Climb Ev’ry Mountain / Peggy Wood
from The Sound of Music / Rogers and Hammerstein
The Columbia Icefield
The Icefields as they are today.
Coast Publishing Co (Publisher) . Athabasca Glacier and Columbia Icefield Chalet, Banff – Jasper highway, Canadian Rockies. Vancouver: Coast Publishing Co., Vancouver, B.C, cca. 1920.
Harmon Byron (Photographer) . Columbia Icefields. Banff: Photographed and Copyrighted by Byron Harmon, Banff, Canada, [before 1942].
Six-Hundred Lovat Scouts trained during the Second World War on the Athabasca Glacier in 1944. Yellowhead-Museum and Archives.
Finally we arrive at our modern Icefield conveyance:
The ICE EXPLORER!
Along with Clint Eastwood’s Pale Rider, Lawrence Kasdan’s Silverado was supposed to breathe new life into the western genre in the mid-eighties. It failed to do so. Reviews were positive, the film was even nominated for two (minor) Academy Awards, but moviegoers where underwhelmed. It did a lot better when released on videocasette and was one of those movies that drew Hollywood’s attention to the new market.
The film’s story is classic western stuff: A cowboy named Emmett saves a man called Paden, who was left behind in the desert by bandits who had stolen all his possessions, including his horse and (worst of all) his hat. Emmett and Paden head for the town of Silverado, were Emmett was born. En route they pick up Emmett’s younger brother Jake, a womanizer and gunslinger, who invariably gets into trouble by courting the ladies and shooting their lovers (in self-defense, of course). They are joined by a fourth man, Mal, a former slave turned farmer, who is looking for the murderers of his father. The town of Silverado is dominated by the McKendriks clan, long-time enemies of Emmett’s and Jake’s family. The sheriff is one of Paden’s old ‘pals’, a guy with a very dubious background, and Mal also thinks the men he’s looking for are hiding out in the town of Silverado …
Silverado is a lot of fun to watch. The mosaic script with four leads and multiple storylines may cause some confusion, but there’s plenty of action and in spite of a running time of more than two hours the movie is over before you know it. But if a movie aspires to revive a moribund genre, it must shed a new light on traditional genre elements, and this is exactly what Silverado fails to do. Like I have stated before, movies reflect as much the time in which they were made as the time in which they are set. If Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunchwas the prototypical American western of the late sixties, Silverado is the prototypical American western of the mid-eighties. It was not only made in the 80s, it breathes the 80s. No surprise if you know director Lawrence Kasdan contributed to the scripts of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Empire strikes back. He called his own movie his ‘Western Raiders of the Lost Ark’.
The Sixties were a period of change and turmoil, and the best westerns from the late Sixties, early Seventies, were preoccupied with themes such as the closing of the frontier and the transition to a new era (The Wild Bunch, Monte Walsh), the outlaw as a folk hero (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid) or the plight of the red man (Soldier Blue, Little Big Man, Ulzana’s Raid). The excessive violence in some of these movies was often interpreted as a reaction to the Vietnam war. It’s significant that several movies from the period featured juvenile character who were exposed to dangerous situations (The Culpepper Cattle Company, Bad Company).
Those movies weren’t all masterpieces, but they were thought-provoking, and dared to be dirty and violent. The American society was re-inventing itself, and so was that American genre par excellence, the western. The eighties were a decade characterized by a new national (nationalist) awareness. It also was a typical ‘bourgeois’ decade, hostile to true art. Don’t get this wrong: Art has no specific political color, it can be either left-wing or right-wing, but it is by definition challenging, thought-provoking. Like Roland Barthes stipulated in his classic study Mythologies, bourgeois society has two ways of dealing with art that challenges its nature: it either denies it, or tries to convert it. Silverado is very much a conversion, bourgeois style, of what the western had been in the previous decades. Instead of challenging and thought-provoking, Silverado is reassuring; it’s crammed with action, but it’s never dirty or nasty, it’s all clean fun for the entire family. People who usually do not love westerns, tend to love it more that fans of the genre. The four leads are fine (especially Costner, who still was some kind of ‘coming man’ in those days), but their motivations and actions are purely rhetorical. No wonder some of the supporting actors steal the show: Jeff Goldblume is well-cast as a perfidious card player and Brian Dennehy is a true delight as the corrupt sheriff of Silverado. There are also a nice cameo appearances by Linda Hunt and especially John Cleese as a sheriff who’s definitely not from these parts.
(1985 – Dir: Lawrence Kasdan – Cast: Kevin Kline (Paden), Scott Glenn (Emmett), Kevin Costner (Jake), Danny Glover (Mal), John Cleese, Jeff Goldblume, Rosanna Arquette, Brian Dennehy, Linda Hunt)
Nicely done Simon. This is a Favorite of mine. I’ve got to get it up there soon. Every time it’s on TV I can’t help but watch it. You’re right about hopes of reviving the popularity of Westerns. That may never happen. BUT I still say that most Directors and Actors want to do a Western some day. And they will. So Westerns are not dead. The main problem (IMO) is that some folks seem to think they have to re-invent the Western. Why? We still have a ton of great stories, yarns and great Western literature to draw from. All Movie worthy. Yet some are getting it right: ‘Unforgiven’, ‘True Grit’ ‘The Revenant’ … Westerns are still coming and always will.
… Public Safety Warden Garth Lemke … said the individual went over the very top left-hand side of the falls at approximately 3:15 pm. … “It looked like every solid structure in his body had been broken,” … “It wasn’t a pleasant scene.” In the past 20 years, the park has reported five fatalities at Athabasca Falls, all of the accidents occurring in a similar location. … “Chances are the victim died from the impact of the fall into the rocky waters, but hypothermia can also be fatal if a victim survives the fall …” The area where the individual fell is blocked off by protective railings, along with signage warning visitors to stay back.
– 19 years old – Failed to qualify for the US Open on 2 previous attempts. – Ranked 159th in the World before the Tournament
– Ranked No. 243 in the World Last Year – Odds makers overwhelmingly picked Serena Williams to beat Bianca
– Bianca wasn’t listening
Tangle Ridge Mountain was named by Mary Schäffer in 1907 for the difficulty that climbers had descending down Tangle Creek from the ridge. The mountain’s name became official in 1935 by the Geographical Names Board of Canada.
Tangle Falls is a multi-tiered cascade that might be the most often photographed waterfall alongside the Icefields Parkway because of its easy access.
We heard about your failed attempt to buy Greenland. (Some people are so unreasonable)
However Fear Not! Canada is wide open! Most everything in Canada is already owned by outside Countries. (No other Country in the World would permit this, but we’re pretty easy) SO! Help yourself! Below I’ve listed some deals you might be interested in. BUT you better hurry!!!! Because somebody else will probably snap them up while you’re procrastinating.
“I always wanted to write a book that ended with the word Mayonnaise.” ― Richard Brautigan, Trout Fishing in America
Yes Marilyn I know a lot of this stuff is pretty “unclear”.
That’s partly because of my style and partly because I probably wasn’t all that clear when I did it.
1967 / White Rabbit / Jefferson Airplane – written by Grace Slick
Coming back to me / Surrealistic Pillow / Jefferson Airplane / written by Marty Balin
“If Lake Louise is a pearl, Maligne is the entire pearl necklace.” – Mary Schäffer
Just in case you thought I snitched this photo of Spirit Island at Jasper off the Net … I didn’t. That’s mine. I could easily have done that though – many great shots of this famous scene. But I took this with my Sony DSC-HX80. A nice little camera – but not Pro level. And if I really knew how to operate that thing the photo would likely have been better. Yet it’s almost impossible to take a lousy pic up there.
I was hoping to get a nice reflection shot, but there was too much wind and rain. Still nice. We’ll be posting some more soon. Rose took a number of great shots.
Below isPeter Gales‘ famous photo of Spirit Island “Maligne Lake“.
Peter Gales‘ image of Spirit Island hung in Kodak’s Colorama showcase in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal in August and September of 1960.
This certainly helped to make Jasper famous.
(1861 – 1939) American-Canadian naturalist, illustrator, photographer, and writer. She is famous for her experiences in the Canadian Rockies in the early 20th century.
Samson Beaver
Samson Beaver and Family: daughter, Frances Louise and wife Leah.
Photograph taken by Mary Schaffer; artist, photographer, writer and naturalist, in 1907.
In 1907, Samson Beaver met Mary Schaffer, who had just failed in an attempt to find the route to a reputed large lake high in the mountains between Lake Louise and Jasper. Samson sketched a map showing the route to Chaba Imne.
I haven’t given enough attention to thisWesternSeries which was filmed in Alberta from November 6, 2011 to July 23, 2016 = 5 seasons. It was pretty good.
Hell on Wheelsis an American/Canadian Western television series about the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad across the United States, which broadcast in the United States and Canada on the cable channel AMC.
Hmmmm … Tinkering with your Blog Settings is like trying to tame a rattlesnake. DOWN BOY!
After fooling with the Settings I started to get emails every time I edited or worked on a Post. I wondered if those same emails weren’t being sent out to you all too??? That wouldn’t be a good thing.
So I fixed it.
If you were getting any of those emails I apologize.
Anyhow I’m back from Jasper National Park. My week there far exceeded what I expected. Wonderful. I’ll be posting some stuff right away.
Going to Jasper National Park for a week. In the Rockies. Haven’t been up that way in about 30 years. We’re going to take lots of pics Hope to post some.
“What is the point of being on this Earth
if you are going to be like everyone else?” – Arnold Schwarzenegger No point at all Arnold.
Alias Cactus Jack
A long time ago I stopped identifying Movie Stars as Actors. Because many Movie Stars are lousy Actors (or Actresses). Terrible. However, a lot of good Actors never become Movie Stars either. In the Entertainment trade, Acting, Talent, and Skill are secondary to Charisma: Star Power. Sex appeal enters here largely.
In all, it’s about Money. A Movie Star who is a good Actor/Actress with Star Power and Sex Appeal is a rare and Hot commodity. But Star Power and Sex Appeal are often all it takes to be Hot at the Box Office. Acting by itself rarely does the trick. Therefore a great Shakespearean Actor may never become a Movie Star.
This brings us to Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a lousy Actor. Yet he became one of the biggest Movie Stars ever.
Star Power.
Arnold’s climb to Stardom didn’t happen overnight.
From 1963 to 1980 – age 16 to age 33 – he was in Bodybuilding competitions. 20 years.
Won everything.
Perhaps the greatest Bodybuilder ever.
So eventually – in 1979 – 32-year-old Arnold made his 3rd/4th? Movie: The Villain. (Also called Cactus Jack).
A Western Comedy.
This wasn’t his breakthrough Movie.
That was Conan in 1982.
In The Villain Arnold was terrible. His Acting was about as wooden as a cigar store Bodybuilder. Arnold claimed he’d been taking Acting lessons. They weren’t evident. This Movie should have ended his career.
So it’s rather incredible he was still around for Conan in 1982 where he was definitely Cast for his incredible physique – not his Acting chops.
Therefore, perhaps the strangest thing about The Villain was that Arnold’s only undeniable asset – his phenomenal musculature –
was not exploited in any way in the Movie!!?
He doesn’t bare even one muscle.
Which is rather mind numbing! So why was he in this Movie at all?
*shrug*
Beats me!?
“If it bleeds, we can kill it.” Arnold Schwarzenegger / Predator
That’s a theory.
I’d call this a very generous review.
This Movie is bleeding all over, but it’s still moving.
Apart from Arnold – the Cast in this thing was pretty good: Kirk Douglas, Ann-Margret, Paul Lynde, Foster Brooks, Ruth Buzzi, Jack Elam, Strother Martin, Mel Tillis … There certainly seems to be enough Talent here to make something happen.
So I have to blame things on Director Hal Needham. The Director is the guy in charge. And though Directors are not usually involved in the Casting or Writing he still had something to work with. A great Director can get a worthy performance out of a dead horse.
Kirk Douglas!!!?? in this thing!? What was he thinking?
Even the great ones make a couple of klunkers.
At least Arnold can say he was in a Movie with one of greatest Western Movie Stars of all time.
Hal Needham, who was one of the greatest Film Stuntman of all time (Legendary) went on to Direct Burt Reynolds, in Smokey and the Bandit, Hooper, The Cannonball Run and StrokerAce.
Reynolds and Needham … ka-ching, ka-ching …
Those Movies made multi-millions.
Meanwhile …
Arnold Acting.
Even marvelous Paul Lynde can’t save this thing.
There’s no place to hide Kirk.
Yes that’s actual dialogue from the Movie.
Ann knows why she’s there.
Desistance is futile.
Kirk and Foster Brooks. If you’ve seen Brooks once that’s pretty well enough.
Kirk Douglas and Jack Elam
So … was this Movie a Contract Dump? You have to wonder. And how did Arnold even get a contract to begin with?
I’ll show you.
“Don’t be afraid to fail.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger
My work buddy Jon and I quiz each other on music from a Golden Era of pop music that started in the mid 60’s and carried through to the 80’s – where it seemed to dwindle into the oblivion we have today.
So last week I quizzed him on who did California Sun (1964)?
My (shameful) recollection was that it was by Wayne Fontana and the Fireballs.
We mumbled and argued about it a bit – then finally looked it up on Google.
Wellllllll … the most famous version (of many) of California Sun was by The Rivieras.
(*Slap*ping my head! How could I forget that!?)
But I did.
Surf was Up … in 64′. Still a Classic.
45’s. Remember those? I had a pile.
Bet this would be a Hit if it came out today.
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OK … so who was Wayne Fontana then? and the Fireballs?
Wayne Fontanawas actually an English rock and pop singer,
best known for the 1965 hit “Game of Love” with a group called The Mindbenders. Yeah.
Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders
A good song, but definitely NOT Surf Music. (Bent my mind anyway.)
Notice that this was put out by an outfit called Fontana Records?!
Interesting.
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So what about thoseFireballs? The Fireballs – sometimes called Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs were an American rock and roll group, popular at the end of the 50’s and early 60’s.
who had a Hit song called Bottle of Wine (1967) (written by Tom Paxton).
Bonus Memory
Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs weren’t ‘One Hit Wonders’. They’d had a few Hits plus a previous
sweet little song called Sugar Shack(1963).
Not that we’re keeping score, but Due to my Mangled Monikers
I figure I lost about 20 Trivia points to Jon.
I plan to do better …
while I still have a little memory left.
Jeremiah “Jerry” Potts (1840 – July 14, 1896), (also known as Ky-yo-kosi, meaning “Bear Child”), was an American – Canadian plainsman, buffalo hunter, horse trader, interpreter, and scout of Kainai (Blood) and Scots heritage.
Potts is just one of many early Canadian Explorers and Frontiersmen. Canadians know disgustingly little of their own History or of such people.
We don’t celebrate them. We never developed a film industry like the US
that tells of them in any way. Their exploits were easily equal,
but they are almost completely unknown. Because of this I would guess
that the average Canadian knows more about US History than Canadian History.
Don’t know who these cowboys are? but it looks like they got a bag of pancake mix and 4 beers for posing.
Though I always admired Arnold Schwarzenegger’s indomitable will to achieve whatever he put his attention on, I always thought of him as a self serving person. But this is pretty good.
When I’m not trying to wake people up – including myself,
I do ordinary things – like go to the Calgary Stampede.
The Stampede is a 10 day event and Rose and I go down to the
Stampede Grounds for one day every year – usually Seniors Day (get in free!).
We take transit because driving around downtown is insane.
Calgary – not a town anymore.
The Saddledome. Soon to be torn down and replaced by a new $550-million arena. (Would we be surprised if that reaches a billion before it’s finished?)
Anyway … The Calgary Stampede: quite an event.
There’s action all over town.
Horses get ‘right of way’.
It’s crazy at the transit station.
Hope you don’t mind crowds.
The gates are in sight.
No drunks; No drugs; No guns; No smoking; No tasers; No blades; No drones;
No explosives; No baseball bats, hockey sticks, golf clubs, bows and arrows;
Etc; Etc; Etc …
Geez, you can’t do anything.
On the grounds.
Lots of people.
Free entertainment.
Places to rest.
But you can win stuff: cars, trucks, motorcycle, a house. lottery … many things.
Things like this car.
Have a silly pic taken.
The Return of the great Western Painter C. M. Russell. Awesome.
Russel masterpiece.
We always go to the Art Exhibits first.
“Go ahead … try t’ steal me.”
The Queen rode in. But I had to loan her a quarter.
rocket man / iron horse
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“Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature’s inexorable imperative.” – HG Wells
“Inform Rose that I have engaged the Clock.”
I would say this:
Of most of technological devices and gadgets I have, I’d say I know less than half of what they do and how to use them to their full potential. This goes for our TV, my camera, and our Samsung tablet. Among other things. I doubt that I am unique here though.
