Posts

Showing posts from August, 2017

The Barkley Marathons

Graham Craycraft A week ago I was shown a documentary about the Barkley Marathon. A 100-130 mile foot race through the hills of Tennessee. This foot race is the brainchild of Gary Cantrell, a former and pioneer ultra runner. Inspired by the escape of James Earl Ray who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr., Ray made it 8 miles away from the prison in 2 and a half days. Cantrell scoffed by saying he could make it 100 in the time that Ray had. This race is designed to make runners think and act according to their situations. I say situations instead of surroundings because many aspects of the race are a mystery. How to apply, what the exact course is until a little before, and even when the race time is. The runners are only given an hour warning to race start. In the many years of this race less than two dozen people have been able to accomplish all five laps of this behemoth. They have 60 hours which is 12 hours per 20-26 mile lap. But these laps will break the toughest runners ou...

Dunkirk: Movie Review (No Spoilers)

By Michael Momper Christopher Nolan and Tom Hardy- one of the most sure-thing partnerships I’ve seen since Scorsese and Deniro.  They are both such safe bets when it comes to spectacular filmmaking that their movies almost sell themselves on their star power alone- Nolan’s name reminds filmgoers of their absolute adoration for The Dark Knight, Inception , etc. and Hardy’s has become a rock-solid standard of great film choice ( Mad Max, The Revenant, The Drop , and Locke all within the past 3 years). Luckily for us fans, these two manage to never skate by on their name alone, and instead have given us what I think is by far their most fruitful pairing yet in Dunkirk.                 Dunkirk already has a sort of timeless feeling in my mind, because it is a timeless story.  The non-fiction narrative of an enormous group of simple countrymen embarking on a perilous journey to rescue their country’...