#colorado reviewed

[annieqattheperipheral]

aww he shot a lil commercial for his new partnership

[sandythereadingcafe]

REVIEW TOUR

THE OATH WE TAKE (Iron Outlaws MC: Colorado 2) by S. Cole at The Reading Cafe:

'The character driven premise is edgy and dramatic'

[gallerygossipgirl]

Gallery Gossip Girl here, your one and only source for a proper inside look at Southern Colorado's art scene. Here, you'll find reviews of local exhibitions, behind the scenes happenings off the main grid, and the first word on music/poetry/performance. Our town is overflowing with incredible talent and plenty to explore.

Know of something happening around town?

Send me the details!

Until then.

XOXO,

Gallery Gossip Girl

[blueberryshelves]

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Book Review

Title:  Let the Rubble Fall Author: Mandi Lynn Bell

Series: Road Trip Snapshot, book #2

No. of Pages: 327

ISBN: 9781953388063

Cover design: original cover and pen name before book republishing in 2023.

Synopsis:

Marly moves across the country on a leap of faith, but will the familiar fear of losing someone she loves be her downfall?

For the first time since her parent’s death, Marly has a new sense of hope as she moves to Colorado to be with the boy she had met on her epic cross-country road trip. What’s supposed to be a fresh start, quickly goes awry after Dylan gets into an accident, leaving him stranded in the wilderness alone. As rescuers search for him, Marly is left panicked, wondering if he’s safe as she re-lives the day her parents died.

When Dylan is finally back to safety, it's Marly who’s left battered and afraid. Dylan is eager to heal, while Marly is determined to stop him from risking an injury again. What Marly doesn’t know is that Dylan’s drive to summit mountains goes much deeper than wanting to cross something off his bucket list.

Will Marly’s fear of losing Dylan be the exact thing that pushes him away?

Let the Rubble Fall is the second book in the Road Trip Snapshot Series. If you like sweet romance, outdoors, and coming of age, then you’ll love this story that will be sure to tug at your heartstrings.

__________________________________________

What did I think of the book?

Let the Rubble Fall by Mandi Lynn Bell My rating: ⭐ 1 of 5 stars (1.5) [Disclaimer: spoilers!] A year later, and I'm finally finishing the Road Trip Snapshot series! The first book had a lot of good things going for it that made for an enjoyable read, even despite the issues present in the book. I absolutely loved the 3rd book/standalone of the series. But Let the Rubble Fall is another case that has suffered from what I call the "curse of the second book". This book is labelled as a coming-of-age romance. But the story is riddled with so much drama, and irrational behavior from Marly that it left me wondering why her and Dylan were even together. From chapter 32 and onward, the book is written as if Marly has made good progress in her healing, and is more stable in herself. She's able to be the one to help her boyfriend, Dylan, in healing from his own grief and trauma, and even offers him closure from losing his grandfather. Frankly, I quite enjoyed the ending, and it showed the potential of how the book could have been from the start. But instead, we get a story that is 85% of Marly having pretty extreme mental breakdowns, and running away from her problems at every turn. She quickly becomes toxic and controlling towards her boyfriend, even becoming a hypocrite, when she starts seeing her parents deaths in Dylan's hiking accident. Any progress she made in the first book is lost. She never processes or deals with the loss of her parents in a healthy way. Nothing triggers her to change. She doesn't grow, or make any real character development throughout the story. But at the last 15%, everything suddenly takes a 180 turn, and the story finishes in the end as if she did. It makes the last chapters of the book feel completely disconnected from the rest of the story, and I'm so confused as to what the intended message is being conveyed here. The other issue I experienced with the book was an imbalance in details. Where there was a significant lack of basic character descriptions such as hair color, eye color, body build, etc. throughout the book, other things were over-described with too many unnecessary details crammed into a scene. This was something the first book suffered from as well, but it's even more of an issue in Let the Rubble Fall. I did enjoy the moments where Marly is describing the landscapes she travels to, and they provided a great deal of relief from the rest of the book, but there's not many of them. Favorite character/s: Lori, for being the "voice of reason" throughout the story. Dylan, for being strong in himself, and not letting Marly stop him from doing what he loves. What drew me to this book? It's the second book to the series I was reading. Honestly, I didn't feel that drawn to it on its own. Stars: 1.5 of 5 stars. It pains me a bit to rate it so low, but this really wasn't my idea of a good story or reading experience. View all my reviews

See my reviews for:

Meet Me at the Summit, Road Trip Snapshot book #1 My rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 3 of 5 stars!

The Trail to You & Me, Road Trip Snapshot book #3 My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 of 5 stars! - Events in book #3 occur after Let the Rubble Fall, but can be read as a standalone.

[medinademiri]

Brewery & book date ♡

[creativedifferencespodcast]

As an avid sitcom watcher, it was only a matter of time before Gaby brought up The Big Bang Theory on the podcast, but as a group of people born and raised in Pasadena, it was a shorter matter of time before we derailed that conversation to talk about our hometown. Check out episode 265 to hear us talk about The Big Bang Theory and about Pasadena!

[these-summer-nights-in-december]

Verse Daily has featured my poem "Peel the Black Walnut Bark Like Small Fists in Our Fists" today!

I'm delighted to share that the always wonderful Verse Daily has featured my poem today: "Peel the Black Walnut Bark Like Small Fists in Our Fists." Thank you to J.P. Dancing Bear and to the Colorado Review for first giving the poem a home.

[elizabethaethertownusa]

Last year I had two poems in Colorado Review, "Walking Between Brutalist Structures in Spain or France" and "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountains When She Comes". I do not title things long deliberately to cause trouble for graphic designers. It is only what happens when I speak truly out of my own gorgeous nature. I am very proud to have published in Colorado Review, of which I think highly

[harleiquina]

All TV series I've ever seen.

@thefirsthogokage 's search for new show to binge inspired me to list all TV shows I've seen so far. Of course I might add some along the way because I won't remember everything in one sitting.

Considering that it's going to be a lot... I might as well divide them in

1940 -1970 (this post)

1980 - 2000

2010 - Now.

Let us begin.

1944 - The Black Whip (serial)

For youngsters, a serial was like a TV show that our grandparents (maybe even great-grandparents) watched on the cinema. Sometimes all episodes (around 15 min each) would be edited together and played as a movie.

It was an experimental take of the character known as Zorro (born in pulp fiction) transported to USA's Wild West where two siblings have a newspaper but the brother is also "The Black Whip" a vigilante that keeps the peace in their town... until he's killed so his sister takes over his mantle (without anyone noticing). Fun fact: George J. Lewis later played Guy Williams's Zorro's father: Don Alejandro de la Vega.

Overall entertaining. The cliffhangers are kind of over done (keep in mind maybe back then they had to wait 1 week or more to see the next episode) and the escapes are sometimes kinda ridiculous but well... it's fun anyway. I saw it on Youtube.

1957 - Zorro (Disney)

You are not argentinean if you didn't grow up watching Zorro at noon while having lunch (or run from school to catch it before it ended). It is still being broadcasted today (in 2023) believe it or not!

Follow the adventures of Diego de la Vega, a señorito (very delicated gentleman) that during the nights turns into El Zorro, a vigilante that rights injustices and saves the people of Los Angeles.

LOVE IT. Guy Williams is Zorro, no-one will ever be better than him. It's fun for the whole family (and do not be fooled by the time it was made, the female characters are well written and very progressive for the time being). Saw it on TV over and over and over again and never got tired of it.

1959 - The Three Stooges (year they began to be televised)

How could I forget about my childhood heroes?

My first contact with slapstick comedy and absurdities galore.

In this house we believe in Moe, Larry, Curly & Shemp supremacy!!

1961 - Mr. Ed.

Ever wondered how it would be to live with a talking horse? Well, now you'll know.

