Letter

Dear Pure Flix Entertainment,

Recently, I came home to see my roommate watching the movie “God’s Not Dead.” It was snowing out which meant that my boyfriend and I really had nowhere else to go. We were intrigued and we decided to watch the movie with my roommate.

Let me preface this letter by saying that I am a Christian that also believes that “God is not dead.” I think that wholesome entertainment about Christ should be encouraged. Yet I would argue that this is not wholesome entertainment and I was pretty offended when watching this movie.

All of the characters that were not Christian were portrayed as highly immoral, rude, and overall bad people. The atheist teacher threatened his student. When the woman’s boyfriend heard that she had cancer, he told her not to bring her personal problems into the relationship. The Muslim father beat his daughter for converting.

This is not representative of the world outside of Christianity. Yes, there are bad people outside of the Christian community but there are bad people within it as well. The representation of non-Christians in this film are not even close to reality. No boyfriend would tell his girlfriend that cancer is a “personal problem.” Islam is a peace loving religion. Professors generally follow a code of conduct and would abhor blackmail. Atheists, Muslims, and any religious denomination you can think of have a moral compass and have the light of Christ available to them, baptized or not.

In creating this movie, you have isolated everyone outside of the Christian world. You are showing that Christians view others as immoral and lesser. We should really be portraying a welcoming and loving attitude toward non-Christians. We should portray the true love of Christ in showing that we accept all people, whether they accept our religion or not.

Thank you for your time,

Robyn Cooper

Rosemary M Wixom

I loved Sister Wixom's talk in the Sunday morning session in General Conference. That quote from Mother Teresa and the response from the Arch Bishop  really hit me, it said:

“God guides you, dear Mother; you are not so much in the dark as you think. The path to be followed may not always be clear at once.Pray for light, do not decide too quickly. Listen to what others have to say, consider their reasons. You will always find something to help you. Guided by faith, by prayer, and by reason, you hav a right intention. You have enough. 

Bob's Burgers

This show, with the end of Parks and Recreation,  has become one of my favorites. Maybe its just the quirky sense of humor, maybe its how all of the characters are so weird yet so accepting of everyone, but I love it.

Also this is a pretty good buzz feed article about the lessons you can learn from Bob's Burgers:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hnigatu/things-bobs-burgers-can-teach-you-about-life-and-what-it#.muBVm8oqx

Cat Diary

I think that everyone should watch this. First because it is about cats. Also because it's perfect.

K thanks. 

Poorly Drawn Lines

http://poorlydrawnlines.com/

These comics are great. Mostly because the majority of them are so unexpected and random. Not all of them are funny but luckily, my sister has gone through the website and found some of the funny ones.

Lost Cause

This song is old but I was just listening to it yesterday and I realized how much I love it. It is just so well written and beautiful.

How to Train Your Dragon 2

This movie just got on netflix! I was so excited because I loved the first one. 

Anyways, it's the cutest. Almost as cute as the first one and you should definitely watch it if you get the chance. 

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Netflix created a new TV series called the "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," and.... I kind of binge watched the first season in the first couple of days it was published.

It is a comedy about a woman who was locked in an underground bunker for 15 years and was finally found and released and started living in New York City. Kind of a weird topic for a comedy.

I think that I was mostly interested because Tina Fey was the writer and producer and Iliked "30 Rock" and I have a lot of respect for Tina Fey. Overall it was pretty similar to 30 Rock and I wasn't really very impressed with it until I started to realize the theme. This woman comes from awful circumstances yet she finds a way to be optimistic and move forward without dwelling on what happened to her.

Invisibilia

I just started listening to this podcast and I'm obsessed with it. It is about the invisible driving forces in our lives and how we can deal with them. Obviously, since I'm a Human Development major, psychology really interests me and this podcast has the most interesting concepts.

They are in their first season so they only have six episodes. But if you ever get the chance, you should listen to it. Here's a link:

http://www.npr.org/programs/invisibilia/

There is this one episode, called "Entanglement" where they interview this lady that has this disorder where her mirror neurons are extremely active and she can essentially feel what others are feeling. She sees someone get slapped, she feels like she was just slapped. I was a bit skeptical at first but apparently it is genetic and her brother and daughter also have it. Anyways, there are so many interesting stories like this on the podcast.

Sarah's Scribbles

I just discovered this cartoonist and she's amazing. Here are just a few of her treasures in case you were interested:

I just feel like all of these are relatable to me at one point of my life or another and I thought you might enjoy them...

And here's her website in case you are were wondering:

http://sarahcandersen.com/about

Breaking Free From Bondage

I love this talk. I love when he says "Avoid any fear like your worst enemy but magnify your fear about the consequences of sin."

It is so true that God does not want us to have fear in our life. It can prevent us from growing and evolving into a better person.

This cat video though...

I know that cat videos are everywhere... but everyone should really watch this one.


 

 This is why cats are perfect and why I love them so much. It's because they are the worst but also hilarious.

I have two cats in California (with my parents), Gigi and Bilbo. At Christmas, we always put out this Eskimo nativity and Jesus is a little baby furry eskimo. Gigi always steals  baby Jesus and grooms him and then hides him. It's hilarious.

Meltdowns

Post by Kyle and Jackie O.

My sister showed me this the other day and I have to say, that is the cutest little girl ever. I love the part where her little brother kind of laughs at her when she's in the middle of her meltdown about how much she doesn't want to dies when she's a hundred. It just reminds me of my nieces' cute little meltdowns. One time my sister was babysitting our nieces and there wasn't a bowl so she put peas in a cup. My niece was so upset and she kept on saying, "why would you do that? That is so wierd, bad. I'm mad at you." Little kids. They're the best.

Hidden Camera Pranks with Jennifer Lopez

So... I love this. I mean we all know that Ellen Degeneres is perfect but after watching this, I have more respect for JLo as well. It is just so awkward but I love seeing how they react because honestly, I have no idea how I would respond to some of the things she says.  My roommates and I used to say all the time, "What is your favorite weakness? Mine's chocolate... Don't talk about chocolate.  "

Shia LaBeouf

Ok, I know that everyone has probably watched this already but I am so obsessed with this video. My sisters and I have watched this  500 times (more or less) and every time we laugh more. It just kills me that this is the Gay Men's Chorus and when that little kid whispers "quiet, quiet," I die. So much effort was put into this. And it is perfection. 
 

Trivia Crack Though....

This game is out of control. But amazing.

It has become kind of a habit to just go to Trivia Crack whenever I have a second or I am bored. Because I am obsessed and it is so addicting. I think that it is not as bad as some of the things that I could be obsessed with. At least I'm learning things right? Well, that's what I use to comfort my self in any case.

The Good Lie

I was kind of apathetic about seeing this movie because I was worried that Reese Witherspoon would be completely out of place in a movie about Sudanese refugees. Anyways I looked it up on Rotten Tomatoes (which I pretty much always use as a resource) and it got an 87% so I agreed to go see it with my two cute sisters (really, they are the cutest.) It was actually a lot better than the commercial makes it seem. The actors are actual refugees from Sudan and it was actually really inspirational.

The Imitation Game

Not too long ago, we saw the Imitation Game, which I have to say was amazing. The cast was extraordinary and the story moved along so well and naturally. One of the things that I consider components of a great film is when the movie is one where it makes you think but at the same time, you aren't distracted by acting, or filming, or the script. Basically, the movie should feel organic and make you think about the message being sent.



The Imitation Game did this marvelously. However, there are a lot of historical inaccuracies geared towards sending a message. The lesson being sent was that we should be accepting and support everyone, despite differences, a message that I wholeheartedly agree with. I understand that exaggeration can make a stronger impact on society and our thoughts.But sometimes, I just wish that there could be a more accurate portrayal of people in movies so that I don't feel like I am being manipulated into believing what I am told to believe. Other than that, it's a great and if you get the chance, you should watch it.

Alt-J - Breezeblocks

My boyfriend's old high school has this radio station where the student's basically upload their itunes and can play whatever music they want. Anyways, it's my favorite because they play the most random stuff.



That's where we found this song and my sister and I listen to it all the time. We're kind of obsessed. It's based on the book "Where the Wild Things Are." It's pretty great, you should listen to it.

So... He's the Cutest

In my Living Prophets class, we watched part of this video about Thomas Monson. If you go to 5:35, you can watch a segment where he talks about how he once saved a girl from drowning in the river.



It is the cutest thing because he talks about how embarrassed he was when her family started kissing and hugging him because she didn't drown. "You know, no  boy wants to be kissed by a lot of older men and women," he says. Instead of talking about how great what he did was, he talked about how Heavenly Father knows each of us personally and loves us. If you have time, (and haven't already seen it) you should watch what you can of this video. It's adorable.