Jazz vs. Nuggets

Yesterday afternoon I went to the final home game for the Utah Jazz 2022-2023 season with my friend Angela and it was so much fun!  The Jazz played the Denver Nuggets and I was really excited about this game when I picked it at the beginning of the season because I love to hate the Nuggets (I have a lot of friends and family who are fans).  However, I was a bit nervous when I walked into the Vivint Arena because the Nuggets are the best team in the West and our entire starting lineup, and even some of the bench, are injured (the only starter I recognized was Ochai Agbaji and there were only nine players dressed for the game).  I thought the best I could hope for was that it wouldn't be a blowout but I shouldn't have doubted because this team just does not give up!  The Jazz came out ready to play and went on a 15-2 run early in the first quarter!  It was so exciting!  They led by as many as 19 points but the Nuggets rallied after a sluggish start to get within three at the end of the first half.  The Nuggets got their first lead in the third after a 19-4 run and ended the quarter up 95-89.  The Jazz, as they have done so many times this season, refused to go down without a fight and battled back!  Agbaji scored three baskets in a 10-1 run to put the Jazz ahead 116-110 with one minute left!  I was pretty much losing my mind with excitement over the possibility that the Jazz could win this and so was the entire crowd!  Agbaji made two free throws and the Nuggets missed their last few shots to end the game 118-114 in favor of the Jazz!  Agbaji scored a career high 28 points and our new player Luka Samanic also scored a career high of 23 points.  The game didn't really mean anything for the Jazz in terms of the standings (many even thought it would be better for us in the long run to lose) but it was great to see them win the last home game for the fans!  It has been a fun season and I'm glad that Angela invited me along for a few games!  I can't wait until next season to see what this team does!

Note:  The Jazz won every game I attended both this season and last!  They might want to consider comping me some season tickets!

Florence Price's Piano Concerto

I had been looking forward to last night's Utah Symphony concert for quite some time because Shostakovich was on the program (you know how I love the Russian composers) but I was also blown away by the first two pieces!  The orchestra began with Elegia Andina by Gabriela Lena Frank and I loved this moody and atmospheric piece!  The composer was inspired by Peruvian folk music but, to me, it sounded like a thunderstorm with temple blocks imitating the sound of raindrops falling in the aftermath and dueling flutes and clarinets imitating birdsong.  Next came Piano Concerto in One Movement by Florence Price and I also really loved this piece!  Price was a brilliant composer but she didn't commanded the respect she deserved because she was an African American woman.  However, when the score for the Piano Concerto was discovered at her abandoned summer home in 2009, it brought her some well-deserved recognition because it has had many performances over the past few years.  The orchestra was joined by the amazing Michelle Cann, who is a champion of Price's works, for a sparkling rendition of it.  Even though there is only one movement there are three very distinct sections.  The first is incredibly romantic and passionate, the second is slow and lyrical with a beautiful theme played by the solo piano and an oboe, and the third is jaunty and playful (it reminded me of ragtime).  Cann performed it with so much emotion and expression and I loved watching her (the only thing that could distract me from her fabulous gown and the diamond clip in her hair was seeing her fingers flying up and down the keyboard).  The audience exploded into cheers and applause so she gave a marvelous encore featuring a jazz arrangement of Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C sharp Major by Hazel Scott (which I, of course, loved).  After the intermission came Symphony No. 10 by Dmitri Shostakovich which is absolutely epic (in my opinion, any piece that features the gong is automatically epic).  Many believe it is in response to the terror of Stalin's reign with a conclusion that depicts the ultimate triumph of the individual over tyranny.  There are beautiful and wistful themes played throughout by the various woodwinds which represent Shostakovich and violent and urgent themes by the strings, brass, and percussion (the aforementioned gong is spectacular) which represent Stalin and are quite unsettling.  Luckily, Shostakovich is the winner in this battle of wills in the powerful conclusion!  The orchestra was under the baton of guest composer Tito Munoz and I enjoyed watching him lead the orchestra through a wonderful performance that I highly recommend!  Go here for tickets to tonight's concert which features the same program.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Last night I finally had the chance to see Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and it was so much fun!  A bard named Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine) becomes a thief in a crew with Holga Kilgore (Michelle Rodriguez), a barbarian, Simon Aumar (Justice Smith), a sorcerer, and Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant), a rogue, to support his daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman) after his wife is murdered.  He agrees to a dangerous raid for a mysterious stranger named Sofina (Daisy Head) because he wants to steal a Tablet of Reawakening to bring his wife back to life but he and Holga are caught and put in prison while the others are able to get away.  After two years in Revel's End prison, Edgin and Holga stage a daring escape only to discover that Forge, now the Lord of Neverwinter, is in league with Sofina, who is a Red Witch, and that the two of them orchestrated their capture.  Forge has also been taking care of Kira and has poisoned her against her father.  Elgin decides that the only way to get revenge and win Kira back is to rob Forge's vault but, in order to do that, they must go on a fantastical quest that has them reunite with Simon, recruit a shapeshifting druid named Doric (Sophia Lillas) and a paladin named Xenk Yendar (Rege-Jean Page), visit an underworld, retrieve an ancient relic, fight assassins, elude dragons, escape from a maze, and eventually defeat the Red Witch.  What I loved most about this adaptation of the popular role-playing game is that there are a lot of references and Easter eggs to keep players happy but it is accessible enough that you don't need to know anything about D&D in order to enjoy it (I have never played but a lot of my friends in high school did so I understood many of the references).  I also really liked the dynamic within the group of characters because, while there is a lot of witty banter and slapstick comedy, each of them has an important arc which allows them to overcome obstacles and grow over the course of the campaign!  Pine is incredibly charismatic, Rodriguez is a bad ass, and Grant is his usual hilarious self as a smarmy villain but Page steals the show and his detailed explanations had me laughing out loud.  The action sequences are great, especially those involving Rodriguez, and I loved all of the visual effects, particularly a sequence when Doric shapeshifts into several different animals to escape from Forge's castle.  As a fantasy loving nerd I expected to enjoy this but I actually really loved it and I highly recommend it!

