« What I've Been Reading | Main | Part of the Problem »
My favorite things Utah
Lately there has been too much travel, yes, but writings these posts is fun. I am headed toward Sundance. Here goes:
1. Author: Orson Scott Card's The Ender Trilogy (start with Ender's Game) is a modern landmark which will be read for years to come. Next on my list is Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose.
2. Actor: James Woods, as he plays in Casino and Virgin Suicides, two fine movies.
3. Best Robert Redford movie: Out of Africa, schmaltz yes but I love it.
4. Film, set in: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid comes to mind.
5. Novel, set in: Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song. The first half in particular is a knockout.
6. Can I have a category for kidnapping victim? Jeopardy champion?
The bottom line: I love Utah. I love its baked goods, its Mexican food, its sense of building a new world in the wilderness. I love that it has a uniquely American religion and I find Salt Lake City to be one of America's most impressive achievements. I regard southern Utah as quite possibly the most beautiful part of the United States. That said, I had a tough time filling out these categories and of course plenty of the usual categories are blank altogether.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on April 3, 2008 at 04:35 AM in The Arts | Permalink
Comments
Agree on Orson Scott Card but it is not a trilogy but at least 8 books now (not counting short stories). So you have 5 great ones to go.
However, he lives in Greensboro North Carolina now; I think he just went to University in Utah.
Posted by: Joshua Gans at Apr 3, 2008 5:04:45 AM
I loved Ender's Game to death as a kid, but I have been wary of re-reading it because in retrospect the book seems to be a lot of nerd wish fulfillment to me.
Posted by: Jonathan Hohensee at Apr 3, 2008 5:41:59 AM
Favorite Mexican Food: The Red Iguana in Salt Lake City.
Posted by: MostlyAPragmatist at Apr 3, 2008 5:57:26 AM
Favorite Mexican Food: The Red Iguana in Salt Lake City.
Posted by: MostlyAPragmatist at Apr 3, 2008 5:57:39 AM
Guy Tal agrees with you about the beauty of southern Utah. . .
Posted by: Matthew at Apr 3, 2008 7:15:45 AM
I guess you're not a skier. My favorite thing is the quality and quantity of snow and how close the ski areas are to cheap accommodations in SLC.
Posted by: Tom at Apr 3, 2008 8:04:42 AM
Blatant plug for my column in National Geographic's Intelligent Travel: Cinematic Road Trip. http://intelligenttravel.typepad.com/it/2008/03/cinematic-roa-1.html
This link is to the Utah column. It goes up every Friday.
Posted by: John Ur at Apr 3, 2008 8:24:46 AM
I don't know if its just because I am growing older or not but the more I find out about an author and other types of talent I like thats negative the less interested I am in their works. I used to not care. Take Orson Scott Card as an example. He has written several articles supporting Bush and against gay rights. As a result I've lost all interest in his books.
Posted by: tim at Apr 3, 2008 8:27:19 AM
Again, the issue arises of how you define where somebody is from. Although he was born in Utah, most people associate James Woods with Rhode Island.
Posted by: Ted Craig at Apr 3, 2008 8:54:09 AM
Go to Granny's in Heber City. Best ice cream parlor.
Posted by: Roland Stephen at Apr 3, 2008 9:33:30 AM
Go to Granny's in Heber City. Best ice cream parlor.
Posted by: Roland Stephen at Apr 3, 2008 9:33:57 AM
I feel validated.
I chose to get out of the research university ratrace (that I loved) to take what would probably be the only viable offer in my lifetime to work at a school in southern Utah.
Sure, I have regrets. But they just fade away when I look out of the picture window of my university office, or when I take off between classes to go to Zion for a few hours.
Dave Tufte
Department of Economics and Finance
Southern Utah University
Cedar City
Posted by: David Tufte at Apr 3, 2008 9:38:33 AM
Orson Scott Card makes his home in Greensboro, North Carolina.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card
Posted by: John Sterling at Apr 3, 2008 9:47:05 AM
It still shocks me that one of the better strip mall Mexican joints I have been to is in Park City. It's called El Chubasco and it's on Bonanza Drive. The quality and variety of salsa there is, perhaps, the finest I've seen.
