Harry Potter and the Prequel Predicament

Full-on disclaimer: I love the Harry Potter franchise and mostly everything about it. I have yet to go to the theme parks or Platform 9 3/4, but I own all the books and movies, have a few of my own wands, and have dressed up as a wizard on more than one occasion.

Cool? Cool.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald was... a bit confusing for me. I'm not labeling it as bad, not labeling it as amazing, but... somewhere in between. And I think a large part of it just stems from the fact that this is trying to fit in as a prequel series with a well-established lore and canon that has enchanted fans like myself for the last couple decades. And with any fandom that grows large enough, there will be enough people to both point out its flaws and justify its mishaps one way or another. When taking some film classes at BYU a while back, one of the biggest takeaways that I got was to always look for the good parts of films, even if not all of it is necessarily enjoyable. As an example, we watched the behind-the-scenes features for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. It's far from the most beloved of the Star Wars movies (for a number of reasons that I'll actually cover a bit in this post) but there's still a fair amount to appreciate out of it.

So, before getting too much further, I do want to slap a huge spoiler warning for the Harry Potter franchise, and the Fantastic Beasts franchise to go with that, as well as Star Wars, and Pirates of the Caribbean, kinda. And I'll abbreviate the films I'm talking about in the following way:
Fantastic Beasts And Where to Find Them – FB
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald – CG
Harry Potter and the _____ – HP# (whatever respective number of the book or movie it is)
Pirates of the Caribbean: _____ – POTC# (whatever installment of the movie franchise it is)
Star Wars Episode # – SW# (you get the picture)
Cool?

Cool.

I saw FB for my first time earlier this year, probably two or three months ago. It's not that I didn't want to see it when it first came out; I don't remember exactly why, but I think I may have just had other things going on at the time. Regardless, I did want to make sure I knew what was going on before the series got too far along (since I knew this was going to be a series, not just a one-off in the Wizarding World). And I enjoyed it! It was a new adventure in the world that I'd come to love since I was a child, with loads of fan service that didn't seem to mess with anything that I knew about its world. J.K. Rowling is a fantastic (excuse the pun) world-builder, and I will always credit her as such. Newt was lovable, Kowalski was hilarious, Tina wasn't some overly dramatic love interest, and the intrigue behind the Obscurial was enough to keep the plot moving. Bringing in Grindelwald as the real villain worked; he was someone we'd heard a little about in the original series but not enough to fully understand who he was and where he was coming from, as he wasn't really a villain at all in that series. He was a side character who was mentioned in the very beginning of the HP series and pushed the plot a bit at the very end, but was never a focus. So, much like how Avengers: Infinity War seemed to be all about Thanos' quest – while still emphasizing that he's the bad guy – making this prequel series be about Grindelwald was, in my mind, just the direction this series needed to go.

And that's sadly where the issue lies. Obviously I have no say in where everything "should" go; I'm not the author or screenwriter, I don't call any of the shots. But I feel a bit torn about how things went with CG after seeing it last week. Allow me to use the Star Wars series to explain.

SW4 is when we get introduced to the literal universe of Star Wars canon, as it was the first one ever released. We learn about Luke, Obi-Wan, Leia, Darth Vader, Han Solo, and the rest of the crew we now know and love. We learn that Anakin Skywalker was "murdered" by Darth Vader, which by this point we all know isn't quite the case: SW5 we learn the truth that Vader is Anakin Skywalker, and that Leia is Luke's sister. MAJOR plot twist, and it lets the trilogy have a grand finale by the time SW6 rolls around. But then, in the late 90's, George Lucas decided to finally do the prequel series he'd meant to do for such a long time. And who is it that we eventually meet through a shoehorned detour? An innocent, somewhat whiny slave boy by the name of Anakin Skywalker, who we then follow around for two more movies. However, during those movies we frequently jump between the so-called protagonist and the adventures of Obi-Wan so much that it's hard to narrow down who to focus more on, especially when we already know that Anakin is eventually going to turn to the dark side.

 

There's a phenomenal miniseries on YouTube from the channel Belated Media who did somewhat of a fan rewrite, making Obi-Wan the real focus of the prequel trilogy and making sure Anakin was along for the ride enough so that we see his eventual turn. The way he builds it up makes the final duel in SW3 much more intense, much more emotional, much more engaging. It is a shame that it's only a "what if" scenario, but I still find it worth going back and watching every so often.

That's the issue that I feel the FB series is going to run into, if it hasn't already. Having to work around your own canon to tell a story that still keeps readers/viewers engaged despite mostly knowing how it's going to end is difficult, and I don't feel like the series is proceeding in the right direction. Here are some of the big reasons I feel this way:

By simply keeping that "Fantastic Beasts" name, one would think that the series is going to revolve around Newt Scamander's journeys around the world to make his textbook that eventually makes it into Harry Potter's curriculum. And while the first movie seemed to be largely about that, with some plot-driving peril on the side, the second movie shies away from that central premise; Newt is there, but he's being dragged into things by the Ministry of Magic and Dumbledore, not out of his desire to care for magical creatures. And Dumbledore, for some reason, has a bond with Grindelwald from some boyhood relationship (if you can call it that, it's not totally explored or explained in the movie), "preventing" him from going against the dark wizard of the time.

We see Dumbledore a few times throughout the film but we have no idea what his real strengths are; we just know that the Ministry doesn't seem to like his antics. Not unlike how it is in the HP series, but at least by then we know of the corruptions that take place there and the motivation behind their disdain for Dumbledore. And the part where he looks into the Mirror of Erised doesn't quite line up either: he tells us, and those around him, that he wants to take down Grindelwald, but when looking into the mirror he still sees the memory of when he made the blood pact... charm... thing. It's supposed to show the innermost desires of the person looking into it; if this charm is what he's wanted the whole time, we get no idea about it until the very, very end after the niffler nabs it and it's delivered back to Dumbledore. Newt would have had no idea what it was though, because as far as we know he never told Newt a single thing about it.

So let's talk about Newt, then. What is his motivation in this movie? Dumbledore claims that he "doesn't seek power", which I wholeheartedly agree with, but it seems like his mission for Newt comes secondary to wanting to mend things with Tina. Once he learns that she's in Paris, because Queenie had dragged Kowalski to London while under a love spell (and somehow knew exactly where he lived?), that's his real call to action. Since she's already there, he can also take care of finding Credence, which seems to me like a much higher priority. Credence is being bred as a weapon that could reign terror on the wizarding and non-wizarding world, and lovestruck Newt wants to essentially clear up a tabloid article.

Credence's story is continued, but convoluted. We get some huge exposition dumps at what feel like crucial times that the plot needs to move forward, and the twist at the end that he's secretly a Dumbledore as well comes out of nowhere and against everything that Rowling has ever told us about the family. There have always just been three Dumbledore children, and calling Credence a "brother" to Albus just feels... wrong. Obviously this could be a ploy of Grindelwald's to turn Credence into a weapon for his own use, but it just seems like one of the largest mcguffins to ever mcguffin. Credence is obviously a wizard with much power, but for him to be a Dumbledore – let alone so readily believe it with no further explanation from this man who almost abused him in the previous movie – seems too far-fetched to be real.

Other plot points of the movie that seem somewhat thrown in:

• Tina not knowing that Newt wasn't actually the one who was engaged to be married. They were writing each other (which I guess could explain how Queenie knew where to go, but it's still something that Newt never seems to question), so one would think that she'd rely more on what comes straight from the horse's mouth as opposed to some gossip column (which also seemed strange – Newt seems like the kind of guy who would avoid the spotlight as much as possible).
• Leta Lestrange and her brother. Half brother, I guess? We got a good glimpse as to why she and Newt were interested in each other, since they were both outcasts of some form while in school together. But the massive info dump we get in the mausoleum, along with an accent from the half-brother's lines that made parts of it difficult to understand (that could very well just be me, I'll freely admit to that), felt like it was just too much all at once. And since the brother had made an Unbreakable Vow, but can't keep it since it supposedly had already been fulfilled years ago, would it have really been keepable in the first place?
• McGonagall. One of many fun easter eggs, like seeing the Deathly Hallows symbol carved into the same desk that Leta looks into, but it literally can't work because of the timeline. And yes, this is Minerva McGonagall, not some relative with the same last name. She was born, according to canon, in 1935, while this movie takes place in 1927. Some other names are thrown around as well, like Carrow, Rosier, McClaggan, and of course Nagini, who we're probably supposed to assume is the same one that Voldemort adopts as his own years later... somehow.
• Queenie turns to the dark side way too easily. She's a mind reader and should easily have been able to see the motivations of Grindelwald's followers. Grindelwald himself may have set up some of his own mental protections, but I feel like it's safe to assume that not all of the lackeys could have, and while she was in their temporary hideout in Paris she could have sensed that something was up.
• The phoenix at the end. According to HP lore, phoenixes take a few days to fully regrow, not something that would happen in a flash of light. It's another reason why I feel like Grindelwald's just lying to Credence.
• How do Grindelwald and Dumbledore even know each other? Under what conditions did they meet, considering they were from other countries growing up?

This movie left me with a feeling much like I had after watching the second POTC movie. I had a lot more questions than answers, and I got most of those answers after watching the following installment. I don't feel like that series is one of my favorites, but at least a lot of the loose strings got tied up (even though there were still enough to merit a fourth and fifth movie). It suffered a lot from the same thing that the SW prequel trilogy did: it lacked focus. Do we consider Will the main protagonist? Or Elizabeth? Or Jack? The answer we get is "all of them, kind of," but that makes it hard to stay focused or engaged. And I'm not saying that a movie with multiple protagonists is always hard to follow. LOTR is a great example of how to make a group the focus of the story from the beginning, and then taking parts of that group and developing them in different ways based on their own quests can still be enjoyable without losing much of the audience. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is another perfect example. I will say that while I loved Infinity War, it wouldn't hold up without pretty much all of the movies before it. Those movies take the time to develop their protagonists, having each title character be the focus of their own movie, making it clear what their motivations are and constantly teasing at a greater evil behind it all – again, Thanos, whose swan song is Infinity War. Making Thanos the main focus of that particular movie allowed all the other parts to move as needed. Going back to that "what if" series of the SW movies, making Obi-Wan the focus of the prequels could have helped it be a much better received trilogy since we already knew that Anakin was going to turn evil and be a large presence in the original trilogy. If there were only one person that we needed to focus on for this prequel series to HP, be it Grindelwald or even Dumbledore himself, that I feel would make things a lot more cohesive (especially since we know this prequel series will probably culminate with their duel in 1945). Otherwise, making some one-off movies that kind of tie together could be profitable and fun, but not tell the story as well as it possibly could.

As lovable as Newt is, he just doesn't seem like the "hero" type. Obviously we don't have to have a stereotypical protagonist in everything we see these days – especially since it would make the film-going experience rather boring – but as I mentioned he doesn't seem like the type to want to be in the spotlight. And all we ever hear about him by the time the HP series comes around is that he was a magizoologist. That's it. Dumbledore, to my recollection, never talked about him in the HP series, despite relying on him so much throughout this installment, and likely in the ones that will follow. Obviously there isn't a pre-existing book series of Fantastic Beasts to already go off of, and Rowling has plans set out for each of the remaining entries in this series, but I sincerely hope that it's told in a manner that helps tie it all together.

Hopefully this all makes sense. I write like I think and talk and I do try to make it cohesive enough to follow. Like I said at the beginning, I know that I have no involvement or influence in how things should go; this was just my analysis based on what we've received so far. And I'm still optimistic for the future. J.K. Rowling has the whole thing planned out, supposedly, and as I said above I applaud her world-building skills. She hopefully will be involved enough with this whole series to deliver another story that touches millions in the special way she has once before.

Movie Review: The Last Jedi

I don't get the hate for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

My wife and I just saw the movie in theaters last night, so we didn't go to an early or midnight screening, and we didn't pay extra for tickets, but we were packed in a theater full of a few hundred people of all different backgrounds and (while I can't be 100% sure on this, but I'm at least fairly confident in saying so) different experiences with Star Wars movies, lore, nostalgia, and the like.
To give a quick background on where I fall as far as that's concerned, I'd definitely call myself a fan of the franchise, but nowhere near "hardcore"; I've seen all of the movies and remember a bit of the 2D-animated Clone Wars, I casually played a few of the video games (like the Episode I podracer and the Lego adaptations), but that's about it. Never read any of the books, wasn't someone who got upset that the "extended universe" got pretty much thrown out the window, haven't obsessed with any facet of it at all. So, with that in mind, let's talk about the latest installment.

I will say now, it's going to be very hard to talk about this movie without going into spoiler territory, so please feel free to come back after you've seen this movie. Or if you don't care about that, then just keep going. And as another kind of disclaimer, I don't intend for this to come across as a rant; I more intend for this to be an analysis of the movie itself and the reaction of the community afterwards.

There wasn't a single part of The Last Jedi that I hated. There may have been parts I wasn't as much of a fan of than others, but nothing I'd straight up say "Nope. Can't have that. That was completely wrong." And while I do try to find enjoyment out of every movie I see, this one one deserves to be applauded, as is what happened when the credits rolled in our theater. Here are just a few of the moments that made me love this movie:

• Poe and Hux having their banter at the beginning. Humorous moments are thrown in throughout multiple parts of the movie, and the laughter this scene generated was earned. From The Force Awakens, we're a little unsure of what we see Hux to actually be; he seems to be Snoke's right-hand man, but we don't know how worth fearing he is. Poe, and later on Kylo, make sure to put him in his place as the true punching bag he is. (And that's not to say that the actor, Domhnall Gleeson, didn't do a good job; he and most everyone were phenomenal with their respective roles throughout this movie.)
• Kylo and Rey's Force conversations. They both show their youth and relative innocence; Kylo doesn't know how or why they're connected, and just wants someone who can understand him, and Rey tries to bring him back to the light. Their juxtapositions during these conversations, both from physical and philosophical perspectives, is a pleasure to watch.
• Luke's behavior isn't as some sage, wise warrior. We could have seen Luke as another Obi-Wan Kenobi or Qui-Gon Jinn, being patient with his new apprentice and dutifully teaching them the ways of the Force. But we learn that when he tried that, during the interim of episodes VI and VII, we learn that it didn't go well because... well, Kylo Ren. Plus, and while this isn't gone into in depth in this movie but makes sense when you think about the series as a whole, Luke wasn't properly trained in the first place. He was advised by someone he barely knew – respected, but barely knew – to go find this "Master Yoda" on a remote planet. When he finally did, he was put through a ridiculous training procedure that probably made very little sense to him. He had to learn and train a lot on his own, and when that attempt to teach a new generation goes horribly wrong, of course he'll feel ashamed and be scared of trying again.
• Yoda. Old, puppet Yoda. He comes back and enjoys the tearing down of old ways, literally watching the past burn, while leaving Luke – and the audience – with practical advice in his classic grammatical style: "The greatest teacher, failure is." (And if there was ever a fan-service moment that was well-executed, that would be it.)
• Light saber tricks. This is always something I've thought about, and it seemed to happen a bit throughout the fight with Rey and Kylo in Snoke's chambers; if users of the Force, both Jedi and Sith, are so eloquent with light sabers, why couldn't they do a few more tricks with them while not actually in their hands? It's not always the most practical way to fight, I get that, but I mean... we've seen Kylo stop a blaster shot in midair, for crying out loud! The fact that Snoke was taken down by a saber without it actually being in someone's hand was greatly satisfying to see, and then the fighting immediately afterwards, finishing with a toss of the saber and it being ignited into a servant's head... It was fun, and again, satisfying.
• Misdirection from the trailers. There were some moments I definitely thought would be as part of one scene that were still included, but just ended up as another, and it worked well; one in particular that I think most people would remember is where Rey is saying that she needs someone to teach her, show her her place in all of this, but while we see it looking like she's speaking with Kylo in the trailers, it's during a conversation with Luke (which, while it could have actually been a thing given what Kylo offered in Force Awakens, makes a bit more sense here because of the faith that Rey has in the light side of the Force).
• Phasma. I liked that we saw a bit more of her, including a bit of humanizing fear as Finn struck her down, but I do wish that we saw more. Though given the 2 1/2 hour runtime, I understand that cuts would have to be made, and her part just wasn't quite as essential as others were.

