From: "David Hansen" Subject: [AML] David FARLAND, _Lair of Bones_ (Review) Date: 29 Dec 2004 18:08:54 -0700 The Lair of Bones by David Farland (Wolverton) 421 pages 4th book of the Runelords series published by Tor (Tom Doherty Associates, LLC) 2003. $27.95 Reviewed by David Hansen Endings are hard. Beginnings get all the new clippings and awards, but endings require a finesse and comprehension that can be just as tricky. In "The Lair of Bones," David Farland wraps up his fantasy Runelord series in impressive style. But while the pace is as fast as the lead characters can run (60 mph over rocky terrain) the ending left me unsatisfied with multiple frustrations over setups which failed to resolve. In general, after a sluggish third book of the series, this book returns to what made the first Runelords book so successful - the ideas of consecration and sacrifice. In Farland's world, one of the ways in which lords become more powerful is by taking endowments from others in the kingdom. By branding certain runes on a person, a facilitator can extract certain virtues such as stamina, grace, and transfer them to another. This creates a race of powerful individuals, who are called Runelords. Those that give these endowments are called dedicates and often become helpless and must be kept safe from a Runelord's enemies. Lair of Bones begins with Gaborn, the Earth King, and his small army chasing a horde of retreating reavers, huge praying mantis-type animals, back into their underground lair. Gaborn has been instructed by the Earth (a deity-type, along with Wind, Fire and Water, who give gifts to mankind) to attack the reavers in their underground lair, and to kill their leader. If he fails, the Earth will perish. Naturally, the reavers are regrouping and will attack men again with a much superior force than their first attack Meanwhile, Gaborn's sworn enemy, Raj Ahten is amassing troops to invade Gaborn's above ground kingdom while Gaborn is chasing reavers. In addition, treachery threatens Gaborn's kingdom from within, as another "king" has declared himself the "Earth King" and that Gaborn has fallen. Gaborn's faithful servant, Borrenson, remains in danger as he attempts to convince other enemies to join Gaborn in the fight against the reavers. With all these different plot threads, the story moves along at an almost frantic pace. It's a race against time as well as against enemies from without and within. Yet, some of the plot threads in retrospect seem unnecessary at best, and downright aggravating at worst. While I was grateful for the different perspectives, Farland could have cut down a plot thread or two and weaved the action into the existing plots without losing any of the story. Although not overtly noticeable in the first three books of the series, Farland's Mormonism shines through in various places in this book. Gaborn, in his race through the underworld has a First Vision-like experience, "'Can you help me?' Gaborn asked. . . . "'Perhaps if you crave it enough,' the voice whispered. "'I do,' Gaborn said. "Suddenly the brightness above him flared, becoming white hot . . . The light dazzled him. Every bone in his body quivered as if to an invisible rhythm. And still the light grew fiercer. . . . It was only an indescribable brightness, more dazzling than a noonday sun, and Gaborn felt that at any moment he would melt in its presence, or be blasted into pieces. "And then the light pierced him. "It was like a flaming lance in the heart, a lance that struck him and burned through him, consuming the evil hidden within, until every hair of his body felt energized, and every pore of his body bled illumination." Clearly there are intentional similarities between Gaborn and Joseph Smith. However, it doesn't seem like Farland is attempting to retell the Joseph Smith story, ala, Scott Card in his Alvin Maker series. The most frustrating part is that Farland's overall theme of the ethics surrounding the "Runelords" doesn't carry all the way through to the end. The ability to take "endowments" is certainly the central theme to this series, and the idea that sets it apart from other fantasy novels. Gaborn, in previous books, has come to loathe endowments. Yet, without his knowledge he is forced to take more endowments to even find, not to mention kill the "One True Master" Reaver queen. Unfortunately, with such a giant build up, Farland tosses off this apparent dilemma with little fanfare, and left me staring at the book saying, "So what?" While everything need not resolve perfectly or happily, threads and thoughts that were started must be finished or it leaves me feeling like I just ate a lot of empty calories. Even with its flaws, I would recommend this book and the series. Lair of Bones provided me on several occasions with ethical questions to ponder in my own mind, some of which I still have not reached conclusions. Just don't expect everything tied up in a neat bow at the end. -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Clark Goble" Subject: RE: [AML] _Latter Days_ (was: Angels in America) Date: 30 Dec 2004 21:25:49 -0700 ___ John ___ | Hmmm...I hadn't realized that the "hardened practitioner of the | gay lifestyle" dress-code was so similar to that of missionaries. | Was there a memo sent out about this? ___ There was in my mission. In New Orleans which had a large homosexual community there were things we weren't supposed to say, like "I've been out for six months" since that implied "out of the closet." There are some ironic parallels. -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Kathy Tyner" Subject: Re: [AML] KUSHNER, _Angels in America_ Date: 30 Dec 2004 22:40:41 -0800 As someone who grew up in the '60s and loved the idealism, but despises the self-indulgence that mushroomed in that decade, I'm going to wag a finger at a guy I'll still insist on hugging the next time I see him. Thom, whether you intended to or not, you used one of the oldest debating techiniques in the world-Use postive, flattering descriptives to describe your side of things, and broadbrush your opposition with narrow, unflattering terms in describing one person and by insinuation, all that may share some of those same views. One of the hallmarks children of the sixties love to indentify themselves with is the trait of of tolerance. Yet it would seem so many who think of themselves as having those values, seem, well, intolerant of differing opinions and tend not to address the issues those opinions may bring up, but choose to try and silence the opposition by belittling those who express them, calling them bigots or calling what they say "hate speech", and generally changing the subject. I'm not saying that's what you are doing Thom, but it did seem to express the very Mormonesque view of being the one who's right and everyone else is wrong I know plenty of conservatives, moderates, and liberals who are intelligent, compassionate, and articulate. I found Andrew Sullivan's discussion of "Angels in America" to be well done, sparing no one in the matter for harsh criticism or praise. The production may be a well done cinematic piece, but to accept it as portraying certain facts would be unfair. It is a talented artist's conception, but flawed in some of the stereotypes and handling of the subject matter. Sullivan pointed some of these out rather well, I thought. In the recent discussions of critques and criticism being necessary to further good writing and to help individual writers grow, I found it interesting that for the most part the reviews of this production, especially the one in TV Guide, were almost sychophantic in their praise of it with nary a word of constuctive criticism or mention of stereotypes such as the pill-popping Mormon housewife. It made me a tad suspicious of certain critics falling all over themselves to be politically correct of a view they may already share rather than do their jobs. But, that's just my opinion, FWIW. ;-) Kathy Tyner Orange County, CA ----- Original Message ----- > As a person who thinks that we already have way too many > pro-conservative voices in the land, I am glad that Angels in America > has proven so popular as a play and now as a film. It makes me happy to > realize, despite the ofttime strident voices of Rush Limbaugh and > others, that America also has plenty of intelligent, compassionate, and > articulate voices on the left. We need more such voices. > > Thom Duncan (the aging Hippie, still rooting for the 60's ideals) -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Jared Walters" Subject: Re: [AML] Acting and Movie Directing Date: 31 Dec 2004 07:13:55 -0700 I think all aspiring directors can benefit from a little exposure to= shakespearean theater. But on the other hand, aspiring helmers who have= taken the dramatic theater route could use a few lessons in the wonders of= Avid and Final Cut Pro. Both directors have their shortcomings and few= directors possess the ability to combine the best of both worlds. A lot of= filmmakers relize that they have one thing they do well and try not to be= something they're not. I mean I don't think we'll ever see Richard= Attenborough shooting a Matrix movie or Michael Bay doing a Jane Austin= adaptation. =20 Experience with actors is definitely important in the development of a= successful film director, but I don't necessarily see it as a panacea for= the inadequacies facing young filmmakers today. As the saying goes, if you= want to swim you gotta jump into the water. A director who is= acting-challenged can overcome that in time with experience. As for the= techno side of things. It's true a director can learn that stuff as he= goes, but it's just like acting. In order to be able to fully utilize the= cinematic tools he has available to him, he has to have a good= understanding of how everything works and what he can or can't do with a= scene or story. Otherwise, he risks having his vision comprimised because= he was too dependent on his DP or editor who can sometimes take their own= liberties that affect the final print. This is one aspect of what makes= Steven Spielberg the director he is, he knows his way around every phase of= the filmmaking process to the point where he even gives suggestions to his= score composer. This could probably inspire or annoy crew members. My= point is, in todays film industry I don't think either side should take= precendence over the other. With movie storytelling, the lighting, the= camera movement, the score, the cutting, the visual effects are essentially= all characters that affect the success of a film just as much as how the= lead actor emotes or delivers his lines. Jared Walters. -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Scott Parkin" Subject: Re: [AML] BLACK, _Pride and Prejudice_ (Movie Review) Date: 31 Dec 2004 08:27:57 -0700 Annette Lyon wrote: > First, Darcy and Elizabeth have to be judgmental and so on in the beginning. > That's how the story works. Anyone who has read Austen's original book has > gone through hating Darcy at the beginning and really loving him in the end. > That's part of the story arc--not really what we're used to in today's > movies, granted. But I don't see how they could have changed that part of > the story and kept the title. It's been quite a few years since I last read the book, but it seemed to me that while Book-Darcy was dismissive of those outside his class he didn't go to special effort to be cruel to them--they were irrelevant, not the objects of particular malice. Those of the lower classes were somewhere between invisible and pitiable. He was cold to them, but not aggressively mean. They didn't matter to him. For me, Film-Darcy *did* go to extra effort to be not only judgmental and stand-offish, but actively mean. He goes to an extra effort to get Elizabeth fired from her job at the beginning. He finds the pitiful singer at his party to be not just silly, but goes on to make a fairly vicious personal attack. He's actively mean, not just judgmental or aloof. That level of animus seemed an embellishment of the character added by the filmmakers that made the character very hard to forgive in my opinion. Because the fact remained--he was only nice to people he considered his friends (or the friends of his friends), which leaves the film-raised question about his total moral character unchallenged. For me, at least. There's nothing wrong with that. It just meant that I went beyond not liking Darcy and into disliking him, which made it harder for me root for him in the end. The best suggestion I can make is that people see the film for themselves and decide whether I'm just being harsh on poor, rich, pretty Darcy. > It's slightly rough in spots, but I think it's also the best non-Dutcher LDS > film to date. I'm not sure it's the best, but I think it shows the best promise. Same effect, in the end. Scott Parkin -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Scott Parkin" Subject: Re: [AML] BLACK, _Pride and Prejudice_ (Movie Review) Date: 31 Dec 2004 08:42:52 -0700 Jacob Proffitt wrote: > I still don't get this as a death-wish scene. *Jane* goes to pieces because= > she lot her boyfriend. *Elizabeth* goes to pieces because her work, her= > book, was so thoroughly harshed and it will *never* be published. *AND*= > she is forced, due to Darcy's email, to re-evaluate things she thought she= > knew. She's realizing how wrong she has been about his actions and *that*= > forces her to think that he might also be right in the things he said about= > her book. But I don't think the book rejection is what sends Elizabeth over the edge. She's been rejected before and offered little more than a sigh, a frown and a shrug. It's the fact that the book was rejected by *him* that causes the tailspin. She's just admitted to herself that she likes this guy despite his often ugly judgmentalism. She's struggling with the dissonance in her own mind and trying to reconcile mean-Darcy with charming-Darcy (women will forgive anything of a guy with a nice British accent). It's because of her fairly intense personal feelings toward Darcy that his provisional acceptance (he did, in fact, accept the book with the caveat that it be rehandled a bit; and his harsh criticisms turned out to be completely valid) looked so much like yet another manipulation of people and events. To my perspective it was the fact that *she* couldn't separate her personal struggle from her professional approach that led to the spiral--and thus to the death wish scene. She felt personally savaged by someone whose opinion mattered to her, so it was the relationship that caused the spiral, not the perceived rejection of her book. Thus my original statement that each goes to pieces over the loss of a love interest--Jane because he walked away from her; Elizabeth because she walked away from him. > I mean, it might still be a death-wish scene because it *is* rather over the= > top. But I didn't think it was quite so over the top as Scott here because= > I thought there was so much more behind it than simple jilting by= > boyfriends. And I'm not convinced that the other stuff is what caused her spiral; it would have been just another rejection if it hadn't come from Darcy, thus it's the jilting that causes the over-attenuated reaction. My suggestion--everyone should see the film and decide for themselves whether I'm being too harsh on poor, talented, Barbie-beautiful Elizabeth. It's worth the price of a ticket to know for sure. Scott Parkin -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Steve Perry Subject: Re: [AML] The BoM Code and Hypnopomposity! Date: 31 Dec 2004 09:35:35 -0700 On Dec 28, 2003, at 1:31 AM, Harlow S Clark wrote: > He said he thinks JS was in a > hypnopompic state during the interviews with Moroni--a state of extreme > suggestability which allowed him to learn and remember what Moroni was > teaching. I suspect he was in the same kind of hypnopompic state during > the first vision. Harlow-- Thank you, thank you. "Hypnopompic" is the best word I have heard all year! I'm going to spend the rest of the day being "Hypnopompic" or even in a "Hypnopompic State" if Utah qualifies. Thank you! Steve Perry -- skperry@mac.com -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Margaret Young Subject: RE: [AML] AVERY, _From Mission to Madness_ (Review) Date: 31 Dec 2004 12:52:57 -0700 Hypoglycemic??!!! Dear Brother Youngreen must not have read much about David Smith to give such an answer. Avery is not the first to write = about poor David Smith's illness and disillusions, but she is undoubtedly the = most thorough. Sam sent me a well-reasoned response to my questions. Sam, I think you should post on the list what you sent me. One of Sam's = excellent observations suggested that we humans tend to want to explain someone = else's illness by a circumstance which would exempt us, i.e. "he's that way = because his mother was stressed during her pregnancy." Sam's absolutely right = that we do that (though I still believe a mother's stress can affect her = fetus in subtle ways). Years ago I was caught in an embarrassing attempt at self-exemption when I asked a rape victim if she lived in a bad = neighborhood when she was raped. She justifiably came unglued and told me that rape happens everywhere. My attempt to feel safe in my own house had led me = to basically accuse a rape victim of complicity in the rape because she had chosen to live in an unsafe environment. How terribly insensitive and stupid of me! I've heard Mormons explain away homosexuality with rather archaic clich=E9s too. Depression, divorce, you name it. We manage to = exempt ourselves from the invitation to compassion in the same moment we seek safety in easy answers to painful and difficult circumstances. [Margaret Young] -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Cathy Wilson Subject: [AML] re: Young/Gray Writing/Working Together Date: 31 Dec 2004 18:04:13 -0700 Margaret writes: . . .and even now, when I've learned to hear subtle racism in comments I would not have even noticed before, I find there are areas where Darius and I still clash because our upbringings were so completely different. I find this whole post so interesting, because the way we are is SO integrated (no pun intended) (or maybe yes, pun intended) with our acculturation, enculturation, however you might put it, and so few of us ever dip our heads up out of the water of our culture, I almost wrote clutture, which may be really what it is, to see from another's point of view. I teach in a very multicultural classroom because kids in trouble come in all colors. Pretty soon we teachers really stop seeing the colors because we get close to the kids. But THEY keep bringing it up: Mexicans this and ghetto that. Of course there's always an undercurrent of gangbanger stuff and we have to nip that in the bud. It causes huge conflict and it is so cultural, too. Still, sometimes I say, "Guys, is EVERYTHING racial with you?" For me the worst thing, where I think Darius might be coming from, is the subculture of having been excluded, having been abused, having been dissed and neglected, and that too comes in all colors. That is the heartbreaker. Sometimes these kids in trouble say, "Why do you teach us? We're just juvenile offenders," and I say, truthfully, "To me you're just kids. I like you just the way you are." They have a hard time believing that at first. It's true that sometimes a kid will come into custody full of attitude, just hating us, or full of the sense of entitlement that drives me nuts sometimes. Our facility staff calls this stuff "thinking errors" which of course is a very positive, helpful way of terming it: IOW, you've got a couple of glitches in the program, but you're a sweetie just the same. It doesn't take long for them to soften and become the sweethearts they really are. We have a lot of placements from what we call "upstate," in Salt Lake and so on. The placement agency revealed, "We've sent you our worst kids, and look; you've got them going to school; you've got them producing." Why is that? It is because we love them and pretty soon they love us back. For some reason, they can get past the fact that I'm a white woman and I can get past the fact that they're--all the variations that they are; you hardly notice anymore. I remember a recent conversation with an English professor. "We don't give grades in our program," I said. "REALLY?" he said. "Then how do you motivate them?" "Pure love," I said. He thought I was nuts. New Year's Eve meanderings--too bad we don't drink. . . . Love Cathy Wilson -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Sam Brown Subject: Re: [AML] AVERY, _From Mission to Madness_ (Review) Date: 31 Dec 2004 21:00:57 -0500 Hello, re: hypoglycemia. Historians are notorious for creative medical interpretations that run counter to science. Usually it is something along the lines of American Indians catching their death of pneumonia from fishing in a cold river or trudging miles in the rain, but they range far and wide. "Hypoglycemia" is a wildly over-used term that almost always refers to insulin overdoses in diabetics. (there are other causes, but they're rare enough that I think people should not think of "hypoglycemia" as a real condition; what most people mean by the term is that they feel grouchy/headachy/woozy when they are hungry; that's just plain hungry, not hypoglycemia). And as far as hypoglycemia as a cause for David's illness, I have to go on record as saying absolutely not. There is no reasonable way that could be construed to be medically correct. If anything, as a probable diabetic, he would have suffered from hyperglycemia, which makes you lethargic and ultimately comatose: it rarely if ever makes you psychotic, and if it did so, it would not remit the way his did. Sorry to shout you down, but I tend to speak up when something is clearly counterfactual, and (probably more to the point) I have a pet peeve about this folk diagnosis of "hypoglycemia," preferring that people would admit that being hungry just really sucks. May we all have as much good mental health and normal blood sugar as God (or fate, or eternal law, or random chance, or whatever) sees fit to bestow. ******* If I recall correctly, historian Buddy Youngreen once told me that David probably wasn't mentally ill--just hypoglycemic, which could have looked like insanity back then. Very sad. -- Yours, Samuel Brown, MD Massachusetts General Hospital sam@vecna.com -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Nan P. McCulloch" Subject: Re: [AML] Deseret News: "South Park" Mormons Date: 31 Dec 2004 20:19:07 -0700 I think the *South Park* Mormon piece is brilliant from start to finish. I am not crazy about the bad language, but I think that is part of what makes it work. To pick apart the logic of the thing is futile. Nan McCulloch -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mark Hansen Subject: Re: [AML] My Web Page Date: 01 Jan 2004 09:14:58 -0800 (PST) > >> Who else has a webpage? Can we get a compilation > post of everyone's > >> URL's if they want to share them? > > > I have one for my work, and another one I put > together for general > information on street painting: > > www.juliekirk.com > www.streetpainting.net > Great idea! http://markhansenmusic.com MRKH ===== Mark Hansen +++++ Inspirational Rock Music http://markhansenmusic.com Listen to me and others at http://kzion.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Find out what made the Top Yahoo! Searches of 2003 http://search.yahoo.com/top2003 -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: [AML] re: BLACK, _Pride and Prejudice_ Date: 01 Jan 2004 13:25:54 -0700 I saw this film as a sneak preview, but never wrote a review for it. I didn't write a review because I didn't care enough. And in a bizarre, twisted sort of way, that's a good thing. You see, if this film had been made by Hollywood, it would be utterly forgettable. A few moments of flickering entertainment, then gone. If Hollywood had made this film, no one would talk about it. The acting, the writing, the filmmaking, are all very average. This type of story has been done over and over. But it wasn't made by Hollywood. It's an LDS film. It's very mediocrity in a Hollywood sense makes it stand out among LDS films. It's because this film lives up to Hollywood standards, and most other LDS films do not. No swelling music to evoke emotions rather than honest storytelling. No browbeating message. No filmmaker claim to inspiration. No conversions or baptisms expected. No level of quality that relies on the Christian forgiveness of its audience to be accepted. Just the competent telling of a story in cinematic terms. Even though the film itself didn't do much for me, the fact that LDS cinema has taken this step delights me. I'm thrilled that a thoroughly Hollywood-like LDS film has been made. Not Hollywood in content or message, but Hollywood in quality. Mediocre in Hollywood quality, to be sure, but at least the film showed up for the game in the Hollywood stadium and scored a point or two. _Pride and Prejudice_ is one small step for filmmaking, but one giant leap for LDS cinema. -- 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Marny Parkin Subject: [AML] LTU&E Call for Papers Date: 01 Jan 2004 11:52:15 -0700 Call for Papers Life, the Universe, and Everything XXII: The Marion K. "Doc" Smith Symposium on Science Fiction and Fantasy will be held March 11-13, 2004, on the Provo campus of Brigham Young University. We are especially interested in the following areas: * Literary criticism/analysis of sf&f and related literature (medieval, renaissance, mythology, magic realism, etc.) * Science and technology (especially new or unusual) * Analysis of sf&f relating to poetry and/or theatre * Mormon culture, literature and society in relation to sf&f * Serious analysis of sf&f in cinema, television, radio and other media. Submit full papers for consideration to LTUE-Academics, 3120 JKHB, Provo, UT 84602. Papers must be submitted by January 20, 2004. Accepted papers will be published in the Proceedings volume at a later date. For questions, contact either me or Steve Setzer, ssetzer@backfence.net. The symposium's web site is http://humanities.byu.edu/ltue/ Marny Parkin www.MormonSF.org -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: [AML] re: KUSHNER, _Angels in America_ (HBO) Date: 01 Jan 2004 13:57:44 -0700 What the hell was that?!? I admit that "Angels in America" was fascinating to watch--the first half more than the second. And I certainly would never complain about Mary-Louise Parker's total nude scene. But what was the point of it all? Some of the critical acclaim HBO ran ad nauseum in its promos claimed that this was the best film of the year. I don't think so. Sure, there was some good things in it. Just the image of Emma Thompson as a brilliant descending angel was breathtaking. Her movements as an angel, bizarre as they were, somehow worked. Meryl Streep as a rabbi was choice. The multiple-part casting of actors generally was fun. Jeffrey Wright played his gay character masterfully. There was something about the guy that I adored--his calm steadiness, his cynical eye and blunt cutting-to-the-core of everything everyone did and said appealed to me. The fact that he did all this through horribly cliche gay speech and mannerisms and made it all work, including the cliche mannerisms, ought to earn him a nominiation for some award somewhere. But Al Pacino sucked. I don't think he remembers how to act anymore. His performance was a total rehash of his Satan in "Devil's Advocate," and if I never see him with the open-mouth cynical smirk that seems to be the sum total of his acting repertoir these days, it'll be too soon for me. All this from the man who gave us Frank Serpico, Michael Corleone, and insomniac Will Dormer. How sad. Everyone keeps talking about the Mormons in the film. I didn't see any Mormons that I could recognize. I saw some people playing at a liberal agnostic's shallow notions of what a Mormon was, but wearing an authentic pair of garments, right down to the marks, does not make an authentic Mormon. Especially the zippered-front style--who wears those anymore? And where were Mary-Louise Parker's garments? Do they think only latent-homosexual Mormon males wear garments? I don't recall ever having conversations with my wife on what "Mormons" think or do. I might have said "we" do this or that on rare occasions, but never "Mormons" do this or that. This is just bad handling of exposition by the writer. I'm not offended that Kushner used Mormons in his story, that he made them gay or pill-poppers (some are), or even that one of them decided to "shed his skin" and renounce his Mormonness (it happens). But I am offended that he didn't get the Mormons right, like a tiresome and endless parade of lazy artists before him. Then there's Kushner's vision of the spiritual realm. Tedious, tiresome, been-there-done-that. These are the words that come to mind. God has deserted the angels and humankind. Like the entire German civilization didn't think that one up over a half century ago? All this artistic effort to say something as pedestrian as that? Only spiritually bankrupt people like Time-Warner, HBO, and many mainstream movie critics could think this film was the greatest film of the year with something important to say. My money is on "The Lord of the Rings," whose sophistication, spirituality, morality, inspiration, and sheer emotion and grandeur make Kushner and HBO look like a bunch of preschoolers dabbling in a sandbox. Hell, **I** could make a more powerful and moving film about Mormon homosexuals, and I don't relate to them at all. -- 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] The BoM Code Date: 01 Jan 2004 13:59:30 -0700 Harlow S Clark wrote: > He said he thinks JS was in a > hypnopompic state during the interviews with Moroni--a state of extreme > suggestability which allowed him to learn and remember what Moroni was > teaching. I suspect he was in the same kind of hypnopompic state during > the first vision. I think anyone that uses the word "hypnopompic" is hypnopompous. -- 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "S. Malmrose" Subject: RE: [AML] Mormons on South Park Date: 01 Jan 2004 19:01:57 -0500 I haven't seen the episode, and probably never will. It did lead to a non-LDS friend asking me about it, however--as did the book John Krakauer released a few months ago. I find it kind of exciting to be witnessing the point in time when our religion is getting more and more public attention. My husband thinks it's horrible and evil, South Park making fun of us. I think it's part of the progression that's destined to take place. :) Happy new year, everyone. Susan M -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Eric SWEDIN" Subject: [AML] Cedar Fort Offer on My Manuscript Date: 03 Jan 2004 00:24:08 -0700 Hi, everyong, I am new to this list and this is my first posting. I recently submitted to Cedar Fort a historical mystery manuscript set in 1865 Manti. They responded positively, but want $2,900 to co-publish. I am already a published historian (one book published last October and two more under contract) and my instincts are confused. Has anyone else had experiences with Cedar Fort and this arrangement? Is it common? Any feedback would be useful to me. BTW, my book is _Healing Souls: Psychotherapy in the Latter-day Saint Community_ (University of Illinois Press, 2003). Thanks, Eric G. Swedin Weber State University http://www.swedin.org/ eswedin@weber.edu -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: THOMASDUNCAN01@comcast.net Subject: Re: [AML] re: KUSHNER, _Angels in America_ (HBO) Date: 02 Jan 2004 22:01:11 +0000 Mike, Angels in America isn't about Mormon homsexuals. They are just characters in it. I've written a play about Mormon homosexuals. My problem is I have no place to produce it. Even my own theatre won't touch it with a ten-foot pole, since we don't want to be in the business of alienating our core audience. So maybe Kushner is the closest anyone will ever get to talking about the subject, even though it is a "minor" part of the whole story of "Angels in America." -- Thom Duncan NOW expounding on things nonsensical from: ThomasDuncan01@comcast.net -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Rich Hammett Subject: [AML] re: "South Park" & Mormons Date: 02 Jan 2004 15:19:44 -0600 (CST) On Fri, 2 Jan 2004, somebody wrote in my AML digest: > I disagree with your second assessment. The Mormon family came across as > eternally happy to the point of being nearly dysfunctional in their > blindness to the realities of life. What family do YOU know who, when > tossed out of a neighbor's house after being told your religion is a bunch > of bull, breaks out in smiles after dad says, "Hey, let's have a water > balloon fight!" It was just ridiculous, in my view. Actually, that sounds like the most accurate thing in the episode. It fits quite well with the caricature I have of many Mormons, some of which are very good friends of mine. "Preternaturally sunny of disposition" might be a good way to put it, if I'm writing a bad novel about them. > But, time after time, they were factually wrong in their recounting of the > story. Or, better said, their recounting of the story does not reflect the > official Church telling. My question: if the Mormon story is ridiculous on > its face, why can't you just tell it straight, and then make fun of > it? Why must you skew the story and make blatant misrepresentations? > > If their purpose was to mock, they alternately succeeded and failed. They > certainly succeeded in making it all look foolish, but they gave Mormons > plenty of ammunition for making a case for dismissing the whole thing. You > do that when you get the facts wrong. This is a real irritant. I saw their movie...what was it..._Orgazmo!_ I didn't understand the mistakes they made. They were mocking the most superficial public image of Mormons, and even then made errors. The image was so superficial, that it generally could apply to any "church people," even Baptists if you ditch or replace the temple references. It was usually as funny as the sentence "Trey Parker and Matt Stone are foul-mouthed young men." I usually find South Park funny, although I've been away from it for over a year, since we don't have cable any more. But what a world we live in. Somehow, South Park and Dennis Miller are the new icons for the hip conservative. At least South Park is still funny most of the time. rich -- \ Rich Hammett http://home.hiwaay.net/~rhammett / rhammett@HiWAAY.net \ 12/13/03--Saddam Hussein found cowering in an / "undisclosed location." -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jacob Proffitt Subject: Re: [AML] My Web Page Date: 02 Jan 2004 14:26:25 -0700 >> >> Who else has a webpage? Can we get a compilation post of >> everyone's >> >> URL's if they want to share them? http://www.jacob.proffitt.com -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ivan Angus Wolfe Subject: Re: [AML] David FARLAND, _Lair of Bones_ (Review) Date: 02 Jan 2004 14:59:07 -0700 > The Lair of Bones > by David Farland (Wolverton) > Reviewed by David Hansen > Endings are hard. Beginnings get all the new clippings and awards, but > endings require a finesse and comprehension that can be just as tricky. In > "The Lair of Bones," David Farland wraps up his fantasy Runelord series in > impressive style. > Unfortunately, with such a giant > build up, Farland tosses off this apparent dilemma with little fanfare, and > left me staring at the book saying, "So what?" While everything need not > resolve perfectly or happily, threads and thoughts that were started must be > finished or it leaves me feeling like I just ate a lot of empty calories. AN interesting review, but some of you points need clairification: Dave has said several times that this is not the last Runelords book - more like the last book of part one - so of course many things are left unresolved. --ivan wolfe -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Nan P. McCulloch" Subject: Re: [AML] Deseret News: "South Park" Mormons Date: 02 Jan 2004 15:31:32 -0700 I also think it is futile to argue the points wherein it is not doctrinally correct. The silliness of the thing is what makes it funny to me. Nan McCulloch -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Sam Brown Subject: [AML] YOUNG & GRAY, _Standing on the Promises_ Date: 02 Jan 2004 18:22:30 -0500 Hello, To support Margaret, I went and bought the three books and read the first. It's a quick, easy read. I'm shocked it made it through the censors at DB. Stepping back two steps from the narrative, it reads like a powerful courtship that ends in an abusive relationship. While the authors have clearly worked hard to avoid controversy in some areas, this is a huge challenge to traditional understandings of a subject that many in the mainstream wish would have just gone away. I've read widely on this topic in the past, so none of this came as a shock to me, but I tried to imagine what my traditional friends would think as they read that a) mormons were racist, b) brigham young was simply following folk American racist theology in the priesthood ban, c) mormons had slaves, d) some mormons misused their slaves, e) missionaries could be racist (in the sequence where Elijah Abel is snubbed by his white companion, I thought of the extensive folk tradition of Mormon missionaries silencing--or even assaulting--their homosexual companions). Finally, the core message of the book: blacks are the equals of whites, and their traditions and history should be embraced runs counter to the sentiment I experienced during my adolescence in Davis County, Utah. One Black in my entire high school, none in my hometown (that I ever heard about). Blacks were the mysterious ghetto thugs of Hollywood, and they were a point of belittling curiosity when they did appear. This project invites Mormons to fess up to being racist (at the very least having a racist history). While I applaud the message of these books and feel strongly that they represent the sentiment that Jesus himself would want communicated about love and respect within and outside his church, I am simply amazed that these got published by Deseret Book. Bravo for whatever editor got it out on paper. It would not surprise me if someone, somewhere in the authority structure had second thoughts about the endeavor, though I know that publishers universally fail to support books that aren't instant commercial successes. Now my one sad observation of practicality. I am the choir that this book preaches to, but I avoid historical novels as a matter of hygiene. I would never have bought these books were it not for Margaret's presence on the AML list, and though I will try to persuade people to "check them out" because I believe in their message, I don't know that the stratum of Mormonism interested in learning more about our African-American history will be the same one that consumes historical fiction. So God bless the two of you for trying to make Mormonism a better place to worship. I suspect it will be a tough row to hoe. -- Yours, Samuel Brown, MD Massachusetts General Hospital sam@vecna.com -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: JanaRiess@aol.com Subject: [AML] Personal Websites: Advice? Date: 02 Jan 2004 18:42:22 EST Hi all, I don't have a website yet, but I'm actually under the gun right now to set one up for my Buffy the Vampire Slayer book, which is coming out May 7. So, for those of you who have websites, did you do them yourselves or hire someone? If you hired someone, how much did it cost, and would you recommend their services? I'm going to have to hire a website designer -- and fast -- and hope it's not going to be too expensive. Thanks! Jana Riess -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Richard Johnson" Subject: RE: [AML] Mormon Speech Patterns Date: 02 Jan 2004 23:46:20 -0500 I don't know if it shows up in the conference reports, but a year or so ago, in a particularly quirky mood, I heard those exact words from one speaker (I believe it was Pres. Monson, in a Saturday meeting, but I couldn't swear to it) and it stirred curiosity because it bothered me. I pulled out my little pad and pencil and began to make a mark whenever I heard this usage. (It was not always "I feel to tell" it was sometimes " I feel to--other verb). In one conference (Probably a dozen talks), I counted nine such usages. It was a vivid enough experience (and I mentioned it often enough to my friends) that others listen for that usage now. I hope it hasn't spoiled conference for anyone. Richard B. Johnson, Husband, Father, Grandfather, Actor, Director, Puppeteer, Playwright, Writer, Thingmaker, Mormon, Person, Fool. I sometimes think that the last persona is the most important- and most valuable. Http://www.PuppenRich.com -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Kim Madsen" Subject: RE: [AML] Mormons on South Park Date: 03 Jan 2004 01:29:46 -0700 Susan Malmrose wrote: "I find it kind of exciting to be witnessing the point in time when our religion is getting more and more public attention. My husband thinks it's horrible and evil, South Park making fun of us. I think it's part of the progression that's destined to take place. :)" I watched the episode...several weeks after it aired. A guy from work, who I'm not sure is LDS or not, but who is a huge South Park fan had taped it. Now, I must say from the outset I've always dislike South Park a lot. However, my 23 year old brother and 19 year old son were fans and always watching it. I'd leave the room. Too crass for my taste, for the most part. But you see, this discussion engendered interest, and my son always did make me laugh when he did his "Elder Cartman" routine just before he left on his mission a little over two years ago (yes, he's back now). "Hi, weah missinarwies fum da Church of Jesus Christ of Lattadaysints...get in the kitchen and bake me a pie." So I watched it. There was some crassness in it, some poking fun, but a genuine feeling of exploration, of wondering what made these people tick. It seemed to me just as much fun, if not more, was poked at the dysfunctional family who stared at the TV all the time, whose father was going to give it to the Mormon family for teaching his son about Joseph Smith. (See I don't know the characters well enough to put names to them now.) I laughed a lot. I groaned at the dumbdumbdumbdumb/smartsmart riff. I snorted at the staring into the hat stuff and wondered where they got their information. In the end, I too found it more interesting than offensive. And I thought there were some insightful moments--like the Mormon mother being sincerely upset and apologetic that they were perceived as trying to "convert" their son's friend. The closing monologue the Mormon kid gave about "I just wanted to be your friend" was good...but I could have lived without the last few words. Ode to South Park mindset. Perennially stuck and adolescent male toilet mouth. Kim Madsen -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Kim Madsen" Subject: RE: [AML] The BoM Code Date: 03 Jan 2004 01:35:52 -0700 D. Michael Martindale wrote: "I think anyone that uses the word "hypnopompic" is hypnopompous." I can never quite tell when Michael preceded by a D is being caustic or joking with good friends...it's the strange thing about this medium of communication. Stripped of body language and other visual cues, the message sometimes missed the mark. But I laughed when I read his post, and although thanked Hollow Cluck for posting it, because I looked the word up and learned something new today. Kim Madsen -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mark Hansen Subject: Re: [AML] Acting and Movie Directing Date: 03 Jan 2004 08:06:41 -0800 (PST) > Experience with actors is definitely important in > the development of a= > successful film director, but I don't necessarily > see it as a panacea for= > the inadequacies facing young filmmakers today. As > the saying goes, if you= > want to swim you gotta jump into the water. A > director who is= > acting-challenged can overcome that in time with > experience. As for the= > techno side of things. It's true a director can > learn that stuff as he= > goes, but it's just like acting. I think this paragraph is vital to our understanding of the LDS cinema scene. Especially the line, "If you wanna swim you gotta jump in the water". While it might be true that the LDS movies don't fully yet match the quality level of Hollywood, I think that we've lost sight of the fact that it takes a lot of guts to just jump into the water and try something. And to a certain extent, that deserves celebrating. I know I'm going to get into trouble for saying this, but I get really frustrated when I see so many people (who themselves don't want to swim) filling the waters with crabs and sharks. MRKH ===== Mark Hansen +++++ Inspirational Rock Music http://markhansenmusic.com Listen to me and others at http://kzion.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing. http://photos.yahoo.com/ -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Preston Hunter" Subject: [AML] LDS-Made Films 2003 Date: 04 Jan 2004 17:51:10 -0600 2003 feature films by LDS/Mormon filmmakers: The table below lists movies released in commercial theaters during 2003 which were made by Latter-day Saint filmmakers. The director of photography for "The Young Black Stallion" (Disney's first dramatic film made specifically for IMAX release) was Bro. Reed Smoot, whose credits include numerous Church films and IMAX films. All of the other films were made by Latter-day Saint DIRECTORS and/or PRODUCERS. Many also had Latter-day Saints in other key roles such as composer, cinematographer, writer, etc. All of the movies were made by churchgoing Latter-day Saints, except for "Cremaster," whose creator Matthew Barney is a Mormon but not an active Latter-day Saint. Barney's "Cremaster" tetrology features numerous Mormon characters, images and symbols. No box office data is available for "Day of Defense." Of the 9 feature films made by Latter-day Saints in 2003 listed here, 4 are classified as LDS Cinema: "The Book of Mormon Movie", "The R.M.", "Pride and Prejudice" and "The Work and the Story." Nat'l U.S. Box Rank Office Gross Title ----- ---------- --------------- 26 97,011,510 The Cat in the Hat 191 1,124,502 The Book of Mormon Movie, Vol. 1: The Journey 192 1,111,615 The R.M. 200 973,659 The Legend of Johnny Lingo 209 732,241 The Shape of Things 212 702,402 The Young Black Stallion 223 513,961 The Cremaster Cycle 309 126,929 Pride and Prejudice 424 8,211 The Work and the Story - - - - - - - - - - - - A number of films worth mentioning premiered in 2003 which did not make it onto the box office charts. One of the biggest of these, literally, is the IMAX documentary "Texas: The Big Picture," which was directed by Bro. Scott Swofford and photographed by prolific Latter-day Saint cinematographer T.C. Christensen. Although playing in commercial IMAX theaters, box office data for this movie has not been reported. T.C. Christensen also released a new film directly to video/DVD: "A Pioneer Miracle" is a beautifully made short film with a wonderful message, based on a true story. Talented LDS child actress Caitlin E.J. Meyer had the lead role the film. Christensen, along with Gary Cook, also directed two major new films about the First Vision and Church history which began showing this year at Church visitor's centers. Christian Vuissa released his short film "Unfolding," which has already been screened in numerous film festivals nationwide, and taken home a number of awards. "Unfolding" is Vuissa's second commercially available film. "Roots & Wings" is available at LDS bookstores nationwide and at LDS Video Store. "Unfolding" is sold only at LDS Video Store. Vuissa is now preparing his first theatrical release for its early 2004 debut: "Eat, Drink and Get Married." Ryan Little, best known as the director of "Out of Step" and "Saints and Soldiers" released the short film "Freedom on the Water" on a DVD, along with the older film "The Wrong Brother." "Freedom on the Water" stars fan favorite Lincoln Hoppe as a young man in physical therapy after he was injured in an automobile accident he caused while drunk. His non-wayward brother struggles to forgive Hoppe and re-build their relationship. John Lyde, hot on the success of his first commercial release "The Field is White," released "In the Service of God" to video and DVD. Sold nationally in LDS bookstores, Lyde's new film is a romantic comedy about home teaching. Lyde also premiered his feature film "The Collectors" in a single commercial screening at the SCERA Theater in Orem. This science fiction action adventure martial arts film also competed in the Eclipse Film Festival. "The Collectors" will be released on video and DVD during the next few months. Brad Barber premiered his new documentary "Troy Through a Window" in a single commercial theatrical screening in Salt Lake City this year, before releasing the film on video (and now DVD). This highly personal film about Barber's own family and his GLBT brother has garnered strong praise from both GLBT and LDS viewers alike. HaleStorm Entertainment released "It's Latter-day Night!" directly to video and DVD. The program features live comedy by 5 Latter-day Saint comedians. D. Kohl Glass turned heads and won festival awards with his stunning short film "The Promethean," based on the Greco-Roman myth of Prometheus. LDS actor Chris Kendrick starred in the title role, opposite, Dennis Kostecki, one of the most evil, anti-Semitic people in Utah who was well cast as the film's humanity-hating villain. LDS director Eric Hendershot's three new feature films debuted on HBO and HBO Family Channel: "Clubhouse Detectives in: Big Trouble", "Clubhouse Detectives in: Search of a Lost Princess", and "Clubhouse Detectives in: Scavenger Hunt." Tucker Dansie completed his latest short film "The Wooden Bowl," which was available online, and completed a major DVD featuring the LDS pop band Colors. Kevin Mitchell produced a popular new documentary "Last Miracle for Lavell," sold on video and DVD in LDS Bookstores everywhere. One of the best new direct-to-video/DVD releases of the year was the first in a proposed series of musicals known as "Liken the Scriptures." The first release in the series was "I Will Go and Do" a hip, fun, musically accomplished re-telling of the 1st Nephi story, directed by Aaron Edson and Dennis Agle Jr. Also new on video and DVD this year were two award-winning short films by Matthew Janzen, together on one volume: "Funky Town" (a wild film noir musical with incredible music) and "The Salesman" (a very entertaining silent film made in the style of classic Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton films). There are many other movies and films which have been completed but which were not released in 2003, such as "Saints and Soldiers", "The Best Two Years", "Fly Boys", "Where Rivers Meet" and "The Home Teachers." - - - - - - - - - Chart: Movies released in 2003 starring Latter-day Saint and/or Mormon actors in poster-billed roles: Note that movies with LDS actors in supporting and featured roles who did NOT receive marquee/poster credit ("above the line" credits) are not listed here. The most prominent of these NON-listed films are "Hollywood Homicide" (with Sister Gladys Knight) and "The Cat in the Hat" (with Sister Danielle Chuchran as "Thing One"). Nat'l U.S. Box LDS/Mormon Rank Office Gross Movie Title Actor(s) _____ ___________ ________________________ ___________ 14 127,083,765 2 Fast 2 Furious Paul Walker 58 46,752,141 Final Destination 2 A.J. Cook 83 31,111,260 The Core Aaron Eckhart 93 25,904,967 The Missing Aaron Eckhart 95 23,024,988 Piglet's Big Movie Ken Sansom 103 20,819,000 Paycheck Aaron Eckhart 2 Aaron Eckhart 109 19,043,607 Timeline Paul Walker 117 15,417,771 Wrong Turn Eliza Dushku 129 9,074,550 Le Divorce Matthew Modine 191 1,124,502 Book of Mormon Movie, V1 Bryce Chamberlain; Mark Gollaher; Jan Broberg Felt; Cragun Foulger; Jacque Gray; Kirby Heyborne; Michael Flynn 192 1,111,615 The R.M. Kirby Heyborne; Will Swenson; Britani Bateman 309 126,929 Pride & Prejudice Ben Gourley; Hubbel Palmer; Nicole Hamilton; Carmen Rasmusen 410 13,134 The Slaughter Rule Ryan Gosling 424 8,211 The Work and the Story Nathan Smith Jones; Jennifer Hoskins; Eric Artell; Dan Merkley; Kirby Heyborne; Richard Dutcher Christopher Miller "Day of Defense," which played briefly in theaters and had an all-LDS cast, is not listed because we have no box office data for it. Likewise, we have no box office data for "Suddenly Unexpected," which has been shown in 2 commercial theaters and has a 50/50 mix of LDS and non-LDS leads. As far as I know, all actors listed above are currently practicing Latter-day Saints except for Paul Walker (who served a mission), Matthew Modine (raised in an active family and briefly attended BYU), Eliza Dushku (raised LDS) and Ryan Gosling (raised LDS). No, I don't know how often Eckhart attends church, but he identifies himself as a Church member in media interviews. Also, keep in mind that some of these box office totals (as of 31 Dec. 2003) will change for movies released toward the end of the year. In particular, "Paycheck," which opened on Christmas Day, and "Pride & Prejudice" which opened earlier in December, will change in their box office totals and national rankings. "Timeline" and "The Missing" also opened late in the year (November) and continue to take in money. "The Book of Mormon Movie, Vol. 1: The Journey" is still in theaters. The summary table for all feature films starring Latter-day Saint and/or Mormon actors is at: http://www.ldsfilm.com/lds_box2.html Note that for each movie, a national ranking is provided, indicating the ranking of that movie during the calendar year. That makes it easier to compare top movies from different decades. Rather than just looking at box office gross, which is unadjusted for inflation, you can see that some movies which grossed relatively less in raw dollars actually were among the nation's top movies at the time of their release. For example, "The Big Parade" starring Mormon actor John Gilbert in the lead role was the nation's #1 movie in 1925. National rankings are for TOTAL box office gross, not for the box office gross by the end of the year. So if a movie opened in December and made only $1 million in 2002, but then earned $3 million in 2003, for a total of $4 million, it's national rank would be based on the $4 million total, compared to other movies released in 2002. Keep in mind also that for movies prior to about 1990 the availability of box office data can be somewhat hit-and-miss, with many feature films starring Latter-day Saint actors not listed because we don't know the box office gross. -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Preston Hunter" Subject: [AML] LDS Content in "S.W.A.T." Date: 04 Jan 2004 17:58:42 -0600 *** LDS-related content in "S.W.A.T." (2003) *** * Initial Closing Credits: * Directed by Clark Johnson Screenplay by David Ayer and David McKenna Story by Ron Mita & Jim McClain Produced by Neal H. Moritz, Dan Halsted, Chris Lee Executive Producer: Louis D'Esposito Co-Executive Producer: Todd Black Director of Photography: Gabriel Beristain, ASC/BSC ** First scene with Gus, Colin Farrell's Latter-day Saint co-worker ** [14 minutes into the movie, the main character "Jim Street" (actor Collin Farrell) is shown for the first in his new, demoted position as an officer in the S.W.A.T. division's gun cage.] [Street was previously an officer on the elite Los Angeles S.W.A.T. force, but was demoted and moved off of active duty in the field during the first act of the movie. He was removed from field duty after he was forced to follow his partner ("Gamble") when his partner moved into a bank where hostages were being held, in direct violation of their commander's orders. As a result of Gamble's actions, Gamble and Street were able to rescue all of the hostages, but Gamble shot one of the hostages, who survived threatened to sue the police department. Although Street had actually done nothing wrong, he refused to "give up" his partner and write up a statement blaming his partner for everything that happened.] Now, in the gun cage, Street (Colin Farrell) is sitting at the counter, filling out paper work. His partner in the gun cage is "Gus" (actor James DuMont), a shorter, balding, slightly heavyset man. Gus walks up from behind Street, drinking a can of Dr Pepper and vocalizing "Hmm... mmm," signifying his satisfaction at the flavor and thirst-quenching properties of the beverage. Gus then places the Dr Pepper can (now audibly empty or nearly empty) on the counter next to Street. Street (Colin Farrell): You're a little too attached to that soda, Gus. Gus (James DuMont): Love that stuff!... The wife would have my behind if she busted me suckin' that down. Street (Colin Farrell): Why, is she a Mr. Pibb fan? [referring to a different soda beverage which is in a niche similar to Dr Pepper] Gus (James DuMont): You know the deal, Jim... When we got married I converted to Mormonism. We can't consume anything that alters our state of mind... We treat our bodies with respect. Street (Colin Farrell): An I treat mine like an amusement park... It's the differences that make this country great. ["T.J.," a S.W.A.T. officer, comes to the cage and drops off a pair of boots.] T.J.: Need them cleaned by the morning, boys. Gus (James DuMont): You were supposed to have your gear in a half-hour ago. [The subitles read slightly differently, perhaps reflecting how the line was written in the original script: "You were supposed to have it in a half-hour ago."] T.J.: What, your boy gonna report me to the captain? Street (Colin Farrell): Just for thinking you look good in that mustache. T.J.: [chuckles slightly] Your mom seemed to like it, though. Street (Colin Farrell): So does your sister. ["Hondo" (actor Samuel L. Jackson) walks into the S.W.A.T. equipment/vehicle area. Originally he is seen only from the waist down.] Unseen S.W.A.T. officer: Hey, Sarge, welcome back. Unseen S.W.A.T. officer: Look who's back. Unnamed S.W.A.T. officer: Welcome back, Sarge. Unseen S.W.A.T. officer: What's up, Hondo? Unseen S.W.A.T. officer: Hey, Sarge. ["Hondo" walks up to the gun cage. His upper body and face is now revealed: Samuel L. Jackson is seen for the first time in the movie. He sees "Street" doing paperwork in the gun cage.] Hondo (Samuel L. Jackson): Howdy Street (Colin Farrell): What do you need? [Gus walks up to the counter, smiling broadly.] Gus (James DuMont): Sgt. Hondo? You're back. Hondo (Samuel L. Jackson): Well, you know what they say, Gus. You're either SWAT or you're not. Gus (James DuMont): [eagerly] Yes, sir. What can I do for you? Hondo (Samuel L. Jackson): Oh, just a tune-up. [Street receives the gun from Hondo.] Hondo (Samuel L. Jackson): [addressing Street] But please, don't touch my sights... And I made some modifications-- Street (Colin Farrell): --to the trigger too. Hondo (Samuel L. Jackson): And you are? Street (Colin Farrell): Jim Street. [nods his head slightly] Hondo (Samuel L. Jackson): Street. [Smiles, and nods his head.] Street (Colin Farrell): [Continuing to examine Hondo's gun.] Yeah, we'll leave them intact. Hondo (Samuel L. Jackson): I need that back by tomorrow. Gus (James DuMont): Can do, Sergeant. Hondo (Samuel L. Jackson): [to Gus] Good to see you. Gus (James DuMont): Good seeing you. [Hondo smiles at Street one last time and walks away.] [Street puts the gun down on the counter and turns to Gus.] Street (Colin Farrell): [looking down at Gus's crotch] Gosh, Gus... Is that a woody? [Street here jokingly implies that Gus is overly excited to meet the legendary Hondo.] Gus (James DuMont): [Following Street's gaze, quickly looks downward, then back at Street.] Heck, yeah. That's Hondo. He's old-school SWAT... The gold standard of ass-kicking... Sorry, butt-kicking. [Rather than rebuff Street's vulgar but good-natured barb, Gus simply acknowledges his professional admiration of Hondo.] Gus (James DuMont): I guess he's back. Street (Collin Farrell): I guess he is. [End of the scene with with Gus and Street in the gun cage. The next scene features Hondo and fellow S.W.A.T. leader Valesquez in the administrative offices.] [Note how in this scene Gus pointedly used the word "heck" instead of "hell," and "behind" instead of "ass," once even correcting himself after using the word "ass." That more common word (and the word used by the other characters in the movie) is the word that Gus previously used before his conversion to the Church and assimilation of Latter-day Saint teachings to refrain from vulgar and profane langauge -- presumably as taught to him by his wife. Precisely which words (if any) are actually "sinful" to utter according to official Church doctrine is beside the point here. The character, a new convert, demonstrates in this scene a sincere desire to follow the tenants of his new faith, as he understands them, even while not around his wife. On the other hand, he sneaks a drink of Dr Pepper, which his wife understands to be against the Word of Wisdom, even there is no such official proscription. Based on how the scene is played, it is possible that Gus is indulging in a slight "guilty pleasure," but it is also possible that he is quite aware that abstaining from Dr Pepper is merely his wife's preference, and not really an official prohibition. Gus's attitude here and elsewhere in the movie suggests that although is is not an intense "zealot," his conversion to Mormonism is sincere and not merely a perfunctory or nominal conversion done to satisfy his wife. Note his brief and positive discussion of doctrine with his co-worker, and his use of the word "we" when speaking of Latter-day Saints.] Audio Commentary The DVD release of "S.W.A.T." features two audio commentaries, one by director Clark Johnson and the other by the writers and other technical crew. In the scene which introduces Gus's character, right after the line about Gus converting to Mormonism, director Clark Johnson says in his commentary track: [QUOTE] And that's the beauty of a summer action movie. You know, you learn a little about other cultures... the Mormon culture. Come to the action movies in the Summer. You'll learn about religion. It was made clear to me, made very clear to me that this was a tentpole movie for the summer. I mean, this is interesting because we're having this conversation in hindsight... err... without the benefit of hindsight, because the movie hasn't come out yet. But, yeah, we are expecting the movie to do really well. We're hoping that you're watching it on DVD for the third time... Sam Jackson is just the coolest man in America. There's just no doubt... [END QUOTE] ** Second scene with Gus, Colin Farrell's Latter-day Saint co-worker ** [18 minutes, 55 seconds into the movie. This scene takes place in the gun cage area, but in the equipment storage area rather than at the front check-in/check-out counter. The scene opens on Gus, kicking a large cylindrical piece of metal with things attached to it. Gus complains about the thing, and Street walks in, and proceeds to show him his "invention." Street calls it the "Key to the City." It has a harpoon-like device inside which can be fired into a wall. Rods then shoot out and secure the harpoon to a wall. The wall can then be pulled down quickly by a vehicle secured to the device. Street envisions using it in hostage situations where S.W.A.T. officers need to quickly gain access to a building. While Street is explaining the device to Gus, Hondo walks in and listens to the conversation, silently admiring Street's inventiveness and initiative. Hondo joins the conversation at the end, and then picks up his tuned-up gun from Street. Gus mostly just smiles and nods during all of this, but says little. ** Third scene with Gus, Colin Farrell's Latter-day Saint co-worker ** [Gus is eating a McDonald's meal of a burger and fries, while sitting at the counter in the gun cage. Street walks up to him.] Street (Colin Farrell): Hey, Gus! Gus (James DuMont): Yeah. Street (Colin Farrell): Isn't that eternal damnation you're chowing down there? Gus (James DuMont): You can't tell Michelle. Street (Colin Farrell): Isn't she gonna smell the fries on your breath? Gus (James DuMont): [Considers this briefly, looking up from his meal.] That's why God invented mouthwash. She'll never know. Street (Colin Farrell): Gus, you're cheating on your wife with fast food. Gus (James DuMont): You're right! You're absolutely right. [Pushes the food away.] [Hondo walks up the cage] Hondo (Samuel L. Jackson): "Street, you have driver's license?" Street (Colin Farrell): Got a library card. Hondo (Samuel L. Jackson): That's good enough. So get your uniform on. You're driving me today. Come on. Writer's commentary The second audio commentary, done by writers and other crew members, includes the following comments by one of the writers: [QUOTE] I wrote it... I just wanted to make a little bit, life, a little bit more difficult on, uh, Street... And I wanted to try and create some comedic moments between them for Street to kind of, uh, to understand that he's in two different worlds right now. He's in a world of listening to this Mormon guy, and then he's getting ready to enter a world of World War II. We tried to commit, we tried to kind of create a World War III at the very end. In some respects, it's more like a Vietnam War than World War III, in the streets of Los Angeles. [END QUOTE] -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Thom Duncan Subject: Re: [AML] Cedar Fort Offer on My Manuscript Date: 05 Jan 2004 13:49:50 -0700 Eric SWEDIN wrote: > Hi, everyong, > > I am new to this list and this is my first posting. I recently > submitted to Cedar Fort a historical mystery manuscript set in 1865 > Manti. They responded positively, but want $2,900 to co-publish. Run, don't walk, away from that order. I have friends who've published with Cedar Fort under such an arrangement but you run the risk, one being that, once they get this money from you, what is their motivation to market your book? That has been the complain of some who've published with Cedar Fort -- that they don't publicize like they should. Especially with you being a published author, you don't need the service that Cedar Fort can provide. Thom Duncan -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Patricia Wiles" Subject: RE: [AML] Cedar Fort Offer on My Manuscript Date: 05 Jan 2004 13:39:13 -0600 Hi-- I have heard that with Cedar Fort, an author is expected to help pay for publishing the first book, then if it does well they will pay the expenses if they choose to publish your next ms. Patricia Wiles Executive Editor, latterdayauthors.com http://www.latterdayauthors.com -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: JanaRiess@aol.com Subject: RE: [AML] Cedar Fort Offer on My Manuscript Date: 05 Jan 2004 16:46:42 EST In a message dated 1/5/04 1:23:09 PM,=20 owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com writes: > I am new to this list and this is my first posting.=A0 I recently > submitted to Cedar Fort a historical mystery manuscript set in 1865 > Manti.=A0 They responded positively, but want $2,900 to co-publish.=A0 I a= m > already a published historian (one book published last October and two > more under contract) and my instincts are confused.=A0 Has anyone else had > experiences with Cedar Fort and this arrangement?=A0 Is it common?=A0 Any > feedback would be useful to me. >=20 Hello, Eric, and welcome to the list! Congratulations on your accepted=20 manuscript. It's certainly not common, but not unheard of either. Academic presses=20 sometimes strike deals with authors where the authors (who are usually funde= d by a=20 grant from their university or an outside fellowship) agree to pay part or=20 even all of the cost of publication. But for a commercial house to make su= ch=20 an offer is unusual and, I think, unfair. I would advise you to take their= =20 offer to the Authors Guild (www.authorsguild.com) and see if you can get a=20 contract review. Also, if you know any other Cedar Fort authors, try gentl= y=20 asking them what they were able to negotiate for their first book. (I know= you're=20 already a published author, but if this is your first novel, you have no=20 sales record in fiction and are starting from scratch in the publisher's eye= s.) It's your decision, depending on how eager you are to get the novel=20 published. My own instinct would be to bargain for more. Cedar Fort is c= learly=20 risk-averse and doesn't want to bear the sole responsibility if the novel do= esn't=20 sell. You might be able to persuade them if you can demonstrate all of the= =20 fabulous ways you will work on publicizing and selling the novel once it's=20 published. Every publisher wants a motivated author. =20 If you do take the contract, be sure that you negotiate for a very nice,=20 above-average royalty to counterbalance the financial outlay you're putting=20= forth=20 in the beginning. Good luck! Jana Riess Religion Book Review Editor Publishers Weekly -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Eric Samuelsen" Subject: RE: [AML] BLACK, _Pride and Prejudice_ (Movie Review) Date: 05 Jan 2004 15:00:40 -0700 Well, I say it's a perfect death wish scene. So she gets some negative feedback on her novel. Distressing experience, right? And one any real writer experiences, oh, weekly. Has she taken creative writing classes? Is she in a writer's group? Does she have writer friends she shares her work with? =20 She's either a real writer or not. The film says she's a real writer. So treat her as one. =20 Fact is, a character we're supposed to think of as smart, determined, confident, talented, goes off the deep end over nothing. It doesn't work, and it seriously damages a really fun and otherwise smart film. =20 Eric Samuelsen -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Margaret Young Subject: RE: [AML] YOUNG & GRAY, _Standing on the Promises_ Date: 05 Jan 2004 15:12:33 -0700 Wow, Sam! Thank you so much for buying the trilogy! Actually, the = first book is by far the easiest of the three. We were very upfront with = Deseret Book in telling them exactly what we would discuss in the three volumes (though we didn't know the extent of where we'd go when we signed our contract.) I was told that the DB Board thought the third book the most difficult--and I agree with that assessment. I was also told that they = felt very good about publishing it, that in fact a member of the board = personally thanked one of our editors for pushing the project through. And it was = a person of high rank in DB who pushed for the project. I personally = believe that something has happened since then to cause support to be withdrawn, = but I don't know what and doubt I ever will. And sadly, I must agree with = your assessment of the Mormon audience. So what does that say? Should = Mormon writers who want to write about difficult subjects seek = outside-Mormondom presses? We chose Deseret after much thought (and we did have a = choice). We wanted to have the Church "seal" on our trilogy. I'm still convinced = we were right with that move. When I have time, I'll write more about why = I don't regret the decision--despite being very disappointed with what has happened since we decided on Deseret. -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Eric Samuelsen" Subject: RE: [AML] David FARLAND, _Lair of Bones_ (Review) Date: 05 Jan 2004 15:20:14 -0700 Good review, but far and away the most important fact in is this one: Dave finished the series. Dude, I've been seriously stressed, wanting to know how it turned out. I'm not a fantasy buff, aside from Lord of the Rings and a few other fave-raves. Used to read Xanth, for example, until PierXanthony got too precious and cutesy by half. But when I had foot surgery, Scott Bronson lent me the first Runelords book, which I put off reading until I'd read everything else I had. And then I was hooked. And then, doggone it, book Three was over, the story still unresolved. Very unfair. Writers have an obligation to write FAST. =20 (Was the third Matrix movie weak? Maybe, but it did come sharply on the heels of the second movie. Was I able to wait one whole year between Two Towers and Return of the King? Yes, barely, but a good thing Peter Jackson didn't put it back another week, or I might have exploded.) Anyway, for a non-fantasy type guy, these books are great. Probably now you'll all tell me that there are five other contemporary fantasy series even better that I need to check out. I don't care, and I probably won't. This one is terrif. Eric Samuelsen -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Eric Samuelsen" Subject: RE: [AML] AVERY, _From Mission to Madness_ (Review) Date: 05 Jan 2004 15:25:10 -0700 I am insulin-dependent diabetic, right now but not always with pretty good control, I have been, at times, hypoglycemic, and I must shout my Amen to Sam's post to the heavens. When I have been hypoglycemic, I have not been correspondingly psychotic. Well, no more than usual. Eric Samuelsen -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Anne Bradshaw" Subject: Re: [AML] Acting and Movie Directing Date: 05 Jan 2004 15:22:42 -0700 Yea! Good for you, Mark! I agree. I get tired of my offspring and their friends always being super critical of every movie they see. What's with all the dissecting, anyway? Call me naive and comfortable if you will, but is it now out of fashion to simply enjoy a movie for the sake of entertainment--pure take-me-away-from-my-everyday-problem-world type diversion? Maybe if we all enjoyed more, and criticized less we'd be healthier and happier. Okay, I know there's a place for critiques--but all the time? Over everything? It makes my stomach knot. Ooops! Is that what this list is all about? Anne Bradshaw ****************** Anne Bradshaw http://www.annebradshaw.com http://www.latterdayauthors.com -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Sam Brown Subject: [AML] David Smith and Mental Illness Date: 05 Jan 2004 18:01:57 -0500 Hello, As Margaret had indicated, these were some thoughts about "brain fever" and whether Emma's emotional trauma could have contributed to David's incapacitation. Disclaimer: My medical knowledge is primarily clinical internal medicine, with research expertise in infectious disease, though my knowledge of medical history is very much that of an autodidact: 1. Brain fever is a generic term which signifies delirium with fever. Many diseases, even plain old pneumonia or influenza, can lead to that state of affairs, and in the elderly, even a simple urinary infection can make them as loopy as a jaybird. 19th century terminology is imprecise (as you'd expect) when judged by contemporary nosologic categories, so I wouldn't look for too tight a fit. I should make a comment here, though. The morbidity (decreased level of function) that occurs after the actual brain infections, is usually NOT that similar to frank mental illness. People may have memory gaps, may act inappropriately, may be constantly confused, may have frank "mental retardation" or what appears to be catatonia, even seizures, inability to speak, or nonsense speech. And of course, surviving events like that is profoundly depressing. But it's not that common to have eg schizophrenic-type symptoms. The example I gave in my book review of herpes simplex encephalitis is frankly not that common an outcome of the disease, and I do suspect schizophrenia in David Hyrum Smith, rather than a post-encephalitis syndrome. The second question is highly controversial. There is a view (I defer to the feminist scholars to tell me whether, as I suspect, it has a Victorian root) that the parents (usually the mother) are to blame for mental illness in a child. Autism is a great example of a disease that was blamed on the mothers but now is actively the opposite. In a basic scientific sense, mental illness is either genetic or epigenetic (nature or nurture), thus the parents may be an indicator of genetic abnormality or they may be both products and perpetrators of an illness-inducing milieu. But people tend to mean something different when they talk about parent- child "transmission" of mental illness, and it's usually about culpability. I am very much an urban liberal, and so my intuitive response is to say that it's not the parents' fault, while traditional views have favored blaming the parents. The truth, as far as I can describe it, is actually more complex than that, in large part because there are scores of different mental illnesses, and they behave differently. A quick review of the most common diagnoses: Depression: there is evidence for a genetic component, and people feel that there is also an environmental piece, though this is debated Schizophrenia: there is an association between "high-conflict" family life and the development of schizophrenia, but whether that is simply the fact that a pre-schizophrenic child may induce tension in a family has NOT been well demonstrated. There's no clear evidence for the claim that Emma's PTSD (she has every right to it, but I'd have to review the biography to see whether she actually has the symptoms of it; I don't recall her fitting that mold very well, and I do not at this point think she had it) would lead to David's apparent schizophrenia. I highly doubt that connection. Substance abuse: genetic component and strong behavioral component (parent's bad habits can make kids act up) Bipolar disorder: some genetic support but not clear environmentally. Obsessive-compulsive disorder: I don't remember the literature on this topic. I suspect that there are weak associations both genetically and environmentally. As a side note, I believe we want to be able to name and trace the genesis of mental illness (Emma's "PTSD") to contain it, to assure ourselves that it cannot strike us if we do not have ill parents or do not smoke cannabis or watch naughty movies or vote Independent or whatever. But that is a false assurance, and mental illness is one of the jagged thorns in the side of theodicy, a disruption of what we perceive as the Divine Order that leaves its sufferers, at least temporarily, in Outer Darkness with Judas without ever having even aspired to his treachery. I believe that's a reason why I write so many mentally ill people into my stories: they are the "missing link" in the genealogy of God's justice. Anyway, quick summary: 1. brain fever is not very specific and is frankly not that likely to account for mental illness, though it can lead to very disordered lives. 2. I doubt Emma's PTSD led to David's illness. In general, it's a tough sell to say that parents emotional or mental illness accounts for a child's, though the issues and phenomena are complex. -- Yours, Samuel Brown, MD Massachusetts General Hospital sam@vecna.com -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Kathy Tyner" Subject: Re: [AML] The BoM Code Date: 05 Jan 2004 15:48:37 -0800 I concluded a long time ago that whenever I read or am in the presence of either Harlow Clark or D. Michael Martindale I am around far livelier minds than my own. I often must meader through Harlow's posts to really grasp the intricate wordplay while getting to the point. A challenge, but well worth it. Quite frankly, I think Harlow should use that poetic talent besides the adult prose he writes and become the Mormon Dr. Seuss. Good heavens man, don't dither, but do it! While on the other hand, D. Mike gets straight to the point, usually a well made, occasionally brusque point. Brevity being the soul of wit. I deeply appreciate both of your styles, they make me think. Kathy Tyner Orange County, CA -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: workshop@burgoyne.com Subject: [AML] Re: Personal Websites: Advice? Date: 05 Jan 2004 16:30:12 -0700 Quoting JanaRiess@aol.com: > Hi all, > > I don't have a website yet, but I'm actually under the gun right now to set > one up for my Buffy the Vampire Slayer book, which is coming out May 7. So, > > for those of you who have websites, did you do them yourselves or hire > someone? > If you hired someone, how much did it cost, and would you recommend their > services? I'm going to have to hire a website designer -- and fast -- and > hope > it's not going to be too expensive. I have a generic website for writers in html that I can email you. The idea is that you customize it with your own information. Email me directly if you're interested. Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury workshop@burgoyne.com This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/ -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: workshop@burgoyne.com Subject: [AML] Re: Cedar Fort Offer on My Manuscript Date: 05 Jan 2004 16:37:51 -0700 Quoting Eric SWEDIN : > I am new to this list and this is my first posting. I recently > submitted to Cedar Fort a historical mystery manuscript set in 1865 > Manti. They responded positively, but want $2,900 to co-publish. I am > already a published historian (one book published last October and two > more under contract) and my instincts are confused. Has anyone else had > experiences with Cedar Fort and this arrangement? Is it common? Any > feedback would be useful to me. Eric, I'd recommend that you talk to a few printers (I highly recommend Varsity Printing near Fashion Place Mall in Murray, Utah if you need an idea of where to start) and see how much they would charge you to do it yourself. Just as a comparision if for no other reason. The only advantage I can see to going with Cedar Fort under the arrangement they've offered you is if (1) you've tried every other possible publisher, (2) they're cheaper than self-publishing, and (3) they provide decent distribution, which you can't get as easily if you self-publish. Rule # 1 for authors in publishing is "money should go TO the writer." > BTW, my book is _Healing Souls: Psychotherapy in the Latter-day Saint > Community_ (University of Illinois Press, 2003). Sounds interesting. Any chance they'd send someone on the AML board a copy for consideration for the AML awards? Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury workshop@burgoyne.com This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/ -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "webmaster" Subject: [AML] Box Office Figures, 2 Jan. 2004 Date: 05 Jan 2004 20:43:12 -0600 Feature Films by LDS/Mormon Filmmakers and Actors Weekend Box Office Report (U.S. Domestic Box Office Gross) Weekend of January 2, 2004 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 %B.O. Theatrs Rank LDS/Mormon Filmmaker/Actor Total Gross Chnge $/Thtr Days --- --------------------------- ----------- ----- ------- ---- 5 Paycheck 9,837,313 -27% 2,762 12 Aaron Eckart (actor) 38,644,452 $3,561 (2nd-billed star) 21 The Cat in the Hat 988,295 -22% 1,057 45 Eric McLeod (exec. producer) 99,383,495 $935 Aldric La'Auli Porter (assoc. producer/1st A.D.) Danielle Chuchran (actress) 22 The Young Black Stallion (NEW) 755,381 +20% 51 12 Reed Smoot (cinematographer) 2,349,976 $14,811 38 The Missing 116,290 -14% 146 40 Aaron Eckart (actor) 26,121,804 $796 Aldric La'Auli Porter (assoc. producer/1st A.D.) 46 Timeline 34,156 -32% 270 40 Paul Walker (lead actor) 19,113,238 $126 72 Pride and Prejudice 13,032 +50% 4 31 Andrew Black (director) 157,616 $3,258 Jason Faller (producer) Kynan Griffin (co-producer) Anne K. Black (screenplay/produc. designer) Jason Faller; Katherine Swigert (screenplay) Travis Cline (cinematographer) Ben Carson (composer) Alexander Vance (editor) Actors: Ben Gourley, Hubbel Palmer, Amber Hamilton, Carmen Rasmusen 83 Galapagos 1,122 -29% 1 1529 Reed Smoot (cinematographer) 14,255,937 $1,122 89 The Legend of Johnny Lingo 744 -29% 1 129 Gerald Molen (producer) 974,693 $744 John Garbett (producer) 97 China: The Panda Adventure 432 +93% 1 892 Reed Smoot (cinematographer) 3,545,773 $432 -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Andrew Hall" Subject: [AML] HARTLEY, _Stand By Servant Joseph_ (DN) Date: 06 Jan 2004 03:37:43 +0000 Deseret News Saturday, January 3, 2004 Knight family among the unsung faithful LDS readers will appreciate story of loyalty, courage By Dennis Lythgoe Deseret Morning News STAND BY SERVANT JOSEPH: THE STORY OF THE JOSEPH KNIGHT FAMILY AND THE RESTORATION, by William G. Hartley, Deseret Book, 604 pages, $37.95 Generally speaking, historians tell the stories of famous people more than they do the average guy. LDS history is no exception. That's why we hear about Mormon leaders much more than we do those little people who worked hard, accomplished much but were never considered celebrities. Joseph Knight and the more than 60 members of the Knight family who knew and associated with Joseph Smith in the early days of Mormonism are among that unsung group. Whereas many early LDS leaders fell into apostasy when the going was rough, the Knight family stuck with the Prophet Joseph. That included almost all of Joseph Knight's married children, their spouses and dozens more of their extended family. In 1842, Joseph Smith wrote of his affection for the Knight family, saying that Joseph Knight had always been "faithful and true, and even handed, and exemplary and virtuous, and kind; never deviating to the right hand nor to the left. Behold he is a righteous man." Then he referred to his sons, Newel Knight and Joseph Knight, "whose names I record in the Book of the Law of the Lord, with unspeakable delight, for they are my friends." No wonder Bill Hartley decided to tell the Knight story in "Stand By Servant Joseph: The Story of the Joseph Knight Family and the Restoration." An experienced and capable historian, Hartley is a research historian at the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute of Church History at Brigham Young University and has presided over the Mormon History Association. He has been a prolific writer, having produced 10 books and numerous articles in the field of Mormon history. He is still young enough to avoid having this book termed his "crowning achievement," but it is a distinctive contribution nevertheless. Hartley has dug deeply into the records in order to bring the Knight family convincingly to life. He tells much of the history of the LDS Church in the process of portraying the family, so the reader gains a different perspective than is available in most histories. Hartley describes the supernatural experiences of Newel Knight, who, according to several accounts, had a Satanic encounter followed by a purely religious one, in which "the Spirit of God descended upon him, to such a degree that the visions of eternity were opened to his view and he beheld great and glorious things." Afterward, Knight asserted that the power of the spirit was so great that he felt "weight pressing" upon his shoulder and head, and then realized "the Spirit of the Lord had actually lifted me off the floor, and that my shoulder and head were pressing against the beams." This has often been referred to as "the Levitation of Newel Knight." Hartley pops the bubble of those who believe that there were witnesses to the "levitation," pointing out that only Knight himself described this "spiritual" experience. The book tells a very interesting story of people and religious experience, and it should find plenty of room on LDS readers' shelves. Copyright 2004 Deseret News Publishing Company _________________________________________________________________ Have fun customizing MSN Messenger =97 learn how here! =20 http://www.msnmessenger-download.com/tracking/reach_customize -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] KUSHNER, _Angels in America_ (HBO) Date: 05 Jan 2004 21:50:36 -0700 THOMASDUNCAN01@comcast.net wrote: > Mike, Angels in America isn't about Mormon homsexuals. They are just characters in it. I know, but it was the depiction of the Mormons that irritated me, so that's what I concentrated on as far as talking about how I could do a better job, even though there's no reason to think that my efforts would be all that stellar. -- 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] The BoM Code Date: 05 Jan 2004 21:55:47 -0700 Kim Madsen wrote: > I can never quite tell when Michael preceded by a D is being caustic or > joking with good friends. It's the mystery in life that keeps it interesting. -- 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Richard R. Hopkins" Subject: [AML] New Magazine Needs Writers Date: 05 Jan 2004 22:08:13 -0800 Greetings! Cornerstone Publishing is launching a new (printed) magazine named "SinglesLDS." It will draw on the considerable talents of Denise Hopkins, President and Editor-In-Chief, who (until her recent marriage to yours truly) endured the LDS singles scene from the age of 24, when she and her four small children found themselves abandoned by her husband after a five-year temple marriage. The magazine will be directed at all singles, but especially those who do not want to remain so. It will confront tough issues, give news of the singles scene all over the country, feature noted singles, present advice on self-improvement and marriage preparation, publish feedback, and encourage arts and hobbies. We will include wedding and engagement announcements and allow classified ads for just about anything (roommates, tutors, horses, jobs, real estate, etc.). We are looking for writers to contribute articles pertaining to self-improvment, dating relations, practical guidance for single parents, and other subjects of interest to single adults. Also, if you are single, we would appreciate short or serialized stories, poetry, and humor. Payment for articles accepted for publication will be at the same rate normally paid by other LDS magazines. The magazine will maintain LDS standards but it will not be restricted to articles that could appear in the Ensign. Rather, we are looking for articles fully compatible with Gospel stardards that cover issues and strive for depths beyond what can normally appear in the official organs of the Church. Richard Hopkins -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Harlow S Clark Subject: Re: [AML] "South Park" & Mormons Date: 05 Jan 2004 23:04:43 -0800 [MOD: I don't want to get into a discussion of whether Mormonism is or is not more consistent with conservatism, liberalism, etc. A discussion of *perceptions* is, however, appropriate, particularly in terms of how this can relate to writing. Okay? --Jonathan Langford] On Fri, 2 Jan 2004 15:19:44 -0600 (CST) Rich Hammett writes: > But what a world we live in. Somehow, South Park and Dennis Miller > are the new icons for the hip conservative. At least South Park is > still funny most of the time. > > rich Hmm, do I sense some tension here with the idea that conservative=Mormon? Hollow Cluck ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Eugene Woodbury" Subject: Re: [AML] Personal Websites: Advice? Date: 06 Jan 2004 09:45:56 -0700 Assuming you want a website with your own domain name (i.e., www.yourname.com), and you're on a tight budget, I suggest the following: The cheapest is to host your site using the free web space that comes with most ISP memberships, and then direct your domain name there using domain forwarding. Domain forwarding takes any registered domain name and points it anywhere you want, such as your personal web space. This could also include "free" web space sites (http://100best-free-web-space.com/), but they are often popup ad-driven, or you have to register your domain through the site. Perhaps somebody could recommend one? I have a "Person Identity Account" at http://www.domaindirect.com/ for both domain forwarding and email (I like to keep personal email addresses separate from site addresses, and separate from my ISP). It's $30/year for 2 years. For full-service hosting, I use the "Hosting Club" at Catalog.com (http://www.catalog.com/v2/index.html). It's $35/year to register your domain and $35/year for basic hosting services, which is more than enough for any low traffic site (i.e., most of us). I have yet to come close to using up my storage space. Most budget hosting services will likely fall into this range. In the web world, you pay for bandwidth, which is determined by how many people visit your site. If your site becomes wildly popular, you would find it necessary to upgrade to a commercial package, which start at about $108/year (plus domain registration). The reason I have both (site hosting and domain forwarding) is that I registered two versions of my domain name. But the total bill comes to only $100/year. Eugene Woodbury -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Linda Adams Subject: Re: [AML] Cedar Fort Offer on My Manuscript Date: 06 Jan 2004 19:49:35 -0600 No responses yet? [MOD: No, a moderator with a bad headache so that the list went offline for two days.] This is standard procedure for Cedar Fort for untried authors. They call it their author-participation program and is part of why they are able to produce so many titles in a year. There is nothing legally wrong with it and both parties are often successful in recovering costs. For frame of reference, if your book is not too many pages (say 250) and you run a Print-on-Demand bid for self-publishing your title, you will spend about the same amount of money just on printing -- not including marketing and advertising costs. You keep more of the proceeds and have no binding contract to live by, though. However, I also know several CFI authors who went this route and have been very happy with the end result. Since you're already published, you're familiar with reading contracts and should be able to decipher what they're sending you, I imagine, and whether it's worth it to you or not. If you have solid, good sales figures to show them, that could help to negotiate a different arrangement. They also do standard publishing (no cost to author) for some of their titles. I don't know the percentage on that or how difficult it is to try to arrange. Good luck! Linda Adams -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Julie Kirk Subject: [AML] Art Olympics and Card Books Date: 06 Jan 2004 16:10:54 -0800 Has anyone heard of something called the Art Olympics? I had someone contact me from Turkey and he has found some references to such an event happening in various nations, but cannot find enough info to start organizing one in their country. So, if anyone knows anything about this type of event (not a biennale, We've already talked about that), can you pass that info on to me? I guess the art olympics is done similar to a biennale where there are artists from many nations. It is non competitive and done in more of a "spirit of unity". Unlike many of the biennales though it involves people of all sorts of artistic disciplines such as music, performance (dance, theatre, etc), and visual arts. Secondly, a big thanks to the people who responded to me both on and off list about the books for my 13 year old daughter, the Card fan. She is thrilled to be working her way through all of her new books - the Ender's Game series and the Ender's Shadow series. Thanks again, everyone, I really appreciate the support you all seem to give to me and each other. Julie ********************************************* Julie Kirk http://www.juliekirk.com http://www.streetpainting.net -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Patricia Wiles" Subject: RE: [AML] Personal Websites: Advice? Date: 08 Jan 2004 12:00:46 -0600 Hi Jana-- The cost of a website depends on how much you are willing to pay. In a recent poynter.org article on the subject, one writer paid $1000 set-up, plus $60 maintenance per month. If you're like me, you can't afford = that! I built the latterdayauthors site myself, and didn't have much = knowledge. However, it has been a challenge. If you decide to build your own site, here's some thoughts: 1. You need a good, reliable server. We use Webmasters.com. They have good customer support and they are reasonable ($10 per month). You = could also go with smartwriters.com. If you are an SCBWI member they only = charge 7.50 per month. You also get a choice of templates with which to build = your site, which is nice if you don't want to read #2. =20 2. From the beginning, invest in good web site builder software. When = we first started latterdayauthors, I used Publisher, which I already had on = my computer. I just remodeled the site in FrontPage, and let me tell you = it's a real pain to redo every single page from one program to another, even = if they are both Microsoft programs. If I had it to do over again I would = have spent the money and bought FrontPage in the beginning and saved myself = some headaches. Having a good program makes all the difference in terms of maintenance. Of course your site wouldn't have to be changed as much as ours, since we're more like an online magazine and we're adding new = content all the time. But it will still save you time to be able to edit things live and so forth. Call me a control freak, but I like having control over what I have on = the web. A musician friend of mine paid someone to set up and maintain a website for him, but he had no control over what this guy put up (or = didn't put up). Because he lives halfway across the country, he had to contact = the webmaster by phone or email, and even then things didn't get changed. I helped this musician get a grant from the state arts council to put = together some promotional materials, and I am going to rebuild a site for him = using the materials. What I'm trying to say is don't relinquish control over = what you have worked so hard on to a webmaster or anyone, leaving you unable = to have access. Believe me, if I can build a website (no matter how = simple) you can too. It just takes a lot of hard work. I have to build my own website also, since I have a book coming out this spring. I think a web presence has become a necessity for writers--it offers us a unique advantage as far as connecting to readers. However, = I have to admit that the reason I plan to do it myself is because I'm not = very trusting. I've been burned, and as I mentioned I know others who have = been burned on the web too. I look at this as another skill I have to learn = as a writer, sort of like how you still have to take college algebra even = though you're getting a degree in English Literature. You may think you'll = never use it, but it's good to know you could do it if you had to. Plus it's = kind of nice to learn a new skill, and even with the headaches of working = with a computer it's fun to build your site and start getting feedback. =20 Feel free to email me if you want to talk some more about it. :) Patricia Wiles Executive Editor, latterdayauthors.com http://www.latterdayauthors.com -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Scott Parkin" Subject: Re: [AML] Cedar Fort Offer on My Manuscript Date: 08 Jan 2004 12:30:31 -0700 Eric Swedin wrote: > I recently > submitted to Cedar Fort a historical mystery manuscript set in 1865 > Manti. They responded positively, but want $2,900 to co-publish. Here's the problem. The LDS publishing industry is relatively small and there are relatively few outlets for books that don't fit into the currently defined LDS marketing categories (scriptural/historical, romance, teen morality tale, thriller/action adventure). Cedar Fort supports the widest variety of any LDS publisher today. But they're a subsidy publisher--the "author participation plan" is their standard deal for first titles. With your previous history of publication, you might be able to counter-offer and talk them into waiving the participation fee; because many of their titles are little more than vanity pieces, the fee is their way of weeding out the pure vanity authors and ensuring some level of author participation in the actual marketing and promotion of the book. LDS publishers in general are pretty weak at promotion and marketing (with the arguable exception of Deseret Book and Covenant Communications). Cedar Fort gets a bad rap for having no real marketing push--a reputation they've mostly earned. But some recent experiences with friends of mine who published through them suggest that Cedar Fort is actually willing to work with motivated authors to do some guerilla marketing and they will help you set up local book signings and similar events. Here's what you'll get with Cedar Fort: * Distribution to the major LDS outlets. * Reasonable design and production quality (not great, but not bad). * Quick turnaround. * Limited promotion on their Web site. * Friendly staff. * Support for your own promotional efforts. Here's what you WON'T get with Cedar Fort: * No strong editing. They pretty much accept the manuscript as you submit it, and do little in the way of copy editing, and essentially nothing in the way of content editing. Do that on your own before you ship the manuscript. * No strong marketing push. They'll help you arrange book signings and will support your own promotional/marketing plans, but they're not likely to do much push on their own. * No national push. They're essentially a Mormon market publisher. They'll sell to bookstores out of state, but there's no strong effort to push the book outside the Mormon corridor. ----- I would try to sell your book to Deseret Book first. If it won't fly there, try a small or regional publisher. If it still doesn't sell, consider Cedar Fort as a strong third-level publisher, especially if you can get them to waive the participation fee (they have done it before; make a strong pitch and see what happens). The key with Cedar Fort is that you need to actively promote your own book. They will help you with ideas and booking support, but you really need to own your own book promotion plan and calendar, and drive that plan yourself. They will work hard to support your efforts, but the effort needs to be yours. Kathleen Woodbury said it best--in publishing, money is supposed to flow *to* the author, not *from* the author. In Mormon publishing, about the best you can hope for is to not pay anything and wait (hope?) for royalties to appear six to twelve months later. If you can get Cedar Fort to waive the fee, they're as good as anyone else in the second-tier LDS publishing world, and better than many. Scott Parkin -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jonathan Langford Subject: [AML] Critiquing Too Much? (was: Acting and Movie Directing) Date: 08 Jan 2004 13:36:51 -0600 Anne wrote: >Maybe if we all enjoyed more, and criticized less we'd be >healthier and happier. Okay, I know there's a place for critiques--but all >the time? Over everything? It makes my stomach knot. Ooops! Is that what >this list is all about? To which I reply (speaking only for myself): Yes, there's more to good literary response than just pointing out the bad--but I think that the critiques I've seen over AML-List have done that, in large part. Some people have trashed a particular piece of work; others have praised it. Most often, there's been a combination of comments: the work did well at this; it did poorly at that; it reflected this particular interesting Mormon mindset; it failed to reflect what I see as the Mormon experience in this way. Et cetera. And yes, I think that AML-List *is* the place for that kind of discussion. Not just pointing out the negative, but definitely analyzing, assessing, commenting on what is good and bad in the art (particularly literary art in all its varieties, including movies) that falls under the umbrella of Mormon art. Now, personally, I think that whenever a piece of literature is popular, we need to very carefully analyze why it's popular--what need it's serving. And I tend to believe that popularity is a sign that *something* has been done right, even if our critical theories can't account for it. But that's only my perspective. On the larger question, though: I agree that uncritical appreciation and enjoyment has its place--but that's not, in my view, what AML-List is really all about. Even approval, as I see it, is better if it's backed up by specifics--by analysis of what worked and why. I agree that we need to respect the different views that different people express about a particular work of art, but I can't really agree that we ought to be doing less critiquing here. ("Critiquing" meaning not just pointing out negative things, but analyzing the experience.) Jonathan Langford Speaking for myself, not AML-List jlangfor@pressenter.com -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Eric SWEDIN" Subject: RE: [AML] Cedar Fort Offer on My Manuscript Date: 08 Jan 2004 13:24:06 -0700 Everyone, I have eagerly awaited and read each of your responses, both on-list and off-list, to my Cedar Fort posting. Your advice and stories have been very useful, though I have still not made up my mind. Some recommended that I try the self-publishing route, and while I understand why that is a good path for some, it is not a path for me. Thanks, Eric G. Swedin Weber State University http://www.swedin.org/ eswedin@weber.edu -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "David Hansen" Subject: RE: [AML] David FARLAND, _Lair of Bones_ (Review) Date: 08 Jan 2004 13:29:06 -0700 Ivan Wolfe wrote, "AN interesting review, but some of you points need clairification: Dave has said several times that this is not the last Runelords book - more like the last book of part one - so of course many things are left unresolved." Thanks for the clarification. That's something that I had not heard. However, if it was truly only the end of Part I, that should have been made more clear in the book. As far as I could tell, all the "main" plot threads had resolved, and it was only some of the minor ones that I was left saying, "What was that all about?" Perhaps he could have put and "END OF PART I" at the end of the novel to give us a clue that he intended to write more. Dave Hansen -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Clark Goble" Subject: RE: [AML] Personal Websites: Advice? Date: 08 Jan 2004 14:14:14 -0700 ___ Patricia ___ | The cost of a website depends on how much you are willing to | pay. In a recent poynter.org article on the subject, one | writer paid $1000 set-up, plus $60 maintenance per month. If | you're like me, you can't afford that! | | . . . | | 1. You need a good, reliable server. We use Webmasters.com. | They have good customer support and they are reasonable ($10 | per month). You could also go with smartwriters.com. If you | are an SCBWI member they only charge 7.50 per month. You also | get a choice of templates with which to build your site, which | is nice if you don't want to read #2. ___ You might also look at co-locating. (Taking a computer and putting it at a site that maintains a fast direct connection) We do that for $30 a month. With low volume an old computer running Linux is more than powerful enough. My site www.libertypages.com/clark does that. If you find 10 people all looking for a server and at least one has an old computer from a few years back you have something that'll cost you less than the price of a dinner and which will give you full flexibility. A little more adventurous is simply hosting it at your home. Cable won't give you a fixed IP address but there are ways around that. A better choice that won't violate your subscriber agreement is to get a DSL line. Qwest has them for less than the price of cable-modems. Just be sure *not* to get the MSN package as that'll trap you into using MSN for a year and you'll not get a fixed IP. With that though you pay about $30 a month but you get a reasonably fast connection. (Not as fast as cable, but fast enough) Then you simply run your site off of a computer in your home. Just make sure you configure your firewall! -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Linda Adams Subject: Re: [AML] New Magazine Needs Writers Date: 08 Jan 2004 12:20:44 -0600 At 12:08 AM 1/6/04, you wrote: >Cornerstone Publishing is launching a new (printed) magazine named >"SinglesLDS." It will draw on the considerable talents of Denise Hopkins, >President and Editor-In-Chief, who (until her recent marriage to yours >truly) endured the LDS singles scene from the age of 24 Richard, you could have TOLD us all you were getting married! Congratulations all around. Linda A. -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ivan Angus Wolfe Subject: RE: [AML] David FARLAND, _Lair of Bones_ (Review) Date: 08 Jan 2004 18:15:56 -0700 > Anyway, for a non-fantasy type guy, these books are great. Probably now > you'll all tell me that there are five other contemporary fantasy series > even better that I need to check out. I don't care, and I probably > won't. This one is terrif. > > Eric Samuelsen You may not care, but I'll list five other fantasy writers that need to be checked out: 1. Robin Hobb - her series about FiyzChivalry, the Liveships and the White Prophet are my third favorite fantasy books ever. 2. Orson Scott Card finally released the Crystal City, the latest Alvin Maker book, and it was as good as any of the others. 3. Robert Jordan needs to wrap up the series soon, but his wheel of time series is still the most richly detailed and inticately designed fantasy series on the market. 4. Stephen King's Gunslinger series is his best work period, and one of the ten best fantasy series ever IMHO. Great fantasy. Amazing, wonderful, etc. 5. Alan Moore's "League of Extraordinary Gentlmen" (yes the movie was awful, but it has no resemblance whatsoever to the masterpiece his graphic novel of the same name was) and Neil Gaiman's Sandman series are comic books that are better than 95% of the prose fantasy out there. FWIW. --ivan wolfe -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Paris Anderson" Subject: Re: [AML] AVERY, _From Mission to Madness_ (Review) Date: 08 Jan 2004 14:32:39 -0700 Eric Sammuelson Wrote: When I have been hypoglycemic, I have not been correspondingly psychotic. Well, Eric, I have not been correspondingly hypoglycemic. So we're = even now. Paris Anderson -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Rose Green Subject: RE: [AML] YOUNG & GRAY, _Standing on the Promises_ Date: 08 Jan 2004 22:11:49 -0500 Margaret, I don't think it's so much that people don't care, I think it's more that they are simply unaware. I'm so glad they have been talked about so much on this list. I may never have read the books if I hadn't read more than just the blurb in the DB mailing materials. (Maybe they get more notice in Utah, but I'm a couple thousand miles from there, so all the advertising I get is from a monthly DB ad that barely skims the topic of each book.) I think that DB could do a bit more do put a spotlight on them. I think that since so many people don't know that there were black pioneers, you have to do a lot more in advertising to show people why this is a part of our (collective LDS) heritage. I think a web page is a good idea. I enjoyed the books immensely (okay, I still have book 3 to go), and have been recommending them to other people, people who had no idea such things ever happened, but who seem interested once I tell them a little about it. While yes, the whole black priesthood thing, and the whole blacks-in-America thing can be rather minefieldy subjects, I really think that a big part of it is simply ignorance. You have to make the [potential] readership feel like this is a part of their culture, too. Hard to do, I know. But, you have gained at least one follower! Rose Green -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Melissa Proffitt Subject: Re: [AML] Cedar Fort Offer on My Manuscript Date: 08 Jan 2004 20:56:52 -0700 On Mon, 5 Jan 2004 16:37:51 -0700, workshop@burgoyne.com wrote: >> BTW, my book is _Healing Souls: Psychotherapy in the Latter-day Saint >> Community_ (University of Illinois Press, 2003). > >Sounds interesting. Any chance they'd send someone on the AML board a = copy for=20 >consideration for the AML awards? I suspect this book would not be eligible based on our existing = categories, because we do not generally consider histories for our awards (and from = what I can see of the text description, this is about the history of psychotherapy among Mormons and LDS institutions). But it sounds interesting to me, too. Oops. Maybe I should have kept my big mouth = shut and finagled a review copy.... :) Melissa Proffitt -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Kim Madsen" Subject: RE: [AML] BLACK, _Pride and Prejudice_ (Movie Review) Date: 09 Jan 2004 07:28:20 -0700 Eric wrote: "Well, I say it's a perfect death wish scene. So she gets some negative feedback on her novel. Distressing experience, right? And one any real writer experiences, oh, weekly. Has she taken creative writing classes? Is she in a writer's group? Does she have writer friends she shares her work with? She's either a real writer or not. The film says she's a real writer. So treat her as one. Fact is, a character we're supposed to think of as smart, determined, confident, talented, goes off the deep end over nothing. It doesn't work, and it seriously damages a really fun and otherwise smart film." Yeah, but Elizabeth doesn't go off the deep end over her book--it's over Darcy. She won't admit it to herself consciously yet, but there are feelings there, an attraction, and although her behavior vindicates her for his boorish treatment of her, still, it's a surface thing only, on both sides. They both are posturing behind these personas. The "real" Darcy is a nice guy who feels badly that he's acted like a snot. She acts like she doesn't care about finding a man and falling in love, but it's something she really would like to happen. She goes off the deep end because the one man she was attracted to, the one she thought may be right (remember her litany of dating all the "wrong" guys?) turned out to be another wrong...and she hadn't even admitted to herself that she thought/hoped he may be right. She goes off the deep-end because she's lost hope--the "I'll never meet anyone" syndrome, the book just becomes a tangible place to put all her politically correct feelings. On her own she may have pulled herself out of it, but her good friend Jane is struggling with a broken heart too, and together they fuel each other into a class-act pity party. Maybe female audience members instinctively get this because they know no matter how smart, funny, self-assured a girl comes across, there is always a nagging self-doubt that she's defective, unlovable, not pretty enough...whatever it is that keeps the "right" men from seeking her out. This feminine self-doubt only seems to go away in a woman's 40's. Of course, I only speak from personal experience here. I'm not trying to say women will understand this, men won't...maybe it's just my interpretation vs. the whole rest of the world. But I thought the characters' internal motives were deftly and subtly communicated through the looks Elizabeth and Darcy exchanged whenever they were around each other. It tells me that's REALLY why she's so rattled when she finds him waiting in the restaurant. Sure the other stuff is there...but it's window dressing to the core issue. She wants to appear to despise him, because that's how a smart, confident person would react to his behavior, but still, her heart does a flip-flop when she sees him. I thought the actress communicated that well. The scene at the keyboard when Darcy sends the email apology was one of the first times she allowed an external reaction to what she was really feeling. So, I disagree with Eric, I didn't find it a death-wish scene. And I've just decided it feels scary to disagree with Eric because he's smart and well-versed in film techniques, a college professor for crying out loud, and I am just a lowly audience member. Kim Madsen -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: JanaRiess@aol.com Subject: [AML] re: Personal Websites: Advice? Date: 09 Jan 2004 11:42:32 EST Hi all, I just wanted to shout out my thanks to the many people who responded to my inquiry about personal and book websites! I am grateful to learn from your experiences! I'm hiring John Remy of this list to design the whatwouldbuffydo.com website. The other one (a general author website for all my books and whatnot) I'm hoping to do myself with the template at authorsguild.com. That site doesn't have a deadline for it to be up and running, so I have time to negotiate the learning curve. John and I will let you know when the Buffy site is up and running. Thanks again, Jana Riess -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Christopher Bigelow Subject: [AML] (DesNews) Profile on _Home Teachers_ Date: 09 Jan 2004 10:28:39 -0700 Filmmakers aim for clean family fun in 'Teachers' By Nicole Warburton Deseret Morning News SPRINGVILLE - Jeff Birk sits on a red-leather couch in an elegant room. He's sporting a bow tie and has a perfectly parted, slicked-back hairstyle. The room is hot and stifling. A woman dabs Birk's forehead, removing beads of sweat. Two men stand by a couch that's been turned on its side and pushed against the wall. Another monitors two fans working valiantly to blow cool air. As Birk sweats, a handful of people wander through the room. Some go into a dining room with a well-set table, while others walk through to a kitchen cluttered with props. One person travels around a corner, past a room stacked high with boxes, to a staircase where she sits and reviews papers on a clipboard. A collective hush goes throughout the house. The fans are turned off, people gasp at the hot air, and a man with a deep voice says "Rolling. . . . " Birk comes alive; flashing a wide-eyed, dramatic grin toward the man seated before him. On this hot day in July, Birk is in Springville shooting a scene for his first feature-length movie, "The Home Teachers." Directed by Kurt Hale and produced by Dave Hunter, "The Home Teachers" is the third in a series of independent comedies distributed by HaleStorm Entertainment - Hale and Hunter's Orem-based production company. The first two, "The Single's Ward" and "The RM" were slapstick comedies geared toward members of the LDS Church that scored big at the box office. Hale hopes "The Home Teachers" will be no different. "Believe me, we analyze this and overanalyze this," Hale said during a break in the action. "We've got a greater audience base now that kind of know who we are. That helps a lot, so I think, potentially, we have an opportunity to have more people see this just because of our track record." Billed as a story about "polar opposites," "The Home Teachers" chronicles the adventures of two men on a quest to complete their home teaching before the end of the month. Birk plays Nelson Parker, an intense, straight-arrow member of the LDS Church, while Michael Birkeland, who appeared in both "The Singles Ward" and "The RM," plays Greg Blazer, a relaxed, "let me do my duty and be done" member. "Even just conceptually, everyone waits until the last day of the month to get their home teaching done, and no one wants to do it," said Hale. "So, we've had an immediate conflict which works quite well." According to Hale, that conflict is met in a physically funny and often disastrous way. "This is 'Tommy Boy' meets home teaching," he said. In the scene Birk is shooting, his companion, Greg Blazer (Birkeland) falls through the ceiling onto the dining-room table. "This is the first house that our home teachers go to and end up destroying," said Hale. "They get here and one of our home teachers is just not at all interested . . . he's trying to listen to the game. He goes upstairs - got to put the earpieces in his ear for the game - and ends up knocking something in the toilet. It overflows . . . it soaks up the ceiling and he ends up falling through onto a fully-set dining room table. It's immediately adjacent to the room that his companion is teaching in, and then all chaos ensues." In another scene, Blazer and Parker drive their car off a cliff. They are attending a funeral in Vernal and take a bad shortcut home. "We blew up a car in 'Single's Ward,' which was kind of fun," said director of photography Ryan Little, "and so, it seems to be a consistent thing now that we have to either blow something off a cliff or blow something up." "We take a lot of the situations to the nth degree," said Birk. According to Hale, his goal with "The Home Teachers" - and his first two films - was to create a clean comedy for families to laugh at. "Right now, so many of our people . . . our audiences are tired of innuendo and the baseness of so much of the comedy," he said. "And, if we can keep it clean, I really think people will come back for it, just 'cause there's not much else out there right now." Hale added, "We know we're not writing stuff that will change the world. Our whole kind of model is to just let people laugh at something they can feel good at laughing about." Hale and Hunter are all ready planning their fourth comedy for next year - "Church Ball." -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Barbara Hume Subject: [AML] Web Site Offer from Kathleen Date: 09 Jan 2004 10:47:56 -0700 Kathleen, I'd be interested--I need a fiction-writerly Web site apart from my technical and promotional writing site. barbara hume -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Bill Willson" Subject: Re: [AML] Cedar Fort Offer on My Manuscript Date: 09 Jan 2004 13:23:22 -0700 You have invested your time, talent and money in producing your manuscript. If they want to publish it, they should be offering you money. Don't pay them. -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ivan Angus Wolfe Subject: RE: [AML] David FARLAND, _Lair of Bones_ (Review) Date: 09 Jan 2004 16:56:42 -0700 > As far as I could tell, all the "main" plot threads > had resolved, and it was only some of the minor ones that I was left saying, > "What was that all about?" Perhaps he could have put and "END OF PART I" at > the end of the novel to give us a clue that he intended to write more. > > Dave Hansen Not quite all of the main plot lines had been resolved. The next book will focus on the children of the principles in the first four books - though some of the principles who have managed to survive will be around as well. FWIW. I do agree he should have made it more clear. --ivan wolfe -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Kathy Tyner" Subject: Re: [AML] (DesNews) Profile on _Home Teachers_ Date: 09 Jan 2004 16:10:25 -0800 How 'bout shooting for a funny, well-written story that just happens to be clean? Oh, and maybe tells some truth about how the program could work in showing caring and compassion? Nah, just a thought. Seems to me they have it bass-ackwards. Kathy Tyner Orange County, CA -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Melissa Proffitt Subject: [AML] Call for AML Award Nominations Date: 09 Jan 2004 17:24:28 -0700 During the Saturday session of the AML Annual Meeting, on Saturday, March 6th, we will be presenting the 2003 AML Awards. These are awarded to outstanding literature published during the calendar year 2003 in a = variety of categories. We are again calling for nominations for possible award winners. Qualifications for eligibility are: 1. The nominated work must be by or about Mormons. If the author is not= a member of the LDS Church, the nominated work should have significant = Mormon content. 2. The nominated work should have been published between January 1, 2003 and December 31, 2003. It must be readily available for review by the = award committee. The nominated work should, if possible, be nominated within one of the following award categories: Novel Short Fiction Poetry Personal Essay Young Adult Fiction Criticism Film and Theater Biography (should have intrinsic worth as literature as well as historic value) Children's Literature If the award committee believes there are not enough qualified works = within a category, it will not make an award for that category. Conversely, = there may be one or two award categories not listed that will receive awards. = If you know of an outstanding literary work that does not fit any category, = you may nominate it with an explanation of why it should be recognized by the AML. When you are nominating short fiction, poetry, essays or criticism, = please include the publication in which they can be found. The AML does not make awards in the following categories, either because they are outside our purview or are being recognized by other = organizations: History Folklore Non-literary scholarly texts by LDS writers (mathematics, social = sciences, etc.) Cultural studies Anyone who would like to see a list of past award winners can go to: http://www.aml-online.org/awards/index.html which is organized by category, recipient, title and year. Please post your nominations directly to the AML-list or privately to me = at Melissa@Proffitt.com. The deadline for nominations is January 31, 2004. Thank you, Melissa Proffitt -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Steve Perry Subject: [AML] Boyd K. Packer Artwork Display Date: 09 Jan 2004 18:29:00 -0700 Begin forwarded message: > LATTER-DAY SAINT ART EXHIBITED > See http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Jan/01092004/friday/127360.asp > href="http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Jan/01092004/friday/ > 127360.asp">Link > > The Museum of Church History and Art in Salt Lake City is currently > featuring the exhibit "Boyd K. Packer: The Lifework of an Amateur > Artist," > which displays many works from his lifetime of artistic interest and > ability. Also on display is "Landscape and Life: The Rural Setting of > the > Latter-day Saints," with art by LeConte Stewart and J. George Midgley. > Selected portions of the exhibit can be viewed online at > www.lds.org/churchhistory. -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Richard Johnson" Subject: RE: [AML] Personal Websites: Advice? Date: 09 Jan 2004 20:09:04 -0500 I must be living in a strange world, but my site, www.PuppenRich.com is hosted by dixiesyss for about fifty bucks a year and I am racking my brain for the guys who registered my domain but it was dirt cheap too, by standards of what you guys are talking about. I also use the site for email (referring to my doll and puppet business) as do my wife, some kids etc. My only problem is that my son, who was helping me set up the web page keeps getting mobilized and sent over seas(Army reserve) and I am too inept to successfully run the page myself. I keep FTP ing material that doesn't make it into my Page (the son is supposed to get home from the gulf in April, and maybe then. . . Richard B. Johnson, Husband, Father, Grandfather, Actor, Director, Puppeteer, Playwright, Writer, Thingmaker, Mormon, Person, Fool. I sometimes think that the last persona is the most important- and most valuable. Http://www.PuppenRich.com -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Christopher Bigelow Subject: [AML] re: _Pride & Prejudice_ (Movie) Date: 09 Jan 2004 22:57:56 -0700 Okay, I went to see this movie, largely based on comments I've read hereon. My favorite thing about it was the soundtrack. If I remember correctly, someone on this list said _P&P_ is the best Mormon romantic comedy so far. I didn't see _Charly_ or _Out of Step_ (not sure if either of those is even classed as a romantic comedy), but I've seen both Halestorm joints, and I would agree _P&P_ is better than them. However, not by as much as I'd hoped after reading your comments. Personally, I found _Best Two Years_ (coming to theaters in Feb?) more satisfying than _P&P_, though not by a huge margin. I can make that statement despite Kirby Heyborne's hamminess having almost ruined _Best_ for me (the film definitely needed his character, but I didn't buy his acting). I'm very grateful that Kirby Heyborne wasn't in _P&P_. If I remember correctly, someone also said that _P&P_ achieved the same level of competency as an adequate Hollywood film. No way, Jose! Perhaps my perspective is clouded by the fact that, just last night, I rewatched the sublime _High Fidelity_. I'm sorry, but even compared to lesser movies than _High Fidelity_, _P&P_ was way too hammy and silly and forced and implausible. It did have more successful moments than either Halestorm film--the soundtrack really helped it vault over some bars--and the acting was overall better than Halestorm acting, but so many of the supporting characters were botched, and so much of the plot felt forced. I didn't mind the lead actresses who played Elizabeth and Jane, though I agree with whoever said the main couple was not believable. However, the other female actresses were pretty much all a real mess (well, the Mary one was OK too). The men were better, I thought, but nowhere near the level of John Cusack and Jack Black. Actually, that's comparing apples to oranges, because _High Fidelity_ was a male POV film, and _P&P_ was a female POV. The supporting women in _HF_ were definitely way more satisfying than the supporting men in _P&P_. (I have to admit, though, that I really enjoyed the returned missionary doofus, even though he was way too exaggerated.) The goofiness and eccentricity in _High Fidelity_ worked because the film managed to not try TOO hard and to stay within the realm of plausibility, whereas those elements in _P&P_ pretty much went over the top. Why do so many Mormon films have to try too hard? I felt I was watching a somewhat-improved Halestorm flick, not a Hollywood-level flick. _P&P_'s wedding chapel scene was even almost as stupid and annoying as _R.M._'s courtroom scene. _P&P_ was sold out in Orem when I saw it on Friday, Jan. 9th, and to my surprise the theater was probably half full or more of middle-aged and retired people, from whom most of the loud laughs ensued. Not sure why that was. Maybe the tie-in to Jane Austen appeals to the older crowd, for whom the Halestorm flicks lack any redeeming cultural anchor? The film is apparently getting great word-of-mouth among the graying populace. By the way, the trailer for _Home Teacher_ struck me as almost as foreboding as the one for _Cat in the Hat_. It looks like the film will be a real mess, probably the worst Halestorm film yet. I hope we're pleasantly surprised. Chris Bigelow -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mark Hansen Subject: [AML] Mormon Folklore Date: 09 Jan 2004 22:14:32 -0800 (PST) Is there a site on the net that has reports on LDS folklore, a la snopes.com? Is anyone aware of such a site? MRKH ===== Mark Hansen +++++ Inspirational Rock Music http://markhansenmusic.com Listen to me and others at http://kzion.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Vholladay5254@aol.com Subject: [AML] PS on Cedar Fort Date: 10 Jan 2004 10:16:13 EST Me again. I finally came to your email and realize that you've already published your nonfiction book. That's what I get for starting with the most recent emails. Historical fiction in the LDS market is an interesting case. A few authors have made it work bigtime, but for several years, historical fiction has just not been as popular as contemporary. I think part of it is just that as a people, we've had so much history it feels like "been there done that." Yes, people like it and read it but the numbers aren't as significant and publishers look at that. If they have a choice between putting time and energy into producing a book that will sell 1200 copies and one that will sell 4500 in six months, they take the one that will sell more. CFI doesn't make this offer on all manuscripts it receives - just the "second tier," the ones that other publishers think are good but won't be big money makers. Most publishers (in my, granted, limited experience) want blockbusters. They'd like everything to sell like Gerald Lund or Chis Heimerdinger or Anita Stansfield. Anything less, and they really don't want to commit their resources to it, because then they're tied up when the next blockbuster does appear. Okay, that's all. Just that CFI is getting stronger and I expect they'll be a serious contender in the LDS publishing world. Cheers, Valerie -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] BLACK, _Pride and Prejudice_ (Movie Review) Date: 10 Jan 2004 11:32:41 -0700 I don't get this whole death wish scene thing for _Pride and Prejudice_. To me that whole melodramatic reaction to rejection is par for the course for moody BYU coeds and doesn't constitute going off the deep end of anything. -- 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Eric Samuelsen" Subject: RE: [AML] BLACK, _Pride and Prejudice_ (Movie Review) Date: 10 Jan 2004 14:35:32 -0700 Kim Madsen wrote: >So, I disagree with Eric, I didn't find it a death-wish scene. And I've >just decided it feels scary to disagree with Eric because he's smart and >well-versed in film techniques, a college professor for crying out loud, >and I am just a lowly audience member. So here Kim writes this terrific post, reading a scene differently from how I read it, but basing her reading on life experience I pretty much obviously have never had. I mean, I'm not, and never have been, a young woman. So, it's an interesting point Kim raised, and I was really taken with her argument. I still don't necessarily agree, but I see where she's coming from. And then she throws this above bit in at the end. No, see, that's not how it works. I'm just a guy. To put it another way, I'm a guy. I do not have, and never will have, a woman's perspective on any work of art. =20 The fact that I'm a college professor means, in this context, exactly nothing. I love the exchange of views we have on this list. But please, I have no authority here. We're both just audience members, readers and watchers and viewers. In the case of this particular film, though, what I find interesting is the fact that there was this scene that, for me, not only didn't work, but which seriously detracted from my (purely subjective) enjoyment of the picture. So a film I wanted to REALLY like, I sort of kind of liked. Kim obviously had a very different experience with the film. But were both our experiences completely valid? Of course they were.=20 There's another factor as well. I tried to talk Andrew out of what I saw as a death wish scene. He didn't agree with me, and I still think he was wrong. Does that fact have anything to do with the fact that I don't like that scene? Sure. =20 Kim, please, keep posting. And the next time I do something, a play or a movie or something, and something about it bugs you, say so. I promise I will listen. Will I be persuaded that I'm wrong? Quite possibly. =20 Eric Samuelsen -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Eric Samuelsen" Subject: RE: [AML] David FARLAND, _Lair of Bones_ (Review) Date: 10 Jan 2004 14:45:52 -0700 Ivan Wolfe wrote: > I'll list five other fantasy writers that need to be >checked out: >1. Robin Hobb - her series about FiyzChivalry, the Liveships and the White >Prophet are my third favorite fantasy books ever. >2. Orson Scott Card finally released the Crystal City, the latest Alvin >Maker >book, and it was as good as any of the others. =20 >3. Robert Jordan needs to wrap up the series soon, but his wheel of time >series >is still the most richly detailed and inticately designed fantasy series on >the market. =20 >4. Stephen King's Gunslinger series is his best work period, and one of >the ten >best fantasy series ever IMHO. Great fantasy. Amazing, wonderful, etc.=20 >5. Alan Moore's "League of Extraordinary Gentlmen" (yes the movie was >awful, >but it has no resemblance whatsoever to the masterpiece his graphic novel >of the >same name was) and Neil Gaiman's Sandman series are comic books that are >better >than 95% of the prose fantasy out there. >FWIW. See, and here we go. I've read Robin Hobb. Think she's great. Haven't read Robert Jordan, but my wife and daughter have, and think he's great. And I'll defend Stephen King anywhere, in any context. I saw League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the movie, and had a feeling that there was a pretty nifty source book I was watching get butchered up there. (Okay, Seabiscuit was sold out that night, and my wife I had a babysitter, and LOEG had tickets available, and the viewing time was right. Plus it had Sean Connery; how bad could it be? Ha. I don't know if that's the worst movie ever made, but it's surely one of the worst really expensive movies ever.) (Then it turned out Seabiscuit wasn't all that good either, I didn't think. And that's a GREAT book, which got turned into an okay, but too obviously 'inspirational' movie.) (Sort of like Radio. Well acted, but thematically, uh, unsubtle.) Eric Samuelsen -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "R.W. Rasband" Subject: [AML] Deseret News: The Double Edge of Sundance Date: 10 Jan 2004 15:28:30 -0800 (PST) (The following was the lead editorial in this morning's Deseret News. It gives good advice, though the ominous tone of warning against wickedness at Sundance is funny to those of us who have been familiar with the festival for a while. Back before Tarantino's "Resevoir Dogs" and Soderbergh's "sex, lies and videotape" changed Sundance's image, the average Sundance movie usually reflected Robert Redford's piously earnest social and political views--that is, granola-ish, preachy leftism, about as "dangerous" as an issue of "The Nation" or a PBS documentary. Those films would win the prizes at the festival and then be promptly forgotten. The evolution of Sundance into hipness is amusingly recounted in Joe Bob Briggs' "Profoundly Disturbing", a highly moral book about dangerous films that I heartily recommend.) Deseret Morning News, Saturday, January 10, 2004 The double edge of Sundance Deseret Morning News editorial For several weeks now, the Sundance Film Festival has been running a promo in local movie theaters. In the spot, a pair of herky-jerky hands arrange and=20 re-arrange letters to form the titles of films that have premiered at the Park City event over the years. The roll call is long and impressive. A lot of A-list films have been shown. In short, the annual Park City festival, the brainchild of Robert Redford, has a life of its own now. It attracts artists, investors, retailers, paparazzi, glitterati and has given Utah =97 once considered a maze of cow trails =97 some cosmopolitan flair. As for Redford, a man who made his bones on his matinee idol looks, Sundance has been a way to sharpen and polish the gift for serious cinema he displayed directing "Ordinary People." Redford has prospered. Cinema has prospered. And Park City has prospered. But as with every ski town, there is also a downslope to deal with. Woody Allen once said if he could live his life over again, he'd do everything the same, except he'd skip "The Last Remake of Beau Geste." Many moviegoers=20 would likely choose to skip many of the films that have premiered at Sundance. In fact, it's been suggested that Charles Dickens wrote the line, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" about the festival. Directors, actors and writers have used Sundance to give the world wonders. They have also used it to give the world a great deal of landfill. Yes, it takes a kind of "guts" to sit through a bloody, distressing Quentin Tarantino film, take the body blows and not walk out. But it also takes courage to see such for what it is: Stylish, rhythmic violence that uses "art" to mask an unhealthy fixation with atrocities. Because of Sundance, much ugly cinema can never be put back in the can. It's here to stay. Yet, to wax philosophical, so it is with the world in general. Depravity is a part of daily life. And society can no longer be counted on to screen it or=20 provide a buffer. People must pick and choose wisely as they examine their options for entertainment and enlightenment. The Sundance film festival has been known to offer unforgettable moments. It has also provided moments that people can never forget, no matter how much they try. Do some homework. Listen to the buzz. Choose well. As with any product, let the buyer beware. Copyright 2004 Deseret News Publishing Company=20 =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D R.W. Rasband Heber City, UT rrasband@yahoo.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Christopher Bigelow Subject: [AML] (DesNews & SL Trib) _Home Teachers_ reviews Date: 12 Jan 2004 09:31:44 -0700 Home Teachers, The HOME TEACHERS, THE: Michael Birkeland, Jeff Birk, Elizabeth Sands, Jimmy Chunga. Rated PG (violence, vulgarity) By Jeff Vice Deseret Morning News [one and a half stars] That "The Home Teachers" looks and sounds more like an actual film than HaleStorm Entertainment's two other movies is a real accomplishment. Both "The Singles Ward" and "The R.M." were pretty much amateur hour - low- to no-budget films filled with out-of-focus shots and fuzzy sound, as well as little plot (truth be told, they resembled filmed "roadshows" more than anything else). For all its technical achievements, the company's latest - and least-funny - comedy makes you yearn for the quaint incompetence of the other two films. It's as if in trying to tell an actual story the filmmakers have taken a big step backward. And its "homages" to such beloved comedies as "Tommy Boy" and "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" are too obvious, verging on comedic plagiarism. The title characters are Greg Blazer (HaleStorm regular Michael Birkeland) and Nelson Parker (Jeff Birk), two LDS Church members who begin butting heads when they're assigned to be home-teaching companions. That's because they couldn't be more different. Greg would just as soon spend his Sundays in front of the television, watching professional football and eating chicken wings. The gung-ho Nelson - who's new to the ward - wants to start their visits immediately. And to Greg's surprise, his wife (Elizabeth Sands) agrees with Nelson and practically kicks him out the door. (She's basically hoping the experience will do him good.) But with the first visit, things go horribly awry. As Greg sneaks away to take in some gridiron action, he sets in motion several small disasters that destroy the unfortunate family's home. And things only get worse from there. The bits cribbed from other movies only make you wish you were watching those instead. And the tonal shift in the film's final third, from slapstick to more saccharine drama, is much too jarring. The two leads try to make the material better - even if their efforts are in vain. Birk, whose character looks sort of like Jerry Seinfeld in a Pee-Wee Herman Halloween costume, doesn't overdo it as much as you'd expect. And Birkeland does have a likable, everyman quality that certainly helps. "The Home Teachers" is rated PG for scenes of comic violence (hunting, vehicular and slapstick), crude humor and sight gags (relating to bodily functions) and scattered use of mild (and creative) profanity. Running time: 81 minutes. Movie review: The Home Teachers By Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune [two stars] Rated PG for thematic elements and brief mild language; 81 minutes; opening today across Utah. The latest comedy from "The Singles Ward" director Kurt Hale is an uneven buddy movie, showing the wacky misadventures of Mormon home-teaching partners -- one anal-retentive and overzealous (Jeff Birk), the other a football-obsessed slob (Michael Birkeland) -- ministering to reluctant ward families. The gags (involving an overflowing toilet, a disrupted funeral service and a destroyed car) are juvenile and plod on too long. The leads are engaging, particularly Birkeland, who has a goofy, Chris Farley-esque appeal. Hale is showing signs of improvement: backing off the local-celebrity cameos (with the woeful exception of radio personality Jimmy Chunga), taking pains to explain LDS culture to outsiders, and going beyond the green Jell-O jokes to talk about the Mormon faith. -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Veda Hale Subject: Re: [AML] Cedar Fort Offer on My Manuscript Date: 12 Jan 2004 13:16:58 -0800 (PST) Well, maybe run from Cedar Fork... I'm one who has a book done by them. Someone on the staff knew I had the manuscript and "talked me into it". Yes, it cost me. But it also got me off my dime and thrust me into publication. Worth it? There are ways of judging that don't always add up to money. They took care of the details--Copyright, listed on Amazon.com, put out there in a few places, enough to where a few people who knew me saw it and bought and commented. I'm not sorry I did it. Of course, it didn't take money I needed for anyone else in the family. If it had, I'd probably do like most of us do, back down for family needs. I was led to believe that the book had merit, that they didn't just publish anything. Hummmm. Doug Alder, a friend in St. George and a man with a wide influence, also published his first novel with Cedar Fork at the same time as mine was done--December 1902. His is titled "Sons of Bear Lake". He did most everything they suggest to help promote. I think he is satisfied and his book has sold well. I did nothing, at least not yet. I was busy on the Whipple biography and trveling with my husband. He sent letters to his wide list of acquaintances, got himself asked to speak to many different groups, perhaps hinted to certain people to review book, etc. After thinking about the situation, I'm afraid it takes that in today's world. There is just too much out there for something to be discovered on its own. Has anyone run across my book, "Ragged Circle"? I doubt it. We all have too much to read just keeping up with what we've heard mentioned by someone who we think is more knowledgable than we are. So, what am I saying? Well, I like the Cedar Fork "folks". I like what they are trying to accomplish in a difficult publishing world. How could AML help them and those like them? We shouldn't all be like little puppies sniffing around the Deseret Book doors, hoping for a chance to slip in to where we think the only warm hearth is. Veda Hale -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: LDS Film Festival (by way of Jonathan Langford ) Subject: [AML] This Friday: Filmmaking Marathon Date: 15 Jan 2004 17:57:22 -0600 LDSBOX NEWSLETTER 01/04 http://www.ldsbox.com feedback@ldsbox.com GET READY FOR THE 24-HOUR FILMMAKING MARATHON The LDS FILM FESTIVAL is launching its 2ND 24-HOUR FILMMAKING MARATHON. Get together with a group of friends and be part of this exhilarating competition. No pre-registration is necessary. Just sign-up at 12.00 p.m. (noon) on FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, at the Provo City Library at Academy Square (550 N. University Avenue). You will receive a theme for a short film that you have to finish in 24 hours. On SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, no later than 12.00 p.m. (noon) you hand in your finished film. All films will be screened and judged at the 3RD LDS FILM FESTIVAL on Thursday, January 22, at 6.00 p.m. You will be allowed to use any equipment and format of your choice but have to turn in your film on a Mini-DV tape. You have only 24 hours to write, shoot and edit your film. Your finished film can be no longer than 4 minutes. No more than five people (cast and crew) per group will be allowed to take part. You need to know your team members when you sign-up. At least one member of the group needs to be present for sign-up and drop-off. No foul language, sexual content or graphic violence will be permitted. All films must be completely original and all permissions must be retained for any copyrighted media. The entry fee is $ 25.00 per participating group. 60% of the entry fee goes to the price money. All participants contribute to the prize money that will be awarded to the winner of the 24-HOUR FILMMAKING MARATHON (for example: if 30 groups participate the price money will be $ 450.00). You will also receive 2 free tickets for one screening of your film. Additionally, the best films will be part of the "BEST OF 2004" program and tour around the world. This is your chance to become an award-winning filmmaker practically overnight... MAKE A MOVIE IN 24 HOURS BECOME AN AWARD-WINNING FILMMAKER IN 24 HOURS START: FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 12.00 NOON Sign-up at the Provo City Library (550 N. University Ave.) FINISH: SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 12.00 NOON Drop-off Deadline at the Provo City Library SCREENING: THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 6.00 P.M. Screening of all elligible films at the Provo City Library LOG ON: http://www.ldsbox.com You either signed up for our newsletter or were recommended to us by a friend. If you would like to unsubscribe from future LDSBOX mailings, simply reply to this message with the word REMOVE in the subject line. -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Chantaclair" Subject: [AML] re: Who else has a webpage? Date: 13 Jan 2004 07:55:22 -0800 (Pacific Standard Time) Still lurking now and again folks. Nice to see you about. RE: Webpages, mine is http://Chantaclair.com Feel free to meander, it is quite extensive, if not updated. . . Marsha -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Andrew Hall" Subject: [AML] HALE, "The Home Teachers" (newspaper reviews) Date: 14 Jan 2004 03:59:29 +0000 Below are reviews of The Home Teachers from the SL Tribune, Deseret Morning= =20 News, Ogden Standard-Examiner, and Eric Snider The Salt Lake Tribune "The Home Teachers" By Sean P. Means 9 January 2004 2 out of 4 stars Rated PG for thematic elements and brief mild language; 81 minutes; opening= =20 today across Utah. The latest comedy from "The Singles Ward" director Kurt Hale is an uneven=20 buddy movie, showing the wacky misadventures of Mormon home-teaching partners --= =20 one anal-retentive and overzealous (Jeff Birk), the other a football-obsessed=20 slob (Michael Birkeland) -- ministering to reluctant ward families. The gags=20 (involving an overflowing toilet, a disrupted funeral service and a destroyed car) are=20 juvenile and plod on too long. The leads are engaging, particularly Birkeland, who has a= =20 goofy, Chris Farley-esque appeal. Hale is showing signs of improvement: backing off= =20 the local-celebrity cameos (with the woeful exception of radio personality Jimmy Chunga), taking pains to explain LDS culture to outsiders, and going beyond= =20 the green Jell-O jokes to talk about the Mormon faith. Copyright 2004, The Salt Lake Tribune. Deseret Morning News Friday, January 9, 2004 'Teachers' is lesson in bad storytelling By Jeff Vice 1.5 stars out of 4 That "The Home Teachers" looks and sounds more like an actual film than HaleStorm Entertainment's two other movies is a real accomplishment. Both "The Singles Ward" and "The R.M." were pretty much amateur hour -- low- to no-budget films filled with out-of-focus shots and fuzzy sound, as well as little plot (truth be told, they resembled filmed "roadshows"=20 more than anything else). For all its technical achievements, the company's latest -- and least-funny= =20 -- comedy makes you yearn for the quaint incompetence of the other two films. It's as if in trying to tell an actual story the filmmakers have=20 taken a large step backward. And its "homages" to such beloved comedies as "Tommy Boy" and "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" are too obvious, verging on comedic plagiarism. The title characters are Greg Blazer (HaleStorm regular Michael Birkeland) and Nelson Parker (Jeff Birk), two LDS Church members who begin butting heads when they're assigned to be home-teaching companions. That's because they couldn't be more different. Greg would just as soon spend his Sundays in front of the television, watching professional football and eating chicken wings. The gung-ho Nelson -- who's new to the ward -- wants to start their visits immediately. And to Greg's surprise, his wife (Elizabeth Sands) agrees with Nelson and practically kicks him out the door. (She's basically hoping the experience will do him good.) But with the first visit, things go horribly awry. As Greg sneaks away to take in some gridiron action, he sets in motion several small disasters that destroy the unfortunate family's home. And things only get worse from there. The bits cribbed from other movies only make you wish you were watching those instead. And the tonal shift in the film's final third, from slapstick to more saccharine drama, is much too jarring. The two leads try to make the material better -- even if their efforts are in vain. Birk, whose character looks sort of like Jerry Seinfeld in a=20 Pee-Wee Herman Halloween costume, doesn't overdo it as much as you'd expect. And Birkeland does have a likable, everyman quality that certainly helps. "The Home Teachers" is rated PG for scenes of comic violence (hunting, vehicular and slapstick), crude humor and sight gags (relating to bodily functions) and scattered use of mild (and creative) profanity. Running time: 81 minutes. Copyright 2004 Deseret News Publishing Company Ogden Standard-Examiner 9 January 2004 Wait until the end of the month if you must see 'Home Teachers' Makers of 'Singles Ward' strike out with latest effort By Steve Salles 1.5 stars out of 4 For those of you who've had an unpleasant home-teaching experience, prepare yourselves -- you're about to have another. I was hoping the makers of "The Singles Ward" and "The R.M." had progressed a little further in their filmmaking skills by now. But this=20 latest release, "Home Teachers," shows one of two things: Either they're getting complacent in their craft, or physical, slapstick comedy is extremely difficult to get right. Knowing how badly these guys want to improve, I'm going to lean toward the latter. Greg (Michael Birkeland) goes to his local ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but he'd rather be home watching football on Sunday, lounging in his Love Sac (first blatant product placement) and eating chicken wings. One of the few real laughs in the movie comes when Greg is forced to sit through another mind-numbing priesthood lesson on the values of home teaching. He is chomping at the bit to get home, but the clock on the wall actually appears to be going backward, and the never-ending closing prayer comes out in super slow motion. Home teaching is the LDS practice of monthly visits to assigned families in the local congregation. It's sort of an inside joke that home teachers wait until the last minute to fulfill their sacred obligations. A new guy in the ward, Nelson (Jeff Birk), is assigned to be Greg's new home-teaching companion -- and it just happens to be the last day of the month. Straight-laced and uptight Nelson is eager to meet his new families and shames Greg into leaving his TV, so off they go. So far, so good. The scenarios up until now seem realistic, and I'm sure LDS Church members will identify. However, this is where the movie begins to unravel. No sooner do the valiant home teachers begin their visits than things start to happen that defy logic and believability. Sure, a toilet can overflow, but to pull a wedding dress out of a closet for an emergency mop-up is ridiculous, unless you see it as an opportunity to display your second product placement (Utahweddings.com). This is where I started thinking I was being used to mop up the mess of this movie and, to add insult to injury, I'm being sold something? No way. Then the film becomes a blatant rip-off of "Tommy Boy" and "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" with a silly trip to Vernal -- for a memorial service on=20 Sunday where a stuffed deer head suddenly becomes hollow enough to wear? Cars are crashing with Ken Garff logos pristinely displayed, Ogio gets a plug on= =20 the bill of a cap, Red Bull drops by, as well as Krispy Kreme doughnuts -- and= =20 I'm sure I missed one or two. Shame on you, Kurt and company. You had a nice little franchise going here, and you had to ruin it with this schlock. And getting all warm and fuzzy at the end doesn't save it. I'd rather get daily visits from the worst home teachers in the world than to have to sit through these "Home Teachers" again. EricDSnider.com REVIEW: "The Home Teachers" By Eric D. Snider Kurt Hale and John E. Moyer are getting better at making films. "The Home Teachers," their second followup to the huge Mormon hit "The Singles Ward," is better focused and less chaotic. The useless and embarrassing celebrity cameos are almost gone, and so are the plot tangents. It now seems like they were actually making a movie, rather than throwing a party for all their friends. Unfortunately, "The Home Teachers," while more professional in some technical and structural areas, is a wreck in other ways. Hale's directing techniques are more polished, but his and Moyer's screenplay borrows too much from other films, suffers from an abrupt change in tone, and, worst of all, ISN'T FUNNY. As helpfully explained by title cards as the film opens, "home teaching" is the LDS practice of sending brethren around to all the homes in the ward each month to check on the temporal and spiritual welfare of the members. The good home teachers get it done early and have an honest interest in their families' well-being. The slackers wait until the last day= =20 and do it just to appease their supervisors. Our film opens on the last day of the month. Greg Blazer (Michael Birkeland) is a football dad, barreling out of church each Sunday as soon as the final "amen" is uttered so he can deposit himself on the couch and watch football the rest of the day and ignore his wife and three daughters. Home teaching, we gather, has not been a major concern of his up to this point. But his newly assigned companion, recent move-in Nelson Parker (Jeff Birk), is far more enthusiastic. Nelson wears a bowtie, carries a Palm Pilot=20 everywhere, and wouldn't dream of spending the Sabbath watching sports when there's so much of the Lord's work to be done. He drags Greg away from the TV and out to visit their three families. Here the film ceases to be about home teaching, Mormon culture, or even religion in general, and starts being a disaster comedy, with Greg=20 destroying everything he touches and the unflappable Nelson becoming increasing flapped. Situations grow worse and worse, and the results become, at least in theory, progressively funny. I believe Hale and Moyer have the right idea, using Mormonism as the context of a story rather than the focus of it. Problematically, none of it is=20 funny. They have seen hilarious farcical comedies, obviously, but they don't seem to understand why they were funny and therefore can't replicate them. I could just tell you that most of the comedy in "The Home Teachers" isn't funny, but that wouldn't help you. Let me explain why it isn't funny. For farce to work, it must obey the basic laws of physics and logic. Farce= =20 isn't where impossible things happen; it's where IMPROBABLE things happen. The genius of good farce is in the audience's realization that, while it's=20 unlikely they'd ever find themselves in that situation, if they DID find themselves there,= =20 that's probably how they'd react, too. Farce creates a new reality, where=20 improbable predicaments arise, but its characters are still bound by the laws of human= =20 nature and react accordingly. That's what makes it funny: the persistence of human nature even in the most bizarre circumstances. In "The Home Teachers," many things occur that are simply impossible. To=20 make matters worse, the characters react in ways that fly in the face of all=20 common sense and human nature. Not only COULDN'T we ever find ourselves in that situation, but even if we did, WE WOULDN'T REACT THAT WAY. The humor is=20 lost. Exhibit A is Greg's battle with an overflowing toilet in the home of one of= =20 his and Nelson's families. (We won't address the fact that approximately 1,000,000 movies have already used recalcitrant commodes as a comedy device, and we're tired of it, even when it's done right.) It is improbable that the toilet=20 would continue to flow so rapidly and thoroughly, but it's at least possible.=20 What's impossible is that a thin stream of water would shoot up from the toilet=20 bowl into Greg's face. Toilets aren't made that way; it's not physically possible= =20 for that to occur. Now, if you were in this situation, you would turn the water off, because=20 you know there's a knob on the wall behind the toilet that will do that. (Maybe= =20 you don't, but a manly man like Greg surely would.) But Greg doesn't do that. Instead, he slips and slides around the wet floor, flailing madly in a Chris= =20 Farley-ish manner as he does. Next, he feels it important to soak up all the water with something. He does not grab towels, however, as none seem to be handy. Instead, he takes a wedding dress from the hall closet -- a closet that is otherwise completely empty; apparently this is a special closet reserved for wedding dresses only= =20 -- and uses it as a sponge. We have already left the realm of probability and human nature, but wait, there's more. Apparently, this wedding dress is the one the lady of the=20 house wore when she was married, which happened ages ago. But people don't keep their years-old wedding dresses in the hall closet, and certainly not= =20 in new plastic coverings that say "UtahWeddings.com." They keep them in their attics, in trunks. So not only wouldn't this wedding dress be=20 available for use in real life, but even if it were, no sane, sober, adult person would=20 use it to mop up toilet water. Later, Greg and Nelson drive two-plus hours to Vernal, Utah, to attend a memorial service for a relative of one of their families. (No Mormon family= =20 would hold a funeral on a Sunday, and no home teacher would drive that far, spur= =20 of the moment, to attend he'd never even met the family.) Predictably, Greg winds up engaged in mortal combat with the dead body (another thing we've seen a bit too often in movies, though sadly not often enough in real life),= =20 and rather than simply dropping the body or putting it down, he dances around=20 with it draped over him. Meanwhile, two people faint (highly unlikely) and must= =20 be taken to the hospital (extraordinarily unlikely). I could go on listing the impossible events and the unbelievable reactions= =20 they inspire, but you get the idea. I suspect the writers thought of amusing end scenarios -- mopping up toilet water with a wedding dress; molesting a=20 corpse -- and simply couldn't come up with reasonable avenues of arriving at them. The film's third act comes back around to home teaching again, and=20 everyone's supposed to learn a lesson and hug. The shift in tone is jarring,=20 particularly after an hour of mayhem and hijinks. I hear the rebuttals already: You criticized "The Singles Ward" and "The=20 R.M." for being TOO Mormon; now you criticize "The Home Teachers" for not being Mormon enough. But on the contrary, my objection to "Singles Ward" wasn't that it relied on Mormon jokes; it was that it relied on easy-to-make,=20 obvious Mormon jokes. My criticism of "The Home Teachers" has nothing to do with the type of humor employed. It's the poor execution of it. Make Mormon jokes, make non-Mormon jokes, make whatever kind of jokes you want. Just make them funny, that's all I ask. So yeah, the farce doesn't work. Is the movie enjoyable? Meh. It didn't=20 actively irritate me the way "Singles Ward" did, but at least "Singles Ward" made me laugh a few times, amidst the irritation. "Home Teachers" produced hardly a chuckle. I'm not sure what the appeal would be here. Without the "it's funny because it's true" Mormon humor that made the other two films successful, it's=20 basically just another mismatched-partners/"Tommy Boy"-ripoff/one-thing-after-another comedy. And if that's what Hale and Moyer want to produce, they've got a lot of catching up to do before they're even close to being competitive with Hollywood. Grade: C- Copyright Eric D. Snider _________________________________________________________________ High-speed users=97be more efficient online with the new MSN Premium= Internet=20 Software. http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=3Den-us&page=3Dbyoa/prem&ST=3D1 -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Andrew Hall" Subject: [AML] OGDEN, "Whatsoever: The Story of Abraham" (DN) Date: 14 Jan 2004 04:03:02 +0000 Deseret News Sunday, January 11, 2004 Openings this week Locally written biblical story is being revived By Ivan M. Lincoln "WHATSOEVER: THE STORY OF ABRAHAM," one of the late Mark Ogden's early successes, is being revived for the third time by the St. George Musical Theater, the company the playwright founded. Told with energetic music (similar to the tunes found in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat"), the production relates the biblical story of Abraham and his family striving to follow their faith. The antics of Lot and his wife, Lotta, add comedy to the mix. Dawna Kenworthy is directing a cast that includes her husband, Don, as Abraham, Kristina Kessler as Sarah, Jeff Long as Lot and Missy Hill as Lotta. Following the opening on Thursday, it will continue Mondays and Thursdays- Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. in SGMT's new home, 37 S. 100 West. Tickets are $13 for adults, $12 for students and senior citizens (60 and over) and $10 for children (12 and under). "Student rush" tickets, for any available seating on the day of the show at the door, are half-price for students with current school activity cards. To purchase tickets in advance, call 435-628-8755. _________________________________________________________________ Let the new MSN Premium Internet Software make the most of your high-speed experience. http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=en-us&page=byoa/prem&ST=1 -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Andrew Hall" Subject: [AML] SWENSON, _Iced at the Ward, Burned at the Stake and Other Poems_= Date: 14 Jan 2004 04:05:22 +0000 'Iced at the Ward, Burned at the Stake and Other Poems' By Paul Swenson Signature, $14.95 Utahn Paul Swenson is best known for his film reviews for "Utah=20 Holiday" and "City Weekly." Few knew that he had ambitions to follow in his=20 illustrious poet-sister's footsteps. The late May Swenson was considered a highly=20 successful American poet. In this interesting work, Swenson takes on his own LDS culture with a vengeance. Ironically, it is unlikely to be understood by the people he is= =20 trying to reach -- the average Utah Mormon with all of his or her flaws conspicuously magnified. Although the poems are written with surprising diversity of styles,=20 their titles make the statements the poems themselves should make -- "Carnal, Sensual & Devilish," "Black Moroni," "Eternal Digression," "God Plans Her Day" and=20 "The Prophet Debbie" illustrate the problem. It's too bad Swenson did not define= =20 his audience more broadly -- because he has talent. -- Dennis Lythgoe Copyright 2004 Deseret News Publishing Company _________________________________________________________________ Scope out the new MSN Plus Internet Software =97 optimizes dial-up to the= max!=20 http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=3Den-us&page=3Dbyoa/plus&ST=3D1 -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Christopher Bigelow Subject: RE: [AML] Mormon Folklore Date: 15 Jan 2004 13:24:41 -0700 You'll get several if you type "mormon urban legends" into google and try other search terms. -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Eric D. Snider Subject: [AML] HALE, _Home Teachers_ (Review) Date: 15 Jan 2004 14:00:20 -0700 Kurt Hale and John E. Moyer are getting better at making films. "The Home Teachers," their second followup to the huge Mormon hit "The Singles Ward," is better focused and less chaotic. The useless and embarrassing celebrity cameos are almost gone, and so are the plot tangents. It now seems like they were actually making a movie, rather than throwing a party for all their friends. Unfortunately, "The Home Teachers," while more professional in some technical and structural areas, is a wreck in other ways. Hale's directing techniques are more polished, but his and Moyer's screenplay borrows too much from other films, suffers from an abrupt change in tone, and, worst of all, ISN'T FUNNY. As helpfully explained by title cards as the film opens, "home teaching" is the LDS practice of sending brethren around to all the homes in the ward each month to check on the temporal and spiritual welfare of the members. The good home teachers get it done early and have an honest interest in their families' well-being. The slackers wait until the last day and do it just to appease their supervisors. Our film opens on the last day of the month. Greg Blazer (Michael Birkeland) is a football dad, barreling out of church each Sunday as soon as the final "amen" is uttered so he can deposit himself on the couch and watch football the rest of the day and ignore his wife and three daughters. Home teaching, we gather, has not been a major concern of his up to this point. But his newly assigned companion, recent move-in Nelson Parker (Jeff Birk), is far more enthusiastic. Nelson wears a bowtie, carries a Palm Pilot everywhere, and wouldn't dream of spending the Sabbath watching sports when there's so much of the Lord's work to be done. He drags Greg away from the TV and out to visit their three families. Here the film ceases to be about home teaching, Mormon culture, or even religion in general, and starts being a disaster comedy, with Greg destroying everything he touches and the unflappable Nelson becoming increasing flapped. Situations grow worse and worse, and the results become, at least in theory, progressively funny. I believe Hale and Moyer have the right idea, using Mormonism as the CONTEXT of a story rather than the FOCUS of it. Problematically, none of it is funny. They have seen hilarious farcical comedies, obviously, but they don't seem to understand WHY they were funny and therefore can't replicate them. I could just tell you that most of the comedy in "The Home Teachers" isn't funny, but that wouldn't help you. Let me explain why it isn't funny. For farce to work, it must obey the basic laws of physics and logic. Farce isn't where impossible things happen; it's where IMPROBABLE things happen. The genius of good farce is in the audience's realization that, while it's unlikely they'd ever find themselves in that situation, if they DID find themselves there, that's probably how they'd react, too. Farce creates a new reality, where improbable predicaments arise, but its characters are still bound by the laws of human nature and react accordingly. That's what makes it funny: the persistence of human nature even in the most bizarre circumstances. In "The Home Teachers," many things occur that are simply impossible. To make matters worse, the characters react in ways that fly in the face of all common sense and human nature. Not only COULDN'T we ever find ourselves in that situation, but even if we did, WE WOULDN'T REACT THAT WAY. The humor is lost. Exhibit A is Greg's battle with an overflowing toilet in the home of one of his and Nelson's families. (We won't address the fact that approximately 1,000,000 movies have already used recalcitrant commodes as a comedy device, and we're tired of it, even when it's done right.) It is improbable that the toilet would continue to flow so rapidly and thoroughly, but it's at least possible. What's impossible is that a thin stream of water would shoot up from the toilet bowl into Greg's face. Toilets aren't made that way; it's not physically possible for that to occur. Now, if you were in this situation, you would turn the water off, because you know there's a knob on the wall behind the toilet that will do that. (Maybe you don't, but a manly man like Greg surely would.) But Greg doesn't do that. Instead, he slips and slides around the wet floor, flailing madly in a Chris Farley-ish manner as he does. Next, he feels it important to soak up all the water with something. He does not grab towels, however, as none seem to be handy. Instead, he takes a wedding dress from the hall closet -- a closet that is otherwise completely empty; apparently this is a special closet reserved for wedding dresses only -- and uses it as a sponge. We have already left the realm of probability and human nature, but wait, there's more. Apparently, this wedding dress is the one the lady of the house wore when she was married, which happened ages ago. But people don't keep their years-old wedding dresses in the hall closet, and certainly not in new plastic coverings that say "UtahWeddings.com." They keep them in their attics, in trunks. So not only wouldn't this wedding dress be available for use in real life, but even if it were, no sane, sober, adult person would use it to mop up toilet water. Later, Greg and Nelson drive two-plus hours to Vernal, Utah, to attend a memorial service for a relative of one of their families. (No Mormon family would hold a funeral on a Sunday, and no home teacher would drive that far, spur of the moment, to attend he'd never even met the family.) Predictably, Greg winds up engaged in mortal combat with the dead body (another thing we've seen a bit too often in movies, though sadly not often enough in real life), and rather than simply dropping the body or putting it down, he dances around with it draped over him. Meanwhile, two people faint (highly unlikely) and must be taken to the hospital (extraordinarily unlikely). I could go on listing the impossible events and the unbelievable reactions they inspire, but you get the idea. I suspect the writers thought of amusing end scenarios -- mopping up toilet water with a wedding dress; molesting a corpse -- and simply couldn't come up with reasonable avenues of arriving at them. The film's third act comes back around to home teaching again, and everyone's supposed to learn a lesson and hug. The shift in tone is jarring, particularly after an hour of mayhem and hijinks. I hear the rebuttals already: You criticized "The Singles Ward" and "The R.M." for being TOO Mormon; now you criticize "The Home Teachers" for not being Mormon enough. But on the contrary, my objection to "Singles Ward" wasn't that it relied on Mormon jokes; it was that it relied on easy-to-make, obvious Mormon jokes. My criticism of "The Home Teachers" has nothing to do with the type of humor employed. It's the poor execution of it. Make Mormon jokes, make non-Mormon jokes, make whatever kind of jokes you want. Just make them funny, that's all I ask. So yeah, the farce doesn't work. Is the movie enjoyable? Meh. It didn't actively irritate me the way "Singles Ward" did, but at least "Singles Ward" made me laugh a few times, amidst the irritation. "Home Teachers" produced hardly a chuckle. I'm not sure what the appeal would be here. Without the "it's funny because it's true" Mormon humor that made the other two films successful, it's basically just another mismatched-partners/"Tommy Boy"-ripoff/one-thing-after-another comedy. And if that's what Hale and Moyer want to produce, they've got a lot of catching up to do before they're even close to being competitive with Hollywood. Eric D. Snider -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Nan P. McCulloch" Subject: [AML] _The Best of Lowell Bennion_ Date: 15 Jan 2004 14:13:45 -0700 I just secured a copy of Lowell L. Bennion's selected writings = 1028-1988--edited by Eugene England--from Amazon.com. It was pricey, = but worth it as I am a sincere fan. Does anyone know where this book = can be found at a reasonable price? Also, is there anyone I can contact = personally about confirming some historical information re LLB that is = not appropriate for this list--historian, friend, family member? Nan McCulloch -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Eric Samuelsen" Subject: RE: [AML] Deseret News: The Double Edge of Sundance Date: 15 Jan 2004 14:45:37 -0700 Here's the line that amazes me: >Yes, it takes a kind of "guts" to sit through a >bloody, distressing Quentin Tarantino film, take the >body blows and not walk out. >But it also takes courage to see such for what it is: >Stylish, rhythmic violence that uses "art" to mask an >unhealthy fixation with atrocities. For what it 'is?' No. This is one critic's judgment call. Agree with it or don't agree with it as you will, but let's at least tell the truth: one critic (who didn't even have the 'courage' to sign his name to this editorial) didn't like Kill Bill. Or Pulp Fiction. Or maybe Jackie Brown, who knows. A Tarantino film, anyway. The assumptions in this editorial are absolutely staggering. We just assume, for example, that films that explore ugly subjects matter are unhealthy. We assume that all such films (all 'those kinds of films') are damaging. We assume that violent films, or films exploring issues of depravity are therefore evidence of sinfully depraved artists creating works of art for sinful and depraved audiences. We assume that folks who see films with violent or sexual imagery want desperately to forget such imagery, but can't, no matter how much they try. =20 None of these assumptions are universally valid, though of course some may be valid for some folks. This courageously anonymous editorialist, for example, may have felt genuinely damaged by Kill Bill. S/he may have been trying to get that film's images out of his/her head, and been unable to do so, in such ways that the experience of seeing the film was psychologically or spiritually damaging. For him. Or her. As the case may be. But it's also possible to see Kill Bill as a masterpiece, a film that truthfully and unwaveringly explores our culture's fascination with violence, a film that simultaneously seduces and repels us with its violence. Are revenge fantasies satisfying? Of course they are. So create the world's biggest revenge fantasy, and let the discussion begin. =20 The Deseret News is marvelous reading. I'm politically liberal, and therefore I should read the Salt Lake