Posted by Ben
Sat, 05 Nov 2005 23:50:00 GMT
I’m not a trained reviewer, so my comments below seem inadequate about how really good this film is.
For a better review, visit:
http://motleyvision.blogspot.com/2005/11/review-eric-samuelsen-on-gods-army-ii.html
It’s a profoundly Mormon film in its structure and approach, which is a very different thing from something like “The Work and the Glory” films, which sprinkle Mormon elements into structures that feel very old-school Hollywood. Richard Dutcher started the Mormon movie movement. Now, with “States of Grace”, he has made the first genuinely, completely Mormon movie. Please, see it this weekend.
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Posted by Ben
Sat, 05 Nov 2005 13:13:00 GMT
I’ve enjoyed Richard Dutcher’s first two films that really kicked off the whole Mormon movie genre, so I guess it was inevitable that I’d see his first new movie in a few years on the opening weekend.
Before talking about God’s Army 2: States of Grace, I suppose I should add a disclaimer that I am a master of suspending disbelief. Consequently, I don’t always see all the flaws of a story that may be readily apparent to others. I also tend to get really sucked into a story, to the extent that the real world fades into the background and I become completely engrossed in whatever story I’m reading/watching/listening to. Not that I enjoy every story, there are quite a few I really don’t like, just that I can tend to overlook flaws in stories that I do like.
So, I really enjoyed this movie. I’ve really enjoyed Dutcher’s story-telling style in God’s Army and Brigham City: straight drama, down-to-earth characters and a matter-of-fact style. States of Grace continues in that same vein, but adds a number of unexpected twists and turns on the way. This is Dutchers best film yet, with wonderful photography and a complex story line that keep you interested for its slightly-long running time.
The overriding theme I took from the film was the healing power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. Each character comes to his defining moment from a different direction, with all needing the help Christ has to offer. The film isn’t preachy and I don’t know if everybody will take that same feeling away, but that’s how it hit me.
There are some things that I wish didn’t have to happen in the film, but at the same time the story and message of the story would have been greatly lessened without them. I hesitate to say more at this time, so as not to spoil the film for any who will see it in the coming weeks. I’ll write a followup with more spoilers once the film has been out a while.
Most of the reviews I read before seeing the film gave it 3 to 3 1/2 stars. I would wholeheartedly agree with those reviews. This is a movie that is worth seeing. Sometimes a film doesn’t just entertain, but instructs and makes us think. States of Grace is such a movie.
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Posted by Ben
Fri, 04 Nov 2005 08:51:00 GMT
For the past few weeks, and really since I started this blog, I’ve felt like I’ve had things to say, but my interests are so diverse that someone who would be interested in one thing I say, probably wouldn’t care for 9 other posts I’ve made. Frankly, this has sort of paralyzed me from making any posts because I’ve never been able to see a clear purpose for my blog.
To remedy this, I’ve decided to split some of my topics off to another blog. This afternoon I registered Constitarian.com which will become the spot for my political and news musings. Whether I have anything original or interesting to say remains to be seen, but I’m determined to enter into the conversation.
Criertower.com will still be here, and will be the outlet for my personal and religious posts. I feel I might have something to add in the Mormon blogging community, and that discussion deserves its own seperate outlet.
So, if anyone is interested in my meandering thoughts on politics, head on over to Constitarian.com.
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Posted by Ben
Thu, 27 Oct 2005 01:15:00 GMT
With our upcoming home purchase, Amanda and I have started to become a little more conscious of our spending habits the past little while.
During the summer, when I was working full-time, it was quite easy to sock away a tidy sum into the savings account in anticipation of the home purchase. Since I’ve cut my hours back for school, that hasn’t been as easy. We’re not hurting, by any means, but we probably have a few expenses creating money leaks that we could plug up. And with a mortgage looming close on the horizon, its becoming more important to cut back our outgoings.
I’ll readily admit that Amanda has been smarter with her money than I have. Though, maybe a lot of the difference disappears when we factor in our student loans. Still, I like to buy things, and Amanda is more of a saver, though I am moving in the savings direction.
You need a budget
We’ve been using a sort of budget the past few months to help us figure out how to spend our money. Our problem has been that we usually use the budget categories as we look back on a month, so by then its a little late to make any adjustments.
In my wanderings around the web, I stumbled across a budget system that looked good to me. Funny enough, it was made up by a fellow BYU student. It is called: You Need a Budget. (YNAB)
The idea behind it is that you lag one month behind your paychecks, so you know exactly how much money you have to spend in a monthly budget. For example, Amanda and I are both bringing in paychecks this month (October). The money we get from these checks is the money that we will spend in November.
It isn’t always easy to get the the point where you can lag paychecks like this. We are very lucky in that our relative expenses are pretty low right now. We decided that using this system was something we wanted to do, so we’ve cut back on a lot of our frivolous expenses during October. We already had an “extra” paycheck from September, and we’ve supplemented our other needs with some money that we had saved up this summer.
The real beauty of this system is that it prevents the living paycheck to paycheck that so many (including us) have gotten by with. Just this month, our rent was due by the 5th, but the first October paycheck didn’t come until the 14th! So we were already being forced to use September money for October expenses, why not go all the way and lag the whole month?
Smart Saving
In my quest to be a saver instead of a spender, I’ve started to pay more attention to interest rates, savings accounts an other opportunities to sock money away. The YNAB creator mentioned on his website that he keeps his savings money in an ING Direct account. This is a savings account managed via the internet, and linked with your existing checking account, to make getting money in and out easy. The coolest thing about these new online savings accounts is the interest rates they pay. ING is currently paying 3.4% interest! The great thing is that these accounts aren’t like CDs. Your money isn’t locked away for some set time period, they are true FDIC savings accounts.
In checking out ING Direct, I did some google research and found that it is indeed a reputable company, and a lot of people are very happy with it. In my research, I stumbled onto another online savings account that almost made me fall off my chair: Emigrant Direct. boasting a 4.0% interest rate!
Really amazing stuff. For the financially disciplined and creative folks out there, you could get a low interest credit card, maybe with a low introductory rate, charge all of your expenses on the card, and instead of paying off the card every month, sock the money into Emigrant Direct and make a minimum payment. For this to work, the interest rate on the card needs to be lower than 4.0%. If it is,your “beating” the system and making those credit cards work for you. Instead of paying them interest, you get to use the cards to make yourself interest.
We decided to go with Emigrant Direct. While the sign-up procedure is longer than with ING, 4.0% is hard to resist.
Continuing
As a member of the LDS Church, I’ve taken the warnings our leaders have given about financial and other preparedness very seriously. It seems clear to me that we need to get our financial houses in order, and the sooner the better. Our consumer society encourages unnecessary purchases, luxury living, etc. without giving much emphasis to saving, reducing debt, and thriftiness. Our approach needs to be the opposite: save first, and live on the rest.
Posted in Personal | 2 comments | no trackbacks
Posted by Ben
Thu, 13 Oct 2005 10:00:00 GMT
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, reconcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh; and remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved. (2 Nephi 10:24).
These past weeks after General Conference, its really started to hit me how serious this life really is. There are so many distractions with the busy reality of modern life, that I think I’ve often failed to recognize that the most important things we do while on this earth are of a spiritual nature.
Since recognizing this, I’ve made an effort to bring more spirituality into my life. I’ve began by just re-reading through some of the talks given at the last conference.
I read through Elder Eyrings this week, which is an extremely timely message. As part of his talk, he quotes the above scripture. Something jumped out at me as I read them that really hadn’t hit me before, and that is the word reconcile.
I was curious what exactly that word mean, so I looked it up in the 1828 websters dictionary, and here’s what I found:
To call back into union and friendship the affections which have been alienated; to restore to friendship or favor after estrangement;
To bring to acquiescence, content or quiet submission
The first defenition is especially fitting, I think. When we reconcile our selves to the will of God, we do bring our will into submission to his laws. As we do this, we are also restoring the friendship and affections which we’ve not enjoyed because of our own sins and because of the fall.
After we have regained our Father’s friendship and affections, then he can save us through the grace of his Son. That is just perfect doctrine.
Posted in Religion | 1 comment | no trackbacks
Posted by Ben
Thu, 13 Oct 2005 09:03:00 GMT
Jeff Lindsay has a great blog post wondering if we take the Book of Mormon seriously enough.
He talks specifically about the warnings throughout the Book of Mormon about secret combinations, although I think there are a ton of prophesies in there that we need to start paying attention to.
Hugh Nibley liked to say, “Woe to the generation that understands the Book of Mormon.” I think we’ve come to the point that we’re going to be in bigger trouble if we don’t start understanding it a little better. The big trick is being able to see prophecy being fulfilled as things happen around us. Its much easier to see things as a fulfillment in hindsight, but such recognition isn’t quite what the Lord had in mind, I think.
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about political philosophies, parties, etc. Through it all I keep getting disgusted at what a mess all of it is. There is way too many backroom deals, unnecessary spending, bowing to corporate pressures going on in America today.
I suppose its pretty easy to slip into outrageous consipacy theories when thinking about this. At the same time, the Book of Mormon doesn’t tell tale after tale of secret combinations obtaining control of the government for nothing. The whole book is meant as a warning to those of us in the Latter-days, as well as a testament of Christ. Indeed, it is only through upholding the gospel of Christ that we have any hope of conquering such combinations that flourish in our own day.
There is no doubt that the powers of darkness are hard at work. Perhaps that is why I find it so disheartening that so many Latter-day Saints seek to seep themselves in the culture of the world. Maybe being so focused on the world, its entertainment and glamorous immorality is one of the things that blinds us from seeing the prophecies being fulfilled all around us.
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Posted by Ben
Sat, 17 Sep 2005 11:50:00 GMT
“The guy after me must have known every single football play ever,” Edwards said. “But there was no intensity there because none of the guys knew where to go or what to do. You can do all the Xs and Os you want. But it doesn’t matter. We had four running plays and two passing plays on my high school team that won the state championship. Now, you have to have more than that, but we were always very simple in what we did. Our players knew what to run and where to go. We just did it out of different formations.
scout.com
Sure sums up my thoughts of BYU football over the last 3 years. What Edwards did seems a lot more in line with what Bronco and company are trying to do. Hopefully they can work out the kinks during this bye week.
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Posted by Ben
Thu, 08 Sep 2005 11:08:00 GMT
Wow, I just found a firefox extension that’s going to make it a lot easier to see what’s going on in poorly-written html.
Check it out:
http://jennifermadden.com/scripts/ViewRenderedSource.html
Posted in Technology | 2 comments | no trackbacks
Posted by Ben
Thu, 08 Sep 2005 10:37:48 GMT
I finally got another instance of Typo running so Amanda can start Blogging. I know it looks exactly the same as this one, but we can get the colors changed later.
Say hello to Mrs. Criertower
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Posted by Ben
Thu, 08 Sep 2005 09:34:00 GMT
The primary responsibility for dealing with emergencies does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to local and state officials who are charged by law with the management of the crucial first response to disasters. First response should be carried out by local and state emergency personnel under the supervision of the state governor and his emergency operations center.
From the Wall Street Journal: Blame Amid the Tragedy by Bob Williams.
That’s exactly right. First responders should always be the local authorities, because they are, well, local! The bigger the group responding, the bigger the bureaucracy that needs to get moving. The best situation is to have responsible citizens with emergency supplies, then good local, city and state governments.
Check out the collection of interviews over at Cox and Forkum
Posted in Politics | no comments | no trackbacks
