Friday, January 31, 2020

POTD: Cuzco

From 2019 08 21 Cuzco

Today's photo-of-the-day is of Cuzco, Peru, a city in southern Peru with an elevation of 11,200 feet. It's not much to look at from the surrounding mountains. It's brown and dusty. But...it was once the capital of the Inca empire and the Spanish conquest after that. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site. So, don't let the birds-eye view turn you off. It's a great city to visit.

Bonus photo after the jump.

Thursday, January 30, 2020

POTD: Back at Aguas Calientes

From 2019 08 20 Machu Picchu

Today's photo-of-the-day was taken at Aguas Calientes after visiting Machu Picchu. Aguas Calientes is itself a picturesque town in the canyon below Machu Picchu.

Click to see a bonus photo.

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Just Mercy (2020)

Rotten Tomatoes
Just Mercy (2020): Racist legal system. This time in Alabama, where black men are guilty from the moment they are born. Sheriff, DA, judge send innocent man to death row because they care more for convictions than justice. Brutal and predictable, which makes it tough to watch. B+

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

POTD: Machu Picchu

From 2019 08 20 Machu Picchu

Made it. Today's photo-of-the-day was taken at Machu Picchu. Whether you get there via a four day hike along the ancient Inca Trail, or like us, by a two hour train ride to Aguas Calientes, followed by an hour long bus ride on a switchback road up a mountain, when you get there your breath is taken away, and not just by the altitude. It's beautiful.

Bonus photos after the jump.

Monday, January 27, 2020

The Wheel Award for Excellence in Motion Pictures

The Academy Awards will be given out February 9, 2020. I've seen all the nominees for Best Picture. That means my opinion means something. Right?

2019 had a diverse set of movies. I'm not in complete agreement with the Academy's choices, but overall, I'm not complaining with the nominees they've given me to vote on (even though they haven't actually, you know, given me a vote on anything). If I expanded the field of nominees, I would include three of the four movies I considered snubs.

My ranking of the Oscar nominees is based on the grades I gave the movies immediately after seeing them. In case of ties, I ordered them by my considered judgment today. Note this is not my prediction of which movie will win, but which I would vote for, had I a vote.

The envelope please. The winner of "The Wheel Award for Excellence in Motion Pictures" goes to...

Sunday, January 26, 2020

POTD: Road to Machu Picchu

From 2019 08 20 Machu Picchu

Today's photo-of-the-day was taken on the switchback road up the mountain to Machu Picchu in Peru, looking back towards Aguas Calientes, the jumping off point at the end of the rail line. The eye can't make out any details, but that's Aguas Calientes at the bottom of the canyon. Machu Picchu is still out of sight over the mountain ridge behind me.


Saturday, January 25, 2020

POTD: Peru Rail

From 2019 08 20 Machu Picchu

Today's photo-of-the-day is of the Urubamba River in Peru. It was taken from a train heading to Aguas Calientes, the jumping off point for the climb to Machu Picchu by bus.

Bonus photo after the jump.