A Drive-In Double Feature

Sean and I have a fun summer tradition of seeing a movie at the drive-in.  We have been doing this for a few years and it is so much fun!  I have very fond memories of going to the drive-in with my parents when I was a kid and I'm glad that I can take Sean to one of the few remaining drive-ins in the country!  Last night we picked Spider-Man: Far From Home and Men in Black: International then got drinks, treats, and a ginormous bag of popcorn (we didn't even eat one fourth of it).  Sean really liked Spider-Man: Far From Home and I liked it even better the second time!  I still laughed when Peter thinks "Back in Black" is by Led Zeppelin!  Sean fell asleep during Men in Black: International and, while I liked it the first time I saw it, I was pretty meh about it the second time around.  It was a really fun night (we didn't have any weirdos around us this time) and I recommend seeing a movie at the drive-in if you have the opportunity!

Note:  Whenever I would go to the drive-in with my parents, I would try so hard to stay awake for the second feature but I would almost always fall asleep (like Sean did).  To this day, I have no idea how the movie Murder By Death ends!

Hanna Camping Trip 2019

My sister and her husband keep their trailer at a campsite near Hanna for the whole month of July.  They spend the Fourth, Pioneer Day (a holiday in Utah), and every weekend there.  They let family and friends stay there during the week and I always try to take advantage of that opportunity because I love it there!  It is beautiful and peaceful.  I was there most of the week and I spent my time reading and relaxing!

Every night I would make a big fire (my brother-in-law cut me a ton of wood from his property nearby) and sit near it until it got dark.  Sitting by a fire is probably my favorite part of camping.  I also made s'mores!

In the evening I would get in bed and read while listening to the river (it was running really high so I could hear it at night when the camp was quiet).  It was a peaceful way to go to sleep!

On my last night a big storm came through the campsite and it was actually quite relaxing to sit in the trailer and listen to the rain!

I had a wonderful time up in the mountains and I'm so glad that my sister and her husband let me spend a week in their trailer every year!

2018

2017

Summer Reading: Sometimes I Lie

I have a confession. I read every book on my summer reading list within the first three weeks of summer break! I have really enjoyed having uninterrupted time for reading and I have been staying up way too late (it's nice that I don't have to get up at the crack of dawn for school). When I started to write this review for Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney (which I finished weeks ago), I could not remember a single detail about the plot and I had to find a summary online to remind myself about it. That says all you need to know about this book! Amber is in a medically induced coma after a catastrophic car accident which she cannot remember. Even though she is paralyzed, she can hear voices all around her, including her husband Paul and her sister Claire, as she tries to piece together what happened to her. The narrative alternates between when Amber is in a coma, the events leading up to the accident which suggest that her relationship with her husband is troubled, and diary entries from her childhood which suggest that her relationship with her sister is troubled. Amber is an incredibly unreliable narrator so it is very suspenseful trying to figure out what happened to her.  Feeney also does a very good job of portraying Amber's claustrophobia at being trapped inside her own head. However, I did not enjoy the diary entries because I thought they were quite boring. They involve a huge plot twist that seemed to come out of nowhere and I had a very hard time suspending my disbelief for it. After this revelation and the events that follow, both Amber and Claire become very unsympathetic and I wondered why I bothered to care about either of them. There is an incredibly ambiguous ending which contradicts previous events so it is included merely for shock value. I hate it when authors throw in twists just for the sake of having a twist.  I found this book to be very unsatisfying and, obviously, forgettable.

Note:  Have you read Sometimes I Lie?  What did you think?

My Fair Lady at CPT

Last night I went with my Mom and both of my sisters to see My Fair Lady at CenterPoint Theatre and all four of us had so much fun (especially my Mom). This production is loverly! When Professor Henry Higgins (Andrew Heyward) and Colonel Pickering (Kevin Burtenshaw) encounter a flower girl named Eliza Doolittle (Sarah Jane Watts) outside Covent Garden,  Higgins boasts that he could pass her off as a Duchess at the Embassy Ball within six months by teaching her to speak properly! Even though Eliza is a success at the Embassy Ball, she becomes a true lady when Higgins treats her like one. I was really impressed with the cast of this show. I am always amazed at the caliber of the talent that CPT is able to recruit because it is a community theatre and the actors are all volunteers. Watts is a delightful Eliza and her renditions of "Just You Wait," "Show Me," and "Without You" are feisty while "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" and "I Could Have Danced All Night" are incredibly joyful. I loved Heyward's characterization of the curmudgeonly Higgins. His inflections are hilarious, especially in "Why Can't The English?," "I'm an Ordinary Man," and "A Hymn to Him." His version of "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" is so poignant that it brought a tear to my eye. My favorite actor in this show was Christian Lackman as Freddy Eynsford-Hill because he has a beautiful voice but he is also so funny. I always think that "On the Street Where You Live" is incredibly romantic but Lackman is absolutely twitterpated. His facial expressions made me laugh out loud. The choreography is a lot of fun, especially in "With a Little Bit of Luck" and "Get Me to the Church," and I loved it when Eliza dips Freddy in "Show Me." The set for Higgins' study is pretty spectacular, particularly the spiral staircase to the second level. Finally, the costumes are amazing! The black and white gowns in the "Ascot Gavotte" are quite elaborate and Eliza's gown at the Embassy Ball is simply stunning. Every aspect of this production is superb and I highly recommend it (go here to purchase tickets) but it closes on Saturday so you need to hurry!

Note: I have had lots of opportunities to see My Fair Lady this year!  I saw the Academy Award-winning film adaptation as part of the TCM Big Screen Classics series and I saw the concert version performed by the Utah Symphony.

Echo in the Canyon

I have always vaguely felt that I was born twenty years too late because I really love the music of the 1960s.  When I heard the fabulous music in the trailer for Echo in the Canyon, I immediately put this documentary on my list.  I saw it last night and, even though I was the youngest person in the theater, I knew the words to every single song.  This documentary explores the development of folk-rock, the so-called California sound, by artists who lived in Laurel Canyon from 1964-1967 and how these musicians influenced each other and influenced generations to come. Jakob Dylan interviews Roger McGuinn and David Crosby of the Byrds, Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, Stephen Stills of Buffalo Springfield, Eric Clapton of Cream, Ringo Starr of the Beatles, Graham Nash, Tom Petty, Jackson Brown, and producer Lou Adler.  They talk about getting together for epic jam sessions in living rooms and how certain songs inspired new songs.  My favorite anecdote came from Brian Wilson when he talked about how much Rubber Soul by the Beatles inspired the creation of Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys which, in turn, inspired Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.  Interspersed throughout these interviews is footage of Jakob Dylan recording and performing songs from these bands with contemporary artists who were influenced by them: Fiona Apple, Beck, Norah Jones, Regina Spektor, Cat Power, and Jade Castrinos.  The best part of this documentary is the music.  I loved the songs, both in their original form and performed by Jakob Dylan and others (I downloaded the soundtrack while I was still in the parking lot of the Broadway Theater) and my favorites were "Turn! Turn! Turn!" by the Byrds, "Monday Monday" and "Dedicated to the One I Love" by the Mamas and the Papas, "In My Room" by the Beach Boys, and "Expecting to Fly" by Buffalo Springfield.  I also really enjoyed Dylan's obvious reverence for these musicians in his interviews because he is my age and that is how I feel about them as well.  Can you feel nostalgia for music that was created before you were born?  If you lived through this era in music (or just appreciate it like me), I definitely recommend this documentary!