Counting Down

I've got two incredible vacations coming up.

And it's all I can do to keep from making a paper chain to count down the days. It's all I can do to keep from making the 40-minute roundtrip drive to my parents' house right this second because I know my tickets came in the mail last night, and I want to see how pretty they are in person!! It's all I can do to keep from praying that, maybe, if Heavenly Father could just skip the next few days so that Thursday, April 14th comes sooner...?

But of course, I have a lot of fun activities planned before my trip to Coachella. Zumba tonight, a preview of The Music Never Stopped tomorrow night, a sleepover playdate with Ariel on Friday night, celebration of Aubree's dirty 30 birthday on Saturday night. Plus, conference! One of my favorite times of year!

In between all that, I have to finish packing and picking up things for Coachella (shouldn't be too hard since I've been obsessively planning for the past couple of months...), as well as purchase birthday gifts for roommate Heidi, Ariel, Aubree, Justin, Sierra, and Denver! Busy time of year! (Or should I say that end of June, beginning of July are the "busy" times of year... *wink, wink*).

And, seeing as I have just a week and a half between getting home from Coachella, then leaving again for Austin, TX, I should probably take my time to plan for that trip! I'm so excited to make my way South! I've heard that Texas is pretty amazing, and I can't wait to experience the dance halls and barbecue and weather and The Alamo for myself!

In the meantime, if anyone can keep me busy enough from now until April 14th to keep me from going certifiably insane with excitement... let me know!

Sundance 2011!

My roommate Lacy and I woke at the ridiculous hour of 5:00 a.m. to kick off Sundance Saturday. We left by 6, arrived in Park City by 7, and got to our first theater, the Library Theater, by nearly 8 am.

(This is not our first theater. This is the Egyptian Theater. But what a great marquee!)

Our first feature was The Future. It was awesome walking in, and the volunteers would direct us by saying, "The Future is upstairs." It felt as if they were directing me toward the rest of my life, rather than just towards my first movie of the day. That made me rather happy.

The Future was a fun, quirky movie about a couple and a cat named Paw-Paw. The couple is to adopt the cat in a month, and they decide that before they take on that responsibility, they will quit their jobs, disconnect from the internet, and do whatever they want to do. Hijinks ensue. The film is narrated by the cat, who is probably the character I connected with most (go figure...). The plot explores the nature of people who have extra time on their hands, and how that changes their lives. There was a lot of symbolism and plot-line that was open to interpretation, and I sometimes have trouble with that idea. Say what you mean! But I laughed a lot and really enjoyed myself!

Here's the cast of The Future:

After shuttling ourselves up to the Egyptian Theater, we began our viewing of Abraxas.

The plot for Abraxas consists of a monk who began life as a punk rocker kid whose father got him out of music and into the monastery. The movie is an exploration of the "selves" within one self; how an individual person has so many people that they are and want to be, and how to reconcile that within this one body and personality. The monk must come to understand his relationship with the music he loves, and with his faith in Buddha. It was a sweet film, though difficult to watch on little sleep! Reading subtitles while trying to fight off exhaustion is not always an easy thing! Also, the movie was a bit heavy-handed with theologizing, so it was a bit deep for a mid-Saturday-afternoon viewing.

After enjoying lunch in a Park City deli (which was BUSY!!), we shuttled up to the Eccles Theater for a showing of The Music Never Stopped. We arrived about an hour early and there were still about a hundred and fifty people ahead of us in line! But thankfully, the Eccles theater is BIG, and we got great seats.

The Music Never Stopped was absolutely incredible! What a movie to end the day. The film is based on the true story of Gabriel Sawyer, a brain tumor patient whose memory was unlocked when he listened to the music of the late sixties, the music he loved as a teenager. The focus of the movie is on the relationship between Gabriel and his father, who always disapproved of his son's music and lifestyle choices. However, when he comes to understand that this music is the only way to reach out to his once-estranged son, he must come to terms with the very thing he believes destroyed so much of his son in the first place. It is an absolutely beautiful and touching movie! I laughed a lot and cried a lot and my heart was just so, so happy. I HIGHLY recommend a viewing when it hits theaters in March!

Here is the cast of The Music Never Stopped:

Gabriel's favorite band was The Grateful Dead. Below are Bob Weir and Mickey Hart from The Grateful Dead. They were able to meet the real Gabriel before he passed away. The other two are Lou Taylor Pucci who plays Gabriel, and J.K. Simmons, who plays his father Henry.

My favorite movie of the fest (so far)? Obviously: