Angel's Landing

I'm such an OUTDOORSMAN!

On Saturday, my BFF Russ and I (as seen in the photo to the left) drove up to Zion for a scenic drive. When we arrived, we decided a drive wasn't going to satisfy our lust for the outdoors. So we decided to conquer Angel's Landing.

The beginning of the trail was fine. We were chatting along the way, having a merry old time, and then suddenly, out of nowhere, it got STEEP! It was all paved though... for wheelchair access, perhaps? It got me thinking... what would happen if you drove your RASCAL up there, and ran out of battery? That would suck.

Here's Russ demonstrating our elevation. There were lots of pictures of me standing right on the cliffs, (and one of me dangling my feet off the edge) but you can't see the backgrounds very good, so you can't see how high up I am.

This picture was taken at the last safe place there was to stand. We're looking up the back up Angel's Landing here, and looking at this picture, it's almost unbelievable that I actually scaled that treacherous terrain. I'm so butch!

There was this really gutsy bird that we saw... it was totally flying around up here. I decided I would try to be a gutsy bird too... I had second thoughts though. That's why I'm alive right now to create this post.



It's so amazing that out of the rocks grew these random trees. I thought this tree was so rad, that it deserved to have it's picture taken with me. The tree that I'm sitting in shown at the top of this post was a tree growing out of the sandstone at the very peak of Angel's Landing, right on the cliffside!

Here we are perched atop Angel's Landing. The guy that took this picture literally almost fell off the edge trying to capture the moment. Talk about dedication! The picture would have been awesome if that dumb chick wouldn't have started growing out of Russ's head.

This bird-poo covered rock was the very tip top of Angel's Landing. I was thinking of photo shopping that bird crap to look like blood...

Here's the lovely view from the top! I showed this picture to my mom, and she said, "Wow! That road looks like a river!" (Note: that is not a road... it's a river. The road is that red line to the left of that river.)

On the way back down I decided I wanted to hang off the cliff by this tree. When my mom saw this picture, she got very very very angry with me.

I don't know why I liked the look of the trail on the way down so much. At the bottom of this trail there was a sign that said "This is not a trail!" I can only assume someone moved that sign from somewhere else...

Here's the Virgin River bend... I think.

I think Russ kept getting annoyed because I continued stopping to take pictures of the trail on the way down. I couldn't help it! I just loved how the setting sun brightened up the background, while the trail and the trees seemed mysterious in the shadow of the mountains. How iconic! I should be a writer or something.

Again, the sun was blasting the side of that cliff as it was setting, and the contrast here was just too much for me to handle. Had I been alone, I might have cried like a little schoolgirl. Since I was with Russ, though, I just cried like a college girl.

AND FINALLY.... I had so much fun and got so worn out, that I didn't take a shower that night. When I woke up the next day - I had this beautiful zit to remind me that it doesn't matter that I'm almost 28 years old... I need to WASH MY FRIGGIN' FACE!

http://www.912project.com/

I feel SO frustrated with the current administration right now! I voted for Barack Obama, and I'm seriously regretting it. I mainly put this link up because I liked the concept of "9-12." You'll see what that is when you visit the sight. This website was created by Glenn Beck and is committed to the people outside of Washington who are just fed up with the way things are going. Check it out and see what you think.

(Note to Barack: You failed me, man. You failed me.)

HERE WE ARE! THE WHOLE PRATT CLAN!

I can't believe it took 5 months to get these pictures back.

A Slobbering Love Affair

For anyone who doubted I could read a book I'd like... here you go... I give to you "A Slobbering Love Affair; The True (and Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media."

The thing I love about Bernie Goldberg is that he's very funny, and uses plenty of easy words. (It must be why I enjoyed the read so much!)

I had read Ann Coulter's book, "Guilty" just before starting this book, and she was very entertaining, and funny, but I'm sure her book would have been much more entertaining and funny had I been smarter. She uses a lot of big words that I didn't really understand! I started to look up the words as I came upon them, but found I couldn't keep stopping every few paragraphs to look up the definition of some word.

So I guess that's why I enjoyed "Slobbering Love Affair" so much. It was an easy read, and very very funny. Mr. Goldberg points out all the hypocrisy of the media, and just makes them look like idiots. It's amazing the truths he points out. I'm not a Republican (nor am I a Democrat) but I really find the stuff that these conservative powerhouses write to be really fascinating. This book goes on my list of MUST READS!

OKAY, WATCHMEN. I went to see this movie on the day it was released. It was based on the Comic Book written by Alan Moore, who incidentally, refused all the royalties from the movie. But Mr. Moore should be proud, because his comics also transfer over beautifully to the big screen! (Remember "V for Vendetta?") This movie was AWESOME! I wish I had my blog set up on the day the movie came out, because I would have been raving about this film from the moment I left the theater. It was visually stunning, and had a great plot. It is, however, a hard R. The movie was directed by Zack Snyder, who also directed "300." It's definitely a big screen movie!




