Most Influential Albums: Day Ten

 

Well, it only took me two and a half months to finish this list. I suppose that I can see the reasoning behind posting just the album covers with no explanation. But it gave me something to write about on the blog so that was good. 

When I was in my younger years, I was pretty skeptical of any music that was B.T. (before Thriller) because anything older wasn't from "my era". But at some point that changed and I started to embrace classic rock as being some pretty cool stuff. I've had a hard time putting a finger on a single artist or album that led me down that path. Eventually I settled on Queen as being perhaps the band that led me to drop my arbitrary 1982 line in the sand and experience more of what the decade of my birth had to offer. I was initially exposed to Queen through the inclusion of "Bohemian Rhapsody" in Wayne's World as well as having to perform their various sports anthems in high school pep band.

So for my final offering, I'm going with their Greatest Hits album as my final, "most influential" album. I hope you've enjoyed coming along with me on this journey.

Most Influential Albums: Day Nine

This is a bit of a departure. I really never invested much time in "church music" as a teenager. However, I decided to serve a mission at the age of 19, which meant putting the world behind. In other words, no Bon Jovi or Billy Joel or even Amy Grant. For missionaries this meant different things. For some it was a strict diet of MoTab (or in today's parlance, TabCats), for others it also included Enya. I didn't really listen to very much unless I was in a car area, which meant that the car stereo system had to be put to good use.

My first companion had a John Canaan's Our Savior's Love, which includes renditions of hymns such as "Come Thou Fount" and "Consider the Lilies" in addition to 1980s LDS classics such as "Together Forever" and "You're Not Alone". Oddly enough, this album takes me back to a specific time and place probably more than anything else on my list: early spring of 1995, driving around Poulsbo, Washington in a silver Nissan Sentra. We listened to it dozens of times and it's pretty well ingrained in my soul. I can still recall some of the vocals for those songs in my mind without much effort even though I rarely listen to them anymore. The album really helped me embrace religiously-themed music as worthwhile which was not really an attitude I had as a younger person. 

Most Influential Albums: Day Eight

Probably the first album which introduced me to the concept of a "various artists" album was 1988's Gold & Platinum Volume 4. Not unlike just listening to the radio. Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Gloria Estefan, Billy Joel, Grateful Dead, Beastie Boys...and if that wasn't enough, Kenny G and Bruce Willis!!!!  A few years later, armed with my own music collection and a dual-cassette stereo I was able to start creating my own compilations. 

I think my dad had an extra copy of this because I wound up with one that I still have in my possession. In fact, I listened to it on a recent car trip. Well, van trip. Our minivan has a cassette deck. And so we'll probably keep the van forever. 

The last song on Side A is "The Final Countdown" by Europe and in the late 80s if we wanted to rock out we would put this tape in and crank it up to 11. After all, what was gonna stop us? What would stop us from doing that right now? What would stop us from just listening to the whole album of classic late-80s tunes?

Nothing. Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now.

 

Most Influential Albums: Day Seven

 

I was a freshman in high school before I really became "tuned in" to the music world and began investing in my own collection. The Phil Collins song "Another Day in Paradise" won Record of the Year at the 1991 Grammy Awards, which was the first awards show I had ever watched. A couple of months later, we went on a band trip to play in a competition and afterwards we stopped at the Pueblo Mall where I purchased a cassette tape which I was excited to pop into my Walkman for the ride back home.

 

Of course, it's me, so it wasn't anything too fun, it was Phil's "serious" album, appropriately named ...But Seriously. I don't think I realized how incredibly successful he had been in the 1980s, from his diamond-certified, Grammy-winning album No Jacket Required to his trio of 1985 chart-toppers to the iconic 1981 song "In the Air Tonight."

...But Seriously introduced me to the world of Phil Collins. I still have that cassette I purchased nearly 30 years ago. It's a good album in its own right, regardless of his prior successes. Love him or hate him, he's one of the all-time greats. You have to love any country in which a short, middle-aged, balding British man whose album covers are just extreme close-ups of his face can become a massive pop star. Indeed, there's hope for all of us.

Most Influential Albums: Day Six

While many teens were rocking out to Use Your Illusion I and II, Amy Grant was casting a spell on me with her album Heart in Motion. The songs were catchy, fun, wholesome and also she was a major cutie. I did something I'd never done before. I purchased a VHS tape of music videos. It included videos from the Heart in Motion album as well as "The Next Time I Fall" - her 1986 duet with Peter Cetera which reached #1 on the Billboard charts.

Amy Grant was nominated for a total of four Grammy Awards in 1992, including Record of the Year and Album of the Year. I remember being apoplectic that Natalie Cole swept everything that year. Partially because I perceived "Unforgettable" as a huge gimmick and partially because Amy Grant and also Bryan Adams came up empty. At my young age did not fully comprehend the political nature of the Grammys.

I worried that this piece of personal history would cause me to lose my Man Card and so I went into denial. The abandoned video tape sat at my parents house for close to two decades until they forced it back upon me. I promptly gave it away in a family reunion auction. Then one day I was transferring my old recording of the 1992 Grammy broadcast onto DVD and came across her performance of "Baby Baby". Once again, the Amy Grant fairy dust came over me and I was like, "Okay, now I understand how that happened. No regrets."

Most Influential Albums: Day Five

Although my musical tastes generally fall within the Pop or Rock genres, I did have a brief foray into the world of rap/hip hop in the early 1990s, mainly driven by "U Can't Touch This". One of my friends and I spent a long time with a walkman and headphones playing and rewinding Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em  on cassette in an attempt to decipher/memorize the lyrics. Of course, this was before the days of the internet which would have made it much easier but not nearly as much fun.

Not much else beyond the song "Pray" is still memorable today. (I still pull out the lyric "we got to pray just to make it today" on occasion.) But the album certainly had an influence on me at the time. I acquired all his albums and watched his performance at the 1991 Grammys a hundred times or so. As a high school freshman I was in a Home Economics class and we were assigned to do a sewing project. I decided to make a pair of baggy Hammer pants in a very loud print. And I think I even wore them to school a couple of times - the early 90s were very accepting like that.

My rap phase didn't last much past the release of Too Legit to Quit. By then, it was time to enjoy the R&B stylings of Color Me Badd and Boyz II Men. However, three years ago, our ward had to prepare a dance routine for a stake activity. I suggested..."U Can't Touch This", which resulted in a 41-year-old me learning to do things I'd never learned as a 14-year-old Hammer fan. That's influence.

Most Influential Albums: Day Four

While Slippery When Wet was their breakthrough, I was probably a little young for Bon Jovi when it was released. I first listened to New Jersey around 1991 when I signed up for Columbia House and trying new things was inconsequential because after all, it was only a penny! The sound of New Jersey resonated with me right away and was my introduction to "hair metal" although it was the early 90s and rock was moving into its grunge/alternative phase. It wasn't oversexed, it wasn't angry, it was almost positive. In the VH1 series I Love the 80s, Dee Snider commented about Jon Bon Jovi's penchant for smiling in his music videos, which was not really a characteristic of serious rockers.

Bon Jovi moved towards a more serious sound in 1992 with the release of Keep the Faith, and they moved back into the mainstream in 1994 with Cross Road. I didn't necessarily keep up on all their releases afterwards, but I finally saw them in concert five years ago. I still own New Jersey on both cassette and CD. I admit that a couple of the tracks on Slippery When Wet are better than anything you find on New Jersey, but New Jersey is a much better overall album. It's not just me - thirty years later, it still holds the record for most top 10 singles off of a hard rock album.

Most Influential Albums: Day Three

I was probably first introduced to Billy Joel on the heels of Storm Front and "We Didn't Start the Fire", but it was Greatest Hits Volume I & II that really unlocked the world of Billy Joel to me.

Storm Front was his 11th album, and so for a kid with a limited music budget it was not practical for me to acquire the entire Billy Joel library. Instead, I just went back to Greatest Hits when I was in the mood for some Billy Joel. It's pretty good for a road trip. 

I was reviewing his career a little bit and apparently he wasn't always the musical legend he is today. Columbia Records was on the verge of dropping him from the label before the release of his fifth album in 1977. The Stranger wound up peaking at #2 on the Billboard charts and selling the most copies of any album in Columbia's history. He won five Grammys between 1978 and 1980, and the rest is history.

Even though he hasn't produced anything new in 27 years, I can still discover new favorites that weren't among the chart toppers that populate Greatest Hits. A lot of them are songs that I wouldn't have appreciated when I was younger. The latest of these is "Leave a Tender Moment Alone" from An Innocent Man. Without Greatest Hits Volume I & II in my youth, I probably wouldn't be having these experiences as an adult.

Most Influential Albums: Day Two

I know part of the reason for this challenge is to show how interesting your tastes are - the more obscure alternative bands you can mention, the better. You won't find any of that here. My tastes lean pretty heavily towards Top 40 and if that makes me shallow, so be it. The main radio station we listened to growing up was KOB out of Albuquerque and that's what they played.

Whitney Houston basically ruled the world for a 10-year-period from the mid-eighties to the mid-nineties. Whitney was released in 1987, just before I hit my adolescence, so it's probably the one that had the most impact on me. I was beginning to go to school dances, so it was like, yeah, I also wanna dance with somebody (who loves me). I never had to purchase any of her albums with my own money because my dad was a big Whitney fan and so we had everything. In fact, when she did her post-Gulf War HBO concert, not only did my dad videotape it, but he also figured out a way to copy it onto a cassette tape so that we could listen to it on a car trip.

I suppose my admiration for Whitney led to a later enthusiasm for the early-90s version of Mariah Carey. When she hit the big screen with The Bodyguard and the accompanying "I Will Always Love You" in 1992, I was ALL IN for that, even though I was a junior in high school and should have been listening to Nirvana or Pearl Jam or something. I was just never had the requisite angst for grunge metal. Whitney Houston seemed to be about celebrating and appreciating life, so she was basically the opposite. I just wish her story had a happier ending.

Most Influential Albums: Day One

I'm currently on a nearly two-month hiatus from Facebook, so that's not where I saw this challenge. Rather, I saw my sister's list on Instagram (which is a platform I still don't really get, by the way) and began thinking about what would be on my hypothetical list. I still don't really know how my list will fill out. I guess I'll figure it out as I go along. I'm blatantly breaking one of the rules of the challenge, which is that you're not supposed to explain. Well, what's the fun of that, especially if you're posting it on a blog?

Where it all started...

I think we inherit a lot of our musical taste from our parents. My dad always had a ready supply of music in the car when we were growing up, so that was where a lot of the early exposure took place. When I first began expressing an interest in music, he gave me Lionel Richie. I was probably about 10 years old and listened to Can't Slow Down quite a bit. All these songs are still in my head today. I only had to go to the internet to refresh my memory on one of the eight, but it came right back as soon as I heard it. At the time, "All Night Long (All Night)" seemed to be the ultimate dance party anthem, not that I ever danced. Can't Slow Down won the Grammy in 1985 for Album of the Year, spawned a pair of #1 hits, and eventually sold in excess of 20 million copies.

My dad was like an early version of a computer algorithm, because once it was established that I liked Lionel's stuff and I was ready for another artist, he gave me the Neil Diamond and Billy Ocean. But Lionel was my first love, and a couple of years later I made my first own-money album purchase - Dancing on the Ceiling. In later years as I combed through BMG and Columbia House catalogs, I would find these things classified as "Soft Rock" or "Easy Listening" - so yeah, I basically started out as a 40-year-old man when I probably should have been listening to Def Leppard or Van Halen.

Inside Out

I was impressed yesterday by a scripture towards the end of Alma chapter 4. The Nephites have just survived an insurrection but are struggling with problems in their church and their society. Alma, the chief judge over the people and high priest over the church, decides to give up the judgement seat and devote himself to the ministry.

"And this he did that he himself might go forth among his people, or among the people of Nephi, that he might preach the word of God unto them, to stir them up in remembrance of their duty, and that he might pull down, by the word of God, all the pride and craftiness and all the contentions which were among his people, seeing no way that he might reclaim them save it were in bearing down in pure testimony against them." (Alma 4:19)

I thought this was interesting in light of the rioting, looting, and violence taking place around the country the past few days. I don't think any of it leads to a meaningful solution. The outcome of the election won't change anything. Legislation and government programs will be attempted but fall short. Bickering on social media only makes things worse.

Alma realized what Ezra Taft Benson expressed in his 1985 general conference talk, "Born of God":

"The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature."

A month later, Benson became The President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints following the death of Spencer W. Kimball, and like Alma, became the high priest over the church.

Remembrance

Last week I wrote about the theme of deliverance. So many wonderful things happened to the Nephites in approximately a five-year span: King Benjamin's speech, the discovery and deliverance of the people of Limhi, the deliverance of the people of Alma, and their reunion in the land of Zarahemla. Yet only a generation later they were dealing with the unbelievers persecuting the members of the church.

Remembrance is a key theme in the Book of Mormon. As Alma the Younger would later ask the people as he ministered among them: "Have you sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers? Yea, and have you sufficiently retained in remembrance his mercy and long-suffering towards them? And moreover, have ye sufficiently retained in remembrance that he has delivered their souls from hell?" (Alma 5:6)

We discussed in gospel study the importance of remembering the difficult circumstances of those that have gone before us. As the old saying goes, "those that don't study history are doomed to repeat it." We should study the scriptures, world history, American history, church history, and our family history so that we might not have to suffer as previous generations did due to poor choices or disobedience. Alma the Younger didn't learn from his father's experiences, and so he had to learn firsthand.

My wife pointed out that it is interesting that the lesson falls on the same weekend as Memorial Day, as we remember the sacrifices make for our freedom. The liberty that was granted to us by God and preserved by those sacrifices is not unassailable. If we don't recognize it, value it, and fight for it, we could lose it. Although America isn't perfect, we are blessed to live in a land free of the oppression and tyranny that infests so many other nations. Remembrance of this becomes more important with each passing year as those who experienced firsthand events such as World War II dwindle in numbers. 

Deliverance

The Church has produced a number of Book of Mormon videos to accompany our study this year. I'm not sure how they decide which parts get a video. The story of the people of Alma in chapters 23 and 24 of the book of Mosiah did not make the cut. I was a little surprised as their story of coming into bondage and eventually being delivered is frequently used in lessons and talks.

I'm not going to go through all the details, you can read the story for yourself, but the most cited passage is likely the following:

"And it came to pass that so great were their afflictions that they began to cry mightily to God. And Amulon commanded them that they should stop their cries; and he put guards over them to watch them, that whosoever should be found calling upon God should be put to death. And Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord their God, but did pour out their hearts to him; and he did know the thoughts of their hearts. And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me...And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions. And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord. And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage." (Mosiah 24:10-16)

 I was trying to think of a modern-day application of these principles and I pulled the biography of Thomas S. Monson off the shelf, which included many experiences of East German Saints who lived behind the Berlin Wall, and President Monson's ministry among them. I flipped through looking for an appropriate section of the book to share in our family gospel study, and was blessed to find two pages that aligned closely with the travails of the people of Alma.

