So for all the itinery, photos, and blah blah blah, what's worth the effort in Glacier? Well, to sum things up, here's my top 5:

1. Stay Overnight at Granite Park Chalet - You can experience the solitude of backcountry camping, but you don't have to haul your camping gear across the country. And meeting the folks who are staying there with you is always interesting -- and I don't esecially like meeting people. There's also Sperry Glacier Chalet. We hiked the Highline Trail to get there and the Swiftcurrent Pass trail to exit - world-class hikes on their own accord.

2. Hike to Grinnell Glacier - It's a great hike and you end up on a glacier - while it's still there. Good views of scenery and wildlife.

3. Visit Waterton - After the isolation of the US park, it's nice to visit a town. It has a good variety of restaurants and shops. Keep focused on the quaint and you'll like it.

4. Stay in the Many Glacier Hotel - Get a room on the lake side - it's a bit pricey, but you get your mony's worth. In other NP lodges, we've paid as much for an obscured view of Old Faithful or a view of Crater Lake through a window the size of a porthole. Here, you get a balcolny with the whole dang valley laid out before you.

5. Eat at Two Sisters - I've already written about this restaurant. Seriously, go there. Continue reading »

So we've been back for a while, but no Namibia. What gives? Eh, work mainly. And those photos. But with no further delay, let the Namibia blogging begin!

So after spending 16 nights in the country, what are my impressions of Namibia?

1. Namibia is not as exotic as you'd think. Everyone speaks English. All the towns have grocery stores and ATMs, and vaguely reminded me of mid-sized mid-west towns in the US. The government is stable and the country is safe. Driving on the left was about as strange as it got. Continue reading »

It's a rare movie we actually see in the theater. Mostly, it's that wonder of the modern world, Netflix. In posts previous I've listed what we've seen and included a pithy comment on each. Not only is that a lot of pithy writing, I don't think slogging through an unordered list o' crap makes for particularly compelling reading.

So here's the new format, just the top 5.

1. The Devil's Backbone - From Guillermo del Toro, the director of Hellboy, this very satisfying film has a ghost, but it's not a ghost story. It's set in the Spanish civil war, but it's not a war movie. The unique setting and beautiful cimematography complement the memorable story.
2. Bleak House - I never made it through this Dickens novel, but the BBC production is top notch. Well cast, well acted, well adapted. I'd've read the novel if it moved along as swiftly as this DVD.
3. Shaun of the Dead - The name says it all, and it lives up to it. Zombies and funny. Much better film than I'd expected.
4. Grizzly Man - Werner Hertzog's documentary of Timothy Treadwell who lived with, and got killed by, bears in Alaska. Even though Herzog's attitude towards nature in general and bears in particular stands antithetical to Treadwell's, the film shows a balance in it's depiction. As compelling as a train wreck.
5. The Abominable Snowman - I love me some B movies. This is an old black-and-white Hammer film starring Peter Cushing (who is remarkably & comsistently good). Better production & direction than you'd think.

Other cinema goodness (in no particular order):

• Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle - Nothing like well-done stupid.
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - Subversive western.
• The Thing From Another World - There may not be another movie with snappier dialog and better pacing.
• My Left Eye Sees Ghosts - Surprizingly affective Hong Kong film.
• Bad Santa - Nothing like well-done offensiveness.
• Greg the Bunny: Disc 1 - This series is a masters class in how to kill a great show. In the first disc, the show is a sparkling & funny take on the conceit "What if the puppets on the Muppet Show were real." Seth Green and Eugene Levy are the humans, but the puppets steal the laughs. Until the focus-groups, that is. Disc 2 is remarkable only to see how they screwed it up.

Full listing below the fold. Continue reading »

Recently returned from visiting my mother's family in Oklahoma. To be exact, the town of Corn, population 591, which is surrounded by hundreds of square miles of farmland, or as we call it back east, nothing. As I've said before, the rural midwest is more different from my daily experience here in Arlington than is any city in Europe. The rhythms of an agriculture-based life can seem strange for one accustomed to doing a 9-5 existence.

So here are the 5 things that I noticed while out in OK. Continue reading »

1. Get a guide.

If you have the time to hang out, meet a local, and become their friend, then you needn't hire a guide. If you've already got your departure ticket, however, I highly recommend getting a guide.

There's nothing like doing the initial bewilderment independently. To be a part of a fully functioning city and have utterly no idea of what's going on is one of life's rare wonders Continue reading »