Fires Ignite in Colorado

Fires have been burning all day throughout Colorado, increasing allergies and making breathing difficult. High winds and humidity in the single digits have added to the problems, driving flames and spreading smoke and ashes further east.

As the wind dies down this evening, most of the fires have been put out, or at least contained. Summit, Larimer, Morgan, Weld, and Logan Counties, all have dealt or are dealing with small fires.

Hardest hit is Jefferson County where multiple fires took off, the largest of which, the Lower North Fork fire, is still uncontrolled, and burning over 200 acres at this time. So far it has caused mandatory evacuations, for 400 plus homes, in the south west Denver metro area. Roxborough and Conifer have been directly effected by the fire, though no structures have been lost. Firefighters battling it hope to contain it by the end of the night.

Photo Courtesy of Danny Grace

Views from Aurora, in the eastern metro, show just how thick the smoke is. The picture was taken from an area about thirty-five miles away from the fire. It also highlights the return of the infamous red sun, as the sun is choked by the smoke from the fires.

Near Saddle Rock, in the south east metro, it smells as if someone is having a nice bonfire just down the street. The smoke has pervaded itself into everything, luckily the fires have not.

Classic Pick: Lady for a Day

This is a fabulous Frank Capra movie about Apple Annie, an elderly street vendor (May Robson) with tattered clothes but a heart of gold. She wants to impress her daughter who’s coming to visit with her fiance, a hoity-toity Count.

All these years, Robson’s daughter has been away at a Spanish school, and Robson has been signing her letters as Lady Manville and describing in great detail a make-believe high life spent hobnobbing with luminaries; now Robson needs to play the part for real, or risk breaking her daughter’s heart and jeopardizing her marriage. Heart-warming and delightful seem such over-used, trite and flimsy words, but in their purest definition perfectly describe this movie.

The cast combination, though it may be “lesser-known” to classic movie newbies, is magic: Warren William plays the slick gangster who believes his gambling luck depends on Annie’s apples, and so, partly out of superstition, but mostly because he has a soft heart which he tries mightily to conceal, he moves heaven and earth (or, rather, all the underworld figures he can intimidate, blackmail or cajole), directing all his considerable charm and resources to helping Robson pose as the center of a high society circle. The fantasy world he creates is awe-inspiring, populated by colorful characters and played by comedy masters in juicy roles, greats like Glenda Farrell, Nat Pendleton, Ned Sparks and a deceptively doofus-y Guy Kibbee as Robson’s “husband,” “Judge” Manville.

The way they all pull together, despite bickering and threats to quit, and hold the spectacularly ridiculous masquerade together is as suspenseful as any thriller. Nosy reporters smell something’s not right? No problem, kidnap them. Gangsters and their molls don’t sound convincing enough to pass as swells? No problem, write scripts and speeches for them and rehearse everything like a big Broadway production replete with lessons in bearing and posture, much to the puzzlement of the authorities, who seem convinced this weird behavior is all meant for some criminal purpose.

When things finally seem doomed to fall apart, and even Robson loses all hope, Warren William pulls off one whopper of a save, and restores not just the situation at hand but your very faith in humanity. This is one of the movies that falls into the category “they don’t make ‘em like this anymore.”

Battle of The Snow Whites

2012 is apparently the year of Snow White with two remakes of the Grimms fairytale, that Walt Disney turned into animated magic.

Mirror Mirror gets first shot, coming out March 30. This version has more of a comical, musical feel, though you will see Snow White picking up a sword and fighting for her birth right.

The movie stars Julie Roberts as the queen, Lily Collins will be playing Snow White, Armie Hammer as Prince Alcott, and Nathan Lane as the queen's aid Brighton. You'll likely recognize some of the dwarfs, and Sean Bean cameos as the king.

Twenty-three year old Collins has not been in much yet, though you may remember her as the daughter in The Blind Side, where she got to play with Sandra Bullock. Armie Hammer, is also fairly new to the spotlight, though in 2013 he'll be taking up the part of The Lone Ranger.



On June 1, Snow White and The Huntsman charges onto the screen. This adaptation has a much darker more adventurous feel, and could easily be a highlight of the summer. A lot more creativity was put into it as well, with the land of Sanctuary and the changes in the story line.

Charlize Theron stars as a much eviler queen, one who sucks the very life out of girls to maintain her own beauty. Kristen Stewart, of Twilight, plays a Snow White who apparently has spent her life in captivity. She escapes into the dark forest, only to eventually become a warrior princess bent on retaking the kingdom so that all creatures can life freely.

The Hunstman, who is sent to find Snow White for the Queen and ends up becoming her trainer for the war, is being played by Chris Hemsworth. Hemsworth has had a very exciting career so far with such roles as Thor in Thor and The Avenger movies, and he'll also be Jed Eckert, originally played by Patrick Swayze, in the Red Dawn remake due out November 2.

The Ranger Rides Again

Hi-yo silver and away we go into another remake. That's right, it's time for The Lone Ranger to return to screens. The movie is set to release May 13, 2013.

Playing the Lone Ranger is, little known, Armie Hammer. Armie is getting more and more of the spotlight though. He plays Prince Alcott in Mirror Mirror, due March 30, 2012, the first of two Snow White remakes.

