Welcome back to Thrak Attack! What's your adventure? This week had a lot of actual adventures. We hiked up Camelback Mountain, went to 2 hiking trails in Sedona, and attempted to go through Tonto Natural Bridge. All of that, plus a soundtrack to the weekend by Ariana Grande but before we get to that, let's go through some news!
NEWS!
-2 new games have been added to Nintendo Switch Online including Super Mario Bros. 2 and Kirby's Adventure.
-Xbox Live is now Live on Nintendo Switch for some reason.
-The Mariachi Coco Celebration in California Adventure is coming to EPCOT's Mexico pavillion in the spring to start the integration of that IP into that section of the park.
-Oreo the raccoon, the inspiration and model for Rocket the Raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy, sadly passed away this week.
-Wicked is getting it's own movie in 2021. Musical fans rejoice!
TRAILERS!
Aladdin got it's second trailer this weekend and was revealed at the Grammy's (which we won't talk about because it's a joke now). The trailer features some iconic scenes like Jafar leading Aladdin to the Cave of Wonders, Prince Ali's parade, and Aladdin summoning the genie for the first time. It's going to be an interesting live action interpretation with a very odd looking Will Smith genie. In my opinion they should have made a CGI rendering of the original genie and used all of Robin William's dialogue from the first one, but that's just me.
REVIEWS
Friday morning, I woke up around 7, packed my bags, ate some breakfast and then got picked up and taken to the Royal Palms in Phoenix. My family was staying there during my sister's work conference and I got a nice tour of the place. It's a beautiful and historic old hotel with a lot of great nooks and crannies to relax in. When my sister was done work we headed over to Camelback Mountain. This one of the most popular hiking trails in Phoenix and also one of the most difficult. The real reason why it's difficult is you have to park a mile away from the trail head and walk up the street which is already at a steep incline. I made the hike up the first hump and decided that was it for me and as I was relaxing at the top I made a new friend in the form of a tiger whiptail, a cool little blue tailed lizard.
After our hike was over we made the trek up north to Sedona and we stopped for dinner at a cool restaurant called "Pisa Lisa". It was a cool little pizza shop that was clearly an old Pizza Hut. The only issue I had with this place was that we had to sit at a community table which I think are a waste of time, space, and resources. They had trouble with our check because we weren't sitting next to each other, It was dumb. Other than that the pizza was great and they were playing great 90's rock music the entire time including Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Epic, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
The next morning we woke up and had breakfast at the Sedona Bakery which sadly does not sell Taylor Ham anymore and then made our way to the first hiking trail called Teacup trail that leads right up to Coffeepot Rock. Great names! Right? How about the street leading up to it called "Maxwell House Drive"! Very clever! Anyways the hike was simple enough but we made it to a great viewpoint of the rocks and neighborhoods around the are. We saw some mountain bluebirds and was a very peaceful and easy hike.
Next we tried to get into the Seven Sacred Pools trail but the lot was full and we didn't feel like walking on the street again so we decided against it. We then found a little trail called the Sedona Caves trail. It was an awesome half a mile trail right off of interstate 89A with no signage whatsoever. If I didn't find it on all trails we wouldn't have known it was there. About half a mile down the road we dipped down the rock face and into the caves. It was an awesome trail with great views of the red rocks and the flowing Oak Creek.
After that we made the snow filled journey to Payson and to the Tonto Natural bridge. Unfortunately Pine Creek was so swollen that we were unable to hike through the bridge but we got to go down the Anna Mae (they must like Japanese cartoons) Trail right by the creek. It's such a great adventure but unfortunately was cut short when we were stopped by the rangers before crossing the street. It's a magnificent sight to see though so if you're looking for a cool adventure, I diffidently recommend it.
After that we headed south to Phoenix and had dinner at Hillside Spot in Ahwatuckee and their delicious corn on the cob and headed home. The soundtrack to this weekend's adventures was...
"Thank U, Next" by Ariana Grande- It is the full length album by Ariana Grande featuring the hit title track. It's a pop album which is usually not great and I have some qualms with the album but I cannot fault it for being a product of pop music. Ariana is a wonderful and talented artist who has a lot to say on this album. So let's get to it with compliment sandwich.
This album comes from Ariana's heart and soul. You can tell she cares about the music and that it's her outlet to the emotions and feelings she's been going through. Stardom hits heart and hit's harder when those you love lose themselves. This album is a product of that. It never takes itself too seriously though and always is light on it's feet but you can tell the deep undertones of struggle in the album. The songs that I enjoyed were "Imagine", "Needy", "Bad Idea", and "Thank u, Next". There are some deep songs in this disguised as pop hits. What I didn't like about it is the amount of explicit content in this album. In my mind, Arianna is still the Nickelodean and teen icon of 5 years ago. I know in my mind that isn't the case but I also know that my students still idolize her as such. She has lots of inappropriate language and subject matters that these kiddos are now exposed to. I'm not saying to steer away from those subjects but just know that the youth of America is looking up to her and she should treat that as such.
That's really all I have to say about it, my review wasn't really a compliment sandwich but oh well! Get over it! I don't love this album though it's not my style of music I usually listen to, However, I do see it's merit and the production value and recording quality is fantastic. There's your sandwich! Ha! Anyways, it's not going on my ultimate shelf but the four songs I mentioned before have made it to the 2019 playlist.
So there is my review of this weekend's adventures and music journey's I've been on. I hope you enjoy hearing about them and thank you for reading. You can also watch this week's episode on Youtube on Wednesday's video review and listen to it on the Podcast review on all of the podcasting platforms. Thank you for following my adventures and keep going on your own!
