"O little town of Bethlehem"

I just watched the Christmas Devotional and was reminded of how much I love Christmas and Christmas time.  I particularly love Christmas music.  I've been listening to it as much as possible since Thanksgiving.  (Yes, my family is one of those families that does not allow you to listen to Christmas music til after Thanksgiving.  Since living on my own I'm a little more flexible with that rule, but I still do not go into complete Christmas mode until after that holiday has passed.)  I think one of the things I love about the Christmas hymns and church songs is their focus on Christ and centering on what Christmas is really about.  I feel like I am always in a more joyful, holiday spirit after listening to some good Sunday Christmas music.

"charge it, point it, zoom it, press it, snap it, work it, quick - erase it..."

This week a miraculous event occurred.  My younger brother had a little boy on Tuesday, Rickey Lynn Krusell.  He was born 7 weeks early and came out weighing 4 lbs 10 oz.  He has been in the NICU since then, but the media's abilities at sharing information and the blessings it can bring into our lives really stood out to me.  Rickey has been in an incubator ever since he was born, as such he only allowed limited visitors.  My dad is still out in PA for work so he obviously has not been able to see his newest grandson in person yet.  He has, however, been able to Skype with him.  My brother placed his phone on top of the incubator and was able to Skype with my dad so that my dad could see Rickey.  It is also great that we can be updated about Rickey's condition and be sent pictures of him easily from my brother. 

"Hurry home, hurry home, won't you please hurry home to my heart"

This post is about what I think is safe for me to say is one of my all time favorite chick flicks, Return to Me.  I have yet to get sick of watching it and every time I do I pick up on new little things in the movie (and this movie has been since 2000, and I've watched it a lot, so that's saying something).  The main girl, Grace, undergoes a heart transplant and receives the heart of a women who was happily married to Bob (the women dies in a car accident).  Later Grace and Bob begin dating, not knowing the she has Bob's dead wife's heart.  When she discovers who she received the transplant from, she has a hard time coping with it and is not quite sure what to do in the face of this trial.  While talking with her Grandpa, he gives her some lovely wisdom.  He says something a long the lines of the fact that sometimes the Lord gives the toughest trials to those he knows has the strongest character, so you can take that as a compliment.  I just loved that perspective of his about trials and wanted to share it. 

Deep Impact

Yesterday I watched the movie Deep Impact.  I had never seen it before nor heard anything about it, but it was on Netflix and it didn't look all that horrible.  It has some pretty big named people in it too, like Morgan Freeman and Elijah Wood, plus other actors/actresses that you see and you know you've seen them in other things but they aren't quite big enough for you to remember their name.  So after reading the plot synopsis, I just assumed the title derived from the fact that a comet was going to hit the earth and then, obviously, it would be a deep impact.  But while I was watching it, I realized how good of a job the movie did portraying all the emotions and events that would go on in the nation if an event like that were to happen.  I even started telling my husband "man, this movie does a good job showing how much of an impact...." and that's when it hit me how well the title of the movie even embodied that aspect of the movie.  Those sneaky title makers.

"Da-na-na-na-da-na-naa...." (aka the jeapardy time-running-out song)

Last night I watched the movie Quiz Show.  (Don't worry, I hadn't heard of it either) It's a semi-oldschool movie (early 90's) about a game show on TV called Twenty One. (Interesting side note-one of the main guys in it is Lord Voldemort.) It's a really intriguing movie that has a lot to do with ethics; ethics in the media, ethics in life and things like that.  The basic plot line is that this game show, in which contestants are supposedly asked questions that have never before been seen and had been previously sealed in a vault, is rigged.  It was fun to watch and to think about how tough it would be to be in some of those situations and what you would do.  It is also based on real events so it makes it even more interesting.

"the primary colors are one, two three..."

Today was the Primary program at my ward, which is usually one of my favorite sacrament meetings.  I love watching all the kids up there singing the choruses (and mumbling through the verses while the kids 10+ sing the actual words) to every song and having them recite their little segments into the microphone.  Today though was a little bit different for my ward as far as Primary programs go though because while we do have a Primary presidency, we no longer have any children in primary.  So instead of kids to entertain us we had the presidency speak (which don't get me wrong was not bad, just a very different kind of Primary program).  One of the things they talked about was, obviously, the importance of Primary.  I had never really thought about Primary as something that had that huge of an impact in my life, but then I started to think about all the Primary songs, and how much I still could sing all of them, and how often I sang them when I was younger at times when they helped me make decisions or something.  I do believe that Primary songs do serve a very real and special purpose in a child's life that can help them not just in childhood but later on as well, as it did with me.

"hand you another drink, drink it if you can"

Right now I am taking a CPR and First Aid class.  The classroom is FILLED with promotional advertisements (and I don't think promotional is the exact word I'm looking for) for healthy living; namely not smoking, or drinking, or using tobacco, etc.  Most of them I've seen all throughout my high school and junior high experience in every health class I had.  Yet, a couple of them I had not seen before.  One that stood out to me was a poster that had a picture of quite a few billboards one after another along the side of the road, all advertising for some type of alcoholic drink.  In the upper corner it said "How many times has your child been offered a drink today?".  I guess it stood out to me because I would have never thought about an ad for beer as someone "offering" me a drink, but that is essentially what they are doing.  I think that poster made a good point at helping us realize what are kids are exposed to not just at school and by peers but by advertisers as well.

"I wanna make you smile, whenever you're sad. Carry you around when your arthritis is bad..."

This week a monumental event happened; I found my very first gray hair.  What made me think about this was Dr. Coyne's topic about how pregnant people are portrayed in the media and how stretch marks should be worn proudly.  When I saw that gray hair, I'm not gonna lie, I was excited!  That hair seemed to me to be more of a symbol of life, particularly of all the things going on in my life right now.  This is my last semester at BYU, my husband and I are having a little boy in Feb., we're moving to Pennsylvania after April, we bought our first car car, just lots of things.  And so when I found that hair I just thought about all those things and couldn't help but smile.  I think another reason I welcomed getting the gray hair was the fact that I've had time to consider what my reaction would be to becoming gray.  My mom claimed she was gray by the time she was 20, so even as a teenager I was bracing myself for being gray young and I decided that I would just embrace it.  I think that is important to think about your actual views on beauty and to figure out what is important to you before you let the media try and tell you what beauty is.  I think it is a lot easier to withstand their attacks when you know what actually matters to you.  So even though it is just one gray hair for now, I am going to wear it proudly.

"Let's get together and feel alright"

This weekend I watched to movie Marley & Me.  After our discussion in class about how more and more "love songs" out there refer to lust instead of love it was interesting to see the portrayal of those two types of "love" in the movie.  The main character continues down the more traditional view of love; getting married, starting a family, working through hard times together, etc.  Where as the main characters best friend continues down the more "modern" lifestyle; different girl every week, not getting tied down, mainly letting his career dictate where his life is going, etc.  While both story lines are present, the main focus is on the more traditional view of love and family and I was really glad it focused a lot on the positive parts of the family.  So even with this growing interest in lust, there are still a lot of things out there that also portray true love.

"She is fast and thorough, and sharp as a tack. She's touring the facility and picking up slack"

As previously mentioned on the first day of class, one of my favorite TV shows is Chuck.  While watching it the other day I got thinking about how TV shows use similar facets as advertisements in order to capture our attention.  First off, the show has to stand out against all other shows out there as something worth looking into (Perception facet).  Then, it has to connect with us on an emotional level by possibly fulfilling our need for laughter, or to be caught up in romance, etc. (Affective facet)  It also has to be somewhat stimulating cognitively.  (I guess the tie to the cognitive facet is a little bit of a stretch because it is not necessarily informing us of anything, unless you look at it in the sense that it needs to be intriguing enough that it informs you of a new plot development each episode so as not to be completely predictable.)  I think the association facet plays a large role in TV shows.  For example, I can no longer hear the CAKE song "Short skirt/Long Jacket" without thinking of Chuck.  Or (probably a more popular one) I'm sure a lot of people think of 24 anytime they hear the alternating high and low beep of a second hand.  I'm also sure few people actually think of the literal theory that the solar system started from a little speck when they hear the words "Big Bang Theory".  If all these facets work together through the persuasion facet, then as the TV show creators hope, you'll end up watching their show because of the behavior facet.

Conference

This weekend I got to go camping with my family, but that meant that I did not get to watch conference live.  When my husband and I came back Sunday night, we were wanting to watch some conference so we wouldn't be completely out of the loop. (Plus conference is just amazing.)  However, my husband informed me that they probably didn't have anything up yet on the internet because it just happened.  I asked if they'd probably have it up tomorrow, and he said that it would probably take a week.  We checked just to see though and they already had it up!  It is great how productive and instantaneous the media can be.  Especially when it comes to being able to watch conference right away.

"my bags are packed I'm ready to go"

This weekend I had the opportunity to go camping with my family.  It was a lot of fun and I got to hang out with my nephew quite a bit (I'm kind of his favorite aunt, and I kinda think he's the bees knees too).  He love singing and listening to songs and will make up a song for just about anything.  He also knows a large amount of songs for a 4 year old.  Well I was sitting there playing with him and he started singing the song "I'm leaving on a jet plane".   And he's not just singing the chorus...he starts off with "my bags are packed I'm ready to go, I'm standing here outside your door etc."  And when he sings the lyrics, "the dawn is breaking it's early morn"  he asks me, "is the dawn breaking and cracking?"  It was hard to explain to him how the dawn breaks.  However, it made me think about how critical advertisers must be for advertisements geared towards children because they take a lot of things quite literally.  Same goes for children's songs and how picky they need to be with what words they choose to use.

"Hakuna Matata"

So I watched the Lion King today.  It's amazing all the different lessons you can glean from that film.  I feel like every time I watch it I walk away with something else.  (It also doesn't matter how many times I watch that film, I still always tear up when Mufasa dies...at least now I can blame it on being pregnant).  There's a part when the hyena's come in to talk to Scar after Scar has taken over Pride Rock and it has fallen to bits, and they are complaining about there being no food.  After some grumbling with Scar, one of the hyena's mumbles about how they thought things were tough when Mufasa was king.  And it may be just because I was watching it on a Sunday, but my mind immediately compared Scar to Satan.  He'll try and persuade us and promise us all these great things to get us to back him and come to his side, but once we're over there we realize it was all a lie and that things become a lot tougher than had we just done the seemingly "tough" stuff (i.e-keeping the commandments) before.

"That's nothing, once I waited a whole year for September!"

So, my husband loves the Muppets.  And I think his affection for it started with the movie "Muppet Treasure Island".  When he and his best friend were younger, they wanted to go see that movie so bad, so they asked/begged to go see it.  Their parents told them that if they washed the car they could earn enough money to go.  So they went out and washed the car, came back in, and their parents said "Well, we actually can't take you so you'll have to bike to the theater if you want to go".  So they biked all the way to the theater just to watch the movie.  I think after putting in all the hard work they were just determined to make the movie a good one, and he's had a love for it ever since.  Well this past weekend we got a huge group of people together who had yet to see the new muppets movie "The Muppets" (because of course we have it, on Bluray) mainly because my husband looks for any opportunity he has to share this movie with anyone.  We were a little scared because it is a little bit the kind of movie that could either be hilarious, or just flop depending on the crowd.  Luckily, our crowd happened to be stacked with some other secret muppet fans, and so people who were raised by their parents to hate the muppets (yes, we had some of those in the crowd) still ending up thoroughly enjoying the movie because the group was laughing.  It's interesting the effect a crowd can have on how you perceive the media you are taking in.

Sshhh, I stole a balloon

So, once upon a time I was walking out of the Wilk with Brice in the evening.  We came out the west side and were cutting through Brigham Square, which was still decorated from some afternoon activity.  I have no idea what the activity was, but I could tell it included balloons because there were some of the awesome, perfectly circular balloons still tied to the hand rails and floating all around.  Well we happened to walk right by one, and it was orange (which I think is just a really fun color), and I thought to myself "Self, you are going to grab this balloon as you walk by it, and if it comes off easily from the hand rail without you having to fight with it and look ridiculous, it's yours". 

In my mind I thought there was going to be a lot of resistance (or at least enough resistance to make me look ridiculous, because it wouldn't take a lot to do that and it seemed like a pretty secure knot) and so I wasn't actually going to take it...but I grabbed it as we passed by (which is a fairly rash thing for me to do to begin with) and that sucker popped off without even hesitating! And I'm not going to lie, I was so happy! (Well, after I convinced myself that it was okay, and that it popped off so easily because it was meant for me...and after my husband reassured me saying that all the balloons would be deflated by the next day anyways and that they'd just have to throw them out...after all that I was so happy!) That balloon could have very easily made my night. 

When I got a closer look at it I realized it was for Student Wellness and it informed me that I could text "wellness" to some number to get something or other (be it some freebie, or just some new found knowledge about wellness).  And then it hit me again how much the media is everywhere and how many different forms it could take!  By the first definition in class about media (about it being a phenomenon of communication between a sender and a receiver), the media can entail so much, and it is always around us.   Even in perfectly circular orange balloons.

"The cake is a lie"

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to play Portal 2.  For those of you who don't know what Portal is, it's a video game.  It was one of the first video games my husband introduced me to, (only after Starcraft of course, because that's his favorite), and I actually liked it a lot.  It's a puzzle game so each level you have to accomplish some sort of task in order to progress, and as you go along each level becomes a little more complex and involved. Portal 2 is even cooler because it has a 2 player mode and so each task you accomplish requires teamwork.  I know video games kinda get slammed and are stereotypically associated with anti-social behavior, but I think that there are a wide variety of games out there, as well as a wide variety of people who play the games.  Video games can also promote social behavior and be a fun pastime.  If you are ever somewhere and someone suggests playing Portal, I wouldn't dismiss it right away; give it a try.  It's a unique idea and a lot of fun.

"I belong with you..."

"you belong with me you're my sweetheart"

 My husband introduced me to this song a couple weeks ago and I've been listening to it possibly at least once a day since.  I remember back in the day when you heard a song on the radio and you pretty much had to wait until the next time you heard it on the radio to listen to it again.  Now even if you just hear a snippet of the song you can search for the lyrics (based on the lyrics you know), find out the song, search for it, and listen to it essentially whenever you want to.  It's also nice because I feel like newer bands can popularize their music faster than they might have been able to before.  

I'm sorry, but it's about politics.

So growing up my family never talked about politics, or voting, or anything related to pretty much anything along those line.  Since then I have never really gotten into elections or debates or things of that nature, that is until recently.  With this election coming up, I decided I wanted to be a whole lot more informed and involved with everything this year and find out what each candidate stands for and such.  So just yesterday Paul Ryan came to Provo for a speech. (If you don't know who Paul Ryan is, he's Mitt Romney's running mate.  If you don't know who Mitt Romney is he's the Republican candidate chosen to run against Barack Obama this election.  If you don't know who Barack Obama is...well...you should probably look him up.)  It was interesting to hear him speaking in light of the fact that the Democratic party has decided to remove God from their platform. (Update: They have moved to put God back into their platform, but did so in a quite unconventional way.  If you want to watch the three minute video of the unconventional way just click the following: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cncbOEoQbOg&feature=player_embedded ) I liked how Paul Ryan specified that we should not try and change our country but rather to try and instill the principles that our nation was founded upon.  He also mentioned that families were the nucleus of the nation, which I also thought was good.  His speech was short and a little generic but I didn't mind.

SFL 358

Since I failed to use this as a "keep everyone updated about the Lovelands" blog, I am temporarily hijacking it for my SFL 358 class.  It's a media, family, and human development class and as a part of the class we need to post twice a week about our encounters with the media. So stay tuned...it should be exciting.