The real star though will be Johnny Depp, who has been cast in the role of Tonto. He'll no doubt bring his rather unique acting abilities to the role, and steal the show.

Some of have raised issue with a non Native American playing the role. When asked about it Depp's response to EW.com was,"I have some Native American somewhere down the line. My great grandmother was quite a bit of Native American, she grew up Cherokee or maybe Creek Indian. Makes sense in terms of coming from Kentucky, which is rife with Cherokee and Creek."

Other notables that are set to play parts include Tom Wilkinson and Helena Bonham Carter, who seems to keep finding herself in movies with Depp.

So far the budget of the movie, is well over $200 million. Multiple studios rejected the film, until Disney picked it up.

United States Joins Japanese Condemnation of North Korean Plans

The United States has joined Japan in issuing warnings to North Korea over a planned rocket launch. The rocket, which North Korea says is designed to carry a satellite into space, is scheduled to launch in mid April, in celebration of what would have been Kim Il-sung's 100th birthday.

Japan, the United States, and others say that the rocket launch is a test of a long range missile. Such a test would be in violation of current agreements between the governments.

To avoid issues with Japan, North Korea has moved the trajectory to a more southerly course, that should avoid Japanese airspace completely. But Japan is still reading missile defenses in case the rocket crosses into their airspace, and may decide to shoot it down.

The new course takes it towards Australia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell stated that such a trajectory has never been seen before. Adding that the possibly effected countries have been asked to join the condemnation of the launch.

Royal Wedding Crashers

John and Frances Canning had just finished their vows when their wedding was crashed by some surprise guests.


Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip were visiting the Manchester Town Hall at the same time as the wedding, and decided to pay their respects to the couple.


"It was very special. It was so lovely that she took the trouble to speak to us," bride Frances Canning told The Sun newspaper. "We're going to have to get a bigger wedding album now. Not many people will have pictures like that."

Jarno Smeets and His Flight are Fake

For a few days man could fly. Or at least many thought so.

The world's press was fooled into believing the story of Jarno Smeets, and his claim that he had made custom wings, which enabled him to fly.

Floris Kaayk, now admits that he pretended to be Smeets and faked the flight in an online storytelling experiment. He had stood by the original story until the video was proven to be fake. After that his story started falling apart as deeper investigations were done.

Experts at George Lucas's Industrial Lights and Magic were involved in the take down of the video.

Kaayk faked not just the video, flight, and his name; but also created an entire background for his Smeets character, to make him seem real. Investigators found that the companies and university that he stated he had worked for and studied at, had no knowledge of any such person.

Charges of fraud are being considered against Kaayk. Though what success any would have, are unknown as Kaayk did not take any money nor harm anyone.

Remembering: Queen Elizabeth I

March 24, 1603 Queen Elizabeth I dies after ruling England for forty-four years.

Under Elizabeth I's rule England had grown into a truly global power. Helping establish her as one of England's greatest monarchs in all of history.

Elizabeth I established a permanent Protestant church, fought off Catholic influences that wished to see England subjugated, and encouraged the Calvinists of Scotland.

One of the most famous victories for her England, came in 1588, against the Spanish Armada. A combination of determined English sailors and weather saw England take Spain's spot as the world's greatest navy.

She also greatly encouraged exploration, which later helped ensure England's dominance in North America, and other parts of the world.

The English Renaissance took place during her reign, a time where artists such as William Shakespeare thrived into greatness.

Elizabeth I feared that a marriage would endanger her authority, and so never married. This led to her nickname "The Virgin Queen". It was because of this nickname that Virginia was named after her.

Because she had no heirs, her nearest relative King James of Scotland became ruler of England, upon her death. James would unite Scotland and England, beginning the formation of Great Britain or the United Kingdom.

Colorado's Welfare Drug Test Law Moves Forward

Colorado's bill to drug test welfare recipients gained a step forward as it passed the house's appropriations committee, on Friday. The amendment it took to pass there, adds a requirement for all elected officials, including the governor, to have to pass drug tests as well.

Opponents of the bill state that it plays on inaccurate stereotypes of minorities and low-income people. They also warn that the state could face legal challenges because courts in other states have struck down similar drug-testing programs, ruling that such plans amount to an unconstitutional search of people. Concerns also have risen that it would cost more to implement, than the money it could possibly save.

Backers of the bill say that it is needed make sure government benefits are going to people who truly need the help, not people who are using the money for drugs. As to the cost, they say it is actually much cheaper than the numbers from the opposition suggest.

The bill is expected to pass the Republican held house. However, the Democrat controlled senate is not likely to allow the bill to survive.

Similar bills have failed in other states, such as Wyoming. But earlier this week Florida Governor Rick Scott signed such a law into place.

Mystery of Clintonville, Wisconsin Solved

The mystery of Clintonville, Wisconsin has apparently been solved. The mysterious noises that had begun to plague the town were identified by scientists as small barely measurable earthquakes.

Ironically though, scientists had previously ruled out earthquakes. Now scientists say that the noises were caused by a combination of the unique bedrock under the town, and the shallowness of the quakes.

The largest quake measured at 1.5 on the richter scale. So small that most seismographs are not regularly calibrated to read instances that low.

It is unknown for how much longer the quakes will occur, or why they've been only really happening at night. Only time will tell when and if they'll stop. The reasoning behind them, may never be known.