Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Movie talk 1

Having been in Denver for 2 years, we are impressed by a lot of things here. One of them is Denver library system. One can order a book or DVD on line (as long as any library in Denver has it) and the library workers will deliver the DVD you ordered to the closest site for you to pick up. By doing this, we have got a great deal of opportunities to watch DVDs for FREE. Especially, the library system has a good selection of international DVDs - that absolutely benefits us more.

Having seen few hundreds DVDs from Denver library, finally we decide to have a list for the movies that moved and inspired us last two years. The movie talk is going to be something that records our feelings about the movie.

Here is the list:

Mamma roma

Arabian nights

400 blows

French connection

The last picture show

Brief encounter

Happy together

Brokeback mountain

Mississippi burning

The wild reeds

The third man

Last emperor

Sheltering the sky

City of god

Dr. Strangelove

The chef, the thief, his wife, and her lover

Lost highway

Blue velvet

Dogville

The ballad of narayama

Donnie Darko

Talk radio

One flew over the cuckoo's nest

Documentary films

Darwin’s nightmare

Delamu

Berkeley in the 60s

Times of Harvey milk

Promises


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Sunday, June 18, 2006

Eastern Utah May 2006

Canyonlands National Park & Colorado National Monument
May 19-21 2006


With the high price of gas these past couple years (thanks George and Dick) and the long driving distances in the U.S. west, we have taken to the occasional overnight of “wild” camping. With the low population and wide open spaces it works out great. It also takes me back to my adventure across West Africa in 2000 where I slept out in the countryside, on the roof of the Land Rover, much of the time.


Riverside camping, near Grand Junction, CO.


Our current favorite is just off of I 70 about 200 miles west of Denver at exit 49. It makes a good stopover point on Friday night when heading west for a weekend trip. We can work all day, grab some dinner and our gear and then drive out there and arrive before midnight. The gurgling river current makes for good sleeping and in the morning the surroundings always seem more impressive than we had remembered from the previous visit.

Heading west out of Denver we have found that it is better to take US 6 rather than I 70. It skirts around downtown Golden, CO and then reconnects to I 70 at exit 244. This route is shorter and avoids much steeper grades and the SUV crowd (of often overly aggressive drivers.)


Former gas station, along highway 128 northeast of Moab, UT.

There’s two highways that head south from I 70 to Moab. We decided to take 128. Its the smaller of the two; we exited at number 202. This route winds along the Colorado River and offers great views and numerous camp sites (maintained by Federal agencies) and pull-off spots. It is a wonderfully deserted drive.

The Dewey Bridge, along highway 128 northeast of Moab, UT.

According to the historical signage, this suspension bridge is over a hundred years old and was the only way to cross the river at this point until well into the 1980’s. The bridge is barely wide enough to accommodate the width of one vehicle. Now it is strictly a pedestrian bridge and point of "interest."


Colorado River, along highway 128 northeast of Moab, UT.


Colorado River, along highway 128 northeast of Moab, UT.

The color contrasts along the drive are striking: the red stone cliffs, the brilliant blue sky, the lush green vegetation along the river, and the snowy white mountain peaks in the distance.


“Island in the sky,” at Canyonlands National Park, Moab, UT.

The focus of a park visit is the series of high lookouts from the “island” in the sky. Note that this high mesa is only accessible by passing onto it at “the neck”; otherwise its sheer cliffs all around. Li likes to call it “Canyon Island”.


Steep grades, at Canyonlands National Park, Moab, UT.

This road was constructed in the 1950’s to extract uranium ore. Now that this land is protected the road is part of a hundred mile driving circuit that is possible with a four wheel drive vehicle and several days of adventure.


“The arch,” at Canyonlands National Park, Moab, UT.

Although much less known than its nearby neighbor, Arches National Park, Canyonlands also has this wonderful stone arch. Because of it high location, it frames the valley and snow peaks beyond in a very different fashion than those at Arches.

“The short cut to Moab,” near Canyonlands National Park, Moab, UT.

Looking to return to Moab by a different route than that we had taken in the morning, we noticed a “four wheel drive” road marked on the map. It also appeared to be a short cut. We inquired about the road conditions on the route at the nearby State Park, the money collector said, “oh yeah, its fine in a two wheel drive, I drive down it all the time. There is one bad place where you can straddle the rocks or else try to go around to one side. It’s all downhill, so you know that you will make it…”

Although basically true, we found that his recommendation was greatly understated.

Falling cliffs, near Canyonlands National Park, Moab, UT.

At the “bad place” he was talking about we were careening just shy of being absolutely out of control on the extremely steep, rocky and loose surface. As we approached this huge fallen rock we were completely unable to stop and it was not at all clear that we would be able to pass underneath it. Fortunately as we rapidly slid closer to it, it did become apparent that we could indeed pass beneath it uninhibited.

There were so many “bad” places on this road that we called this one the “really bad” place. It was like skiing down a double black diamond trail: once we had breached the cusp there was no heading back. The truck could NEVER climb up this road.

Canyonlands National Park, Moab, UT. It was hot.

Why are dogs the only ones with “sweat relief” tongues?

After making it down that road we headed straight into town for some ice-cold margaritas. That knocked us right out so we climbed in the back of the truck and napped during the late afternoon scorching sun under a shady tree in the McDonalds parking lot. “Another use of McDonalds,” we joked, “beyond their ever clean and convenient toilets.”

Later that night we pulled into McDonalds again. But this time it was to clean up, brush our teeth, and use the toilet before retiring for the night. We had planned to get a hotel room for the night but everything was booked solid so we “camped” out in the Comfort Inn parking lot. Suspecting that they might have parking lot security cameras we got everything ready while we were at McDonalds – including Li hopping in the back. After I pulled around in back, as far from the reception as possible, I too jumped in the back for the night.

What we did not expect was the early wake up call, the free car wash and cold shower that were not only included with the free camping but were indeed compulsory. The automatic lawn sprinklers came on at around 6:30am and sprayed in through our ill fitting back window. After the initial shock, it was straight back to the McDonalds comfort station.


Colorado National Monument, Grand Junction, CO.


Colorado National Monument, Grand Junction, CO.


Colorado National Monument, Grand Junction, CO.
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Friday, June 16, 2006

Saguaro National Park and Casa Grande National Monument, April 2006

Casa Grande National Monument.


Saguaro National Park, Tucson, AZ.


The film at the visitor center pointed out how Native American tradition celebrates the uncanny humanlike character of the saguaros. Saguaro National Park, Tucson, AZ.


Ouch… a bit prickly just like some people we know. Saguaro National Park, Tucson, AZ.



This one was clearly saying let’s “give peace a chance”. Saguaro National Park, Tucson, AZ.


Saguaro National Park, Tucson, AZ.
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Phoenix Apr 2006

70th Wedding Anniversary Celebration

Cake and apple “champagne” ready and waiting for consumption. Friendship Village, Tempe, AZ.


The Grandparents and Dad enjoying the entertainment and greeting cards. Friendship Village, Tempe, AZ.


In a break with family tradition, the layer of frosting was generous. Friendship Village, Tempe, AZ.


Everyone marveled at their beautiful 1936 wedding photo. Friendship Village, Tempe, AZ.


With our favorite Aunt. Friendship Village, Tempe, AZ.


One of the highlights of the weekend was the trip to the Phoenix Botanical Gardens. Dad was our leader: note the bird check off list ready in hand. With a distinct mechanical advantage, Auntie had “sprinted” already ahead.


Right after this photo was taken the bird actually swooped down into my hands. Upon closer inspection we saw that she was trying to divert us away from her nest which had several eggs in it. Phoenix Botanical Gardens, AZ.

These cactus looked surprisingly like snakes. In fact, they have some kind of internal ability to “twitch” causing the momentary appearance of slithering; or, so it is claimed. Phoenix Botanical Gardens, AZ.


To avoid the heat we went just before sunset and it was after dark by the time we made the rounds. Phoenix Botanical Gardens, AZ.


One of the big hits of the weekend was getting this convertible car. At just 16 bucks a day it was a real bargain. Never mind that it got towed way during dinner and also had a nail in the tire!



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Saturday, June 10, 2006

Washington, DC: April 2006

Cherry Blossom Festival, near the Jefferson Memorial, Washington, DC

As we wandered around we recalled that early in the Clinton Administration that Bill would often go out for an early morning run on the Mall. Apparently the routine often included the “run-up” window for takeout at McDonald’s. We were pleased to have no sightings of the current administration.


Cherry Blossom Festival, near the public services, Washington, DC

It was sure crowded at the Cherry Blossom Festival – but, nowhere more so than in the line for the port-a-johns. The line was so long that it was not immediately obvious from a couple hundred yards back that the blocked sidewalk was actually the waiting line. A “queue” as the British say.



Burst of color at the IRS, Washington, DC

The tulips were also in full bloom; we spotted these beauties in front of the IRS building. The façade of the building has a wonderful quote etched prominently in the stone, it says

“Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes




At the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC

Birding can be exciting – apparently even shocking.


One last image on the Mall, Washington, DC


Some to the other highlights (and a lowlight) of the trip included:

Imagine the surprise of randomly running into Jeff at the National Building Museum. He’s a friend and colleague from my department at Umass – Amherst; we’re in the same research group in human geography. Both of us had tagged along to the city with our spouses who were attending (different) conferences in DC that weekend. It made a great excuse for heading straight over to the brew pub in Chinatown for refreshments.

I was also able to secure an interview with architect Bruno Freschi during our visit. He’s retired from his faculty position at Syracuse University and now lives in DC. Probably best known for his work on the Vancouver World Expo Center, he was also involved in the “Peace Bridge” at Buffalo, NY: it links the U.S.A. with Canada. The focus of the interview, however, was to find out more about Freschi’s work in the 1990’s on promoting the construction of a bridge across the Strait of Gibraltar to connect Europe with Africa. The proposed bridge was to have its southern terminus near Tangier, Morocco, my primary research site. For a variety of reasons, but perhaps primarily because of lower cost, a tunnel is instead currently being constructed.

A friend met us for dinner at an excellent Chinese restaurant: Charlie Cheung Restaurant, 660 South Pickett Street, Alexandria, VA (703-851-8888 ). It's across the river to the south of the city in Virginia. We took the metro down to the restaurant. Their specialty is sichuan (spicy) food: yum!

And finally, I got stuck overnight at BWI when my flight was cancelled due to a plane malfunction. After hours of waiting and wondering it was determined that the plane would probably just go early the following morning so I decided to just take the $150 voucher towards a future flight on United rather than try to track down a hotel. So I slept on a couch I found near the new international terminal. It wasn’t bad until around 4am when a baby woke up and spent the next hour screaming. It was surprising how many people were sleeping in the terminal; not just people from my flight. In particular, there were a couple hundred soldiers, with mountains of green duffels, who were lined up in neat rows sleeping on the floor on the lower level.




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