A Chilly Bees Game

Marilyn was offered some free tickets to yesterday's Bees game at work.   The seats were right behind the dugout so we were pretty excited.  It was 80 degrees over the weekend but you just never know with the weather in Utah.  At one point it was actually snowing yesterday and I thought the game might be postponed.  But then it cleared up in the afternoon and we decided to go.  We had so much fun!  I can't begin to tell you how much I love spending time with Sean and Tashena!  We love going to Bees games and we have some silly rituals like what we get to eat (we opted for hot chocolate instead of ice cream, or at least three of us did).  We were laughing so hard I wondered if we were bothering the people around us!  The Bees played the Fresno Grizzlies and they scored three runs in the first two innings which was a lot of fun.  Then the Grizzlies scored three runs in the third inning and three more in the fourth inning which deflated the crowd a bit!  By the bottom of the sixth inning we were all really cold so we decided to leave and it might be a good thing we did because the Bees ended up losing 11-4.

It really doesn't matter what the score is because we always have so much fun and last night was a blast!  I am so grateful that I get to spend so much time with my niece and nephew.  Being an aunt is the best!

Lean on Pete

I have developed a lovely habit of seeing an independent movie at my favorite art house theater every Sunday afternoon and yesterday's selection was Lean on Pete.  Charlie Thompson (Charlie Plummer) is living a hand-to-mouth existence with an unreliable father when he finds a job at a racetrack working for an irascible trainer named Del Montgomery (Steve Buscemi).  He grows attached to an aging racehorse named Lean on Pete but, when the horse starts losing races, he is destined for slaughter.  After a tragedy involving his father, Charlie takes Lean on Pete for a cross-country journey to find his aunt.  It is a coming of age story about a boy whose situation becomes more and more perilous and it is absolutely unrelenting.  Much like Andrew Haigh's previous movie 45 Years, this movie does not have a lot of dialogue or exposition but everything that Charlie is feeling is evident and he is an entirely sympathetic character.  There were times when I had tears in my eyes and one scene made me gasp out loud but I never felt that it was manipulative.  It felt like an accurate portrayal of a segment of society living on the edge of poverty.  Plummer gives an astonishing performance, appearing in literally every scene.  The cinematography is beautiful, especially the nighttime scenes of Charlie walking with Pete through the desert with only a lantern for illumination.  I loved this movie and I highly recommend it!

Fischer Conducts Shostakovich

It has been a fun and busy week and I capped it off with a Utah Symphony concert with my friend Angela.  It is so nice to have a friend who likes classical music as much as I do and we had an absolutely wonderful evening.  After the lovely concert featuring the music of Dmitri Shostakovich we walked to the Cheesecake Factory for dessert and met with some rowdy fans who had just come from seeing the Jazz beat the Thunder to advance to the next round in the playoffs!  So much fun!  The orchestra began with Piano Concerto No. 1 featuring Boris Giltburg on piano and Travis Peterson on trumpet.  I found this piece to be a bit mercurial because at times it was very stirring but one of the themes played by the trumpet was so mournful.  Boris Giltburg joined the orchestra once more for Piano Concerto No. 2 and this was my favorite piece of the evening.  The first movement was bold and dramatic with all of the strings playing in unison.  The second movement was almost unbearably romantic and it brought spontaneous tears to my eyes.  The third movement was very playful and lively.  I really loved this and I enjoyed Giltburg's performance because he was so energetic.  After the intermission the orchestra concluded with Symphony No 10 which was incredibly moody and atmospheric.  I especially enjoyed all of the themes played by the woodwinds throughout and I loved the almost plaintive theme played by the solo horn in the third movement.  I was also very moved by the triumphant ending!  I love the Russian composers so much and, because Shostakovich is a particular favorite of mine, I enjoyed this concert immensely!  The same program is being performed again tonight and tickets may be purchased here.  I highly recommend it! 

Note:  I've been spoiled this season with so many concerts featuring Russian composers.  My final concert of the season will feature my favorite: Rachmaninoff!

Avengers: Infinity War

Last night I saw a Thursday preview of Avengers: Infinity War with a large and rowdy crowd and to say that it is epic would be an understatement!  All of the movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been leading up to this point and it certainly did not disappoint.  Thanos (Josh Brolin) is on a quest to assemble all of the infinity stones so that he may destroy half of the population of the universe, believing that it will preserve resources and, thereby, ultimately preserve life.  He, along with his followers, battle against various groups of Avengers, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the people of Wakanda in order to retrieve the stones.  The stakes in this movie are real with serious consequences and there are scenes of great pathos but the humor that we have all come to love and expect is there, as well.  I particularly enjoyed the interactions between Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) and between Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) and Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch).  I really liked Thanos as a villain because in many ways he is very sympathetic.  The battle sequences are incredible and the CGI is actually quite amazing.  In my screening there were cheers and applause as every character came on screen and there were audible gasps at some of the more poignant scenes.  I really have no words for my reaction to this movie except to say that it lived up to my expectations in every way and I suspect that I will need to see it again!

Note:  The ending...

Beirut

My Dad and I are both big fans of espionage movies so I took him to see Beirut last night.  This movie is the type of old fashioned political thriller that Hollywood doesn't seem to make any more and we both loved it!  It is 1972 and Beirut is the Paris of the Middle East.  Mason Skiles (Jon Hamm) is a U.S. diplomat living the high life in Beirut when an incident with his friend Cal Riley (Mark Pellegrino), a CIA agent, leads to a personal tragedy.  Ten years later Skiles is an alcoholic working as a labor dispute negotiator in the U.S. when he is asked by the CIA to return to Beirut, now engulfed in a civil war, to negotiate the release of Riley who has been taken hostage.  There is much unfinished business between the two men as well as uncertain loyalties within the state department set against the backdrop of unrest in the Middle East which makes this movie incredibly intense and suspenseful.  One of the reasons I love espionage movies that are done well is that you have to pay attention to the subtle clues and it is so satisfying when you figure something out.  At one point, my Dad leaned into me and asked, "You know where this is going, right?"  I answered him and then we gave each other knowing looks when my prediction proved accurate!  I still didn't know how the events would ultimately be resolved so I found it to be very compelling until the final scene.  Hamm gives a great performance, one of his best to date, as a man who is forced to confront his past and Rosamund Pike does a nice job as a CIA officer who decides to trust him.  This movie doesn't do anything new for the genre but I found it to be very entertaining and it made for a fun night out with my Dad (we discussed it the whole drive home).