Sunday, March 23, 2014

Pi Day

Happy pi day! How many different pies did you have?

Frozen set off eternal winter

Is it coincidence that one of Disney's greatest movies was released at the same time as a winter that seemed to never end across the country? I think Queen Elsa really did set off an eternal winter on us and I'm not just talking about her Oscar winning song that everyone is singing.

I think its time to start singing Olaf's song to help encourage warmer weather to come.

"Give me a summer and I'll be a happy snowman!"

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

The Book of Mormon

Winner of 9 Tony Awards including best musical. Yes I am intrigued. Add to the fact that the story line is based on a religion that I believe in and I'm more than curious to see how we (the Mormons) were portrayed.

Here is my review. If you go into the show with an attitude of I'm going to be offended, you WILL be offended. The show is more than just poking fun of the Mormons, it is a mockery of religion in general. I went in with an open mind to see the show for what it is, a worlds view of how they perceive religion. When you come in from this perspective you get a sense of how believers look to non believers. I think it is important to not get so caught up in your own beliefs that you don't understand how other people see you. Not that you should care what people think but it helps to understand how other people think.

Ok so the play does a fair job of portraying Mormon beliefs and history. Of course to make a good story you have to take the extremes of anything. If you take one far right missionary who thinks so much of himself to save the world that he could be a prophet. Take another missionary who has never actually read the Book of Mormon, is a little nerdy, and has a tendency to make up stories (aka lie) when in awkward situations where he doesn't know the answer. Put the two together as missionary companions in Uganda, a village that is dying with AIDS, ruled by a warlord who kills whoever he wants when ever he wants and demands women to be circumcised and you are sure to have a rousing good laugh at religions expense. But when you stop and think about it, it does seem a little hard fetched to tell someone that they should forgo their need to survive and believe in a God who is allowing terrible things to happen to them. The show is trying to portray that people will believe in not only what they see but in what/who gives them hope. For a missionaries part it is pretty easy to want to take credit for work you have done.

So all in all I would not give a rousing applaud to the show since it does make a mockery (albeit it is very obvious that they are) I would say it does cause one to think about religion and how it can come a cross.