I am baking my own tortilla chips (from corn tortillas cut into triangles) as an experiment, just to try and cut down on some of the fat I consume. Yeah, I know monounsaturated fat is supposed to be good for you - and even a little bit of saturated fat, so they say - but I eat bags of tortilla chips, so I am probably getting too much even of the "good fats", because I also eat half an avocado every day and also a handful or two of almonds or other nuts. I mean, I don't eat a ton of red meat, really not much at all, and I drink non-fat milk, etc. My diet is at least 50% plant based, I am steady at between 157-160lbs for 20 years now, and I walk five miles a day. So I hope I am pretty healthy. But anyhow, just trying to cut down on the daily fat intake by baking a few chips. I'll letcha know if they are any good.....
Well, I figured I might as well ride along with The Durango Kid the rest of the way down the trail, since we had already watched eight of the ten flicks in the dvd collection. The last two will take us through the weekend, and then I'll be lookin' for more... :)
Tonight's Durango was "The Hawk Of Wild River", and was notable for having Clayton Moore as a co-star. If you are my age, and male, you probably recognize the name as that of the actor who played "The Lone Ranger" in the long-running TV series. Watching reruns of the show is one of my earliest memories, and of course Moore is an American icon for that role.
In tonight's film he was the bad guy, a half-Indian named Hawk who leads a gang of outlaws. They hide out in the hills of Chatsworth, um...I mean Arizona, and rob stagecoaches. They also have a man in town who does Hawk's bidding. I mean, by now, you know how these plots are structured. From the start, it's gonna be one of four or five scenarios. Every Durango movie that I've seen is written by a guy named Barry Shipman, so he had his formula down. The crew is all the same, too, so they had a production company up there at Iverson Ranch, cranking out these Durangos one after another, with a ready-made cast who all knew the drill.
And they succeeded by playing up the fun as much as the entertainment. Charles Starrett is as good natured as he is badass, and of course Smiley Burnette is a comic foil on par with the greats of the era. He could've held his own with Abbott and Costello or Buster Keaton or any of those guys, but because his movie character is a country bumpkin, he is perfect as the sidekick in these Westerns. But also, Starrett should be noted as one of the great Western cowboys. He is known to hard core fans, but again, he is as good as Wayne, Cooper or anyone from the genre. It's just that he worked in the Saturday Matinee format and so most of his films were 60 minutes or less, but they are no less effective as entertainment, and Starrett is an equal of the more well known Western stars, in my opinion. ///
To sum up, you love The Durango Kid, I love The Durango Kid, all of his movies get Two Thumbs Up, and we will be searching for more on dvd after we finish the present collection tomorrow night. ////
Since we brought up the topic of Favorite Composers last night, and I said that I'd mention some of my favorite pieces by each composer, tonight I will start with Bach. In his case, there is so much to choose from, but if I had to choose a few favorites I would go with the English Suite #5 (played by Glenn Gould, Wilhelm Kempff or Martha Argerich), Partita #3 for violin (played by Hilary Hahn), the St. Matthew Passion (by many great ensembles), the and the Mass In B Minor, a lengthy work for choir that some call his masterpiece. I don't think Bach can have a single masterpiece, or greatest work, because he was so prolific in so many formats, and really, I think what he did as a composer is so astounding that it will always be advanced of everything else, no matter how much time humans spend on Earth. If anyone ever tapped into God musically, it was Bach. Which is not to say that others have not done so, because of course many have. But Bach is Bach, and the above works are some of my favorites. Give a listen if you are so inclined, and in fact listen to all of the English Suites, and the French Suites too, for that matter. Man, they are some good stuff. ///
That is more or less all I know for tonight. Thank goodness the Sun came out today and it was about five degrees warmer than it has been. The data from weather.com suggests that we may be coming out of this California-style deep freeze.
Maybe we can even walk to church in the morning.
I will see you there, in any case. Much love in the meantime. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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