Tag Archives: magic

“Mindplay” (or An Evening Of Mental Magic)

Posted on November 30, 2022 | Comments Off on “Mindplay” (or An Evening Of Mental Magic)

Between being a season ticket holder at the Pantages and being on mailing lists for other theaters, I find out about a lot of shows that are going on around LA. I don’t see as many shows as I should, and I tend to get tickets for things that aren’t exactly normal plays or musicals outside of my season tickets. For example, I saw the virtual show “Inside The Box” and then went to the in-person show “The Enigmatist”, both of which were puzzle-type shows. But those shows were so fun because I had no idea what I was in for and I loved how they were set up with a storyline to go through the various games and tricks.

So when I got an email about the show “Mindplay” and read that it was a one-man show with a mentalist, I knew it would be an amazing show to check out. I know being a mentalist and being a magician isn’t exactly the same, but they have similar elements so I felt certain that I would enjoy the show. And even better than getting the email about the show, they were offering a discount on tickets, so my friend Jane and I were able to get incredible seats for the same price as the cheapest seats (although the theater is small so I think all seats would be amazing).

The show was created and performed by Vinny DePonto, and the theme and storyline throughout the evening was about memories and mental manipulation. There was a lot of story about how we keep memories and how things like dementia can make us forget our memories and then sometimes they can resurface. I loved that storyline and message because that’s something I witnessed through my grandma. In the last few years of her life, she had moments of clarity where she was able to share memories with us that none of us had heard before. And those moments were really special to me because I was able to see the person that I remembered from my childhood.

I don’t want to give away a lot about the show because I think it was so good and everyone should check it out. And I think the less you know about the show, the better. But I can share that there is a lot of audience participation (I wasn’t called on so I just watched) and that there are lots of mind-reading moments. The way he was able to find out information had me speechless. None of these moments felt like a gimmick or a trick. They were seamless within the story and felt like this was a normal experience we were watching and not something special and incredible. I think that made it even better!

It wasn’t a long show and there isn’t an intermission, so the evening flew by. I wish it was longer because I was enjoying it so much. And I know that Jane felt the same way as we kept saying after the show was done that we had no idea how he could do the things he did but that it was so much fun to watch everyone in the room in awe the same way that we were. And there was a surprise at the end of the show (that I won’t spoil) that was just the best way to end the night!

After the show was done, we had a quick chance to meet Vinny and I let him know how much I enjoyed the evening.

Even though this show wasn’t about puzzles like the other ones I had seen recently, it had a lot of the same elements with mystery and improvisation. I would love to see another show that he does because it really was the perfect thing to watch that combined my love of shows and my nerdy side that enjoys puzzles and magic.

I know I’m so lucky that there are a lot of opportunities to see shows like this very close to my house. I know I won’t see every show that I’m told about because I do have to be a bit selective with my time and money, but I’m so glad that this was a show that I had the chance to see because I had the best time and got to have an evening that felt like I was witnessing something magical.

You Might Also Like

Default Thumbnail“The Enigmatist” (or A Night Of Puzzles, Word Games, and Magic) Default ThumbnailA Night Of Magic (or Not Quite A Musical) Default ThumbnailMagic Castle Fun (or Girls Night Out) Default ThumbnailAll Set For Another Musical Season (or I’m Glad I Can Continue This) Default Thumbnail42nd Street (or So Much Tap Dancing!) Default ThumbnailSaturday Evening With My Parents (or I’m Posting A Little Out Of Order About My Weekend)

Comments Off on “Mindplay” (or An Evening Of Mental Magic)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged , ,

“The Enigmatist” (or A Night Of Puzzles, Word Games, and Magic)

Posted on December 7, 2021 | Comments Off on “The Enigmatist” (or A Night Of Puzzles, Word Games, and Magic)

I think it’s pretty clear by the number of posts I have written about going to musicals that I love going to see live shows. And while I haven’t written as much about being nerdy, I am a pretty nerdy person. I love brain teaser type things. I do the crossword (both the regular and mini New York Times crosswords) every day. And I also really love magic. So when there is something that combines all these things, I know I want to check it out! And that’s exactly what happened this past weekend. I went to check out the show “The Enigmatist” at the Geffen.