Tribune, I suppose. But I don't; I read the DN. (I also live in Provo, and could subscribe to the Provo Herald, if I wanted to, and I could, but geez, I've gotta draw the line somewhere.) The DN's such a wonderful mirror to the current state of Utah culture. (Especially the letters to the editor. Hardly the day passes without at least one letter that's genuinely insightful. And hardly the day passes without at least one that's completely insane.) And this editorial is Mormon culture (when it comes to film) writ large. We're more courageous than most folk, because we're willing to tell the Truth, and that's because we understand the Truth of All Things, and that is that films come in two categories, Safe, and Dangerously Depraved. =20 But is it safe to reject all that? I mean, I have learned a long time ago that I cannot talk about film with my neighbors, or with anyone in my ward. We just don't have any common frames of reference. When I reject ALL the assumptions of this editorial--and I do, for me--am I putting something equally valuable in their place? I hope so. If I love Tarantino--and I do--and if I think his films are morally defensible--and I absolutely do--then I don't have a lot of choice. I'm gonna have to put those ideas at the heart of my personal aesthetic, and see where it leads me. =20 Eric Samuelsen =20 -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Debra Brown" Subject: Re: [AML] Cedar Fort Offer on My Manuscript Date: 15 Jan 2004 16:30:46 -0500 I went to www.half.com where I found your book Ragged Circle for $11.44 = $11.96 and $16.40 and while they list the publisher, they don't = name the author. Debbie Brown ----- Original Message -----=20 From: Veda Hale=20 Has anyone run across my book, "Ragged Circle"? I doubt it. -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "jana" Subject: Re: [AML] Cedar Fort Offer on My Manuscript Date: 15 Jan 2004 15:31:15 -0800 Dear Veda: Irreantum is running a review of _Ragged Circle_ in the upcoming issue of our magazine. Cedar Fort sent me a review copy of your book a few months ago--their publicist keeps me well-stocked with their latest releases. Best, Jana Remy Irreantum Book Review Editor -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jennifer Adair Subject: Re: [AML] YOUNG & GRAY, _Standing on the Promises_ Date: 16 Jan 2004 09:48:09 -0800 (PST) "I think that DB could do a bit more do put a spotlight on them. I think that since so many people don't know that there were black pioneers, you have to do a lot more in advertising to show people why this is a part of our (collective LDS) heritage." MArgaret, I agree that the books need to and are probably aimed at LDS people, but I have used them more for non-LDS people. I teach multicultural education at a large, public university and I often get "attacked" (sarcastically usually) from colleagues because I am LDS and teach about multiculturalism and white privilege. I can now talk honestly and somewhat more confidently about our black heritage and send them resources in the books. There are, of course, critiques I cannot do anything about but I feel like the books validate in some way my views and concerns about race issues in the U.S. and especially within church culture. I also feel good about knowing Joseph Smith was progressive in his views on slavery, etc. In fact, I spoke about this in a larger panel discussion at the National Association for Multiclutural Education. I've used some of the quotes in the books' reference pages in talks/lessons to help bring up the idea of black heritage without really bringing it up. . and it has led to good conversations and I think a website would be another great reference to send people - lds people and non-lds people alike. Jennifer Adair ===== __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "R.W. Rasband" Subject: [AML] Tony Kushner on Mormonism Date: 16 Jan 2004 18:11:11 -0800 (PST) If anyone is as curious as I was about how "Angels in America" came to be, here are some extracts from the book "Tony Kushner in Conversation", edited by Robert Vorlicky, University of Michigan Press, 1998. It's a collection of interviews Kushner has given over the years. (I have edited out the questions.) "I have spent time in Salt Lake, but that's not particularly where the theme came from. Mormonism is a theology that I think could only really have come from America. The 'Book of Mormon'--since I don't believe it is actually from God--is fairly clearly a work of nineteeth-century American literature. It's not the most readable book, but clearly of a tradition that also produced 'Moby-Dick' and 'Huckleberry Finn'. The theology is an American reworking of a western tradition that is uniquely American: the notion of an uninhabited world in which it's possible to reinvent. It's part of the political project of westward expansion and genocide against native American populations because it gives a moral ranking to color of skin: the darker you are, the farther away you are from goodness. I think the Mormons in Britain have a very different reputation. They seem to be more 'cultey.' In America, when you visit them in Salt Lake, they have a kind of indiginous dignity that they may not have when they travel abroad. They're very interesting people, the ones that I've met and known personally, I've always liked them a lot. They're very decent, hard-working, serious, intelligent people. But they're very reactionary. And it's very much a pioneer religion. That conjunction is intriguing to me. Reactionaries like Roy (Cohn) are a lot of fun but they're as lousy as you feel the consequences of their ideology are. Mormons always seem much nicer people than what they wind up visiting on themselves and the rest of Utah. That contradiction is very interesting. In a way it reminds me of Judaism in that they have an interesting ambivalence toward sensuality and the flesh. They are actually a very 'touch-ey' bunch of people and yet they have a lot of strictures about physical contact and sex that are as puritancal as one can imagine. It's older and far more confusing in Judaism. There are a number of similarities." (pages 24-25) "I was also involved in this six-month-long sort of flirtation with a Mormon missionary in the subway in Brooklyn near my house where I lived, and became very fond of these two guys who were standing there in New York City talking to crazy people all day long about 'The Book of Mormon', and became interested all over again in Mormonism. I read Fawn Brodie's astonishing biography of Joseph Smith, 'No Man Knows My History', which is like one of the great all-time reads. It's a perfect beach book. Everybody should get it this summer. And Wallace Stegner's amazing book, 'The Gathering of Zion', which sort of picks up from there." (page 197) "There is a whole history of utopian social experimentation in the years of the early Mormon church. And Brigham Young was like Lenin. He was willing to try anything, and damn the consequences, which is a problem. They certainly had tried collective ownership of property, and various forms of economic organization that would have solved the deficit, if we had gone further with them. But those were all abandoned because, as is always the fate of revolutions, they were surrounded by a country that wasn't about to let that. Along with polygamy, one of the things the Mormons had to abandon was that form of experimentation with property ownership when it became clear that they wern't going to become a kingdom unto themselves, and needed to become a part of the United States. I'm very intigued by it. I'm also very intrigued by the whole utopian movement in this country in the nineteenth century, and I would like to continue exploring it. 'Angels' comes out of that tradition. That's my Americana." (page 209) ===== R.W. Rasband Heber City, UT rrasband@yahoo.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Christopher Bigelow Subject: RE: [AML] Deseret News: The Double Edge of Sundance Date: 15 Jan 2004 13:55:34 -0700 This Sundance editorial really sounds like Jerry Johnston wrote it. (It was uncredited, wasn't it?) Chris Bigelow -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: cwilson@emerytelcom.net Subject: [AML] re: Personal Websites: Advice? Date: 15 Jan 2004 20:30:25 GMT If you do a search on the web for free website hosting, you will probably find a bunch of sites that offer it. Your internet server likely offers a certain amount of web space for free as well. I made a little website for an esoteric interest of mine, www.emerytelcom.net/users/cwilson/ and it is free. We purchased a web creating program, Microsoft Front Page. I know all of you purist programmers are sighing and moaning because it is creates multiple files and stuff and it is so clunky. But for inexperienced duffers like me, it is great. You can learn the program in an afternoon or so and then do a nice website. Go to www.kidneystonepage.com and you will see an example of what we did with it, also bangertercousins.com. We have several more in the works. I really like using Front Page because it's easy to put in graphics and stuff. If anyone wants me to answer any questions about my experience with it, I'll be glad to help (it's really my husband that's the whiz with it, but I've tried a few things). Cathy Wilson This message was sent using Endymion MailMan. http://www.endymion.com/products/mailman/ -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Marny Parkin Subject: [AML] Fwd: LTUE 2004 Call for Panelists Date: 19 Jan 2004 09:00:52 -0700 I'm passing along the call for panelists for the science fiction symposium held at BYU in March. If anyone is interested in participating, has a suggestion, or would like to be on the committee, please contact Charlie directly. Thanks, Marny Parkin www.MormonSF.org Hi! This is the current list of tentative panels, presentations, and workshops that we are looking at for LTUE 2004. The dates of LTUE are March 11-13. Third floor of the Wilkinson Student Center, BYU. (Free to the public) For more info: http://humanities.byu.edu/ltue Let me know if you are interested in being on any of these panels. And your availability. Requirements for being a panelist are: some expertise on the subject. (I want panelists who know the subject and have opinions about it.) If you have friends who would make good panelists, please pass this on, or let me know. Sorry this is so late in coming. The former writing track chair had to step down due to ill health. :/ So we're trying to get things set up in the next two weeks. Thanks! Charlie CharleneH@aol.com ~*~*~ Tentative panels: *The use of music and song in writing books and short stories *The history of Science Fiction / Science Fiction as social history *Ancient texts in LOTR: How Tolkien used ancient texts like Beowulf in creating middle earth *Researching your novel: tips for beginners *Economics of writing professionally *Following through: You have a good hook. Now keep their attention. *What editors look for in a story *Heroes and Villains: Making the hero more real and the villain more evil *Manipulating the Novum (new idea): Making it an integral part of plot or character development *From story to film: How do books translate to movies or TV? How to make a good movie of a book and not lose the plot. Good and bad examples of what's been done. *Science in Science Fiction: Which authors have done it right, which haven't done their homework, and how it affects the understanding of the reader. *What are you afraid of? the practice and theory of horror fiction. *Written vs. Oral storytelling: How they differ and are similar a) How to do them well b) What can one teach the other? *The ins and outs of copyright law for authors and fans *Career building--what do I do AFTER I publish a story? a) How do I use this publication in pitching other stories? b) SFWA membership, yes/no, and why? c) Special problems for writers of both SF&F d) How not to tick off the editor who first published you. *Altered States: How to go about changing history when basing your world on the modern world. Details to watch for and things to avoid. *Rebels and Rule breakers: Protagonists and authors who defy convention. *Writing a good war * The new SFWA guidelines for a professional sale (short story). How does this affect the current markets. And how does it affect someone wanting to join SFWA? *Getting kids excited about reading SF&F. What are the best ways to expose kids to science fiction books? * Using science fiction books in the classroom. How can teachers use science fiction to help teach kids to love to read and to explore their world? *Writing for children and young adults *writer's block--or, to extend it, on developing consistent writing habits. *writing scams and how to avoid them *FROM HOBBITS TO HARRY POTTER: Children's Fantasy since Tolkien *(combined with Media) LOTR: The how does the movie compare to the book? *How to get published Workshops: (this is what I'd LIKE to see. Not what we WILL have. Some people have yet to be contacted. This is Charlie's Wish List. ) WOTF workshop Wolverton 1001 ideas in an hour (2 hour block) Ann Chamberlin writing basics something for teachers to use SF in the classroom -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Andrew Hall" Subject: [AML] SWENSON, _Iced at the Ward, Burned at the Stake_ (SL Tribune= Date: 20 Jan 2004 03:18:19 +0000 Salt Lake Tribune SUNDAY January 18, 2004 The West Under Cover: Swenson shakes the beehive By Martin Naparsteck Special to The Tribune Iced at the Ward, Burned at the Stake and Other Poems By Paul Swenson; Signature; $14.95 Who has greater responsibility, the poet or the reader, to make certain the underpinnings of a poem are familiar to the reader? Most of the 42 poems in Paul Swenson's collection, Iced at the Ward, Burned at the Stake and Other Poems, invite that question. These poems require some knowledge of Mormon theology, of Utah's Mormon culture and of controversies within the church. William Mulder, a retired English professor at the University of Utah, recognizes the problem and provides some useful guidance in a short foreword. For example, he notes, "No churchgoers can miss the associations of 'forever families,' 'uncorrelated,' 'eternal digression,' 'in her cellar a two-year supply of love,' or '[wedding] dresses of disallowed desire.' " Without an understanding of such terms, many of these poems will fail to make sense to many, even careful, readers. But that's not new to intelligent poetry. Dante's "Divine Comedy" cannot be fully understood without some understanding of Roman Catholicism. Similarly in prose, many of the stories of Bernard Malamud fall flat without some knowledge of contemporary Judaism. Swenson's poetry does have some of the elements of universality that make Dante, Malamud and other religious writers appealing to readers of all religious backgrounds. The poems teem with a sense of rebelliousness, of scolding church leaders for what the poet sees as failures, and of the pain and anger felt by those the church does not treat kindly. In "White Gardenia," Swenson writes, "God will not be/mocked, her bishop says," and we are left with a feeling the poet is mocking the bishop for his attitude. In "Negative Space," the poet reports that "One guy at/ZCMI had the/job -- hard job/ -- of sanding off every nipple of all/the store's mannequins," leaving the feeling that the Mormon culture is capable of embarrassing silliness. More specifically, what approaches universality in Swenson's poems is a search for pan-religiosity, a sense of reaching for what is good in all religions and a rejection of what he finds silly or otherwise unacceptable= =20 in his own. He concludes "Strange Gods" with, "i lust for the veiled god/who will not go to war with her children,/will not author famine or floods, will not prune the buds of her most promising flowers/in some grand apocalypse -- /will reveal her face at the wedding with the bridegroom;/i lust after strange gods." The result is a sense that these poems are most likely to be understood by those most likely to reject their premises. Many readers who are devout enough Mormons to catch the references will reject Swenson's point of view. How could such a reader, for example, not find offense in a passage that says, " . . . the titles of their leaders -- /Elder, Bishop, El Presidente,= =20 Mein Fuhrer . . . "? The passage is from "Nameless," which is about "a planet=20 where given names are verboten," where "Authority is paid esteem," and where "El Presidente looks naked in his uniform," which makes him like the emperor who doesn't realize his new clothes don't exist. It's not so much The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leaders as all leaders within Mormon culture who are targeted by Swenson's critique of what he sees as essential unkindness. In "Rrino Thach," he refers to=20 Utah's senior senator as a man who "Won't touch liquor/but his shotgun's set/at hair trigger." Earlier in the same poem, he says, the senator has a "Black heart . . . a black box/beating beneath/his white shirt/and his off-white,/ show-thru underwear." "Rrino Thach" is an unfortunate poem, too harsh for a collection that often chastises others for a shortage of kindness. It violates a standard Swenson sets for himself in another poem, "Redacted": "clever never lasts." The poem should have been left out of the collection. But that is a small sin in a collection that otherwise challenges the=20 reader to engage in an intelligent analysis, challenges the poems' subjects to=20 search for more kindness and less vindictiveness, and, mostly, challenges a culture to reach its potential. And that brings us to the answer to the question posed earlier. In those poems that urge kindness, Swenson's obligation is greater than that of his readers, and he satisfies that obligation. In the poems that are primarily complaints, and there are a half dozen or so of those, the obligation is the reader's, who largely must ignore the poet's slippages and continue on to what is good in this collection. Those poems are filled with understanding and kindness and courage, and that's what the careful reader of poetry should seek. ----- Martin Naparsteck reviews books from and about the West for The Salt=20 Lake Tribune. _________________________________________________________________ Scope out the new MSN Plus Internet Software =97 optimizes dial-up to the= max!=20 http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=3Den-us&page=3Dbyoa/plus&ST=3D1 -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Hugh Stocks" Subject: Re: [AML] _The Best of Lowell Bennion_ Date: 19 Jan 2004 23:20:22 -0500 I hadn't realized Lowell was writing in the 11th Century. The best source of historical information about him is Mary Bradford's biography. Mary has been known to lurk on this list, but I don't think she's doing so right now. I'll bet someone here can give you her email address privately, though. Hugh On 15 Jan 2004 at 14:13, Nan P. McCulloch stepped forward and proclaimed: > I just secured a copy of Lowell L. Bennion's selected writings = > 1028-1988--edited by Eugene England--from Amazon.com. -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "John Remy" Subject: Re: [AML] Who else has a webpage? Date: 19 Jan 2004 21:33:42 -0800 I have a weblog to which I've been posting (albeit sporadically) for 2.5 years. I'm in the middle of transferring hosting services and redesigning it, but if y'all want to check it out, it's at: http://www.mindonfire.com It's the longest running journal I've kept (my mission one lasted for all of four or five months). It began as an experiment in honesty (a sort of spiritual coming out) and continues to be useful for religious/emotional/social bloodletting and occasional creative outbursts. John Remy UC Irvine -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Matthew Durkee Subject: [AML] Re: Mormon Folklore Date: 20 Jan 2004 00:29:04 -0800 On Jan 19, 2004, at 6:21 PM, aml-list-digest wrote: > Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2004 22:14:32 -0800 (PST) > From: Mark Hansen > Subject: [AML] Mormon Folklore > > Is there a site on the net that has reports on LDS > folklore, a la snopes.com? Is anyone aware of such a > site? > > MRKH > > > > ===== > Mark Hansen I don't know if any of it is online, but I do know that BYU and Univ. of Utah jointly manage a very large database of Mormon folklore and urban legends. I would consult their libraries for more information. Matthew C. Durkee -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Harlow S Clark Subject: Re: [AML] The Envious Critic Date: 19 Jan 2004 22:53:01 -0800 On Mon, 15 Dec 2003 13:06:53 -0700 "Eric Samuelsen" suggests he sees (or could see) the spirit of Joe Nathan Swifties brooding over _The RM_: > it's possible to look at that film as potentially a blistering Swiftian > satire of Mormon culture. One way of looking at The RM is as a film > exploring an utterly appalling sociopathic lack of genuine human > connection or communication in Mormon culture. A family moves, and > doesn't tell their son, who's serving on a mission? That could be read > as offering a devastating commentary on Mormonism. We have these > large families, and all these callings, and we're always on the verge of > being sort of broke, and all that gets in the way so that we don't > actually love our children. Oh, we sort of love them in a vague > distracted sort of way, but we lose track of them easily, and we > certainly don't have time for whatever irrelevant emotional > traumas they may be going through, like, say, broken > engagements and the like. And we sort of have 'friends,' but not > really; actually we have these people we hang out with every > once in awhile, who we're mostly trying to sell worthless > crap to. Instead of actual friends, we have these people we need > to cultivate for our multi-level marketing opportunities. And we're > emotionally prepared for that, because we have to visit those same > people every month so we can get our numbers. We don't actually > care about them, of course (we're too tired to care about anyone or > anything), but we can prove we sort of care; we're 100% home > teachers. > > Seen in that light, The RM is about as funny as Swift's A Modest > Proposal. And less hateable. I see a different spirit brooding over the film, though. The spirit of Groucho. When the film first came out Eric said it lacked self-awareness, awareness of how savage the satire would seem if you take the story line seriously. But I don't take it too seriously. I'm delighted at someone having the chutzpah to take the old joke about 'my parents moved while I was on my mission but I found them' and build a movie around it. The problem of doing a Marxian take on Mormon culture is that Groucho is a rascal, or his screen persona is, and the spirit of the Brothers' films is a spirit of anarchy. Mormons, however, don't handle anarchy really well. No Marx Brothers film is a film "about choosing the right when everything goes wrong." The Brothers' films are about making everything go wrong so something right can come from all the chaos. To solve this problem Halestorm inverted the Marxian formula. Instead of causing chaos Jared is the receiver of chaos, and the person who has to decide whether to choose the right, and I think the film falls down at the end because it switches from slapstick and sight gags (the God's Navy poster and the flame broiled Abinadi burger) to a meditation on what it means to choose the right. The transition feels preachy in a movie that mostly isn't preachy, feels too heavy for a slapstick comedy. And speaking of "A Modest Proposal" I think there is something hateable and perhaps hateful in it. Consider this slightly emended passage: I do therefore humbly offer it to public consideration that of the hundred and twenty thousand _welfare_ children already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for breed, whereof only one-fourth part to be males; which is more than we allow to sheep, black cattle or swine; and my reason is, that these children are seldom the fruits of marriage, a circumstance not much regarded by our _welfare mothers_ therefore one male will be sufficient to serve four females. I wondered, reading this, how the Irish might have reacted to Swift's original word for my second emendation: _savages_, and wondered, suppose I rewrote the satire so it was A MODEST PROPOSAL FOR PREVENTING THE CHILDREN OF WELFARE MOTHERS IN THE UNITED STATES FROM BEING A BURDEN TO THEIR PARENTS OR COUNTRY, AND FOR MAKING THEM BENEFICIAL TO THE PUBLIC Keeping in mind that "welfare mother" in many contexts is a political code word for African-Americans, how would the subjects of such a savage satire react? Even though they were the subjects of the satire, not the objects, would the subjects want to be subjected to such harsh satire? (Or try substituting every reference to the Irish with a reference to American Indians, or Mormons.) I do find a thread of savage satire in Halestorm's work, but I'm not sure it's aimed at multi-level Mormonism. It seems more aimed at a culture where the laborer isn't worthy of his hire. A lot of the economic jokes in The R.M. come from Jared's attempts to find work, and having worked in a few call centers I can tell you the call center scenes are not far from the economic reality of a sizeable portion of the workforce, and not all those workers are college students. > Now, if that's what Halestorm was trying to accomplish, power > to 'em. They screwed up the tone and they screwed > up the resolution, but they could be seen as inept but savage > satirists. That's not a bad place to be. Or maybe not inept so much as approaching the subject less savagely. Where Swift's satire is a denunciation, Halestorm's is more slapstick. _The Home Teachers_ is rather probing in its portrait of people seeing each other as marketing opportunities or potential votes or statistics for the home teaching report. There's a poignant moment where the gung-ho home teacher reveals what his gung-holiness has cost him. > But again, I don't think they actually were trying to make that > ferocious a satire; I think they were just stringing a bunch of > riffs together, loosely connected gags on the theme of > 'random stuff that happens to this one kid.' Kind of like _A Night at the Opera_? Harlow S. Clark (who, remembering Jen Wahlquist's admonition not to end a paper with a rhetorical question, insists that's a serious question, and will expound on it if asked.) ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: JanaRiess@aol.com Subject: [AML] Moody BYU Coeds? Date: 20 Jan 2004 09:00:43 EST In a message dated 1/19/04 9:23:15 PM, owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com writes: > To me that whole melodramatic reaction to rejection is par for the > course for moody BYU coeds and doesn't constitute going off the deep end > of anything. > Maybe it's because I went to a college where the term "coed" actually referred to the handful of enrolled *male* students . . . but what the heck is a "moody BYU coed"? I don't want to read too much into your statement here, but it sure rubs me the wrong way. Not to be moody, of course. Jana Riess -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Barbara Hume Subject: Re: [AML] YOUNG & GRAY, _Standing on the Promises_ Date: 20 Jan 2004 12:27:59 -0700 At 09:48 AM 1/16/04 -0800, you wrote: >I teach multicultural education at a large, >public university and I often get "attacked" >(sarcastically usually) from colleagues because I am >LDS and teach about multiculturalism and white >privilege. I can now talk honestly and somewhat more >confidently about our black heritage and send them >resources in the books. Do you deal at all with white Mormon attitudes toward other groups such as the native Americans? It seems that the Mormons, like other European-descended settlers, felt justified in breaking their agreements with the Indians and taking their land away and treating them as lower life forms. The blacks aren't the only ones to suffer from this form of prejudice. barbara hume -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "R.W. Rasband" Subject: [AML] Snider at Sundance Date: 20 Jan 2004 16:01:34 -0800 (PST) Eric Snider is at Sundance (http://www.ericdsnider.com/blog.php) and his blog got mentioned by Gawker (http://www.gawker.com) ===== R.W. Rasband Heber City, UT rrasband@yahoo.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Eric SWEDIN" Subject: Re: [AML] Cedar Fort Offer on My Manuscript Date: 21 Jan 2004 16:21:00 -0700 Hi, Everyone, I decided to accept Cedar Fort's offer. The novel will come out this summer and I think that they are the best house to publish it. Thanks for all the input that my request prompted. It was very useful in making my decision. Eric Swedin Weber State University -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: LDS Film Festival (by way of Jonathan Langford ) Subject: [AML] LDS Film Festival 2004 Date: 22 Jan 2004 17:23:28 -0600 LDSBOX NEWSLETTER 03/04 http://www.ldsbox.com feedback@ldsbox.com 3RD LDS FILM FESTIVAL 2004 JANUARY 22-24 | PROVO CITY LIBRARY 3RD LDS FILM FESTIVAL STARTS THURSDAY -- LINE-UP COMPLETE >From Thursday till Saturday, the LDS FILM FESTIVAL will offer a wide variety of programs and events. Over 50 short films by young LDS Filmmakers will be screened and experienced filmmakers will hold presentations to offer insights into the art and craft of filmmaking. For the first time the festival also shows feature-length LDS themed films, including the not yet released but highly anticipated "The Best Two Years" and "Saints & Soldiers." The 3-day program is packed with exciting events for everyone interested in film and filmmaking. Here are a few links to the festival website: Program for Thursday, January 22: http://www.ldsbox.com/cgi-bin/04thursday.php Program for Friday, January 23: http://www.ldsbox.com/cgi-bin/04friday.php Program for Saturday, January 24: http://www.ldsbox.com/cgi-bin/04saturday.php Admissions Information: http://www.ldsbox.com/cgi-bin/04admissions.php Short film programs with dozens of innovative and thought-provoking films will be screened Thursday, Friday and Saturday, at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tickets are available at the door. 30 FILMS MADE IN ONLY 24 HOURS Also, don't miss the screening of the 2ND 24-HOUR FILMMAKING MARATHON! 39 groups signed up to write, shoot, and edit a short film in 24 hours. The marathon started on Friday, January 16, at 12.30 p.m. Exactly 24 hours later, 26 groups dropped off their finished films. 4 groups handed in their project late, and 9 groups gave up and didn't finish the marathon. The theme of this year's marathon was "redemption," the object to be used in the film was "a watch" and the line to be implemented in the film was "I wish I could..." Filmmakers were allowed to use any equipment and format of their choice but had to turn in their film on a Mini-DV tape. The maximum length of each finished film was 4 minutes. No more than five people (cast and crew) per group were allowed to take part. All 24-hour marathon films will be screened and judged at the 3RD LDS FILM FESTIVAL on Thursday, January 22, at 6.00 p.m. at the Provo City Library. The best film(s) will also be part of the "BEST OF 2004" program that will be screened on Saturday, January 24, at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Awards totaling $ 600.00 will be awarded to the best films of the 24-hour filmmaking marathon. LOG ON: http://www.ldsbox.com -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Marny Parkin Subject: [AML] LTUE Story and Poetry Contests Date: 22 Jan 2004 12:23:14 -0700 Life, the Universe, and Everything, the science fiction and fantasy symposium at BYU, sponsors both a short story and a poetry contest in conjunction with the symposium. We have both student (5th through 12th grades) and adult divisions. Contest rules are given below. The symposium will have a poetry workshop for teens/kids and probably a writing workshop for teens/kids on Saturday also (and a beginning writing workshop, and something from Writers of the Future). Please, spread the word. :) Thanks! Marny Parkin ~*~*~ Life the Universe, and Everything, an annual symposium on Science Fiction and Fantasy held at Brigham Young University, is pleased to announce DragonComet, its annual story writing contest. The contest is divided into the following categories: 1. Adult writers 2. School age writers (9th - 12th grade at contest deadline) 3. Young school age writers (5th - 8th grade at contest deadline) There is no entrance fee, and only one entry is allowed per person per category. No simultaneous or previously published entries will be accepted. Entries are being accepted now and the deadline for entries is February 15, 2004. All stories should be mailed unfolded in a manila envelope to: DragonComet Writing Contest 919 N. 900 E. Pleasant Grove, UT 84062 Stories should be science fiction or fantasy in nature and no more than 20,000 words (10,000 words for younger age entries). No graphic sex, language, or violence, please. Entries should be typed on 8.5 by 11 white paper, double-spaced, one-inch margins, 12-point font that is easily readable in English. Proofread your story before entering. Illegible entries will not be considered. Only the title should appear on the story itself. Please include a cover sheet with your name, title of work, mailing address, email address (optional), school you are attending (optional), category you are entering, and signature with a short statement that you understand the rules and the work is your own original, unpublished work. The author's name and any identifying information should appear only on the cover sheet in order to retain the objectivity of the judges. If you are under 18, please also have your parent or guardian sign the sheet as well giving you permission to enter. Each page of the manuscript should include the story title and a page number. DragonComet does not retain any rights to any entries. Include a SASE large enough for your manuscript if you want it returned. Do not send the only copy of your entries. We are not responsible for lost entries. Winners will be announced at Life, the Universe & Everything at BYU. Winners will also be notified by mail if they cannot attend. Judging will be done blindly to avoid any bias of the judges. Authors of winning stories will be notified after the final judging. Winners will be posted on the web page. Prizes will only be awarded at the discretion of the judges. Thank you for your interest. Please pass word of the contest on to anyone you feel may be interested. Email DragonWrite@aol.com if you have any questions or need further information. ~*~*~ Life the Universe, and Everything, an annual symposium on Science Fiction and Fantasy held at Brigham Young University, is pleased to announce Odyssey, its poetry writing contest. The contest is divided into the following categories: 1. Adult writers 2. School age writers (9th - 12th grade at contest deadline) 3. Young school age writers (5th - 8th grade at contest deadline) There is no entrance fee, and only one entry is allowed per person per category. No simultaneous or previously published entries will be accepted. Entries are being accepted now and the deadline for entries is February 15, 2004. All poems should be mailed unfolded in a manila envelope to: Odyssey Poetry Contest 919 N. 900 E. Pleasant Grove, UT 84062 No email entries will be accepted. Poems should be science fiction or fantasy in nature and 50 lines or less. No graphic sex, language, or violence, please. Entries should be typed on 8.5 by 11 white paper, double-spaced, one-inch margins, 12-point font that is easily readable in English. Proofread your poem before entering. Illegible entries will not be considered. Please include a cover sheet with your name, title of work, mailing address, email address (optional), school you are attending (optional), category you are entering, and signature with a short statement that you understand the rules and the work is your own original, unpublished work. The author's name and any identifying information should appear only on the cover sheet in order to retain the objectivity of the judges. If you are under 18, please also have your parent or guardian sign the sheet as well giving you permission to enter. Odyssey does not retain any rights to any entries. Include a SASE large enough for your manuscript if you want it returned. Do not send the only copy of your entries. We are not responsible for lost entries. Winners will be announced at Life, the Universe & Everything at BYU. Winners will also be notified by mail if they cannot attend. Judging will be done blindly to avoid any bias of the judges. Authors of winning poems will be notified after the final judging. Winners will be posted on the web page. Prizes will only be awarded at the discretion of the judges. Thank you for your interest. Please pass word of the contest on to anyone you feel may be interested. Email DragonWrite@aol.com if you have any questions or need further information. Contest entry forms can be downloaded from http://humanities.byu.edu/ltue. Click on writing contests. -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Travis K. Manning" Subject: [AML] re: The BoM Code Date: 22 Jan 2004 00:22:18 -0800 ***********Original Message************ At the AML meeting last year my brother Dennis suggested something else, that Moroni was teaching him the language. Dennis said he believes the Book of Mormon is a translation in precisely the way we use that word, a rendering from one language into another by someone who knows both languages. He said he thinks JS was in a hypnopompic state during the interviews with Moroni--a state of extreme suggestability which allowed him to learn and remember what Moroni was teaching. I suspect he was in the same kind of hypnopompic state during the first vision. ************************** Come on, Harlow. Do you really think -- does Dennis really think -- Joseph Smith was in some "hypnopompic state?" What, four one-day visits over four years and Joseph learns Reformed Egyptian? I can buy the cultural and historical training Joseph received from Moroni, but not the language lessons. What about the interpreters, man, the Urim and Thummim? In John A. Widtsoe's compiled version of Brigham Youngs's discourses, BY says this, which sheds some light on the matter: "When Joseph first received the knowledge of the plates that were in the hill Cumorah, he did not then receive the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood, he merely received the knowledge that the plates were there, and that the Lord would bring them forth, and that they contained the history of the aborigines of this country. He received the knowlege that they were once in possession of the Gospel, and from that time he went on, step by step, until he obtained the plates, and the Urim and Thummim and had power to translate them" (461-2). Travis Manning -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "C.S. Bezas" Subject: [AML] Book in a Week Event Date: 21 Jan 2004 17:30:56 -0500 [MOD: The original subject line emphasized that this is a free event.] Ever wish you were finished writing your book? Tired of telling others about your story? Do you wish you could just let your family and friends actually read it? Here is your chance to actually write and complete your first draft. Sign up today to be a part of LatterDayAuthors.com Book-in-a-Week (BIAW) event. We will sponsor twenty spots for the first twenty registrants who want to put their "pedal to the metal" and write their first draft in a week. For more information, go to http://www.latterdayauthors.com . Happy writing everyone! Cindy C.S. Bezas Board of Editors, Advisory Chair http://www.latterdayauthors.com -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mark Hansen Subject: Re: [AML] The Envious Critic Date: 22 Jan 2004 13:39:38 -0800 (PST) > for the home teaching report. There's a poignant > moment where the gung-ho > home teacher reveals what his gung-holiness has cost > him. And some cool points where the slacker is realizing that slacking has cost him serious connection with his family, too. MRKH ===== Mark Hansen +++++ Inspirational Rock Music http://markhansenmusic.com Listen to me and others at http://kzion.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it! http://webhosting.yahoo.com/ps/sb/ -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "C.S. Bezas" Subject: RE: [AML] YOUNG & GRAY, _Standing on the Promises_ Date: 22 Jan 2004 15:54:34 -0500 [MOD: I hesitated about forwarding this, as it's not really about Mormon literature per se. The quotation from the BofM manual puts an interesting twist on this, however. So WITHOUT debating the rights and wrongs of how Europeans treated Native Americans, I do think it would be appropriate to characterize Mormon attitudes toward the European settlement of America and how that has played out in literature--if anyone's interested in doing so. --Jonathan Langford] So true, Barbara. I was just reading the following the other day: "The fulfillment of Nephi's prophecy concerning the scattering of the seed of his brethren is so vast a topic as to fill volumes and can be touched on here only briefly. It is one of the most tragic stories of history . . . . >From the time Columbus landed in the West Indies, the destruction and driving of the Indian people began. The extent of this destruction has only recently started coming to full light. . . . According to Jacobs, modern projections . . . today place the [original] total at 90 million for the whole of the Western Hemisphere and nearly 10 million in North America alone . . . When this total . . . is compared with the estimated 235,000 who were alive at the turn of the twentieth century, one begins to glimpse the scope of the tragedy. . . . "Immediate exploitation of the Indians as a cheap source of slave labor took place. Thousands were shipped to Europe and thousands of Europeans came to America to receive 'a grant of land with accompanying unpaid, forced Indian labor for life.' . . . "So terrible was their life that they were driven to mass suicide, to mass infanticide, to mass abstinence from sexual life in order that children should not be born into horror. . . . The murders and desolations exceeded those of the most pitiless tyrants of earlier history; . . . ." I read this just yesterday in the 1981 edition of The Book of Mormon Student Manual: Religion 121-122, pp. 34-35. Another eye opening book is No Resting Place, written by the great-great-grandson of a Cherokee boy who was forced to walk the now infamous "Trail of Tears." Truly the native Americans have faced prejudice and great sorrow as a people. Cindy C.S. Bezas Board of Editors, Advisory Chair http://www.latterdayauthors.com -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "webmaster" Subject: [AML] Box Office Report, 16 Jan. 2004 Date: 22 Jan 2004 07:52:56 -0600 Feature Films by LDS/Mormon Filmmakers and Actors Weekend Box Office Report (U.S. Domestic Box Office Gross) Weekend of January 16, 2004 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 %B.O. Theatrs Rank LDS/Mormon Filmmaker/Actor Total Gross Chnge $/Thtr Days --- --------------------------- ----------- ----- ------- ---- 14 Paycheck 2,967,416 -42% 1,984 26 Aaron Eckart (actor) 50,894,692 $1,495 (2nd-billed star) 24 The Young Black Stallion 558,912 +57% 51 26 Reed Smoot (cinematographer) 3,463,344 $10,959 30 The Cat in the Hat 302,365 -12% 334 59 Eric McLeod (exec. producer) 100,253,365 $905 Aldric La'Auli Porter (assoc. producer/1st A.D.) Danielle Chuchran (actress) 37 The Legend of Johnny Lingo 196,196 -24% 19 143 Gerald Molen (producer) 1,673,997 $10,326 John Garbett (producer) 42 Timeline 128,952 +741% 165 54 Paul Walker (lead actor) 19,277,033 $781 49 The Missing 77,832 +8% 96 54 Aaron Eckart (actor) 26,327,890 $810 Aldric La'Auli Porter (assoc. producer/1st A.D.) 54 Bugs! 50,403 +113% 15 311 stars Papilio, 4,541,259 $3,360 a Great Mormon butterfly 62 The Home Teachers 26,185 -45% 19 10 Kurt Hale (director, co-writer) 91,820 $1,378 Dave Hunter (producer) Ryan Little (cinematographer) John E. Moyer (screenwriter) Cody Hale (composer) Wynn Hougaard (editor) Actors: Michael Birkeland, Jeff Birk, etc. 72 Pride and Prejudice 12,272 +28% 6 45 Andrew Black (director) 187,048 $2,045 Jason Faller (producer) Kynan Griffin (co-producer) Anne K. Black (screenplay/produc. designer) Jason Faller; Katherine Swigert (screenplay) Travis Cline (cinematographer) Ben Carson (composer) Alexander Vance (editor) Actors: Ben Gourley, Hubbel Palmer, Amber Hamilton, Carmen Rasmusen 74 Galapagos 10,604 +379% 3 1543 Reed Smoot (cinematographer) 14,274,081 $3,534 101 Cremaster 3 350 1 262 Mathew Barney 514,622 $350 (writer/producer/director/actor) 105 China: The Panda Adventure 89 +89% 1 906 Reed Smoot (cinematographer) 3,682,017 $89 NOTE: Monday, January 19th was a holiday (Martin Luther King Day), and most of the figures shown above are actually for the FOUR-day weekend, including Monday. -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Clark Goble" Subject: [AML] Village Voice Article on Mormon Film Date: 22 Jan 2004 16:43:51 -0700 Saw this at Times and Seasons: http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0403/halter.php The T&S discussion. http://www.timesandseasons.org/archives/000312.html It's actually a quite well informed article at the Village Voice. A lot of the same discussions we've had here over the past couple of years. It is nice that our little community is attracting attention even if we haven't quite lived up to our potential yet. Clark Goble -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Moody BYU Coeds? Date: 23 Jan 2004 08:23:59 -0700 JanaRiess@aol.com wrote: > Maybe it's because I went to a college where the term "coed" actually > referred to the handful of enrolled *male* students . . . but what the heck is a > "moody BYU coed"? I don't want to read too much into your statement here, but it > sure rubs me the wrong way. Not to be moody, of course. > Jana Riess Everywhere but your college, "co-ed" means female student. "Moody BYU co-ed" refers to the Mormon drama queen aspect of some female students there. So yes, you probably are understanding it corectly when you feel rubbed the wrong way. -- 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Margaret Young Subject: RE: [AML] YOUNG & GRAY, _Standing on the Promises_ Date: 23 Jan 2004 13:16:15 -0700 The quick link for AML relevancy: Works by LDS Native American Jane = Hafen and works by Michael Fillerup. There's also a beautiful essay by Lacee Harris on being Native American and Mormon in the now out of press = _Personal Voices_. I suspect, however, that if someone did a trilogy about Native Americans and Mormons starting from Nauvoo (and there was a Native = American presence in the Church and much outreach from Mormon missionaries), = there would be little audience response. Sadly, I doubt the books would do = well, which I think is a reflection on our culture. We are still caught up in = the "us" and "them" mentality--whether we're dealing with cultural or other differences. "They" become relevant when "they" become US. And = ultimately, that's the goal. Ultimitely, there are no "ites." But we aren't there = yet. Those who would buy books about Native Americans would be those who = cared about the subject--and probably had lived near or with Native Americans. = By the way, Joseph Smith compared the plights of Blacks and Native = Americans frequently, as documented in the History of the Church. He felt that = the Native Americans were worse off than the blacks. I've briefly = considered doing something about my own ancestors, the Holbrooks, who lived with = the Ponca Indians on their way west, or about another set of ancestors who adopted an Indian orphan and named him Moroni. (The Saints were = encouraged to "buy" Indian slaves out of slavery and raise them in their homes, = btw). But I'll never write it. I am eager to finish my current = project--another co-authored work where a grand-daughter of a BYU professor who resigned = in 1911 rather than avoid teaching evolution will write about the = controversy with the great great grand-daughter of the man who presided over BYU at = the time--George Brimhall. I'm the Brimhall descendant. After that, I = don't know that I'll be writing as Mormonly as I have in the past. We'll see. = =20 [Margaret Young] -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "C.S. Bezas" Subject: RE: [AML] Cedar Fort Offer on My Manuscript Date: 22 Jan 2004 19:03:51 -0500 Best wishes, Eric! We look forward to seeing it. Cindy C.S. Bezas Board of Editors, Advisory Chair http://www.latterdayauthors.com -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Christopher Bigelow Subject: [AML] (SLTrib) _Latter Days_ Pulled Date: 23 Jan 2004 15:01:02 -0700 SLC theater pulls LDS, gay movie By Sean P. Means The Salt Lake Tribune PARK CITY -- Gay and lesbian groups, both nationally and in Utah, are furious that a Salt Lake City movie theater has backed away from plans to screen a new romantic comedy involving a gay man and a closeted LDS missionary. "This is a film that needs to be seen and needs to be heard, particularly in a city that has a large Mormon population," said Stephen Macias, entertainment media director of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, at a press conference in Park City. "It is a story that [someone] is trying to suppress." Added Michael Mitchell, executive director of the political advocacy group, Equality Utah, "It deserves to be seen here in Utah." The movie, "Latter Days," tells of a West Hollywood hunk who tries to seduce a sexually confused Mormon missionary. It is largely a comedy, though it does depict church leaders trying to "cure" the missionary's homosexuality through electroshock. The movie was written and directed by C. Jay Cox, who wrote the Reese Witherspoon hit, "Sweet Home Alabama." The movie has won audience awards at six gay-themed film festivals, including Outfest in Los Angeles. The movie, which opens Friday in Los Angeles and New York, was scheduled to open Friday at the Madstone Trolley Square Theaters. But last Friday the film's distributor, TLA Releasing, was informed by Madstone's film booker that the New York-based theater chain would cancel the film's Salt Lake City run. The stated reason, said TLA Releasing's President Raymond Murray, was that the movie did not meet Madstone's level of "artistic quality and integrity." Unofficially, Murray was told the Trolley Square theater received threats of boycotts, pickets and customers dropping out of Madstone's membership program. Madstone co-CEO Chip Seelig said several of his staff watched the movie, and "we thought it lacked artistic merit," he said from New York. "If it has merit, we play it." Seelig said he had not heard of any boycott threats. The mix of gay themes and religion are not a turnoff to Madstone, Seelig said, citing the acclaimed documentary "Trembling Toward G-d" -- about homosexuality among Hasidic Jews -- as an example. "We support great films," he said. In a statement from California, Cox said, "At a time when the LDS Church is claiming a supposed newfound tolerance for gay members, I am deeply disappointed by such an intolerant stance. For a church whose founder Joseph Smith believed in "teaching correct principles and letting people govern themselves," I find it quite sad that they would attempt to take such a choice away from the people of Salt Lake. I truly hope that we will be allowed to screen this movie and give people the opportunity to discuss the issues it raises and to judge its artistic merits for themselves." Brooke Harper, president of the Salt Lake Film Society, which operates the art house Tower Theatre and Broadway Centre Cinemas, said the quality of "Latter Days" may indeed be the issue. She called the movie "awful" and "embarrassing," and she has no plans to book it. The Tower and Broadway frequently show gay-themed films, and Harper said "the entertainment options available for gays and lesbians in our society today are too varied and too high in quality to expect people like myself to exhibit films like "Latter Days" in the name of bringing representation of gay and lesbian people into cinema." Mitchell said Madstone's move may backfire because appeasing one set of customers may rile up another set. "Whenever I go to a movie there, I see a lot of gay and lesbian people. I don't see a lot of conservative folks," he said. Equality Utah likely will send a protest letter to Madstone, and Mitchell said he is helping TLA find another venue. movies@sltrib.com -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Jongiorgi Enos" Subject: Re: [AML] YOUNG & GRAY, _Standing on the Promises_ Date: 23 Jan 2004 20:49:45 -0800 ----- Original Message ----- ... I suspect, however, that if someone did a trilogy about Native > Americans and Mormons starting from Nauvoo (and there was a Native American > presence in the Church and much outreach from Mormon missionaries), there > would be little audience response. Sadly, I doubt the books would do well, > which I think is a reflection on our culture.... I am currently working on a series of books which have strong Native American themes, particularly dealing with early Mormon history and Native American relations. The first manuscript, "Sweetwater Ford," while predominately a romance about a Gentile conversion in 1860, also follows two Native American characters who end up becoming very closly allied with early Saints. The manuscript is basically done and the novel is currently in polish stage. It should be part of an eventual series of four, the other three of which deal less with Native American storylines, but which have recurring Native American characters. A second series, a trilogy, "The Chronicles of George Washington Hill," now only in the outline phase, have a strong Native American storyline, particularly the third volumne, following GWH's mission among various Native American tribes, and the deeply disappointing collaps of that effortby the late1880's. I suspect strongly that your statement, Margaret, is very true. Therefore, my tactic in preparing these manuscripts and outlines (thinking ahead to marketing) has been to come at the subject very indirectly. In each case, the Native American theme is a subplot, surfacing within and inbetween much more traditional (and marketable) romance/adventures. My hope is that intererest in other storylines will allow for a greater marketing potential which will allow for a "sneeking-in" of the other (and more important) themes. I certainly don't propose to do for Mormon/Native American relations what you and Darius have done for Mormon/African American relations in our early history. But this intent (or lack thereof) is calculated and I hope will allow for a greater long-term effect. Actually, on that topic, I have taken very seriously your request a few weeks ago (or it may have been months) with regard to your distress as to "Standing on the Promises" overall sales and marketing, etc. While I have been swamped with other work and have not responded (yet), I have begun a very careful consideration of those questions you posed, and will begin to propose some of my thoughts soon, I hope. I am currently preparing a paper for submission for possible inclusion in this year's annual conference, and while my thesis was not initially related to an examination of your struggles in selling SOTP, I find that I have used SOTP as a central example of part of my thesis, and I have become facinated with hypothesizing on how that important work might have worked better (or at least had a larger audience), had the formating and strategy (in the writing phase) been somewhat different. I hope that my ultimate remarks will not be taken as unduely critical, and I appologize in advance, because I do find (now in my more carful examination of what I have always considered an ESSENTIAL work which you and Darius have accomplished), that I have several criticisms of the work (or rather how the work was ultimately presented), critiques which may be wrong, but which may have created a vastly different, and more widely lauded product (and by more widely lauded, I mean outside of LDS book-buying circles). But I will address the specifics of those thoughts at another time, and perhaps save some of them for a private discussion with you directly. The only reason I'm responding today is in regards to your fears about "our culture". Generaly, I agree with your statement, but I also think that we as artists are quite frequently too quick to blame the lukewarm response to our work on a "bad house" (to use the metaphor from my theater days). I will grant you that the "house" IS very often bad. (I'm in complete nose-dive in my pessimissm with regard to LDS film at the moment, for example; we can't sell tickets to save our lives.) That said, however, I think that what these difficult conditions do is force us to get much more creative, much more concerned with the marketing of our products from a very early phase in the development of our creations, much more open-eyed in our analysis of market conditions, and much more brutal with ourselves in our analysis of the work we ultimatley offer for consumption. I am not inclined to give up on the hard subjects quite just yet, but I do think we have to build a better mousetrap. I think you are absolutly correct in thinking that a Native American trilogy--in the format of SOTP (my emphasis)--would not do well. But I am inclined to think that it is THE FORMAT which is partially at fault, and not JUST the sad reflection on our culture which makes it difficult to sell such books. I have a lot more to say on this subject, but am not prepared to do so right now. But you have very much got me thinking... so much so that considering your work and your questions and the marketing of historical stories which deal with difficult questions of our cultural history is at the absolute forefront of my mind, and is actually taking up the vast majority of my thinking at the moment. Thanks for your work and your efforts. Keep it up. Jongiorgi Enos -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Eric D. Snider Subject: [AML] Mormons at Sundance Date: 23 Jan 2004 22:49:47 -0700 I just returned from nine days in Park City for the Sundance Film Festival, and I thought readers of this list might be interested in what LDS references I noted in the films there. I only saw about 40 of the 120 films available, so this report is by no means comprehensive. "Napoleon Dynamite" might be consider "Mormon cinema," depending on how one defines that genre. It's director (Jared Hess) and writers (Jared and Jerusha Hess) are LDS, as are its stars (Jon Heder and Aaron Ruell). There may be other Mormons in the cast, but someone more knowledgeable than I about such things would have to report on that; there were no names I recognized, anyway. The film itself is not LDS per se, though the indications are there: It is set in Preston, Idaho, which I understand is largely Mormon; the main character uses faux-profanity (fauxfanity?) like "fetch" and "heck" a lot; and at one point he visits a thrift store that is obviously (to someone like me, anyway) a Deseret Industries. The only other Mormon reference I noted in the festival was in the film "Mean Creek," about a group of teens seeking revenge against a bully. Near the end, we see the front door on the house in which two of the teens live. There are two stickers on it, one that says "LDS" with a silhouette of Moroni playing the trumpet, and another that just says "CTR." I doubt it was the director's intention to make the family LDS, for surely he would have found a more direct way of getting that across if he did. (As it is, probably only Mormons will even know what those stickers mean.) More likely, the house they used for that scene happened to belong to Mormons, and the director didn't think the stickers were noticeable enough to either remove them or explain them. If anyone's interested, I wrote more about the festival, including reviews of some films, at my Web site, www.EricDSnider.com. Eric D. Snider ******** Buy Eric's CD, "Will Make Jokes for Food"! Info at http://www.ericdsnider.com/shop.php -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jonathan Langford Subject: [AML] Mormonism and _Angels in America_ Date: 23 Jan 2004 22:21:51 -0600 A while back, I had ambitions to write a sort-of review of Angels in America for AML-List and/or Irreantum, from the perspective of a non-theater person who had merely read the plays as a matter of curiosity. (I actually read them on the prompting of a non-LDS friend of mine who teaches German literature and specializes in queer theory. I understand he'll be using Angels in America as one of the texts in a class on literature and sexuality that he's teaching this coming semester.) That review went the way of all too many such dreams: too many things to do, too little time. But I had several thoughts about the Mormon elements in _Angels in America_ that I want to put out there anyway, in a less polished format than a review... _Angels in America_, as I see it, is not about Mormonism. That is to say, even though it uses symbols from Mormon history/theology, and features Mormon characters, it's not about what it means to be Mormon--even Mormon and gay--and it's not really about Mormon beliefs, or how those beliefs intersect with other ideas and belief systems within the play (such as Marxist approaches to class). There are some clever things done with the Mormon elements. I think they're used partly as a distillation of a particular type of idea of what it means to be American. The Visitor's Center diorama scene is hilarious at points. But the supposedly Mormon characters, by and large, don't act like Mormons, they don't describe their beliefs in terms that would be terribly familiar to most Mormons, and their religion doesn't seem to impact their day-to-day lives in the ways that it does for most active Mormons. Please note that I'm not trying to criticize Kushner for a lack of realism. I don't think that examining or depicting the Mormon experience is any part of his goal (as, for example, examining the American experience, and the gay experience, and even the New York Jewish experience, are, to some degree at least). He's a poet/playwright; he can and should and does feel free to use whatever elements inspire his fancy, and he doesn't terribly abuse Mormons in the process. But I think it's important not to mistake his play for a play about Mormonism. What seems to interest Kushner about Mormonism is the way he can revise symbols of Mormonism to convey his own meaning. Thus, for example, his plays have angels coming to earth with a modern message--but they're not Mormon angels at all, and their message (that humans should stop moving around and changing things so much, so that maybe God will find his way back to heaven), while it may reflect Kushner's take on religion in general (at least conservative religions like--as most people see it--Mormonism), has nothing to do, really, with the message of the Restoration--even as a critique of that message. Get past the "angel appears, surprisingly, to a man of modern America," and there's nothing left of any connection to Mormonism in this elements (as I see it). My friend made the comment (in an email to me) that he thought Kushner had some important things to say about religion and sexuality in _Angels in America_. Well, maybe. But the Mormon take on sexuality is actually radically different from that of most religions, at least most contemporary Christian religions. I think that may be part of what attracted Kushner about using Mormonism: his angels, for example, are intensely sexual beings (at least in the reactions they prompt), and I suspect that (if he knew that much about Mormon theology, which he may well--he did study Mormonism before writing the play) he may have felt it was particularly appropriate/ironic to make the stereotypically repressed religious closet gay (who comes out over the course of the play) be from a religion that theoretically accepts, even embraces sexuality, but that culturally is (as he would see it) just as repressive as any other religion. But none of that irony comes out in the play, so far as I can tell. There's no engagement with the peculiarly Mormon ideas that make homosexuality not merely a sin (as it is in many other religions) but also a dead end. The peculiarly Mormon idea of humans becoming gods doesn't get mentioned. In short, there's no engagement (as I see it) with the *ideas* of Mormonism. The characters (returning to an earlier point) don't seem much affected by Mormonism in their social lives. There are no callings, no home teachers. When Joe's mother arrives in New York, worried about her son and without a place to stay, she doesn't call his bishop, doesn't call on local church members to put her up for the night. It probably fits Kushner's purposes to have his Mormon characters disconnected and isolated--but even though members of the Church may feel isolated internally, if they are active members of the church they will, in fact, be part of a community, whether they feel really at home there or not. That's something that's not reflected in the play. Similarly, Joe's internal anguish--the struggle to repress his homosexual feelings, and their conflict with his religious values--seems well drawn to me, but also generic. They're the sort of feelings that anyone from a sexually restrictive religion might feel. But as I've tried to indicate, I think that for a Mormon, there are actually other factors at work as well, which could well be incorporated into a play that was *about* what it means to be Mormon and gay, as opposed to a play that simply uses Mormons as icons. I do have to say that the garment-stripping scene works well symbolically, though it's one of the scenes that would make me very uncomfortable seeing this play performed. Kushner does seem to "get" what they mean and what it would mean to take them off, and he uses the garment-stripping scene to make the point that no matter what gestures you make, you can't really change who you are inside. Which may be the key to the aspect of the play(s) that I found most puzzling (though not, directly at least, connected to Mormonism): that is, the rather stern judgment that is made of Joe (the closeted gay who comes out etc.). While many of the other people (even including his ambiguously Mormon mother) become part of a community by the end of the second play, he is sent off on his own and we hear no more about him. At first, I was wondering if the message was simply that for someone who has been what Joe has been (writer of repressive court decisions for conservative judges), there is no forgiveness. Eventually, I decided that probably wasn't the case, though I can't remember anymore exactly what I decided it was instead. Maybe that you can't simply choose an identity, but that what makes a difference is how you live instead. (Both Joe and Louis, the lover of the man who contracts AIDS, are held to account for deserting those who depend on them, even though in Joe's case it is leaving his wife to "embrace his gay identity." Which, actually, makes this a pretty moral work, from one perspective at least.) _Angels in America_ is an interesting and well-written piece of work. Possibly even brilliant, although I think that those who don't share Kushner's beliefs and (dare I say) prejudices will find considerably less in it than those who do. It's an important work, from the perspective of Mormon letters. But not, ultimately--in my view--a work of literature that has much specifically to say either to or about Mormons. Jonathan Langford Speaking for myself, not AML-List -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jeff Needle Subject: [AML] Care in Use of Historical Sources Date: 24 Jan 2004 20:16:52 -0800 Not that I'm behind in my reading, but I'm just getting to the Fall 2002 issue of "Dialogue" and I have a question for the writers/researchers here. The first article concerns Martin Harris' Kirtland Years. As I read, my eyebrows shot into my head several times at some of the extreme things Harris had to say. And descriptions of Harris were hardly flattering. Glancing down at the footnotes, I found, among the sources Howe's "Mormonism Unvailed" and the Wayne Sentinel. Hardly Mormon-friendly sources of information. I understand that, when writing from a "faithful" point of view, writers were quote uncritically from "official" sources, and we regularly criticize them for it. Do we sometimes allow cites from "non-faithful" points of view to pass by without comment? Was Howe such a reliable witness that we can quote from him and not wonder if he skewed reality in *his* direction, as much as we accuse faithful writers of skewing reality in *their* direction? What are your thoughts? ---------------- Jeff Needle jeff.needle@general.com jeffneedle@tns.net -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jennifer Adair Subject: Re: [AML] YOUNG & GRAY, _Standing on the Promises_ Date: 26 Jan 2004 12:50:45 -0800 (PST) "Do you deal at all with white Mormon attitudes toward other groups such as the native Americans?" In my classes, I don't. I talk about the race issue and white privilege, dominance, etc. and then "leak" with mormon code words that I am LDS so that perhaps the other LDS students will not dismiss what is being said in the class. I have found this works and I have found at other times this doesn't work. LDS literature that opens up issues about race in the church in a fair but honest way helps me to help LDS students to get past ensign-like discourses about culture problems and to instead talk about solutions and situations the way the non-white ethnic groups may see and experience them. I know that Jessie Embry has done some work that I have used. I know the DC temple's exibit two years ago has helped me justify to my students the need to embrace others, not excuse them away with "oh, why don't they just get over it" which is what I hear a lot from mainstream mormon conversations about racial issues in the US.I f anyone has other suggestions - fiction or non-fiction that deal with racial issues in a complex or at least non-stereotyping way, I would love to hear about them. Jennifer -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Marny Parkin Subject: [AML] Fwd: LTUE now Feb. 19-21! Date: 26 Jan 2004 18:14:32 -0700 I'm forwarding this from the Life, the Universe, & Everything symposium committee. Marny >PLEASE distribute this! > >Due to mis-communication higher up the chain of command (so, basically, NOT >the committee), the dates of the symposium are Feb. 19-21. (that's THREE >WEEKS!) > >We're contacting the guests now. So not sure if this will affect them or not. > >But we STILL plan on having a symposium. PLEASE COME! > >Same workshops, panels, presentations, etc. ;) > >Charlie [CharleneH@aol.com] -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Sam Brown Subject: [AML] Mormon Near-Death Literature Date: 26 Jan 2004 20:28:32 -0500 Hello, i seem to recall that there are several Mormon-penned books on this phenomenon of seeing God/death/relatives and then returning. can anyone tell me who the authors are and what the books are? thanks much. -- Yours, Samuel Brown, MD Massachusetts General Hospital sam@vecna.com -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Morgan B. Adair" Subject: RE: [AML] _The Best of Lowell Bennion_ Date: 25 Jan 2004 20:22:50 -0700 > [mailto:owner-aml-list@lists.