SBO Luncheon 2015

Just like last year, the administration took the Student Body Officers to a special lunch at the Little America Hotel downtown yesterday afternoon.  It is a beautiful hotel and my students looked so nice all dressed up for the occasion!  I really loved listening to the students reminisce about all of the fun they've had this year.  I think my favorite memory is when we ordered a really expensive red carpet for our Hollywood-themed Homecoming Dance.  It said "some assembly required" but we assumed that meant we had to snap some pieces together.  As we were decorating for the dance, we opened the boxes and discovered that we basically had to put the entire thing together and that we required some specialized tools, including a bolt cutter.  I have never been more frustrated in my life but we somehow got it put together (it did look quite spectacular as students arrived to the dance) and we can laugh about it now.  Also, whenever I hear the song "Fancy" by Iggy Azalea, I will always think of them and their over-the-top dance routine for the Hello Assembly!  There are so many fun memories!  It has been an incredible year and I am glad I had the opportunity of working with this amazing group.  I will miss them but I know they will all go on to bigger and better things in the future!

Ed Sheeran at Energy Solutions Arena

A couple of years ago I saw Snow Patrol's Fallen Empires Tour at a club in SLC and the opening act was Ed Sheeran.  I didn't know anything about him but I was transfixed by his performance.  It was just him, a guitar, and a loop pedal and it was amazing what he was able to produce by adding layer upon layer of sound as he sang.  I became an instant fan of his and immediately bought a ticket to his show at the ESA as soon as they went on sale (in the middle of one of my classes).  Aside from the larger venue, longer set list, and sliding video panels behind him, Tuesday's concert was a lot like the previous one.  Sheeran, alone on stage, managed to turn the cavernous ESA into an intimate club.  He began with "I'm a Mess" and continued to play many selections from his brilliant album x (read as Multiply), including  "One," "Don't," "Nina," "Photograph," "Tenerife Sea," and "Runaway."  He also included "The A Team," "Drunk," and "Lego House" from the album + (read as Plus) as well as "I See Fire" from the movie The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.  Sheeran began every song quietly with a beat created by tapping his guitar.  Then he would layer in guitar riffs followed by backing vocals until the song exploded in a crescendo of sound accompanied by a frenzy of video images behind him. It was amazing!  Sheeran was very charismatic with the large crowd, commanding us to put our hands in the air and bounce when the beat dropped during "Bloodstream" and to be totally silent during "Afire Love," a beautiful ballad about his grandfather.  My favorite moment was when the entire audience sang along with "Thinking Out Loud."  It gave me goosebumps!  He ended his set with an ethereal  rendition of "Give Me Love" then came back for an encore with the lyric-spitting "You Need Me, I Don't Need You" (which, to my delight, turned into a version of "Fancy" by Iggy Azalea).  The evening ended, appropriately, with "Sing" and sing we did even after Sheeran left the stage!  It was one of the best concerts I've seen!

Note:  The opening act was Ben Kweller and, at one point, Sheeran called him to the stage and the two of them performed a fantastic rendition of "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King.  It reminded me of when Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol called Sheeran to the stage for an incredible performance of "New York."

Far From the Madding Crowd

When I was in college I grew weary of Thomas Hardy.  I studied most of his major works (Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Jude the Obscure, The Return of the Native, and The Mayor of Casterbridge) and it seems to me that fate controls all of Hardy's protagonists and that love always leads to tragedy.  Tess, especially, is a helpless victim to a cruel and indifferent destiny and I actually cried at the end of her story.  I decided that Hardy was too depressing and returned to reading the novels of Jane Austen, where happy endings abound.  A few years ago I found a copy of Far From the Madding Crowd in a used bookstore and, surprised that I hadn't read it before, decided to give Hardy another try.  This novel redeemed him in my eyes because, while Bathsheba chooses poorly and this choice leads to misery and ruin, at least she has a choice!  She, unlike Hardy's other heroines, is also able to change her circumstances and find love at the end of the novel.  A happy ending from Thomas Hardy!  Since it is my favorite of his novels, I have long been looking forward to the sumptuous new film adaptation by Thomas Vinterberg and I was able to see it on Sunday night.  It is an absolutely beautiful film.  Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan) is a headstrong and independent woman with her own farm in Victorian England.  She has three very different suitors vying for her affections:  a lowly shepherd in her employ (Matthias Schoenaerts), a wealthy middle-aged landowner (Michael Sheen), and a dashing regimental officer in a scarlet tunic (Tom Sturridge). The cast is excellent but I was particularly struck by Mulligan's performance.  Her understated portrayal of Bathseba during the first half of the movie is in sharp contrast to the passion she displays during her scenes with the cad, Sgt. Troy, and I found this characterization to be most effective. The scene where Troy displays his swordsmanship to her is highly charged, to say the least!  The screenplay is much more concise than the novel and I was a little bit disappointed that the role of Fanny Robin is so reduced because Juno Temple is absolutely luminous as the ill-fated serving girl (Hardy doesn't entirely abandon the notion of fate). However, I liked the adaptation, overall.  The film was shot primarily in Dorset, England and the scenery is incredibly beautiful.  The movie is worth viewing for the cinematography alone!  I really enjoyed Far From the Madding Crowd and I would recommend it to fans of period dramas.

Pitch Perfect 2

For the past few months Tashena has had a paper chain in her bedroom counting down the days until Pitch Perfect 2 opened.  Of course Marilyn and I had to take her to see it on Saturday night because, after all, we are seriously cool aunts!  (Tashena actually forced me to watch showed me the DVD of the first movie over Christmas break so I was looking forward to the sequel, too.)  The antics of the Barden Bellas continue after they are suspended from collegiate competition for an unfortunate incident during a performance for the President at the Kennedy Center.  Let's just say it involved Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) and the song "Wrecking Ball" and leave it at that!  To be reinstated, they must win the A Capella World Championships.  However, no American team has ever won and their biggest competition is Das Sound Machine, a formidable team from Germany.  The Bellas lose their sound trying to add flashy gimmicks and have to go back to basics if they hope to win.  Some of the big song and dance routines are quite random (a performance at a car show and a riff-off at a creepy and eccentric millionaire's house) but it doesn't matter because they are so much fun to watch.  A lot of the humor is a bit crude and ethnic stereotypes abound but I have to admit that I found it to be absolutely hilarious.  I loved the thick German accents of Das Sound Machine (my favorite line was, "Your team is like a heated mess.  A mess where heat is applied to it so what once was a little messy is now even messier.") and I especially loved that the female leader of the group was named Kommissar (If you grew up in the 80s, you will understand the reference.  If not, search iTunes for "Der Kommissar" by After the Fire.  Good stuff!)  I think Anna Kendrick can do no wrong (reprising her role as Becca) and I liked the addition of Hailee Steinfeld as Emily, a new legacy member of the Bellas.  Don't think about this movie too much.  Just take a group of friends and have a fun night out!  Marilyn and I had a blast with Tashena (mostly because we loved watching her reaction to everything) and we even bought tickets to see it again immediately after we walked out of the theater!  As I said, we are the coolest aunts ever!

Note:  I also really loved that the uber popular a capella group Pentatonix played Team Canada at the World Championships!  Where can I get one of those maple leaf vests?

Mad Max: Fury Road

I am a huge fan of the Mad Max franchise, especially The Road Warrior which I watched over and over on cable when I was in Jr. High because I had a major crush on the young Mel Gibson, so I was very intrigued about this new installment.  When my mom mentioned that she wanted to see it, I eagerly bought tickets for Saturday afternoon (my mom is so cool).  Mad Max: Fury Road is an adrenaline rush that never lets up from the opening credits to the final scene and let me tell you now that it is intense!  I loved it and so did my mom who kept saying, "Wow!"   Like its predecessors, the movie is set in a post-apocalyptic future in Australia where resources are scarce and small communities run by overlords exist throughout.  Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy replaces Mel Gibson in the title role) is captured by the War Boys who serve Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne).  Max is designated as a universal blood donor and is needed by the dying War Boy Nux (Nicholas Hoult).  Furiosa (Charlize Theron), who drives a War Rig to other communities to barter for gas, veers off course while on a routine run and Joe soon discovers that his five wives, selected for breeding purposes, are missing.  Assuming, correctly, that his wives are with Furiosa, Joe sends his War Boys after her.  Lux, needing his blood, brings Max along on the high speed chase.  After an incredible battle in a sand storm, Max escapes and tries to steal the War Rig; however, Furiosa created a kill switch which means it is inoperable without her so Max reluctantly joins forces with her.  They then battle other gangs who are loyal to Joe in some of the best action sequences I have ever seen (of which, the vast majority were practical effects rather than CGI and many of the stunts were performed by members of Cirque de Soleil) as they search for the "Green Space" Furiosa remembers from her childhood.  While the action sequences are incredible (there were times when I couldn't catch my breath), the story of hope and redemption is compelling and the performances of Hardy and Theron are fantastic!  The bar has been set very high for the rest of the summer blockbusters!