The Illusionist - A Glimpse of Magic in Turn-of-the-Century Vienna

A seasoned freelance production accountant, Kelli Gillam has worked on several high profile film productions. Crash, The Matador, and The Illusionist are among the movies with which Kelli Gillam has been involved as a tax incentive accountant.

Released in 2006, the latter movie creates a believable early 20th-century milieu for the fabulist tale of Eisenheim (Edward Norton), a magician who astounds Viennese audiences with feats involving the summoning of supernatural forces.

Filmed in Prague by Neil Burger, the movie features a main character whom The New York Times called a model of “disturbing inscrutability.” Rather than try to astound the viewer with larger-than-life tricks, the director focuses on “aesthetic elegance” and does not rely on the obvious digital embellishments of many Hollywood movies on the theme of magic.

Featuring old-fashioned storytelling and a haunted romantic spark between the characters played by Edward Norton and Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti augments the intensity in his role as Chief Inspector Uhl. An official in the pay of the violent and jealous Crown Prince Leopold, the officer has been commanded to discover the secret of Eisenheim, who has declared in public that he can make the Prince disappear.

Monterey County’s Varied, Temperate Climate Wines

A seasoned California-based accountant, Kelli Gillam, CPA, has informed tax incentive strategies for various entertainment productions, including feature films. Passionate about wine, Kelli Gillam has also sold quality wines from around the world as the erstwhile owner of Terranova Fine Wines in Monterey.

Less well known than Napa Valley farther north, the Central Coast offers several exceptional wines, with 40,000 acres of vineyards planted across Monterey County. The highlight of the region is the Santa Lucia Highlands, which includes top-tier vineyards such as Mer Soleil, Morgan, Pisoni, and ROAR.

The Monterey AVA also encompasses the Carmel Valley and Salinas Valley, which are rich in loamy soils and enjoy a relatively cool climate, thanks to their proximity to the coast. The climate is typically in the 65-degree range and avoids the extremes of daytime heat and nighttime cold of areas farther inland. This makes the region ideal for pinot noir and other grapes with thin, delicate skins susceptible to wilting.