This show is a one-man show by David Kwong. I actually had seen another one of his shows over Zoom earlier this year. I really enjoyed that show a lot and was excited there was a chance to see one of his shows in person. And I got a Black Friday deal that made the tickets super affordable. I reached out to some of my friends who I thought would enjoy a puzzle show, and my friends Jane and Robert were able to come with me.

The show starts before the show with some pre-show puzzles to solve. I don’t want to say too much since there are still shows that people can attend, but the puzzles are all fun and show you different ways to solve puzzles that have one-word answers. We were able to solve all of them before the show started, and we went inside to sit down a few minutes before everything was going to start. With the Black Friday deal I had, we were able to be really close to the stage area. But the entire room was pretty small so everyone had great seats. And since it was an interactive show, everyone had an equal opportunity to participate.

I really want to share so much that happened because it was an incredible show, but I also don’t want to give away much to spoil it. But I will share one funny story that happened. During the show, there are 4 main puzzles that we work on solving and then we use those to solve the big puzzle at the end. For the first puzzle, I actually had no clue what the answer was and had to hear what the person who solved it thought. But as soon as the second puzzle came up, I almost knew immediately what the answer was.

I don’t know how I knew it or how I saw it, but it just clicked. I asked Robert something because I wanted to be sure, but I knew I had the answer. We were told to stand up if we knew the answer and he would call on us to answer it. I don’t know if I stood up too quickly or if he was waiting to see if anyone else might stand, but I felt like I was standing up waiting for him to call on me for several minutes. And during that time, nobody else was standing. I was so worried I was completely wrong and that I was about to embarrass myself. I had no idea why nobody else saw the answer when it seemed so clear to me. But finally I was called on to give my answer and I was right! But I was really panicking a bit that I was completely off-base and that everyone would laugh at me.

Besides getting an answer to a main puzzle right, another highlight for me at the show was watching him construct a crossword puzzle live in front of us. I think creating crosswords is a really cool skill and seeing it happen was magical! I’m aware of how nerdy this all sounds, but this was exactly my type of nerdiness and it really made this show incredible! And Jane and Robert also had a great time and we were talking about how impressed we were after the show was done.

And there was a chance to take a photo with David Kwong after the show was done, which of course we had to do.

We all told him how much we enjoyed the show and I was able to tell him how much I enjoyed the show over Zoom as well. I love getting the chance to tell people how much I love their work, and honestly this was one of the coolest shows I’ve been to!

I really hope he does another show in the future so I can go to another one. I loved how this combined puzzles, magic, and storytelling and made an amazing show. And if you have a chance to see the show before it closes, do it! It’s so much fun and you will leave shocked about how it all comes together in the end!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailInside The Box (or Enjoying Some Virtual Theater) Default ThumbnailA Night Of Magic (or Not Quite A Musical) Default ThumbnailMagic Castle Fun (or Girls Night Out) Default ThumbnailA Tasting And Theater Night (or Enjoying A Fun Night Out) Default ThumbnailA Night At The Bowl (or It Finally Feels Like Summer To Me) Default ThumbnailBig Musical Instead of Big Game (or Another Sunday Night Out)

Comments Off on “The Enigmatist” (or A Night Of Puzzles, Word Games, and Magic)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged , , ,

Magic Castle Fun (or Girls Night Out)

Posted on October 20, 2016 | Comments Off on Magic Castle Fun (or Girls Night Out)

I’ve been fortunate to be able to go to Magic Castle twice in the past. It’s a really fun place to go to and since you need to be invited it’s not something that everyone gets to do. I don’t know members, so it’s not something that I can be invited to that often. But through a friend of a friend, I was able to get an invite to Magic Castle and I organized another girls night out there!

I had a great group of friends with me when we went this past week. In that group, I had my friend Shey (my Evil Twin), my workout buddy Dani, and my friend Camber who I met through my WIF mentoring group. Shey also invited her roommate and one of her roller derby friends to round out the group. I think it was a really great group and we were all so excited to be at Magic Castle.

red-carpet

The rules are that you cannot take photos beyond the lobby, but the entire place was decorated for Halloween and I totally loved that! The only photo of the decorations I could get was in the lobby, but you can see the fun stuff that they put out to celebrate.

magic-castle

We arrived at Magic Castle a bit before our dinner reservations, but they opened the dining area a bit earlier than expected so we were able to get in for dinner pretty quickly. And it turns out that our server was a friend of Shey, so that was fun! The dinner that they serve is pretty delicious and I was excited to have a nice splurge meal. I didn’t drink any alcohol (I wanted to save the money and calories for food), but I didn’t miss drinking at all. For my dinner, I had a steak (and it was cooked perfectly!) and I got some banana pie for dessert. It was a bit more food than I’m used to, but it was really good and I was glad that I didn’t try to restrict my food too much!

All of us had a great dinner and we enjoyed discussing tons of random stuff over dinner. Considering that most of the people in the group didn’t know each other before that night, it was awesome to see everyone get along so well. You never know when you create group outings like this if things will go well, so I’m so grateful that it turned out perfectly!

After dinner, it was time to see the main stage show (we get tickets to guarantee seats with our dinner). We got there a bit close to showtime, but we found 3 seats in one row and 3 seats right behind it toward the front of the room. We were off to the side, but we had a great view and the tricks that the magicians did were pretty incredible! I knew how a few of them were done because of a show I’ve seen on how to do magic, but there were so many tricks that I couldn’t figure out how they were done!

After the main stage show, our next stop was the close up magic room. We ended up being in the front row for the show so we were super close to everything happening. Usually the close up room is my favorite, but the magician that we watched seemed to be a bit nervous and their hands were shaking really hard. It started to make me nervous, but he was still able to do some great tricks and everything was impressive.

Our next stop was to try to see the last stage show at Magic Castle, but we missed the show we were hoping to see. We figured we’d wait an hour to see the next showtime and were trying to figure out what to do. All of a sudden, a man at the bar asked us what we were doing and we said we didn’t know. He responded that we were his audience for the show he was about to do. There was a card table near the bar where we all sat down and he did a bunch of different tricks.

He was so impressive! The fact that he didn’t have time to prepare since he just found us while he was eating at the bar was amazing. And the tricks blew all of our minds! We kept trying to figure out what was happening or how he could do it, but none of us could figure out anything! I’m so glad he was willing to put on a show for us because it ended up being the best show of the night!

We made it to the last stage show after our private show, and that was really fun too. There were some great rope magic tricks as well as some disappearing money ones. And the magician was very animated and kept everyone’s attention even though it was close to midnight on a weekday when we were at the show.

By then, we were all pretty tired (we had been there for over 6 hours) and most of us had to work the next morning. So it was time to say goodnight and for all of us to head home.

This was just a really great night out with my friends and I’m so lucky that I was able to get to Magic Castle again. I’m hoping that I might be able to get another pass at some point next year because there were a lot of friends who wanted to come but couldn’t due to scheduling. I’d love to have a chance to share this amazing place with more people soon!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailGirls Night Out (or How to Find a Cute Dress When You Are Bigger Than a Size 18) Default ThumbnailA Night Of Stand Up (or Just Having Fun With My Friends) Default ThumbnailJust A Fun Dinner Out (or Remembering To Have Fun) Default ThumbnailA Night Of Magic (or Not Quite A Musical) Default ThumbnailMargaritas and Mexican Food (or Girls Night Out!) Default ThumbnailA Tasting And Theater Night (or Enjoying A Fun Night Out)

Comments Off on Magic Castle Fun (or Girls Night Out)

