Hey, Nice Marmot!

August 31, 2018

Hey, Nice Marmot!

2018 marks twenty years since the release of the Coen brother’s cult classic film, “The Big Lebowski” and to celebrate the distinction, the Tropic Cinema hosted a special screening of the film. Attendees were invited to dress up as their favorite characters and appropriately there was a bar set up that served white Russians the preferred drink of the central character, The Dude, played by Jeff Bridges.

There was a pretty full house and as you might expect in Key West, there were a number of people dressed in character, so the theater was littered with plenty of Dudes, Walters, Donnys, Maudes and even a few Nihlists. The film is tough to describe, something of a crime/comedy drama that is full of unique and interesting characters, a wacky storyline and some really great performances particularly by Bridges as the Dude, John Goodman as Walter and Steve Buscemi as Donny.

While the film initially faltered at the box office, over the years it has gained increasing fame and has become a cult classic, with fans memorizing the unique dialogue, dressing up as the characters at midnight showings and basically keeping the spirit of the film alive. It is not uncommon to see people dressed as the Dude or Walter during Fantasy Fest and costumes can even be purchased on-line.

It was a really fun night and once again the fun side of the creative Key West community was on full display, It was not the only highlight of the week though as this weekend saw us invited out boating by our friends the Ford family and we got to head out and explore the beautiful natural environment that surrounds our island home.

 

Jade and Lisa

We met Greta, Tom and Effie Ford along with Effie’s boyfriend Cale and her cousin Lisa and her friend Jade who were visiting from Tampa at Hurricane Hole marina to board their boat and head out. They took us to some of their favorite local spots, the first being the wreckage of a sunken shrimp boat, followed by one of their favorite lobstering spots and then to the incredible Boca Grande beach for a full day of fun and excitement.

 

The first stop was really cool because it was packed with a dozen or more nurse sharks, a few of which were pretty decent size. Even though these creatures are fairly harmless, it is still pretty intimidating to have them circling around you as you snorkel. I loved it though and even though the visibility was not perfect, there was still a lot of cool marine life to check out.

 

Effie

At the lobstering stop, the local knowledge of the Ford family came into play as our group caught close to thirty legal size lobsters in about an hour on the site, which happened to be packed full of the tasty critters. Kathy and I did not even try to catch any, preferring instead to just snorkel around and check out the coral heads and wildlife in the area instead. Boca Grande was perfect as always the beautiful beach wasn’t even very crowded at all, which is surprising for a late summer weekend.

Cale, Effie and Kathy 

Thanks so much to our good friends for including us in their adventures, we always have such a great time hanging out with them, some of the nicest people in our community, which is saying something on an island that is chock full of amazing people.