Sundance Ends; Skiing Continues

Sundance has come to an end. The big winner was "Winter's Bone" and the audience favorite was "Happythankyoumoreplease" by Josh Radnor of "How I Met Your Mother" the TV series. It was quite good actually.

"Winter's Bone" was a good movie once you got into it. Set in the Ozarks in winter, it is the story of a very strong 17 year old girl, the eldest child with two young siblings, whose mother is beyond depressed and dad is missing while on bond for cooking crank. The story is her search for him among her "extended" family as he has skipped on his bond and used the house and timber they own, the last thing they own, for collateral. It is bleakly filmed, well acted and makes you want to book your next vacation in the Virgin Islands, not the Ozarks.

Friday night I watched most of "Howl" which is about the obscenity trial and adult life of poet Allan Ginsburg. That was a really good movie and now I can understand why they had such other movies as "Killer Inside Me" for instance. Obscenity. Do not forget that the actions, prosecutions and arrests of people like Allan Ginsburg and Lenny Bruce for instance, expanded and clarified the First Amendment rights of not just entertainers, comedians and porn film makers, but writers and each of us to see and read what we want. And let's not forget Linda Lovelace either as a pioneer of sorts.

Right: Working the balcony at Eccles

Which reminds me, Harry Reams lives and works as a realtor in Park City, but I digress….

As "Killer" exemplifies, being filmed and released doesn't make it good, just legally okay to see and make something as art.

Friday also brought us "The Kids Are Alright" with Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Rufalo. Bening and Moore are a lesbian married couple (I know it is hard to fathom and takes a few minutes to grasp) with two children who were the result of artificial insemination with Mark Rufalo's sperm. The oldest daughter finds him, meets him and he insinuates himself into their life as a family. It is a funny, believable movie about marriage, family and the modern family and, the fact it is a lesbian couple becomes almost invisible at times. The movie was bought while showing here and you should see it in theaters soon. Expect Bening and Moore to contend for Oscars they say…probably Rufalo and the daughter, actress Mia Wasikowska as well.

Upper Right: Kris Beer and Joel at the top of Deer Valley

We have had lots of snow. Last night while working a shift that lasted two movies, it snowed at least 6 inches on the truck in the parking lot. Dry, fluffy snow. This morning it is clear and a crisp 14° F out with blue sky and brilliant sunshine. It is a skiing kind of day here.

Marley and Cinco (Lou's 5 year old Yellow Lab) are chomping at the bit to go walk the Rail Trail. There is a creek alongside it and Cinco is determined to jump into the freezing water and retrieve sticks that he considers invaluable. Marley watches, takes the stick from Cinco and thinks he is a nut job for going skinny dipping in freezing water when the temperature is below freezing as well. Cinco, well, is Cinco, and he thinks it is quite normal and wonders why Marley is such a prude.

Left: Creek on the Trail

Now that Sundance is over, it is time for me to buckle down and use my 5 punch gym card Nancy has arranged for me and go skiing more. It helps not coming home from "work" at midnight, or later, and then taking an hour or so to settle down and sleep. I am usually in bed by 9 pm, so this really shakes me up schedule wise.

I highly suggest if you love movies and want to work Sundance, to apply with them online for next year's Festival. I will volunteer again, as I have met many people, seen famous people up close, seen both great and bad movies and everything in between and just had fun.

I have included some "Icicle Art" as the icicles are pretty neat here at Lou's house. There is one that goes up two stories to the roof and goes to ground level. It is about 1 foot thick at the top. Given some of the weather extremes we have had, the porch lost some of its icicles and when they fell, randomly, they made a nice little art exhibit in the fresh snow.

Icicles up close are very unique and fun to look at. The light comes through them in interesting ways given all the cracks that develop. The shapes as they melt and freeze are fun as well.

Upper Left: This is one of Lou's Marmot's during summer; Below: Eddie hunts

No one is messing with the big one for fear of being stabbed, blowing out a nearby window or ripping the eave off the top floor of the house. We'll let it sort itself out for now.

And yes there are marmot's here as the image from summer verifies. They live under the deck apparently. That and Magpies, keep Eddie riveted.

That's it from Park City. Next stop will be Salt Cay in March and some more adventure tales in

Vietnam when road trips get slow.