Better Movies

After the disappointing Napoleon Dynamite, I watched the far superior and all around excellent movie The Shawshank Redemption.

I apparently was living under a rock for never seeing it. I'd summarize the plot but everyone else has seen it so there isn't any point. ;) Let's just say this movie is all about friendship, courage, patience, redemption, survival, justice, and above all hope. I highly recommend seeing this, and if you already have, check out some movie trivia. The movie was so good, I'm planning to buy the DVD special edition.

I also watched a documentary called Running on the Sun, about the 1999 edition of the Badwater Ultramarathon, a 135 mile running event that starts in Badwater (Death Valley, CA) and finishes at Whitney Portals (Mt. Whitney, CA).

I couldn't believe what these people were subjecting themselves to: sleep deprivation, blister and toenail problems. Heck, the sheer idea of running in a desert with daytime temperatures above 130 degrees F seems like lunacy to me. Still, it was interesting to watch, just to see that there are crazier people than me out there.