Air

I love a good sports movie but I have to admit that I had my doubts about Air when I first heard about it.  How could a movie about the making of a basketball shoe be entertaining?  I had the chance to see a sneak peek last night and, not only was I completely riveted, I wanted to stand up and cheer by the end of it!  In 1984 Nike's fledgling basketball division is in third place behind Converse and Adidas.  A Nike executive named Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) wants to change that by betting the entire budget on only one player, Michael Jordan, who has yet to play a game in the NBA because he sees greatness in him.  First he must convince the Nike Director of Marketing Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman), Nike CEO Phil Knight (Ben Affleck), sports agent David Falk (Chris Messina), and then a reluctant Michael Jordan who wants to sign with Adidas.  But, more importantly, he must convince Jordan's mother Deloris (Viola Davis) because she also understands her son's worth.  This movie is about how a game-changing partnership between an athlete and a sponsor came about but, rather ironically given my reservations, my favorite scenes involved the designing of the shoe!  I laughed out loud when the Creative Director Peter Moore (Matthew Maher) unveiled the prototype to Vaccaro and Strasser for the first time because it is bathed in light but the audience doesn't actually see the shoe just the reaction to it!  Damon and Davis are outstanding with several goosebump inducing moments but, really, the entire ensemble cast is great!  Bateman delivers a poignant monologue about the high stakes of this deal, Messina is completely unhinged in a scene on the phone, and Affleck is hilarious as an aphorism-spouting CEO beholden to his board.  As a child of the 80s, I really loved the nostalgia of the production design as well as the needle drops, especially the opening montage of pop cultural references with "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits underneath it.  I also enjoyed the references to John Stockton (Utah Jazz fan here).  Affleck's direction should also be praised because, even though much of the action consists of conversations, many occurring over the phone, and almost everyone, even those who do not follow basketball, knows the outcome of the negotiations, he somehow infuses the narrative with heart and humor.  This is a crowd-pleasing slam dunk and I highly recommend it!  

Enys Men

The second movie in my double feature at the Broadway last night was Enys Men (which is Cornish for "Stone Island").  I am a big fan of experimental horror and I found this to be incredibly unsettling.  A Volunteer (Mary Woodvine) conducts daily observations of and logs the data for a group of white flowers on the cliff of an isolated and inhospitable island off the coast of Cornwall in 1973.  She follows the exact same monotonous routine every day and the results of her observations do not change.  She has very little contact with the outside world except for a short-wave radio and a Boatman (Edward Rowe) who periodically brings her supplies.  After the Boatman and his smashed up boat wash up on shore, however, the Volunteer begins to be haunted by the spirits of people who once inhabited the island and a strange lichen appears on both the flowers and on the Volunteer's body.  It seems as if the Volunteer is being subsumed by both memory and nature but this is my interpretation (everything is open to interpretation because what this movie does so well is put you inside the head of the main character so that, like her, you begin to question everything that you see on the screen).  The action happens in a very non-linear structure (the Volunteer is shown with a yellow rain slicker well before we see the floating body of the Boatman wearing it and she places a piece of his boat on the mantel before we see the wreck in the water) and the images are steeped in mythology and allegory, particularly the oft-repeated wide shots of circling birds, crashing waves, and a mysterious stone monolith.  The sound design, which features wind, waves, and static from the radio, emphasizes the disorientation and the use of grainy 16-millimeter film is incredibly evocative (it is almost as if the movie itself is a relic unearthed from the past).  Woodvine is absolutely riveting as a woman slowly going mad.  The narrative can be frustrating because it focuses more on atmosphere than plot and it is more unnerving than scary but I was fascinated by this movie and highly recommend seeking it out (it is playing in a very limited engagement at the Broadway).