Change of Semesters

I apologize for not posting recently. I've been busy with starting up a new semester. I finished the Winter Semester 2014 at BYU-Idaho on the 11th and/or 12th of April. I just started my new semester this last Monday, April 21, 2014. It's been crazy :)

I.Q.

I think this film is a great romantic comedy. The basis of it is that Albert Einstein tries to be the matchmaker between her niece and a car repairman. It is a funny movie, and my wife and I enjoy it a lot. It shows that love can work between two opposite people like a really intelligent person and a car repairman. If you don't have the film, I'm sure you can find it online. I was able to when I was looking for it for my wife. I really loved this film because not only does it have fun and clean comedy, but it has an interesting romance plotline. It's cool to see how a car repairman and a physics genius can fall in love. It shows that even if two people have two totally different interests/careers, they can still find true love. This film stars Tim Robbins, Meg Ryan, and Walter Matthau.

It is rated PG for some mild language. The link for the parental guide is: Parental Guide for I.Q.

After looking at that guide link, you can decide if you want your children to watch it. I believe this film is very appropriate for adults at least.

On IMDB.com, the summary is:

Albert Einstein helps a young man who's in love with Einstein's niece to catch her attention by pretending temporarily to be a great physicist.

Daily Insights from my Life #22

So for some of my daily insights, I am going to post what I learn as I read the talks from the recent LDS General Conference (my religion, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). This will help me study the talks better from conference. These first four insights will be from the four talks given in the General Women's Meeting.

Keeping Covenants Protects Us, Prepares Us, and Empowers Us
by Rosemary M. Wixom (Primary General President)

"Look around you. The future is bright as you see women who have made covenants and are ready to show you the way along the path ahead."
-As she said that, she was speaking to the little girls 8 to 11 years old.

I found as I read and studied her talk that she focuses her talk on keeping covenants. One special thing she said that I liked was "As we strive to keep our covenants, our feelings of inadequacy and imperfection begin to fade, while the ordinances and the covenants of the temple come alive. Everyone is welcome to walk that path to eternal life." She talks about how if we keep the covenants we made...either in baptism, renewing them during the Sacrament, or in the temple...we have our feet firmly planted on the path to eternal life.

She ends her talk with a scripture found in The Book of Mormon. In 2 Nephi 31:19-20, Nephi teaches, "After ye have gotten in to this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay. ... Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."

What I took away from this talk:
As I read this talk, I thought about the covenants I have made with Heavenly Father through baptism and in the temple. I realized that through keeping those covenants, I will be able to remain on the path to eternal life. That is a major goal for me and my family. A deepest desire of mine is to help my family and myself to get back to our Heavenly Father and gain the greatest gift, eternal life. I know that as I strive to focus on those covenants and worthily partake of the Sacrament every week, I will become spiritually stronger, my weaknesses will slowly become strengths, and I will reach my Heavenly Father again with my family.

I will conclude with her final words, "Each one of us is on that path. Tonight we sang about working the path in the light. As individuals, we are strong. Together with God, we are unstoppable. The Lord said to Emma Smith, "Lift up thy heart and rejoice, and cleave unto the covenants which thou hast made." We do rejoice that through keeping our covenants, we may feel the love of our heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ."

BYU Women Lost to UConn in Sweet 16

I'm sorry that this is one week late. BYU Women's Basketball lost to UConn (Connecticut) last Saturday, March 29, 2014. They were close in the first half. BYU had 29 points to UConn's 30 points, but BYU fell behind and lost 51-70 in the end.

The girls had a great season and an amazing final tournament (two upsets). They finished their season with a record of 28-7 (14-4 in their conference). Go Cougars!

Some stats:
Morgan Bailey: 14 points (2 3-pointers), 7 rebounds (6 defensive rebounds), 1 assist
Jennifer Hamson: 9 points, 13 rebounds (11 defensive rebounds), 1 assist, 6 blocks
Lexi Eaton: 8 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist
Kylie Maeda: 4 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals
Kim Beeston: 16 points (4 3-pointers), 3 rebounds, 1 assist
Makenzi Morrison: 1 rebound, 1 steal
Xojian Harry: 1 assist
Ashley Garfield: 4 rebounds (3 defensive rebounds)
Stephanie Rovetti: 3 assists
(Micaelee Orton and Kristine Fuller both got a minute of playing time but not other stats besides that)

Letters to Juliet

This last weekend on Saturday night (after the priesthood session of the LDS General Conference), I watched Letters to Juliet with some family. The first time I watched it was with my wife while we were dating before we got married. We watched it in a theater in Pocatello, Idaho. This is one of the few romantic films that both Julie and I love (Julie loves Jane Austen films).

Starring actors/actresses like Amanda Seyfried, Gael García Bernal, Vanessa Redgrave, and Christopher Egan, this film is a clean romantic film. The message centers around that sometimes true love never dies through the years. Amanda Seyfried, who plays the main character, Sophie, helps Claire (Vanessa Redgrave), find her true love from childhood years. 

I highly recommend this film to everyone not only because this is a clean film, but because also it is a feel-good film. You get to experience two love stories of two women one who is old in years but still in search of her true love and the other a woman who is searching for a story to write and ends up finding much more than that. It has great character development and is set in some of the most amazing areas of Italy.

This really is one of the cleanest modern romantic films out there.

IMDB.com says this for a storyline summary:

An American girl on vacation in Italy finds an unanswered "letter to Juliet" -- one of thousands of missives left at the fictional lover's Verona courtyard, which are typically answered by a the "secretaries of Juliet" -- and she goes on a quest to find the lovers referenced in the letter. 

This film is rated PG for brief rude behavior, some language and incidental smoking. The main language is that of taking God's name in vain. That only happens every once in a while.  I personally don't think those few things take away from the main story.The brief rude behavior is as it says, "brief". It is a rude hand gesture near the first part of the film. Go to this link, parents guide, to see a description of why it is rated PG.

Gravity

 

My wife and I got this film, Gravity, through Netflix last week and watched it over the weekend. The first thing I'll say is this, don't expect to be able to fall asleep during this film. My wife was thinking she could, and she didn't. It is an intense film that keeps you with the main character played by Sandra Bullock the whole time. Plus, the views of Earth and space are amazing!

These are Oscars it won this year according to www.imdb.com. 
- Best Achievement in Cinematography
- Best Achievement in Directing
- Best Achievement in Film Editing
- Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
- Best Achievement in Sound Editing
- Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
- Best Achievement in Visual Effects

It was nominated for:
- Best Motion Picture of the Year (2013)
- Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Sandra Bullock)
- Best Achievement in Production Design

Those Oscars are a good way to judge if this is a good movie. Sandra did a great job in her role as a medical scientist on her first space flight. She and George Clooney work together well in a film that I would call a must see (especially for all of you who are fans of the two actors, who love science fiction films, who love space flight stuff, and for those who love amazing and spectacular views of the planet we live on.

In this film, Sandra Bullock becomes stranded in space and has to find within herself the will to make it home.

From imdb.com:
A medical engineer and an astronaut work together to survive after a catastrophe destroys their shuttle and leaves them adrift in orbit.

This film stars Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, and Ed Harris. It was directed by Alfonso Cuarón, and written by him and Jonás Cuarón. It is rated PG-13 for intense perilous sequences, some disturbing images and brief strong language. The disturbing images are mainly some dead bodies shown in the first part of the film. The brief strong language also is mostly in the first part of the film. To see a full description of why it's rated PG-13, go to this link: Parents Guide