Maza is a great Lebanese restaurant in SLC. You can get dishes there that I haven't seen anywhere else outside the Middle East. The one at 15th and 15th can get packed and I haven't been to the new, nicer one at 9th and 9th. I hope the upscale expansion hasn't affected the quality of the food.
I don't care for Sundance because you can get far more beauty for your buck elsewhere in Utah, but the Sunday brunch can be great. I forget the name of the more expensive restaurant, but I've had a couple distinctly bad meals there.
Posted by: ABB at Apr 3, 2008 10:14:21 AM
Ditto Jonathan_Hohensee. I'm surprised Tyler_Cowen would endorse such a book...
I mean, I liked it, but I can't help but feel a lot of the love for it is for the wrong reasons...
Posted by: Person at Apr 3, 2008 10:37:32 AM
I've been living and working here in Salt Lake for the last five years. When I moved here, I thought I'd just want to leave, but it's definitely grown on me. The quality of our restaurants is excellent - Mazza is one of my favorites, but there are so many more great places. You can't beat the wilderness and our national parks. I wish we had a great museum or two to round out some of your categories, but we do have a pretty amazing opera, symphony, and ballet.
And thanks for leaving out any reference to the Osmonds or Touched by an Angel.
Posted by: Jen (SLC) at Apr 3, 2008 10:37:56 AM
Desert Solitaire is mostly set in Arches. I've been in every corner of the state, down most of its rivers, and all over the deep backcountry of Moab before it became industrial and I still don't have much to add. It's quite true that southern Utah provides many of the greatest vistas available on the Earth, for hundreds of miles in many directions. But there's not much culture, there.
Posted by: Russell L. Carter at Apr 3, 2008 10:39:23 AM
Lived their for a number of years & it is the best place I know for living out of doors.
The (first few) Ender books are fine, but better than Stegner?
Posted by: Bill Gardner at Apr 3, 2008 10:50:35 AM
TC thinks The Virgin Suicides is a good movie???
Don't quit your day job, Professor.
Posted by: Anderson at Apr 3, 2008 10:54:04 AM
I just read Ender's Game for the first time, because it seemed to be on top of everyone's "Best Sci-Fi" list, and I had never read it.
What a HUUUUUGE disappointment. It was just a a big Mary Sue story. One boy overcomes many woes by himself, and is -- by himself -- smarter (in every way) than every single individual in the military, and doesn't need to learn anything from anybody.
Total and complete dreck.
Posted by: Rich B. at Apr 3, 2008 11:02:26 AM
What a HUUUUUGE disappointment. It was just a a big Mary Sue story. One boy overcomes many woes by himself, and is -- by himself -- smarter (in every way) than every single individual in the military, and doesn't need to learn anything from anybody.
Total and complete dreck.
That's kind of what bothered me about it; it kind of feeds into a "I am sure lonely always being the smartest person in the room" mentality that I thankfully grew out of. (After eating crow about 1,000 times)
Posted by: Jonathan Hohensee at Apr 3, 2008 11:16:55 AM
tim:
Take Orson Scott Card as an example. He has written several articles supporting Bush and against gay rights.
If it makes you feel any better (it may not), he's not a conservative, he's a religious hawk whose other views tend to the left. See e.g. this essay (in favor of immigration amnesty), in which he says:
but free market economists never mind a few thousand deaths here and there.
(I like his books anyway.)
Posted by: Aaron Brown at Apr 3, 2008 11:28:45 AM
It's quite true that southern Utah provides many of the greatest vistas available on the Earth, for hundreds of miles in many directions. But there's not much culture, there.
Isn't that like complaining there aren't enough wilderness camping opportunities in New York City?
Posted by: RJ at Apr 3, 2008 11:30:11 AM
film, set in: SLC Punk!
http://imdb.com/title/tt0133189/
Posted by: Noah Yetter at Apr 3, 2008 12:00:44 PM
You forgot:
Best work of earth art: Spiral Jetty
Posted by: Ben M at Apr 3, 2008 12:11:04 PM
Ditto on the Red Iguana and El Cubasco in Park City. Since you seem to be a Chinese food fan, I would be interested in your evaluation of David's Kitchen, on 3300 South in Salt Lake. Seems good to me, but I am not an expert.
Living is Utah is great if you like outdoor activities, a lack of crowds and traffic, and a reasonable cost of living. I enjoy my trips to NYC, DC and San Francisco/Berkeley for "culture and diversity" but I would much rather live here.
Posted by: Greg at Apr 3, 2008 12:26:17 PM
For those of us who do not and have not ever had the notion that we are the smartest person in the room, Ender's Game is not wish fufillment, but is a genuinely fun story.
Card's brilliance is in his ability to write a character driven novel that also has a excellent plotline. His characters are often unique people, and the thing that makes his characters unique in that series is that they happen to be ridiculously intelligent, and have been trained to the point where they try, often too hard, to win at everything. In the end his characters are sympathetic, however because you see that their intelligence is a gift, but has in many cases made them miserable.
Posted by: Steven McMullen at Apr 3, 2008 12:53:38 PM
Best work of earth art: Spiral Jetty
I've always wondered whether art was just a big con or whether I just had no asthetic sense. But how could one cite Spiral Jetty as worth looking at when Utah has Zion and Bryce Canyons?
Oh if I had 40 acres and a shallow lake I might put up a Spiral Jetty to amuse myself, but I wouldn't call it art and I wouldn't think I'd done anything special.
Posted by: John Kunze at Apr 3, 2008 1:12:50 PM
"Ender's Game" is a genre novel, and a great one of its kind-- but read it as an adult differently than you read it as a weltshmertzy adolescent. One should, at least, bring a different set of anxieties to the book. Same for Gene Wolfe, btw.
Posted by: MattF at Apr 3, 2008 1:34:52 PM
Honestly, Tyler, Ender's Game is Mary-Sue rubbish, in much the same vein as Cryptonomicon. Everyone Will Be Sorry that they didn't appreciate How Smart I Was.
Posted by: Kieran at Apr 3, 2008 2:26:50 PM
I read Ender's Game a year or so ago, for the first time (as a 30-yr-old) and thought it was pretty darn good. Not the best sci-fi novel I've ever read, by a longshot, let alone the best novel of any genre, but still pretty good.
I can see how it could be read by angsty teenagers as nerd wish fulfillment, but that shouldn't be held against it.
Posted by: Bob Montgomery at Apr 3, 2008 2:40:52 PM
Authors: 1) Utah can make a claim to Wallace Stegner (he spent part of his youth there) and thus two of the finest novels written by an American in the second half of the 20th century: Angle of Repose and Crossing to Safety. Plus, two of Stegner's nonfiction works--Mormon Country and Beyond the Hundredth Meridian--largely unspool there.
2) Russell Carter mentions Desert Solitaire by Ed Abbey. Though "Cactus Ed" was a wanderer, he spent much of his adult life in Southern Utah and the Four Corners region, and they inspired much of his best work, including Desert Solitaire (nonfiction) and, of course, The Monkey Wrench Gang (fiction). Abbey wasn't half the novelist that he was an essayist, but few novels can be said to have inspired an environmental movement in the way that MWG did (see Earth First! and the push for western dam removal). Yes, naysayers, the actual Glen Canyon dam is in AZ, but the canyon and the reservoir that destroyed it straddle the two states.
Posted by: Tim Gray at Apr 3, 2008 5:39:37 PM
Interestingly, he gave an excellent depiction of the problems of a gay man in a religious setting in "Songmaster". So much so, that I was shocked to see his political writings on the subject later.
Posted by: Sebastian Holsclaw at Apr 3, 2008 5:45:59 PM
"its sense of building a new world in the wilderness"
"But there's not much culture, there."
I find Utah's vistas as picturesque as the next guy, and the skiing is fantastic, but it wasn't exactly a wilderness when Westerners (in the global sense) made it on the scene. It had its very own culture back then also. Just don't romanticize too much the whole "in the wilderness" angle, unless you count the indigenous population as wild/untamed. Not to belittle the struggles of settlers, but there are two sides to the history, and pretending one side didn't exist makes for a great little story, but it's fiction. The new world that settlers built came at the expense of an already existent one.
Posted by: PA at Apr 3, 2008 5:54:14 PM
For those of us who do not and have not ever had the notion that we are the smartest person in the room, Ender's Game is not wish fufillment, but is a genuinely fun story.
I should had noted that I no longer think I'm the smartest in the room, not that I'm no longer lonely over the fact that I'm the smartest in the room.
Posted by: Jonathan Hohensee at Apr 3, 2008 7:15:28 PM
Utah has the highest female fertility rate of any state so when you're in the old folks home thank Utah for creating an English speaking caregiver for you.
Posted by: Dave at Apr 3, 2008 7:46:52 PM
Movie set is has to be SLC Punk for me. Great movie about being young and political. Also, a great soundtrack.
Posted by: Joe at Apr 3, 2008 8:43:10 PM
Spiral Jetty = lame and overrated
Goblin Valley = interesting
Red Iguana is good. mole negro and poblano, cochinita pibil are good there. Chanon Thai is good. Mazza (lebanese) is good for dinner, get a side sampler too. Expect all to be busy. Cafe Mmolise is good Italian, as is Fresca, which is next to Mazza. Metropolitan and Log Haven are higher end restaurants that I've heard good things about, never been though.
Posted by: Ulrich at Apr 3, 2008 9:39:54 PM
Best Mexican (in Provo): El Azteca.
Best Polish Hot Dog in the Universe: J Dawgs
Best Lebanese: Mazza
Best Indian: Bombay House (SLC or Provo)
Best Piano Bar: Keys on Main
Joe has it right, SLC Punk all the way. What a great film.
My wife tells me that Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series is great, but I wonder if she counts since she only went to BYU and never actually 'lived' in Utah.
Best Classical Music: Classical 89.1
Only Classical Music: Classical 89.1
Posted by: MixMasterMax at Apr 3, 2008 10:14:13 PM
In Southern California, the hilltops with the views are all owned by Hollywood producers or mega-stars.
In Utah, the hilltops are where you find churches.
I'm not a big fan of organized religion, but I gotta feel good about Utah's values. Better to devote the prime real estate to the community than the individual.
Posted by: Al at Apr 4, 2008 11:28:44 AM
Best Utah Geologic term:
Hoodoo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoodoo_%28geology%29
Definitely one of the most beautiful States in the USA. Take one of these along to learn more about the geology...
http://www.amazon.com/Roadside-Geology-Utah/dp/0878422285
Posted by: Pitt at Apr 4, 2008 5:18:22 PM
I like the beauty of what I've seen of Utah, and I love skiing in Park City. But to give a small note of dissent, the air in SLC is just about the worse of anywhere I've seen in the USA outside SoCal. A basin city is just at a severe disadvantage in the modern industrial/auto environment. It's no Mexico City, but you can still see the air, and esp notice the change as you drive through the canyon on I-80 enroute to Park City.
Posted by: Kolohe at Apr 5, 2008 3:33:27 AM
Gotta agree with Tim Gray re: Edward Abbey. Nobody has captured the appeal of living in the American Southwest as well (though New Mexico might also claim him).
Posted by: Eric H at Apr 5, 2008 3:02:57 PM
It's quite true that southern Utah provides many of the greatest vistas available on the Earth, for hundreds of miles in many directions. But there's not much culture, there.Maybe not in massive volume, but you've apparently missed out on Cedar City ("Festival City, USA"). Southern Utah likely has more per capita "culture" than many places renowned for the arts.
Posted by: Sharper at Apr 5, 2008 5:34:15 PM
I used to live in SLC too and I agree, it's a unique place.
Best Organic/Vegetarian restaurant: Sage's.
Best brunch: Eggs in the City and Avenues Bakery.
Best coffee shop: Coco Cafe, The Roasting Company.
Movies: yup, SLC, Punk.
And what about Big Love, folks? It's technically a series, but it's very much Utah-centered.
All in all, Utah's a wonderful place to explore.
Posted by: bri at Apr 6, 2008 2:23:32 AM
Best Movie Filmed (and Set) in Utah: Rubin and Ed
Posted by: ryan at Apr 20, 2008 11:10:13 PM
