-plexes?  Drake finally, finally grudgingly agreed the resulting discussion was the only redeeming value in his eyes of "The Lobster".

I think movies are a part of the American cultural fabric, and the last thing I am is a movie snob.  I'm a pretty all-inclusive viewer.  I like westerns, comedies, rom-coms, thrillers, murder mysteries, musicals, vintage films, silent films, bio-pics, fantasy films, comic book movies, animated flicks, clay-mation, documentaries, and cartoons (old time or new fangled).  Horror is really the only thing I can't get into.

We have a running 'list' of our worst ever films.  The rules are:  You paid to see it, and you stayed for the whole thing.  As discussed above, I pretty much filter out the crappy movies from the get go, and we won't go to the movies just to go to the movies. My point is, to make our list is a perverted honor.  Here are the ones which come to mind instantly:  #1 'Clockwork Orange' - this movie's extreme violence, especially for the time period, turned both of us off.  #2 'Barry Lyndon' - what a waste of film; but it was beautiful and completely utterly boring.  #3 'Chariots of Fire' - what I remember most is legs running.  Anyway, you get my drift:  highly rated movies, the darlings of the critics, that we just completely disliked.

According to Drake 'The Lobster' belongs on this list.  I disagree.      

Mining Paint and Pottery

Today we went to a most unusual place.  It was called 'Paint Mine Park', owned by El Paso County which is the Colorado Springs county, but it is also on the National Register of History Places.  The Paint Mine is outside of Calhan, Colorado which is the poster child for cattle country and about 30 miles east of Colorado Springs.  It was quite warm today, and there was exactly one tree and very little shade on this hike.  The brilliant sunshine made for nice pictures this morning.  

This landscape is just west of the Rocky Mountains

The Paint Mine is similar in geology to the South Dakota Badlands, and to the Palo Duro Canyon in Texas.  There are hoodoos and petrified sands.  It is almost completely hidden by the surrounding landscape.  It differs in that it contains brilliantly colored clay and petrified sand deposits and has been visited and 'mined' by Native Americans for thousands of years.  It where colored clay was dug for pottery and for the raw materials to make brightly colored ceremonial paint.  The formations in the following pictures are almost invisible from this viewpoint even though they are less than a quarter of a mile away.

As always, and particularly in this case, the pictures tell the story:

https://goo.gl/photos/oYoLkjMuVJ8Amneq5

Hiking Before Breakfast, Really

We came to Colorado Springs because there were so many things to do; each day there's a possibility of something new.  Unfortunately, there are also trips to the grocery store, the post office (I go through stamps like a mad woman.), the gas station, and getting hair cuts.  Then, there's the vacuuming, car washing, bathroom cleaning, and general maintenance.  So, today, we decided to just jump into our hiking clothes and check out the Bear Creek Regional Park which is spitting distance from our front door.  I didn't even drink a CUP OF COFFEE. Afterwards, it was chore day.

Looking up toward the 'rim'

There's a regional hiking trail which circles the park.  Then, there are a series of interconnecting hikes in the center of the park.  This park includes a deep ravine as well as the rim around it.  One of its most popular features is the 'dog park'. This is dog country.  Bear Creek runs through the park, and this park is very popular, but not overcrowded because there are better hiking parks within five miles.  Today we did a 2.5 mile hike on the interconnected trails.  Then we went to eat the free breakfast at the dining room at the 'home'.  Boy, did we get the hairy eyeball striding into eat in our hiking boots.  

Apparently, the coyotes own Bear Creek Park because there are all kinds of signs up warning people about how to handle an encounter.  I'm covered there since there are packs which live in Sun City.  Coyotes really don't want to deal with people, just live around them.  Did you know coyotes and rock doves (city pigeons) are the two wild animals which have adapted best to co-existing with humans in an urban environment?  Some cities (like NYC) have actually imported coyotes to control the rat population.  In New York each one has a radio collar, so the parks department can actually track them. Coyotes also keep the Canadian Goose in check in some urban parks making them much nicer for people to use.  Coyotes have taught themselves how to cross busy urban streets.  They know how to look both ways and wait to cross.  Today, while hiking I spotted coyote tracks a couple of times on the trail, but we didn't see hide nor hair.

Spring has really just started arriving here in the past 10 days.  Today, I spent a lot of time photographing wildflowers.  I'd really, really like to know some of the names.  So, if you know the monikers of any of the flowers in the pictures, let me know.  If the picture label just says 'wildflower', then I don't know the name.
https://goo.gl/photos/zYDFCtZ6BBy1tpT57