Tagged

Ok, so I just got tagged by my Aunt Nancy. Apparently you're supposed to answer several questions and pass it on, so here goes. The questions are 1. Where were you ten years ago and what were you doing? 2. What are five things on your to-do list today? 3. If you were a millionaire...(fill in the blank) 4. Where have you lived?

Ten years ago I was doing high school through BYU Independent Study. I was a red belt in Tae Kwon Do getting ready to test for my black belt. Wow...I just realized that ten years ago, I decided that I wanted to study filmmaking. I had just seen The Truman Show, and I loved how an engaging story was told without having to resort to all the typical junk. Initially, I wanted to write and direct movies, and then it transitioned to wanting compose music for movies. Then it transitioned back to writing and directing, and now I want to go into teaching at the college level. I'm pretty sure that ten years ago, I was just starting to get into photography as well, which fused with my aspirations to study film.

Five things to do today:
1. Read some more in America: The Last Best Hope
2. Play sand volleyball
3. Watch the Olympic trials (it was pretty sweet watching my brother's friend--Josh McAdams--qualify for the men's steeplechase...)
4. Write out the story idea that's been stewing in my mind for the past day or so.
5. Update my blog

If I were a millionaire, I honestly wouldn't have a clue what I'd do...I've never really thought about what I'd do with that much money. Maybe start a movie production company which people can trust to deliver a quality, family-friendly product (ie., a live-action version of Pixar).

I've lived in Florida, Georgia, Utah, and Rio de Janeiro.

I'm tagging Jaimee, Jackson, Meg, Britt, and Rachel.

Rules of Tagged - Each player answers the questions themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know that they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answers.

4th of July

Well, aside from updating my movie blog, I haven't been up to too much recently. Today has been a really good 4th of July though. I watched the parade for a little while, then I felt like reading something patriotic. After skimming my bookshelf, I realized I didn't have anything too patriotic. I ran up to Borders books, and finally settled on two books: 1776, by David McCullough (yeah, I can't believe I still haven't read it yet), and America: The Last Best Hope, by William Bennett. I'm just taking a break from the second book right now--I didn't even realize that I had been reading for two hours. It just pulled me in and made history interesting. If the name sounds familiar, William Bennett also wrote The Book of Virtues awhile back.

Anyway, I wanted to read something more historical because I was sitting around thinking about what it means to be a patriot. Yeah, I consider myself a patriot--I love my country and the principles it was founded upon. I admire and respect the Armed Forces, I stand for the national anthem (even if I'm in a rush, I always stop and put my hand over my heart), and I've tried to be involved with making my opinions known (although I haven't had a chance to vote yet...I missed the application deadline after I turned 18, and I was out of the country when the 2004 election came around). But patriotism involves more than that. The introduction for the new book I'm reading actually gives some very good advice. This comes from Ronald Reagan's Farewell Address: "If we forget what we did, we won't know who we are. I'm warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit. Let's start with some basics: more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual."

In the introduction to America: The Last Great Hope, Bennett describes his reasons for writing the book. He says, "I write this story to kindle romance, to encourage Americans to fall in love with this country, again or for the first time. Not unreflectively, not blindly, but with eyes wide open." Hopefully, this will lead us to become informed patriots, people who are not only proud of the freedoms and opportunities we presently enjoy, but aware and appreciative of the events and sacrifices that led to the founding of our country.

Oh, thus be it ever,
When free men shall stand
Between their loved homes
And the war's desolation!

Blest with vict'ry and peace,
May the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made
And preserved us a nation!

Then conquer we must,
When our cause it is just,
And this be our motto:
"In God is our trust!"

And the star-spangled banner
In triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free
And the home of the brave!

The Star-Spangled Banner (4th Stanza)
by Francis Scott Key

My bro's blog

And for those of you interested, my brother started a blog as well. Apparently he's had the blog for a month now, but he didn't post anything until the past day or so. His blog is called "Smarter than I Look," and I don't know but I thought that was the funniest thing...Check it out.

Fonts on my blog

I forgot to mention this, but with the new layout of my blog, it might not display correctly unless you have certain fonts installed. My blog uses Conrad Veidt and Papyrus, so download those two fonts and copy them to c:/windows/fonts.

Winnemucca

I went to Nevada this weekend to visit my older sister and her family out in Winnemucca, Nevada (and I have no idea if I spelled that right). That was a lot of fun. My brother-in-law is a farmer, and he was in the middle of trying to get a crop of hay raked and baled. So we ended up spending most of the time with my nieces and nephew. We mostly just watched them play around the house. I did get to play Scrabble with my older sister--that was fun (even though I lost twice). My brother taught my 18 month old nephew (give or take a few months...) to do "knuckles" (or bones, "pound it," or whatever you want to call it). It never seemed to get old to say "knuckles!" and have him stick out his tiny fist to hit yours. I'm glad I got to hold him, because the last time I saw him (at Christmas), he only let me hold him the last day or so. I'm glad to hear he likes machines and stuff, because with six older sisters, we were kind of worried he's turning into a pansy. We're going to try and make another trip over there before the end of summer. Here are some of the pictures I took from the trip. Some of them are a little out of focus, but I still like them.

My niece eating a s'more

Another niece playing a homemade guitar.



My nephew



Another niece

This is just before church--we decided to take some family pictures.

My brother-in-law and my nephew




My brother-in-law and my sister




And the family portrait

Chelsea vs. Man U

I just finished "To Kill a Mockingbird." Yep, it's still my favorite. I also finished "The View from Saturday," by E.L. Konigsburg. That book was outstanding--with all the children's books I've read, I think that was one of the best ones. It starts off as simply being humorous, but then seemingly random stories start to interconnect. By the end of the book, you realize how each story is similar in theme, and it makes the ending all the more poignant. It's my recommendation for the week.

My work has been pretty interesting lately. I mentioned in a previous post that I help update a blog for BYU First Look, and that has been interesting. I will also be helping coordinate a project for the Children's Media Initiative. CMI is a program that takes classic children's stories and poems and turns them into short films. The programs will eventually air on BYU-TV, and this summer I will help produce the introduction to the series. I'm excited because I will actually be getting paid to work on a film set--

And right now, Chelsea and Manchester United are about to play for the UEFA Championship. It is the first time it has been an all-English final in the championship, and it is going to be an amazing game. The DVR is set to record in case the game doesn't finish before my class at 3:30...

My new blog

Okay, I started up another blog. I'm calling it the Movie Portal. You can find information about family films, companies that make family movies, and various other resources that can help you determine whether a film is appropriate for your family or not. Feel free to send your friends over, because I want to know what else I should include there. Eventually there will be posts describing the websites I link to, and how I use them. Let me know what you all think--

Check it out here.