On October 30th, 1974, a young man needed to find shelter from a storm. He checked into room 217.
The hotel was the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. The Stanley did not have heat to much of the hotel and was shutting down for the winter. But the snow was blowing outside so the staff let the young man use room 217.
The hotel was empty and the young man roamed the halls. he thought he saw a maid in one of the hallways but as he approached her, she vaporized.
Shaken up, the young man still spent the night and left the next day when the storm abated.
That young man was Stephen King. He used his stay at the Stanley has inspiration for his novel.
STUFF YOU DON”T KNOW
You can still stay in room 217 at the Stanley. You can sign up for the Ghost Tour. When you check in, kick off your shoes and watch “The Shining” because it runs continuously on channel 42 at the Stanley.
Not really spoilers per se but if you’re squeamish about plots you might not want to look.
Just came back from seeing Captain America- The Winter Soldier. I thought there was way too much machine gin fire in the movie. Really. Loyal readers may now close their gaping mouths. That was me saying there were too many guns in the movie and not enough super powers.
But I just finished reading the I09 review of Winter Soldier by Robert Gonzalez. It has ALL the spoilers here.
HERE ARE SOME ODD THINGS TO SPOT IN THE MOVIE
Steve’s List- He’s keeping a list and checking it twice. Researching all the things he’s missed while frozen.
Redford’s fridge includes a bottle of Newman’s Own, a reference to his late, long-time acting partner.
Black Widow wears an arrow necklace throughout this movie. This may be (and probably is) a reference to Hawkeye.
Winter Soldier co-creator Ed Brubaker (upon whose comics much of this film is based), appears as one of the Hydra agents messing with Winter Soldier’s head!
Nick Fury’s gravestone. In case anyone didn’t catch it, the quote (inaccurate) from Ezekiel is a sly reference to Samuel L. Jackson’s iconic turn in Pulp Fiction.
But here’s what Ezekiel actually says:
“I will carry out great vengeance on them and punish them in my wrath. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I take vengeance on them.’”
