Walkabout

I normally don't do movie or book recommendations.  I feel that my tastes in books & movie differ from other (normal) people.  My picks can be somewhat twisted (or warped as the wife tells me) and what I find funny/interesting doesn't always follow the norm.  I'll leave the movie reviews to Abby.  She is way better at finding good movies and is pretty much spot on when it comes to her reviews.  That said, I did want to share one of my recent screenings.  I have a number of different movies queued up in my Netflix account.  They are all over the road from new releases to comedies to classics.  One that I bumped to the top of the list recently was the movie Wild with Reese Witherspoon.  Based upon Cheryl Strayed's tale of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail alone. 

 

Basically a story of a woman of finding redemption by hiking over 1000 miles on the PCT one summer.  The PCT is over 2600 miles long and runs from the Mexico border all the way up to Canada crossing a wide variety of terrains/mountains.  Not your typical Sunday stroll in the park.  Definitely not for the novice or faint of heart.  Cheryl hiked it solo back in 1995 after some personal tragedy as a means of finding her self.  An interesting saga of how an ill prepared person with grit & determination can overcome some daunting challenges.  Cheryl was definitely not prepared at the outset of her hike but she managed to conquer the trail despite all of the obstacles she encountered along the path.  And, while I am not an overly huge Reese fan (was a pretty good June Carter), I really liked her portrayal.  Very compelling.  Something that I is on my bucket list that I will probably never cross off.  And I found the story so interesting that I went out and bought the book.  I've only done that 2-3 times when I found a movie interesting enough to dig into the back story.  Again, I normally don't recommend books but this one was a great read.   

I've hiked small portions of the Appalachian Trail (AT), but nothing more that a couple of weekend treks.  Backpacking has always been a passion for me.  Hiking & camping along the mountain trails was something that I would prefer to do in lieu of a vacation at a spa resort.  That's why I was really into our treks at Philmont in New Mexico with the scouts a few years back.  Unfortunately, we don't have too many mountains down here on the on the coast.  I guess it started out when my family spent a few summers camping out in Colorado when I was a young pup.  Long road trip from New Jersey in the old Pontiac station wagon.  Later, when both brothers were off at college, my parents & I spend a few weeks in Red River, New Mexico.  My dad & I hiked up to Middle Fork Lake and spent a few nights camping out.  That sort of sparked my passion for backpacking/camping and led to my walkabout in 1977.  The summer prior to my junior year I was taking some summer classes and working a minimum wage job down at the Chrysler dealership.  Things were at a lull at the time and I was taking one of those motivational speaking courses for.  One of the exercises was to express your passion and what you would do given the time and availability and I expressed my desire to go backpacking in the mountains.  The instructor encouraged me to follow through on that desire and I jumped on the idea.  Mom wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea but supported me nonetheless.  I loaded up the Plymouth and headed west to West Texas and New Mexico.  I spent 2.5 weeks roaming through west Texas and hiking the mountains of New Mexico.  From the Guadalupe Mountains to Cloudcroft to White Sands to the Gila National Forest to Red River to Palo Duro Canyon.  Nothing like the trek that Cheryl made, but it was a cathartic road trip for me.  Something to recharge the batteries.  Deep down, I'd love to make a long hike like she did but, at this stage, I have too many obligations and conflicts.  

Looking for motivation

Whenever I start to feel sorry for myself, I find a good healthy dose of reality will really put things in perspective.  We've been watching the saga of the cruise ship (non story).  No working plumbing, no showers, no a/c, no phones, no internet (the horror!), food shortages (but there was an open bar).  I can emphasize with their problems and the headaches that they had to handle, but I kept thinking about all the men and women who have been serving overseas in Afghanistan or Iraq.     

When training for my half marathon in January, there were days I just really didn't feel the desire to hit the road.  Some lame excuse about being too tired, or too cold, or too wet to lace up my ASICS.  I did use some motivational techniques from long term runners:  On those days when you don't feel like running, lace up your shoes and go out for just a mile run.  You usually find that once you've gone that mile, you find it easier to go further. 

Lately I have been busy are work and my motivation is seriously lacking.  Haven't run in two weeks and I am getting testy.  I've working through my Netflix queue and some of my tv additions.  I normally don't get hooked on the latest shows.  I don't watch The Voice, DWTS, Survivor, Top Model, Jersey Shore, Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo.  I will take time for American Pickers, Top Gear, and the occasional Pawn Stars.  The latest two shows I am kinda hooked on is Walking Dead and Justified.  I missed this commercial during the Super Bowl but still found it funny.    

Girlfriend

Creepy

A movie from a different angle

Mrs Doubtfire Recut As A Horror Film

I guess it is my warped sense of humor that found this funny...

Movie time

It is rare that I go to the movies anymore.  With 4000 channels on cable, Netflix and streaming movies, why go pay $7-10 to watch a big screen?  Normally, I wait the 4-6 months afterwards for it to hit Netflix.  The last one I saw in the big house was the last Harry Potter movie.  I've followed that series (both in book and on screen) since my son got hooked on it years ago and kind of had to watch the last movie to wrap up the saga.  I was going to go see the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo in the theaters, but I just waited until it was available from Netflix.  I read the books and even watched the original movies that were made in Sweden (with subtitles).  The Swedish movies were a good rendition of the books and I wanted to see how Hollywood did.  Not sure I would have cast Daniel Craig in the Mikael Blomkvist role, but he kinda makes it believable.  As you might surmise, I like to read the stories before I watch a movie.  I prefer to understand the story before it gets boiled down into a 2.5 hour visual saga.  Sometimes it helps explain the gaps, or gives more details than the story provides, but some times it turns out disappointing.  To me, it is a crap shoot going to see a movie when you've read the book  - not how I would have imagined the story to unfold or they leave out key subplots or they cast some big name actor who in no way looks or sounds like the main characters or, even worse, they change the ending.  


With those thoughts in mind, I fell in line for the latest movie trend - I went to Hunger Games.  I've been reading all the hoopla building up to the release and the stories of the characters.  Heck, with as much press as this one's been getting, you almost don't even have to go to the movies to see it, you almost get the whole story.  Still, I wanted to invest 2.5 hours of my life to see how this plays out on the big screen.  Before I went, I decided to get the book at plow through it.  Since I don't have a Kindle or iPad, I typically buy a paperback version and start reading.  Usually, I reserve these reads for when I am traveling and get stuck in the airport or on a long flight.  This one was a fairly easy/simple read.  Good narrative, good character development, nice plot lines.  Hooks the reader early and keeps a fast pace.  I have not been a Suzanne Collins fan, but I might have to look up some of her books for future reads.  The movie was, IMHO, an excellent representation    of the book.  They pretty much stuck to the story line with some minor omissions left out for time.  I found it interesting that they did add some subplots or stories that were not in the book that complimented the story.  Some might say they did it to explain points to the audience who hadn't read the book, but I thought it was OK.  Definitely will have to how the next two books/movies pan out.  


Oh, and BTW, one of the reasons I DON'T typically go to the theaters before (aside of cost), is all the previews shown before the main movie.  Movie time was listed at 1040 yesterday and I was running late and did not get to my seat until 1045.  They showed 20 minutes of trailers/ads before the movie kicked off at 1100.  One trailer caught my eye and had me laughing, or to apply the overused Internet phrase ROFLMAO.  You thought you knew your Civil War history?  Coming this summer to a movie theater near you: 

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter