The name of the local 1/2 A hockey team is the Butte Rough Riders. I'll pause for a bit so you can make your own hockey/Butt(e) jokes. ... Unfortunately they are 4 and 27. Fortunately they are on a streak, having won 3 of the last 4 games. One against a #1 opponent and the other against a #2 team. Robert and I attended a game recently against last place Kent. What a hoot; a 12-2 ass whooping. After a slow first period the Rough Riders seemed to really gel. 8 bucks for a few hours of watching these kids beat the crud out of each other, worth every penny. The Rough Riders play pretty rough, and I suspect it intimidates a number of the other players, and the ones who aren't intimidated end up committing foolish retribution penalties. The Rough Riders, one more reason Butte is awesome.

Butte Rough Riders. I'll post some pictures next time I go to a game.

Labels: Butte, Montana, sports

The Australian Aborigines (I think it's them, perhaps its the Mongols?) rate the coldness of a night by how many dogs you'll need to cuddle with. The coldest is a 3 dog night. It was also a band from the early 70's; but I digress.

For the last couple of days the low has been in the negative 20's and the highs have been in the single digits. Currently its about 2 and I'm enjoying both degrees. Truth be told its not as unbearable as one might think. We don't have winds so no wind chill, normally its sunny, and the air is very dry. Though I've learned a lot of interesting things about the cold. Let me enumerate a few of them.

• Trucks start but they don't like it.
• The refrigerator never turns on. Its more like a cabinet
• Below -10 it hurts a bit to take a deep breath.
• In the short trip from the supermarket to the car flowers will wilt and die.
• Pipes burst
• Locks freeze
• Large amounts of store shelf space that used to hold ice melt, space heaters, and heat-tape sit empty between shipments
• Pedestrians become less willing to dart in front of cars on icy streets.
• Ice cream sounds less appealing
• The office admin has trouble typing with gloves on.
• You find yourself dry-humping a space heater
• You can make zero radius u-turns. With some practice you can even do them on purpose.
• An apparently unfrozen bottle of water will flash freeze when you try to drink it.
• You drink more; not only because it warms you up but also because alcohol remains a liquid at colder temperatures,

Speaking of burst pipes: Over the summer we scavenged the power cords for the heat tape. And come this year only some of it got plugged back in. I discovered the oversight and plugged it all in. It, of course. had froze and burst. That basement is pack to the gills with hastily stacked trim, doorframes and faux brass headboards. To turn off the water I had to scramble over all this while getting drenched. When its -20 out and 20 inside, it's not fun to be wet.

The Continental Divide in the Morning from the Colorado Mineyard

Labels: Butte, earth science, image, Max, Montana

Just got back from my Thanksgiving trip. A darn tooten' goodtime. Rocky enjoyed the constant attention but didn't eat much. I got to see mom and the family and that was great. Dave and Noelle threw a fantastic Friends Thanksgiving party as per usual. If you haven't already take a moment and shoot them an email telling them how awesome it is that they host that craven horde of beasts, and then do the clean up.

Robert stares down HWY 93 outside of Wells, NV.

My mom's neighbor's Jeep "Tail Heavy"

Labels: California, family, friends, image

Since the move to Butte my eyes have opened to new host of projection techniques. The repertoire is rich with films that slow to a stop or proceed for minutes at a time without all that pesky audio. Carmike Cinema 6 also has invoked the classic, but rare, on screen melting of a film strip.

But do not suppose for a moment that Carmike is all projection genius, they don't fail to under whelm in a number of areas. The sound proofing is so poor that during the quiet moments in your film you can enjoy the hissing and popping sounds of the next movie over's sound system. Lets also not forget the off brand candy. Why have good candy when you can vend utter crap?

Its not all bad. We do have the Sliver Bow Twin; a two screen drive-in of movie going divinity. It has near perfect throw and they usually pick two decent movies. To bad it's closed during the winter and that I'm too inept to clean my windshield before the show.

But none of that is my point. My point was to mention that I took some free time whilst visiting CA to catch up on some movies. For those with long memories perhaps you'll recall the DSR Movie List. Essentially, the movie ratings of Steve, Chris and myself. Consider this a mini revival. It's not really so much of a current list but rather somthing to consider when your trying to fill your Netflix cue.

What's the over-under on a whole new release, you ask? About 2%. I already burn a lot of time on non-productive ventures, so until y'all start paying to read my blog it will be hard to justify. Step one: get someone to read my Blog...

Rent D+
In a word...inane. Take the medications your prescribed, stop taking the medications you buy on the corner, and get a job. I didn't see the musical version, I mostly dislike musicals, I don't believe good artists are entitled to the artist life much less these talentless hacks, I'm a landlord, and I'm brutish and simple-minded. So perhaps I'm not the target audience. But in any case the suckage was audible.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. B-
These movies leave me feeling that the books are probably better. I'd say it is the best of these Potter movies so far, if only because its darker and less juvenile. If you liked the others then you'll likely enjoy this.

Walk the Line B+
Musician bio-pics tend to be gappy and cliched. Walk the Line is gappy without most of those painful cliches. Joaquin and Reece carry the film and do a surprisingly decent job filing the singing shoes of Cash and Carter.

Jarhead B+
Not a war movie. Just thought I'd warn you. Its not a spoof of Full Metal Jacket either though you'll be tempted to think otherwise at first. It's a comment on what is to be a modern foot soldier, or at least what it was to be a soldier in the early nineties. The main character is a bit blank so when he does show some emotion its hard to tell if he's just being a smart ass. You'll like or hate most of the characters.

Ice Harvest B+
Like a windyroad on a lakebed, it has twists and turns but you can see them all coming. It's a fun movie anyways, and people die when they should. The ending is nice as well. Very much the dark movie you'd expect and enjoy from a Thorton and Cusak team.

Good Night, and Good Luck B+
A short and largely undramatic flick surrounding the clash between Edward R. Murrow and company with Senator McCarthy. Its makes for an interesting story about an interesting time and is told without unnecessary glitz. Think docu-drama but without the painful melodrama.

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang C+
A murder mystery that's a bit strung together. The film manages to be amusing without being funny. It's an excuse to see the chemistry between neurotic Robert Downey Jr., and gay but tough Val Kilmer, with some nudity thrown in. Think: Empty Cake with Cleaver Icing.

Chicken Little C+
Another animated romp for kids with enough little jokes for adults. It's a luke-warm first attempt by Disney at CG animated films. I predict only one direct to video sequel.

Labels: Butte, Montana, movies, recomendation, review