Paul McCartney in Las Vegas

The first time I saw Paul McCartney in concert was in Las Vegas for the Driving World Tour at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in April of 2002.  I spontaneously bought a ticket and then completely freaked out about what I had just done (this was before driving hundreds of miles just to attend a concert became standard operating procedure for me) but it was definitely a bucket list item!  I was completely overwhelmed hearing all of the songs that I had listened to all of my life performed by a legend!  I have seen Paul McCartney several more times since that momentous occasion and I still get completely overwhelmed because I love him so much!  Last night I had the opportunity to see him in Las Vegas once again, this time at the T-Mobile Arena.  It was an absolutely amazing show!  He played for over three hours and included songs from the Beatles, Wings, and his solo albums including his latest, Egypt Station.  I really loved all of the Beatles songs, including "Hard Days Night," "All My Loving," "Got to Get You Into My Life," "I've Got a Feeling," "I've Just Seen a Face," "From Me to You," "Love Me Do," "Blackbird" (my favorite Beatles song), "Lady Madonna," "Eleanor Rigby," "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite," "Something," "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," "Back in the U.S.S.R.," and "Let It Be."  I sang every single word and I was thrilled that he played some songs that I had never heard performed live before!  My favorite Wings songs were "Let Me Roll It," "Let 'Em In," "Band on the Run," and "Live and Let Die" complete with spectacular pyrotechnics!  He dedicated "My Valentine" to his wife Nancy who was in the audience and sang an incredibly emotional version of "Here Today" which he dedicated to John Lennon.  My favorite moment came early in the set when he played "Maybe I'm Amazed."  I love this song so much and watching Rusty Anderson play the guitar solo just about did me in!  He ended his set with a rousing version of "Hey Jude."  As soon as the stage hands brought out his psychedelic piano I knew what was coming and it was awesome, especially the audience participation on "Na Na Na Na..."  For the encore he played "I Saw Her Standing There," "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)," "Helter Skelter," and a  fabulous rendition of "Golden Slumbers," "Carry That Weight," and "The End."  Paul McCartney is a captivating performer and his interactions with the crowd were so genuine.  He acted like he was playing these songs for the first time and was having the time of his life!  I can't even describe how much I loved this concert and I will probably be on a high from it for days.  I know that it is crazy to drive six hours just for a concert but I am so glad that I did it!

Yesterday

It seems like I have been looking forward to the movie Yesterday for so long!  I had the chance to see it yesterday (ha ha) and, as a huge Beatles fan, I absolutely loved it!  Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) is a struggling musician about to give up on his dream although his best friend and manager Ellie (Lily James) continues to encourage him.  During a solar flare which causes a blackout around the world, Jack is involved in a collision with a bus which knocks him out.  He wakes up in an alternate reality where the Beatles do not exist and only he remembers all of their songs.  He decides to play a few Beatles songs at one of his gigs and eventually gets the attention of Ed Sheeran (playing himself) who asks him to open for him on tour.  This gets the attention of Sheeran's manager Debra (Kate McKinnon) who signs him to a record deal.  He becomes insanely popular but just when his dreams are about to come true he starts to feel conflicted about taking credit for songs he didn't write.  The premise of this movie is so clever but you really need to suspend your disbelief in order to enjoy it.  You could make yourself crazy thinking about what kind of world would exist without the Beatles because their music had such an influence on so many other musicians.  I recommend that you don't think about it too much and just appreciate this movie for the feel-good comedy that it is.  Patel is endearing as Jack, James is charming as the girl who has had a crush on him since he sang "Wonderwall" at the school talent show, and their romance is very sweet.  Sheeran is adorably goofy and McKinnon is hilarious as the personification of greed in the music industry.  The best part of this movie is the music and I loved the staging of all of the songs, particularly when Jack sings "Yesterday" for his friends who are hearing it for the first time and are awe-struck by it!  If you are a fan of the Beatles you will probably enjoy this movie as much as I did!

RENT at the Eccles

I wouldn't go so far as to call myself a RENThead but I absolutely love the musical RENT and I have seen it many times (when PTC produced it several years ago I saw it three times during the run).  Last night I went with my sister Kristine to see the 20th Anniversary Tour at the Eccles Theatre and it was one of the best productions of this show that I have seen!  This musical is a modern version of Puccini's La Boheme, which is one of my favorite operas, and it tells the story of one year in the life of Mark Cohen (Logan Marks), an aspiring filmmaker, and Roger Davis (Joshua Bess), a musician, and a group of their friends as they try to stay true to their art, find love, struggle to pay their rent, and deal with the devastation of HIV/ AIDS.  The story about living every day to the fullest is incredibly powerful and the music is fabulous.  I judge every production by the actor playing Roger (I listen to the Original Broadway Cast recording over and over because I love Adam Pascal, who originated the role) and I really liked Bess.  His characterization of Roger was very different from what I've seen before but I liked it and his voice was amazing.  As soon as he started singing "One Song Glory," I was enthralled by his performance.  I also loved his version of "Your Eyes" and, while Deri'andra Tucker was not the strongest Mimi I've ever seen, their version of "Without You" brought tears to my eyes.  The rest of the cast was also incredibly strong and I especially enjoyed Lyndie Moe, as Maureen, and Lencia Kebede, as Joanne, when they sang "Take Me or Leave Me" and Devinre Adams, as Tom, when he sang the reprise of "I'll Cover You."  Javon King, as Angel, absolutely stole the show with his rendition of "Today 4 U" and I really loved his dancing (in high heels).  I'm so glad that I got to see this fabulous production.  RENT runs at the Eccles Theatre through Sunday and I highly recommend it (go here for tickets) with the proviso that it has very mature content (some people left at intermission).

Note:  I have my students read at the beginning of every class period.  One day a student asked me how long we were going to read and I answered by singing "Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes" from "Seasons of Love."  Most of the students looked at me as if I had lost my mind (a common occurrence) but the theatre kids all recognized it!

Summer Reading: Bring Me Back

The next selection on my summer reading list, Bring Me Back by B.A. Paris, is very suspenseful but it didn't quite grab me as much as the previous selections did. Twelve years ago Finn and his girlfriend Layla are driving home from a holiday in France. They stop at a gas station so Finn can use the restroom and when he returns to the car Layla is gone and is never heard from again. The two of them have a very dysfunctional relationship and there is more to the story of Layla's disappearance than Finn is willing to disclose to the police. Just when he is finally ready to move on with Layla's sister Ellen, he begins seeing signs that she may still be alive. Now Finn must confront his past with Layla if he is to have a future with Ellen. This novel has a very interesting premise and I enjoyed the exploration of guilt and its manifestations. As I mentioned, it is highly suspenseful and I kept reading well into the early morning hours because I wanted to unravel the mystery but I guessed the big plot twist before it was revealed and I thought it was incredibly far-fetched. However, my biggest problem with this novel is that Finn is such an unsympathetic narrator and, unfortunately, he is the most developed character. Layla, Ellen, Henry (Finn's business partner), and Ruby (his ex-girlfriend) are basically peripheral characters who only exist to show the extent of Finn's psychological distress. This is not necessarily a bad plot device but I didn't really like Finn as a character. He is controlling, manipulative, and makes very questionable decisions. I didn't understand why either Layla or Ellen would ever want to be in a relationship with him let alone the motivation for their actions later on. I understand the mood Paris is trying to create with her characterization of Finn and the theme that actions have consequences but by the end of the novel I didn't really care about what happened to him. I didn't hate this novel but it wasn't as satisfying as the previous ones on my list.

Note:  Have you read Bring Me Back?  What did you think?

Utah Symphony at the Waterfall

Last night I was able to go to another outdoor concert, this time with the Utah Symphony at the Waterfall Amphitheatre at Thanksgiving Point.  I always try to attend this concert every year (go here and here) because it is such a lovely venue.  I brought a picnic and a blanket and spent a wonderful evening listening to music under the stars.  The program featured many film scores by John Williams including the Superman March from Superman, "The Devil's Dance" from The Witches of Eastwick (I loved the chimes in this piece), "The Flight To Neverland" from Hook, the Theme from Schindler's List (the solo violin was performed by Concertmaster Madeleine Adkins and it was so beautiful), "Harry's Wondrous World" from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and the Suite from Star Wars (I loved "The Imperial March").  The concert concluded, as it often does in the summer, with the 1812 Overture by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.  Conductor Conner Gray Covington joked that while Tchaikovsky actually wrote the piece to commemorate the defense of Napoleon's invasion of Russia, for some reason it has become a symbol of American patriotism!  He also joked that every major American symphony orchestra plays it at least once during the summer and I had to laugh because it seems like I hear it every summer!  The orchestra performed it brilliantly and I especially loved the real live cannons provided by the Cannoneers of the Wasatch.  It was pretty spectacular!  For the encore, the orchestra played "Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Philip Sousa and that was immediately followed by an awesome fireworks display above the waterfall!  Evenings such as these are what I love most about summer!

Note:  Go here for more performances by the Utah Symphony this summer.

Howard Jones at Red Butte Garden (Again)

I have been a huge fan of Howard Jones since I was a sophomore in high school and I have seen him in concert more times than I can count.  When he was in SLC the last time he hinted at a return visit this summer and I was thrilled when I found out about this concert at Red Butte Amphitheatre.  It is such a great venue and last night was perfect for an outdoor concert.  This time I was able to go with my sister Kristine who loves Howard Jones as much as I do!  The opening bands were All Hail The Silence and Men Without Hats.  I had never heard of All Hail The Silence before but I really enjoyed their set because lead singer Christian Burns has a really nice voice (and is pretty easy on the eyes).  I was only familiar with two of the songs in the Men Without Hats set, "Pop Goes the World" and "Safety Dance," but they were a lot of fun and got the crowd up on their feet.  Howard Jones played quite a few songs from his latest album Transform, including the title track, "Take Us Higher," "Beating Mr. Neg," "Hero in Your Eyes," "Tin Man Song," and "The One to Love You."  This album has a very house/ techno sound to it and I liked all of these songs, especially "The One to Love You."  He also played many of the hits to the delight of the crowd, beginning with a lovely version of "Hide and Seek" to start his set.  He continued with "Equality," "No One Is To Blame," "Everlasting Love," "The Human Touch," "Life in One Day," "Like To Get To Know You Well," and a fantastic version of "What Is Love?" that made my inner fifteen year old self lose her mind because I loved this song so much back in the day.  He ended his set with "New Song" which brought back so many memories because this is the song that made me a Howard Jones fan (he also had footage of performing this song in the 80s on the screens behind him).  After he left the stage, quite a few people around me started singing the chorus to "Things Can Only Get Better" and then he came back on stage to sing it for the encore.  Just like the last time he was at Red Butte Garden, this was such a great concert and I loved every minute of it (so did my sister).

Note:  Go here for the complete lineup at Red Butte Amphitheatre.  It is such a great venue for a concert.

Toy Story 4

I thought the ending of Toy Story 3 was the perfect way to conclude the franchise so I wondered what the next installment could possibly have to offer.  Then I saw a trailer featuring Duke Caboom, Canada's Greatest Stuntman (Keanu Reeves) and I knew that I had to see it!  Yesterday I convinced Sean to go see it with me and I loved it!  Most of the toys are happy living with Bonnie (Madeleine McGraw) but Woody (Tom Hanks) is feeling a little bit neglected.  Bonnie is nervous about going to kindergarten so Woody sneaks into her backpack to go with her to orientation and helps her make Forky (Tony Hale) out of a spork, popsicle sticks, and a pipe cleaner.  Forky becomes Bonnie's favorite toy but he has an existential crisis, wanting only to be used once and then discarded.  Woody does everything he can to keep Forky from absconding to the trash because Bonnie needs him and this makes Woody feel useful again.  When Bonnie's family takes a road trip in an RV, Forky escapes and Woody feels it is his duty to go after him.  He enlists the help of his former friend Bo Peep (Annie Potts), two plush toys named Bunny and Ducky (Jordan Peele and Keagan Michael Key, respectively), Giggles McDimples (Ally Maki), and Duke Caboom to rescue Forky and elude a doll named Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks) who wants his voice box.  This is a worthy entry in the franchise with a powerful and poignant story.  The emotional journey that all of the characters take to discover their purpose is incredibly satisfying and I have to admit that I had a tear in my eye during an especially touching moment with Gabby.  Of course, my favorite character was Duke Caboom, a daredevil on a motorcycle who has a crisis of confidence when he cannot live up to the hype promised in the advertisement but ends up saving the day (and stealing the show).  I also really liked it whenever Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) decides what to do by using his button-induced phrases after Woody tells him to listen to his conscience.  I laughed out loud many times.  As is the case with most Pixar movies, the animation is absolutely beautiful and the action sequences are a lot of fun.  It is heartwarming movie that both children and adults will enjoy and I highly recommend it!

Hootie & The Blowfish in Las Vegas

I was feeling the 1990s nostalgia last night for the second night in a row, this time at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for a concert featuring Barenaked Ladies and Hootie & The Blowfish!  I was looking at the T-Mobile Arena website for information on another concert and saw this one listed!  I love both of these bands so much so I got really excited and bought a ticket.  I have seen Barenaked Ladies many times, including at a Medals Ceremony during the 2002 Winter Olympics where they, rather memorably, wore Team Canada speed skating uniforms!  Last night they played "Lookin' Up" from their latest album but most of their set was, as Ed Robertson told the crowd, a slew of monster hits!  I especially liked "It's All Been Done," "The Old Apartment," "Brian Wilson," "Pinch Me," "One Week," and "If I Had $1000000."  As with any Barenaked Ladies concert, there was a lot of really funny banter between the band members and there were several free-style raps that were absolutely hilarious!  They ended with a cover of Lady Gaga's "Shallow" (which was overly dramatic and made the crowd erupt with laughter), Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love," and Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust."  I loved it!  I have seen Hootie & The Blowfish once before with my sisters and the main thing I remember about that show is that Darius Rucker kept breaking his guitar strings and his tech would have to bring him another guitar in the middle of a song!  I also saw Darius Rucker open for Lady Antebellum, performing his solo country music.  I am not a big country fan but I really liked his songs because I love his voice!  Last night they played quite a few covers but my favorites were Led Zeppelin's "Hey Hey What Can I Do" and R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion."  They also included Rucker's solo songs "Alright" and "Wagon Wheel" (which my Uber driver played for me on the drive to my hotel).  However, I liked it best when they played the hits, including "I Go Blind" (my favorite Hootie song), "Hold My Hand" (which the crowd sang with them), "Let Her Cry," "Time," and "Old Man & Me."  They ended their set with a gospel sounding cover of "With A Little Help From My Friends" with Barenaked Ladies and performed "Only Wanna Be With You" in the encore.  It was an awesome show!  Both bands sounded really great live and were very engaging with the crowd.  Once again, hearing some of my favorite old songs brought back so many happy memories!  It was definitely worth the six hour drive from SLC for this concert!

Note:  I will be back in Las Vegas next weekend for the concert I originally looked at the website for!

Third Eye Blind at USANA

There was a time when Third Eye Blind was my favorite band and I listened to their music almost nonstop.  In the mid-1990s I was a little bit wild and a whole lot messed up. I considered Stephan Jenkins to be my own personal poet laureate and the song "God of Wine" to be my anthem.  Third Eye Blind has been to SLC several times but, for one reason or another, I never got to see them live until last night.  It was not the best concert I have ever been to but I had so much fun singing along to every song (I still remembered every single word).  They played a few songs from a forthcoming album that will be released later this summer but they mostly played all of the hits such as "Never Let You Go," "London," "Graduate," "Wounded," "I Want You," "Slow Motion," "Motorcycle Drive By," "Jumper," and "Crystal Baller."  They ended their set with my favorite Third Eye Blind song, "How's It Going To Be," which got the entire audience singing along.  It was definitely a highlight!  For the encore they played "Losing a Whole Year," the crowd favorite "Semi-Charmed Life," and "God of Wine" which, to me, was the perfect way to end the concert.  I love attending outdoor performances in the summer and last night the weather was absolutely perfect for a concert.  It made me so happy to be sitting under the stars listening to all of these songs from my past.  I felt twenty years younger (without the angst!).

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in Concert

Last night was so much fun because I got to go to another performance in the Utah Symphony's Films in Concert series.  The movie Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which chronicles Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts as he competes in the Triwizard Tournament, was shown on the big screen while the orchestra played Patrick Doyle's dynamic score live.  The themes of this movie are much darker than those of the previous movies in the series so the score is a bit more sinister and mournful, particularly "Voldemort" and "The Death of Cedric."  The orchestra played it beautifully and I especially enjoyed all of the brass and percussion!  Conductor Conner Gray Covington encouraged audience participation and he took a roll call of the four Houses of Hogwarts before the concert began (I, of course, belong to Ravenclaw).  The audience cheered boisterously when all of the main characters first appeared on screen, when Viktor Krum was introduced in the Quidditch World Cup Final, when the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang entered the Great Hall, when Harry defeated the Hungarian Horntail dragon in the first challenge, when Neville Longbottom danced at the Yule Ball, when Hermione told Ron off for not asking her to the dance, when Harry saved both Ron and Fleur's sister in the second challenge, and when Harry escaped from Voldemort.  I loved watching this movie with such an enthusiastic crowd, many of whom were in costume, and I highly recommend getting a ticket for the concerts tonight or tomorrow night (go here).

Note:  I'm looking forward to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince next season.

Summer Reading: The Broken Girls

The next selection on my summer reading list was The Broken Girls by Simone St. James and, like the previous books on this list, I couldn't put it down! Journalist Fiona Sheridan's entire life has been overshadowed by the murder of her older sister twenty years ago. The murderer was caught and is serving a life sentence but she has always felt that there was something wrong with his conviction. She compulsively visits Idlewild Hall, the old abandoned boarding school where her sister's body was found, over and over again. When she discovers that the school is going to be restored, she thinks it would make a good article for the magazine she writes for and arranges a tour with the new owners. When the body of a former student is discovered during the excavation, Fiona is drawn into the history of the school. In the 1950s, four young girls were abandoned and forgotten by their families at Idlewild for one reason or another. They are united against the repressive atmosphere of the school and they bond over the ghost they believe haunts the grounds wearing a black dress and veil. After one of the girls goes missing, everyone assumes that she ran away but the other girls believe something far more sinister happened. Solving the mystery of the past might give Fiona the answers she seeks about her sister's murder. The narrative alternates between the events of the past and Fiona's investigation in the present and I found both timelines to be extremely compelling. I was impressed by the way in which St. James was able to weave the two seemingly disparate stories together in such a cohesive manner using the theme of injustice against powerless women. The characters are very well-developed and, because I wanted to discover all of their secrets, I kept reading well into the night. The school is as haunting and atmospheric as any of the settings in my favorite Gothic novels by the Bronte sisters and the supernatural aspect of the story is extremely well done. In fact, there were a few scenes that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end! The mystery kept me guessing until the last chapter and the resolution is quite satisfying. I highly recommend this suspenseful thriller!

Note:  Have you read The Broken Girls?  What did you think?

The Dead Don't Die

When I first saw the trailer for The Dead Don't Die I couldn't wait to see it because a movie featuring Adam Driver chasing zombies sounded completely awesome (I find Adam Driver to be strangely appealing).  I finally had the chance to see it yesterday.  It is pretty out there but (and I don't know what this says about me) I kind of dug it!  The Earth has been knocked off its axis because of polar fracking and, while representatives of the polar fracking industry are heard repeatedly on the radio and TV asserting that it is not harmful to the environment, things are definitely amiss in the sleepy town of Centerville.  Daylight lasts longer than normal, cell phone reception is lost, animals hide, and corpses reanimate and gravitate to the things they did while alive.  These zombies begin to kill the weirdly idiosyncratic citizens leaving Police Chief Cliff Robertson (Bill Murray), Officer Ronnie Peterson (Driver), and Officer Minerva "Mindy" Morrison (Chloe Sevigny) to protect the town with a little help from Zelda Winston (Tilda Swinton), a Scottish undertaker with the skills of a ninja.  As Ronnie repeatedly warns us, this is not going to end well!  The cast is worthy of any Wes Anderson movie and includes Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Carol Kane, and Danny Fassenden as townspeople;  Iggy Pop and Sara Driver as zombies;  Selena Gomez, Austin Butler, and Luka Sabbat as the hipsters from Cleveland;  and Tom Waits as a hermit watching and providing commentary from the edge of the woods.  The humor is incredibly dry and subtle but the message that we are all zombies heading towards our own destruction is anything but.  I laughed out loud many, many times (I have a strange sense of humor) but I did feel that the ending was a bit heavy handed.  I loved the chemistry between Murray and Driver and the movie is at its best when the two of them are bantering back and forth with the deadpan delivery that is a hallmark of a Jim Jarmusch movie.  Murray can deliver any line and make me laugh and Driver is fully committed to the absurdity.  I also loved the meta awareness where the characters periodically act as if they know they are in a movie.  A joke involving the theme song by Sturgill Simpson is particularly amusing and the Star Wars reference just about killed me!  This is definitely not going to appeal to everyone but, if you are a fan of Jarmusch's other movies (I love Broken Flowers), you might enjoy it as much as I did.

Freaky Friday at HCT

Last night I had the chance to see the new Disney musical Freaky Friday at Hale Centre Theatre and I enjoyed it so much more than I thought I would. I'm not a big fan of turning a popular movie into a stage musical but this production has a lot going for it. Those who have seen the 1976 movie with Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris or the 2003 version with Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis know the basic story about a mother and daughter who don't understand each other and accidentally switch bodies for a day. In this iteration Katherine Blake (Korianne Orton Johnson) is a single mother who owns her own catering business. She is incredibly stressed out because she is catering her own wedding to Mike (Neal C. Johnson), which she hopes will be featured in a popular bridal magazine, and she wants everything to be perfect. Her moody and argumentative daughter Ellie (Bailee Johnson) doesn't want her to marry Mike and definitely doesn't want to attend the rehearsal dinner. She would rather participate in the school scavenger hunt organized by her crush, Adam (Zack Elzey). Both Katherine and Ellie wish that the other could see the situation from her perspective and this wish (and a magic hourglass) causes them to switch bodies. Chaos ensues as Katherine tries to navigate high school while Ellie deals with wedding preparations and a photo shoot. They must learn to appreciate each other before things can return to normal. As with many musical adaptations from movies, I found most of the songs to be contrived and largely forgettable (with the exception of "Just One Day," "Somebody Has To Take The Blame," and "I'm Not Myself Today"). However, what elevated this show for me was the talented cast, the choreography, and the set design.  Korianne Orton Johnson and Bailee Johnson have wonderful voices and great comedic timing, especially when imitating each other. They both give very heartfelt performances. I also really enjoyed the ensemble because they bring a lot of energy to the big song and dance numbers. I absolutely loved Cory Stephens' fun and innovative choreography, especially in "Watch Your Back" which involves a high school gym class (the climbing rope sequence is amazing) and "Oh, Biology" which features moving lab tables. The fabulous set by Jean Stapely Taylor consists of bright and colorful multi-level towers which are easily transformed into various settings, from kitchen appliances to high school lockers. This show is definitely a lot of fun and teens are sure to enjoy it (the girls sitting behind me loved it).  It runs on the Jewel Box Stage in the Mountain America Performing Arts Center until Aug. 24 (go here for tickets).

Note:  Some of the wigs worn by supporting characters look really fake. It is a petty criticism but I kept noticing it and it distracted me from the action.

Late Night

The movie Late Night was a big hit at Sundance this year but, by the time it was on my radar, I couldn't get a ticket.  Luckily it is now out in wide release and I had a chance to see it last night.  It is fabulous!  Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson) has been the host of a late night talk show for the past thirty years.  She has dozens of Emmy awards and she has a high standard of excellence which she refuses to compromise for the sake of social relevance.  However, her ratings have been going down and the new head of the network (Amy Ryan) wants to replace her with a crass comedian (Ike Barinholtz) to shake things up.  Refusing to go without a fight, Katherine insists that her producer (Denis O'Hare) hire a woman comedy writer.  Molly Patel (Mindy Kaling), a woman of color who has absolutely no experience in television, just happens to be interviewing with him when he gets this directive and is hired.  The all-male all-white writing team thinks of Molly as a "diversity hire" and look down on her until some of her ideas actually improve the ratings.  This movie is incredibly funny with very witty dialogue but it also addresses some important issues such as racism, sexism, ageism, and an interesting take on the #metoo movement.  Thompson is absolutely brilliant in the role of a diva forced to acknowledge her fallibility and I especially loved the scene where Katherine realizes how much her show means to her in a mea culpa monologue after a scandal breaks.  Kaling is very hit or miss with me (I sometimes find her to be annoying) but she is endearing as an outsider who speaks her mind because she doesn't know any better.  Because Kaling wrote the script based on her own experiences as a comedy writer on The Office, it feels very authentic and I enjoyed the behind the scenes look at what makes a joke funny.  While Molly does have a romance with one of the other comedy writers, I really appreciated the fact the focus was more on her relationship with Katherine and how they both cope with being women in a man's world.  I love comedies with biting social commentary so I can't recommend this movie enough!

Field of Dreams

I was able to see Field of Dreams on the big screen last fall but it was so much fun to see it again as part of the TCM Big Screen Classic series yesterday.  Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) is a struggling Iowa farmer who hears a voice telling him to build a baseball diamond in the middle of his corn field.  At first his wife Annie (Amy Madigan) is skeptical but gives her consent when she sees how passionate he is about doing something spontaneous.  When building it causes financial hardship, Ray wonders why the voice asked him to do it.  At first he thinks it is so "Shoeless" Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta) and the other Chicago White Sox players who were banned from baseball for intentionally losing the 1919 World Series can play again.  Then he thinks it could be so Archibald "Moonlight" Graham (Burt Lancaster) can have the chance at bat that he missed out on during his one and only game in the Major League.  Then he sees that this experience has given a reclusive writer named Terrence Mann (James Earl Jones), who was once popular in the 1960s but has now become disillusioned, something to believe in again.  But eventually he realizes that baseball is a way for him to make peace with his father (Dwier Brown) who loved the game.  To be sure this feel-good movie is a nostalgic ode to baseball but it is ultimately about the power of a dream, the importance of family, and the need for redemption and reconciliation with baseball as the unifying theme.  As evidenced by the troubled relationship between the radical Ray and his conservative father, there are so many things that can divide people but there are also many things, like baseball, that can unite us and that is a great message for the world today.  This movie is so charming because Costner is incredibly endearing as Ray, the cinematography is stunning, and the score by James Horner is beautifully atmospheric.  I highly recommend it!  You have one more chance to see it on the big screen on Wednesday (go here for tickets and information).

Note:  I think this move resonates so deeply with me because my Dad and I have very different world views but the thing that unites us in an unbreakable bond is our love for a game!  In our case the game is hockey, not baseball (we're Canadian), but the sentiment is exactly the same.

Hamilton in Chicago

On our last night in Chicago Sean and I were able to see Hamilton at the CIBC Theatre.  This was my eighth time (it was Sean's second) seeing this amazing show in the sixth city (New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Las Vegas) and I was just as excited as I was the first time!  Because I've seen it so many times I immediately notice the different variations from production to production and I really loved this company, especially Miguel Cervantes as Alexander Hamilton.  He was the first person to play this role after Lin-Manuel Miranda and he was hand picked by Miranda who told him not to do what he did on Broadway but to make the role his own.  Cervantes played him with a lot of swagger and he had cocky grin on his face (we were sitting so close that we could see the facial expressions of all the actors), especially in his interactions with Aaron Burr (Akron Watson).  This arrogance throughout the show made his rendition of "It's Quiet Uptown" even more poignant because he was humbled and very emotional.  This is one of my favorite moments in the show and I always judge every actor playing Hamilton by whether he can move me to tears in this song.  I was practically sobbing!  Tamar Greene, as George Washington, is a large and imposing man and he absolutely dominated the stage during "Right Hand Man."  I had goosebumps when he charged onto the stage ("We are outgunned!  Outmanned!  Outnumbered!  Outplanned!") and I had goosebumps again when he raised the roof in "One Last Time."  Every Thomas Jefferson I've seen has done something different in the Cabinet Battles.  Paris Nix did the running man and it was absolutely hilarious when Hamilton mimicked him!  I also loved it when he gave a pamphlet to the conductor ("Have you read this?") during "The Reynolds Pamphlet." Most of the actors I've seen play King George have been completely over the top but Andrew Call gave the character a bit of angry vulnerability in "You'll Be Back," especially when he laughed while telling us that he will send a fully armed battalion to remind us of his love.  This is one of the best productions I've seen and I am so glad that I was able to see this brilliant show again, especially with my nephew who sat riveted the entire time.  It was the perfect way to end our wonderful trip to Chicago.

