From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #750 Reply-To: aml-list Sender: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk aml-list-digest Wednesday, June 19 2002 Volume 01 : Number 750 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2002 19:54:40 -0700 From: "althlevip" Subject: Re: [AML] Understanding Others - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Paris Anderson" To: Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2002 7:21 PM Subject: Re: [AML] Understanding Others Maybe God will figure out what to do with me someday and then He'll tell the bishop. I think maybe if he tells the bishopp not to shake my hand or look at me maybe he know other things that would help. Paris Anderson Hang in, Paris. I admire you. Thanks for your candor in explaining your situation. There are two churches, the official church that the obedient attend and the underground church where the mavericks and backsliders and puzzled souls worship. They are both God's church. Levi Peterson althlevip@msn.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2002 23:06:21 -0600 From: "Sharlee Glenn" Subject: Re: [AML] Mormons and Topaz Scott, You'll want to talk to Mike Tunnell at BYU. He is the author of _The Children of Topaz_. I'm sure he can point you toward a number of valuable sources. Sharlee Glenn glennsj@inet-1.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 12:26:17 -0600 From: "Scott Parkin" Subject: Re: [AML] Mormons and Topaz Ethan Skarstedt wrote: >>>I think it was a wise idea for the government to intern those of Japanese descent during our war with Japan. The vast majority of those interned were innocent and harmless and yes it was unfair. War is like that. Japanese spies caused a lot of harm to United States citizens, soldiers and otherwise.<<< ...and... >>>Of course, we didn't intern Germans during the war, perhaps it was because they were white, or perhaps interning those of German descent, a much larger task, was seen as impossible and not worth attempting, whatever the reasons, it was unfair. War is like that. We will never know how many American lives were saved because Japanese moles were languishing in an internment camp instead of gathering and reporting intelligence, but I am sure there were many.<<< One of the issues that really fascinates me about the Japanese internment camps is precisely this issue of fairness. As you point out, Japanese immigrants and Americans of Japanese descent were interned whereas German immigrants and Americans of German descent were not. Assuming equal opportunity for espionage, the question remains--why did we choose to intern one group and not another. Some thoughts-- * The German-American Bund (American organization of German-Americans) was quite active in its pursuit of support for Germany throughout WWII, and quite vocal in its efforts to both remove the US from the war, and to subvert support for the American war against Germany. Very few members of the Bund were ever arrested. * There was a small concentration of German merchant seaman during WWII, amounting to several hundred. These were actual POWs, and were thus protected by international requirements for prisoner of war camps. Their housing was considered to be superior to the average American home at the time. * There are no confirmed cases of espionage by Japanese Americans during WWII (either the Issei--first generation immigrants--or the Nissei--American born children of the Issei). * The previously existing laws under which American could be interned during times of war 1) required an explicit charge of supporting the enemy against the individual, and 2) allowed for a hearing wherein the charges were read out and the individual could answer to those charges and/or challenge their validity by the normal legal procedure. Both of these conditions were met for German-Americans who were arrested during the war; neither of these conditions was met for the Japanese Americans interned during the war. ===== Again, what interests me (and concerns me) is that when one population is subjected to a greater scrutiny and penalty *in otherwise essentially similar situations* it suggests that there are other reasons for that scrutiny than simple issues of national security. In other words security was the excuse, not the reason. An existing mistrust was given vent in the name of a noble ideal that was not only not applied equally, but not applied at all to other qualifying populations at the same time and in the same place. This issue has popped up a couple of times on this list, most recently in Jeff Needle's review of Will Bagley's book and some of the sub-discussions about Brigham Young's role in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Paris Anderson noted (and Clark Goble expanded the notion) that a massacre of 250 people by Mormons is a great tragedy and indictment of the Mormon cause and leadership, but a similar massacre of nearly 400 Indians (including women and children) only five years later is viewed simply as the spirit of the times and excused as unfair but understandable--and acceptable. The Mormons and Indians were mistrusted, therefore any act by them was of far greater note than equivalent actions by agents of the government. It's only a national tragedy if the victims are "us" rather than "them." This is exactly the methodology that allowed the Mormons to be evicted from state after state by the authorized and legal authorities of those states, and that facilitated another aborted attempt during the "Utah War." In Nauvoo of the early 1840s Mormons were given a time table for evacuation and were given the opportunity to sell their property at whatever prices the market would bear. Of course the market paid pennies on the dollar and consisted of the very people who were evicting them. In the name of moral superiority and national outrage the people of Illinois felt justified in extorting that property from the Mormons--using the law as the bludgeon to act out on their individual greed, jealousies, and fears. In San Francisco of the early 1940s a similar plan was implemented on a population that had been viewed as untrustworthy outsiders for many years (Topaz was populated mainly by people from the San Francisco Bay area). Interestingly, both populations attempted to reintegrate with the mainstream afterwards, and made limited efforts to seek redress for the evident wrongs perpetrated against them (it was actually the children and grandchildren of the Japanese internees who sought redress with the greatest vigor; those who were actually interned generally tried to act as though it never happened). And while the Japanese Americans received their official apology and redress was ordered in 1993, no such redress was ever made to the Mormons (that I know of). Utah has its share of racist history, and tensions here were just as high toward people of Japanese descent as they were elsewhere (Utah never implemented the relocation acts that created Topaz, though it turns out that a somewhat impromptu voluntary camp was set up in Orem--I'm still researching that and will report on my findings if anyone is interested). It turns out that one of the people in my ward was a carpenter who both helped build and dismantle Topaz, and I spent several hours with him yesterday talking about that and other issues. He makes no bones about the rampant and overt hate that most Utahns had for people of Japanese descent. The prevailing attitude was that "the Japs brought it on themselves and deserved what they got." Things have changed a lot in the last 60 years, and as a nation we are more aware of issues of racial or social hate. I can't help but believe that part of the reason California is now such a champion for diversity (after a somewhat less noble start) is that the generation that grew up after Manzanar and Tule Lake and Topaz and Heart Mountain were so horrified at what had happened in their own home state that they backlashed the other direction. Sadly Illinois had no such backlash in support of the Mormons (though Governer Thompson did plead to the Mormons to "please come back" during the 1978 dedication of the Nauvoo Women's Monument). Maybe it does me no good to look at Topaz--we live in a different world, after all. But the social and political factors that allowed the legal authority to evict Mormons from Nauvoo and people of Japanese descent from California still exist. Maybe I'm probing an old wound; my intent is not to condemn individuals or assign specific blame. But I also believe that until the stories of those who lived inside of Topaz are seen as part of the stories of Americans in general, the separation that allowed it to happen in the first place can still recur. Until everyone is "us" the lines are still drawn--faint though they may appear to be. FWIW. Scott Parkin - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 13:48:45 -0500 From: James Picht Subject: Re: [AML] Attacking the Family It seems to be often the case that when one says something like, "children who grow up in two-parent homes do better than children who live in single-parent homes," a single parent will respond in irritation, "I provide my child a loving environment that's healthier without my abusive former spouse," or "some of us have to live in the real world." Indeed, we all have to live in the real world, and sometimes the kids are better off without the abusive ex. So? The data still show that kids whose parents stick together fare better in school and in relationships than kids whose parents divorce, even when the marriage is unhappy. The problem here is that the data describe the world statistically, and every human who's ever lived somehow deviates from the mean. We can always point to a divorced, never-married, or gay parent who's done a splendid job, and a married heterosexual couple that's botched it. The stats still say that kids who live in so-called traditional families do better. That isn't an attack on non-traditional parents and families, but an observation on the way things are. Literature is always about special cases. Special cases have no place in economics except as charming stories and curiosities. All the world is special cases, and saying something useful using them would be like a biologist describing wolves by describing every individual wolf in the world. But because many of us who are concerned about social problems, the family, and justice in the world come from humanities backgrounds, we persist in wanting to look at the special cases, in assiduously avoiding generalities to fret over a law that would be unfair to Mrs. McGee out in Hot Springs. The law can't do that, because treating people as special cases will always lead to unfairness and injustice. Divorce is bad, and you know someone who's better off divorced. There's no conflict there, so long as we remember that the first statement is a statistical generality, and the second is a specific case. Social science and public policy have to focus on the former; the latter is the material on which to build a story. Jim Picht - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 17:18:19 -0400 From: "Debra Brown" Subject: [AML] Mormon News Just to let everyone know, I just went to the Mormon News website and it still is showing Feb and March as the most recent news happenings. This is why I haven't been forwarding anything. Debbie Brown - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 16:59:15 -0500 From: Jonathan Langford Subject: [AML] Mod Message re: Attacking the Family Folks, With regrets, I note that this thread is rapidly becoming more and more political, and at this point has the strong potential for turning into a debate both over governmental policies and over doctrines and policies of the LDS Church--both areas that are off-topic for AML-List. I do not want to have to shut down this thread, but I also think I need to say that we've now gone far enough down this path. With apologies to those who may feel that their views have not yet been represented, I need to request that any further posts on this topic focus on literary questions, not doctrinal or political ones. This can include discussion of how we, as a culture, talk about this issue (i.e., analysis of our cultural rhetoric); but we need to be careful in how we characterize other people's opinions on this. E.g., it's okay to say, "I've noticed that in high priest's group they say __," but it would be better to avoid saying "I can't understand how any idiot could say __ like they do in high priest's group." Apologies again for interrupting the conversation just when some may have felt that it was starting to get good. Sometimes, sadly, it's my job to add a little blandness to life... Jonathan Langford AML-List Moderator - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 03:55:01 +0000 From: "Andrew Hall" Subject: [AML] LEACH, _Mission Accomplished_ (Review) Mission Accomplished By Frank Leach Cedar Fort/Bonneville Books. 2001 85p., $9.95 I was pleasantly surprised by this breezy, charming little book. It was like an unremarkable but pleasant light lunch, not distinctive enough to remember long afterwards, and I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it, but it went down very nicely. It is short novel, just 85 pages. A young Wyoming couple meet Mormon missionaries, and while both are impressed, only the wife joins the Church. The story, told from the point of view of Will, the non-member husband, revolves around his relationship with the various missionaries who pass through their lives. Will is the kind of dry-land Mormon that I think many of us have known, comes to many of the activities and often to Church to support his family and because he has made friends in the ward, even serves in callings like cubmaster, but for whatever reason has not joined. Not far into the book the local Bishop asks Will to let them set up a missionary apartment in his basement, which helps to keep the lives of the missionaries central to the novel. About 12 different missionaries are introduced in the course of the book, and even though each one lasts only a few pages, Leach manages to make all of them well-drawn, distinctive, believable characters. Some teach Will lessons through their actions, while others receive needed encouragement from their non-member landlord. He even reprimands a straying Elder and gets him back on the right path. Problems tend to be solved pretty quickly, but somehow Leach manages to get through each one without trivializing the difficulties. He just tells the bare bones of a story, and moves on. Leach's theme is that missionaries don't know all the good that they are doing, and so should not become depressed at their seeming lack of success. Many of the missionaries confide in Will about their disappointment with their lack of baptisms, yet they each teach Will something, or perform valuable services for others in the community. Of course, in the end Will finally agrees to be baptized, a decision not made through a life-changing event, simply through a recognition of the accumulation of positive Church-related experiences. In fact, after everything, the decision is related in less