Conference

This weekend was one of those weekends that I was especially grateful for media and modern technology. We are so blessed to be able to hear from our prophet and the other leaders of the church no matter where in the world we live. I served my mission in Indonesia and I remember watching conference there... What a wonderful experience. The saints there are so strong, even though they faces many difficulties, including rarely being able to attend the temple (the closest one is thousands of miles away in the Philippines or Hong Kong). Watching conference strengthens them, even though they live so far from the headquarters of the church. I am grateful for the technology theta has made it possible for people everywhere to hear the word of God through his prophets.

Noah

My husband and I recently saw the movie Noah in theaters. I really liked it, despite lots of criticism against it. It was very artistic, it had lots of special effects which I wasn't expecting. It was super intense! The scenes that showed the flood were pretty crazy. But I loved the cinematography and the acting was INCREDIBLE! Jennifer Connolly especially gave a powerful performance. I heard that a lot of people were worried that Darren Aronofsky was going to make a mockery of the story, but I feel like his telling of Noah was sacred and beautiful, however extremely violent. It's interesting though that the movie was not advocating violence, but rather representing how terrible and awful it is. Have you guys seen it? What did you think?

Be Kind!

I saw this on my newsfeed on Facebook the other day and had to share it. This is the kind of media that should be passed around!

"I love technologyyyyy..."

So as I mentioned in my previous post, my husband has been in New York since last Thursday. Wow. I never want to live alone. It was awful! Coming home to an empty house, eating meals by myself, tiny me sleeping alone in a queen sized bed...no fun. This is the longest we've been apart since we started dating back in October of 2011. The only thing that made it bearable was being able to to talk to him via Google hangout and over the phone. Hearing his voice really eased my anxiety about being alone. I am so grateful to have that kind of technology!

Adam and the Octopus Club!

My husband, his brother, and his dad have been creating an animated kids' show called Adam and the Octopus Club for over two years now. Basically the show is about this boy named Adam who gets whisked away into a magical world called the Amu Ocean where he teams up with a group of four octopuses (yes, it really is octopuses and not octopi) and must work with them to save the Ocean from destruction. Each octopus has his/her own unique personality and brings something different to the table. Adam tries to help each of them realize their potential as he, himself, must discover and uphold his role as the prophesied Last Hero. The show is about friendship, tolerance for other cultures, courage, adventure, and standing up for what's right. I feel like we have very few, if any, kids' shows these days that teach good morals and values like that. This week my husband and his brother are in New York pitching this show to several television networks. I hope and pray that it gets picked up--we need more shows like this one!

Check out their website and "LIKE" the Facebook page to learn more about Adam and the Octopus Club and support good media!

https://www.facebook.com/adamandtheoctopusclub

http://www.adamandtheoctopusclub.com/

"Cave of Forgotten Dreams"

The other day, my husband and I watched a documentary called "Cave of Forgotten Dreams". It's about a cave in France that has the oldest human painted images ever discovered. They are over 30,000 years old! The cave features beautiful depictions of horses, mammoths, rhinoceroses, humans, bears, and more. The archaeologists were even able to decipher the height of one of the painters by where and how he painted. It was fascinating! I highly recommend this documentary..it's on Netfilx!

"Abduction"

Have any of you seen the movie, "Abduction"? It came out a few years ago I think...it's the one with Taylor Lautner. It recently found it on Netflix so I decided to watch it. Horrible decision! I think I watch about 20 minutes of it and then I turned it off. I was so disgusted and disappointed with the way they portrayed teenagers! The character that Taylor Lautner plays is supposed to be in high school and in the very beginning, it shows him and his friends going to a party. He gets drunk and his dad has to come pick him up in the morning. When he gets home, the mom just seems a little frustrated that he didn't call the night before...she says NOTHING about the fact that her son BROKE THE LAW by drinking underage. That bugs me. It's like they were portraying the idea that parents don't really care about that because "everybody does it" and it's not a big deal.
Another thing that I really disliked about the movie was when a girl from Taylor's character's class comes over to work on a homework assignment. They're looking on a website that has pictures of missing people when they were last seen and then there's a generated picture of what they would look like now. Taylor's character and the girl from his class start making fun of the pictures and the way the people look. What is that teaching young audiences?? Ugh. After that scene I just turned the movie off. For me this movie is not worth seeing.

Possibly the greatest Mormon Message I've seen...

A few months ago I was watching Mormon Messages and stumbled across this gem. Holy Moly. I have never cried so hard watching one of these and my husband can testify, I am a crier when it comes these videos! It is the sweetest story of a couple who exemplifies the words, "true love". I want to be the kind of spouse that the husband in this video is to his wife. Simply inspiring.

Should I Delete Facebook...or Not?

For theeee longest time I have been debating on whether or not I should delete my Facebook account. There are so many good uses for Facebook (like being able to keep in touch with old friends, see pictures and videos of friends/family who I don't get to see very often, hear about current events that my friends are involved in that I might want to support, ) but there are so many bad things too (like how time consuming and distracting it can be, how annoying the advertisements are, how people get mad at you when you don't post things very often, how annoying some people can be). I've gone for a year and half without Facebook (on my mission) and I thought I would just delete it when I got back, but then I got sucked up in it again. It's so fun to see pictures of/hear about friends who just got married or had a baby or who just post fun things! It's not really a distraction to me now that I am in school, but it is when I have extra time on my hands. Ughhh...I just don't know what to do!

I found this video on my newsfeed on facebook a few weeks back. It shows how media-saturated our world has become, and how it's hard to "live in the now" because we're always trying to capture every moment on our iPhones or cameras. I am totally guilty of doing that! This short film inspired me to "unplug" for at least a few minutes each day and just live life. I feel that often times I get distracted by a tiny device that rings and vibrates and lights up but there is so much to be seen and experienced in this world! We can live in the here and now, take a moment to meditate and breathe, or go for a walk outside and just enjoy the fresh air (the weather has been a lot warmer lately, yay!). Whatever it is that we do, there is much more beyond media to be enjoyed.

So I was recently flipping through Netflix and found a documentary called "Blackfish" that sounded pretty interesting. I hadn't heard anything about it, but I have always been fascinated by killer whales so I decided to watch it. I thought it would be about killer whales in general and how it is dangerous to train them. What I didn't realize, however, is that the people who created it had an agenda. The documentary was basically about how orcas are unpredictable and sometimes ferocious, and injuries and even death can occur from training them (at Sea World, in particular) so they should not be trained and kept in such places. The people they interviewed were all former employees of Sea World and they talked about their experience working there. Towards the middle-end of the documentary, I just felt like all the information they gave was extremely biased. They were of the opinion that all whales should be freed and that to keep animals like that out of their natural habitat is wrong. Although I do not completely disagree with their ideas, I dislike the feeling of others opinions being shoved down my throat. Had the documentary been less biased and more like "here are the facts, you decide", I feel that I would have been far more interested. Nonetheless, after watching the documentary, I did feel that I needed to create an opinion of my own. I've since talked with my husband, brother, and sister-in-law about the film and we've had some very stimulating conversations. With such a controversial topic, it's nice to feel more educated and hear what others have to say. That often helps me form my own opinions.