Reddish Egret

 I had never heard of a Reddish Egret until I was looking at wildlife photos from The Guardian today. They are very cool and are, apparently, the rarest of American Egrets.

Here's the picture that captured my imagination, followed by some other, more typical pictures.

The Knoxville Zoo

On our last day in Tennessee, Ed, Kay and I had a little time after we dropped Lynn off at the airport. We went to the Knoxville Zoo.

I had read they had some really good breeding programs, so I was excited.

A Wobble of Ostriches

I should have read a little deeper. Knoxville Zoo is a key breeding zoo. For tortoises and turtles. I am not a super fan of either.

Great Rhino enclosure

But we did see a few cool things.

Red Panda, lying in the sun.

They did have great merchandise!

The Phoenix Pencil Company (and the Lost Cause)

 I just finished a couple of books. The first, The Phoenix Pencil Company, I read for book club. I liked it.

I think it is odd that some of the book club choices have science fiction / fantasy elements that are just kind of glossed over. Like the Phoenix Pencil Company uses a "power" that a family or women have to bury a pencil into their arm, the lead runs into their blood and then they can reproduce the words on paper by pressing their arms on it?

The deal is that this is just a way to get a historical story onto the page. The ability is a catalyst for many things, but that is not the point of the story. The point is a relationship between two young girls in Shanghai right before WWII and two different women in 2018. It was pretty good, and very well written.

I also read The Lost Cause by Cory Doctorow. He is a scifi writer, and the book was in the scifi section even though it was only set a few decades in the future, and there were no extra "powers".

Having said that, I will also say I didn't love it. Its message is pretty preachy, I thought. And I am probably the target audience. Which is unusual. Normally, Cory Doctorow makes me really think about things. This was just kind of a way to scream "Boomer" at anyone older than he is. He does (or his characters are forced to) admit that not every old white guy is evil, but then can't show a single example.

But that isn't why I disliked the book. It is why it disappointed me a little, but there were bigger problems for me.

So, on balance, Yes to Phoenix Pencil Company, No to The Lost Cause.

Amazon is Shaming Me!

 What have I done to Amazon? I feel shamed by them.

How?, you ask.

Well, just look at this option when I selected managing my book downloads...

Yes, I have lost or dropped 7 Kindles into the water. Fine. But can't it just forget I dropped / lost them? Why must it continually remind me of my clumsiness?!?!?

I feel judged.

Glenmore Mansion

The Glenmore Mansion

After a few days of wall-to-wall minigolf, multi-level go-kart tracks, bear- and pirate-themed tourist traps designed to make children cry until their parents relent, I decided it was probably time for a different adventure. And so we made our way to Glenmore Mansion in Jefferson City, Tennessee.

The mansion was built by a railroad tycoon after the Civil War. It was built in a style I hadn't heard of before, Second Empire Architecture. I have placed the Google definition below.

It was a nice tour, a cool little building, and a good day driving through the pretty parts of Tennessee.

Our tour guide and an original 1860s Steinway Piano

It was originally named 'The Oaks" and those are ceramic oak tiles made specifically for the home.

One odd thing in the picture below was the difference between the front and back of the home. The back construction was at a different scale, the ceilings were lower, and the rooms were smaller. This was not an addition. It was designed and built this way. The idea was that the front house was grander (15-foot ceilings) and more opulent on the first floor. This was for entertaining.

The back part of the house was for servants and use in the winter, when it was easier to heat small rooms.

In The Grey

 We went to see In The Grey yesterday. It was very odd. I mean, it was fun, but it couldn't quite decided what it wanted to be.

This is the truest picture of the show. A kick-ass female lawyer and her two employees that were her muscle.

Was it a buddy action adventure? A gritty thriller? A romance? Were Jake and Henry crime partners? boy-friends? homoerotic comedians? You can tell they didn't know how to advertise it. You can see the difference in poster choices over the year.

And it was supposed to be released in 2025? What rework semi-magic happened?

Look at the change in posters:

One last thing.

Henry Cavill may be the only man alive who looks okay in pleated Khakis. Not great, even Henry can't pull that off, but pretty good.

 

Don't be suckered in Anakeesta (1 star)

 On sweet dreams that are ads for adventures in Gatlinburg. See the image below of beautiful Anakeesta.

It is the embodiment of great marketing. It looks so cool. 

Anakessta is a mountain top pace you arrive at via a glass gondola. Up there are beautiful gardens, a skywalk through the trees, top-scale restaurants, zip lines, and two Swisstyle rail-guided toboggan rides.

And then there is the reality. It is a vacuum hose aimed at your wallet - okay at your credit card, it is cashless.

We expected to be slightly hosed at the cost. We had no idea. It is $20 to park (it is only $2 an hour, but a minimum of 10 hours is required). Then $30 to go up in a gondola to the top.

Unimaginable scenery?

Once you get up there...

The treetop walk loop is being worked on, so you should walk down about 100 feet and 12 million stairs, only to turn around and come back up. Now remember, I am 67 and Lynn is celebrating her 75th birthday, so we are no spring chickens. As we start down, and I am already thinking it might not be a good idea, we are told that there is a semi-crazy person down there and they are trying to get security to go down. That was the end of the treetops tour for us.

So, we proceed up the hill. The views are great, and the weather is great.

Decorative Bee Hives?

Hazzah. But we come upon the mountain coasters. They cost another $17.00 each (although both for $20 was a better deal). But we had to pay to get up, and the one coaster line was 55 minutes. We bunt.

Now I could go into how the fine dining experience was not, but I think you get the idea at this point. But we did celebrate America coming down.

We ended up at mini-golf back in Pigeon Forge.

You have to be in the right frame of mind

 

I took this from the Kuwohi lookout in the Great Smoky Mountains NP.  They have an invasive bug that killed a lot of their pines, but the forest is regenerating. I thought this image of a dying tree supporting new life was really cool.

I understand if you don't get it. Maybe you just don't have the refined artistic imagery gene that I was blessed with. This is why I share - to help you.

:-)

Detective Harry Hole on Netflix: Why so sad Norway?I

I have been trying to watch the new Detective Hole mystery on Netflix. And I must say, why so sad, Norway? I get that "Nordic Noir" is the new hot genre on TV. It shouldn't be.

First: Sure, Oslo is kind of a soulless concrete city. Hitler plus post-WWII urban planning created an efficient but unlovable metropolis with all the joie de vivre of a midwest junior high school. But does everyone in the city we see have to be sad, a sex worker, a criminal mastermind, or a chump? I've been to Oslo, and there ARE people there who smile.

And don't get started on the lighting. Is it 15 hours of dark time? Then why is the city randomly so bright? And as they zoom in on Harry's place, there is never anyone on the street. Night, dusk, day - empty.

Second: I understand irony, but making a sad, alcoholic man a policeman is tough enough. Did you have to name him "Harry Hole" on top of it? That passes irony just into meanness. And for fuck's sake, give him another t-shirt.

Third: Joel Kinnaman is the bad guy (no spoiler, it is told to us early) because he is the foreigner - he is Swedish. He's not the dirty-work bad guy; the dumb bad guys are real foreigners - random Mediterranean races. Joel does a good job, but he supposedly passes as a real detective as he scowls and smirks through the police station with the subtlety of 5th grader.

Finally: The audio. Is it amazing that all Norwegians (and Swedes) can switch between English and ver-dun-da-bork instantly? Yes it is. We are impressed. So speak English. The dub audio is pretty bad for a group of people that could actually do their own dubbing (they did it in Young Royals FFS). 

But no, we are left with a lot of badly mumbled translations. Enunciate, for goodness sake!

For extra credit, and this is a choice I really do not understand, why take the only really pretty thing in Oslo, Vigeland Statuary Park - the largest in the world - and make it the shorthand for the rot of the world?

Is someone working through issues?

Great Smokys National Park

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was the primary reason we decided on visiting Tennessee. Last year, we toured some of the Utah National Parks, and the Great Smoky Mountains just made sense.

What I overlooked was the fact that the Great Smokys is the most visited National Park.  I thought going in the spring would avoid crowds. Such was not to be. It was very crowded. Often crowded isn't a big deal in National Parks as there are frequent buses to the main sights. But in the Smokys, there aren't any buses.

It is a wide vista

It is also a main roadway between North Carolina and Tennessee, so the car traffic is pretty horrible. We visited a few spots, but the roads were pretty bumper to bumper. Don't get me wrong, it was beautiful, but just very busy. And busy is not what you are looking for in a restful National Park visit.

However, there were a few spots that we enjoyed.

I thought one of the funniest was the "Cataract Waterfall." It is a nice little walk from the visitor center, and we all know how I love a waterfall. They should have set some expectations before naming this a waterfall. Here are the pictures.

Someone left the hose on.

On the other hand, Kuwohi's outlook was pretty damn neat.

Kuwohi Lookout used to be called Clingman's Dome. It is a lookout from the crest of the Appalachians where you can see both North Carolina and Tennessee. It is a great view.

The lookout at Kuwohi

It is a slog to get to, but a great view. You have to climb a 1/2-mile trail that rises 330 feet (100 meters in 0.8 km). It doesn't sound like that much, but it really is.  Luckily, Lynn was us and she had to rest a lot. That way, we all got to rest. Lynn was worried, but we were like "No. Take your time. We're all good." When, in fact, we all needed the sit-downs.

After the steepass trail, you had a final winding of the ramp to the top.

Our Trip to Tennessee : Dollywood

Dollywood, Scott? Yes, Dollywood.

In this time of anger and fear. Of hate and resentment, only the lovely lady of the hills has the power to bring us all together. The queen of nice, Dolly Parton.

Ed and the Birthday Girl

Well, we are back from a week with Lynn and her niece Kay. We went to Tennessee to visit the Great Smoky Mountains. And so, our first stop had to be Dollywood.

I have long wanted to see the famed Dollywood. At first, it was the promise of the unknown. A land where big-breasted women of the South would fraternize with the mullet-haired men of the Midwest. Where southern hospitality is challenged only by the deepness of the southern drawl. The one place in the south where I thought my LA accent would not be scorned.

And I was right. Dollywood is a land where we put aside our differences to eat deep-fried food of all types, watch glass blowers do their thing, ride roller-coasters, and hear Dolly songs played over the speakers AND sung live at shows.

It was a kick.

Kay, me, Lynn, and Eddie.

Dollywood may not be the Happiest Place on Earth, but it was definitely the happiest place we visited. It just has a nice, happy, and sweet touch, without being too saccharine. 

Dollywood is primarily staffed by older people, other than the ride operators. Mickey said that this is because Dolly wants to hire only locals when possible. Well, there at Dollywood, they are as nice as can be.

I liked it. Hell, even Ed liked it.

Me, at 67 years old, about to fly around on a dragonfly roller coaster.

It was there food and flowers festival.