then a paragraph. "But one day I decided it was time to get ready. No more coffee. Try to be better." That's it. The back cover says that the novel is based on Leach's own conversion. Leach's style is very direct, breezy, and pleasant to read. He certainly never over-analyzes things. I think that new novelists tend to err too far on the long-winded side, particularly in the way they describe characters' emotions. Even if I find Leach a bit too breezy, that is a lot easier to stomach than over-cooked prose. Andrew Hall Fukuoka, Japan _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 03:26:00 -0600 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Doctrine Versus Culture Barbara Hume wrote: > Now, that could make an interesting LDS book. The Lord calls a man from, > say, Portugal to be the prophet, and the Caucasian American contingent of > the church says, "No! We won't have it! He's not One of Us!" Why is everyone assuming we Caucasion American types would balk? I wouldn't, and I'm about as Caucasian as you can get without being albino. - -- D. Michael Martindale dmichael@wwno.com ================================== Check out Worldsmiths, the new online LDS writers group, at http://www.wwno.com/worldsmiths Sponsored by Worlds Without Number http://www.wwno.com ================================== - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 00:28:54 -0600 From: "Morgan Adair" Subject: Re: [AML] Will BAGLEY, _Blood of the Prophets_ (Review) >>> dmichael@wwno.com 06/15/02 03:10AM >>> > >I wonder if we're approaching this whole MMM thing all wrong. We keep >bickering over whether Brigham Young was responsible or not, with the >presupposition that if he was, that was a bad thing. > >You all know me. I'm willing to loudly speak the unthinkable. My >question is, was that a bad thing? As some have pointed out here, it was >a war situation, a guerilla war. The Mormons felt besieged and on the >verge of destruction. Brigham Young had seen the Saints driven from home >to home that they had built with the sweat of their brow, driven with >ugly violence. He had sworn to never let that happen again. It was truly >a war situation. MMM was a very bad thing, regardless of who planned and executed it. The only question still open to debate is how far responsibility extends. The Fanchers weren't combatants; they were families on their way to California. They were nearly out of the territory when they were massacred, and the war (such as it was) hadn't begun yet. There are stories (mostly fabricated) about how the Fanchers or people travelling with them provoked the attack, but even if all the stories were true, how would you rationalize killing women, children, old men--essentially everyone old enough to testify against the perpetrators? >I've read one historian who suggested that something like MMM may have >been necessary to show the USA that the Mormons were not pushovers >anymore, that they would defend themselves. He suggested that MMM may >have actually prevented a great deal of violence brewing against the >Mormons. I don't buy it. Initial reports held the Indians responsible for the massacre. Years passed before it was established that Mormons were behind it. Fear of the big, bad, immigrant-killing Mormons is not what prevented Johnston's Army from attacking. In fact, if the extent of Mormon involvment had been revealed sooner, the Army would likely have taken it as evidence that the Mormons actually were in rebellion, as reported. Is this historian really saying what it sounds like--that, yeah, several dozen people got murdered, but at least we showed the world that we weren't going to turn the other cheek anymore? And this was a good thing? MBA (Morgan B. Adair) - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 10:23:06 -0500 From: "Preston" Subject: [AML] Utah/LDS-Made Movies on AFI's "100 Years, 100 Passions" List If you watched the American Film Institute's 3-hour special "100 Years... 100 Passions" on Tuesday, June 11th you may have thought to yourself: A lot of these are movies that Latter-day Saints and/or native Utahns worked on. Well, Utahns and Mormons must be a pretty romantic bunch, because a large number of their movies appeared in AFI's list of Top 100 most romantic American films of all time. (Most of the native Utahns listed below are now-deceased Latter-day Saints). In fact, the movie voted the #1 most romantic movie of all time, "Casablanca" (1942) was co-written by Logan, Utah native Casey Robinson. Robinson, who was the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood during the peak of his career, only assisted on the "Casablanca" screenplay, and did not receive an onscreen credit. (He is listed in texts, databases such as IMDb, and his contributions are discussed on the audio commentary track on the "Casablanca" DVD.) Furthermore, Robinson was the sole screenwriter (adapting a novel) of "Now, Voyager" (1942) -- voted #23 on AFI's list. Robinson was also the sole screenwriter who adapted the play to make the Bette Davis/Humphrey Bogart movie "Dark Victory" (1939), voted #32 on AFI's list. Two of AFI's top 100 most romantic movies were directed by Ogden, Utah native Hal Ashby: #69 "Harold and Maude" (1971) and #78 "Coming Home" (1978), for which Ashby received a Best Director Academy Award nomination. Two animated feature films appear on AFI's list, including #95, Disney's "Lady and the Tramp" (1955). Two of the directing animators on "Lady and the Tramp" were Utah natives: Les Clark and Eric Larson. Yet another Utahn with multiple films on AFI's "100 Passions" list is Bluff, Utah native Charles Lang. Lang was the director of photography (cinematographer) on AFI's #54 pick "Sabrina" (1954) and AFI's #73 pick "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" (1947). Lang received an Academy Award nominations for both of these. Some Utah/Latter-day Saint actors were prominent in a number of movies on AFI's list. Third on AFI's list is "West Side Story," featuring actor/dancer Russ Tamblyn in the 4th billed role. And Mormon actor Moroni Olsen played a major supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's "Notorious" (1946), #86 on AFI's list. Olsen also supplied the voice of one of the angels in AFI's #8 pick, "It's A Wonderful Life" (1946). Another angelic voice in the movie was supplied by Utah native Joseph Kearns. A more prominent onscreen role in "It's A Wonderful Life" was played by Utah-born character actor Charles Meakin. But the most significant contribution that a Latter-day Saint made to "It's A Wonderful Life" was it's film score, by famed Mormon/native Utahn composer Leigh Harline, a multiple-time Academy Award winner. One of the most famous roles on the list was that of Fay Wray, the leading lady in "King Kong" (1933). Fay Wray was an ethnic Mormon, born in Cardston, Alberta. She also lived in Mesa, Arizona and Utah before heading for Hollywood. Native Utahn actress Dorothy Gulliver also had a small role in "King Kong." Academy Award-winning Utah designer/set decorator Thomas Little worked in the art department on "King Kong." Brigham City, Utah native Portia Nelson had a small role as "Sister Berthe" in "The Sound of Music" (1965), voted #27 on AFI's list. Latter-day Saint actress Joi Lansing had a small part in "Singin' in the Rain" (1952), #16 on AFI's list. Utah character actor Leonard Strong played the Siamese interpreter in "The King and I" (1956). (Interestingly enough, Latter-day Saint film director Richard Rich directed the 1999 animated remake of "The King and I," although that version didn't make it onto AFI's list.) William Borzage, a native of Utah, had a small role in "Way Down East" (1920), #71 on AFI's list. One starring role worth noting is that of Tom Hanks in "Sleeless in Seattle" (1993), #45 on AFI's list. Hanks is neither an ethnic Mormon nor current Latter-day Saint, but he was a Latter-day Saint briefly during his childhood. Finally, a movie that does NOT feature a Latter-day Saint staris "Grease" (1978), #97 on AFI's list. The lead role originally was offered to none other than Marie Osmond, who turned it down because she found the script morally objectionable, allowing Olivia Newton John to jump into the role. Latter-day Saint filmmaker Michael T. Amundsen has made a number of Church and seminary videos. He was also the assistant film editor on "Witness" (1985), the Harrison Ford-meets-Amish people movie that is #82 on AFI's list. Utah art director Ted Haworth received an Academy Award nomination for his work on "Marty" (1955), #64 on AFI's list. Bryan H. Carroll (a native of Bountiful, Utah native) was the visual effects editor on "Titanic" (1997), voted #37 on AFI's list. One last romantic note: Natacha Rambova was the great-granddaughter of Heber C. Kimball, an early apostle of the Church. She was born "Winifred Kimball Shaughnessy" in 1897 in Salt Lake City, but after a name change would become the wife of Rudolph Valentino, one of the most famous romantic leading men in Hollywood history. Rambova was a talented costume designer and art director in her own right. Rambova was the art director and costume designer on "Camille" (1921), starring Valentino, but not in the 1937 Greta Garbo version which is on AFI's list. But Valentino, whose career was largely managed by Rambova until his death, is the star of another movie on AFI's list. To be honest, many Valentino biographers would say that Rambova "mismanaged" her husband's career. Ever notice how in his later movies the famed "Latin Lover" appeared increasingly effeminate? That was Rambova's doing. Yes,Hollywood's hearthrob let himself be dressed up like a sissy by a Europhile Mormon costume designer. The things a person will do for love... - - Preston Hunter, LDSFilm.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2002 23:49:58 -0500 From: Linda Adams Subject: Re: [AML] Labor Horror Stories At 10:34 AM 6/15/02, you wrote: >I've been with groups of other >women from work and although they talk a great deal about their children, >they don't ever mention the births of their children. What is it about our >culture that makes this such a popular thing to discuss? I spoke to one >sister about it, and she said she thought it was a form of competition; to >see who could beat out the group with the most difficult births, etc. I'm >not sure if that's it, but I haven't come up with anything better. > >Any ideas? I'm not sure either. I *do* know that after the birth of my first child I was swamped with questions at church as to how it went, women wanting a play-by-play color commentary, something I wasn't completely comfortable with. I mentioned this to my small-town doctor, not of our faith but close enough to it to understand us, and he said something to the effect of, "why should your birth experience be any less private than the conception?" I thought that was a profound truth. He went on to say I only had to share what I felt comfortable with. My best guess is that it's an extended version of "girl talk" discussing periods and the like. I have discussed births, labors, etc. with other women, including total strangers in parking lots. Come to think of it, what brings that on is a pregnant belly. Usually it's been mine. Apparently the sight of that huge belly brings all sorts of memories to mind. So if it's peculiar to our culture, it's probably due to the incredible *quantity* of pregnant bellies to be found in our wards. I don't envy you the trial of enduring nonvoluntary childlessness in such a culture. Few things are a crummier deal than that. (I know from having way, way too many friends in the same situation.) Linda Adams adamszoo@sprintmail.com http://home.sprintmail.com/~adamszoo - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 13:54:29 -0500 From: "Preston" Subject: [AML] Box Office Report June 14 Feature Films by LDS/Mormon Filmmakers and Actors Weekend Box Office Report (U.S. Domestic Box Office Gross) Weekend of June 14, 2002 Report compiled by: LDSFilm.com [If table below doesn't line up properly, try looking at them with a mono-spaced font, such as Courier - - Ed.] Natl Film Title Weekend Gross Rank LDS/Mormon Filmmaker/Actor Total Gross Theaters Days - --- ----------------------------- ----------- ----- ---- 6 The Divine Secrets of the 8,874,585 2,507 10 Ya-Ya Sisterhood 34,000,024 21 The New Guy 210,606 282 38 Eliza Dushku (lead actress) 28,676,549 29 ESPN's Ultimate X - The Movie 139,859 47 38 Reed Smoot (cinematographer) 2,392,835 32 Murder by Numbers 78,326 196 59 Ryan Gosling (lead male actor) 31,683,100 48 The Believer 23,780 10 31 Ryan Gosling (lead actor) 157,487 51 China: The Panda Adventure 16,466 7 325 Reed Smoot (cinematographer) 2,455,716 58 Cirque du Soleil: Journey of Man 12,103 5 773 Reed Smoot (cinematographer) 13,376,039 64 The Other Side of Heaven 8,086 11 185 Mitch Davis (writer/director) 4,566,132 John H. Groberg (author/character) Gerald Molen, John Garbett (producers) 65 Galapagos 7,932 5 962 Reed Smoot (cinematographer) 13,400,840 72 The Singles Ward 6,302 7 136 Kurt Hale (writer/director) 782,066 John E. Moyer (writer) Dave Hunter (producer) Cody Hale (composer) Ryan Little (cinematographer) Actors: Will Swenson, Connie Young, Daryn Tufts, Kirby Heyborne, Michael Birkeland, Robert Swenson, Lincoln Hoppe, Gretchen Whalley, Sedra Santos, etc. 98 Mark Twain's America 3D 769 1 1445 Alan Williams (composer) 2,230,218 "Minority Report", produced by Gerald Molen (the Latter-day Saint producer of "The Other Side of Heaven") finally gets released next weekend. Will it perform well enough to knock "Scooby-Doo" out of the top spot? Our guess is you won't hear anyone connected with "Minority Report" saying anything like, "We were shooting for #1, and we'd have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those darn kids and their blasted dog!" The makers of "The Singles Ward" have begun auditions for their next feature film, "The R.M." That there is a lot of interest in the film which is scheduled to be released in January is evidenced by the large numbers of would-be performers who showed up for auditions - over 450 people - nearly twice what had been expected. HANDCART SCHEDULE CHANGE: Kels Goodman's epic pioneer feature film "Handcart" was originally scheduled to be released on July 24th this year -- Pioneer Day. The film is done. But the release date is being moved back, probably to August, because late July was overcrowded with other movie releases. Test audiences loved everything about "Handcart," so we expect the movie to be very successful. "Jack Weyland's Charly" is still set to be released in September, and we expect the re-release of "Out of Step" sometime after that. UTAH SHORT FILM FESTIVAL: Winners in the 21st annual Utah Short Film and Video Festival, held May 31st through June 15th, 2002, were announced. The judges were Utah filmmakers Steve W. Olpin and Nancy Green. If you're involved in the Utah film industry, you're already familiar with many of these award-winners, so we won't introduce them further. Interestingly enough, one of the films is actually ABOUT a Utah filmmaker: Brad Barber's winning documentary "Inspire or Damage" profiles wheelchair-bound BYU film student Travis Eberhard. Best Experimetal "Moon Walk" by Trent Harris Special Merit Award Young Media Artist "Heart Wars" by Erika Longwell Best Young Media Artist "Release" by Shawn Lartrabe and Chase Nye Special Merit Award Animation "Little Girl With Blue Eyes" by Hyrum Summerhays and James Holmes Best Animation "Airship" by Sam Yousefian Best Documentary "Inspire or Damage" by Brad Barber Special Merit Award Narrative "Water With Food Coloring" Rick Page and Luke Schelhaas Best Narrative "How to Feed Your Cat Without Starting an Interplanary War" by Matt Glass Best of Show/Mort Rosefeld Award "October" by Nathan Meier PEARL AWARDS: Congratulations are in order to composer Kevin Kiner, for becoming the first non-LDS artist to win multiple Pearl Awards. Mr. Kiner won two Pearls for his work on the soundtrack to "The Other Side of Heaven". The annual Latter-day Saint music industry award show, the Pearl Awards, was held last week. Hollywood film scorer Kevin Kiner won two awards for his "Other Side of Heaven" film score: Best Musical Presentation or Soundtrack (Mark Evans was the soundtrack CD's producer), and Best Sacred/Inspirational Instrumental Song, for "The Other Side of Heaven Suite." Kiner, a practicing Catholic, is the first non-Latter-day Saint artist to receive multiple Pearl Awards. Presenters included Senator Orrin Hatch, BYU starting quarterback Bret Engemann, News 4 Utah Anchor Ruth Todd, Grant Nielsen and Amanda Dickson from KSL News Radio 1160, Colors, Shane Jackman, Kenneth Cope and Ryan Shupe. The Deseret News reported: "Hosting for the second year, KJZZ Movie Guy Scott Christopher kept things lively with his relaxed banter and great audience rapport. His on-stage interaction with presenter Julie Stoffer (of MTV's The Real World) proved to be one of the evening=92s highlights." Also worth noting, the award for Instrumental Recording Artist of the Year went to Latter-day Saint composer Sam Cardon. Cardon has composed many film scores, including "Mysteries of Egypt," "Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure" and "Brigham City. Cardon-scored films have grossed over $50 million at the U.S. box office. Interestingly enough, Cardon (who was nominated for 4 Pear Awards this year) was NOT nominated for his "Brigham City" score. This is probably because the nominations were not for actual film scores, but for albums, and the minimalist score used in "Brigham City" was not sold as a CD. The "Brigham City"-inspired CD "Welcome to Brigham" features only one track from Cardon's score. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 13:20:17 -0700 From: "Susan Malmrose" Subject: Re: [AML] Homefront Ads (SL Tribune) Does anyone know if these ads are viewable online anywhere? I can remember these commercials touching me when I was a kid, before I knew anything about the church. Years ago I received an email from a (non-member) man who I only knew from an email list, but he knew I was LDS. He thanked me for paying my tithing. He'd heard one of the church's radio spots, and it had inspired him to want to be a better father. He said he knew the church used tithing money to pay for those commercials, and he just wanted to thank me! I wrote him back and thanked him--for automatically assuming that I did actually pay my tithing! :) Susan M - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 14:25:29 -0700 (PDT) From: William Morris Subject: Re: [AML] Setting Goals - --- Alan Rex Mitchell wrote: I second Alan's compliment of Jacob's post. It was exactly what I was thinking---although expressed more clearly than I would have been able to. I find that even when I set the goals myself that I spend most of my time trying to short-circuit them. It's worse when someone else tries to set them for me. That's not how I find my motivation. > > I went on a mission in what must have been the height of goal-setting > mentality. My mother had a district leader who challenged all the members of the district to have their calling and election made sure (within a month, I think). > Do I have goals? No, just projects. The great thing about projects is that they are always 'pending' --- even if you haven't worked on them for several months (or years). Goals seem to always have time limits or other numbers involved. > > Now I need someone to tell me I could have done more if I used goals ;) > You mean _Angel of the Danube_ wasn't written on a Palm pilot running FranklinCovey time and priority management software? Dude, you are so not in the right paradigm. You gotta be down with the seven habits if you want to *truly* show off your mad skillz. ~~William Morris, who had a real moment of awe combined with nausea when he was walking to the New California Media Conference in downtown San Francisco and stumbled across a FranklinCovey store. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 15:25:34 -0600 From: "Robert Starling" Subject: [AML] Re: Secret Combination in Literature =46or anyone who's interested, I wrote a 12-page, 48-point rebuttal to the = =46ILM "The God-makers". It resulted my being sued by anti-Mormons twice, once for $3million and onc= e= for $25 million. =46ortunately they lost in court. Several websites have it available. Do a Google search on my name + God = Makers if you want to find it. Robert Starling - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------= - --- This message may contain confidential information, and is intended only for= = the use of the individual(s) to whom it is addressed. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 15:34:36 -0600 From: "Eric R. Samuelsen" Subject: Re: [AML] Setting Goals Since we're on the subject of Mormon literature: It occurs to me that a discussion of goal setting and numbers and so on = might lend itself well to comedy. I remember Bela Petsco's missionary = book from twenty some odd years ago, and an impassioned story in there = about number-oriented mission presidents and assistants to the President. = At the time I read it, I was straight off a very numbers oriented mission, = and I remember thinking Bela had nailed it. Now I'm not so sure. Maybe = impassioned fervor is the wrong tack to take. Surely an obsession with = discussions taught or tracting hours or the like is pretty funny. =20 >Even >the prophet at the time (whom I love deeply) was tell missionaries to set >baptism goals (1000 per missionary per mission, but 500 per mission for >German missions). Reality was about three orders of magnitude less. We = >had a >general authority come to the mission and chastise us for not having >companionship baptism goals.=20 So did we, in Norway, and at the time, I became very ill trying my = darndest to reach completely nonsensical goals. Nowadays, I think it's = pretty comical. We had a regional GA at the time who kept coming up with = various programs which had, apparently been tried with great success in = Dusseldorf. They were universally ludicrously inappropriate for Norway, = and I suspect that the shining successes of Dusseldorf were as fictional = as most of the tracting hours I reported. Now, that all seems very very = funny to me. (To this day, I loathe the city of Dusseldorf. Never been = there, know nothing about it, but I despise the place. That misplaced = hatred seems pretty funny too. Even the name of the place. Dusseldorf; = that's a funny word.) I just saw Ice Age with my kids, which I found quite interesting. The = main plot, with the sloth, the mastadon and the sabertooth joining forces = was idiotic, just a typical children's movie with anthropomorphized = animals behaving like, from left to right, a stoic philosopher, a borscht = belt comedian and a Tortured Soul. (They're rescuing a human child. = There's a word for the relationship between a hominid infant and a = sabertooth tiger. That word is 'lunch.") The main characters all = performed various comic stunts, suitable for an audience of eight year = olds, and there was a certain amount of potty humor, ditto. My eight year = old enjoyed it immensely, and the evening passed agreeably enough. =20 But there was also this astonishing subplot, which was featured in the = trailors and which you may have seen, in which a squirrel behaved vaguely = like maybe something resembling an actual squirrel, trying to hide an = acorn. That whole sequence was something else again. First of all, it = was fairly true; I mean, the behavior could be rationalized as sort like = what an animal might do, maybe. Okay, not really, but it was trueish, in = the general address of something resembling a kind of truth. It was = exceptionally cruel, again, a bit like nature herself. And it was = existential comedy at its finest, amazingly funny in a Sisyphean way. =20 Man did it remind me of missionary work. All that work, all that = mindless, insanely repetitive, endless work. All those doors, all those = rejections, most of them politely direct and to the point, a few frightenin= g and dangerous, all of them humiliating. And we kept persisting; just = like that squirrel, we kept looking for a good place to put that acorn. = =20 Missionary work is funny. It's not, mostly, about Huge Moral Dilemmas = (Nothing Very Important, Fires of the Mind). It's not about Heroic Self = Sacrifice (God's Army). It's not about The Triumph of Naivete (Saturday's = Warrior). I mean, it can be about those things, but they all seem to miss = the point a bit, I think. Missionary work is about bureaucratic self-impor= tance, and that's funny. It's about working until your heart breaks to = achieve certain impossible number goals, and that also seems to me pretty = funny, Orwellian funny at least. It's about Motivational Speeches, all of = which strike me as amazingly funny. It's about bothering people at home = who don't want to be bothered, because your priority is Bearing Testimony = of The Truth and theirs is Getting Dinner On Followed By TV; that seems to = me very funny indeed. Missionary work is funny, and I don't know that = that's ever been explored. (Maybe I should. Hmmmm. . . .) Eric Samuelsen - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #750 ******************************