It's Glorious!

Everyone had been talking about this song foreveerrr and I kept seeing links to it on Facebook but I just never watched it. The other day my mom made me because she LOVES it and I loved it too! It brought the Spirit so quickly and easily. :) I love the power of music.

The other day my New Testament teacher shared that before the Savior's suffering in Gethsemane He only did a few things to prepare... one thing the scriptures mention is that He sang a song with His disciples. :) I had never noticed that before. Music is such a beautiful part of this life and I'm so grateful for it.

He also showed us this quote: “We get nearer to the Lord through music than perhaps through any other thing except prayer.” - J. Reuben Clark

So if you're like me and somehow still haven't seen this video yet, here you go:

Where's the line?

The other day I was discussing with some friends where the line is between what's appropriate and what's not. We were talking about a video we had seen and I felt included inappropriate sexual innuendos. I let people know that it offended me a lot, because of how sacred I feel that physical intimacy is. Everyone else felt like it was a funny reference and wasn't offended by it. It's interesting how everyone has a different line that they agree with.

Dear Marvel Studios,

I had some feedback about your recent release, Guardians of the Galaxy that I wanted to let you know about. First off, I loved your movie. I thought it was exciting, humorous, and uplifting. I loved almost everything about it. However, I had one big complaint for whoever made the movie trailers.

The movie does a great job of making Gamora seem like a likeable, believable character. She doesn’t let people walk all over her and is a strong moral force for good. She is well-rounded and unlike many other superhero female characters, has a brain and something worthwhile to say. I appreciated that the movie did not portray her in revealing or ultra-sexy clothing. I love that the characters could have real conversations with her instead of just comment on how her body looked. However, in one of your movie trailers for this film, you dropped the ball.

Here you had this great female lead with plenty of character and yet, when you put together a promo for the movie you just had to take off her clothes! There is one small but significant moment in a trailer that shows Gamora backless looking into the camera with a sultry look on her face. You stripped down everything that the writers had done to make Gamora a real character and reduced her to nothing but a body. The most ironic part about it is that this scene didn’t even make the cut into the movie. But they still had to throw it into the trailer – just in case the throngs of people who were going to this movie weren’t convinced by the storyline, the directing or the amazing lineup of actors, you had to convince them with SEX to come and see it. It is despicable that you would use a woman’s body to sell movie tickets.

I commend your ability to make a superhero movie without sexualizing or demeaning the main female lead but I challenge you to think about what you do in marketing to sell tickets.

Sincerely,

Diana Frehner

Mockingjay

The other day I watched Mockingjay and it was SO good! I loved every minute of it. Something that touched me very deeply was the bravery and courage of the people in the other districts who were rebelling against the capital. As I watched them stand up for what was right and attack the capital soldiers I couldn't help thinking about how the people in the front of the lines knew that they would be killed but they did it anyway. They were willing to sacrifice their own lives so that other people could carry on the fight and make a better life for future generations. I can't imagine the bravery and love that people like this possess! This scripture came to mind: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." 

What struck me the most was that people are still doing things like this today. There are parts of the world that live under oppressive governments and there are people who are willing to sacrifice their lives for others. 

I love that this movie allows us to remember how blessed we are and to remember those who are still fighting for what is right.

Real Barbies for Sale

I just read an article about realistic Barbies for sale! I think everyone has read the articles and seen pictures showing how Barbies are unrealistic and what a realistic Barbie would look like. Well, one of the people who made a picture of how they would look got enough funding to make the Barbies and you can now buy them. :)

I know that every time I read in the comments section under these types of articles there are tons of people who think we are a bunch of crazies to criticize Barbie bodies. They say things like, "I played with Barbies for years and I never once thought, her body is better than mine, I wish I looked like that!" Or, "Instead of changing what Barbies look like why don't you just teach your kid to love her body it's not that hard!"

I think that for these people, they just don't understand all of the intricacies of the human mind and everything that goes into self-esteem. And it's not that Barbies single-handedly warp little girls' minds; it's the accumulation of image after image that we are bombarded with over our lives that does the damage. Kudos to the people who made this cute Barbie that we can relate to!

https://lammily.com/product/lammily-exclusive-first-edition/ 

Apps!

I was looking at apps in the apple store for a child life class I'm in. Our assignment was to find apps that would be helpful to children in a healthcare setting and I happened across so many cool apps! One was called My First Yoga and was for kids to do yoga and learn to relax. It had cute pictures and cool narration to go along with it. Look how cute!

It got me thinking about all the cool and creative apps that exist. You can literally make anything into an app and there are things that can help people so much! 

Some friends of mine told me about an app they use to help their sleeping patterns. It records how long you are in deep sleep and can tell you over time what days you got the best sleep. You can even set it on the bed next to you, and when it senses that you are in your lightest realm of sleep and it's within 30 minutes of your alarm time, it will automatically wake you up! This leads to you being less fatigued and keeps you from feeling groggy. I never would have imagined there could be an app like that! It just shows that technology has an amazing power to help people live better, healthier lives. I love it!

God's Not Dead

This movie was so good! I love how it used a story to inspire us. Also, at the end of the movie, it said to text your friends the message: God's not dead. And I did it! Media is powerful!

Baby toys with iPad holders?

Okay, so I was on Amazon, looking at dumb toys for infants, and I came across this one, and my heart literally sank into my stomach. An activity table with an iPad holder smack dab in the middle!? Are you kidding me... babies/toddlers do not need to have iPads in front of their faces all hours of the day. These toys are only developmentally appropriate when they cater to infants' needs! Needs like fine motor skills and exploring sounds and learning to control their fingers and hands... 

This makes me so mad. It sucks that parents are so uninformed about the effects of media on infant brains, and that dumb toy makers make crap like this. 

Also, this description is my favorite: "The iDiscover App Activity Table encourages first words with playful phrases and sing-along songs. Downloadable activities teach letters, shapes and more to build vocabulary. The table rewards curiosity and encourages discovery with fun sound effects and lights."

TVs CAN'T TEACH INFANTS ANYTHING!!!

http://www.amazon.com/VTech-iDiscover-App-Activity-Table/dp/B00CMNX3Q6/ref=pd_sbs_t_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0QQZAR4NEXGTB5CXVFX3 

36%!?

The other day my husband and I watched The Giver. We really, really liked it. It was super uplifting and beautiful and made you really appreciate life and all that we are blessed with here on earth. But we went home and saw that on Rotten Tomatoes the "critics" had given it a 36% ! I usually like looking at Rotten Tomatoes, and a lot of times, after I watch stuuupid movies, I see that I could have avoided wasting 2 hours of my life by checking it first. But sometimes, there are wonderful movies that don't get very good reviews from the so-called critics.

This got us thinking about how so often, the movies that win Best Picture and things like that are obscure, R rated films that are full of violence, sex and profanity. Sometimes I wonder if "the critics" just loved to be shocked, and love to see awful things put on screen because it's "artistic" or "innovative." Well, I disagree. I think that movies can lack the shock factor, lack nudity and profanity and still be great movies.

P.S. I have no idea why they put Taylor Swift in this movie - it's nothing but distracting. I also think it's probably just for the publicity. Which is ridiculous. Also, every time I see a poster for The Giver with Taylor's face on it it drives me crazy because she was literally in it for like 2 minutes!

Anyways, yay for beautiful movies that make you feel good about life!! (And for posters that actually show the main characters in a movie). 

TJ Maxx

The other day I saw a TJ Maxx commercial and I really liked it. It showed people living their lives - with family, friends, kids, romance and fun. It was just so positive and highlighted the simple, but beautiful moments in life.

The Science Behind Happiness

For the last few days I've been pretty tired and I've found myself having negative thoughts about my day and about the people around me. I'm in the habit of going to lds.org randomly when I find myself with a free moment or feel like I need some inspiration. Today I clicked on an article named
The Surprising Science Behind “Supremely Happy” People. I clicked on it and immediately realized that the reason I hadn't been happy the last few days was because I hadn't been WORKING AT IT! Happiness doesn't just knock on your door, you have to snatch it and put it into your life! I prayed and kept this in my mind all day and I've felt sooo much better because of it. I found myself smiling at random people and just being positive about everything!



https://www.lds.org/church/news/the-surprising-science-behind-supremely-happy-people?cid=HPFR102414513&lang=eng

The Invasion

The other day my husband and I wanted to watch a scary movie and ended up watching The Invasion. It's like a remake of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. We really liked it!! It wasn't too scary and was more of a thriller which I like. You should check it out! The BYU Bookstore has it for rent.

Pass me the MALK!

Julian Smith

This is one of my favoritest videos on youtube. It makes me laugh so much!! If you've never heard of Julian Smith, you should totally check him out. Something I love about him is that he stays away from profanity and inappropriateness! It's so hard to find funny videos these days without worrying about the content so I really admire him. 

#CuttheCarls

Today I was thinking about sex in the media and what it does to our brains, our self-esteem and our beliefs. I started reading about the Carls Jr. campaigns and what people are doing to combat their effects. There are two sisters who started the campaign to #CuttheCarls because women are #MoreThanMeat. One of the sister's husband added this to their blog post:

 “They [Carl’s Jr.] took what all the other advertisers had done, then they went a little further, and then they deep fried it,” Travis says in the post. “And it makes me sick. And if it doesn’t make you sick, then you should probably turn off your internet machine, think really hard about how numb you are to stuff that is doing a lot of harm, and just have a conversation with a real woman. And just maybe think for one second about what it means for women to turn on the TV and see basically every woman stripped down to sell you things.”

I love that people are out there trying to educate the world on the sad effects of pornography and the sexualization of women. Women deserve to be treated as real humans and not as things to look at. And, like the sisters mention on their site, "Viewing someone as an object is almost always the first step toward justifying violence against that person." I hope that more people will begin to believe the truth about the evils of pornography and how destructive it is. Thank goodness for social science research, for good people and for the ability of social media to share the truth.

http://www.beautyredefined.net/cut-the-carls/

The Fault in Our Stars

Last night I watched this movie with my husband. It was a pretty good movie and I enjoyed it. But something that I noticed was that there was some crazy cigarette advertising all throughout it. Now, I know this was based on a book, and although I don't know if this was the author's intention, I know that the advertising probably worked on someone...

The main love interest holds a cigarette in his mouth throughout the whole movie. He never lights it, and only uses it as a "metaphor" because he's all cool and deep and wants to be unique blah, blah, blah. But, the whole time, it makes cigarettes look cool! Seeing an attractive male and attractive female being all lovey dovey with sunsets in the background and cool music and a cute love story and hipster clothes and touching moments just makes it look inviting and attractive. I know cigarettes are not cool, that they don't make you attractive, or help you find true love or have an exciting, romantic life. But this is the message that this media sends. And sadly, it will probably work on some poor teenagers. 

Google+ and LDS Temples

A little while ago I heard a story about a bishop who encouraged his ward to go to Google+ and write reviews about their church building. A little while later, a non-member family was in the area and wanted to go to church. The father looked up local churches on Google+ and found this ward's reviews. He took his family to the building and loved the service. He became interested in the church and they became baptized! 

I love this story so much. It's such a simple thing that I would never think to do but it can have such a big impact. I remembered this the other day and googled "church provo utah" and one of the first results was the Provo Utah LDS Temple. I clicked on it and saw that it's rating average was a 5. :) I read all the reviews and as I was reading couldn't help but be touched by the Spirit and think about how wonderful the temple is! It brings so much joy to people's lives and people only have good things to say about it. I love that those people took the time to review the temple and share the joy that it brings them.

I want to review my home temples and church buildings so that other people can see how much joy they bring and how many people love them!

Today I read this awesome article about a young couple who was told that their unborn baby had a very serious disease that would most likely take his life very shortly after birth. They made a bucket list of things to do throughout the baby's life (in the womb!). They took him all over while the mom was pregnant and blogged about it. After the baby was born, they baptized him and surrounded him with family. The baby died just a few short hours after birth.

I love this story! In a world where many mothers will abort a child after hearing of a disease they may have, this gives me so much hope. I love the power that one person can have in the world today because of social media. 

https://gma.yahoo.com/couple-welcomes-terminal-bucket-list-baby-then-says-145603200--abc-news-topstories.html 

#ldsconf

I loved conference this last weekend and I love the opportunity we all have to share it! I think it's the cutest/smartest thing that the church has jumped on all opportunities to share the gospel and help the world find out who we really are. I love the idea that we can all share a little something to spread the truth. How awesome is it that you can go to lds.org and find out what hash-tags to use to reference conference!? I love the gospel and I love the opportunity I have to share it with others!!

Here's something that was shared by Mormon Women on Facebook:

Help the world realize that God loves us and still speaks to us!!

Christ Healing the Sick at the Pool of Bethesda

The other day, I went to the Museum of Art and looked at the painting "Christ Healing the Sick at the Pool of Bethesda" by Carl Bloch. It is such a beautiful painting and it was amazing to see it in person and so big. For a class, I was asked to sit and reflect on the painting and the story behind it. I love the spiritual experiences you can have with art. It is amazing that artists can take paint, put it on paper, and give it so much life!

If you have a free minute, you should go and look at the painting. It is so beautiful and there's even a little bench you can sit on to contemplate.

   

You Never Know

The other day I watched a Mormon Message about a mom who was overwhelmed with her to-do list. She is really frustrated throughout the day but in the end realizes how much she has helped others and how every single thing she did was worth it because she helped someone else.

I love this video. It reminds me that although there are so many things going on in our lives and sometimes we feel like we're not getting anywhere, we really are doing so much. Every time we do something unselfish or we listen to the Spirit, we are coming closer to Heaven and to our Savior.

Bible Videos

I'm taking a New Testament class and I started watching the new Bible videos on the church's website to correspond with what I'm reading and I love them! I kept wanting to watch more and more. I love that there are so many ways we can learn of our Savior and study His life. These videos bring me so much peace and help me to remember why we are all here. I love that in literally two minutes you can feel like you're in another time and place, and can strengthen your testimony that Christ came to this earth.

If you want to be inspired and uplifted, you should watch them too! 

https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos?lang=engg

Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy was such a great movie! It was so funny, the music was great and it's just so fun to watch. I loved the humor in it. It was so clever. I love it when movies highlight humor that is clean. There are so many "comedies" that are full of filth and are not uplifting at all.

Also, I loved the music and the feeling the movie gives you. I left feeling so happy and optimistic about life! Also my favorite part is at the end where the little Groot is dancing! So cuutee! In case you want to watch it, I found a little clip on youtube!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEPbXYzE5_Y

Women and Makeup

The other day, Sarah Palin was leaving the gym and found her truck surrounded by paparazzi ready to take her picture. She knew they would sell the pictures and then there would be some huge tabloid in a magazine showing her without makeup. So she decided to post the pictures herself! Here's her post:

I love it. Media has made so many people believe that women have to be wearing makeup to be presentable. And this has skewed the mindsets of men and women. I've heard of wives who refuse to let their husbands see them without makeup in the morning, so they get up before them to get ready so that their husband can see their perfectly painted faces before he leaves for work.

What the heck!? That is c r a z y.

Women are not simply objects of beauty who all have to look the same and have the same perfect eyeliner and blush on every single day to be women. Women are just people! They have good days and bad days, they can wear makeup when they want and should feel comfortable without it as well. I hate that every movie with a female interest has the same body, the same hair and the same perfect makeup. Even TV shows with teenage girls show them with perfect faces. Why can't they just show the actors as they really are, with their naturally pretty faces? It's so weird.

Anyway, I like makeup. But goodness, I wish we could all feel more comfortable in our own skin and not feel like we have to look like the perfect faces on TV to look pretty every single moment of every day. 

WHY Do We Fall in Love With TV Shows?

While reflecting on why I have been so attached to certain T.V. shows in the past, it's been hard to pinpoint the reasons. Some shows are so silly or overblown with crazy drama and I'm sometimes embarrassed at how much I loved them. (Glee!)

I think that the reason might be that we just love people.Writers are so good at making their characters believable and interesting. Sometimes we don't even like a character but we just can't get enough of them!

Maybe the big reason we get sucked in is because of how much we like people and getting to know them. In dramas we get to know people we would never meet in real life; we get to see inside of them and analyze why they act the way they do. I think it might just fulfill a universal need we all have for connecting with and caring about other human beings.

Yahoo! News

I have realized something that annoys me about what Yahoo News puts on it's front page. There are always sleazy, celebrity focused articles with titles that catch your attention. From today, 

"Kris Jenner Suffers a Wardrobe Malfunction: Flashes Butt in Minidress" Who doesn't want to see more details about that? And even when an article has nothing to do with someone's appearance, it will often show pictures of the subject in scantily clad clothes. (Oftentimes the picture has nothing whatsoever to do with the article). 

It is so weird what companies will do to get you to click. It is also very sad that what catches our attention these days is often cheap, indecent or just plan ridiculous.