Fun for all family, catchy title song... you can see it probably in lots of places because it's a classic (but for me it was on a bootleg DVD pack)

1964 - The Addams Family

We all know and grew up with The Addams Family movies in the 90's but this is the original live-action (with Gorey's insight). The family canon is different: Mom is Gomez's mother, Fester is Morticia's uncle and my favourite (yet always forgotten in the new media) is Ophelia, Morticia's twin sister -who was supposed to marry Gomez in first place-.

To be fair I saw it a couple of years ago so I don't remember too much, but its all-family-fun and if you are a spooky-inclined person (such as me) you'll end up wanting to own a house like theirs (and maybe some of their creatures as well). I saw it on bootleg DVDs, shhh... don't tell anyone.

1965 - Get Smart

Another argentinean staple (not as strong as Zorro, though) was this spy-comedy born out of mocking James Bond with gadgets and all. "Smart, Maxwell Smart. Agent 86" carved himself a space in our hearts with Agent 99, the Chief, agent K-9, Jaime and the equitative incompetent villain Siegfried.

Super fun with all the weird and borderline ridiculous inventions and plots. It sort of loses its momentum in the final seasons (when Max and the 99 get married and have twins) but there are still moments of greatness. I have all the DVDs, original ones this time.

1967 - Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

In Argentina we use the expression "wooden actor/actress" a lot... but in this case it's probably right because they are all puppets (unless they do a close up of their hands, then they are human 😱).

Follow this colour-coded crew of space travellers and their adventures. I don't fully remember if it was a concept or if it actually happens in the show but maybe Captain Scarlet doesn't make it to the end of the day. Very early Aeon Flux from his part. Be like me buying a bootleg DVD collection or you can probably find it on Youtube.

1971 - The Persuaders!

Who on this Earth hates either Roger Moore or Tony Curtis? I'm ready to throw hands!

Two millonaires (with lots of monetary issues aparently) have to work together for a Judge solving different crimes (identity theft, kidnappings, robberies, etc). It is never quite explained why both of them are the right ones to do the job but no-one cares because you'll end up loving Lord Brett Sinclair (Moore) and his love-hate relationship with Danny Wilde (Curtis) plagued with sarcasm but, eventually, true friendship.

I'm a Danny Wilde kinda girl (and I would like to have like half of his jackets, they are awesome) but Moore is also lovable. Yes, most of the cases have a beautiful girl that ends up with any of them... yes, some things are a little too convenient... but it is a show to have a good time. Don't think too hard about it. I've watched it on bootleg DVD but it is also on Youtube.

1973 - El Chavo del 8 & El Chapulín Colorado (The Kid from the 8th and The Red Cricket)

Both shows were aired pretty much at the same time and starred by the same cast the first one tells the story of a orphan kid that lives in a vicinity with very colourful characters.

The second one is the Mexican Superhero by excellence.

Chespirito (a wordplay for the Spanish "Little Shakespeare" -Shakespeare chiquito-) AKA Roberto Gomez Bolaños -author and lead in both shows- even said that his superheroe was better than the ones from Marvel or DC because he didn't needed muscles... he just wanted to do good and had big heart.

1976 - Charlie's Angels

I really don't understand why is it so hard for the movies to get it right. They were private investigators, not super-spies!!

3 girls became cops but were destined to "girl jobs" like secretary, school crossing and making parking tickets... but were recruited by the misterious Charlie that knows that they are capable of more so now they work solving cases where the police can't or won't be called.

We only own the first season on bootleg DVD (my mom's and aunt's favourite with the three original angels). It's fun and it's for everybody.

1976 - The Bionic Woman

Jamie Sommers (professional tennis player and Steve Austin's finceé) has a skydiving accident resulting in her getting bionic replacements of her legs, arm and ear. Since the equipment was very expensive (not like Steve's six million dollars bionic parts) she agrees to use it to help the goverment in dangerous missions. In the meantime she'll keep on working as a teacher.

Adventures of all kinds and the most memorable ones are with the fembots (altough many people like the Sasquatch episode, who knows why 🤷🏻‍♀️). Saw it on bootleg DVD.

1976 - Wonder Woman

Really? Wonder Woman? Lynda Carter? Do I need to explain anything? Just go watch it. (I saw in on bootleg DVD, shhh! Mrs. Carter is nearby, I don't want her to get upset).

1976 - The Muppets

Do they need introduction? Guest stars in every episode, humor, music and Ms. Piggy. You just can't hate Jim Hensons' creatures.

I have the first season on bootleg DVD but saw quite a few scenes on Youtube and social media as well.

1977 - The Incredible Hulk.

Bill Bixby + Lou Ferrigno + weekly adventures + that bloody journalist that follows them everywhere (and you will recognize as the bartender in Back to the Future III) to try and caught them red handed + the saddest end to every episode seeing poor Bruce Banner with his backpack walking to another town because he can never stay on the same place for too long = this early Marvel property that gave us a sneek peek into the complicated life of a superhero.

It's good, a problem-of-the-week show, but then again... poor Bruce Banner always alone, I want to cry 😭 Saw it on TV, I don't think that all episodes were aired back then nor when my mom and aunts were little.

1978 - Mork & Mindy

An alien that looks and acts like Robin Williams ends up living with the human Mindy to learn more about us. By the end of every episode Mork gives his report about what he learned about Humanity and it's usually very uplifting.

I've watched a few episodes on TV (this was Argentina in the '90s, you were lucky if any TV channel bought 2 seasons of any show to repeat ad eternum).

Nanu nanu!!

[oldshowbiz]

1962.

Barry Goldwater was booed in Colorado and described as "a fool, a mountebank, a murder[er], no better than a common criminal."

[mommy-mystic]

📚 July Reading Wrap-Up 📚

Gods of Jade and Shadow - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Midnight at the Tuscany Hotel - James Markert

Balanced and Barefoot: How Unrestricted Outdoor Play Makes for Strong, Confident, and Capable Children - Angela J. Hanscom

Nora Goes Off Script - Annabel Monaghan

Mexican Gothic - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

A Novel Proposal - Denise Hunter

The Diamond Eye - Kate Quinn

After I Do - Taylor Jenkins Reid

📚 TBR: The Weaver & The Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec that I purchased @ The Bookworm in Edwards, CO today.

🫧 A Bookish Journal Entry 📖

🫧 July 2023 has been a wild month! Truly, I don't think I've ever read this much in my life. But, it's a lovely hobby that's been helping me get through all the stress of traveling, work, toddler parenting/potty training, my husbands deployment, my pregnancy, etc! Prioritizing a little bit of escapism/quiet time in my life outside of my responsibilities helps me feel refreshed. Actually, it helps me feel alive. Sinking into a story for a few days feels so much better than mindlessly scrolling through social media during restful moments. I can actually hear myself think. I can sort out my emotions with a little more clarity. These are my beneficial side effects of my experiment in becoming a summer reader.

🫧 Also! I'd say 4 of these books were borrowed from my local library and/or the Libby App, one was a copy I had around the house, another a copy I borrowed from my mom. So, truthfully, reading has been a rather inexpensive hobby for me this month. It's nice to know I haven't been splurging on the things I usually would (furniture, craft supplies, and sundresses seem to be my kryptonite). I love that though. I love that when I do go to the bookstore to purchase a new release, it feels like a treat. I love that when I return a library book I really enjoyed, I feel like I'm sharing the experience with my community ~ like somebody has loved this too, & someone else will come across it for the first time, like I did, and we will have that little memory in common, though we may never cross paths. That feels really beautiful to me!

🫧 This month, I read my first 2 Silvia Moreno-Garcia books and I fell in LOVE with them. Her stories are insane and magical and perfect and all-consuming. Those and Midnight at the Tuscany Hotel were positively masterpieces. As was The Diamond Eye I listened to as an audiobook. A thrilling, captivating work of historical fiction. I also added in a few romance books. One was a silly audiobook written by Annabel Monaghan that got me through a complicated week of chores and working and travel preparations, and the other was a precious Christian romance beach read by Denise Hunter that actually warmed my heart. Romance books without the 🌶 are definitely more my speed, I bashfully admit.

🫧 July was a lot. It was wonderful and heart wrenching. It was easy and very, very hard. I'm so excited for the rest of the year ahead. For the stories I've yet to crack open and for the ones I'm about to create for myself. I'm excited to find magic in everything, I'm excited to give my children a world of adventure, stories, magic, learning, acceptance, coziness, hope, faith, & goodness.

🫧 I wasn't expecting so much passion for life/books to come over me after a short visit to Barnes & Nobel with my mom and daughter in May of this year - but visiting a gorgeous bookshop cafe in a little mountain town today with them, it all came full circle.

[tamaharu]

sociology prof finally told us what his spotify is lets gooo death to professionalism

[sergioguymanproust]

More common than you think. In desert towns ,lonely freeways, abandoned roads and ghost towns. We like to speak of waves of sightings,but the truth is that they have never stopped visiting us,never! Oregon , Washington, California, Nevada ,the reason has been a simple one ,folks that’s where our military bases with intercontinental ballistic weapons are located. They might have closed some but the roads and highways are not places to hitchhike. Well, the only kind of people walking along those lonesome roads are extraterrestrial beings who disguise themselves as humans.There’s been hundreds of abductions in the Western United States for years. Shamans who often visit sacred sites of Native American brothers and sisters and elders that have been killed by the government for disclosing knowledge of aliens and their landing sites, which are mapped by the military and wish for the common folks not to be in the know. Is indeed a very real present danger. Every year about a million Americans go missing,about 40% happens in the South And Northwest states.Words by Sergio GuymanProust.

[gaytravelinfo]

The Acoma House - Gay Friendly Denver, CO

The Acoma House | 1114 Acoma St, Denver, CO 80204 | 1-720-310-2828 The Acoma is a bespoke handcrafted hotel located in the heart of Denver’s Golden Triangle. Each room is a unique work of art, with the interior walls painted by different street muralists commissioned by the owner. To bring these stunning artworks to life, the owner also commissioned Architectural Storytelling, a leading Denver…

[fridge-reviews]

Wasteland 3

Developer: inXile Entertainment Publisher: inXile Entertainment Steam Deck Compatibility?: Playable Rrp: £30.99 (Gog.com, Humble, Steam) Released: 28th August 2020 Available on: Gog.com, Humble, Steam  Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard Approximate game length: 40+ Hours

The Desert Rangers are back and this time they’ve got their sights set on Colorado, which I suppose would mean they aren’t Desert Rangers anymore. Would they be Snow Rangers or maybe Mountain Rangers? It doesn’t really matter as they’re only coming to Colorado for a quick visit… right?

So, as the opening paragraph mentions, this game is set in Colorado rather than Arizona (which is where they are originally from). Which immediately puts the Rangers on the backfoot as it’s full of unfamiliar terrain, conditions and factions. The Rangers have travelled from Arizona in search of supplies that are desperately needed. Thankfully, the apparent ruler of Colorado who goes by the title ‘The Patriarch’ has offered these supplies if you’re willing to help him out. 

When you start the game you are presented with five difficulty settings; Tourist, Rookie, Wastelander, Ranger and Supreme Jerk. You can also choose to enable permadeath as well as an option to make the skill checks that occur in the game more difficult. Once you’ve chosen your difficulty you get to pick your starting duo. You read that right, you get to choose a starting pair of characters from a selection of premade sets, well that is unless you wish to create your own custom duo. From there you’ll be able to find others to join your team once you establish your HQ (which is very early in the game). Speaking of your team, it consists of a maximum of six characters, that being four rangers (including your starting duo) and two companions. That being said, you can also find other companions out in the world such as animal companions if you have the right skill. Though it must be noted, that you have no direct control over those additional companions.

In Wasteland 3 all the characters have a shared inventory which I personally prefer over giving each character an individual one. This game has also done away with giving items weight allowing you to carry a near infinite amount of items. It’s a great improvement over Wasteland 2’s system as I didn’t have to try and balance the equipment out across multiple characters.

As I stated in my review of the previous game in this series, Wasteland 3 has a similar attribute system to the Fallout series except the acronym is CLASSIC (Coordination, Luck, Awareness, Strength, Speed, Intelligence and Charisma). Each of these attributes influences things like how many action points you have in combat, base health and ability to dodge attacks etc.

While playing your characters will gain experience through combat, completing quests and performing actions such as picking locks and disabling traps. As is the way with RPG’s the experience you gain eventually increases the level of your characters. Each level grants extra constitution (HP) and skill points. At later levels each level will also include an attribute point which can be spent on your main attributes (as mentioned above). You’ll also gain Perk points after level four for every other level. Perks can be real game changers to how you play a character (or the game) both in and out of combat. For example, a high enough survival skill will grant a perk that reveals the entire world map and all the points of interest.

Skills come in four varieties; Combat, General, Exploration and Social. As these skills increase they will start to pass thresholds that will unlock perks that you can acquire, though not every skill has perks that are associated with them. Most weapons and armour have a skill assigned to them. This doesn’t mean that a character without the required skill can’t use them, they can, but it will incur a penalty.

Like in the previous game the combat is turn based and uses AP (action points) to represent what a character can do within their turn. Every time a character makes a successful attack a charge gets added to that characters ‘strike meter’. Once this meter is full, a button will glow that allows a special attack that is unique to the type of weapon your character has and never misses (as long as there is a chance to hit, you can’t hit something out of range for example). One thing I really like is that this game gives an indication of what enemies will be in range if you were to move to a different position without actually having to confirm the move itself. It does this by showing visible sight lines to each enemy you could potentially attack. This removes a lot of the uncertainty of whether you should move to a position or not.

The crafting system allows you to create new weapons, armour, mods (for both armour and weapons) as well as ammunition. This can be a real boon when your favoured weapon is low on ammo. The main resource for the crafting system is scrap which was the currency in the previous game.

Similar to Wasteland 2 this game has an overworld you can explore, however this map is more zoomed in than the one in Wasteland 2. I understand it might be to represent that your characters don’t know the terrain and that Colorado is more obscured by the snow fall. But I do wish we could zoom the camera out a bit.

Unlike in most of the Fallout series passing a skill check isn’t always a good thing, sometimes passing the check can give you a worse outcome. However, all the skill checks like that are in dialogue meaning you should be able to tell that passing that check won’t be good (such as insulting the person etc). 

There is a reputation system in place which will influence how your game will turn out. I do believe it’s impossible to have every faction feel positively toward you as this game loves to give you binary choices that will affect attitudes. For me, by the end of the game there was an entire faction that wouldn’t trade with me at all, but weren’t openly hostile, at least not right away.

I truly hope that Inxile creates a fourth game in this series, while I am something of a sucker for post-apocalyptic settings there is something about the world that Wasteland presents that I just love. It’s just the right amount of dark and silly at the same time. Honestly, if you have any love of RPG’s this game is a great one to play.

If this appeals to you perhaps try;

Wasteland 2 Fallout 1 & 2 Baldur’s Gate 3

---- If you’d like to support me I have a Ko-fi, the reviews will continue to be posted donation or not.

[outdoorovernights]

NTK Colorado GT Camping Tent Review

Is there anything more invigorating than spending a night out in the great outdoors? Whether you’re planning a quick getaway or a longer adventure, the shelter you choose can make all the difference. Imagine having a tent that blends easy setup, durability, and true protection. This is where the NTK Colorado GT 2/4/6/8 Person Outdoor Dome Family Camping Tent comes into play. Design and…