Region Champion

After her best performance ever at the BYU Invitational last week, Tashena took first place in discus (with a throw of 120.5) and third place in javelin (with a throw of 104.6) at Region yesterday!  I am so proud of this girl and I can't wait to see what she does at State next week!

O.C.Tanner Gift of Music 2019

Last night I had the opportunity to attend the O.C.Tanner Gift of Music concert featuring the Tabernacle Choir, the Utah Symphony, and special guests Brian Stokes Mitchell and Megan Hilty.  This year the concert was in commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of the Golden Spike that united the Transcontinental Railroad from east to west so it featured a patriotic program that was very stirring and uplifting.  I have been looking forward to this concert for weeks because of Brian Stokes Mitchell.  I was first introduced to him when he performed with the Utah Symphony several years ago as part of a Bravo Broadway concert.  He performed the best version of "Stars" from Les Miserables that I have ever heard and I have been a huge fan ever since!  Last night he performed a rendition of "Shenandoah" that was simply stunning.  He also performed "On the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe" from The Harvey Girls and "The Flag Song" from Assassins.  He was joined by Megan Hilty for "So in Love" from Kiss Me, Kate, "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" from Shall We Dance, and a lovely song called "Thankful" by Carol Bayer Sager, David Foster, and Richard Page.  Hilty performed a delightful medley from Annie Get Your Gun.  The Utah Symphony played a medley of American classics called "American Salute" by Morton Gould and a beautiful rendition of "John Henry" by Aaron Copeland.  The Tabernacle Choir sang "America the Beautiful," "Bound for the Promised Land," and "America, the Dream Goes On" by John Williams.  The choir was as spectacular as always and they gave me goosebumps multiple times!  The concert concluded with "Wheels of a Dream" from Ragtime performed by Mitchell (he was Coalhouse Walker, Jr. on Broadway), Hilty, the Utah Symphony, and the Tabernacle Choir. It was incredibly powerful and brought a tear to my eyes!  I enjoyed this concert so much!  There were even fireworks out on the Plaza afterwards!

Note:  The O.C.Tanner Gift of Music was created and endowed by Obert C. Tanner and Gordon B. Hinckley as a way to share the music of the Utah Symphony and the Tabernacle Choir with the community.  I have been lucky enough to attend several of these concerts, including the 3oth Anniversary Gala with James Taylor and the Mahler Symphony No. 8 several years ago.

Star Wars in Concert

Last night I had more fun than should probably be allowed on a Thursday because I got to see Star Wars: A New Hope on the big screen while the iconic score was played live by the Utah Symphony!  It was amazing!  I am a huge fan of the Utah Symphony's Films in Concert series (I have seen every one since they began with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) but last night was my very favorite performance.  First of all, I love this movie so much!  It is still my favorite movie in the whole saga.  I haven't seen it on the big screen since I saw it in its first release as a nine year old little girl so it was thrilling, to say the least, to see it how it was meant to be seen again!  It brought back so many memories of watching it for the first time (I was terrified of Darth Vader as a nine year old).  Second, the score by John Williams is one of the best, in my opinion, and every theme is instantly recognizable.  I especially love "Imperial Attack," "Princess Leia's Theme," and "The Return Home" (I own the soundtrack on vinyl and know the names of the themes because I am a nerd).  The orchestra played it brilliantly and hearing the music live enhanced the experience of watching the movie so much!  Finally, the crowd at Abravanel Hall was quite rowdy!   When the orchestra played the fanfare during the opening crawl everyone went absolutely crazy!  We cheered out loud when Darth Vader, Leia, Luke, C-3PO, R2-D2, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Chewbacca, and Han Solo appeared for the first time on the screen but I think the biggest applause came when we saw the Millennium Falcon for the first time!  Lots of people were in costume and a little boy sitting in the first tier had a light saber which he wielded at key moments!  It was so much fun!  If you are a fan of this movie I highly recommend getting a ticket for one of the two remaining performances (go here).

Note:  Fingers crossed that they will eventually perform all of the movies in the franchise!

True Grit

I have recently become a fan of Western films and there are so many that I need to see!  Luckily the TCM Big Screen Classics series features a lot of Westerns, including the latest selection True Grit, so I might be able to catch up!  After trying to see this movie on Sunday (there were technical difficulties so the screening was canceled) I got to see it last night and I really enjoyed it!  This is probably my favorite John Wayne film (so far) and his riveting performance earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor.  Wayne plays Rooster Cogburn, an aging, overweight, alcoholic, and trigger-happy U.S. Marshall, who is hired by a young girl named Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) to bring her father's killer, Tom Cheney (Jeff Corey), to justice.  A Texas Ranger named La Boeuf (Glen Campbell) is also on the hunt and is looking to claim a large reward because Cheney killed a Texas state senator.  Cogburn and La Boeuf set out to track Cheney down and reluctantly allow Mattie to ride with them leading to an epic showdown with the gang protecting Cheney.  I absolutely loved the character of Mattie because she is so feisty, determined, and resourceful.  I especially love the scene where she negotiates with a wily horse trader (Strother Martin).  Darby more than holds her own with the veteran actors in this film and she has great chemistry with Wayne, particularly in a poignant scene where Cogburn tells Mattie about himself while they are waiting to ambush the gang.  In my opinion, Wayne can sometimes seem like a caricature with his laconic line delivery but in this film he brings a sensitivity to the grizzled character he plays and his performance is very compelling.  The action sequences are incredibly exciting, especially when Cogburn gets into a gunfight on horseback with four other men in the middle of a meadow!  While the film is set in Arkansas and Oklahoma, it was mostly filmed in Colorado and the cinematography is breathtaking.  I am so glad I was eventually able to see this film on the big screen and I highly recommend it!

The Intruder

My preferred method of choosing which movies to see based on the trailer has frequently backfired on me this year!  Friday night I went to see The Intruder because the trailer made it look like an interesting and atmospheric psychological thriller.  Unfortunately, it is a total mess.  Scott Russell (Michael Ealy), an up and coming San Francisco ad executive, and his wife Annie (Meagan Good) decide to leave the city in favor of finding their dream home in Napa Valley.  Charlie Peck (Dennis Quaid) tells the couple that he is selling his house to go live with his daughter in Florida but he can't seem to leave and starts dropping by at inconvenient times.  He spies on the new inhabitants and yells at them when they make alterations to the house.  Scott is unnerved by Charlie's continual presence but Annie feels sorry for him and frequently invites him in (this character is so mind-numbingly stupid that I wanted to scream).  Charlie eventually breaks into the house to attack Annie provoking a confrontation with Scott.  The script is very derivative and there is one scene in particular which mimics another well-known scene from a much better horror film that had the audience hooting with laughter (not the intended reaction).  There is absolutely no suspense, even with the jump scares, because Charlie is creepy from the moment we meet him and it is absolutely incredulous that Scott and Annie can't see this.  Not only are the characters incredibly stupid but they behave illogically, especially in the final sequence which contradicts everything we have learned about about Scott's character (and prompted more laughter).  Ealy and Good try hard with the material they are given but they don't have a lot of chemistry.  Quaid is so completely over the top as the villain that, again, I laughed at some of his facial expressions.  All of the other actors are abysmal, especially Joseph Sikora who plays Scott's best friend.  Finally, there are quite a few glaring continuity issues which point to lazy filmmaking (did anyone view this movie before it was released?).  This is not even as good as the late night movies found on Lifetime and I recommend giving it a miss.