Growing Up Aspen

08/24/2026

Another local voice!

https://www.aspentimes.com/news/moon-mondays-whats-really-running-the-show/?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_campaign=Image&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawT5g3FwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMUM2MHhGM3hTc3N0UGw0Y2VzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeheIlJSt2k-mgIrvv74vn24xL7_tf6PvVMYSEU99AVuTsIDr9L40iG1dIUhU_aem_xaTrelyunklXBJVZhEZIfA =1787515703

The lunar eclipse is coming! The lunar eclipse is coming! Chicken Little, “The sky is falling,” nonsense aside, Thursday night brings one of the most visually stunning sky events to behold. I’m pumped because I...

08/24/2026

Another Aspen kid strikes it big!

https://www.aspentimes.com/news/maria-semples-go-gentle-named-oprah-book-club-pick-ahead-of-aspen-literary-festival/?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_campaign=Image&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawT5Y4dwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMUlpYTgxZ0ZRV1NkZDYyS0JzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe1ClfqTJCJiLGqHJMNOmvurwhc7-kX5K9mn6VCpN-6uV7mHCK5s7AiS2_yY0_aem_l-2_5F8x_DlQ8rejXyojkA =1787436952

Bestselling author Maria Semple's latest novel,

08/24/2026

Bringing back an Aspen Times classic tradition!

Photo taken at the South Santiam River in Oregon!

The Aspen Times

08/23/2026

Growing Up Aspen: Kirk Douglas
( The Playhouse & ISIS Theater)
Double feature #729

Kirk Douglas, Stanley Kubrick, and the Indomitable Human Spirit

Pairing Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory (1957) with his widescreen historical epic Spartacus (1960) forms a towering double bill on the cost of moral integrity, charting Kirk Douglas as a jaw-clenching champion of humanity standing firm against the heartless machinery of empire and military authority.

What makes this pairing so powerful is watching the fertile, volatile collaboration between a fearless star-producer and a budding master director examine how principled men wage war against corrupt institutions. In Paths of Glory, Douglas delivers a performance of blistering intensity as Colonel Dax, a World War I French officer who desperately defends three scapegoated soldiers against a heartless court-martial, creating a sparse, razor-sharp anti-war masterpiece where the tracking shots through mud-caked trenches feel like a descent into moral madness. Then, scale up the canvas to the Technicolor grandeur of Spartacus, where Douglas embodies the legendary Thracian gladiator leading a slave rebellion against the autocratic might of Rome, transforming a Hollywood sword-and-sandal spectacle into a deeply felt parable about freedom, brotherhood, and collective defiance.

Watched back-to-back, these two Kubrick-Douglas collaborations showcase cinema at its most searing and heroic: one stripping away military vanity to expose the cold hypocrisy of power, and the other giving us an enduring icon of rebellion whose spirit remains unbroken even in the shadow of the cross.

08/22/2026

Another local voice!

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Aspen’s a funny place.  Not necessarily “ha-ha” funny, but more like peculiar. Case in point: The other day, I was riding my bike into town over the ol’ Marolt Bridge. While performing a right turn...

08/21/2026

Another local voice!

https://www.aspentimes.com/news/saddle-sore-i-wonder-where-it-is-today/?fbclid=IwY2xjawT1oONwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR4hVFTUI9w_ABf3h27CvFljI-orM62CLlhj73GIGM4QXm1OmTM-cE7cgIe72w_aem_hYeojW7Pv4xrFJFTNpIC8w

It was there, La Femme Sauvage, “The Wild Woman Gallery,” just down Redstone Boulevard from the Redstone Inn, where I got my real taste of the Ruby of the Rockies. My girlfriend, Mary Jo Van...

08/21/2026

Growing Up Aspen: Christopher Walken
( The Playhouse & ISIS Theater)
Double feature #728

Christopher Walken’s Burden of Unearthly Sight

Pairing David Cronenberg’s The Dead Zone (1983) with Gregory Widen’s The Prophecy (1995) creates a chilling, metaphysical double feature that showcases Christopher Walken at his absolute best, moving from a quiet, tragic soul cursed with unwanted clairvoyance to a menacing, leather-clad archangel waging a celestial war on Earth.

What makes this pairing so fascinating is watching Walken use his singular, ethereal screen presence to explore two radically different sides of divine burden and supernatural foresight. In The Dead Zone, Walken gives one of the most gentle, deeply human performances of his career as Johnny Smith, a schoolteacher who wakes from a five-year coma with the agonizing ability to see the traumatic futures of anyone he touches, turning a Stephen King adaptation into a haunting, sorrowful tragedy about the moral weight of knowing what lies ahead. Then, flip the coin twelve years later for The Prophecy, where Walken embraces a dark, theatrical swagger as the Archangel Gabriel, descended to Earth with a cold, jealous fury to steal a dark soul and wage a second war in Heaven.

Watched back-to-back, these two films highlight an actor who understands better than anyone how to project an eerie, otherworldly intensity, showing us a man shattered by the burden of mortal foresight in the first, and a cosmic force relentless in his terrifying celestial purpose in the second.

08/21/2026

For this one I am pulling from my influences of Nick DeWolf... Apple and tree.

Happy Trails Animation’s entry into this year’s Future Vision XPRIZ...

08/20/2026

Growing up in the high-altitude quiet of Aspen during those unfiltered decades taught us that a town isn't just defined by its soaring peaks, but by the wild, creative souls who carved out its culture.

In a reflection on our shared roots, composer, sound designer, and fellow Aspen native Tai Vare bridges the gap between past and present, honoring the rich heritage and unspoken history that shaped all of us who ran free beneath those mountain skies.

It's a reminder that while the town around us has evolved, the foundational spirit, forged through late-night jam sessions, creative freedom, and an absolute reverence for the land, remains deeply alive in those who carry its story forward.

The history of building Aspen
https://youtu.be/Ep1VvhVn1ws?si=_CE0sXZeTWUCQuZi

Here are 20 hashtags with large, highly engaged audiences to maximize the reach of that story across social media platforms:

In this episode we look into the history of Aspen Colorado and expl...