X-Men: Apocalypse

Last night I was on aunt detail and Sean wanted to see X-Men: Apocalypse (I didn't coerce him, I promise).  The story is set a decade after the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past  (which means that the pop culture of the 80s is now on display including big hair and an action sequence to "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" by the Eurythmics) and this time the action revolves around the proliferation of nuclear weapons (like the Bay of Pigs invasion in X-Men: First Class and the Paris Peace talks in X-Men: Days of Future Past).  Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) is now running a school for mutants, Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) is trying, unsuccessfully, to live a normal life with his wife and daughter, and Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) is a one-woman vigilante rescuing mutants who are oppressed.  CIA Agent Moira McTaggart (Rose Byrne) is investigating the awakening of an ancient Egyptian mutant (a terrific Oscar Isaac) who believes that the world has become corrupt without his presence.  This mutant, known as Apocalypse, recruits Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Psylocke (Olivia Munn), Angel (Ben Hardy), and Magneto, after a devastating incident with his family, as his Four Horsemen in order to destroy humanity and begin again with mutants.  Apocalypse kidnaps Xavier (because he wants his ability to connect with all mutants) so the younger generation of mutants, including Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), and Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), with the help of Mystique, Beast (Nicholas Hoult), and Quicksilver (Evan Peters), must confront Apocalypse in an epic battle.  Granted, the story is convoluted and there are a lot of characters to follow, but I actually really enjoyed this movie.  The action sequences are a lot of fun, especially when Quicksilver rescues the students from an explosion at the school, and I think the filmmakers do a good job of highlighting all of the characters and their motivations.  To be fair, I did watch this movie with an 11-year-old boy who thought all of the action sequences were amazing and kept up a running commentary in my ear about about who was who so I might not be the best person to consult about its merits!  However, I think that fans of the franchise will enjoy this installment (with or without an 11-year-old boy).

Finding Neverland on Broadway

With the exception of Hamilton, Finding Neverland was the show I was most looking forward to seeing during my New York trip.  I absolutely loved the movie (I cried and cried during the ending) and I hoped that the stage adaptation would be just as affecting.  The story of how J. M. Barrie is inspired to write Peter Pan after meeting Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and her four sons is simply magical.  While this show is definitely about loss, there is quite a bit of comic relief with Mary Barrie's (Teal Wicks) snobby aristocratic friends in the songs "All of London is Here Tonight" and "The Dinner Party," with Barrie's exasperated theatre agent Charles Frohman (Marc Kudisch) and his over-the-top acting troupe in the song "Play," and with Captain Hook (Rory Donovan) in "Live by the Hook."  I also really loved Barrie's interaction with the Llewellyn Davies brothers (Jackson Demott Hill, Alex Dreier, Christian Michael Camporin, and Jack McCarthy) in the song "The Pirates of Kensington."  The boys give an outstanding performance in "We're All Made of Stars" and the song "When Your Feet Don't Touch the Ground" is lovely.  However, I was especially moved by the romance between Barrie and Sylvia (Laura Michelle Kelly, from the Original Broadway Cast).  Their songs "Neverland" and "What You Mean to Me" are so beautiful and the actors give amazing performances.  I was initially a little bit disappointed that Kevin Kern, the understudy, performed the role of J.M. Barrie instead of Alfie Boe (because Alfie Boe is amazing) but he did a wonderful job.  I really loved the staging of this musical, especially the song "Neverland" (Reprise) when the acting troupe performs Peter Pan for Sylvia in the nursery.  Sylvia's death scene is one of the most magical things I've ever seen on stage and, just like I did in the movie, I cried through the whole thing.  Seriously beautiful!  I loved everything about this show and I am so glad that I got a chance to see it on Broadway!

Memorial Day Weekend 2016

Memorial Day is the official start of summer so Marilyn and I decided to spend the weekend at Bear Lake.  We had so much fun!

We stayed at the KOA in Garden City and this was our cabin for the weekend.  Both Marilyn and I spent some quality time sitting on the front porch reading.  It was so relaxing!  On Saturday my Mom and Dad drove up and we rented a pontoon boat for the afternoon.  It was so much fun!  My Mom does not like boats and, initially, she didn't want to go with us but she let herself be coaxed on board.  Marilyn is terrified of water and doesn't know how to swim but she eventually drove the boat.  I'm telling you, it was so much fun being out on the water and the weather was absolutely perfect!

On Sunday Marilyn and I spent the day at the beach.  We drove to Bear Lake State Park in Idaho because it was a little bit out of the way so it wasn't very crowded.  We ended up at North Beach and we basically sat on the beach and read.  It was fabulous!

This was such a wonderful start to the summer!  

A Day at the Met

Whenever I am in a big city for a few days, I like to plan a visit to a museum because I find them to be endlessly fascinating.  In New York City there are so many to choose from!  I had been to the MoMA (although it merits a return visit) so I thought about the Guggenheim (it was closed) and the Natural History Museum but, in the end, I opted for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and it was incredible!  I started on the ground floor with a current exhibition called Manus x Machina (it runs through August 14) showing how the sewing machine has changed haute couture.  My favorite piece is a wedding gown designed by Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel which has a 20 foot train embroidered in gold.  It is quite spectacular.  I also loved the exhibition of J.M.W. Turner's Whaling Pictures (it runs through August 7) which includes one painting in the Met's permanent collection and three on loan from the Tate in London.  These four paintings were completed near the end of Turner's life and are very tumultuous, to say the least.  (I became a fan of Turner after seeing this movie).  Next, I wandered through an exhibition called Artistic Furniture of the Gilded Age.  It is fascinating but it closes soon (June 5).  Finally, I wandered through the permanent collections including Egyptian Art, Medieval Art, Greek and Roman Art, and the Art of Africa and Oceania (which has some dramatic exhibits).  I was there most of the day and still didn't see everything!  If you are a fan of art from around the world, I highly recommend a visit to this amazing museum (I also recommend the cafeteria in the basement!).  Go here for more information.

Summer Reading

Today is the last day of school!  Yippee!  One of the things I like best about summer vacation is lots of uninterrupted time for reading!  I already have a stack of books and I can't wait to get started.  Since I teach the classics from British literature during the school year, I decided to spend the summer reading contemporary British authors and I found a great list here.  I will be reading White Teeth by Zadie Smith, The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters, The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware, Little Bee by Chris Cleave, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes, The Girl Next Door by Ruth Rendell, and Me Before You by JoJo Moyes (I will probably start with Me Before You because I want to read it before the movie comes out next week) and I will review each book here every Friday.  You can join me and let me know what you think of each book in the comments.  Yay for summer reading!