Mormon Artist

It looks like the section about Cameron in yesterday's post came a day too early. :)

   

Click here to download:

Cameron_Moll_Colosseo_Second_U.zip (1416 KB)

Linescratchers recently did an interesting interview with Kirby Heyborne.

Check it out.

Covenant Communications's new CD, Forever Yours, features love songs
from thirteen different LDS artists, and makes for a great Valentine’s
Day purchase. The CD, boasting to “Say 'I love you' fifteen different
ways,” lives up to its claims, offering a little something for
everyone.

With fifteen tracks, Forever Yours features a variety of musical
genres and styles that pay equal attention to love in all its happy
stages. The first six tracks are peppy and carefree, with a “windows
down, summer drive, pure fun” kind of feeling. Tracks seven through
eleven address romance more seriously and intimately. The final four
tracks on the CD round out our romantic evolution with four narrative
songs, many of which allude to love’s “bigger picture.”

Some artists on the CD sound remarkably similar to certain big names
in the music industry, while others have their own unique sounds.
Regardless of sound or style, the talent is undeniable across the
board.

Personal favorites include Debra Fotheringham’s classy “You are
Truth;” Joshua Creek’s genuine “I Saw It All;” and above all, Alex
Boyé’s “Happy Daze”—which alone merits the CD’s purchase.

As with any CD, not all tracks are created equal, but Forever Yours
provides a nice balance, and “whether you are looking for the perfect
Valentine’s Day gift or something to warm a heart,” you’re likely to
find a track on Forever Yours that both suits your personal style and
brings a smile to your face.

For more information visit the Covenant Communications website.

Melted Hearts screened at the 2010 LDS Film Festival on Friday, January 22 to a packed theater and an enthusiastic audience. The film is about a pair of missionaries, Elder Pedro Rodriguez and Elder Brian Lauper, who have trouble getting along at first. Brian is upset at having been released from his calling as an Assistant to the President, and Pedro has a grudge against Brian because he's American. After they go through some trials together and Brian saves Pedro's life when he gets seriously ill, the two become friends and keep in touch after their missions have ended. In the second half of the film, Brian and his family take a vacation to Mexico, where they meet Pedro, who falls in love with Brian's sister, Wendy. Pedro doesn't have the courage to tell Wendy before she goes back home to Provo, but with the encouragement of his family, he takes heart and hitchhikes from Mexico City to Utah to find her and confess his love.

Melted Hearts is a heart-warming story about gaining courage to follow one's dreams--a story inspired by director Jorge Ramirez Rivera's own experience as a young man of setting off to the United States to pursue an education, against all odds. Even with an inspiring story, however, the film has some flaws. There were several times while watching Melted Hearts that I had to suspend my disbelief. Due to budget and casting concerns, the two missionaries had longish hair, and the actor who played the American Elder Brian Lauper was not a native speaker of English. I was also left wondering how Pedro made it across the border into the United States when he didn't have time to arrange a visa. Many of these concerns in addition to others I had (the plot could have been tighter, the production quality wasn't as high as I was hoping, and some of the errors in the subtitles were distracting) were diminished, though, by the sheer enjoyment of seeing an international, fully subtitled Mormon film--and being in an audience of mixed native English and native Spanish speakers who were all able to fully participate as audience members. The film is half in English and half in Spanish, with both parts subtitled. The cast and crew included English speakers, Spanish speakers, and quite a few bilinguals, which provided an interesting challenge for all involved. In the Q&A after the screening, Jorge Ramirez Rivera said that he believed Melted Hearts is the first international Mormon film. He is hoping to distribute the film on DVD and possibly on some Latin websites. There were other films screened at the LDS Film Festival this year that had foreign flair, in particular Dave Boyle's films Big Dreams Little Tokyo and White on Rice, which I hope mark a new trend in LDS cinema. Jorge Ramirez Rivera's offering is an important step forward in that trend.

WHAT: Farewell To Eden, a national award winning play written by Mahonri Stewart and directed by Kathryn Laycock Little.

WHEN: January 15-25, 2010. Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., with 2 p.m. matinees on Saturdays.

WHERE: The Provo Theatre (100 North, 105 East, Provo, UT 84604)

TICKETS: $12 for general public; $10 for students and seniors; and $9 for groups over 10 people. Tickets will be sold at the door.

Mahonri Stewart’s play Farewell To Eden is being performed for the first time since UVU’s premiere production of the show won national awards through the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival six years ago. The newly minted Zion Theatre Company is producing the revival on January 15-25, at the Provo Theatre (100 North, 105 East, Provo).

The play tells the story of Georgiana Highett and her siblings Thomas and Catherine, living in Victorian England, 1840. Georgiana is a high bred intellectual of the upper classes who has more than a dash of progressive, pre-feminist leanings, but also has the harsh views on class, typical of the time period. Georgiana’s world is safe and secure until the entry of two men in her life: her childhood friend Stephen Lockhart, and the mysterious Darrel Fredericks. At this eventful shift, the lives of her and her siblings are turned upside down. The style of the story follows very much in the tradition of classic story tellers such as Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde and Charles Dickens.

Read the full press release: http://www.motleyvision.org/2009/press-release-_farewell-to-eden_-at-the-provo-theatre/