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April 2009

Stateofplay_smallposter Telluride's Nugget Theatre is showing two movies for the week of May 1 - 7: "State of Play" and "Monsters vs. Aliens."       

Monstersvsaliens_smallposter "Monsters" is an animated film from Dreamworks, pitting Earth-based monsters, mostly freaks of science, against invading aliens from Space. It's a fun way to spend an hour and a half.

"State of Play" boasts a strong cast including Ben Affleck, Russell Crowe, and Rachel McAdams. The political thriller concerns a congressman investigating a private security company (can you spell "Blackwater?"), some unexplained deaths, and some tough investigative newspaper reporting. (Rated "PG-13" for profanity and violence)

30 April, 2009 /

IMG_0346 After a brief stop at home in Telluride after our visits to West Coast family, Sus and I left on the next phase of our Spring travels on Friday, 17 April. For those of you who were watching Colorado weather during that time, you know it probably wasn't the most auspicious departure date. But, ever optimistic, we left anyway.

The webcams on Monarch Pass looked nasty, so we chose to go on I-70. That looked like a good decision until just short of Vail. With an electronic sign showing that Vail Pass was closed, we turned off at Minturn, drove in rain/snow mix for a few miles, then in heavy snow. At Leadville, we found that Fremont Pass was closed, and learned that Denver was getting hammered. We had planned to spend the night with friends in Denver- oops!, change in plan. A welcome beer (or two) and a burger at Rosie's in Leadville, then a little time to make a new plan, and time for bed.

27 April, 2009 /

(editor's note: Quiet offseason in Telluride? Let's shake things a bit with Dr. Susannah Smith's next installment of Shrink Rap: Sex and Marriage.)

by Dr. Susannah Smith

Most comedy routines eventually target marriage and sex.  The joke usually goes like this: if you want a good sexual relationship, don’t get married. The bare naked truth is we all know married couples who complain  they never have sex, and one partner who wants more sex than the other. So, what’s going on?
The human sexual response is a complex one, especially when love and intimacy enters the equation. Erica Jong wrote that, for many, including the heroine of Fear of Flying, it is easier to have sex with someone we barely know than with our own mate.  The sexual response requires a degree of abandon and emotional freedom that familiarity often belies: with our mates, unresolved emotional issues build walls.

Women in particular have been raised to believe having sex when feeling distant from their spouses puts them in the position of being untrue to themselves, compromised, or forced.  Women (not always – sometimes it is the male in a relationship) believe that they must be communicating and emotionally close for sexual intimacy to feel appropriate and good.

26 April, 2009 /

April 23 to 30, 2009

Visible Planets: Morning: Jupiter, Venus and Mars  Evening: Mercury and Saturn

VenusMoon Yesterday morning I got up at 5:05 am and headed downstairs to see if Venus and the Moon had risen. It was the day of the occultation, and I didn’t want to miss it. I looked out our big east-facing kitchen window and saw one of the most beautiful sights I’d ever seen. There, hanging low, above the black horizon, was brilliant Venus - dazzling and magnificent - so close to the slender crescent Moon that they were almost touching.

I wondered if I’d be able to see the occultation at our southwestern latitude and longitude. Would I actually see the Moon eclipse Venus?

25 April, 2009 /

Trio Solisti is the founding ensemble of the Telluride Musicfest, this year June 25 – July 5, and featuring world renowned composer Philip Glass as Composer-in-Residence.  "Telluride Inside...

25 April, 2009 /

This morning I rose to watch the "morning star" planets: Venus, Mars and Jupiter. Venus, of course, was easy to see and identify as it is the bright, bright point of light directly east above the horizon. Jupiter was also bright - though much...

22 April, 2009 /

[click "Play" button to hear Susan's conversation with Kent Tompkins]

Tompkins uses words/images to go "Beyond Shamanic Visions" April 22  at Wilkinson Library in Telluride

4-22 Shamanic Telluriders may be exceptions to the rule. We tend to march to our own drum. However, in this Piscean Age, the rest of the world has made like sheep, relying on bellwethers for guidance to the Promised Land. According to healer/counseler/documentary photographer Kent Tompkins that mindset is about to become toast. Just as the flower children of "Hair" sang: "It is the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius," when each individual becomes capable of spiritual awareness without the intercession of religious authority.

To date, the way of the seeker has been littered with metaphysical possibilities, rituals, prayers and lessons entirely from ancient cultures, largely from the East. Yoga, Sufis, I Ching, Kaballah are on a long list of examples.

20 April, 2009 /

BERKELEY, CA – Telluride Film Festival (September 4-7, 2009), presented by National Film Preserve, Ltd.  announces its call for entries.Student film submissions must be received no later than 5:00 pm, July 1, 2009. Short and Feature film submissions must be received no later than 5:00...

19 April, 2009 /