Tuesday, 1/31/2013

 2023 Mileage: 710.7

During my ride this afternoon, I immersed myself in music by watching the 1995 movie Mr. Holland's Opus.

This gave me a ride of 30.5 virtual miles in 2:16.

Trailer for Mr. Holland's Opus

Monday, 1/30/2023

2023 Mileage: 680.2

During my ride this afternoon, I watched fthe 1988 movie Rain Man, featuring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman as brothers, reconnecting after a lifetime apart.

This gave me a ride of 31.7 virtual miles in 2:10.

Trailer for Rain Man

Sunday, 1/29/2023

2023 Mileage: 648.5

During my ride this afternoon, I watched for the third time since learning about it early this year, the Disney Channel movie Tiger Town. I watched in on January 11 and 12 also. It's a bit surprising that I would watch it again so soon, but a couple of factors came into play.

(1) I frequently take Sunday off. Today I wanted to ride, but keep it quite brief, and Tiger Town is the shortest movie in my rotation.

(2) I just love it, with its heavily featured use of Tiger Stadium, and the appearance (both video of audio) of dear Ernie Harwell, the Tigers' long--time, legendary, and Hall of Fame broadcaster.

This gave me a ride of 17.6 virtual miles in 1:14.

Saturday, 1/28/2023

2023 Mileage: 630.9

During my ride this afternoon, I watched the tremendously powerful and moving 2014 science fiction movie Interstellar, which I had seen by myself in the theater when it was first released. What is so strikingly moving about it isn't the science fiction aspects, but rather those aspects relating to our humanity. And its 2:44 running time gave me a ride of 41.2 virtual miles.

Wikipedia says of the movie,  "It received acclaim for its performances, direction, screenplay, musical score, visual effects, ambition, themes, and emotional weight. It has also received praise from many astronomers for its scientific accuracy and portrayal of theoretical astrophysics. Since its premiere, Interstellar gained a cult following, and now is regarded by many sci-fi experts as one of the best science-fiction films of all time."

Mention of praise for its musical score interested me, because I hadn't really noticed it as being particularly good previously—but today, although there is no grand sweeping theme to really grab one's attention, I did notice how very well it is crafted, and how, in its multiplicity of details, it supports the emotional content of the film beautifully.

Trailer for Interstellar

 

Friday, 1/27/2023

 2023 Mileage: 589.7

I guess it's obvious that I'm getting anxious for the return of the best game. Today, as on several days recently, I watched another baseball movie during my ride. This one was The Natural (1984), starring Robert Redford.

This gave me a ride of 31.1 virtual miles in 2:14.

Trailer for The Natural

 

Thursday, 1/26/2023

2023 Mileage: 558.6

This afternoon during my ride, I watched my much beloved movie The Sound of Music.

This gave me a ride of 36.9 virtual miles in 2:53.

Trailer for The Sound of Music

 

Wednesday, 1/25/2023

2023 Mileage: 511.7

During yesterday's ride, I watched the first half of the baseball movie For Love of the Game. Today, though I had considered picking it up where I left off and watching the rest of it, I decided instead to restart it and watch the entire movie. And I find that it is rapidly moving up my list of favorite baseball movies. I don't know if it edges out Field of Dreams yet, but it's getting right up there!

This gave me a ride of 30.0 virtual miles in 2:14.

Trailer for For Love of the Game

 

Tuesday, 1/24/2023

2023 Mileage: 491.7

This afternoon during my ride, I watched the baseball movie For Love of the Game. But because I was squeezed for time, I couldn't watch the whole thing, so I just did the first half.

This gave me a ride of 17.4 virtual miles in 1:15.

Trailer for For Love of the Game

 

Monday, 1/23/2023

2023 Mileage: 474.3

During today's ride, I watched the movie Apollo 13 with fascination, as it transported me right back to the intensely fascinated boy I was with the American space program in April 1970.

This gave me a ride of 32.3 virtual miles in 2:14.

Trailer for Apollo 13

 

Saturday, 1/21/2023

2023 Mileage: 442.0

The movie Titanic was released on December 19, 1997, and in  honor of its 25th anniversary (just over a month ago), I watched it during my ride today. This effort tuckered me out nicely, and gave me a ride of 41.3 virtual miles in 3:07.

Trailer for Titanic

 

Friday, 1/20/2023

2023 Mileage: 400.7

Yesterday during my ride, I watched the first half of the 1990 movie Dances with Wolves, which is over 3 hours long. Today I finished it up, giving me a ride of 19.8 virtual miles in 1:24, and this pushed me over another mileage milestone (400) early in this new year.

Trailer for Dances with Wolves

 

Thursday, 1/19/2023

 2023 Mileage: 380.9

This afternoon i rode 22.9 virtual miles in 1:37 while watching the first half of the epic 1990 movie Dances With Wolves. This is most notable to me because when the kids were very young, and I had separated from their mother, a couple of years before marrying Michelle, I would sometimes play the powerful and very moving (almost haunting, I would say) soundtrack, and Christy, only 7 or 8 at the time, would moan, "OH, Dad, not the Wolves again!".

Trailer for Dances with Wolves

 

Wednesday, 1/18/2023

2023 Mileage: 358.0

This afternoon i rode 32,2 virtual miles in 2:18, while watching the original Mary Poppins (1964), after having watched its 2018 sequel last Tuesday.

Trailer for Mary Poppins

 

Tuesday, 1;/17/2023

 2023 Mileage: 325.8

This morning I rode 23.1 virtual miles in 1:46, while watching one of my favorite movies—the baseball classic Field of Dreams.

Trailer for Field of Dreams

 

Sunday, 1/15/2023

2023 Mileage: 312.6

I went for a good hike yesterday with my friends Tom Brown and Tom Clark, and so took the day off from riding.

Today I got back to it with a ride of 33.7 virtual miles in 2:30, while watching The Music Man.

Trailer for The Music Man

 

Friday, 1/13/2023

 2023 Mileage: 268.9

This afternoon, I rode 27.3 virtual miles in 1:57 while watching Pretty Woman, a 1990 movie (not long before Michelle and I met) that Michelle just loves, and I've come to enjoy also.

Trailer for Pretty Woman

 

Thursday, 1/12/2023

 2023 Mileage: 241.6

Today, I was hoping to do a somewhat longer ride. However, recently I composed a flute solo for one of my fellow members of our church handbell choir, and we are rehearsing it (with me playing the piano accompaniment) late this afternoon before our 6:00 handbell rehearsal.

Needing to spend time on some last-minute practice to firm up my technical control on some of the spots, I decided to settle for a shorter ride, and so watched again Tiger Town, which I enjoyed so much yesterday.

This gave me a virtual ride of 17.6 miles in 1:14.

 

Wednesday, 1/11/2023

2023 Mileage: 224.0

This afternoon, I rode while watching Tiger Town, a 1983 movie that was shot in Detroit and was the first movie ever shown on the Disney Channel.

Totally leaving aside its quality as a movie, it would have been far and away worth watching because of its inclusion of shots of Tiger Stadium, as well as Detroit figures such as iconic longtime (and Hall of Fame) manager Sparky Anderson, broadcasters Ray Land and Al Ackerman, and, best of all, beloved and legendary broadcaster Ernie Harwell.

Most poignantly, early in the film, a shot is shown of Tiger Stadium, and a character says, "Oh, it'll be here forever!" One could only wish that were so ... Michelle and I attended the penultimate game ever played there, on September 26, 1999.

I hadn't known of this movie, nor had I known that the song "Go Get 'Em, Tigers," which features prominently in the late part of the film and was important in the Tigers' 1968 World Championship season that stamped me as a fan for life, was shown in the credits to have had its lyrics written by Ernie Harwell. I will most certainly come back to it again, though.

This gave me a virtual ride of 17.7 miles in 1:18.

 

Tuesday, 1/10/23

 2023 Mileage: 206.3

This afternoon, I rode while watching Mary Poppins Returns, a splendid sequel coming more than 50 years after the 1965 original. Michelle and I had seen it in the theater on New Year's Eve 2018.

This gave me a virtual ride of 30.0 miles in 2:09.

 Trailer for Mary Poppins Returns

Monday, 1/9/2023

2023 Mileage: 176.3

After taking yesterday off, I got back to riding in a big day today by riding while watching my beloved The Sound of Music, for 35.0 virtual miles in 2:54.

A friend tells me that when the movie was first released in theaters, back in the sixties, she was a student at the University of Michigan, and she used to come into town and watch it every day for I can't remember how many months consecutively. I used to wonder how this was possible, but I've to see it as a film of such amazing quality and beauty, richness and depth, that I can now see easily how it would hold up to such a degree of repetition..

Trailer for The Sound of Music

Saturday, 1/7/2023

2023 Mileage: 141.3

This afternoon, I took it easy on my ride, and just allowed myself to ride to my all-time favorite movie: On Golden Pond. This gave me a ride of 23.3 virtual miles in 1:49,.

Trailer for On Golden Pond

Friday, 1/6/2023

2023 Mileage: 118.0

Today, after taking yesterday off for no good reason other than tiredness and my need to take a nap, I rode while watching the movie Les Miserables. This flooded me with reams of memories, dating back roughly thirty-five years to the time when my dear friends Dave and Cynthia Lenz introduced me to this classical musical, of which I had never heard. Then when I was teaching at Olivet College 1987-93 (mostly as choir director, although also teaching private voice and other music classes as well), I taught some of its songs to several of my voice students.

This lengthy film gave me a ride of 32.7 virtual miles in 2:17, and put me over my first mileage milestone of the year (100).

Trailer for Les Miserables

Wednesday, 1/4/2023

 2023 Mileage: 85.3

This afternoon, I rode while watching The American President, one of my favorite movies, and one I chose today for its relatively short length. This gave me a ride of 25.0 virtual miles in 1:48.

Trailer for The American President

Tuesday, 1/3/23

2023 Mileage: 60.3

This afternoon, I rode while watching Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, thus completing my entire survey of the series (as it stands so far).

December 20 - The Last Jedi (#8)

December 21 - The Force Awakens (#7)

    December 22 - The Rise of Skywalker (#9)

December 23 - The Phantom Menace (#1)

December 29 - Attack of the Clones (#2)

December 30 - Revenge of the Sith (#3)

December 31 - A New Hope (#4)

January 2 - The Empire Strikes Back (#5) 

January 3 - Return of the Jedi (#6)

This gave me a ride of 30.1 virtual miles in 2:08.

Trailer for Return of the Jedi

Monday, 1/2/2023

2023 Mileage: 30.2

My daughter Christy found it quite unusual for me to decide to take the first day of the new year off from riding yesterday. Today, though, I continued my riding to the Star Wars series of movies, doing 20.2 virtual miles in 2:02 while watching The Empire Strikes Back. This 1980 movie, the second to be released chronologically, is intended to be the 5th in the total series of 9.

Trailer to Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back