The End of the Tour

This weekend my sister and I packed up my entire house!  This included 18 medium boxes of paperback books and 14 large boxes of hardbound books!  Why do I have so many books?  By the time Sunday rolled around, not only did every muscle in my body hurt, but I was in serious need of a distraction.  I ended up at the Broadway, my usual Sunday night destination (although I went to the early show because I am now in school), to see yet another movie that I tried, unsuccessfully, to see at Sundance.  I had heard so many great things about The End of the Tour so I was very eager to see it.  David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg) is assigned to write a profile of the author David Foster Wallace (Jason Segel) for Rolling Stone.  He joins Wallace for the last five days of his 1996 book tour for the epic novel Infinite Jest (which I tried, unsuccessfully, to read several years ago) and records their conversations.  The movie opens 12 years later with Lipsky hearing the news that Wallace has killed himself and then flashes back to the tour as Lipsky listens to the tapes.  Believe it or not, this film is quite riveting, despite the fact that much of it involves two men talking, because the two men are so complicated.  Wallace just wants to be an ordinary guy and worries that fame will turn him into the very thing he criticizes in his novels.  Lipsky is an ordinary guy and wants nothing more than to be a famous writer.  He is in awe of Wallace but Wallace knows that it it is only the persona of "famous writer" that he admires.  Both men are desperately lonely and are immediately drawn to each other, bonding over junk food, but they inevitably become combative in their roles as "interviewer" and "interviewee."  It is an intense examination of loneliness, fame, depression, and popular culture and I couldn't look away from the screen!  Both Segel and Eisenberg give extraordinary performances.  I was particularly impressed with Segel because I am not a fan of much of his previous work (I am an absolute snob when it comes to TV) and I underestimated him!   I sometimes grow weary of Eisenberg's twitchy-talk-as-fast-as-you-can-in-a-monotone-voice characterization but it works in this role. The soundtrack is fabulous and features a score by Danny Elfman and songs by R.E.M.  (I think all soundtracks should feature R.E.M.).  I'm not sure that this movie is for everyone, but I found it fascinating!

Note:  After I see Meru and Mistress America, which both come out next weekend at the Broadway, I think I will have checked off everything on my Sundance wish list!

Welcome to Hunter

On Friday the SBOs and Class Officers sponsored the Welcome Assembly.  We now have the ninth graders at HHS so our studentbody is quite a bit bigger.  The administration thought it would be better to have the assembly in the afternoon because some students would naturally go home early.  I was afraid that everyone would go home early!  I needn't have worried because the gym was packed with an enthusiastic crowd and it was a lot of fun!  The assembly was a huge success (after only three days to prepare!) and I am so proud of the officers!  We had all of the performing arts groups involved and the officers had some fun games.

My favorite part of the assembly was the Spirit Can.  The officers asked me if I could get them a galvanized metal garbage can and, since that sounded perfectly reasonable, I found one at Home Depot.  They spent an afternoon painting it and we filled it with Hunter shirts, candy, and other prizes.  Whenever there were any transitions or set-ups during the assembly, the officers would take the Spirit Can to a section of the gym, raise the lid to get the crowd cheering, and throw out the items into the crowd.  It was a huge hit.  Even our principal commented on what a good idea it was and offered to order more Hunter gear to fill it.  We plan to use it throughout the year at assemblies and games!

I am usually a bit stressed out about assemblies but I was very relaxed about this one.  The officers were so pumped up all day and very enthusiastic about what they had planned and I guess it rubbed off on me!  They all have more personality than they know what to do with and they keep me laughing all the time!  The first week of school is usually a bit difficult getting everything ready and adapting to new schedules and classes but I have had so much fun with this group and I am excited for the coming year!  Now bring on Homecoming (in three weeks!)

Note:  I am not a hugger but after the assembly we were all so happy about how it went that a spontaneous group hug happened.  Our principal caught the moment and I'm kind of glad he did!

Oklahoma at HCT

Wednesday night I saw Hale Theatre's production of the classic musical Oklahoma!  Every song is instantly recognizable: "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning," "The Surrey With The Fringe On Top," "Kansas City," "People Will Say We're In Love," "The Farmer and the Cowman," and, of course, "Oklahoma!" I've seen this show many, many times and I was quite impressed with what Hale was able to do on such a small and intimate stage. The choreography was absolutely amazing and I especially loved the rope tricks by Will Parker (Jack David Shapiro) in "Kansas City." The Dream Sequence was extremely well done. I think having Laurey (Elise Groves) and Curly (Derek Smith) as children and then adolescents together was very effective at showing their relationship and it was very impressive that Groves and Smith danced their own parts (most productions have a Dream Laurey and Dream Curly). I also think the Dream Sequence was very bold in its depiction of Jud (Jacob Theo Squire).  He is truly menacing and he literally made my skin crawl during this number. I always think Jud is a difficult character. Usually I have some sympathy for him and I feel a little bit unsettled by the exuberant happy ending after his death.  But in this production, I did not like Jud at any point. Director David Tinney made a bold choice to portray Jud as Native American and, at first I didn't like this characterization because it made me feel guilty about not liking him. However, I think Jud is supposed to be a polarizing figure who makes everyone uneasy so, after thinking about it, I feel it was very apt! I also thought it was quite interesting that Tinney chose to have Aunt Eller (Lizanne Chapman) break down in tears alone on the stage following the trial. As I mentioned, I've never been comfortable with such a happy ending after the death of another, however reprehensible that person might be. All of the actors have wonderful voices and seem to have a lot of fun with their characters, particularly Heather McDonald as Ado Annie and Andrew Hansen as Ali Hakim. My only complaint is that I sometimes couldn't hear Aunt Eller but that may have been a technical issue. Set designer Kacey Udy continues to amaze me with what he is able to build on such a small stage. This time he created a full size wooden windmill tower!  Quite impressive!  I would highly recommend this production because it contains all of the familiar and well-loved musical numbers but the story is presented in a completely new way! It runs until Oct. 3 and you can purchase tickets here (but get them quickly because many shows are sold out).

Note:  When I bought my season tickets last year, I had no idea that this show would fall on the first day of school.  It was a long day...

Off to a Great Start

Yesterday was the first day of school and my officers definitely hit the ground running!  We had to plan an assembly for Friday (tomorrow!) and Homecoming is in three weeks!  I have to admit that I am a little bit stressed out about Homecoming because of everything that I have going on in my life right now but I am just so excited to work with this group of students!  They have so many great ideas!  I am particularly excited about one idea for the assembly (it involved a trip to Home Depot to buy a galvanized metal garbage can!) and I'm also pretty excited about their theme for Homecoming (Into the Woods).  They have been hard at work for the past several weeks to make sure that the 2015-2016 school year is a success and I am very proud of them!

They came in on Tuesday (their last day of summer vacation) to make this amazing banner to welcome the students.  They are so artistic!  One of the officers drew those giant letters freehand and cut them out of paper!  They also went around the building helping teachers set up their classrooms.  Hunter High has had a lot of construction and painting going on over the summer and many teachers were not able to have access to their classrooms until Tuesday which was stressful, to say the least!  I know the teachers really appreciated their help (I certainly appreciated them moving my heavy filing cabinets for me).

Last week they sponsored an orientation for the incoming sophomores and freshmen (we have freshmen at HHS for the first time this year and they are so little) and they did such a great job!  We planned this quite a while ago but I've been so distracted that I didn't really touch base with them until that day.  They followed through with everything we had planned and were completely ready to go!  I can't tell you how much I appreciated that!

Several weeks ago they sponsored a blood drive with the American Red Cross.  Not only is this an incredible amount of work to organize, but they gave up an entire day of their summer to run it!  I am so lucky to get to work with such wonderful students!  It's going to be a great year!

2014

2013

Ten Thousand Saints

Last night I had my final late night excursion to the Broadway Theatre before school starts and the film I chose to see was Ten Thousand Saints.  It generated a lot of buzz at Sundance this year and I tried, unsuccessfully, to get tickets.  I didn't worry because I knew that it would eventually be screened at the Broadway (like The End of the Tour, another film I really wanted to see, which opens next weekend).  This film is partly a bittersweet coming-of-age story about three troubled teenagers and partly a love letter to a New York City that doesn't exist any more and I loved it!   The plot revolves around a boy named Teddy (Avan Jogia) who ODs on cocaine on New Year's Eve and how his death affects his best friend Jude (Asa Butterfield), his brother Johnny (Emile Hirsch), a lead singer in a hardcore punk band, and Eliza (Hailee Steinfeld), a girl with whom he had a one night stand and is now pregnant with his baby.  They come together in the East Village during the late 80s, when writers, artists, musicians, drug dealers, and squatters all inhabited the iconic neighborhood before the yuppies invaded (in fact, a pivotal scene takes place during the Tompkins Square Park Riot when police used force to remove the homeless), to form a surrogate family for Eliza's baby.  Ethan Hawke plays Les, Jude's drug-dealing father, and Emily Mortimer plays Diane, Eliza's uptight prima ballerina mother who happens to be Les' girlfriend.  Les is a character similar to the one Hawke played in Boyhood but it doesn't matter because he is just so good at it!  He has some of the best lines in the film and I laughed and laughed when his ex-wife calls to see where Jude is and then Diane calls on the other line to see where Eliza is and, since neither one is there, he simply hangs up the phone!   All of the actors give wonderful performances, particularly Hailee Steinfeld.  She is something else!  I loved how the filmmakers painstakingly reproduced the East Village of the late 80s, especially a scene of Johnny's band playing at CBGB, a night club where the Ramones, Blondie, and Talking Heads once played.  I also really loved the scenes in the Krishna Temple!  I sometimes attend the SLC Krishna Temple and these scenes just made me happy.  Finally, the soundtrack is amazing, filled with atmospheric music from the 80s such as "Sixteen Blue" (sigh) from The Replacements and "Talk About the Passion" from R.E.M.  Good stuff!  It is a wonderfully nostalgic movie that will make all of my fellow Gen Xers laugh and cry!

Note:  Emile Hirsch got into a bit of trouble while he was in Park City promoting this film at Sundance!