Magic Castle

When I was making plans to go to California for the Thanksgiving holiday, my friend who lives in L.A. really wanted to take us all to the Magic Castle in Hollywood, a pretty fancy place where you watch different magicians all night. I was skeptical at first (sometimes I think magic can be kind of corny, unless you're Criss Angel of course), but I was up for the adventure.

The castle itself is beautiful, and this is their 50th year in business! When you get inside, the atmosphere is amazing, with burgundy walls and low lighting, and the rooms are decorated throughout with old books, mirrors, portraits of magicians, and Magic Castle posters from the past. And the guests themselves looked great (there is a strict dress code), with ties and gowns and jewelry everywhere. We were lookin' pretty good ourselves!

We made our way to the Hat and Hare Pub downstairs to start. We were the only ones watching this man who called himself "Fitzgerald." He did a couple of card tricks, but he wasn't much of a showman, so we moved on quickly. Next, we saw Jon Armstrong, who already had a crowd with him when we arrived. He did card tricks, memorizing the order of the cards in the deck or dividing the deck into red and black suits after shuffling them. He also did several tricks with his "tiny plunger," a miniature plunger that could pick up the deck of cards; he made some members of the audience hold it, talk to it, or even have it plastered onto their foreheads (particularly a sweaty man named Ted). Random note, there were four Nicholes/Nikkis in that room, and we brought one of them! Anyway, then it was time for dinner (I'll talk about that later), and onto the main show in the "Palace of Mystery" (i.e. the big room). We saw David Kovac (the MC who looked like a handsomer version of Mr. Bean), who told jokes as well as did magic; we all agreed that his best trick was cutting open a lemon and finding a signed dollar bill from a member of the audience. Then there was Michael Rayner, who balanced shoes on his nose and spun a cheeseburger on top of a spinning umbrella, and had to do so with several VERY annoying members of the audience (it still amazes me how many adults don't know their limits and are perfectly content to make complete fools of themselves in public). Lastly we saw Arthur Trace, who said nothing but rather made magic art to the sound of music; his was the easiest magic to figure out: behind his easel were definitely some hidden levers/etc. After the main act, we knew there would be a rush to the valet, so we thought we'd stick around for one more show. The last act we saw was Ran'D Shine, and he was very good! He pulled eggs out of thin air, made coins disappear, and somehow got a $20 bill that someone had signed into a sealed cookie package! He brought up audience volunteers, and they actually helped make the show so great! He called upon a man in the front row who was very skeptical of magic and turned him into a believer. Taleen, a women in her late 20's (and quite drunk) was next, and whenever he asked her a question, she would give him two answers. "Do you know how I did that trick?" "Yes!" "You do?" "Um...I don't know..." or "Is the card in your hand black?" "Yes!" "It is?" "Oh, I mean no!" She was so silly that you almost wanted him to keep her on stage the whole time. He was our favorite act, so we're so happy we stuck around! The magicians were very talented, and I'm glad to see a venue like this just for magicians and fans of magic.

My only complaint about the Magic Castle would be that they require everyone to order an entrée in their restaurant (i.e. nothing under $28 per person) to see the main magic show. You only have to pay $25 at the door to get in, so let's do the math for the minimum a person would pay. You pay $25 and the door, don't get any drinks, and  pay $30 for dinner (you get the cheapest entrée, but then there's tax); that totals $55. I think from what I've described here, they're really low-balling themselves at $25 to get in. I would easily pay $50 just for the experience: the atmosphere, the magic shows, the idea that I probably won't have that chance to do this again, etc. So let's say they now charge $50 at the door, and you can choose whether you want dinner/drinks or not. If someone doesn't eat or drink anything, then yes, the Magic Castle has lost $5. But let's be honest: most people are going to get at least one drink (all of which cost more than $5), and I think a lot of people would want to try the restaurant. Even if someone only orders an appetizer for $8, the Magic Castle has still made $3 more than they would have originally. The food was good, but not incredible, so I felt silly paying over $30 for food that wasn't amazingly delicious. PLUS, if we could have just ordered what we wanted, no food would have gone to waste. We were a group of four petite girls, and none of us were able to finish our gargantuan entrées. It's such a waste: there are millions of people starving around the world, and here we were tossing out half of our salmon filets and lobster tails because we had to order entrées. The kitchen would save money if it didn't have to buy all of this fish and filet mignon that people don't even eat. In the end, I would much rather pay more at the door for this once-in-a-lifetime experience than pay extra on average-tasting food (with no presentation, might I add) that's just going to end up in the trash.  