All the Best, Ross
NEWS!
-2 new games have been added to Nintendo Switch Online including Super Mario Bros. 2 and Kirby's Adventure.
-Xbox Live is now Live on Nintendo Switch for some reason.
-The Mariachi Coco Celebration in California Adventure is coming to EPCOT's Mexico pavillion in the spring to start the integration of that IP into that section of the park.
-Oreo the raccoon, the inspiration and model for Rocket the Raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy, sadly passed away this week.
-Wicked is getting it's own movie in 2021. Musical fans rejoice!
TRAILERS!
Aladdin got it's second trailer this weekend and was revealed at the Grammy's (which we won't talk about because it's a joke now). The trailer features some iconic scenes like Jafar leading Aladdin to the Cave of Wonders, Prince Ali's parade, and Aladdin summoning the genie for the first time. It's going to be an interesting live action interpretation with a very odd looking Will Smith genie. In my opinion they should have made a CGI rendering of the original genie and used all of Robin William's dialogue from the first one, but that's just me.
REVIEWS
Friday morning, I woke up around 7, packed my bags, ate some breakfast and then got picked up and taken to the Royal Palms in Phoenix. My family was staying there during my sister's work conference and I got a nice tour of the place. It's a beautiful and historic old hotel with a lot of great nooks and crannies to relax in. When my sister was done work we headed over to Camelback Mountain. This one of the most popular hiking trails in Phoenix and also one of the most difficult. The real reason why it's difficult is you have to park a mile away from the trail head and walk up the street which is already at a steep incline. I made the hike up the first hump and decided that was it for me and as I was relaxing at the top I made a new friend in the form of a tiger whiptail, a cool little blue tailed lizard.
After our hike was over we made the trek up north to Sedona and we stopped for dinner at a cool restaurant called "Pisa Lisa". It was a cool little pizza shop that was clearly an old Pizza Hut. The only issue I had with this place was that we had to sit at a community table which I think are a waste of time, space, and resources. They had trouble with our check because we weren't sitting next to each other, It was dumb. Other than that the pizza was great and they were playing great 90's rock music the entire time including Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Epic, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
The next morning we woke up and had breakfast at the Sedona Bakery which sadly does not sell Taylor Ham anymore and then made our way to the first hiking trail called Teacup trail that leads right up to Coffeepot Rock. Great names! Right? How about the street leading up to it called "Maxwell House Drive"! Very clever! Anyways the hike was simple enough but we made it to a great viewpoint of the rocks and neighborhoods around the are. We saw some mountain bluebirds and was a very peaceful and easy hike.
Next we tried to get into the Seven Sacred Pools trail but the lot was full and we didn't feel like walking on the street again so we decided against it. We then found a little trail called the Sedona Caves trail. It was an awesome half a mile trail right off of interstate 89A with no signage whatsoever. If I didn't find it on all trails we wouldn't have known it was there. About half a mile down the road we dipped down the rock face and into the caves. It was an awesome trail with great views of the red rocks and the flowing Oak Creek.
After that we made the snow filled journey to Payson and to the Tonto Natural bridge. Unfortunately Pine Creek was so swollen that we were unable to hike through the bridge but we got to go down the Anna Mae (they must like Japanese cartoons) Trail right by the creek. It's such a great adventure but unfortunately was cut short when we were stopped by the rangers before crossing the street. It's a magnificent sight to see though so if you're looking for a cool adventure, I diffidently recommend it.
After that we headed south to Phoenix and had dinner at Hillside Spot in Ahwatuckee and their delicious corn on the cob and headed home. The soundtrack to this weekend's adventures was...
"Thank U, Next" by Ariana Grande- It is the full length album by Ariana Grande featuring the hit title track. It's a pop album which is usually not great and I have some qualms with the album but I cannot fault it for being a product of pop music. Ariana is a wonderful and talented artist who has a lot to say on this album. So let's get to it with compliment sandwich.
This album comes from Ariana's heart and soul. You can tell she cares about the music and that it's her outlet to the emotions and feelings she's been going through. Stardom hits heart and hit's harder when those you love lose themselves. This album is a product of that. It never takes itself too seriously though and always is light on it's feet but you can tell the deep undertones of struggle in the album. The songs that I enjoyed were "Imagine", "Needy", "Bad Idea", and "Thank u, Next". There are some deep songs in this disguised as pop hits. What I didn't like about it is the amount of explicit content in this album. In my mind, Arianna is still the Nickelodean and teen icon of 5 years ago. I know in my mind that isn't the case but I also know that my students still idolize her as such. She has lots of inappropriate language and subject matters that these kiddos are now exposed to. I'm not saying to steer away from those subjects but just know that the youth of America is looking up to her and she should treat that as such.
That's really all I have to say about it, my review wasn't really a compliment sandwich but oh well! Get over it! I don't love this album though it's not my style of music I usually listen to, However, I do see it's merit and the production value and recording quality is fantastic. There's your sandwich! Ha! Anyways, it's not going on my ultimate shelf but the four songs I mentioned before have made it to the 2019 playlist.
So there is my review of this weekend's adventures and music journey's I've been on. I hope you enjoy hearing about them and thank you for reading. You can also watch this week's episode on Youtube on Wednesday's video review and listen to it on the Podcast review on all of the podcasting platforms. Thank you for following my adventures and keep going on your own!
All the Best, Ross
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