The Field Museum in Chicago

Sean really likes going to museums and Chicago has a lot of them to choose from (my favorite is the Art Institute of Chicago).  He picked the Field Museum, an incredible natural history museum that we both really enjoyed!  There were displays of animals from around the world, artifacts from different regions (I loved the Polynesian displays), and fascinating science displays (Sean spent more than an hour at a microscope station).  However, we both absolutely loved the dinosaurs!

Maximo the Titanosaur!

Sue is the largest and most complete (90%) Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil ever found and it was very impressive!  There is a really cool light show which shows which bones are not real and explains what they have changed from the original exhibit after studying the T. Rex (they positioned her shoulders differently and raised her tail).  It was fascinating!

We spent most of the morning here and it was definitely well worth our time.  I would highly recommend a visit if you are ever in the Chicago area.

Men in Black: International

Last night I went to see Men in Black: International.  I only remember seeing the first movie in the franchise but I really enjoyed the pairing of Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson in Thor: Ragnarok so I thought this would be a lot of fun.  Twenty years earlier, a couple who sees an alien in the back yard is neuralyzed (their memories of the alien are erased) but their daughter Molly is missed and becomes obsessed with finding the Men in Black.  Now an adult, Molly (Thompson) tracks down the organization and impresses Agent O (Emma Thompson) enough to be taken on as a probationary agent named M and sent to the London branch.  High T (Liam Neeson), the head of the London branch, pairs her with H (Hemsworth), one of the top agents who helped T keep an alien collective known as the Hive from reaching Earth but is now lackadaisical and reckless.  Agents H and M, with a little help from an alien pawn (Kumail Nanjiani), must now stop the Hive from acquiring a powerful weapon and uncover a mole who has infiltrated the Men in Black.  The story is incredibly predictable and I figured out the plot twist way before it actually happened.  I also thought that some of the CGI with the aliens and in some of the action sequences is very obvious and a little bit distracting.  Having said that, I still had a lot of fun watching this movie.  Hemsworth and Thompson are both very charismatic and have a lot of chemistry with each other.  They also have great comedic timing and I found myself laughing out loud quite a bit.  I really enjoyed Emma Thompson as Agent O (I wish she had a bigger role) and Rebecca Ferguson is absolutely hilarious as an alien arms dealer and ex-girlfriend of Agent H.  Much like this movie, I would recommend Men in Black: International to fans of light summer blockbusters.

Sightseeing in Chicago

I have a tradition of taking Sean on a road trip every summer (we've been to the Four Corners Monument, Grand Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, and Mount Rushmore).  When we were trying to decide where to go this year every place that Sean suggested was farther than I wanted to drive (I don't mind long road trips but a long road trip with a fourteen year old boy seemed a bit daunting).  I asked him where he would go if he could fly anywhere in the U.S. and he answered Chicago.  I liked this idea because it meant we could go to Hamilton while we were there (I didn't have to twist his arm because he likes this show, too).  We had two days of sightseeing in the Windy City and we were able to cross off everything on Sean's list!

Our first stop was the Skydeck at the top of the Willis Tower, which was once the tallest building in the world.  I went out on the ledge with Sean for about two seconds but he actually sat down on it (it is a lot scarier than you might think because you can see through the floor straight down to the street).

The views of Chicago from the Skydeck were pretty spectacular!

Our next stop was the Cloud Gate (otherwise known as the Bean) in Millennium Park.  Have you really been to Chicago if you haven't posed for the obligatory picture in front of the Bean?  We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner (Sean got his first HRC pin to start his collection) and then called it a day.

We started bright and early the next morning at the Field Museum (more on this coming soon).  Sean loves museums and this is the one he chose to visit.

Next we went to the Navy Pier so we could ride the Centennial Wheel, a large ferris wheel with incredible views of the city and Lake Michigan.

After lunch (deep dish pizza at Giordano's) we finally got on the hop-on hop-off bus for a tour of the city (it's a long story).  This is one of my favorite ways to see a city.  It was raining when we started but it stopped after a few minutes.

Chicago skyline and Lake Michigan.

The old water tower and pumping station.  These buildings are some of the few that survived the Great Fire of 1871.

Some of the buildings downtown feature some really cool architecture.

In the evening we had main floor seats for Hamilton at the CIBC Theatre and we both enjoyed this cast very much (more on this coming soon).  This was such a great trip!  I really like Chicago and it was fun to spend time with my nephew (who now wants to move there).  Where will we go next year?