Final thought: I had a lot of fun that night, but the Magic Castle needs to rethink their revenue plan, big time.

The Joffrey Ballet's "The Nutcracker"

The night before Thanksgiving, I made my way to the Kennedy Center to see a performance of The Nutcracker. I saw it last year (performed by Ballet West), and I was very excited to continue my holiday tradition. The one downside to seeing this ballet is that it is frequently marketed to families, so there are always many children in the audience. And that night, one of them just happened to be sitting next to me. She was sitting on her father's lap, wriggling all over the place trying to get comfortable. While waiting for the show to start, she kept asking when it would begin, then started counting the seconds incessantly. To amuse herself, she played the game of "What's this?" with her father, pointing to different body parts: nose, lower lip, upper lip, etc. She also kept pulling at his tie, and even flat out told him it was ugly. Towards the end of the performance she started tapping her feet making a ruckus because she was becoming antsy. That man has the patience of a god. But onto the actual ballet...

Although I had never seen the Joffrey Ballet perform, their name is famous enough to expect greatness. They were the first dance company to perform at the White House, the first American company to dance in Russia, and the first dance company to be featured on the cover of Time magazine. Of course it isn't very fair to compare dance companies: each is made up of many unique artists with their own creative talents. But, I will say, I preferred last year's performance of this beloved Tchaikovsky ballet.

First of all, this one opened up with a hand-painted screen of the Christmas tree scene, with toys all around the tree and the nutcracker himself front and center. Although I can appreciate the work that it took to create this screen, the colors came out muted, and it looked crafty rather than artistic. The rest of the set was beautiful, giving the impression of a huge room with tall ceilings and a chandelier hanging right in the middle. Why not open right off with that? The Christmas tree was also kind of sad, since it was only two-dimensional (not like a real tree at all!). Although it did grow taller, it looked very unstable, and I thought at any moment it was going to tip over onto the dancers.

But onto the dancers themselves. The first thing I noticed about the company when looking through the program is how diverse the group is. In general, I think most people see ballet as a "white" activity, and I think all in all, that's still true. But there were dancers of all ethnicities and nationalities in this performance. However, I will say that the Joffrey Ballet took diversity a little too far when they included a child in a wheelchair at the Christmas tree party. Putting a child that is physically handicapped in a ballet is like throwing him into a swimming pool: that activity is all about the freedom of movement, which he does not possess. All I could figure is that he was the child of a major donor or something, and that's why he had to be included. I was also surprised that, with such a focus on people of all different kinds, they featured an African American woman as a maid and an Asian-American man as a servant: it's like they were pigeon-holing these traditionally-oppressed peoples back into subservient roles. They also featured a rocking horse wearing a Native American headdress, which seemed unnecessary. Mixed messages, no?

Now on to my comparison with Ballet West. For one, I didn't really care for the costumes in this Joffrey production. The gowns of the ladies during the first scene were fine, but I really liked how Ballet West matched the costumes of the men, women, and children; every family was color-coded in matching clothes, which I thought was really cute. When the nutcracker comes to life, I thought his mask was creepy, and the rat costumes were just thin gray outfits, unlike the adorable rolly-polly rodents of Ballet West. The death of the Rat King was also not as good as last year. I didn't even see him die: he was just carried offstage. Last year, the dancer who played the Rat King was very funny, laying on his back with all four limbs in the air with rigor mortis. I did, however, like how in this ballet, Clara's parents (played by Fabrice Calmels and Kara Zimmerman) were also featured as the Snow King and Queen. It makes sense that in a little girl's dream, she would picture people she knows, like her parents. And this rat army featured cavalry, so that was quite cute seeing rats riding upon pony-rats. But I found it odd that, in this show, there was a curtain call after the first act, as if the ballet were over. The only reason I could think of for doing this would be to let little kids think they had seen the whole show so the families could get home early.

Throughout the performance, I felt that the male dancers were much stronger than the ballerinas, which seems unheard of. The Snow Prince (John Mark Gitagosian) completely stole the show from the Snow King and Queen, and along with the Snowflakes (ballerinas) there were "Snow Winds" which I've never heard of, but that was one more way for the company to feature more men in the performance. And at the end, when the Nutcracker Prince (Dylan Gutierrez) had his solo, he was incredible, barely making a sound when he landed after jumps and such; the music was off-beat when he finished, but I blame the orchestra, not him.

More on the second act. The ballerina who played the Sugar Plum Fairy, April Daly, who looks a lot like Mira Sorvino, has the epitomic body of a dancer. But though her mouth was smiling during her performance, her forehead made her look like she was in pain (which maybe she was). She was quite good, but again, the Nutcracker Prince certainly upstaged her. I did not care for the "Waltz of the Flowers" (the equivalent of the Snowflakes but for the Sugar Plum Fairy). The costumes were more like dresses than actual tutus, and I didn't think they were important enough to call out by name in the program; there were also Cavaliers, again another chance for the male dancers to be a part of the production, who wore colorful tights that simply do not show off the male figure like white tights do. The "Divertissements" were hit or miss, too. First of all, I didn't like that all of the dancers came out on stage all at once before their individual dances. It took away from the surprise of seeing what each costume will look like. But, I thought using a fan while dancing was a nice touch for the Chocolate from Spain, and I usually don't like the use of props in dance. The Coffee from Arabia was BY FAR the best performance out of the entire show. This company made the dance a "duet" if you will, with Mahallia Ward and Calmels dancing together. The dance was extremely sexy and sensual, and both of their perfect bodies made the scene almost erotic. I was very disappointed to flip through the program and see that Ward would not dance as the Snow Queen or the Sugar Plum Fairy. The Tea from China dance was forgettable, and the Nougats from Russia were not nearly as good as Ballet West's performance; this is the only dance that is usually all male, and this time they added a woman, which I thought took away from the performance. The Marzipan Shepherdesses looked like they were missing their lambs (which would have been a cute touch, actually). And I was appalled that Mother Ginger was not played by a man, but rather a large puppet (the puppet was controlled by Francis Kane, who isn't even listed in the program). The only good thing about her part were the adorable Easter-egg-colored costumes that the children wore when emerging from her voluminous dress. The second act was far better than the first, but I wasn't completely in love.

It's not all their fault, though, that I was underwhelmed. Although I enjoy the music of The Nutcracker, and I like traditional ballet/dance, the story itself is not actually one of my favorites. For one, I do not like some of the characters of the ballet, so it is difficult for me to like the dancers who play them. The character of Dr. Drosselmeyer, the Godfather of the main children, Clara and Fritz, always confuses me: sometimes he's old, sometimes he's young, but no matter what, he looks like Kevin Kline playing a creepy pedophile. And Clara annoys me as well. Is she supposed to be a child or a young woman? She's always played by one of the main dancers (not a child dancer), but I do think she's supposed to be a little girl. So then when the Nutcracker prince shows up, he looks like a pedophile, too! I think I just have a hard time with the juxtaposition of ballet and children. To me, ballet is very sexy: it includes people with incredible bodies who are wearing next-to-nothing and touching each other quite intimately. When you add children to that, it just makes it seem dirty and takes away from the glamor of the entire idea of ballet. This particular performance featured WAY too many children. Kids should be in the opening scene, and come out from Mother Ginger's skirt, and that's it. But they played the rolls of dolls throughout the performance, popping up everywhere when I wish they had just gone back stage and taken a nap.

If you thought this review is mean, read what I wrote about Ballets with a Twist. No, I'm not a dancer: I just know what I like (or don't like...)!

Thanksgiving Rant

It seems like I am the only person who is not 100% gung-ho about Thanksgiving. It's not that I think it's a bad idea. I really like the sentiment of dedicating a day to giving thanks for all of your blessings: friends, family, health, etc.

But just as Christmas has become all about presents and Santa instead of Jesus Christ, Thanksgiving has transformed, too. It makes sense that Thanksgiving is an American holiday: it is the epitome of the stereotype of the US. We spend the day watching (American) football, napping, and eating. And eating. And eating. It's an obesity holiday! You can show you are thankful for everything you have in your life without force-feeding yourself a humungous dinner at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Americans are already fat gluttons: do we need a day to celebrate it?

I say my prayers every night and thank God for everything He has done for me, my family, and others around the world. I don't need a day to give thanks. I do it EVERY day. And so should you. Besides, God can hear you better when you aren't giving thanks with your mouth full.

The Importance of Friends

I saw this Amish proverb on Beliefnet: “The time to make friends is before you need them.”

I have always been the type of person who prefers to have a couple of really good friends rather than have lots of acquaintances. In college, I certainly became a more social person, especially after joining a sorority, but I still always had a few close friends. I was so thankful for those relationships when I was going through my post-breakup-college-no-job phase; they were so supportive and always there for me. I was so glad that I could count on them, and I know they're still there for me now. I've made many new friends since moving to DC, and my social circle seems to be growing by the minute (mainly with other young women new to the city). Perhaps some of them will become new besties; hopefully I can be someone they can count on, too. I count all of my friendships as wonderful blessings, and since Thanksgiving is tomorrow, I just wanted to make a shout-out to all of my friends, both old and new!

Movie Review: Haute Cuisine

 Photo: imdb.com

I generally enjoy independent/foreign films, so when I didn't see Haute Cuisine at the local independent movie theater, I was excited that I could watch it Netflix. The premise of the movie (based on a true story) is that this woman, known for being an excellent cook, is hired to be the personal chef of the French prime minister. While the P.M. loves her home-style cooking, there is drama between her small kitchen and the main kitchen that serves everyone else. The movie actually starts with showing her in Antarctica; everything in France is a flashback. So you learn that after all of the drama in France, she leaves and becomes the cook at a research base in Antarctica. Although I enjoyed the movie, there really wasn't much action: nothing really happened. Inside you hoped that she was having an affair with the P.M. or something like that, but it never really got that exciting. So I give it three stars: it wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing either.

PS: It is in French, so you will need to read subtitles, FYI.

American Voices at the Kennedy Center

This weekend, I went to see "American Voices" at the Kennedy Center. I usually go there for more classical performances, like the National Symphony Orchestra or the ballet, but this was something more modern. I was mainly interested to see Josh Groban and Alison Krauss, but I was open to seeing the other performers as well. Here is a list of everyone and my thoughts (in no particular order).*

Alison Krauss:She sang "Ghost in this House," which I had never heard before. It was a very moving song, and I really liked it. I was sorry though that she didn't sing "When You Say Nothing at All" which is my favorite song of hers. And I'm not sure why she was wearing a black trench coat on stage: she looked like she had stepped out of The Matrix. 

Josh Groban: Same comments for him. His rendition of "Smile" was good, but I really like his most famous song, "You Raise Me Up." I also would have enjoyed it if he had sung something in Italian. At the end of the show, all of the singers got together to sing a song, and Groban barely participated. I know you're cool and famous, Josh, but if everyone else is going to sing in a group, you should, too.

Renée Fleming: She is a big name in opera, and she was actually the hostess for the night. I thought she was a great MC: very funny, well spoken, good all around. At one point she was wearing a silly gold cape; I'm not sure who her stylist is, but he/she should be fired, both for that and the pant suit she wore at the end. But I was there for the music, not the clothes, and she does have a beautiful voice.

Kim Burrell: Her specialty is gospel music (she's a pastor!), and I thought she did an amazing job. She actually had the chance to sing twice (most of the artists only sang once), and I was happy I got to enjoy her voice for a longer amount of time. Again, a comment on the clothes: her first outfit enhanced her already large bosom; her second one look like a bedazzled Snuggie (although it was more conservative, which I liked). Anyhoo...All in all my feelings were very positive about her. I'd love to hear her sing Christmas carols!

Sara Bareilles: You may recognize her as a judge from The Sing-off TV show, and her most famous hits are "Love Song" and "King of Anything." She sang Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brook Road" which was fine, but a crowd pleaser would have been one of her own songs. She was dressed as a school girl, with her precious white sweater with a little collar poking out of it and an A-line skirt. She also sang a duet with Ben Folds (see below).

Ben Folds: He also was on The Sing-off , and perhaps that's why he got the chance to sing with Sara Bareilles. Anyway, he's a big name in the music industry, but I think it's more for the business side than the Hollywood side of stardom. He's an average looking guy who always wears these silly sneakers, and I personally think he's better at playing the piano than singing. He engaged with the audience, asking us to harmonize with the song, which was fun. But then he started teasing us, asking us to do harder and faster harmonies, at which point I just started giggling because I got so confused.

Sutton Foster: She is a Broadway actress (and has been on a few TV shows, too). She sang "Anything Goes" which is fine within the musical, but when pulled out of context, it seemed very out-of-place compared to the ballads we heard throughout the rest of the night.

Norm Lewis: He performed a song from "Ragtime" which didn't surprise me at all since that play is about African Americans; the song choice was so obvious it was cliché. He has a very nice voice, but I would have preferred to have heard something more unexpected.

Dianne Reeves: She has a very powerful voice, and I really enjoyed listening to her sing "When You Know," quite a romantic song. Her sparkly red top was very appropriate for the occasion. She had great energy! She also tried to get us to sing along, but most of us were unenthusiastic. We just weren't prepared to sing ourselves in the Kennedy Center!

Eric Owens: He is an opera singer, but while he has a very large voice, I couldn't understand most of the words he was singing. And, no, it's not because he was singing in a different language. He didn't enunciate his words, so it made it difficult for the audience to understand him.

Kurt Elling: He actually was unable to perform that night because he got sick. In his place were two music students, and I was quite impressed! The girl played the bass (my favorite instrument), and the young man sang "All of Me," which I associate with the movie "All of Me" from the 1980's.

*This note is a disclaimer that I am not an expert in any musical genre, and my only real interest in music is singing along to country music when I'm driving in my car. Obviously I don't know much about music because I was just as interested in their clothing as I was in their songs. So, take this post with a grain of salt, and I recommend that you listen to all of these performers and make your own judgements yourself.

Why I'm dating an older man

Recently I've been seeing a gentleman who is much older than I am. I'm not talking geriatric old (I'm no Anna Nichole Smith), but he is about my parents' age. But I have good reason for doing this. Lots of reasons.

1. He doesn't consider playing Call of Duty for a couple of hours a date. He doesn't own an Xbox or a Play Station console. He doesn't play video games at all, actually.

2. He doesn't talk like Borat, saying things like, "Very nice!" in that silly accent.

3. He knows his limits and doesn't have the "I need to be drunk to have a good time" attitude.

4. He doesn't pretend to know about things to seem "cool." I heard some boys (yes, they are still boys at my age) chatting, saying they wished they had gone to the Kanye West concert to listen to him "lay down some beats." Yeah...you white boys don't know what you're talking about.

5. He would never wear plaid shorts slung low on his waist while riding a skateboard (or while doing any other activity for that matter).

6. He enjoys going to see the symphony and appreciates classical music and simply the act of culturing oneself.

7. He has manners. He shows up for our dates on time, he gets the car door for me, he pays for dinner (unless I've specifically said I'm taking him out). Finding a younger guy who can even get the first part right is a stretch.

8. He doesn't play with his cell phone when he's with me. I don't even know what type of phone he has. I've never seen it.

9. He lets me know he likes me in a polite way. Young guys tend to play games, trying to be aloof and act like they don't like you. Or they're the exact opposite and clingy as hell. This man strikes a balance. He lets me know he's thinking about me with a text saying hi, or an email with an article he thinks I'll like. But he doesn't follow up his message with another one a couple of hours later saying, "Did you get my message?" And he doesn't use dirty talk to give me a clue that he's into me. If I had a nickel for every time a young guy said something disgustingly sexual as a come-on, I'd be a billionaire by now.

Need I go on?