One story told how the translator had to edit then-Elder Monson's talks on the fly, such as changing references to President McKay to simply David O. McKay to avoid raising any suspicion with the government which was monitoring their activities. Another story told of how church leaders instructed the members that the only book they were allowed to have was the scriptures and everything else should be destroyed. One brother described how difficult it was for him, as he had spent years scraping together a small but cherished library of church books and manuals. Yet he decided to obey the counsel, and burned each one in the fire. He made the right decision, because his home was later searched by the police, and they did not find any unauthorized printed materials.

Those accounts are only a small sampling of the oppression which the East German Saints lived under, but President Monson described how faithful they were despite the difficult circumstances. At one point, he promised them in a church meeting that "if you will remain true and faithful to the commandments of God, every blessing any member of the church enjoys in any other country will be yours."

He felt the gravity of his promise later that night and prayed that his promise would be fulfilled, despite what seemed like insurmountable challenges. The words of the Psalm came to his mind, "Be still, and know that I am God."

I almost had to have someone else take over the reading, because I was having a hard time getting through it. The two accounts fit together so nicely.

"Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith. Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with this people. For behold, I will show unto you that they were brought into bondage, and none could deliver them but the Lord their God, yea, even the God of Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob."  (Mosiah 23:21-23)

Like the people of Alma, the East German Saints desired to live by the word of God, and yet they did not enjoy the freedom to fully practice their religion. They could have decided that worship was not worth the trouble and turned against the God who was allowing them to suffer. Many of them may not even have been at fault for what had happened to their people, but they were still forced to live with the consequences of a wicked political regime. Many of them probably died without seeing the promise of deliverance fulfilled. And yet they were able to wait patiently on the Lord, knowing that he would not forsake them.

Favorite Star Wars Films

Really just listed in order of personal preference.

1. The Empire Strikes Back. I mean, it's the best one. I love it.
2. Return of the Jedi. It's really close between IV and VI, but the fact that this came out when I was 7 years old and pretty much at the peak of my adoration for Star Wars pushes it up to #2 on my list. The nostalgia is strong with this one.
3. A New Hope. Dropping the OG down to #3 is a little controversial...it's an awesome movie, but ever since I was a little kid I've felt that the last part of the film (the final attack on the Death Star) drags a little bit.
4. Rogue One. I love how they were able to tie it directly into the beginning of Episode IV, and the minimal use of lightsabers and Jedi talk. Hopefully this is the future of Star Wars filmmaking. 
5. The Phantom Menace. Sure it has its issues, but I'm not as offended by it as is the general populace. In Darth Maul, it brought us the only compelling villain that they've been able to come up with since 1983. Also, it brought us one of the great pieces of Star Wars music. 
6. Solo. Although it took a beating at the box office,  I thought it was a decent movie that went off the rails towards the end. The ending was not at all consistent with Han Solo's character arc. The folks who made this definitely thought Greedo shot first.
7. Attack of the Clones. Get rid of all the boring separatist talk, replace Count Dooku with Darth Maul (who should have never been killed off) and fix up the Padme/Anakin dialogue a little, and this is a much better movie. No big deal.
8. Revenge of the Sith. Definitely a 21st century movie. The total screen time devoted to lightsaber duels in this movie (12 minutes) is nearly as much as the screen time devoted to lightsaber duels in the first five Star Wars movies combined (14 minutes).
9. The Force Awakens. I enjoyed it the first couple of times. But watching its two sequels actually makes you feel worse about this one.
10. The Last Jedi. I enjoyed it in the theater. But it's the first one that I haven't bought on DVD.
11. The Rise of Skywalker. I'm just really hoping that this is truly the end of the so-called "Skywalker saga". It took 40 years, but they've almost made me dislike Star Wars at this point. 

I really came down hard on lightsabers. Not against a good lightsaber battle, but they've just overdone it to the point where it's not special anymore.

Broncos 2020 Draft: We'll See

I've seen the Broncos' 2020 draft grade as either an A or an A+, but to quote Michael Scott, I completely forgot there was such a thing as an A++.

I don't know how I feel about draft-day grades. If you go on NFL.com every team received an A or a B except for one. You know a lot of these guys aren't going to work out, but for now, they are all future Pro Bowlers. I don't really follow college football so I don't know one way or the other. I had never heard most of these guys before they showed up as Bronco draft picks.

Maybe Jerry Jeudy will be up on the Broncos Ring of Fame in 20 years. Maybe he won't even be on the roster in 5 years. We don't really know for sure. I like that the Broncos are trying to improve the offensive skill positions. Maybe there's only so much an offensive line can do if the quarterback has nowhere to go with the ball. It's the highest pick (#15) they've ever spent on a wide receiver, and the first since Demaryius Thomas in 2010. He was unquestionably the best-ever first-round Broncos wide receiver, earning four Pro Bowl selections during his time in Denver. The other first-round receivers have been a little more spotty.

Ashley Lelie had a couple of good seasons in the Jake Plummer era after being drafted 19th overall in 2003, but didn't last long. Marcus Nash was picked 30th in 1998 and was one of the all-time Broncos draft busts. Ricky Nattiel was picked 27th in 1987 and hung around for several seasons, but really his only claim to fame was rounding out the Three Amigos. So here's hoping Jeudy follows in D.T.'s footsteps.

The Broncos picked KJ Hamler, another wide receiver, with the #46 overall pick. The Broncos have picked up some good wide receivers in the second round: Courtland Sutton (#40 in 2018), Eddie Royal (#42 in 2008), and Vance Johnson (#31 in 1985). But they've also had their fair share of misses: Cody Latimer (#54 in 2016), Darius Watts (#54 in 2004), and Orlando McDaniel (#50 in 1982). Based purely on pick position, Hamler could go either way.

I thought this year was a real alphabet soup of a draft. Check it out: Cushenberry....Ojemudia....Agim....Okwuegbunam...Strnad...Tuszka.
 
A lot of people seem to like the center, Lloyd Cushenberry, in round 3. Hopefully he pairs with last year's pick, Dalton Risner, in providing stability to the offensive line for years to come. The Broncos have had tough luck in that area for many years. They received high marks for LB Justin Strnad in the fifth and G Netane Muti in the sixth because they would have been picked much higher if not for their injuries. Well, that's the real problem with injuries, isn't it? Sometimes you're never the same. I remember everyone being super excited about drafting the injured Jake Butt a few years ago because without the injury, he was like a first-round talent. But that hasn't worked out so well because in three years he's played three games.

So we'll see. A year from now, we'll have a pretty good idea if the high marks were warranted.

Conference Reactions

The 190th Annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was earlier this month. My wife is a good example in that she pledged to stay off of Facebook for the weekend because she didn't want to see the reactions to everything. For some reason, I enjoy exploring social media to see what people are saying about conference. I guess I'm curious like a cat. That's why my friends call me Whiskers.

I'd like to address some of the negative reactions that I've run across regarding this conference.

In this time of trouble, many people were looking forward to General Conference to console their troubled hearts. However, many were disappointed to find out that the Church moved ahead with plans announced six months ago to center this conference around the bicentennial of the First Vision, instead of scrapping it and gearing everything towards our worries about COVID-19.

This attitude reminds me of the story in Matthew 26 when a woman used a precious ointment to anoint the Savior's head. She was criticized for using the ointment for such a purpose when it could have been sold and the proceeds given to the poor. Jesus corrected them by saying, "why trouble ye the woman?...for ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always." Even though there is a lot of uncertainty in the world right now, why shouldn't we take a weekend to commemorate the anniversary of what we believe to be the most significant world event of the past two centuries? There's only going to be one bicentennial. We'll see plenty more plagues in the years to come.

Some thought The The First Presidency and The Quorum of the Twelve showed poor leadership in a crisis situation. Apparently it would have been preferred for them to rewrite their talks on three weeks' notice to center around the novel coronavirus. I'm not sure how you get ten hours of material out of that, but apparently that's what some people wanted to hear. And what exactly were they supposed to say? Hey, we told you so? We told you to have at least a three-month supply of food, we told you to avoid unnecessary debt, we told you to live within your means. Maybe they should have just "played the hits" a la the Tabernacle Choir and re-ran old conference talks addressing the matter.

Many were offended that the Church moved ahead with other plans that had undoubtedly been in the works for months - the unveiling of a new symbol, the issuance of a proclamation, and the accompanying Hosanna Shout, apparently feeling that these actions were insensitive during a worldwide pandemic.

But it wasn't as if the church outright ignored the pandemic - President Nelson called for a worldwide fast for people of all faiths on Good Friday. Some scoffed at the notion that such an action would have any effect whatsoever on the current crisis. And on the surface, it doesn't seem like an earth-shattering solution to join with others in abstaining from food and drink for 24 hours. But isn't that what we're supposed to do in our own lives, when we're faced with problems that are beyond our mortal capacity to solve? To fast and to pray?

Again, I'm not exactly sure what people were expecting. I guess they were expecting President Nelson to get up and say, "Okay, here's what you need to do. Go wash yourself in the River Jordan seven times..."

I suspect what it's really all about is the Church's reserve fund - which everyone knows about thanks to "the whistleblower". They don't like that the Church has it, and apparently would like to see it spent on resolving the cornonavirus, because it's an emergency fund after all, and this is an emergency.

A fair response to all these criticisms is "hey, we're only a few weeks into this" - it's not as if this is something that has been going on for months on end. We don't know yet if the measures taken will have an effect and if things will moderate in the weeks to come. What kind of message would it send if the church just blew the whole chunk right now instead of waiting to see what happens? I'm sure that's part of the reason we're taught to have at least a short-term supply of our own...the church can't provide for everyone's needs every time we come to a bump in the road.

I for one, liked the church's controlled response - we should be concerned, we should take precautions, we should support the effort to control the spread, but there's no reason to panic. Isn't that the example we need? Calm down, relax, focus on the fact that we still have the gift of the restored gospel on the earth.

Some were disappointed that there was no earth-shattering announcement. Yes, another conference passed without any mention of ordaining women to the priesthood or a validation of same-sex relationships or a suspension of the law of tithing.

The proclamation on the restoration didn't reveal anything new, at least not to members of the church. But they aren't really hiding the ball anymore (if they ever were). Not only do we not wish to be referred to as Mormons anymore, but also, "We declare that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, organized on April 6, 1830, is Christ’s New Testament Church restored." I thought that was a pretty bold statement - hey, we aren't just another sect of Christianity...this here is the real thing.

I wonder if our church leaders get annoyed with church membership always expecting "a big announcement" and then being disappointed if there wasn't one, or it wasn't what we were expecting. I think it's okay to just have a general conference where there's nothing groundbreaking announced.

But in case you were too disappointed in everything that happened (or didn't happen) to notice, there was a big announcement.

Hey! We're building a temple in Dubai, per their request; and also, we're building one in MAINLAND CHINA.

I think that qualifies as "a big announcement".

I think the church's response to the pandemic can be summed up by a quote from Joseph Smith, Jr. himself:

"The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done."

In other words, we're not done yet, folks....

Domestic Travel Bucket List

I'm not very well traveled. I've never been outside the continental U.S. I didn't cross the Mississippi until I was 23 years old. I've never been further northeast than Charleston, WV. In my defense, I've lived in five states, been to both oceans, and been physically present within the boundaries of 28 of them. A couple of years ago I received a stipend for a work anniversary and so I had to go through a bunch of ideas and pick something. I wound up choosing Chicago, which turned out to be an excellent choice. But what about all the runners-up? Will I ever get to do those trips?

Anyways, here's my list of U.S. destinations:

Upstate New York. I actually sketched out an itinerary so basically the trip is already planned. Lots of church history sites so of course places like Palmyra and the Sacred Grove would be a priority, along with the Baseball Hall of Fame. Niagara Falls could be part of it. And the Finger Lakes! My wife was born in Binghamton. And Oneida seems like an interesting place. It would just be a lot of driving and spectacular scenery, is how I imagine it.

Nauvoo. I've actually been here once before. But it was more of a "passing through" thing when we were moving to North Carolina 18 years ago. We only stayed for a few hours - it was July, it was sweltering, and we had a two-year-old. So not the funnest time we've ever had. I'd like a chance to do it right someday - experience everything - Carthage Jail, the Temple, life on the Mississip, etc. 

New York City. Also was on my short list for my stipend, but kind of chickened out. Chicago seemed less threatening and more affordable. But you can't go through life without having experienced The Big Apple. . . right? I'd want to go in the late summer so I could attend the U.S. Open at Flushing Meadows. I'm not a huge tennis fan or anything, but for some reason it calls out to me.

Olympic Peninsula. When I was a missionary I did get to take a day trip up through Port Angeles to Neah Bay, so technically I've been there already. It was amazing, but also it was January and I was wearing a shirt and tie. I didn't really get a full experience. I also did a lot of research on this area when I was making my trip selection. My dear wife (who served in the same mission) sort of pooh-poohed it, however.

Palm Beach County. Speaking of my wife pooh-poohing things, I've always wanted to visit some place where she grew up. We've been together for 22 years and I've never visited a single place from her childhood. Not one. She lived here from about sixth grade until she went to college, but her family moved and she's never been back. She insists there's nothing to see and nothing is the same. What is she hiding? I must find out.

San Francisco. Early fall is the best, I've read. I'd want to go see the giant trees and for some reason visually the Oakland Temple has always been one of my favorites. But I guess neither of those has anything specifically to do with San Francisco. Steep streets, history, and a golden bridge though.

Alaska. I've never been that interested in a Carribean cruise - they seem gross. But the Alaskan version intrigues me. They were doing an ad campaign several weeks ago and I was ready to go. Except for the paying for it part. I believe it's considerably more expensive than most cruises. 

Ozarks. It looks amazing plus I have some family history interest in the region, so you could always justify a fun trip in the name of genealogical research! I'm not sure about Branson, though. What is that about?

Mt. Rushmore. We're getting down to the more doable portion of the list. It's only six hours from our house. I've always wanted to go. We really should be able to check this one off.

Grand Canyon. My wife really wants to go and take the kids. Also, something that should fit in the budget a little more easily. We could also hit Mesa Verde and Four Corners on the way.

So there you have it, my top 10 list, in no particular order. I could definitely come up with a few more to fill it out should we ever start crossing some of these off. Of course, maybe we will never go anywhere again due COVID-19 and we will all eventually die in our houses.

Party Cheeseburger Sliders

These cheesy burgers are delicious party burgers. I've made them a couple of times for Super Bowl gatherings. Highly recommended. Here's the original source although I've made a few modifications below.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. mustard powder (or similar)
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1 cup diced onion
• 2 tbsp. minced garlic
• 10 oz. can Ro-Tel Diced Tomatoes & Green Chiles
• 6 large slices cheddar cheese
• 12 dinner rolls

Glaze

• 1/2 c. butter
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp. mustard

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 9x13 dish with cooking spray. Heat pan on high. Add ground beef and season with the salt, pepper, cumin, mustard powder, and paprika. Add onion and garlic and cook until beef is browned and onions are golden. Drain Ro-tel and stir in until combined.

Glaze: Mix all ingredients in a sauce pan over medium heat until melted, smooth, and combined.

Cut rolls in half and put bottom half in the baking dish.

Top with beef mixture and cheese slices.

Add top half of rolls and pour glaze over the top.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

So Sue Me: Episode IX Review

I didn't like it. But then, I didn't expect to like it.

Like most people, I was intrigued when it was announced in 2012 that Disney was acquiring Lucasfilm and would be producing a sequel trilogy. Not long afterwards, I watched the J.J. Abrams film Super 8. Suddenly I felt concerned. Super 8 was tantalizing before ultimately collapsing into an incoherent mess.

Having just forked over a wad of money to endure the ninth installment of the Skywalker Saga, I can now say that my concerns were not without merit. I was done with this one long before the closing credits rolled.

Here are my gripes with The Rise of Skywalker in no particular order:

First off, dumb title. What does it even mean? Rey's not really a Skywalker, and Luke is dead. What exactly is rising? Of course, none of the titles of the sequel trilogy have really been clever. It would have made more sense for Episode IX to be called The Last Jedi and call Episode XIII something else. I guess it's proof that they didn't really have a plan for any of this - just throwing crap against a wall and figuring out what sticks. Maybe J.J. will fix that in 20 years when we get the special edition re-edits.

Not a single memorable line of dialogue. Nothing clever. Nothing that even made you at least chuckle a little bit. No witty banter. A few solemn words spoken about the universe and how they're all going to show up and help if they just go fight the evil.

Poe and Finn are soooo boring. I know Poe is supposed to be the new version of Han Solo, the reckless nonconformist with amazing piloting skills, but let's be honest: no little kid is running around the house pretending to be Poe. And isn't that the name of the guy in Kung Fu Panda? As for Finn, in The Force Awakens, Finn seemed like he was going to have an important purpose in this new trilogy, but it turned out to be his ability to find equally pointless female characters to run around with. His was an interesting character idea but ultimately the idea went nowhere. I don't think there's much of a market for novelizations of the adventures of Poe and Finn post-Episode 9.

The undead Emperor Palpatine being all creepy down in the Sith cave was kind of cool. And the way they used him to tie up some loose ends worked fine. But it also seemed like they were admitting, "You know what? We tried creating some new characters, and they all suck." Did we need to see Han Solo again? (Nope) Did Lando really need to be in this to make it work? (Nothing against Lando, but the answer is no) If we think BB-8 is cool, why are C-3PO and R2-D2 still prominent? Threepio had way too many lines and was cringeworthy throughout. And when Luke showed up, I was fit to be tied. I'm so done with crusty old man Luke. I did not need to see him again.

Not much of a story. Just rushing from one video game sequence to another. It reminded me of a Marvel movie. And I don't like those either. Whatever story they try to tell is borrowed from the earlier movies.

I know it's science "fiction" but it doesn't even seem like they're trying to get you to suspend your disbelief anymore. I'm not a physicist, but fighting a battle on the surface of a Star Destroyer? Is that a thing that could happen, even in a galaxy far, far away?

Maybe they were using the force, because what can't the force do? Apparently it can pass physical objects through some dimension of space. And do video chats. And blow up ships. And heal. And suck the life force from people. Are Jedis in fact mutants from X-men? I've had this opinion for awhile but I think the Jedi have been weighing down the movies for too long. Rogue One and Solo were better films because they didn't have to be preoccupied so much with the force.

If Rey is the ultimate powerful Jedi, why did she need ghost Luke to pull his crappy X-wing out of the water with the force? Rey was blowing ships to smithereens using the force just an hour earlier. You know she had to use the force to get that forty year old piece of junk running. How many years had it been submerged like that? And she didn't even have a droid to help her fly it.

The Death Star ruins were also kind of cool. But it introduced a bunch of recycled ideas from The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi: the Death Star throne room, Luke going into the cave and seeing his image in Vader's mask, Vader's deathbed repentance. Really? Nothing original?

I've always wondered about passage of time in these movies. And this is a gripe with all of them and not just the latest. It bugs me that they send out a signal and the entire fleet is on the scene in like 15 seconds but yet they're always losing maps and can't figure out where some of the worlds are. Rey never changed clothes once the entire film even though she'd been training and crawling around in an old Death Star and fighting lightsaber battles out in the rain. She probably really needed a shower.

No romance at all in this trilogy. We had Han and Leia in the original trilogy and Padme and Anakin in the prequels. Young Han and Qi'ra in Solo. But this trilogy? Nothing. They waved at it a few times, like with Finn and Rose in the last one and Poe and the Keri Russell character this time around, but nothing interesting or ongoing. I guess they would say Kylo and Rey, but that's still super weird. Did anyone really want to see them kiss? Not me.

The lesbian kiss wasn't that subtle. They might as well have zoomed in for the close-up. But if you're going to be woke, J.J., let's be woke! Don't waste the big moment on a couple of throwaway characters! I'm sure they could have figured out a way for Rey to kiss a CGI Leia or something. It wouldn't have been any more uncomfortable than her kissing Kylo and no one cares about any of these characters anymore anyways.

The ending was interesting. Return of the Jedi brought up questions of incest in a galaxy far, far, away when Leia and Luke were revealed to be twins. The last scene in The Rise of Skywalker could have been interpreted a little differently if they hadn't already spelled out Rey's parentage earlier in the movie...

Maybe I'm just too old and grumpy.  I had to be the guy afterwards who didn't like it when everyone else did.  Maybe if I go see it again I'll appreciate it a little more and I'll be like, yeah, it's so great. It doesn't matter because none of this is of any significant consequence to my life. And I'll be back in a couple of years when Disney releases the next one. Because I don't like the comic book movies and I have to have at least one movie event in my life that I can go participate in. So the joke's on me.
 

Denver Broncos 2019 Recap

I'm reposting my Broncos preseason outlook here with my postseason comments. I think I was pretty spot-on, if I do say so myself.

The two biggest changes in 2019 are new head coach Vic Fangio and new quarterback Joe Flacco. Fangio has received good reviews thus far, but he's still unproven as a head coach. Flacco has a nice resume, but he's also 34 years old. There were reasons to be concerned about the F&F Connection heading into this year, and certainly Fangio had some rough patches although the strong finish ended talk of a one-and-done season. Flacco's Bronco career ended halfway through his first season due to injury and mediocre performance.

Otherwise, this is more or less the same team that went 6-10 last year. They've added some veteran help in the secondary, so the defense figures to continue to be solid. They succeeded in keeping the Broncos in most games, but often failed to protect late leads. Most of the question marks are on the offensive side. Will the offensive line perform any better? Mmmmm... Will any tight ends be able to stay on the field? Actually, yes. Is Emmanuel Sanders healthy? Yes, but wanted out as soon as it was apparent this bunch was not headed to the playoffs. How will RB Phillip Lindsay perform coming off a Pro Bowl rookie season? Followed up with a second consecutive 1,000 yard season. Will any of their young talent, such as Royce Freeman, Noah Fant, or Courtland Sutton, break through to stardom? Clearly, Sutton was the breakout star this year (72 catches for 1,112 yards) and Fant had some big plays which hinted of great things yet to come.

My guess is that we'll be disappointed in the answers to some of those questions. I will say the answers were more positive than negative. However, if Fangio's leadership and Flacco's experience make a difference, we could be in for a nice surprise. It's not out of the question that we could see their record flip to 10-6 in 2019. And it wasn't - this was a 7-9 team which failed to hold fourth quarter leads in four different games. We could be prepping for a wildcard round trip to Foxborough this weekend if they had held on to a couple of those.

And really, who are the insurmountable threats in the AFC, beyond the Chiefs and the Patriots? As it turns out, the Ravens. Are you really terrified of anyone else? The Ravens. The new-look Jets? Nope. The Titans or Texans? Both made the playoffs this year, but the Broncos shut out the Titans and blew the doors off the Texans in their own building. The Luck-less Colts? Not really, although this was one of those games the Broncos gave away. The Steelers and old man Roethlisberger? Nah. The San Diego Los Angeles Trash Cans? Broncos swept them this year. Some are expecting the Browns to make a leap forward, but are you sure about that? I was pretty sure they were nothing to worry about, and I was correct. Another losing season in the books for Cleveland!

Sure, a couple of really good teams will emerge as the season goes along, but we don't know who those are just yet. The Ravens. So why wouldn't you give the Broncos a shot at a wildcard spot? If not for the slow start, they would have been in the mix until the final weekend.

If they can get to Thanksgiving at 6-5, they're definitely in the mix with three home dates in December. They were 3-8 at Thanksgiving and that's why they weren't in the mix. But if Flacco gets off to a rough start, people are going to get impatient really quick and the Broncos could be drafting in the top 10 next year. Yup - folks were ready for Drew Lock before we even made it to Halloween.

Honestly, I think it seems like this year will be a modest improvement to 8-8. It was a modest improvement to 7-9. They'll look really good at times but will also lose some that they shouldn't, and will likely fall short of the playoffs in what looks to be a tough AFC West. Times when they looked really good: when they led playoff teams Minnesota and Houston at halftime by scores of 20-0 and 31-3. Times when they lost those they shouldn't: losing that same game to Minny, and losing games in the final minute to the Bears, Jaguars, and Colts. The AFC West turned out to be underwhelming outside of the Chiefs. The Broncos finished second.

Overall, it's encouraging to head into the offseason having gone 4-1 in December and not having head coach or quarterback at the top of your priorities. After two consecutive solid drafts, they need to keep bringing in good players regardless of  position. Although I think the offensive line should be among their draft priorities - the free agency route hasn't worked out so well...