I'm Back!

Mornin' All,



Since last I wrote a lot has happened, not the least of which our new President was sworn-in. Not to belabor an already over belabored point; that was a truly historic moment. Even I watched the inauguration speech. Granted it was accomplished while on an elliptical machine at my gym.



Sometimes I get tired of the pundits who have to pick-over everything until it is almost nothing. I disagree with those who said that President Obama's speech was not fiery enough. He spoke to all the things most Americans are concerned with, economy, war, etc. Another thing that gets to me is how these same folks have to begin trying to find flaws before the man has even been in office for a day. Wolf Blitzer got his panties in a twist because TV news was not invited to the second swearing in. Who cares; the 22nd ammendment says the president takes office on noon of that day whether taking the oath or, not. Ever since the advent of 24 hour cable news, they have had to find something to talk about. Give the man a break. At least he hit the ground running and is trying to cope with our country's monumental problems.



On a more personal note, I took daughter Tasha and son-in-law Jason up to the Grand Canyon last weekend. Jason had never been there, and was amazed (as always I am) by what he saw. I suggest that everyone get to the Grand Canyon if they have never been there. The sheer size and beauty of this over 200 mile hole in the ground will take your breath away, not to mention diminish, at least for a short time, your petty little problems. Winter is a good time to go as there are not as many visitors to contend with, just some ice.

We have not had any snow here in Flagstaff for a couple of weeks. And, for the past two days we have had rain. This has led to poor conditions for XC skiing. When I lived in Prescott I use to hurry up here and ski in any conditions. Now that my home is in Flagstaff I am a snow conditions snob, only going out after storms to XC ski in powdery, new snow. We have predictions for snow this coming week. I hope those forcasts come to fruition.




The "Oscar" nominations are out, and I am, for the most part, pleased. However, there are some snubs. For instance I think that it is a travesty for Kristin Scott Thomas to have not been nominated for best actress for I've Loved you For So Long, or Sally Hawkins for Happy Go Lucky. But, I am very happy that Richard Jenkins was nominated for The Visitor, a small film with big themes. For those who never saw it, or did not even know about it, see it on DVD.



As for movies that I have seen since my last blog, Slumdog Millionaire is the best. Not only that, if I had seen it before the end of the year it would have topped my picks. I liked Grand Torino very much and thought Clint should have gotten some consideration for best actor. I traveled to Prescott last week to see a couple of films and they were good as well, Last Chance Harvey (a nice little bitter/sweet comedy) and Defiance, a true story about the escape of a large number of Jews in Belarus during WWII. This one had Daniel Craig (new James Bond) in the title role. Taking into consideration that Flagstaff has been bringing a lot of crap movies here, and that I had to travel to see a couple, it has been a good couple of weeks for films.



Adios Amigos y Amigas!