Weekend at My Favorite KOA

I knew that anywhere I wanted to go would be really crowded over the Labor Day weekend so, since I am retired and have the luxury of a flexible schedule, I decided to plan a little getaway for this weekend.  I booked a cabin at my very favorite KOA in Fillmore (which is about a two hour drive from my house) and drove down Saturday morning.  I know people might find it a bit strange but I love this campground.  It is close enough that it doesn't take forever to get to but it is far enough away that you feel like you have gone somewhere.  It is rustic enough that you feel like you are camping but there are enough conveniences (such as electricity, air conditioning, heating, a mini-fridge, and bathroom facilities nearby in the main lodge) to feel really comfortable.  Also, the hosts of this campground are some of the nicest people you will ever meet!  I spent Saturday afternoon out on the porch reading for hours and it felt wonderful because there was a cool breeze blowing through the trees.  I actually brought enough reading material this time!  My sister makes fun of me because I am notorious for finishing a book in the middle of a trip and then not having anything else to read for the rest of the time (I am like a junkie in need of a fix when I don't have a book) but she sent me a text telling me to take another book before I left and I, uncharacteristically, heeded her advice (I actually discovered that this KOA has a small library when I ran out of reading material on a camping trip several years ago but, luckily, I did not need to avail myself of it on this trip).  In the evening it started raining so I went inside, crawled under a bunch of blankets, and watched movies on my laptop.  It was incredibly cozy to listen to the rain hit the roof of the cabin as I fell asleep.  Sunday morning I got up early for a quick day trip and then spent the afternoon reading on the porch again.  I will be driving home later this morning and I am so happy that I had the chance to take this quick weekend trip because it was so fun and relaxing (and the campground wasn't very crowded).

Note:  I think I subconsciously selected this shirt because of the concert that I attended Friday night!

Return of the Jedi in Concert

Last night I saw Star Wars: Return of the Jedi on the big screen while the Utah Symphony performed the iconic score by John Williams live (I also saw Star Wars: A New Hope and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in this format so it was fun to complete the original trilogy).  I really love the Utah Symphony's Films in Concert series (I subscribed this season) because hearing the music performed live while watching the movie is such an immersive experience!  In this installment, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2 rescue Han Solo from the clutches of Jabba the Hut before joining once again with the Rebel Alliance to stop the Emperor from rebuilding the Death Star.  There is an epic battle on Endor (with some adorable Ewoks) and a thrilling final confrontation between Luke and Darth Vader!  The music during these scenes, "The Forest Battle" and "The Return of the Jedi," is incredibly stirring filled with lots of brass and percussion and these were my favorite themes.  I also got goosebumps every time "The Imperial March" played because it reminded me of how scared I was of Darth Vader when I first saw these movies!  It was so fun to see this with a large and rowdy crowd (it was the biggest crowd I've seen at Abravanel Hall since the pandemic started).  There was a lot of enthusiastic audience participation and the applause was especially loud when the the "Main Theme" played during the opening crawl, when Princess Leia defeated Jabba the Hut, when Luke reunited with Yoda on Dagobah, when the Ewoks defeated all of the stormtroopers, when Han Solo told Leia that he loved her, when Darth Vader rescued Luke from the Emperor, and when Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Yoda appeared as force ghosts at the celebration.  I really enjoyed this performance and I highly recommend seeing one of the films in concert coming up this season (Back to the Future, Home Alone, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince).

Rock Paper Scissors

My Book of the Month selection for September was Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney (the other options were The Sweetest Remedy by Jane Igharo, Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang, The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood, and The Neighbor's Secret by L. Alison Heller). I did not especially care for Sometimes I Lie, the only book I have read by this author, but I chose this one because it sounded really intriguing and I have been in the mood for thrillers lately. I couldn't put it down and, this time around, Feeney got me with several twists even though I was expecting one. Amelia and Adam Wright are having trouble in their marriage because they both feel that they don't know who the other is anymore. Amelia wins a weekend stay in the Scottish Highlands in a raffle at work and, in a last ditch attempt to save their marriage, she insists that they go and Adam begrudgingly agrees. However, it soon becomes apparent that they are each keeping secrets from each other and that they both have ulterior motives for agreeing to the weekend. After a difficult journey through a snowstorm they discover that their destination is an isolated chapel, with an ominous past, that has been converted into a living space. It appears to have been neglected for years. They attempt to settle in and make the best of the situation but soon there are strange goings-on that add to the already palpable tension between the two of them. As the storm intensifies, they are left without power and without cellular service but, even more frightening, a local inhabitant named Robin takes a disturbing interest in the couple and it seems that not everyone will survive this weekend. The narrative alternates between the perspectives of Amelia, Adam, and Robin, who are all very unsympathetic and unreliable, and interspersed between these are letters written to Adam by his wife on their anniversary (which he has never been allowed to read until this weekend) chronicling the deterioration of their relationship. The setting is incredibly atmospheric which creates a sense of impending peril on every page (there is even a hint of the paranormal thrown into the mix) and this kept me reading into the early hours. There are multiple layers (with several supporting characters) to the story and I was ever vigilant in trying to predict the twist that I was sure was coming. I had several theories but, when it inevitably came, I was absolutely blown away. I had to go back and read several sections again to pick up on any clues but they are there! Then, just when I thought the characters had reached the perfect resolution, there is another twist that made me question everything I thought I knew about them. I actually laughed out loud because the ending is so sinister. I may need to read more from this author (and I may need to read Sometimes I Lie again) because this is absolutely brilliant. I highly recommend it!