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Nan > P. McCulloch > > I just secured a copy of Lowell L. Bennion's selected > writings = 1028-1988--edited by Eugene England--from > Amazon.com. It was pricey, = but worth it as I am a sincere > fan. Does anyone know where this book = can be found at a > reasonable price? Also, is there anyone I can contact = > personally about confirming some historical information re > LLB that is = not appropriate for this list--historian, > friend, family member? <> searches a number of online dealers of new and used books. The cheapest copy of The Best of Lowell L. Bennion listed is $24.95 from Alibris.com. Four other copies are listed, with prices up to $40. MBA -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Christopher Bigelow Subject: [AML] More on _Latter Days_ Date: 26 Jan 2004 18:46:21 -0700 Director of film with gay LDS theme still hopeful for screenings in Utah PARK CITY -- C. Jay Cox, director of "Latter Days," hasn't given up hope that his film will someday be shown in Utah. The movie, which is about gay members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was recently dropped by Madstone Theaters in Salt Lake City without ever being screened. During a panel discussion Thursday at the unaffiliated Queer Lounge set up during the Sundance Film Festival, Cox said he believes the decision was based on pressure from conservatives in Utah who threatened to boycott the art-house movie chain. The theater said the decision was made because of the film's "lack of artistic integrity and quality" -- that is, it just wasn't good enough to screen. "Yeah, movies only get shown if they're 'Citizen Kane,' " he joked to The Salt Lake Tribune after the panel. He hopes the simmering controversy over the movie will ensure that it gets screened somewhere in Utah; perhaps after the fuss, people would want to see it just out of curiosity. Cox heard about threats through an employee at the theater, who "implied that some of these threats were coming from high up in Salt Lake," Cox said. "We were getting criticized for having the audacity to make a film about gay Mormons, because of course there's no such thing," Cox said. But during the film festival circuit ("Latter Days" was not screened at Sundance), "every festival we would go to, people would get up and say, 'I'm a gay Mormon and this is my story.' " Panel members discussed how to get gay-themed films into the mainstream -- and whether that should be the goal in the first place. Even when bad movies or television shows are made about gay people, some say, " 'Oh, this is good for us.' Well, is it?" said Ryan Shiraki, director of "Home of Phobia," screening as part of Sundance's Park City at Midnight section. "Latter Days" is the first directing foray for Cox, who worked as a screenwriter on "Sweet Home Alabama." "My next movie is so not gay. I'm now doing one on chick car racing," Cox said. "The only thing that would get my family to talk to me again was to make a NASCAR movie." -- Christy Karras -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mark Hansen Subject: Re: [AML] Mormons at Sundance Date: 27 Jan 2004 11:49:13 -0800 (PST) Cool report. Thanks. Was there anyone else also at the LDS Film Festival? Thoughts, impressions? MRKH -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Rich Hammett Subject: RE: [AML] YOUNG & GRAY, _Standing on the Promises_ Date: 27 Jan 2004 14:55:57 -0600 (CST) On Fri, 23 Jan 2004, Margaret Young wrote: [snip] > But I'll never write it. I am eager to finish my current > project--another co-authored work where a grand-daughter > of a BYU professor who resigned in 1911 rather than avoid > teaching evolution will write about the controversy > with the great great grand-daughter of the man who > presided over BYU at the time--George Brimhall. I'm the > Brimhall descendant. [snip] I've never heard of this. I'm a little confused by your synopsis, though. Was BYU/Brimhall forcing him to teach evolution, or NOT to teach evolution? With all of the mormons in the life sciences, this one may have a pretty good audience ready. rich -- \ Rich Hammett http://home.hiwaay.net/~rhammett / rhammett@HiWAAY.net \ 12/13/03--Saddam Hussein found cowering in an / "undisclosed location." -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "C.S. Bezas" Subject: RE: [AML] Personal Websites: Advice? Date: 27 Jan 2004 15:37:08 -0500 Here's my new site: http://csbezas.com . I just put it up this week. I have free site hosting for three years and only had to pay $5.95 for my domain name. It was pretty simple to build. Hope that helps! The company is 1and1.com and they threw in a large amount of extras, such as site statistic software, search engine submission stuff, a free forum for my site, etc. Cindy C.S. Bezas Board of Editors, Advisory Chair http://www.latterdayauthors.com -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Tony Markham" Subject: RE: [AML] Mormon Near-Death Literature Date: 27 Jan 2004 16:08:51 -0500 One of the most famous is Betty Eadie's (sp?) _Embraced by the Light_ She never admits to being LDS in the text, but I met her at a book signing and she owned up. Tony Markham -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Nan P. McCulloch" Subject: Re: [AML] _The Best of Lowell Bennion_ Date: 27 Jan 2004 15:32:31 -0700 Thanks for the information. Big difference in price. I'll forward this to my son. The $38. + was the best he has been able to find. He is looking for several copies. Nan McCulloch -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: LDS Film Festival (by way of Jonathan Langford ) Subject: [AML] 2004 LDS Film Festival Post-Event News Release Date: 28 Jan 2004 08:22:35 -0600 LDS FILM FESTIVAL http://www.ldsbox.com feedback@ldsbox.com 3RD LDS FILM FESTIVAL BIG SUCCESS With 40 events and an attendance of 2000, the 3RD LDS FILM FESTIVAL 2004 continues to grow in quality and quantity. The 3-day event offered many filmmaker's presentations, including Russ Holt ("The Work and the Glory"), Jeremy Coon ("Napoleon Dynamite"), Adam Abel and Ryan Little ("Saints & Soldiers"), Kurt Hale and Dave Hunter ("The Home Teachers"), Jason Faller ("Pride & Prejudice") and many more. Over 70 short films were screened, including 29 films made during the 24-HOUR FILMMAKING MARATHON. 26 films in two short film programs competed for the Festival Awards. Additionally, 18 films out of competition were presented. The 3RD LDS FILM FORUM explored the depiction of Mormons in film past, present and future, and continues to be an important part of the festival. The Provo City Library at Academy Square once again served as the perfect location for all these events. For the first time, the festival also showcased feature films made by LDS Filmmakers, including the not yet released "Saints & Soldiers" and "The Best Two Years." The audience response was overwhelming, with 800 people attending screenings at the University Mall Cinemas in Orem. We would like to thank the Provo City Library and Don Oscarson for their generous support of the festival. We'd also like to thank ldsvideostore.com, Mike Bloxham, University Mall Cinemas, Halestorm Entertainment, the BYU Media Arts Department and Excel Entertainment Group for their support. Our thanks goes also to all of our volunteers for their dedicated service! We look forward to an exciting 4TH LDS FILM FESTIVAL 2005! AND THE WINNERS ARE... The winners of this year's festival and the 12 finalists of the Screenplay Competition were announced at an informal award ceremony Saturday night at 10 p.m. You can look up the winners at: http://www.ldsbox.com/cgi-bin/04winners.php In the Short Film Competition, dramatic entries were mostly among the winners, while as in the 24-hour filmmaking marathon competition comedy won most of the awards. Congratulations to all filmmakers and screenwriters for their excellent work! We hope that the LDS FILM FESTIVAL will continue to motivate filmmakers and screenwriters alike to write and produce great stories and films. Thank you all for participating in this year's film festival. See you all next year! "BEST OF 2004" FESTIVAL TOUR The "Best of 2004" program will go on tour. Organize your own screening in your city, ward, stake, school or library. You can rent the "Best of 2004" program throughout 2004. More information will be online soon. You can email us at feedback@ldsbox.com, if you're interested in bringing the festival to your town. You either signed up for our newsletter or were recommended to us by a friend. If you would like to unsubscribe from future LDSBOX mailings, simply reply to this message with the word REMOVE in the subject line. -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Kathy Tyner" Subject: Re: [AML] Care in Use of Historical Sources Date: 27 Jan 2004 18:50:05 -0800 Absolutely on the mark Jeff. Just as "official" sources tend to gloss over unpleasant things, most "anti" or "non-faithful" material, especially from certain time periods were terribly skewed and biased and almost always inaccurate, often purposefully, sometimes ignorantly. Hardly something a careful researcher/student of history should rely on. An honest researcher can make a mistake, to be sure, but some sources and their reliability should be obvious. Kathy Tyner Orange County, CA -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Susan Malmrose" Subject: Re: [AML] Mormon Near-Death Literature Date: 28 Jan 2004 09:19:40 -0800 There were a series of books called "Beyond the Veil," I believe it was, that detailed several different types of spiritual experiences...I'm sure some of them were near-death, I just don't remember. Susan M -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Linda Adams Subject: Re: [AML] Mormonism and _Angels in America_ Date: 27 Jan 2004 20:38:21 -0600 At 10:21 PM 1/23/04, you wrote: >I do have to say that the garment-stripping scene works well symbolically, >though it's one of the scenes that would make me very uncomfortable seeing >this play performed. Kushner does seem to "get" what they mean and what >it would mean to take them off, and he uses the garment-stripping scene to >make the point that no matter what gestures you make, you can't really >change who you are inside. And, while the subject is up, I suppose many of you watched the _Angels in America_ HBO production completely sweep the Golden Globe Awards this week. I read somewhere (here?) that the garments used in the above-mentioned scene in the HBO production were accurate to the smallest detail. I personally felt utterly sick that, by winning so many awards, many, many more people are going to see this scene now who may never have heard of _Angels_ before the Golden Globes. Without sweeping an awards show, maybe it could have faded into oblivion, in time. (When are the Emmys, again... ?) Do the writers, actors, and producers really "know not what they do?" I will feel more sick if I find out they used a real pair for costuming, and will always wonder who sold them for that purpose, and at what cost. At what dreadful, spiritual cost? I'll ask anyway. Does anyone know what they actually used? I don't have HBO and haven't seen this production, or the Broadway production, or gotten my hands on the script to read it; I'm willing to read it, though, and the subject matter (gays and Mormonism, AIDS, etc.) is not at *all* a problem for me. But I don't know if I could bring myself to watch this scene, if I did get to see the movie. I might retch. Literally. It may indeed work well to establish the symbol he intended; but at what point does mockery of sacred things get out of hand? Does Kushner understand this is *not* identical to showing a priest removing his white collar, or an Orthodox rabbi shaving his beard? Is there nothing we can do as a Church membership to speak out? If not, what's next? What other sacred things could we find broadcast on cable TV, or demonstrated on Broadway, in the future? Is there no recourse? It seems to me, in a way, pornography and profanity of the worst sort: taking the sacred and selling it for money and entertainment, intimate details displayed for anyone to see. Yet it doesn't matter if we're offended when it happens. We are laughable. Mormons are silly. Our deepest feelings regarding what is most sacred to our religion just don't matter. Not to Hollywood, not to Broadway. Yet... when Peter Jackson filmed Lord of the Rings, he made and KEPT promises to the native peoples of New Zealand that their sacred volcanic mountaintops would *not* be in the final product. They are holy to that people, and the mountains were not allowed to be photographed. He obtained permission from them first, and had all the mountains in question painted out and replaced them with artwork. He kept their sacred things sacred. No one laughed at the New Zealand tribes or disrespected their beliefs in what, to them, is most sacred and holy. No promises to get the needed shots were broken. The mountains do not appear in the finished film. Why don't our sacred things receive the same respect from Kushner? Kushner and Mike Nichols both were described by the actors in _Angels_ at the Globes as "brilliant," "gifted," and "visionary." If Peter Jackson can do it, why can't the "brilliant" Mr. Kushner and Mr. Nichols follow suit? Linda Adams -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Kathy Tyner" Subject: Re: [AML] Mormon Near-Death Literature Date: 28 Jan 2004 11:10:59 -0800 Betty Eadie also wrote a sequel entitled: "The Awakening Heart-My Continuing Journey To Love". That book also has a lot of passages and phrasing an LDS reader or anyone familiar with the church's teachings and culture would recognize. I really don't why she would have to "own up" to being LDS. Her first book was prominently displayed at any LDS book seller that I went into at the time and was discussed by word of mouth amongst most of the Mormons I knew. She even had the privilege of being criticized by some LDS intellisgentsia including a certain BYU professor by the last name of McConkie. I came away with the feeling that they didn't like a woman without an official title encroaching on their turf. I considered it a compliment, and if I were her would have worn it like a badge of honor. Interestingly enough, I also knew a woman in my ward who was a practical, no nonsense type who throughly believe the book as she had had a nearly identical near-death experience as a nine year old child, years before she ever joined the LDS Church. Kathy Tyner Orange County, CA -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Andrew Hall" Subject: RE: [AML] Call for AML Award Nominations Date: 28 Jan 2004 03:17:39 +0000 Novels: Paul Edwards: The Angel Acronym David Farland: Lair of Bones Gerald Grimmett: The Wives of Short Creek Jack Harrell: Vernal Promises Dean Hughes: How Many Roads Douglas Thayer: The Conversion of Jeff Williams Margaret Blair Young and Darius Gray: The Last Mile of the Way I would in particular same the Harrell or Thayer novels (haven't read them yet, but from the reviews). Young/Gray too, but they already won an award for the first volume of the series. Young Adult/Juvinile Shannon Hale: The Goose Girl (middle grades) Krisent Randle: Slumming (high school) Martine Bates Leavitt: Tom Finder (high school) Kimberly Heuston: Dante's Daughter (middle/high) John H. Ritter: Cruz de la Cruz: The Boy who saved baseball. (middle) Hale, Randle, and Ritter especially, again from the reviews. Short Fiction Brian Evenson' "The Ex-Father" Salt Hill, #14, Summer 2003 Helen Jones Walker' "Saturday Evening, SUnday Afternoon" Dialogue 36:2, Summer 2003 Levi Peterson: "Brothers" Dialogue 36:2, Summer 2003 Darrell Spencer: "Death Care World Expo, Reno, Nevada." American Literary Review, 14:1, Spring 2003 Darrell Spencer: "The Devil, You Say." Midamerican Review, 23:2, Spring 2003 Douglas Thayer. "Wolves" Dialogue 36:2, Summer 2003 Robert Hodgson Van Wagoner: "A Good Sign" Dialoggue 36:2, Summer 2003 I read the ones in Dialogue. Of those, I especially liked the Levi Peterson and Van Wagoner stories. I hope to get my year-in-review out next week. Andrew Hall Denton, TX _________________________________________________________________ Rethink your business approach for the new year with the helpful tips here. http://special.msn.com/bcentral/prep04.armx -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ThomasDuncan01@comcast.net Subject: RE: [AML] YOUNG & GRAY, _Standing on the Promises_ Date: 28 Jan 2004 15:30:16 +0000 > On Fri, 23 Jan 2004, Margaret Young wrote: > [snip] > > But I'll never write it. I am eager to finish my current > > project--another co-authored work where a grand-daughter > > of a BYU professor who resigned in 1911 rather than avoid > > teaching evolution will write about the controversy > > with the great great grand-daughter of the man who > > presided over BYU at the time--George Brimhall. I'm the > > Brimhall descendant. > [snip] > > I've never heard of this. I'm a little confused by your > synopsis, though. Was BYU/Brimhall forcing him to teach > evolution, or NOT to teach evolution? NOT teach. As shown in wonderful dramatic detail in my play, "Survival of the Fittest." Thom Duncan -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mark Hansen Subject: RE: [AML] Personal Websites: Advice? Date: 28 Jan 2004 08:26:53 -0800 (PST) Hey! Cool looking site. I'll be excited as it gets more and more complete, too. Tell me about your plays. Where have you staged them? MRKH --- "C.S. Bezas" wrote: > Here's my new site: http://csbezas.com . I just put > it up this week. -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jeff Needle Subject: Re: [AML] Care in Use of Historical Sources Date: 28 Jan 2004 11:14:01 -0800 Thanks for the good thoughts on this. This same question has ignited something of a discussion on Mormon-library. It's interesting how folks react to the question. I guess it depends on whose ox is being gored. At 06:50 PM 1/27/2004, you wrote: >Absolutely on the mark Jeff. -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ThomasDuncan01@comcast.net Subject: Re: [AML] Mormonism and _Angels in America_ Date: 28 Jan 2004 22:23:24 +0000 I don't see a problem. Michael Nichols isn't a Mormon and made no commitments to God or anyone to not show garments. This is, imsoho, a non issue. We can make it one, if we wish, by doing what many worldly organization do and go public and complain and look idiots to everyone else. OR We can take the high road and just ignore them. Think about it. If you make a lot of noise about this, how many more people will become aware that aren't now. -- Thom Duncan NOW expounding on things nonsensical from: ThomasDuncan01@comcast.net -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Brent Nelson" Subject: [AML] LDS Publications Query Date: 28 Jan 2004 13:32:36 -0700 Dear All: I was wondering if anyone had a list of LDS publications that take = independent works. I am looking to get a few essays published. Thanks. E. Brent Nelson -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "webmaster" Subject: [AML] Box Office Report, 23 Jan. 2004 Date: 28 Jan 2004 14:44:30 -0600 Feature Films by LDS/Mormon Filmmakers and Actors Weekend Box Office Report (U.S. Domestic Box Office Gross) Weekend of January 23, 2004 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 %B.O. Theatrs Rank LDS/Mormon Filmmaker/Actor Total Gross Chnge $/Thtr Days --- --------------------------- ----------- ----- ------- ---- 17 Paycheck 1,176,378 -53% 1,108 33 Aaron Eckart (actor) 52,558,091 $1,061 (2nd-billed star) 27 The Young Black Stallion 315,458 -22% 51 33 Reed Smoot (cinematographer) 3,851,755 $6,185 35 The Missing 160,029 +136% 227 61 Aaron Eckart (actor) 26,514,143 $704 Aldric La'Auli Porter (assoc. producer/1st A.D.) 36 The Cat in the Hat 158,485 -29% 317 66 Eric McLeod (exec. producer) 100,446,895 $499 Aldric La'Auli Porter (assoc. producer/1st A.D.) Danielle Chuchran (actress) 49 Timeline 69,132 -36% 136 61 Paul Walker (lead actor) 19,375,474 $508 57 Bugs! 41,862 14 318 stars Papilio, 4,602,719 $2,990 a Great Mormon butterfly 63 The Home Teachers 20,739 -21% 18 17 Kurt Hale (director, co-writer) 132,512 $1,152 Dave Hunter (producer) Ryan Little (cinematographer) John E. Moyer (screenwriter) Cody Hale (composer) Wynn Hougaard (editor) Actors: Michael Birkeland, Jeff Birk, etc. 72 Pride and Prejudice 11,364 +26% 10 52 Andrew Black (director) 200,587 $1,136 Jason Faller (producer) Kynan Griffin (co-producer) Anne K. Black (screenplay/produc. designer) Jason Faller; Katherine Swigert (screenplay) Travis Cline (cinematographer) Ben Carson (composer) Alexander Vance (editor) Actors: Ben Gourley, Hubbel Palmer, Amber Hamilton, Carmen Rasmusen 75 Galapagos 8,453 -20% 4 1550 Reed Smoot (cinematographer) 14,286,810 $2,113 102 The Legend of Johnny Lingo 715 -99% 1 150 Gerald Molen (producer) 1,690,025 $715 John Garbett (producer) -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Kathy Tyner" Subject: Re: [AML] Mormon Near-Death Literature Date: 28 Jan 2004 16:14:29 -0800 Besides Betty Eadie's "Embraced by the Light" and her sequel, "The Awakening Heart", I know of some other books on the subject. "The Message" by Lance Richardson and "I Saw Heaven!-A Remarkable Visit to the Spirit World" by Lawrence E. Tooley. "Closer To The Light-Learning From the Near-Death Experiences of Children" by M. Morse is available on the Deseret Book website, but I don't know if it's focus is only on experiences of LDS children. There is another book by an LDS woman, who like Eadie, doesn't state implicity in the book that she is LDS, but would have elements familiar to an LDS audience. The interesting twist to her story is that she was an inactive who made a sucicide attempt and goes into great detail of the impact such a choice could have. She even relates a conversation with Heavenly Father himself, although she makes it clear she was not in his presence. I believe the title is something like "Return From Darkness". Not to be confused with another NDE book entitled, "Return From Tomorrow" by George G. Ritchie with Eliazbeth Sherrill, both non-LDS authors, but an interesting book on the subject. There is another book that is a compilation of LDS Near-Death Experiences that also seeks to explain or interpret other NDEs that don't fit neatly into what the author thinks the conventional NDE should be as so to fit LDS perspective and beliefs. I can't remember the title of it, and will seek to find it out if I'm able, but haven't had any luck finding it on either the DB website or Seagull's. Despite this book's attempt to make NDEs to fit into an LDS palatable package, I tend to accept these experiences as related by the people who experienced them and don't worry about whether it "fits" or not. Besides, I have found that much of other recorded accounts, or research, such as that already done by Dr. Raymond Moody, or Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross have much in common with both LDS belief, doctrine and recorded experiences of NDEs, death and the Spirit World. On a related topic unique to LDS belief are books such as: "Life before Life" by Richard Eyre and "The Life Before" by Brent L. Top. Hope this helps. Kathy Tyner Orange County, CA -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jeff Needle Subject: Re: [AML] Mormon Near-Death Literature Date: 28 Jan 2004 15:51:45 -0800 I well remember the controversy that arose when evangelical bookstores, upon learning of Eadie's LDS affiliation, quickly pulled the book from their stores. Although it didn't involve LDS, Inc., directly, I remember one friend, the manager of a local bookstore, saying, "That's how those sneaky Mormons work." It was sad. ---------------- Jeff Needle jeff.needle@general.com jeffneedle@tns.net -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "C.S. Bezas" Subject: RE: [AML] Personal Websites: Advice? Date: 28 Jan 2004 21:07:50 -0500 Dear Mark, You are very kind. A question for you -- how difficult is it to add MP3s for downloading to a site? I can't figure out how to do it, at least with the stuff they've provided for me at the website. How have you done it? I have a long history of theater, with some film sprinkled in, and have directed a variety of productions. But for the ones I actually wrote, they were requested of me for a variety of special events or a multi-stake youth conference or other conferences. The "Footprints to Follow" then actually went to committee with a representative from the COB (Church Offices) and five stake presidents from central Florida; they were considering it for a pageant for the southeastern United States, since the only really big one in the east is the Hill Cumorah pageant, way up the east coast. Then three of the five stake presidents were released and it never got off the ground. That's OK. The responses to each of the productions were amazingly wonderful and time after time requests came in for videos and CDs. Unfortunately I've not had the tech knowledge to do that. But now I have all this equipment from that grant -- and by golly sakes, I'm going to learn it somehow -- finally! My right-side of my brain is huge compared to my petite left-braindedness! But somehow I'll start weightlifting mental techy things and before I know it -- I'll be a brilliant techno-wonder! I've gotta morph into that - my goal by the end of this year is to have all the CDs done for each of the productions, in addition to songbooks and free downloadable scripts. Wayne Burton has been helping me understand how to get backers; he's been so kind. But thank you very much for your kind comments! It's great having you on the list! Cindy C.S. Bezas Creative Works http://csbezas.com Board of Editors, Advisory Chair http://www.latterdayauthors.com -----Original Message----- Hey! Cool looking site. I'll be excited as it gets more and more complete, too. Tell me about your plays. Where have you staged them? MRKH -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Paris Anderson" Subject: Re: [AML] Mormon Near-Death Literature Date: 28 Jan 2004 17:45:02 -0700 Kathy Tyner wrote: Interestingly enough, I also knew a woman in my ward who was a practical, no nonsense type who throughly believe the book as she had had a nearly identical near-death experience as a nine year old child, years before she ever joined the LDS Church. There is a book by Granite Publishing called, I think it's "Amazing = Grace," I can't remember who it's by, but she wasn't a member when it = happened. I really, really liked it. I had an out of body experience = when I had my accident. I was on my mission when I started to remember. = But I couldn't remember very well. I remembered up to a point, then = everything went black and I felt a profound dread. And I always = interpited that to mean I was on my way to hell. It bugged the hell out = of me, cuz I couldn't think of anything I had done. Anyway, one time = Betty Edie was on a talk show on the radio and I called in and asked her = if she had any idea why I couldn't remember. She told me it was a good, = merciful thing that I couldn't remember and someday I would understand. Well, about a month ago I realized the reason the olny things I could = remember about the out of body experience were frightening, and made me = afraid of the after life Was that the fear I developed was the only = thing that kept me alive at one point. When I was a student at BYU the = bishop of my ward called me into his office. He said two girls had been = to see him and had told him some awful things about me. It was my old = girlfriend and her roommate, Luann. Two weeks before this interview I = took Luann out, not knowing she was my old girlfriend's roommate. The = Bishop didn't accuse me of anything. He yelled at me for about half an = hour, put me on probation, forbade me to take the sacrament, ordered me = to go to the Stake President for an interview, and finally, return to = him in two weeks for another interview. I was in shock. I had no idea = what was going on. Later that day I went for the interview with the = stake president. He gave a long, probing interview, then concluded, = saying, "Well, I see no reason for a Church court here." And I thought, = "You mean that's what I'm here for? I go on a mission and run myself = till I'm dead, and now you guys want to excommunicate me?" I told the = stake president I wasn't going back to that ward. I didn't go back, but = I did go for the second interview. That Bishop was a lot different in = the second interview. He was almost nice. He told me the stake = president told him to apologize to me. He said he was willing to = signing a temple recommend for me. He said he was very concerned that I = didn't want to attend that ward anymore. I just left. I don't talk about that very often. People assume leaders are inspired, = so they either don't believe me, or they think I must have done = something to deserve that.=20 That was really hard on me, and I did contemplate suicide. And I would = have done it, too, if I hadn't have been so damn afraid of death and the = after life. So I guess that means God has heard of "Tough Love." Paris Anderson -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Nan P. McCulloch" Subject: [AML] Worthwhile Theater Project Date: 29 Jan 2004 12:57:21 -0700 Since I am a theater person I am interested in what others are doing in = this area. I have followed with interest the activities of talented = Erica Glenn a senior at Pleasant Grove High School. Erica, an actor and = playwright, has founded a performing-arts group for people at the Lindon = Care and Training Center, a residential facility for people with mental = and physical disabilities. I caught the article in the Deseret Morning = News on Monday, Jan 26. tsotomayor@desnews.com I am touched by a busy = young girl giving of her talents so generously in such a meaningful way. = What a marvelously successful effort. She hopes the program will = continue after she graduates in the spring. Sharlee Glenn must be = bursting with love and appreciation for her daughter Erica and all those = helping make this program work so well. Nan McCulloch -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Dennis Warr" Subject: Re: [AML] Mormon Near-Death Literature Date: 29 Jan 2004 22:22:43 +0000 The "Beyond the Veil" series is primarily NDE (Near Death Experience) in=20 nature. They're very good but give only brief glimpses. I found one book= =20 at Deseretbook.com - Closer to the Light: Learning from Near Death=20 Experiences of Children by Morse, M although I haven't read it. There are= =20 a couple of other books I've read recently but they are in boxes since I=20 moved recently. Anyway, Betty Eadie's book is good although there are a=20 couple of parts I question. But who am I to say having never had an NDE. = =20 I've heard rumors about her but doubt if any are true. I would recommend=20 one book even though it is written by a non-mormon. George Ritchie's=20 "Return From Tomorrow". It's very good. He has a new book out called=20 "Ordered to Return: My Life After Dying" although I haven't read that one=20 either. Cheers _________________________________________________________________ Check out the new MSN 9 Dial-up =97 fast & reliable Internet access with= prime=20 features! http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=3Den-us&page=3Ddialup/home&ST=3D1 -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mary Jane Jones Subject: [AML] Let It Be Dance Performance Date: 29 Jan 2004 16:47:14 -0500 If any of you are looking for something to do in Salt Lake this weekend, I have a suggestion. Last night I attended Odyssey Dance Theatre's production of "Let It Be" at Kingsbury Hall. It's a collection of dances set to Beatles songs, and it is one of the most accessible, endearing and enjoyable dance presentations I've seen. If you aren't already a Beatles fan, you will be when this concert is over. And if you aren't a fan of modern dance, then this concert just might convert you. I am a little bit biased, since my little brother dances in one of the numbers (Just the Two of Us, look for Chuck Jones). Other highlights are the dances to Come Together, You Can't Do That, Helter Skelter, We Can Work it Out, and Piggies is a great favorite with the audience. Highly, highly recommended. "Let It Be" continues tonight through Saturday, 8 p.m. at Kingsbury Hall with a matinee on Saturday at 2 p.m. Tickets available through Art-Tix or tickets.com, I think. I'll be there again on Friday.... Mary Jane ____________________________________ Mary Jane Jones Media Relations, Excel Entertainment Group 801-358-7020 mjjones@xelent.com -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: William Morris Subject: [AML] Mormonism and _Angels in America_ Date: 29 Jan 2004 15:01:46 -0800 (PST) I completely agree with Jonathan's analysis of _Angels in America_. I saw part one as staged by a community college [the acting was quite good, actually]. I had heard about the play before I saw it, but I didn't know much about it. I had a vague notion that there would probably be some offensive stuff about Mormons, but wasn't sure how that would be manifested. In all, I found it a powerful experience, but not wholly satisfying. For one, the Mormon elements worked exactly as Jonathan described them -- interesting, perhaps, in the context of the play, but bearing no resemblance to the Mormonism I knew. It was like watching a film about basketball where the actors portraying the players don't actually know how to play basketball. Interesting in the context of the plot, perhaps, but nothing at all like watching basketball. While I understand what he was doing in using Mormons to reflect both a social and political conservatism *and* a vital, mystical religious experience, I think Kushner worked too hard to fit his view of Mormonism into his political agenda and thus missed the true spirit and vitality of the faith. Not that that's a surprise. I did have a visceral negative reaction to some parts of the play, but it had more to do with the incessant use of the f-word than the Mormon stuff -- at some point it lost its value as an explicative and just became boring and annoying. ~~Wiliam Morris Oakland, Calif. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it! http://webhosting.yahoo.com/ps/sb/ -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jeff Needle Subject: [AML] Reviews in _Books in Print_ (Online) Date: 29 Jan 2004 08:24:05 -0800 Friends, the other day I found myself spending a great deal of time at the San Diego Public Library. I was amazed at how much I could get done in that one short trip. Wonderful! They have, on-line, Books in Print. I was not aware that they include, among their on-line listings, reviews. I looked up some of the titles we've discussed -- including the last volume of Margaret and Darius' recent series, found two reviews, both very brief and favorable. Does anyone know their policy of uploading reviews? I noticed that all the reviews I looked at were very brief -- no more than two paragraphs. If we can contribute to that review base, it would be great. ---------------- Jeff Needle jeff.needle@general.com jeffneedle@tns.net -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature