Ireneo_Funes

I think the question mark got chopped... Watch out, those bolts are porbably next... The chopped question marks will be replaced with glued-in ampersands. So if you care about keeping written language intelligible, please don't chop punctuation!

In the world of magazine publishing, there aren't very many examples of magazines that are able to support themselves (not to mention make a profit) primarily or entirely through subscription revenue. The unsavory reality is that it's advertising that pays the bills. As a rule of thumb, the more ads you see in a magazine, the better it's doing financially. I don't know anything about Alpinist's books, but judging from the extraordinarily high production values and the paucity of ads, I bet they're hemmoraging cash. I hope I'm proven wrong and they make it, 'cause it's the only interesting climbing mag out there. I agree that the grainy shot from the Eiger Sanction was a waste of cover space, though.

Mike, I nominate you to be the Grand Marshal of the cc.com Pride Parade. Dru, you can be in charge of the Girth Pillar float along with NOLSe.

No, let's forget Footloose. Please. Sun Ra and the mothership snaffle convoy need to round up Kenny Loggins and Kevin Bacon and everyone else associated with that movie and ship them far across the universe.

I'd join you tomorrow for a repeat of last Sunday's fun, Mike, but I don't have your carefree student's schedule -- that is, I'll be shackled to my desk. Nobody talks as much as Ivan, but Mike'll keep you entertained. Plus, belaying him can be pretty exciting sometimes.

Sun Ra = the stoner Marcus Garvey?

Never even heard of that movie. Guess it wasn't bad enough to be huge. I'm having a hard time imagining how Neil Young and Devo found common ground, artistically speaking.

I saw a really bad movie called "The Climb" on TV a couple years ago; it might be the one you're thinking of. It was about 2 climbers who because of a sponsorship or something become partners, despite their very different personalities. Also, one is black and the other white. And one believes in Jesus and the other one doesn't. The movie was produced by Billy Graham, I think. Did I mention that it was really, really bad? Oh yeah, I did.

Ssssorry, Sssquid. The theme from Sweet Sweetback's Baadassss Song is without peer, but in this case the movie stands above its soundtrack. That's final.

Back in the summer of 1995 I worked a temp job for a couple of weeks in a warehouse, packaging Christmas CDs for shipment to WalMart stores. Every day we'd listen to the same damn CD over and over on the shift leader's boom box: the Judgement Night soundtrack. I hated it. Even though I liked some of the bands on the record individually, I thought the rap/metal/alternative collaborations were contrived and bizarre (i.e. Sonic Youth + Cypress Hill). Fast forward to 2005. This morning I found myself reading customer reviews of "Judgement Night on amazon.com. Suddenly, I realized that this album wasn't just a poorly conceived hack job thrown together for an even worse movie... it was seminal! Without "Judgement Night," we'd probably never have Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, and all their kin. Leaving aside the musical merit of the crop of rap/metal bands, the interesting thing here is just how important this album was, and how it's had a much bigger artistic and cultural impact than the movie. So it got me thinking: what other soundtracks turned out to be more important, or demonstrably better, than the movies they supported? I can think of a couple: "The Harder They Come," and "Superfly." Any others? Oh yeah, "Yellow Submarine," too.

SNFL LVR!

You'd be very, very happy I'm sure.

Sweet Valley Sandstone!

The one on top is wearing a whistle (one of the 10 essentials) -- that means she's in charge!

Yes, a yellow bike's the way to go. Milk crate on the back is optional.

Word. If you're concerned about gas mileage, might I recommend....a bike? Supplemented by a bus pass? Just an idea.

C'mon now, stop salivating. Let's not let this turn into another "found biner on GP" incident.

I finally got out and tried this Saturday afternoon. Used my gri-gri and tied cloves for a backup. It took some fooling around but I finally got to a point where the process was pretty smooth. Beats bouldering, anyway.

C'mon, Dru. Can't you read?

Looks fun! Is Rawhide bolted?

Anyone want to do some rock climbing around Portland this weekend? I'm thinking Rocky Butte, but wherever's fine. Schedule is open right now - Sat. or Sun.

Oregon Mountain Community in Portland usually has good cord for slinging hexes. Not sure if they mail-order.

Dude you expect me to read some masive paragraph...get real So how do you like working at Nordstroms anyway??? Note to would-be ranters: use paragraph breaks. They're not just for professionals!

Nolse's been waiting for someone to say "windshirt" or "lost biner" or "girth pillar" just so he could use that image! But seriously -- Nolse's right about the Finger of Fate. It's super fun. If you're looking for an easier route up the perch, Lopez mentions a 5.3 route up the NW shoulder, and I think that you can fourth-class the N side. But the mountaineer's route looks really fun. It's on my list for this summer too.

Best cover ever, and I can't believe I didn't think of this yesterday: Dsico's cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit"