The Illusionists

My house is now officially on the market.  It's scary, stressful, overwhelming, and exciting all at the same time.  Within an hour of being listed yesterday, I had multiple requests for showings, most of which took place last night.  Luckily, I had plans and just added dinner to the evening's festivities so I could be out of my house for several hours.  My plans involved seeing The Illusionists at the Capitol Theatre and it was definitely a lot of fun.  There are seven performers: The Trickster (Jeff Hobson), The Futurist (Adam Trent), The Anti-Conjurer (Dan Sperry), The Warrior (Aaron Crow), The Escapologist (Andrew Basso), The Inventor (Kevin James), and The Manipulator (Yu Ho-Jin).  They perform in a magic show that is a cross between an old-fashioned vaudeville program and a Las Vegas spectacle with special effects and choreography.  There are big production numbers (literally using smoke and mirrors), classic card tricks, sleights of hand, daring escapes, and plenty of audience participation all with The Trickster as a flamboyant master of ceremonies.  I loved it!  My favorites were The Warrior's trick with an arrow through an apple (with a twist), The Manipulator's sleight of hand tricks (there was a giant screen above the stage with cameras directed closely on his hands and I still couldn't figure out how he did some of his tricks), and The Anti-Conjurer's Russian Roulette trick (he was really charismatic in a dark, edgy, and scary sort of way).  However, the most dramatic trick of the night was when The Escapologist replicated Harry Houdini's Water Torture Cell trick.  He was handcuffed and lowered upside down into a glass case filled with water and then padlocked closed.  It took him almost three minutes to pick the locks using only a paper clip.  The crowd gasped in audible relief as he emerged from the case.  I tried to hold my breath with him and I made it about 45 seconds.  It is a great show and I highly recommend getting at ticket (you can purchase them here).  It runs through Sunday at the Capitol Theatre.

Inside Out

Have you ever wondered what was going on inside someone's head?  Last night I went to the movie Inside Out and I got to see inside Riley's head as she, a normally happy eleven-year-old girl, deals with a move from Minnesota to San Francisco and the loss of her friends.  It is absolutely brilliant!  The story is told from the perspectives of Riley's emotions: Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), and Disgust (Mindy Kaling).  The cast is perfect (I usually find Mindy Kaling to be incredibly annoying but I honestly didn't even know it was her until the end credits) and I especially loved Poehler as Joy and Smith as Sadness and, in particular, their interactions with each other as they battle for control over Riley.  The nerd in me absolutely loved the journey Joy and Sadness take through Riley's abstract thoughts, imagination, and subconscious (I blame all of the educational psychology classes I had to take) and their encounters with some really fun characters along the way, such as Riley's imaginary friend (Richard Kind) and her deepest fear which is a clown.  Isn't everybody afraid of clowns?  Also, it is so clever that there is a cast of actors on a sound stage with scripts who perform in Riley's dreams. As with many Disney animated movies, I think Inside Out is even better for adults than it is for children!  I laughed and laughed through most of it (when I wasn't actually crying).  The message that sometimes you just need to feel sad was very poignant for me because I've certainly learned over the years that it is better to feel sad than feel nothing at all.  The animation is visually appealing (very luminous) but it was definitely the story that drew me in.  I highly recommend that you go see this wonderful movie!

Note:  I think my very favorite part of this movie is that Riley plays hockey!  I'm sure I have a hockey island inside my head, too!

I Feel Like I'm on HGTV

I have made the monumental decision to sell my house and since then my life has been a whirlwind.  I do not make big decisions easily but two things converged to make this happen.  First, I found a town house that I fell in love with online.  I looked at it frequently but did nothing (my real estate agent can track these things and, apparently, I visited the site 13 times) and then, suddenly, it was off the market.  I was really mad at myself for not taking action.  That made me realize that I was unhappy living in my current house and that I have been for quite some time.  It is such a beautiful house but it is too big for me and it is quite overwhelming.  The yard work, especially, is daunting because it is very landscaped and I don't have the time (or the inclination, frankly) to keep up with it.  I am not handy and the myriad of maintenance projects that come with a house this size rendered me completely helpless.  My poor brother-in-law!  It is expensive to maintain such a big house.  My heating bill is astronomical and yet I always feel cold.  South Jordan is a very desirable area (so my real estate agent tells me) but I have never really liked it.  It feels so far away from everything I like to do.  My friend Adia put it best when she said that the suburbs are not the single girl's friend.  I want to be closer to my family and to downtown SLC.  I realized that living in this house is a choice and, if I am unhappy, I could choose to do something about it.  Then, just like that, the town house was back on the market because financing fell through for the buyer.  Uncharacteristically, I jumped at the opportunity and scheduled a showing.  I am pre-qualified for financing and am going through the motions of submitting an offer.  However, I have decided that I am selling my house regardless of whether or not I get the town house (although I hope I do).  I have a great agent and it is going to be listed tomorrow.  Yikes!  My favorite moment of this whole adventure so far is when she said that I don't need to do a thing because it is already staged beautifully!  I haven't watched HGTV all of these years for nothing!

Note:  I have a lot of books to pack...

Love & Mercy

As a fan of the music of the 1960s, I have been looking forward to Love & Mercy, the new biopic about Brian Wilson.  I finally had the chance to see it Sunday night and it is brilliant.  There is a fine line between madness and genius and this film explores both aspects of Wilson's life.  The narrative alternates between the 1960s as Wilson (played by Paul Dano) creates the Beach Boys' seminal album Pet Sounds and the 1980s when Wilson (played by John Cusack) is a broken man under the complete control of his psychotherapist, Dr. Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti).  This technique is highly effective because, as I watched what the future Wilson had become, I became more and more interested in how the past Wilson got to that point.  I was absolutely blown away by Dano as the past Wilson and I particularly enjoyed the scenes in the studio as he tries to re-create the sounds that he hears in his head using unconventional instruments, such as sleigh bells, and even the sound of dogs barking.  Dano is able to convey energy and exuberance in the studio and hopelessness everywhere else (although the scenes of Wilson looking into the deep end of the pool became a little bit monotonous after a while) in an incredibly nuanced performance that is sure to be remembered during awards season.  He is mesmerizing!  Initially, I had difficulty with Cusack's portrayal of Wilson because he looks nothing like Dano but that mattered less and less as the movie progressed.  I think it is one of Cusack's best performances and I found all of his subtle mannerisms and speech patterns to be highly effective.  Giamatti is absolutely creepy as Dr. Landy, a man cashing in on his famous client's vulnerability, and Elizabeth Banks does an excellent job as Melinda Ledbetter, the woman who rescues Wilson from Landy's clutches (wearing one over the top 80s outfit after another).   The soundtrack is not just the music of the Beach Boys;  it includes an original score from Atticus Ross (a frequent collaborator with Trent Reznor on the scores of such films as The Social Network, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and Gone Girl, all amazing) which incorporates the original Pet Sounds studio session recordings and it is very atmospheric.  This movie is not just a traditional biography about the life of an extraordinary musician but a deep exploration of one man's psyche.  I loved it and I highly recommend it!

Let's Go Bees!

Saturday night I took Sean and Tashena to see the Bees play the Fresno Grizzlies.  It was extremely crowded, probably the biggest crowd I've ever seen at a Bees game (I do not like crowds).  It was a good game, however, with both teams scoring lots of runs.  The Bees scored five runs in the fifth inning and then there was a dramatic home run in the sixth.  At the bottom of the ninth the score was tied at 7 but the Bees scored a fantastic out-of-the-ballpark home run to win the game 8-7.

Sean just comes for the ice cream but this time he opted for a cone instead of the baseball helmet!