• The light speed moment from when Holdo went through Snoke's ship. This was probably my favorite part of the experience itself while watching it in a theater. And while I've gone on record to friends saying that I prefer to actually own the movie because it's usually cheaper, and you usually get more than just the movie itself, I will concede that moments like this are hard to beat. While there was the usual dull chatter going on throughout the movie, the buildup to seeing Holdo turn the transport cruiser around and kick it into light speed made everyone there pay so much attention that there was complete silence at that moment, matching the few moments of silence from the film itself while we processed what we saw. Not even a "whoa" or "oh my gosh"; total awe as we saw the clean strike through, understanding that Holdo made a heroic decision without trying to be a hero, helping Poe learn another valuable lesson.

To address a few of the concerns I've heard and seen around the internet this last week:

• "Luke wouldn't behave that way!" Well, too bad, you're not him. You, the reader and moviegoer, likely aren't someone who works with Lucasfilm and Disney to produce it. You're not Rian Johnson; you're not the one making the movie. All that we know of what has happened since Return of the Jedi is very little, and what we have seen and heard from both Luke and Kylo – I feel that that justifies his behavior and attitude. His eccentricities and sarcastic behavior are radically different from the previous Jedi Masters we've followed, and it's a fresh change, as I mentioned above.
• "The casino planet was dumb and pointless!" Not really. Finn and Rose went there for a purpose: they wanted to get a codebreaker to help the Resistance esacape from the First Order's ability to track them, and while the person they found to do so eventually betrayed them, it could very well be some kind of set up for a return in whatever Episode IX is going to be called. Lando Calrissian got his redemption; why can't DJ?
• One thing that I didn't really like – and this would probably be the only nitpick I have – was the relationship between Rose and Finn. It may or may not turn into anything by the next movie, but the kiss she gives him before passing out did feel forced. My wife did bring up a point in that Rose could have just been clinging on to the closest thing within reach, emotionally speaking, since she had already been through and lost a lot in the last few days.
• "Rey's parents have to be special since she's so strong with the Force!" I do hope that we eventually see Rey's parents, but it's not essential to the story. If what Kylo Ren said is true – that they're drunkards who didn't care about selling and leaving their daughter in the middle of nowhere – then I feel like that makes Rey and her abilities even more special. As Luke reminds us when he does try to teach Rey, the Force is with all of us, in everything; you don't have to have Skywalker blood in you to connect with it. That boy at the very end definitely pulled the broom to his hand using the Force, and we didn't even get his name. We just know he's someone who believes in the cause of the Resistance. And, lest we forget, Anakin Skywalker was originally a slave boy! He didn't come from royalty, or a long line of Jedi Knights. He was just someone who had a pretty strong connection to the Force, and happened to be discovered by someone else in tune with that same Force. Anakin came from nothing,* so why does Rey have to come from something?

I feel like those who are saying they didn't like it or even hated it aren't communicating well what they actually wanted out of this movie. And if that's the case, then I don't know that I really fault them for that; sometimes it can be hard to know exactly what it is you want. But it's hypocritical to say that you don't want a rehashing of what was done before (much like how The Force Awakens was a very similar story to A New Hope), and then complain when you get something like The Last Jedi that's different in almost every way.
For me, I don't want to go into a movie being able to predict every turn and plot device. I don't want to know beforehand what every character's motivation is for what they do. I want the movie to tell me all that for itself. I want it to show me. I want it to immerse me, surprise me, entertain me. I can't really be entertained if there's nothing new for me to take in. And regardless of what side you fall on the spectrum of loving it or hating it, you can't deny that this latest chapter in the Star Wars saga has defied expectation.
If you enjoyed it, great! Talk about it with others. If you didn't, then explain why and help me understand where you're coming from. It's far from hateable, and will definitely stand out among other chapters in this series. But please, don't just tear down someone else's opinion on it...

*technically not "nothing", he was supposedly born because of the high level of midichlorians... I know this post wasn't meant to be a rant, and it's not... at least about Last Jedi. I do take issue with the general consensus of how Anakin was born. His mother said in Episode I that "there was no father" and she can't explain what happened, so the understood meaning is that Anakin was the product of immaculate conception – at least Star Wars' version of it. This is just me theorizing, but it could just be that Shmi Skywalker was just too ashamed of who his father actually was to tell Qui-Gon. And Qui-Gon, with his gracious attitude, didn't pester her for more information. Maybe the father was who actually sold Shmi into slavery, and her resentment towards him for that made him in essence give up his rights to being a father? I just think it's more plausible than coming from essentially nowhere, given the lore of the Star Wars universe.

Plight of the Provo Bachelor: Lonely No More

This post has been a long time coming. Almost a year, actually, if I'm being honest. (And it's been a long time since I've written something anyway, sooo... welcome back!)

For anyone who's followed this blog at any point over the last few years, I've written on here multiple times before about how I've had issues with the dating scene in Utah, under this "Plight of the Provo Bachelor" subtitle. I've tried meeting girls through work, through school, through church congregations, online dating... and while I certainly had a lot of different experiences and made a lot of friends, nothing ended up lasting past those early stages friendship and numerous first dates. Nothing, that is, until last October.

I've mentioned the dating app Tinder on here before, and if I remember right I actually said I'd sworn it off, along with all other forms of online dating. (I may edit this post to link back to where I said it specifically, but I digress.) However, a little over a year ago, I moved up to a city called Sandy, much farther away from where I'd previously set myself up to look for a potential girlfriend. I thought that, since Tinder is based partially on your geographic location, I'd give it one more go (which would have been my fourth or fifth time doing so). And it didn't take long to eventually match with one incredible young woman named Chellie Dazey.

Chellie messaged me first through the app, which was a pleasant surprise, and she and I quickly were able to talk about things we had in common. We're both nerdy, both active in the Church, both avid movie goers, both open to new experiences, and we even had a unique connection: even though she lives in Utah, she's originally from North Carolina – specifically from the same city that my brother-in-law's family is from, whose family she's actually known for longer than I have. We "matched" through Tinder in late October and went on our first date in November. It wasn't anything fancy; literally we went to Taco Bell and watched some movies back at my place. But from that point forward, we hit it off very well, and officially began our relationship in early December.

One of the things that I've loved about our relationship is the open level of communication we've had since day one. We'd both had mixed experiences with dating in the past, and neither one of us enjoyed the dating "game" that so often gets played these days. We knew what we wanted, which was to eventually go to the temple to have a marriage that would last for all eternity. Yet we knew that that didn't mean we couldn't have fun while dating; many of the funniest moments I can remember have been with Chellie and I'm certain that she can say the same thing as well. We've had certain conversations where we try to out-pun each other; sometimes we just message each other only using GIFs, or we could spend an evening doing almost nothing and still say that we had a good time. We've got enough interests in common to know that we always have things to do, but she's also helped me to try new things, getting excited when I like them too and understanding if it's not quite my thing. She can make me laugh without saying a single word, sympathizes with any issues I may have, and comforts me out of pure love. I can say with full confidence that she is my best friend.

I can go on and on and on and on about this truly best thing that's ever happened to me, but that's really it. I don't have any kind of argument to discuss with this post or heated debate to join in on; those can wait for other posts. I just wanted to rave a bit about the wonderful woman I will wed next week.

From our engagement pics

When we got to meet Weird Al Yankovic, alongside a good friend of ours

At FanX, one of the conventions in Utah that we'll probably be making an annual tradition to attend

Taken at the Midway Ice Castles. I keep this one on my desk at work.

P.S. The title "Lonely No More" is taken from a Rob Thomas song of the same name, though aside from the title there's really not a whole lot I have in common with that song.

Things wanted or needed

Found this poem while looking through things belonging to my grandfather a while ago and just thought it was very share-worthy.

DESIDERATA

Go placidly among the noise & haste, & remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull & ignorant; they too have their story.


Avoid loud & aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain & bitter; for always there will be greater & lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.


Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.


Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity & disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.


Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not stress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.


You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees & the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.


Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors & aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.


With all its sham, drudgery & broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

While a note at the bottom of the page says it was found in Old Saint Paul's Church, Baltimore, from 1692, a quick online search actually revealed it to be from Max Ehrman, from the year 1927. The link provided in this paragraph gives a brief history of how it got its usual attribution. Also of note is that in the version I found among my grandfather's things, the second to last sentence reads "Be careful" rather than "Be cheerful." I much rather prefer the latter version, as I've posted above.

Strive to be happy, everybody. I don't think there's much better general advice than that.

Voting with my conscience

"The word 'politics' is derived from the word 'poly', meaning 'many', and the word 'ticks', meaning 'blood-sucking parasites'."    – Larry Hardiman (attrib.)

So unless you've managed to keep yourself disconnected from the whole world for the last year or so - in which case I somewhat envy you - many of the headlines these days are dealing with the upcoming US presidential election in just a few weeks. And the two main candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, seem to be creating more tension than any previous election ever has (at least from what I've noticed in my lifetime). That, to me, doesn't seem to be what election campaigns are supposed to do; obviously you want to make yourself look better and more desirable than your opponent(s), but this year there's been so much mudslinging and badmouthing that it's hard for me to take either of these two candidates seriously. Even in their final debate last night, while it looked like they might actually keep their cool during the first twenty minutes or so, it eventually ended in arguments and generally making the both of them look very unappealing. Let's take a look as to why:

Republican Party

I first came to know who Donald J. Trump was because of the reality TV show The Apprentice. Obviously he didn't just show up as this TV star out of the blue, he's been in business for pretty much all of his life, but again that's where I really first had a chance to pay any attention to him. And that's part of the issue I have with him: he's a businessman, not a politician. And with his business tactics and business morals, he managed to quite literally bully his way to become the Republican party's choice for president. Which is just ridiculous! Half of the things that come out of his mouth are to demean and belittle other people, and the other half is just lies or ridiculous claims of what he'll do once elected. Building a wall and having Mexico pay for it. Creating a better health care program while completely scrapping the existing one and having no experience in doing so. Vetting more than is necessary, extreme levels of stop and frisk, etc. Banning Muslims from entering our country. Radical claims that have little to no support behind them, because he just doesn't have the experience as a politician.

Lately a lot of the focus on him has been about recent negative comments he's made about how he treats women. He gave an apology for it, but just from watching it when it was first given and when he talked about it at the second debate, it looked and sounded like one of the most canned, insincere apologies ever. And even after that apology, more people are coming up to accuse him of past transgressions that he's just denying left and right. Are any of them true? I don't know, but it's far from a good sign that there are people making these accusations in the first place. All of his supporters accept that he's changed, dismissing it as "locker room talk", and while most of what he's said seems to have been just that - talk, and nothing more - I don't want to give a person like that the opportunity to act on that kind of talk as a president of our country. Aside from the allegations of women over the years that are now coming forward - even if none of them end up being true, I still don't trust this... man. He's not a politician, he's a celebrity that's trying to gain even more fame and recognition to help dig himself out of failing ventures.