Posted in Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged , , , , ,

A Night Of Magic (or Not Quite A Musical)

Posted on March 9, 2016 | Comments Off on A Night Of Magic (or Not Quite A Musical)

Even though I got a really great Black Friday deal on tickets for the Pantages (and already got my 2016-2017 season tickets), I’m always on the lookout for good deals for shows I don’t have tickets for. It’s so funny that I’m seeing so many shows now since before my season tickets last season for Pantages I hadn’t been there since I moved to LA in August 2001. It’s almost like I’m making up for lost time. I’m not able to see everything I want because of money issues, but fortunately lots of shows do random deals and my season tickets were a bit cheaper than expected so I had a little extra money.

Most of the runs at the Pantages are longish runs. Some shows are there for a couple of weeks, and some shows are there for a few months (when “Hamilton” is here next year, they will be here for 5 months). But sometimes they have shows that are here for a week or two and they can be tough to get into because there aren’t as many shows to go to.

I had seen that one of the short runs at the Pantages this year is a show called “The Illusionists”, which is a magic show that was on Broadway. The show is with 7 different magicians each with a different speciality or theme. I love magic (I’m hoping to get back to the Magic Castle soon!), but my friend Dani who did the Black Friday deal with me didn’t want to see that show. So we didn’t put it as a part of our season and I let it go.

But a few months ago, my friend Sarah mentioned that she and her husband wanted to see the show. So we agreed to be on the lookout for cheap seats and we’d go together. Sarah ended up finding $45 seats and was supposed to get the tickets, but things came up and she couldn’t do it. But it worked out for the best for us because I got an email a few days later offering $30 seats! So I got our 3 tickets and ended up getting us seats pretty close to center in the first row of the balcony!

We saw the show this past week and it was so much fun! Our seats were pretty amazing and I’m glad that we were able to get in the balcony because it was probably better to see the show from up there instead of in the back of the orchestra.

The Illusionists

The show was broken up by magician and each person would do an illusion or two before the next magician came out (each magician did a couple of different segments). It was a little like seeing a bunch of little shows and even though it didn’t quite flow together it was still great. And a couple of the magicians also did some comedy so it became like a mix of standup and magic.

I’ve seen a lot of behind the scenes magician specials so I do know how some of the illusions are done. But that didn’t ruin any of the fun for me. And there were plenty of illusions that I have no clue how they were done and they shocked me! I wish that I could watch videos of them because I want to see them over and over again!

While I do feel like it was a really fun show and I’d encourage people to get tickets, there were a couple of things that weren’t so fabulous. The sound quality was pretty off and some of the music was so loud that we were starting to get headaches. Also, it was very showy and lots of parts of the show could have sped up to make it more fun (we didn’t need to spend several minutes watching a magician prepare for one trick with no music or other things happening). And some of the jokes were a bit off to me, but that could be just my sensitivities. If we had paid the full price of tickets for where we sat, I might be a bit more picky. But for $30 seats it was a great evening out!

This show really did make me want to get to the Magic Castle again soon. The magic there is so amazing because you are up close to the performers and it’s very toned down and basic. They don’t have music, effects, and a huge stage to hide behind or to hide what they are doing. Everything is right in front of you and you feel very connected to the show. That wasn’t the case with “The Illusionists” since we weren’t in the areas where they got volunteers and had to watch a lot of stuff on a screen since we couldn’t see from that far away without it. But that’s what happens when you go to see a magic show in a large venue.

I don’t know if there are any additional shows coming up that I’ll be buying tickets for outside of my Black Friday deal this season or my season tickets next season. I think I’ve got tickets for everything that I want and unless someone offers me free tickets I don’t know if I’ll have the money for it. But I’m getting to see a lot right now and I’m so grateful to have entertainment like this close enough to my house and within my budget!

You Might Also Like

Default Thumbnail“An American In Paris” (or Not Exactly A Musical) Default ThumbnailAnother Round Of A Repeat Musical (or Seeing A Show A Different Way) Default ThumbnailBurgers And Broadway (or Another Musical) Default ThumbnailMagic Castle Fun (or Girls Night Out) Default ThumbnailA Weird Night In Hollywood (or Another Musical In Our Season) Default ThumbnailA Virtual Musical Night (or Trying To Replicate My Routine)

Comments Off on A Night Of Magic (or Not Quite A Musical)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged , , , , , ,

Santa Barbara Weekend (or Family and Friends Time)

Posted on July 22, 2014 | 3 comments

This past weekend, I was up in Santa Barbara (which if you aren’t familiar with the California geography is about 2 hours north of Los Angeles). My friend Rayshell was celebrating her 30th birthday and her parents offered to throw her a party. So the party was held at her parents’ place in Santa Barbara.

I’m sure at some point in my life I’ve been to Santa Barbara, but it must have been when I was little because I don’t remember ever going there. I know that I’ve never been there as an adult, so that’s at least 13 years.

I knew about the birthday party a few months in advance (Rayshell wanted everyone to have the chance to make hotel reservations if necessary). My sister-in-law’s parents live in Santa Barbara, so as soon as I knew that I would be up there, I texted them to see if they could meet up while I was there. My sister-in-law’s mom wasn’t sure if they would be in town while I was there, so she asked me to text closer to the date.

When I texted her again, she let me know that my brother and sister-in-law were going to be in Santa Barbara the same weekend. So I made plans with everyone to meet up with them for a little bit on Saturday before I went to the party.

I drove up by myself and got to my sister-in-law’s parents’ house in about 2 hours (traffic wasn’t my friend the entire way). It was so great to see everyone. I hadn’t seen my brother or my sister-in-law’s parents since Christmas and I hadn’t seen my sister-in-law since our NYC trip.

I was only able to stay there for about an hour, but it was a nice visit. My brother and sister-in-law are going on a trip to Africa next month. They are going to be going to Tanzania, which is where my family went when we went to Africa in 1997. So we were chatting about different things to prepare for the trip and memories that my brother and I have when we went there as kids.

After my visit, I got back on the road to head to Rayshell’s parent’s house. It was only about 10 minutes from my sister-in-law’s parent’s house, so that was easy.

The party was in the backyard and they had hired a taco man to cater dinner. Technically, he was more than a taco man because you could also get a salad, a burrito, a quesadilla, or nachos. I opted for the beef nachos because they looked so amazing!

IMG_3479

I totally made the right choice! My nachos were awesome!

I was sitting next to my friend Sarah Levin (who I refer to as the “other Levin” and she does the same to me) and it was so nice to get to catch up with her. She recently got engaged and will be getting married soon. So I got to see the ring and hear all of her incredible wedding plans.

And of course, Sarah and I wanted a picture with the birthday girl.

IMG_3500

Not only is Rayshell in a Levin sandwich, Sarah and I are dressed alike (blue dresses, black sweaters). I thought it was pretty funny.

Also at the party, there was a magician. He reminded me of the magicians who perform the close-up magic show at The Magic Castle. There were some tricks that I’ve seen before, but there were also a bunch that I had never seen and I was amazed how they were done (I might have googled some of the tricks because I just couldn’t understand how he could have done it).

And one of the final tricks of the show was the magician juggling a machete, a bowling ball, and a torch lit on fire while balancing on a board that was on top of a plastic pipe.

IMG_3491

I know you can’t see that he is balancing in the picture, but trust me, he was. And he was very close to the tree in the backyard so everyone was nervous that he would catch the tree on fire. But fortunately, everything was safe and not on fire at the end of the show.

After the magic show, there was some dessert and then people started to head out. Some people had to make the drive back to LA, some were headed to their hotels (or houses if they were locals), and some people headed out to the bars. I was very lucky that Rayshell’s parents said I could spend the night at their house. Hotels were very expensive (especially for a Saturday night in the summer). So while everyone else was leaving, I was helping with some cleanup.

And while putting away the leftover alcohol (which I didn’t have any of), I discovered the biggest tequila bottle I’ve ever seen!

IMG_3498

It’s Costco brand but everyone said that it was great.

After cleaning up, everyone who was staying at Rayshell’s parents’ house just hung out outside for a while talking around one of the fire pits that they have.

IMG_3499

It was a very relaxing way to end the evening. And before we knew it, it was 1am and we were all exhausted. I slept in the living room on the couch, and it was a perfect place to crash after a party (I can’t imagine trying to make the drive home after the party).

The next morning, we all had breakfast together and then I headed back to LA. Sarah needed a ride back so I drove her and that gave us even more time to catch up and just have fun talking.

It was such a perfect little mini-getaway! It felt like a vacation but I didn’t have to go that far.

Thank you so much to Rayshell’s parents for letting me stay at your house! You are both so generous and were amazing hosts! And Rayshell, even though I’ve wished you a happy birthday a couple of times by now. Happy Birthday again! I hope you had a great time at your party! I know I did!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailFamily Weekend (or Hanging Out With The Dog) Default ThumbnailMore Family Time (or Seeing All My Immediate Family Last Week) Default ThumbnailA Little More Time In Santa Barbara (or Hanging Out With My Sister-In-Law) Default ThumbnailSanta Barbara Wedding (or Dancing The Night Away) Default ThumbnailSanta Barbara Engagement Party (or Sunburn and Rain) Default ThumbnailA Bridal Shower Celebration (or My Morning In Santa Barbara)

3 Comments

Posted in Celebrations, Family, Food, Fun Stuff, Travel

Tagged , , ,

A Night Out On The Town (or “Nothing To Hide”)

Posted on March 15, 2013 | Comments Off on A Night Out On The Town (or “Nothing To Hide”)

On Wednesday night, my friend Woody texted me and was wondering if I had plans. I happened to be completely free so I asked him what was going on. Turned out, he had an extra ticket to “Nothing To Hide” at the Geffen and wanted to see if I wanted to join him!

I was so excited because I really wanted to see that show (but didn’t have the extra money to spend on a ticket). I heard the two stars and Neil Patrick Harris, who directed the show, on the Nerdist podcast recently and it sounded so much fun. Plus, I had never been to the Geffen before!

We met up at the theater in Westwood, where I lucked into a metered parking space right in front of the theater (always a good sign since meters are free after 8pm).

It was a gorgeous night.

IMG_1477

As we headed inside, we checked out the poster for the show.

IMG_1478

Since my friend got these tickets for free, we wondered where we would end up sitting. I remember reading that there were only about 150 seats in the theater, so there really weren’t going to be bad seats, but since the show is all closeup card magic, I wanted to have great seats.

And we did.

IMG_1482

You can see the table where most of the magic took place in that picture. We were in the third row, right in the center! We couldn’t have hoped for better seats!

The show was amazing! I had seen some great magic at The Magic Castle, but this was incredible. There was audience involvement, but that made the magic even more impressive! I don’t want to say too much because the element of surprise makes it that much better. So if you live in the LA area, I highly recommend checking out the show before it closes at the end of the month.

After the show, Woody and I got a picture with the two stars.

IMG_1483

Sorry for the not-so-great photo. The guy who volunteered to take it didn’t know how to use an iPhone.

I had an amazing night out with a great friend! Thanks again Woody for inviting me as your plus one!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailA Night Of Magic (or Not Quite A Musical) Default ThumbnailMagic Castle Fun (or Girls Night Out) Default ThumbnailDouble Date Saturday (or Why I Love Dog Sitting) Default Thumbnail42nd Street (or So Much Tap Dancing!) Default ThumbnailAnother Night At Pantages (or Hedwig Take 2) Default ThumbnailAnother Night At The Rockwell (or Jeff Goldblum and Jazz)

Comments Off on A Night Out On The Town (or “Nothing To Hide”)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged ,