New Year's in Vienna

While it would have been amazing to spend New Year's Day listening to the Vienna Philharmonic play their annual concert featuring the music of Johann Strauss, his sons, and his contemporaries, I saved quite a bit on airfare and attended the Utah Symphony's version last night.  My sister was one of the winners of my ticket giveaway for this concert and she took my mom, who absolutely loved it!  She recognized most of the pieces and thought they were all very stirring!  So did I!  The orchestra began with Dmitri Shostakovich's Festive Overture, Alexander Borodin's "Poltovtzian Dances" from Prince Igor, and Shostakovich's Suite for Variety Stage Orchestra.  I especially loved "Waltz 2" from Suite for Variety Stage Orchestra.  I really liked the theme played by the solo saxophone, and later echoed by other instruments, because it was very playful and I kept imagining women in white ball gowns twirling around an opulent palace.  After the intermission, the orchestra played "Hungarian March" from La Damnation de Faust by Hector Berlioz, Kunstlerleben by Johann Strauss, Jr., Champagner Gallop by Hans Christian Lumbye, "Sehnsuchtswalzer" from Drei Walzer by Wolfgang Rihm, and Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Johannes Brahms.  The concert concluded with In Krapfenwald'l and Eljen a Magyar! by Johann Strauss, Jr. All of these pieces were absolutely enchanting and sometimes it seemed as if the audience wanted to get up and dance (or maybe that was just me).  I especially loved the popping of the champagne corks in Champagner Gallop and all of the bird whistles (including a rubber duckie) in In Krapfenwald'l.  So much fun!  It was such a lovely way to begin the new year, especially with my mom and sister (a huge thanks to the Utah Symphony for allowing me to give away tickets to this concert).  These pieces will be performed again tonight and I highly recommend getting a ticket!  Go here for more information.

Unbroken

My book club chose the book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand several years ago.  I didn't know much about it so I decided to check it out of the library instead of buy it.  I was number 315 in line to check it out so I didn't participate in my book club discussion.  I had forgotten all about it by the time I got the notification that it was my turn and I really didn't know what to expect.  I read it in one day and I was so incredibly moved by Louis Zamperini's courage!  When I found out that Angelina Jolie was directing the movie adaptation, I knew I had to see it!  The day after Christmas, Marilyn and I took our Mom to see it (my Mom was thrilled to be going to a "late" movie) and I was, once again, so moved by Zamperini's story (I cried through most of it).  It is not any easy film to watch but it is absolutely beautiful.  It begins with Zamperini as a bombardier on a mission in the Pacific.  Then it flashes back to his difficult childhood as an Italian immigrant in California.  His brother trains him as a long distance runner as a way to keep him out of trouble and he eventually makes it to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin (I loved the scenes at the Olympics, especially the 360 view of the stadium after the race).  Back in the present, Zamperini goes out on a reconnaissance mission over the Pacific with a sub-standard plane and eventually crashes.  He survives on a raft for 47 days until he is picked up by the Japanese and sent to a POW camp where he is repeatedly tormented by the commandant of the camp, Mutsuhiro "Bird" Watanabe, until the end of the war.  I think it is a great adaptation of the book, even though Jolie has been criticized for leaving out Zamperini's conversion to evangelical Christianity which some feel is the climax of the story.  In my opinion, the climax of the story is when Zamperini lifts a giant piece of wood, proving to "Bird" that he can't be broken.  I think Jack O'Connell does an amazing job as Zamperini and I also was very impressed with Miyavi's performance as Watanabe.  You hate Watanabe so much for what he does to Zamperini but Miyavi gives him a kind of vulnerability that makes you understand why he does what he does.  The scene where he breaks down after Zamperini lifts the piece of wood is incredible.  I loved this movie and I highly recommend it!

Today is the last day to enter the giveaway for a $50 gift card to Megapex Theatres.

2014: Year In Review

Snowshoeing at Tibble Fork Reservoir - January 2014

Snowshoeing at Sundance Resort - February 2014

Colorado Avalanche Road Trip - March 2014

Spring Break Road Trip - April 2014

Lava Hot Springs - May 2014

Yellowstone National Park - June 2014

Russia - July 2014

Utah Shakespeare Festival - August 2014

Mt. Rushmore - September 2014

Frightmares at Lagoon with Sean & Tashena - October 2014

Utah Jazz Game - November 2014

Christmas - December 2014

2014 has been a year full of adventures, challenges, and opportunities! I can't wait to see what 2015 has in store! Happy New Year!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for a $50 Megaplex Theatres gift card.

The Year of Magical Thinking

My book club chose to read The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion for its December selection. This memoir is an account of the year following the sudden and unexpected death of the author's husband, John Gregory Dunne. Didion dispassionately equates her grieving process with temporary insanity, becoming almost obsessed with the medical condition that killed her husband, feeling that she could have done something to avert the tragedy, refusing to give away his possessions because he might come back and need them, and deliberately avoiding all locations (around the world) associated with him. I did not relate to this book at all. It is an intellectual, rather than emotional, response to the death of a spouse of 40 years which reads like a treatise on grief (even citing research). I had not read anything by Didion, or her husband, before and I found it rather off-putting that she kept quoting herself throughout. I did not understand any of the references out of context.  I also found all of her name-dropping to be quite annoying, mostly because I didn't know the majority of these New York literati.  I was further alienated by her lavish and privileged lifestyle.  The fact that she still had to send out her laundry no matter how empty she felt did not leave me very sympathetic! Once again, whenever I dislike something that has received such glowing reviews, I wonder if I have missed something. However, I sometimes had the sense that this memoir was Didion's self indulgent way of coming to terms with her own grief with memories and anecdotes only she can appreciate and that it was published and so well received solely because of her friendship with the aforementioned New York literati. I can appreciate Didion's exceptional writing style, but I wouldn't recommend this memoir.

Note:  To be fair, this was probably not the best thing to read while teaching Hamlet to my seniors and Night, by Elie Wiesel, to my sophomores.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for a $50 Megaplex Theatres gift card.

Megaplex Theatres Giveaway!

Winter is a time when I really love going to see movies and this year there are so many good ones on my list!  Are there any movies you are excited about seeing?  I am giving away a $50 gift card to any Megaplex Theatre (locations in Centerville, Salt Lake City, West Valley City, Sandy, South Jordan, Ogden, Lehi, Logan, Cedar City, St. George, and Mesquite, Nevada).  Just follow Phaedra's Adventures via Google Friend Connect (located in sidebar) and enter the Rafflecopter below.  You can get another entry by leaving me a comment telling the movie you are most excited to see (I loved The Hobbit, Into the Woods, and Unbroken).  The giveaway will run until Jan. 2 and I will notify the winner via email on Jan. 3.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Good luck!