Democratic Party

Hillary Clinton obviously has the experience of being in politics for longer than I've even been alive. She's served as a First Lady, a Senator, and up until this election she's served as Secretary of State. So as far as experience goes, at least versus Trump, she's got him beat. But a lot of the things that she and her party stand for are very contrary to what I believe in. She's got some scandals of her own, which of course keep getting brought up by her opponents (her private email server, Benghazi, and her husband's own lasciviousness that she defended [though to be fair, she's the one running, not Bill]). With her being able to get off clean for some of these things, it's hard to imagine a presidency where even more scandals and controversies can just get swept under the rug. For her, the recent announcement of emails being brought forth by Wikileaks is being said by certain news outlets that "you're only able to learn about it from us", that it's different for the media than for the general public, obviously giving way for bias to come through. That's a scary thought on its own as well: I can only learn about something so seemingly significant from one source? That just doesn't feel right at all to me. And yes, I understand that there are even people who have been staunch Republicans – even high profile ones – for the majority of their lives that are now voting for Clinton, but I can't in good conscience do the same. I don't want to vote for the "lesser of two evils", which I've seen and heard many people talk about over the last few months.

Kinda how it feels. Also, one of my favorite animated movies, and a particularly brilliant scene at that.

Conscience. That's a word that I've heard thrown around a bit lately as well. It's that little voice in our heads that's supposed to tell us what's right. It's that Jiminy Cricket or Shoulder Angel guiding us to do what we know we should, and letting us know when we don't. It's hard to know for sure if everyone involved in this presidential race is listening to their own conscience based on what they talk about; even Ben Carson said during an interview with MSNBC "I love the fact that all of a sudden you wanna talk about morality in our country. I would love us to bring back our Judaeo-Christian values and begin to teach those things and to emphasize them at a time other than a political election. Let's do that, but right now the train is going off the cliff." (Emphasis added) This is Dr. Ben Carson saying this, who, when he was still running for the Republican nomination himself, seemed to be one of the most looked-to candidates for traditional Christian values and morality. But now he, and pretty much all the other candidates who were running for the Republican nomination, are backing the same man who insulted just about all of them and fails to represent those values because the focus of the party is to beat "crooked Hillary". Where did their conscience go?! Again, I'm far from supporting Hillary at all, but at least she's able to somewhat answer questions in a debate without always deflecting or placing blame on her opponent!

It's so disheartening for me, and a lot of people from my "millennial" generation, to be faced with such abysmal choices. Bernie Sanders seemed to attract a lot of attention for people my age when still in the running for the Democratic nomination, though I personally never had any interest in him. Four years ago, Mitt Romney was my candidate of choice, but obviously he didn't win the election at the time and even now people who bashed on him are wistfully hoping that that outcome could have been different. So now a lot of people are looking toward third party candidates with the hope that, instead of getting the lesser of two evils, we actually get a somewhat good choice. John Oliver from Last Week Tonight discusses two of them here. (And by the way, he also goes into some detail about the scandals of the two main candidates here – keep in mind though, there is some language as he's a on an HBO show, and able to get away with a bit more than standard cable standards. But he brings up some very good points in each one.)

"To be fair, Johnson's anger [at being called a spoiler for the two main party candidates] is understandable. Just dismissing third-party candidates as spoilers shuts down debate. And while the argument that the only thing that stops Trump is a vote for Hillary Clinton is a powerful one, so is the argument that people should vote for the candidate who most closely shares their values."

That last phrase actually echoes counsel that's been repeatedly given by the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who encourages members to not only vote but also "spend the time needed to become informed about the issues and candidates you will be considering... Principles compatible with the gospel may be found in various political parties, and members should seek candidates who best embody those principles." (Emphasis added.)

There's a website I've been seeing posted a lot on social media lately, ISideWith.com. It's a site run by two friends, who say in their About section that while they each have very different views of politics they both want to just increase voter awareness by compiling information and data, and together they made the site to make it easier for people to figure out exactly who best represents them based on their values and cared-about issues. I did their quiz, and ended up siding 91% with a third-party candidate named Evan McMullin. He's already made a name for himself here in Utah, but he's incredibly late to the party (forgive the slight pun), and seems to be hinging on the fact that enough third-party votes can prevent either of those two big candidates from winning the main election and having the vote go to the House instead of through the electoral colleges. However... Even with that against him, I feel like voting for him would put my mind more at ease than voting for Trump or Clinton. I can't 100% say he's going to be the candidate I vote for this year, but I can assure you that before election day I'll be doing my research and will know for sure by the time I'm casting my vote.

Google image search never fails me.

Just a last note, I know I've seen some criticism (not to me, but in general) of following the more comedic talk show hosts like John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Seth Myers, and the like for getting news coverage, since there's a good chance again for it to be biased. My argument against that is just this: in a world where we've got clowns running amok, scaring people across the country, and some clowns running for president, on TOP of all the other awful news over the last couple years, it only makes sense that we get a good laugh once in a while. We can't even have a somewhat entertaining election awareness video made by some very recognizable actors without it getting parodied and criticized. Sure, the original may be bashing on Trump and leaning more towards Hillary, but to be fair the need for this kind of call to action is almost necessary with how low the actual voting population has been in the last couple decades, and how significant of an impact this election really will have for citizens of the United States and our relationships with countries around the world. (Oh, and don't read the comments for the majority of the videos I've linked to in this. It just gets toxic down there in that part of YouTube.)

Oh hey, this is a thing I used to do.

How long has it been since I've actually posted here? ...July? ...LAST July? Holy cow. Better do some cleanup.

Honestly I've meant to post well before now, and even had a few drafts written, at least one of which I'll probably post next week after making sure it gets polished up. Plus, this whole week I've been fairly sick, and while sick I don't really feel like going out and doing anything... So I'm gonna start writing again, as I used to be so wont to do before.

Just to get anyone up to speed for those who missed anything I've posted on Facebook over the last year or so, things are going much, much better for me now than the last time I posted. So I'll try to do a brief recap of all the big events from 2015 I didn't talk about, plus what's happened in 2016 so far.

• At the beginning of June last year, I went with some friends down to San Diego to see some other friends of mine get married. The whole thing was great to watch, and a fun time was had by all.

  

  Chance and Nicole Molen, amazing friends of mine for the last few years

• September of last year was the first Comic Con that I went to, which was the Salt Lake Comic Con (now the third largest of its kind). Besides seeing panels, collecting merchandise, and other "normal" Con activities, I helped join a group of 1,783 other people to break the Guinness World Record for "Largest gathering of people dressed as comic book characters". A fairly specific one, yes, but it's still something I'm proud of.

  

  Posing with my former roommates, Ryan Stevens (Captain America), Ryan Hernandez (Winter Soldier), and me as Star-Lord

• I took a serious look at my health and started actually doing something about it. I began working out with a personal trainer, and while that did go on break for a while for a few different reasons, I have picked that up again and have goals set in place for what I want to achieve, one of the biggest being just losing weight.

  

  While I don't actually use FitBit anymore, I did keep track regularly - and still do!

• Star Wars came back in full force (pun intended). My family and I went to go see it on Christmas Day, and it was actually good! I don't know if there's ever been more hype for a franchise to come back and have it be as successful as they hoped, because now there's going to be an episode 8 and 9, as well as a number of other Star Wars Story movies (like Rogue One coming out this year).
  

• Speaking of Star Wars, I went to Salt Lake Comic Con again this year, and one of the big names they got for visiting actors was Mark Hamill himself. Few other actors in the sci-fi genre are as recognized and honored, and on top of that he has a prolific voice acting career as well, most notably as the Joker in the Batman animated series. He held a panel the day he was here, with thousands of people there watching, and just being able to see him in person and hear him talk about the amazing career he's had was so much fun.

  

  Purposely chose to sit at the top so I wouldn't be fighting for a "good" seat - these screens were plenty good.

  

  See? View was just fine. SO many fun stories he shared... No spoilers, though!

• This February I got a job with Marriott Vacations Worldwide. To be clear, this is separate from Marriott International, which is in charge of the hotel chain (so Marriott hotels, Springhill Suites, Courtyard, etc.). This is the timeshare division, which is its own entity. I don't do any timeshare sales, which I'm kinda grateful for – from how much we help out our owners, timeshare ownership can get pretty complicated. But for the most part it's really not too bad, I help those who already own at certain locations make their own vacation plans for the upcoming year, or sometimes even for just a quick getaway. I honestly love it; they do a great job from day 1 to make you feel like you're part of a family there, and while it is technically work they also try especially hard to keep it fun and exciting for us. That's not something that can be said about most other call centers, which this is, but since our focus is so much different than other call centers it's easier to have that different feel. I've been working there full-time since February and have very much enjoyed it.
• I helped a friend of mine make a parody of Phantom of the Opera for a class at UVU. (Hopefully that link works to watch the video; if not, then just message me and I'll figure out a way for you to see it.) Apparently all of the videos for that class had to be musical-based, and related to politics, so we centered it loosely on the upcoming election. Loosely. We actually had a blast making it, and despite having a short time frame to make it in, it helped her get one of the best scores in the class, so that was something. Just a heads up, for those who do watch it: we're fully aware that the acting and singing is far from professional; again, the point was to parody the musical and current political situation, so hopefully it garners a laugh or two.
• This summer we had a reunion for my mom's side of the family. We had I think around 70 people show up throughout the course of the weekend, some from close by and others from across the country. It was a great opportunity to catch up with some family members I hadn't seen in years, and it was an even bigger celebration because we were also celebrating what would have been my grandfather's 100th birthday.

  

  Our family tree, with my mom's parents centered at the bottom. I think we're up to 130 descendants so far just from them, not including those who have married into the family.

•  I moved from Alpine, where I'd been living with my parents for a while to save some money while not in school, up to Sandy, which really isn't that far but does significantly help in my commute to work every day to south Salt Lake City. It's basically on the other side of a mountain, for those who are unfamiliar with the geography in Utah. I've been here for a couple months now, and could easily see myself staying here for a while. Still trying to get to know my roommates, as we've not got exact schedules, but from what I do know about each of them they're pretty cool and very easy to get along with.
• I've been to a couple more wedding receptions for friends this year and am already planning on going to more, including one this weekend for a mission buddy of mine.

Those are the biggest things that have happened so far. There are obviously other things going on, and more possible events – I'm hoping to go out to Hawaii this Thanksgiving with the rest of my family to see my oldest niece get baptized, there's a presidential election coming up in a few weeks (I'll have a blog post just about that, don't worry), and maybe even some more things going on before the end of this month that I'll be able to write about. I do hope to get better at writing regularly again, because I know that it's helpful for me to write as an outlet, and there are some who seemed to enjoy my posts when I wrote before. So hopefully these new posts can be found just as enjoyable as before to those who used to read them. And if you're new, well... Welcome! This is my place to rant about whatever I feel like, separate from Facebook or other places online, just because sometimes it feels good to go on and on about whatever subject I want. I understand that it's not necessarily something that everyone would want to see on their walls, tweeted at them, or what have you, so I usually just provide a link so that people can choose to come read my random thoughts if they want to. Sooooo..... Enjoy!


Oh, random last thought, I'm also trying out having facial hair. I'm really not one for selfies, so here's one I took a couple weeks ago that I actually liked, and it's not likely I'll take many/any more. But hopefully this gives an idea of what it looks like on me.

July journal update

Still want to get this week's post in before the night was over, so it'll be a quick update on life, followed by some thoughts I've had lately on social media.

For the last couple weeks, we've been lucky to have my sister Katie and her family in town visiting from Hawaii. Her husband is in the Navy, so having enough time off to make a trip out here worthwhile is somewhat rare. But he was able to stay for a full week, and the rest of them will be with us for a few more. We had some family pictures taken that should be finished soon, so I'll post some once I have access to them.

Yesterday, being Independence Day here in the States, we all went up to my brother's house in Salt Lake and had a great little barbecue, followed by some fireworks. I've always enjoyed fireworks shows, and by far the best one I've been to is the Stadium of Fire in Provo. They hold it at the BYU football stadium, and they often have a famous musical performer/group performing shortly before they set it all off. This year they had Journey, and in years past they've had acts like Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, and the Beach Boys (who were there the year I saw it). While there have been people claiming that there are bigger shows, and I'm sure there are, the fact that it was a concert as well made it a pretty great experience. And they sounded great, even for it being their 50th anniversary tour!

I haven't been able to use my Fitbit for the last few weeks because I lost the charger for it in the deep recesses of my room. (It's actually pretty clean, I just have no idea where it could be...) But another plus of my sister visiting is that she's got a charger for hers that works for mine as well. The model I use was actually recalled a while back because a few people got rashes, but since I never had a problem with it I never bothered to replace it. I've got a new charger on its way from Amazon already, but in the meantime I can get back on track by using the one she brought. I made it down to about 232 pounds, and I'd love to get below 200 before the end of the year.

K, so maybe this will be longer than I planned on it being. Oh well, I'm on a roll.

I've just been thinking a bit about what kinds of social media I've been using. My main ones, in the order of frequency used, are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and to a much lesser extent Blogger. YouTube is technically a form of social media as well, though much different than any of the ones I've mentioned. And I used to have Snapchat, but I got rid of the app a while ago because 1) it took forever to do anything with it on my phone (although it's a four-year-old phone, and it's been a while since I updated the iOS on it) and 2) I just never really enjoyed communicating through it. It's a novel idea, certainly, but often times if I was ever sent videos they'd go too fast to really get a good feel of what they were. And picture messages a lot of times were without much context, which I guess is fine for people who are used to messaging that way, but I just never really got into it too much.

After the Supreme Court decision a little over a week ago (and I'm not going to get political on this post, don't worry), it was incredibly interesting to see how much people showed their feelings over it. And I say interesting in an honest sense, not just as a passive adjective to move this paragraph along. While I don't ever plan on studying psychology as a career or anything, some concepts of psychology have held my curiosity every so often. And I can't say that it's "research" by any means, but what is so interesting to me is to see how vocal some people get behind the shield of the internet. A lot more people feel open to share what they feel, what they think, what they believe, because they're not afraid of being harassed "publicly" about it. At least, most people I know feel free to openly express themselves – many celebrities still need to be careful of any backlash, much like Jim Carrey on Twitter recently stating his opinion on vaccinations. (For the record, he is pro-vaccination, but "anti-neurotoxin", as he stated in a few later tweets.)

I don't post as much on my Facebook as much as I used to some years ago. And on Twitter, I mostly just have it to follow other accounts, big names, some organizations, etc. Occasionally I'll retweet a funny comment or share a post, and every so often I'll post my own status, tweet something, put up a picture on Instagram and have it post to my other accounts, but that's about it. I like writing here because it's hard to get misinterpreted about what I mean for whatever I say. I can be as lengthy or brief as I want, and since I share these posts on Facebook where there's the highest chance for people to see it, anyone who really wants to know what's going on, how I'm feeling, "what's on my mind?" as Facebook is currently asking in its status box – anyone can come see any of that whenever they'd like. And on top of all that, I feel like writing is becoming a lost art form; sure, we're still taught how to write and type and communicate properly, but with texting and tweeting and messaging all being the dominant ways we communicate, doing stuff like this just isn't really seen all that much anymore. Vlogging has been popular, though I think a lot of people got into it to try to make money off of YouTube. That's all well and good, though I hope they realize how much work it takes to actually make a successful living off of online videos. And that you need a somewhat exciting or enticing personality to pull it off – you can't just sit yourself in front of a camera, talk into it for five to ten minutes in a monotone voice, put it online, and expect people to love it immediately. Building up a fan base takes time, skill, and dedication for it. Internet fame can happen overnight, but lasting internet fame requires work.

Maybe that's why people feel the need to be so brazen on social media every so often. Maybe they're hoping to make the controversial status that will be seen across the country, or make the trending hashtag that everyone will use for a few days, or put up the picture that gets them thousands of followers. Or they could just troll everyone they talk to for the sole purpose of annoying them. Again, they have the shield of a computer screen and who knows what actual distance they have between the person they're insulting. Alfred from The Dark Knight said it best: they can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.

I don't know if I'd ever like to be "internet famous". It'd be nice, but there's a lot of unseen drama that can go with it. But if it ever were to happen, I do want to be transparent about what I put up, what I represent, and what I come across as to everyone who sees what I do.