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Showing posts from November, 2014

Seeing Red - Utah Travelogue

This past week we traveled some 3,000 miles in total visting parts of four western states most of which was spent in hiking around the southern region of Utah state. Somehow I still have great respect for nature and things that have been crafted without the hand of the human.  Millenia of geological events and weather have shaped this part of the world identified by the humans /scholars as the Colorado Plateau. Time passed and the earth thrust, stretched, rusted and fractured into existence, this wonderful imagery that is today preserved in the form of 'Arches National Park' near Moab; Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks near St. George. The red sandstone is a result of iron oxides - literally iron particles that have rusted away to give the rock its classic red color. Our journey lasted about a week and here are some pictures that speak for themselves... Sandstone arch in Arches NP My first attempt at a Panorama shot in Arches NP Ba Ba Red Sheep Liv

Twin Peaks S.F

My first visit up the 925 foot mount in the middle of what is the city of San Francisco.  I happened to visit because I had a few hours to kill before going to attend a film festival in town.  It was a beautiful fall day with warm temperatures that made the hike from the bus stop to the lookout (over a 100 feet vertically) quite strenuous but I was eager to get there to see what the view would be.  Sutro Tower on the hill Steps lead up to the look out from the bus stop Sunset over the Pacific (looking west from the hill)      But the views from the top were specatcular. It provides 360 degree view of the surrounds from certain vantage. To the west is the glowing Pacific with the sun still an hour away from setting.   Market Street all the way down to Ferry Building (almost invisible looking NE) Towards the north one can make out the metallic orange glow coming off the Golden Gate bridge over the strait as the Pacific waters rush in to form the large bay

Dukhtar (Daughter) - film review

Had an opportunity to go see the US premiere of a Pakistani film (Hindi with English Subtitles) at the Castro theater in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco.  Film is titled Dukhtar (urdu for daughter) and is about a rescue organized by a mother who cannot foresee being a silent part of a criminal undertaking where her underage daughter would be wed in an arranged marriage to a local warlord. The Castro district (so labeled to remember a one time Mexican Governer of Alta CA)  as it is called is a colorful community with a lot of non-straight individuals calling it home.  Wonderfully located on a hill slope rising in the middle of the 50 sq. mile city limits, I was also able to do a short hike up said hill (twin peaks) which I shall write about in another blog. The theater almost a 100 years old is reminiscent of the old days of movie watching.  It has still retained some of its patina, glazed tile street foyer Castro Entry and old carpeting as well as the fixtures in

Viralworthy?

Getting a virus was bad news.  In some cases it still is.  Think AIDS, Ebola, Hanta etc...not good. Of course there are those kinds that infect all known computing devices - from large mainframes to handheld devices - also causing serious side effects.  Getting rid of said viruses is big business. Then there is like this thing with like the new generation...where things you think or better yet would not even think of go viral.  Encouraging all to partake in this virology rather than eradicating it is also big business. Anything is fair game... a bagger in a store to cat clawing the heck out of a carpet to someone taking a dump on a highway or repeatedly vomitting... Access to technology in the hands of new generation - created by some of the best minds in Silicon Alley is causing massive amounts of data pollution that transcends all known logic. At the end of the day - all this twitting, facing, gramming and tumblering is so bizzare that it causes companies to buy more hardwa

Taking a walk

There is an expression in English that reads - I told him to take a hike.  This is to imply that the addressee (him) was causing undue stress to the I and I was not willing to listen to him. Hike literally is a long walk preferably in a country (or country side - which is a strange term given country sides are usually the most dangerous locales - if anything you want to be as far away from the sides as possible) setting where country means wilderness.  Then there are the implied meanings of taking a hike i.e. get lost or out of sight. Of course there are also tax hikes and price hikes and others where the implication is on the rising or raising of said tax or prices. I on the other hand take walks.  Could be a hike or a stroll but it is the act of wandering with no particular plan in mind.  That is my contribution to my being healthy.  Or not ill. I am not quite gaga about the health and fitness craze myself nor do I envisage a day when I have any packs (6 or otherwise) that I

Fading Gigolo - film review

Hilarious.  Slice of NYC's boroughs and the life in it.  Easy to watch yet subtle and informative at the same time.  John Turturro has written and directed this wonderfully funny love story about an out of work handy man who also is friends with a maybe-Jewish bookseller going out of business. Turturro plays the handy man while the bookseller is Woody Allen.  Few films deliver laughs without too much drama but this one does.  Item numbers have been added in the form of an aging Stone (Sharon) and not so aging Vergara (Sofia) to introduce an element of purposeful garishness to go with the silly and nuanced comedy of Allen and Turturro. There is a plot where Allen becomes an accidental pimp to Turturro who is his 'ho' or a Gigolo. Allen scouts candidates / customers from all that NYC has to offer - lonely, rich females, married or otherwise.   Turturro satisfies them. Allen's character even comes up with names for the both of them and decides that this is definite