The upshot is the story now exists present, past, future in that order, with narratives that center on “we” then Terry, Sam, Matthew, and Gen constantly moving backward and forward in time, though the story is actually taking place on a single day, the Fourth of July, in The Big House.
Continue Reading Add comment November 11th, 2007
The escalator leads down several stories to the rail pit beneath the terminal. Apparently a train has just departed, for maybe a dozen people stand here on platform A. Probably twenty minutes before the next train arrives so I set my luggage down next to a bench and sit.
Platform A extends beyond my sight to both the right and left, but I see in both directions where the terminal ends and sunshine begins. This must be what it’s like to have tunnel vision. I know there is more to see than what’s before me, but I can’t know what’s out there unless I move.
Continue Reading Add comment November 10th, 2007
What have I learned? I’ve learned that I’m on to something, that this is the right track, and that the necessary tools are falling into place for me. Remember (and I do) that when I started there literally was no World Wide Web, so that suddenly fell into place. Even though, video and even audio editing equipment was too expensive, but all that’s changed, and that’s also huge.
Continue Reading Add comment November 10th, 2007
A digital clock high above the Customs desks reads 10.30. I can see by my watch, without releasing the small suitcase, that it’s three-thirty a.m. back in Colorado.
When the queue finally yields a place at the Customs desk, I notice the Customs officer’s demeanor hasn’t changed much since 1982, though he’s surely a different man. His left hand, which seems abnormally full and round, reaches toward me. I halt its progress with my passport. Hair protrudes from beneath his starched cuffs and collar, and he perspires a lot, compounding the plight of his obvious boredom.
“How long will you be staying?”
Continue Reading Add comment November 3rd, 2007
Recently, I was devastated to discover an Aspen untruth of criminal proportions. I’ve lived in this town for five years now, all the while believing we get a steady 300 inches of snow per year. Ask any Bartender, Ski Instructor, or Lift Op how much snow Aspen receives annually and they’ll spit out “300 inches” as if it had been burned onto their forehead with a cattle prod.
Continue Reading 3 comments October 20th, 2007
by Deb Weisman
Here’s something most of us might not think about-stretching as a daily form of exercise. Okay, so your heart isn’t pumping and your legs arent pounding the pavement, but stretching has awesome benefits for the body. Do you know that feeling when you wake in the morning- a huge stretch feels soooo good! We often see people stretching before and after a workout, but the art of stretching can be a workout in itself. It gets the blood flowing, loosens tight muscles, increases elasticity and flexibility, and can help reduce stress. Itcan also give you fresh energy. Give these simple poses a try: Raise your arms above your head and grow long. Sway the body slowly to the right, and then to the left. Take a baby back bend if it feels right. Head to knee stretches are great for the lower back and hamstrings. Try a few cat and cow stretches as you kneel in a taple-top position. Meow and moo, (kids love this!) Lastly, lay on your back and do a few restorative spinal twists by gently taking the knees to one side and the head to the other, arms are out like a T. Always remember to breathe while stretching, holding in the breath does no good. Incorporate stretching at least once a day into your life-in the morning when you rise, during a stroll on your lunch, or even at the office for an afternoon refresher. Meow!
Add comment June 1st, 2007
ASPEN, COLORADO (Post Time News)--The second time around has been even better than the first for Aspen mystery writer Catherine O'Connell.
The second time around, O'Connell's book "Well Bred and Dead: A High Society Mystery" (HarperCollins) went into a second printing on the very first day of publication last week. The prestitigious Kirkus Reviews called it "a wry look at the lifestyles of the rich and an amusing mystery with a twist in its tail." Other reviews have been equally complementary.
Continue Reading Add comment January 30th, 2007
Don't forget the whole idea of the Aspen Institute to begin with was "the Aspen Ideas as the cross-fertilization of minds." Co-founder Walter Paepcke's idea of the Idea was to bring together the best noggins across all kinds of disciplines--including the arts--and allow them to hammer away.
The Aspen Ideas Festival is, of course, that very idea made manifest in a conference now steaming into its third year. But Aspen resident Ken Adelman, the former United Nations ambassador and noted neoconservative, has also taken the notion of cross-fertilization into his beloved realm of the arts.
Continue Reading 1 comment January 22nd, 2007
No good deed goes unpunished and sometimes a bad gets you one straight in the nose. Just ask Arnold Bagdikian, the ex-prosecutor who can’t seem to break free of the billionaire O’Kells. The O’Kells warn him to stay away from disputing Eleanor O’Kell’s will, but even before Baggie can get scared off, the O’Kells might after the woman he loves or the woman he is making love to.
There’s nothing pretty about the picture of what happens next to Sam Albright, the waitress from Jimmy’s that everybody loves. In this chapter of DROP DEAD BEAUTIFUL by Michael Conniff, the Bag Man wakes up with a headache that can only get worse when he goes looking for Sam.
Continue Reading Add comment December 10th, 2006
As per usual in DROP DEAD BEAUTIFUL, Arnold Bagdikian—the former prosecutor, Court TV commentator, and author of the bestselling DEAD IN THE WATER—can’t make up his mind. After their Teatro tryst in Denver, he is falling in love with Amanda Madison all over again, and that means he has to go to Jimmy’s in Aspen to tell Sam Albright, the waitress everyone loves, that it’s all over now, baby blue.
Some people go to Aspen to start over and/or to escape the past, but Baggie can’t get away from the O’Kells, the billionaires who are only too happy to kill everyone Bagdikian loves if it comes to that. And he’s not going to let Charles Evans, the O’Kell errand boy, push him around. In Chapter 2 of the exclusive Aspen Post serial mystery DROP DEAD BEAUTIFUL, Baggie tries to let go of Sam Albright because he still loves Amanda Madison. If only it were that easy.
Continue Reading 5 comments December 5th, 2006
