Wyoming: Sweet Saratoga

12:49 PM 0 Comments


It wasn't just the Elk Mountain (non)drinking water that made me appreciate the Saratoga Water Treatment Plant (hello, WatSan!) - it was the Googie architecture of the place. I just love the porthole motif... get it? Water... portholes...


The Old West vibe of the Saratoga Hot Springs Inn was to be expected, but the glow of their custom lamp was unexpectedly pretty.


Another reason to love the charming little town of Saratoga Springs: a free municipal hot springs known as the Hobo Pool (see sign above at left). It's right on the bank of the beautiful North Platte River and did I mention it's free?


Wide, wide Wyoming, seen from Interstate 80.
In addition to cartoonish cloudscapes we also saw:
A herd of 100+ elk;
A herd of 50+ antelope;
A lone coyote;
Numerous deer;
200+ wind turbines;
Miles of snow fences.

 

Wyoming WatSan

12:41 PM 0 Comments


In the context of public health, WatSan means Water Supply and Sanitation. It's one of the biggest problems facing developing nations, but how often do you confront the issue of unhygienic water in the USA?

Welcome to the Conoco Gas Station in Elk Mountain, Wyoming.


You can't drink the water, but you can eat the candy.
The Elk Mountain Conoco sells two relatively hard to find candies: Bit-o-Honey and Sioux City's own Twin Bing chocolate bar.

Make sure you ask the guys hanging out by the cash register about how Nancy Pelosi wants to take away their hunting rifles. Actually, you won't have to ask - they talk about it all day long!

 

Great Signage of Wyoming: Laramie

12:28 PM 0 Comments


Last weekend we drove through Wyoming, en route to hot springs.

Laramie: pop. 27,000 people / 23 fantastic signs and storefronts.

Above: Marquee for the Wyo Theater. Currently playing (surprise!) the French film, I've Loved You So Long.


Above: Alexander's Fine Jewelry. Love the pink awning and those wonderful serving dishes.

My personal favorite: Alibi Drive In Liquors / Bar. There's such a great Jetsons feel to this sign.

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Charles Darwin: 3 Quotes & 3 Reasons to Love Him.

9:55 PM 0 Comments

1. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created parasitic wasps with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of Caterpillars. - C.D.

2. It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. - C.D.

3. We can allow satellites, planets, suns, universe, nay whole systems of universes, to be governed by laws, but the smallest insect, we wish to be created at once by special act. - C.D.

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All my movies, Sweded.

9:27 PM 0 Comments

If the title of this post means nothing to you, please find two hours to watch the criminally underrated film, Be Kind, Rewind. Directed by Michel "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" Gondry and starring Mos Def and Jack Black, the movie is... beautiful.

"Sweded," incidentally, is a term coined in the film referring to the "remaking" of films using the lowest of budgets and techniques. What karaoke is to commercial music, Sweding is to feature film.

Be Kind, Rewind inspired an entire Sweding culture. Check it out here at SwededMovies.org. If you thought Memento was hard to follow the first time, try the Sweded version. Its directors admit they've never actually seen the original.

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The scariest carpet in the world. And scariest elevator, scariest Sno-Cat, scariest typewriter...

11:38 AM 1 Comments

There goes Danny Torrance, riding as fast as he can through the Overlook Hotel. Poor Danny.

The BBC has just produced a 65-second fantasy sequence: behind the scenes on the set of The Shining. They used many of the same props and even the same camera lens as Stanley Kubrick.


Do you have the slightest idea what a moral and ethical principle is, Wendy? Do you?


 

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