This should surely distract me from the snow that is falling outside my window.  For now anyway. 

I wish I knew the location of this image - I found it while Stumbling and there is no information for it.  If anyone knows, please let me know so I can credit the location/photographer.

Enjoy!

(Resolution: 1680 x 1050)

Movies I’ve seen recently and a brief summary of what I think of them.

My Best Friend’s Girl - First movie to surprise me in a good way in a long time.  I almost down right loathe Dane Cook these days (his acting is terrible), but he wasn’t so bad in this movie and he looked decent.  Some of his “acting” was very similar to his stand-up jokes, so it worked well for him.  Kate Hudson was very funny and overall I thought it was really good.  There are a few scenes about 3/4 the way through the movie that were old school Dane Cook-funny and had me laughing so hard I could barely breathe.  Well done.  I would actually recommend this movie to people - and that’s saying a lot for a romantic comedy starring Dane Cook.

The Happening - WTF?!  Really?  The trees are pissed because humans are ruining this planet so they give off a toxin that makes humans commit suicide?  FOR REALS????  Did someone really think up a plot like this?  And if I ever thought in the past that Mark Wahlburg could actually ACT, I take it all back.   Absolutely terrible.  It was NOT suspenseful at all, and certainly not scary.  Predictable and kinda silly.  The little plot lines they tried to jam inside the main plot just made no sense at all - did they really need to make the main couple have marriage problems?  John Leg. was only in the movie briefly and it was so obvious when he left he was not coming back.  And I’m sorry there is NO WAY he would leave his daughter to go search for his wife.  No way as a parent is that ever happening.  DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE YOU WILL NEVER GET THOSE 2 HOURS BACK.

Madagascar 2 - Ok I really was pumped for this movie.  So pumped in fact that I went to see it WITHOUT MY CHILD.  *sigh*  Not that funny, only a few good moments.  Not enough King Julien and some stupid plot about Alexs’ father, blah blah blah.  I slept thru most of it.  Ugh.  I AM going to give it another chance and watch it again.  My son really likes these movies and if he wants to see it again, I’ll check it out.  But I highly doubt it’s going to change my opinion of the flick.

RIP Bernie Mac

BOLT - Tyler liked this one and so did Jason, but I wasn’t a huge fan at all.  Thought it was long, drawn-out and only moderately funny.  Meh.  Not much to say about this one.  Oh, the hampster was funny in parts.  The beginning was beyond cute with the dog as a puppy and I thought it was going to be very funny, but the plot of tricking a dog to think his crime-saving life is real even tho it’s just for a TV show - and the little girl who goes along with it but really loves her dog - was almost kinda cruel.  The cats did a great job of taunting the dog tho, like all cats do.

WANTED - Hands down my favorite movie this year I think.  Great mix of Fight Club and Matrix styles - ridiculous plot (duh) - great effects - great action - good acting.   Angelina Jolie.  Enough said.  I liked it a lot and have seen it several times since.  The twist at the end was a little unexpected in a good way and added some depth to the over-the-top special effects.  But it’s well worth it!  I need one of those rejuvination tanks stat.

Zach & Miri Make a Porno - Yes Yes Yes.  Hilarity like only Kevin Smith can do.  Wasn’t the BEST of his works, but definitely worth watching and seeing in a theatre.  Darrell from The Office was so damn funny and Jay (Jason Mewes) was on point.  Good stuff.  No cameos - even by Smith himself, which I was slightly disappointed in.  But Randall (jeff Anderson) showing up for a minor roll was good enough - even tho I’m a firm supporter of him being LEAD in a Smith film because Randall is my favorite of any KS movie characters.  Oh I really don’t like Miri (Elizabeth Banks - or Kim from Scrubs as I know her. ) and I’m not a super large fan of Seth Rogan, but he’s moderately funny and almost sweet in this movie, so it’s all good.  Overall, it’s one that I’m sure I’ll download and watch several more times.   OH - Justin Long’s part of the movie - I almost forgot! - worth it JUST FOR THAT.  Holy crap he was so hilarious.

Tonight I found an incredible blog that I have to share.  I think it’s something that everyone can/will enjoy.  It’s called “The Big Picture” and the posts are news stories told with beautiful photography.  In sort, the stories (pictures) are moving, emotional, shocking and just amazing.  I immediately added the feed and will visit daily.

It’s a fairly new blog and has only been around about 6 weeks, so it’s easy to go through the whole thing and see everything up until now.   Please enjoy and let me know what you think.

Here’s a taste:

I have been meaning to post pictures from our trip to Colorado for a LONG time. I’ve had some up on Flickr for a while, but they really don’t do it justice, so I wanted to post some more.

This was a trip my husband and I took in November of last year (2006) and we stayed in Fort Collins, traveling to Estes Park through Loveland. Fort Collins is in the northern region of Colorado, only a couple of hours from Wyoming. It is set to the east of the Rocky Mountains near what is called the “Foothills”, otherwise known as the Front Range of the Rockies. Ftc is also the home of CSU and is far more than just a college town. It’s a beautiful city that we have grown to love and consider a second home.

During our trip, we were talking with some very nice local Indian folks (American Indian) and they suggested that if we wanted to go closer to the mountains (which we did!) that we check out Estes Park, which is about an hour + drive from Fort Collins. Estes Park is the portrait of a mountain town and also houses the Stanley Hotel - where the movie “The Shining” was shot all those years ago. It is just as impressive and creepy as you would imagine - although it’s a grand, beautiful hotel. Estes Park is a wonderful town nestled in the Rockies, at the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. The people are friendly, they have cool little shops and it is just an amazing place.

So I wanted to share some of my photos with you, I’m in no way a photographer and some were taken from inside the car. But they are beautiful nonetheless and Colorado is a wonderful place to go and experience.

The view driving from the Denver airport to Fort Collins

Driving up into the foothills to check out the views and Horsetooth Reservoir

Fort Collins - from partway up the foothills.

Horsetooth Reservoir - this place is seriously so tranquil and beautiful

More rocks driving up the foothills

Driving past Loveland up to Estes Park - so many evergreens! Remember, this is November.

This is a small lake that we saw from the road to Estes Park. I didn’t even touch this up at all, that is how blue that water was.

The Rocky Mountains from Estes Park. It was so sunny it was hard to get a good photo. This is about 9K feet elevation.

Small stream behind a shopping center in Estes Park. Already freezing over - and that is a Christmas decoration set in the trees.

The Stanley Hotel. Sits up on a hill above the rest of Estes Park, it is very impressive. There was a wedding going on when we stopped to check it out.

All compressed of course. Original size on all is approx. 2016px x 1512px. They’re damn big. haha..