And finally, I saw "Knowing" on it's opening night, and I found it quite entertaining. I don't want to spoil anything about the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. It has some pretty good special effects, and you'll lose a lot of the power of the movie if you don't see it on the big screen. I would say go see it in the theater!! I'm going again tonight with my Mom!!

The "Wicked" Trilogy

For those of you who are familiar with the musical, "Wicked," you may be aware that it is based (loosely) on a book by Gregory Maguire, which was first published about 13 years ago.

When the first book "Wicked" came out in paperback in 2000, I picked up a copy, read it, and deemed it my most favoritest book in the entire universe.

So a few months ago, I picked up a copy and re-read it. What can I say but, WHAT was I thinking? I had forgotten that Mr. Maguire wrote a story spread so thin that the reader doesn't have the time to connect with the main character. Every event in Elphaba's life (in the book) is so frivolous and seems to offer no real recourse that the reader is trained not to care about any situation she finds herself in. I haven't seen the musical yet, but I am familiar with the plot. Had Mr. Maguire written his book in the same manner that the musical is produced, it might have been more engaging. I found that not only did I not care about the majority of the characters, but I was almost wishing that they would all just die so that the story could concentrate on just a few characters, instead of like... 60.

I think the biggest annoyance of all regarding "Wicked" is that Gregory Maguire wrote a book with too many plots. There's about 10 different story lines tied into the Elphaba character, and none of them are resolved in the end. When Elphaba dies, all the unanswered questions die with her. Again, the author has trained the reader not to care about the things that he writes about, because the reader eventually (not soon enough for me, unfortunately) figures out that everything that happens doesn't matter at all.

I was so disappointed when I re-read the book. When I found out he had written a sequel, I reluctantly decided to read it, in hopes that he would continue with the story that he so abruptly dropped in the first book. You'd think I would learn. The second book, "Son Of A Witch," follows the story of Liir, who may or may not be the son of Elphaba and Fyero. In the spirit of the first novel, the second is crammed so full of mundane scenes that have nothing to do with anything, really, that I found myself not caring about anything that happened to this kid.

I was also hoping to read more about the characters introduced in the first book, but there were almost none to be found. I found myself wanting the main character to have some involvement with familiar names, but instead, the reader has to meet dozens of new characters, and try to learn to like them instead. The only real re-occurring character is a woman by the name of Yackle, who just happens to be around during so called "important" events in both Elphaba's and Liir's lives. I kept hoping that there would come a point in the book that would make ANY of the rambling that had gone on thus far even REMOTELY valid! So the second book ended in the same fashion as the first- no resolutions... TO ANYTHING. It was seriously lacking in climax.

OKAY. SO... onto the third book in the series, "A Lion Among Men." This book followed the Cowardly Lion, (aptly named "Brr") from infancy to adulthood. The story barely dives into the plots of the previous books. The story absolutely did not resolve anything introduced in the others stories. And worst of all, Brr is written to make the reader hate him. Whenever the Lion was given the opportunity to have a quality the reader might consider to be heroic or even likable, Mr. Maguire makes damn sure that it's quickly twisted around to make the Lion seem uneducated, repugnant, and unpopular.

I didn't finish the third book, because in giving Mr. Maguire the benefit of the doubt, I continued reading in hopes that his writing would get better, and some sort of solid tale could be told. I guess I'm just not a fast learner. It took me two and half books to realize that nothing will come of that plot. I will be truly TRULY amazed if somehow, in the last 100 pages of his third book he manages to tie up all the loose plots, and make the reader feel like they hadn't wasted their time.

But that's just my opinion. If anyone wants to borrow my copies of all three of these books, they're available. That way you can at least say you've read them. I haven't seen the show, like I said, but if I had, I might say (for the first time ever) I WISH THE BOOK WAS MORE LIKE THE SHOW!

Toodles!!

Post Numero Uno!!

Okay, so here it is, blog number one. This really is my first serious blog EVER, so we'll see if I stick to it. BUT - here's a little list of all my blogging goals I hope to achieve:

1. Post as many useless photos as possible.

2. Give bad reviews to all the horrible books I've read

3. Give great reviews to great books, as soon as I read one.

4. Try not to spoil all the great movies I've seen

5. Spoil all the crappy movies I've seen.

6. Prove the theory of intelligent design.

7. Make readers aware of all frivolous facts about me.

8. Give a detailed plan on how to destroy the government.

9. Post all my opinions on everything I'm unqualified to talk about.

10. Maybe tell some jokes.

So I'm just learning how to do this whole blogging thing, really. So readers... (if there are any...) please bare (or is it bear...?) with me.