Note:  While I was reading I kept thinking that this would make a fantastic movie.  Apparently, the rights have been acquired by Netflix.

The 39 Steps at HCTO

I have had season tickets at Hale Centre Theatre for years and years but I had never been to HCT Orem (which is independently owned and operated), mostly because it is 45 minute drive to get there from my house.  I decided it was worth the drive when I found out that they were performing The 39 Steps which is one of the funniest plays I have ever seen.  I just had to see it again so I went last night and I am really glad that I did.  This hilarious show is a parody of the 1935 spy movie of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock and it features four actors (and a Foley Artist) performing all of the roles.  The action is lightning fast with scene changes and costume changes happening on stage (characters are sometimes denoted with just the change of a hat).  There are also many visual and auditory references to other Hitchcock movies, such as Psycho, Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, North By Northwest, and The Birds (there may be more but these are the ones I picked up on).  Will Ingram plays Richard Hannay, a man at loose ends who becomes embroiled in a plot to stop a ring of spies from stealing military secrets when a mysterious woman named Annabella Schmidt is stabbed after taking refuge in his apartment.  Amber Dodge plays Annabella and several other women who become romantically involved with Hannay when he travels to Scotland to clear his name.  Andy Hansen and Brett Jamison play every other character, including actors, traveling salesmen, policemen, innkeepers, farmers, spies, and more.  Amanda Anne Dayton is the Foley Artist who produces various sound effects, such as footsteps, doors opening and closing, train whistles, and even, rather amusingly, the bleating of a sheep.  All four actors have brilliant comedic timing and I especially enjoyed it whenever the characters had to jump through windows and walk through doorways.  The stage is in the round (it doesn't have the state-of-the-art technology of HCT but it feels much more intimate) which is perfect for this show as characters run in and out multiple times.  The sets and props are very minimal and I was particularly impressed with how a chase sequence on top of a train is staged.  I laughed and laughed through the whole show, as did the entire audience, and I had a thoroughly wonderful time!  I enjoyed it so much I immediately bought a ticket to The Hunchback of Notre Dame in October.  The 39 Steps runs through Sept. 25 and I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here).

Flag Day

It is the long Labor Day weekend and I have no major plans (which is perfectly fine with me because every day is a holiday when you are retired and I have a little getaway planned for next weekend) so I spontaneously decided to see Flag Day last night.  It is based on a true story about how an investigative journalist named Jennifer Vogel (Dylan Penn) makes peace with her dysfunctional, yet charming, father John (Sean Penn).  The narrative begins in 1992 when Jennifer learns from a U.S. Marshall that her father is the head of a notorious counterfeiting operation and that he is now on the run from the FBI.  The action flashes back to Jennifer's childhood when her father makes everything seem like an adventure, her troubled adolescence when she tries to reform him, when she becomes disillusioned with him as a young adult, and when she triumphs over her chaotic upbringing to become a journalist as an adult.  The timeline returns to 1992 and Jennifer sees her father's capture on the news and must then reconcile her feelings for him.  Much of this is very episodic and unfocused (literally).  I suppose it is an attempt to mimic the transitory nature of memories and the sepia-colored home movies of the era but it doesn't really work because the relationship between Jennifer and John never feels fully fleshed out.  There were many moments when my attention wavered because the narrative is so disjointed.  I found both performances to be rather overwrought, although the elder Penn has a much more riveting screen presence than the younger, and there is a surprising lack of chemistry between the two despite the fact that they are father and daughter in real life.  There is not even a satisfying emotional reckoning between the two main characters at the end to make all of the melodrama that precedes it interesting.  The resolution falls really flat.  There are quite a few cameos, including Regina King, Josh Brolin, Dale Dickey, and Eddie Marsden, that seem a bit pointless because none of their characters add much to the story (these actors must have owed Penn a favor because I am not sure what compelled them to be in this movie).  I did like some of the original music by Eddie Vedder, particularly a song featuring his seventeen-year-old daughter Olivia on vocals, but, on the whole, this is a disappointing mess that should be avoided.

Note:  I can't believe this screened at Cannes.