Sink Me! Zauberflöte 3

Last Christmas we received as a gift season passes to Hale Center Theater in Orem. We've greatly enjoyed the experience, and this week marked the last play of the regular season. They saved the best for last, as Sink Me! It was the Scarlet Pimpernel. The story and music are incredibly passionate and moving and full of adventure, excitement, intrigue and things of this nature. I'm not ashamed to admit I was brought to tears several times. While I'm not ashamed, I'm still not going to admit it. Anyway, it was so popular that they were completely sold out and we didn't get to sit together at first (they moved us after a few no -shows, and boy did the No-Shows miss out). We had watched the Jane Seymour* version awhile ago and Nicole just read the classic book. Delightful in any rendition, but the musical was definately a treat.

On Friday, after a long work day, we thought we'd try the dollar theater. Dispicable Me was sold out three people in front of us. Inception was sold out 3 hours before us. So we got tickets to Toy Story 3, but not in 3-D. It was another sold-out theatre, but our seats were decent. Pixar really does a good job with story structure and whatnot and I was impressed. I resisted being brought to tears on this one, but it was hard. The Pixar short before the show, "Day and Night," was pretty crazy. It was about two blobs who are windows to either the day or night world. And they fight, but end up learning from each other. Y'know, that short really resists any simple explanation. I have no idea how they pitched it. Maybe something like "A metaphysical morality play with lots of negative space!" or something.

Anyway, speaking of relatively new releases, we also went to see "The Magic Flue" a play that just came out in 1791 by some unknown called "Mozart." ;)

Apparently there was a lot of symbolism in it. Oh, and it was in German. I think I want to learn German now. I was listening to "Ode to Joy" in German right before and, at least as of last night, I'm leaning towards learning German before French. (Niether of which will be accomplished anytime soon). The only problem is that the DVDs in our collection only have Spanish and French, not German. Maybe I can get some from Nicole's Brother and family, they're in the Air Force and station in Germany right now. Or I'll just go to opera's with subtext-er, subtitles.
Our favorite characters might very well be Papageno/a. Definately the funniest, but they also are the characters that model happily having children (as opposed to the Queen of the Night above who nearly drives her daughter to suicide). Anyway, the kiddie Papageno/as were cute. And touching.

I laughed, but I didn't cry. Still, as Albert Einstein said, now that I've seen this, I can be "cultured."****

*Aparently Jane Seymour (OBE**) was born Joyce Penelope Whilhelmina Frankenberg. Good change Jane.

**Order of the British Empire - That's right, she's like a Knight!

***Aparently she also was a Bond girl and has different color eyes. If it weren't for wikipedia, I'd have just thought she was Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

****That's not what he said about the play exactly.

More Family and Home

Today I got a surprise visit from my Dad. We've certainly been blessed to have so many opportunities to be with family recently. Nicole is super excited to have her sister in town next week, and more so because the nieces and nephew will be here as well. I actually just found out that I made a cameo on their blog (feeding the newest niece Mae Nicole), so in honor of their visit, I swiped the picture for our blog:

In other news, we finished* titling the basement, now we can really host family! Also my Mom wrote and suggested that we tiled the basement and not titled it, but rather than correct my spelling mistakes, I'll just roll with it. Henceforth, that Basement Room shall be Titled "The Autumnal Equinox: The Guest Room of Awesomeness" but Nicole says we may change it depending on what sort of rug we put in.

*Well, virtually, finished, one of the tiles was too big and we're going to have to recut it. Also, it's not dry yet, so we can't move the washer back, but still, it finally LOOKS done!

Friends and Family at Home!

Having our wanderlust well and truly satisfied with our recent adventures, we crammed a lot of activities at home with our loved ones this past week. (We need to get some "home time" in before next week when Nicole's little brother gets married in Idaho! )

Here was a group of friends we had over for dinner Friday doing Silly Faces, including said brother to be married and the girl giving him bunny-ears (his future wife):
That's right, I rocked the monocle smile. Same group, but with Seth switched in for Randy and without the shinanagins:
Here's Rebecca, soon to be in-law and her Kimono which I understand is associated with the impending nuptials. It's only fitting, rumor has it she got a samuri sword as part of the proposal...

Sunday my Grandmother and Aunt (and Brother) came over to play hearts. Tabitha Kathrine (the tabby cat) is playing my hand in this picture and not missing a trick!

Later, the animals got to meet some new friends as Tim Johnson and family visited (Tim not pictured). I trained Tim as a missionary in Ireland and it was good to see him.

Most impressive was the dessert he made -- Chocolate Spiders!

Homemade! Look at this detail. Good Job Tim!

(In between Friday and Sunday's guests, we titled our basement (almost done) finally! We actually placed half the titles tonight with some help from friends in the ward, one of which is defending her Master's Thesis tomorrow and having a baby on Saturday! Now that's a week. We'll post titling pictures soon.

Renaissance Fair(e)

CT adventures, part 6

On Columbus Day, we went to our first Renaissance Fair. In retrospect, comic-con was a good prep, there were a LOT of people in costumes and the lady who took our tickets greeted us in period apropriate language (and remarked that our horses must have been tired traveling from Utah).

It was kinda like a combination of play and historical education. For instance, here's a guy doing actual metal work (blacksmithing) with a real bellows (behind him in the picture):

I'm pretty sure the pirate costumes were mostly for the fun and less for the historical education:
But the girl with the sword slicing up a water jug, that's just cool in any century:I didn't quite fit into the period piece:

But I did win the hula hoop contest (it was just me and Nicole)

They had a parade with Pirates, Belly-dancers, Jousters, Wonderfool, and in this picture, looks like banits and an executioner. I've decided that a Renaissance Fair's success should be measured in the number of swords and sword-play it has:

Therefore, I judge this one a profound success!

This is now on my Christmas list. Imagine the uses!

10-10-10 Brent's Birthday Burger Buffet Bash

Today I celebrated my birthday in the state where I was born. As a friend who was also born on my birthday said "Today 10+10-10=29." To celebrate we had a burger bar. (Hamburgers are my favorite). Here's my menu and some pictures from the event:

10•10•10

Brent’s Best Birthday Burger Buffet

Breads Onion Rolls Potato Slider Rolls Classic Sliders Croissants Tortillas Wheat Portuguese Loaf	Cheeses Apple Smoked Cheddar Pesto Gouda Empire Pepper Jack Horseradish Cheddar Muenster Monterey Jack
Toppings Garden Fresh Tomatoes Roasted Red Pepper Organic Baby Bell Mushrooms Caramelized Onions Miniature Yellow Onions Jalapenos Pickles Petite Artichoke Hearts Green Peppers Crispy Romaine	Condiments Wasabi Mustard Spicy Chipotle Finishing Sauce Creamy Red Jalapeno Dressing Worchester Sauce Hunts Tomato Ketchup Mango Salsa Cranberry Honey Horseradish Spicy Honey Barbeque Sauce Sundried Tomato & Basil Hummus

Meats

Extra Lean Ground Beef

Smoked Bacon

Dessert

Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake

Drinks

A Variety of Gourmet Diet Selections

Suggested Combinations

Grilled Classic Garden Tomatoes Caramelized Onions Pickles Crispy Romaine Hunts Tomato Ketchup Smoked Cheddar Potato Slider Roll	Spike of Spice Spicy Chipotle Sauce Red Jalapeno Dressing Horseradish Wasabi Mustard Jalapenos Empire Pepper Jack Onion Roll	The Jungle Roasted Red Pepper Sundried Tomato & Basil Hummus Mango Salsa Apple Artichoke Hearts Horseradish Cheddar Onion Roll
Sweet Kick Tooth Cranberry Honey Barbeque Sauce Roasted Red Pepper Monterey Jack Tortilla	The whatsupi Wasabi Mustard Worchester Sauce Yellow Onions Pesto Gouda Wheat	Monsieur Monster Caramelized Onions Bell Mushrooms Green Peppers Muenster Croissant
The Four Elements Cranberry Honey Chipotle Sauce Baby Bell Mushrooms Caramelized Onions Artichoke Hearts Roasted Red Pepper Apple Smoked Cheddar Pesto Gouda Empire Pepper Jack Horseradish Cheddar Croissant	Garden of Eatin’ Mango Salsa Sundried Tomato & Basil Hummus Baby Bell Mushrooms Garden Tomatoes Roasted Red Pepper Artichoke Hearts Green Peppers Crispy Romaine Apple Smoked Cheddar Classic Slider	Top of the World Chipotle Sauce Horseradish Ketchup Bacon Yellow Onions Tomatoes Jalapenos Romaine Pesto Gouda Empire Pepper Jack Potato Slider

Nearly Boston -- In the Fall!

CT trip part 4

Well, we didn't quite make it to Boston this trip, but we did accomplish one of our goals -- New England in the Autumn! LEAVES! COLOR! CROMOSYNTHESIS! It's been 12 years since I've been here in the Fall and I wasn't just imagining it -- it's amazing. The pictures won't do it justice, but I'm posting them anyway:
A standard tri-color leaf:
We stopped at a random apple orchard we passed. It featured a dozen different kinds of apples and Nicole bought some Apple-smoked Cheddar that was amazing (but more on that later).
We found a State Park next to the art museum (there are tons around here, but lots smaller than the ones in Utah). This one had a nice hike around a lake.
But, GASP! there's a snake in the grass!
But we were able to escape and make it the rest of the way around the lake.
The End

The Rest of the Art Museum

CT trip part 4

Besides the Escher exhibit, the museum had some other stuff. For one, there's a lot of recycled art in Connecticut:
And pretty stuff hanging from the ceiling:
and stuff:
AND they had an exhibit on heroes from Pulp Novel (the precursors to Comic Books)
Doc Savage (above) and the Shadow and the Spirit below. Classics!

Escher, M. C. Escher

CT trip part 3

Hearing it was my birthday, the American Art Museum in New Britain, CT decided to feature one of my childhood favorite artists. Here's the entrance to the M. C. Escher exhibit:It had the classics
and some creative worlds
Here's some quotes:

And before Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons" Escher did this: (see it?!)

Fractals without computers!
And Snakes. And Infinity!
Another another world:
Also, a few days before he died he CARVED this: (it tessellates over the entire sphere!)

The rest are just creative and awesome tessellations that I couldn't resist putting up. Enjoy (I think if you click on them, they get bigger - via la artiste mathmatica)