Never thought I’d ever have a colour TV. That was for rich folks.
Now we’ve got this gigantic Samsung Smart TV.
It might be smart, but sometimes I’m not doing so good.
We figured most things out: like Netflix; Youtube; how to get Game of Thrones,
and how to download stuff from the Net and play it from a USB stick …
Our main issue is this thing: The ‘Clicker’.
These are our Clickers below:
We’ve got three of them. We use one (left) to turn the TV on and adjust the Volume. And the second one (middle) to choose the Channel.
The third one (right) is for the DVD Player.
We still don’t know how to fully operate them. I do know you can buy a movie you didn’t want by pressing the wrong buttons. and I think one button launches a ICBM in Dakota.
We’ve called in a Tech guy a couple of times to try to figure a few things out.
I’ll make a simple guess why many Tech products are so difficult for us. It’s not because we’re dumb – or don’t have Tech savvy – though we don’t. It’s because most modern Tech is designed by young people for young people. That’s where the money is. They don’t care about us older folks.
“It was a bright day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” 1984 / George Orwell
You will periodically see this cartoon on my blog. It never gets old.
Reverse Technology
I have other names for this stuff, but I can’t print them here.
It refers to an absolute mass (mess?) of modern Tech that is harder to use;
takes longer to use; and is more difficult to use.
Instead of the opposite.
There’s a legion of this stuff around and I’m sure dozens of articles have been written
decrying the evils that has been inflicted upon us in nearly every category of appliance.
Items around the house that are blinking at me:
My Coffee Maker (Thank God I can still make coffee without having to program it).
Our DVD player. It took me an hour to figure out how to play a DVD the other day.
I’d forgotten how to use it.
It’s slow to operate, but works OK.
My Clocks. I’ve been using that black thing for a while now.
But the power went out the other night and I don’t recall how to reset the time?
The Radio on it works though. It woke us up in the middle of the night.
See those buttons on top? They do stuff. Not fast or easily. That’s my old clock on the right.
You can wind it up and set the time in less than 15 seconds.
But it makes a ticking sound.
Remember that?
This is my one of my several USB sticks. This one contains my many Passwords for my computer.
If I ever lost this I would really be in trouble.
It’s a simple and useful device.
Go figure.
Here’s my Cell. Haven’t used it in about 4 years. It’s old. I think it cost 24 bucks when I bought it. Nobody ever phoned me except bill collectors so I put it away.
Never missed it.
The Bill Collectors were looking for somebody called Alexandra
who previously owned my number. No matter how many times I told them I wasn’t Alexandra they kept phoning me anyway.
I bet she’s in Russia by now, and they’re still phoning her.
Rose bought me this neat lamp.
It tells temperature, time, chimes on certain dates and other stuff.
I use it as a lamp.
Haven’t mentioned my computer yet? That’s where I do all this blog stuff. It’s sacred. Like an Altar. I’m addicted.
I can’t remember what I used to do before I had it?
Yes, it takes a lot of upkeep, updates, software, etc … My Tech abilities are poor so it’s a struggle … And I pretty well have to buy a new system every 4 years so I can keep up.
That’s expensive.
Uh oh … I’m getting an alert from Microsoft 9000:
“We have just picked up a fault in the AE-35 unit.”
Really??! Darn! I better check that out.
So this is just SOME of the Tech stuff we have all over our house. But it’s everywhere.
Our dependance is immense.
And worrisome.
I wonder that this whole outfit will go down someday and we lose electricity for instance?
And communication – and many other things.
HG Wells expressed fears about this in TheTime Machine. Fears of a world where we revert to a hunter/gatherer state after a war
because we have forgotten how to fix or recover our once marvelous technology?
Atlantis has already proven that one.
“We all have our time machines, don’t we. Those that take us back are memories …
And those that carry us forward, are dreams.” ― H.G. Wells
“Cricket ??!!!!” you say?? He must be out of his mind. Well, I do keep an eye on ALL sports. Because REALLY amazing things happen in Sports. Cricket – whether us North American people know it or not – is about the the most popular Sport on the Planet – outside Soccer SO … Yesterday (all my troubles seemed so far away) England – who invented the Sport – wins the World Cup of Cricket for the first time – after 44 years of heartache and disaster. BIG BIG CELEBRATION going on over there. And it was a truly amazing match.
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Lots of people.
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