Monthnotes 30 Jun 2024

The heat of the summer is in full effect. Up in the northern area of Arizona, we've started to get a bit of rain. While it's good to get rain, that brings with it humidity and mosquitos.

Bearizona

My wife's birthday is in the last half of May. To celebrate she wanted to visit Bearizona in Williams, AZ about an hour and half away from our house.

It was great to see all the animals, primarily rescues. Badgers, birds, elk, goats, pronghorns, buffalo, arctic wolves, and, of course, bears.

But maybe the primary reason for the excursion was to get pie from Pine Country Restaurant which we stopped by on our last trip to the Grand Canyon. Their pies are some of the best we've had.

Chicago, IL

The first week of June, I had a work conference in Chicago. I've visited the city a few times, but never spent a lot of time there.

I did enjoy a delicious slice of Chicago-style pizza while there, and ventured out to a speakeasy with some co-workers one evening. One of those where we needed instructions as there was a secret entrance from within a completely different bar/restaurant.

Movies

• Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga was my most anticipated film of the summer. I wasn't disappointed. I felt this was just as good as the last Mad Max film. Great on the big screen.
• Atlas launched direct to Netflix. I had to sit and think about it a bit to recall much about it just now. I guess that says something. Overall, it was a big meh.
• Lovely, Dark, and Deep was a creepy film that came out recently and no available to watch on Tubi. I love the outdoors, so being a film about a park ranger may have made it a little more interesting to me. The last half hour goes into some weird places. Overall, I enjoyed it, but may be hit-or-miss for some.
• Thelma is about a 90+ year old grandmother who goes on an adventure to recover the money a phone scammer swindled her out of. It was delightful. Funny, but also drawing attention to how elderly folks are treated. Was especially hilarious to see action scenes for a 90+ old person. Dangerous things like climbing stairs, or just trying to reach something up high.

Reelhouse Foundation Films

Only one film since last time, and it was special because it was selected not long after the Dallas/Fort Worth area Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas were closed after the franchise owners declared bankruptcy. There was a lot of sadness in the community.

• The Last Night at the Alamo (1983) is about the last night of a small town Texas bar coincidentally called, The Alamo. It was amazing, primarily because having grown up in a small town in Texas, it felt exactly like it would felt to be in a real live Texas bar at that time in Texas history.

Update: This past week, Alamo Drafthouse corporate bought the most of the closed locations in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and plan to reopen them soon. On the surface, this is great, happy, news! However, there's the little voice inside that's telling me that since Sony Entertainment bought Alamo Drafthouse, there's doubt the Alamo will retain it's magic long-term. We'll just have to wait and see.