The Beauty of a Phone Call

Due to the nature of this post, I will probably say something cheesy, pathetic, sad, embarrassing, or all of the above. You have been warned. Last Sunday was Mother's Day. Mothers are great. But I was excited for a completely different reason. I was excited because it was the day I got to speak to Mary, my French missionary. Mary left to serve in the Geneva Switzerland Mission on May 9th of 2007. Therefore, she has been gone just over a year and will be returning home this November. Often I feel like time is standing still and it drives me crazy. For a brief period last Sunday, time stood still, and I loved it. I wanted it to stay like that. Talking to Mary was among the very top things I have done this whole last year. While speaking with my sister-in-law Krista about it, I mentioned that there was only one word I could think of that would accurately describe the conversation we had. That word is tender. It was a tender conversation. When I had thought about what it would be like to talk to her after all of this time, and I expected something different. Honestly, I expected a soldier-like attitude. I expected her to be maybe a little closed off and possibly not wanting to talk all that much. I should've known better. I have been there. What I got was something so special that I have recorded it in several different places and spoken about it with many people. What I got was a sweet, humble, completely solid spiritual rock. The first thing she did when it was my turn to talk was say, "Can I tell you a story first?" It really took me by surprise and then she told me a story about something that I had said in a previous letter or email that helped her help someone else. Then at the end of her story, she said something that stuck with me more than anything else I think. She softly, gently, and sincerely said, "Thank you." I could tell she was smiling. I could tell she was really truly grateful. She was just so soft, and it was so impressive to me. I love her like crazy. I didn't think she had anything to improve on. I still don't know that she does, but she did say that she appreciates my mission stories more. Now that she is a missionary and has lived through the many experiences that happen to missionaries, she is more appreciative of others' experiences, namely mine. I remember telling her stories before and she would say things like, "Oh, that's great..." as if she didn't really know what else to say, but now it's different. Anyways, there are a hundred things I could talk about with regards to Sister Shep, but I won't. I just know that hearing her voice brought her back for me again. It made her real again. It also made me realize that I've only got six months to get rich...

Ironman: "Just Enough."

So many people were thrilled to see Ironman. I think that had a lot to do with the fact that the last noteworthy film to be released was "Cloverfield," which wasn't even that impressive anyway. It also had to do with the fact that 'comic book movies' are the craze of the film industry.

Ironman was a success. It was an achievement for the comic book genre. Why? Because it was successfully adapted. It stayed true to the key elements of the story without embracing the comic book (for lack of a better word) 'cheesiness.'

A comic book is a comic book and a movie is a movie. A comic book movie's success depends on whether or not they can make the comic book into a movie, and not make a movie out of a comic book.

Anyways, this is entirely unrelated to why Ironman was a success.

#1: The goal of this film was to establish. The characters and their motives were established. The main character and his 'transformation' into a hero has already been established. (For those who enjoy good action, this is perfect, because when Ironman 2 comes out, there will be no need to establish any of that other junk, and there will be a lot more time for explosions and such.)

#2: The timing was impeccable. After an especially difficult drought of near-biblical proportions, Ironman came at the perfect time to save us all and to get us excited for the next several weeks of great film releases. Being the first of the great releases was a very intelligent move, making people very anxious to finally get back into the theater.

#3: There was enough action. That doesn't mean there was a lot of action. That means there was just enough to make it entertaining action-wise.

#4: The humor was compensating. By that I mean the humor compensated for the lack of action. When there wasn't action, or even an anticipation of action, there was a lot of humor. Robert Downey Jr. mastered the character of Tony Stark, making him devilishly likable.

#5: You want more. Did I want more? You bet. Did the people with me want to see more? Definitely. The makers of the film did not stray from their main goal: to establish. Everything that needed to be established was established, and we even got a little taste of what's coming up next (if you didn't stay until after the credits, you'd better go see it again).

What can we expect from the sequel?

First of all, we can expect a sudden jump into the main plot of the story. We already know where Tony Stark has been and what he went through to get where he was. We can expect some early laughs and a quick dilemma and a deepening plot right off the bat.

Secondly, we can see a good continuation of the romance that began in the original. It was obvious throughout the story that this would develop, but it didn't get far in this one. We can probably expect more perilous situations for Pepper Potts.

And finally, we can expect to see a full-blown blockbuster. Many will criticize this first film because they feel like there wasn't enough done, but I feel that that is what saved it. Just enough happened to set up a magnificent sequel. The trailers will be packed with as much action and humor as they can manage to stick in there so people will rush to the theaters to see if it does better than the first. Ironman is a hero that everyone wanted to see win. In the sequel, they will get to see it without any barriers. Also, to help out, I only have to say one thing: Samuel L. Jackson.

My Brother

Saturday I lost my brother Ben. He died of natural but unknown causes. My sweet mother found him lying on the ground in our backyard late Saturday night. It has been an earth-shattering experience for my family.

I still find myself in shock. It is really hard for me to believe that he is really gone. I think I will have to actually see his body lying there in the casket before I really believe it. We were supposed to see Ironman this Friday. I'll be at his funeral instead.

Today we had to clean up his room and clear everything out because my brother and is wife are moving in tonight. It was a difficult thing for me to do. I needed to though, because I had to face it. I needed to come to terms with it and really understand that my brother is dead. I will never come home to find him laying on his favorite recliner watching the Discovery Channel again. We will never be able to talk about and go see great movies again. Fishing will always have a certain void to it.

If I could pick one word to describe my brother Ben, I would say 'courage.' When we say that everyday is a battle, that was an especially true term for him. He fought mental illness every single day of his life and I admire him for it.

I am really grateful for the day I was able to tell him that. I said, "Ben, I know I could never understand what you go through, but I want to say that I know you experience things that none of us will ever understand and nobody else could deal with it as well as you can. I really admire you for that." I'm glad I had the opportunity to tell him that.

Partially as a result from this, my other brother Adam and his wife Nicole will be moving back here to Utah, and temporarily back to my parents house. I am ecstatic. I am so happy that they are coming back. I would have missed them so bad this summer. It's too bad things didn't work out so well for them in California, but I am so happy they are coming back.

So that's the story. I can't stop coughing, but I don't really care. A few years ago I made his wedding video. Tomorrow I start his funeral video.