12 minute read
Film
from June 6, 2013
Earth’s Thin Crust Creates Hot Spring in the Black Rock Desert
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There are four well known hot springs in Black Rock Desert National Conservation Area. These springs were vital to the survival of early emigrants in the 1800’s. The water was cooled, then consumed both by livestock and people. Today, visitors enjoy these natural formations visually and only one can be swam in. Caution should always be used at hot springs. Temperatures can be hotter than 150° Fahrenheit and some are hotter at 180° F. The average temperature for home hot tubs in 104° F. and skin is scalded within three seconds in 140° F water.
Trego Hot Springs
This natural spring is on the east side of the playa. When the railroad tracks were being built, water was struck, a ditch was created and a pool was made. This spring is the only one in the area people can swim in. It can be accessed off of Jungo Road or from the playa.
Black Rock Springs
Black Rock Springs is about a tenth of a mile northwest of Black Rock Point. This spring is extremely hot and dangerous. The smaller pool reaches unknown depths and shouldn’t be entered due to extreme deadly temperatures. The larger, more shallow pool is as hot. The road to the spring is only accessible in the driest playa conditions.
Double Hot Springs
Double Hot Springs is 180 degrees F., has a fence around it and shouldn’t be entered. It’s a beautiful spring formation with incredibly clear waters. People and animals have died after falling into the springs, so stay clear and don’t climb the fence. About 50 yards downstream is a soaking tub which lies on private property and can be used. This spring can be reached from the same road as the Black Rock Springs.
Soldier Meadows Hot Springs
Soldier Meadows Springs lies north of the Fly Canyon Road. Man-made dams have created a series of shallow pools. These delicate eco-systems should be approached with caution.
Hazards at Hot Springs
Despite inviting appearances, most hot springs are deadly hot. Some of the hazards are:
• 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree burns cause disfi gurement or death • Loss of consciousness from chemical fumes • Cuts from sharp rocks or broken glass • Bacterial irritations and diseases
Regard the ‘no closer than 300 feet’ camping rule, for your safety!
For more information contact- Friends of Black Rock - High Rock 775-557-2900 or visit the Information Center at 320 Main Street, Gerlach NV.
Connect ~ Inspire ~ Protect
Smith busters
After Earth
Will Smith plays Royal King Douche of All Douchebags in director M. Night Shyamalan’s latest travesty, the unwatchable, intolerable, totally stink-able After Earth. Conceived by Smith, who gets a story credit, as a project for himself and his son Jaden—they were cute together in The Pursuit of Happyness—the Smiths are cast as a father and son stranded on Earth long after humans have abandoned it. It seems the place has become uninhabitable for humans, who can no longer breathe on the planet’s surface, yet all manner of wildlife—buffalo, huge-assed birds, baboons, lions, etc.—have no problem sucking wind on the globe. They wind up on the planet after their transport ship drives through an asteroid field, killing all but the two of them. After the harrowing crash (the best thing in the movie), Will Smith’s stiff, unloving dad Cypher Raige (this year’s pick for dumbest character name!) is severely injured and must stay behind in the crippled ship as son Kitai Raige (hey, wait … no … that’s this year’s dumbest character name!) must venture out into evil Earth to retrieve a rescue beacon from the ship’s tail section many kilometers away. Actually, there was another survivor. The ship was also carrying an alien monster that can’t see you unless you are afraid of him and shooting off stinky pheromones. Being able to shut off all fear and avoid such monsters is Cypher’s calling card. He’s not afraid of anything, so he’s not going to get eaten. The kid, on the other hand, is scared shitless and prime bait for such a creature. Cypher is one of those badass General dads who has a problem expressing emotion and barks orders at his kid during suppertime. He’s not going to take the kid out into the backyard for a catch. He’s going to be unloving, unkind and unholy freaking dull. Will Smith has made past movies fun due to his charisma and the fact that he is generally awake when the director yells “Action!”
In this film, he’s barely got a pulse, and, to make matters worse, his character just sits around with a broken leg, basically guiding his son’s performance via a futuristic Skype-like communication. Jaden’s performance is actually worse than his dad’s in this movie. Both speak with ridiculous accents that I’m thinking are supposed to by Bob Grimm be a mixture of many past Earth accents (a little British, crossed with Rastafarian and a touch of bgrimm@ German). newsreview.com I’m picturing the following conversation between M. Night Shamma-lamma-ding-dong 1 and Jaden Smith on the set: M. NIGHT: “Hey Jaden, your dad is really dragging ass in this movie. I need some emotional juice out of you to balance things out. So, I need you to cry and scream and whine and stuff like that. Also, please pretend that the thing chasing you is a real lion and not just crappy CGI. Understand?” JADEN: “Screw you, M. Night! Will Smith is my dad, and I can do whatever I want! And The Village sucked!” M. NIGHT: “Why you little bastard! I made The Sixth Sense … and Signs!” JADEN: “Yeah, you also made The Happening and The Last Airbender, bitch!” WILL SMITH: “Son, do what the director told you, and stop bringing up the bad movies. It makes the dude withdraw and shit, and then we won’t get any work done.” JADEN: “Dad, shut up. Your performance is leaden, and you are making my inexperienced ass carry this whole damned thing! I want to go home and do karate!” WILL SMITH: “Yeah, whatever. I’m going to make another Hancock or Bad Boys after this bombs. You go ahead and start that big music career of yours. Haha.” JADEN: “I hate you!” WILL SMITH: “I hate you, too. Haha.” M. NIGHT (Crying and hugging himself in the corner): “I made The Sixth Sense …” Trust me, the above fictional exchange is more compelling than anything that happens in After Earth. Will Smith allegedly wanted After Earth to be the first movie in a franchise. Further films probably won’t happen unless he writes the checks himself and stays far the hell away from Shyamalan. Ω
“Son, I’d like to take a minute. Just sit right there. I’ll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel Air.”
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342 Spike Lee tried to get a movie about American hero Jackie Robinson, starring Denzel Washington, off the ground for many years, but couldn’t make it happen. I get a feeling that Lee, who made one of the great biopics with Malcolm X, would’ve done something really special with the subject. This effort from director Brian Helgeland (Payback) is OK, even really good at times, but gets awfully hokey in too many moments. Chadwick Boseman is a great pick to play Robinson, as is Lucas Black as Pee Wee Reese. Harrison Ford delivers big time as Branch Rickey, the man who brought Robinson to the majors, and Christopher Meloni leaves the movie all too soon as Dodgers manager Leo Durocher, who was suspended the year Robinson made his debut. Boseman shines, even when the movie doesn’t, and it’s a lot of fun to see Ford do something this craggy and different. I’m thinking Robinson went through some major hell during his baseball times, and this movie only scratches the surface. It’s good, but it should’ve been great.
2Fast & Furious 6 This franchise could’ve ended about five films ago, and I would’ve been fine with that. Vin Diesel mumbles his way through another fast car movie, this one with some admittedly fine driving stunts. The plot involves some nonsense about Vin and his crew (including Paul Walker) going after some other bad guy driver who’s threatening the world. He also has Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) working for him, even though she blew up in a prior movie. Dwayne Johnson is in there, too, as a badass lawman, and future installments will involve another one of my least favorite action stars if the post-credit footage is any indicator. I like to watch good pyrotechnics, but I hate it when just about everybody in these films opens their mouths. It looks like these movies will never end, and Michelle Rodriguez will never die.
4The Great Gatsby It was a little worrisome when Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel had its release postponed last year. As it turns out, making the film a summer blockbuster rather than an awards season contender was a great move, because this one is right at home in the summer movie season. Shot in glorious 3-D, it works magic with the format. It’s a rollicking roaring ’20s movie that shouldn’t be missed. Leonardo DiCaprio is a marvel in the title role, giving us a vulnerable and sometimes slightly crazy Gatsby in relentless pursuit of his love, Daisy (Carey Mulligan). Tobey Maguire is excellent as narrator and Gatsby admirer Nick Carraway, while Joel Edgerton steals scenes as Tom Buchanan. Those who like Luhrmann’s opulent, sometimes frantic style will find plenty to like in this movie. He also manages to use music by Jay-Z and Lana Del Ray in a movie set nearly a century ago.
1The Hangover Part III And you thought The Hangover Part II was bad. All the principles return for a third go round, and the magic proves long gone. This time the action surrounds Alan (Zach Galifianakis) going off of his meds, accidentally beheading giraffes, and in need of a rehab stint. After an intervention, Phil, Stu and Doug (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Justin Bartha) resolve to take him to the clinic. Before they get there, an evil crime lord (John Goodman) intercepts them and sends them on a hunt for Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong). Jeong occupies much of this film, a bad thing since his wild man act got old two films ago. Of the three films, this one has the least amount of laughs, and proves that the first film should’ve been the last. I like these actors together. How about another movie where they get to play different characters? Enough of this crap. 4 Iron Man 3 Shane Black, director of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (starring Robert Downey Jr. in his best performance ever) and writer of such action classics as Lethal Weapon, gets his second directorial chore and delivers big time. Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) is now an insomniac suffering from panic attacks after the events of The Avengers, and he faces a new adversary in The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley). Stark is a little bit shaky in this one, and that gives the film a dark, comic edge. Gwyneth Paltrow gets a little more screen time as Pepper Potts, while Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall show up as mysterious scientific types. Downey Jr. is as fun as ever here, and Black knows just what to do with him. Black is also pretty snappy with the action scenes, which don’t disappoint. If this is the last of Downey Jr.’s solo Iron Man films, he’s going out on a good note.
5Mud It’s official: Jeff Nichols, who gave us the brilliant Take Shelter, is a writer/ director who stands among the best of them. Matthew McConaughey plays the title character, a chipped-tooth, wild-haired drifter living in a boat in a tree along the Mississippi. Two kids, Ellis and Neckbone (Tye Sheridan of The Tree of Life, and Jacob Lofland) stumble upon him, and find themselves part of his strange and dangerous world. McConaughey is just catching wave after wave lately, and this is his best one yet. He makes Mud a little scary, yet charming and cunning. Sheridan and Lofland are terrific as the young friends who should probably stay away from guys living in boats in trees. The cast also boasts Reese Witherspoon, Michael Shannon and Sam Shepard—all of them equally great. Ladies and gentleman, we have the year’s first “excellent” movie. Jesus, it took long enough.
2Now You See Me For those of you hankering for another magician movie after The Incredible Burt Wonderstone … here it is! A Vegas magician act called the Four Horseman (Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson and Dave Franco) concludes their show by seemingly robbing a bank in France through teleportation. An FBI agent (Mark Ruffalo) and an Interpol detective (Melanie Laurent) investigate, and we snore. Morgan Freeman is on hand as a man who makes a living debunking magic, as is Michael Caine as a millionaire bankrolling the Horseman. It all amounts to nonsense, with a lot of swirling cameras and stupid fights involving playing cards and paper cuts. The big reveals are silly, and much of what happens on the magic side is never explained. Eisenberg delivers one of the year’s more annoying performances.
4Star Trek Into Darkness J.J. Abrams continues the great thing he started with his 2009 reboot of this beloved franchise. This time out, he gives us some more familiar characters from Trek history, but thanks to that ingeniously created alternate timeline, the people aren’t quite the same. Benedict Cumberbatch is scary as a renegade Starfleet officer looking to kill as many commanders as possible while Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) chase him all over the universe. Peter Weller enters the fray as a power hungry admiral, with Alice Eve a welcome addition as his daughter and Enterprise stowaway. There are moments when Abrams goes a little overboard with his homage—I hate that tribble!—but it’s not enough to damage what turns out to be another worthy chapter to the franchise, and a solid summer movie.
