Dead Men Tell No Tales

Last Thursday I went see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and I thought it was a lot of fun.  I loved Curse of the Black Pearl but I liked each successive sequel less and less (I hated On Stranger Tides) so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this latest entry in the franchise.  Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites) is searching for the Trident of Poseidon as a way to break the curse that binds his father Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) to The Flying Dutchman.  He is helped by Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario), an astronomer (who is periodically accused of being a witch) who has a map that can locate the Trident.  The two of them encounter Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), as he is trying to rob a bank, and the three join forces.  Meanwhile, Salazar (Javier Bardem), an undead captain in the Spanish Armada who was trapped in the Devil's Triangle by Jack Sparrow, vows revenge against him and enlists the help of Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) to find him.  They all meet up for an epic confrontation on the sea for control of the Trident.  The story is kind of all over the place and there are a lot of characters to keep track of (every captain has a large crew and the British Royal Navy makes an appearance) but it has a similar tone and feel as the first movie in the franchise.  I loved all of the swashbuckling action sequences on land, especially one involving Jack Sparrow and a guillotine, and the sea battles are also pretty spectacular (although the sequence involving the Trident of Poseidon drags on a bit).  Javier Bardem is a great villain (I loved his hair) and Johnny Depp is always highly amusing as Sparrow.  I also enjoyed the (very brief) return of Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley as Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann and I squealed with delight at the cameo of Paul McCartney as Jack's uncle (I guess Keith Richards and Paul McCartney are brothers?).  This movie is definitely not a masterpiece but it is a great summer blockbuster and it was a fun way for me to start my summer vacation.  If you are a fan of the franchise, then I suspect you will enjoy it.

The Rite of Spring

Last night's Utah Symphony concert was the final one of the 2016-2017 season.  In my opinion it has been an outstanding season as it has featured so many incredible performances of some of my favorite pieces.  Last night was no exception.  The orchestra began with a piece by Tchaikovsky called Souvenir d'un lieu cher (Memory of a dear place).  It consists of three little vignettes which were originally intended for a violin concerto but they were abandoned and later orchestrated by Alexander Glazunov.  I thought all three of them were beautiful with a lovely performance by soloist Simone Porter on violin.  Next the orchestra played Ameriques by Edgard Varese and it was quite spectacular.  This piece was written when Varese moved to New York City after World War I.  He wanted to capture the cacophony of industrialization and one of the main themes involved a siren!  I was very impressed by the sheer number of musicians on the stage (there were 15 musicians on percussion instruments alone!).  After the intermission the orchestra concluded the concert with The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky and it was amazing.  This piece, as the same implies, is about a pagan ritual celebrating the advent of spring and I think it is wild and exuberant.  I really loved all of the themes played by the brass and the timpani and I could definitely see young girls dancing with abandon as I listened.  I really enjoyed this concert (especially since I am now officially on summer vacation) and I recommend getting a ticket to tonight's concert featuring the same program (go here).

Note:  The Utah Symphony will be performing concerts at various outdoor venues during the summer.  I am particularly looking forward to La La Land performed in concert at the Usana Amphitheater and to Leslie Odom, Jr. (from the original cast of Hamilton) with the Utah Symphony at the Deer Valley Amphitheater.

Summer Reading 2017

Today is the last day of school and you know what that means:  uninterrupted time for reading!  My summer reading list is back by popular demand (okay one person asked me about it).  This year's selections come from a list of the most popular fiction of 2016 (found here) and I think it includes an eclectic mix by authors I enjoy.  I'm looking forward to all of them!  I will be reading Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty, Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult, My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout, The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, The Girls by Emma Cline, Nutshell by Ian McEwan, Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley, All The Ugly And Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood, Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld, and Commonwealth by Ann Patchett.  Like last year, I will review each of these selections here every Friday.  I hope you will join me and tell me what you think in the comments!  Yay for summer reading!

What I Want To Remember

Last week our principal took me and all of the SBOs to lunch at Little America, as he does every year, and it was a lovely afternoon.  It is always nice to be able to leave school for a few hours and go downtown for lunch at a fancy restaurant (the food at Little America is fabulous, especially the desserts).  Our principal had the officers talk about their favorite memories and that made me really happy.  We have had quite a bit of drama in student government this year and I've been feeling a bit negative about the year.  I'm glad I had the chance to be reminded of all of the good things that happened this year.  These are the things I want to remember.

Norman

On Monday night I went to see the dark comedy Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer.  Richard Gere gives an incredible performance (possibly the best of his career) as Norman Oppenheimer, a small-time hustler in New York City who does an enormous favor for Micha Eschel (Lior Ashkenazi), a low-level diplomat in the Israeli government, in order to get an invitation to a dinner thrown by Arthur Taub (Josh Charles), a high profile financier (the exchange between Norman and Taub is one of the most cringe-worthy scenes I've ever seen).  Norman's prospects change when, three years later, Eschel becomes the Prime Minister of Israel.  He does a few more favors for Eschel, such as getting his son into Harvard, and then attempts to use this connection to his advantage.  Will he pull off the biggest deals of his life or will it all come crashing down around him?   I enjoyed this often slow-moving film because of Richard Gere's sympathetic portrayal of a character who is pretty annoying, especially when he tries to hustle a woman on a train, but somehow you can't help rooting for him to succeed.  There is an especially poignant scene where Eschel essentially throws him under the bus to save his political career and it almost brought me to tears.  I liked how many of the phone conversations are portrayed as if the two people talking are side-by-side (there are many phone conversations because Norman is always hustling).  Finally, I also really liked the supporting cast:  Michael Sheen as Norman's much beleaguered nephew, Dan Stevens (who seems to be everywhere these days) as a financier, and Steve Buscemi as a rabbi.  This film is quite dark in tone so is not for everybody but I recommend it to those who like character-driven films about interesting people.