Today's Spiritual Message: Love Her Mother

How can a father raise a happy, well-adjusted daughter in today's increasingly toxic world?



Also, it seems like mothers particularly love it when fathers take care of the kids late at night . . .

Today's Spiritual Message: Power of God

Today's spiritual message centers on the priesthood and follows the life of a young man at around age 12 (when he receives the priesthood) up until shortly before his death.  I'm very impressed with the message and the cinematography (3D images?).

Tangled Hairless

Tangled.  I've been hinting to the F-Word I would do this post, for some time, now.

Back when I saw previews for Tangled, I more or less shrugged and went on with my life.  Then, about two or three months ago, I believe my wife was losing her sanity with our daughter, so she purchased an iSomething version of Tangled.

I'm surprised to say I was quite delighted with the film.  Being a father of a daughter, now, I'm much more concerned about the modesty (or lack thereof) and innuendos in princess movies than I used to be.

I enjoyed this film's plot-line and particularly the rare fact that, for once, the princess actually had a mother and a father.  Yes, I know things can happen to parents:  My father passed away when I was seven.  On the other hand, I've been dazed and confused about parental-princess situations for so long, now, it's true.  Regarding Tangled and as the F-Word described, nearly one year ago, I felt rather choked up, during the movie, especially to see the king lament the ongoing absence of his sweet princess, after some seventeen years.  I still feel pained to think of losing my own daughter and how devastated I would feel.

So, as the F-Word did, I strongly recommend this film to anyone seeking out a wholesome and uplifting princess movie (or simply a Disney movie with a decent plot, some adventure, emotion, and a lot of laughs).

Hairless.  Now to the part of this post's title I'd actually been hinting at:  Hairless 7 Part Dos.  While I'm generally inclined to give my every last thought on something, today, I'll try to keep it short and sweet for you:  I disliked this movie.

Call me a purist. Call me boring.  All I ask is that you, gentle reader, consider what the film did to an exceptional novel:  In the words of Paul, "As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other Hairless unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."

Okay, okay, I'm the first to admit a movie is incapable of capturing every marvelous detail from such a glorios novel (even in 276 minutes or 4.6 hours, combining the two movies).  On the other hand, why is it the filmmakers have constantly changed the plot-line, broken the everlasting goodness?

Rather than produce a ten-page, bullet-point list of serious infractions, I'll simply recount three, here, that come immediately to mind:  1) Hairless and V-Mart grabbing each other around the neck, jumping off a tower, and zooming all through the castle.  What in the wide, wide world of sports?  2) Rather than V-Mart leaving Snape in a cold and pitiless manner, we have Hollywood gore, with blood splattered walls and Snape convulsing against them.  Honestly.  3) Hermoine and Ron try to kill the snake by chucking rocks at it, and it dodges them, just getting annoyed.  Wow.  In my mind, 3) and 1) are almost up there with Vader screaming, "Noooo!" after Emperor Palpatine almost nervously informs him he killed Padme.

In sum, I was revolted with how often the film tangled up the novel's previously crisp story or gratuitously added unnecessary Tom-foolery (wink, wink).  In a day where movies drip with extravagant bursts of action and brief tweets of plot, I suppose what I've written is exactly why the film is one of the highest grossing productions of all time . . .

Today's Spiritual Message: Tell Me the Stories of Jesus

I'm always tickled when my daughter sees a picture, video, or other image representing the Savior and shouts, "Jesus!"

What a blessed opportunity parents have to teach their children, from a young age, the stories of Jesus.  To that end, I hope you enjoy this performance by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir from the October 2010 General Conference.



You may also enjoy this eponymous message (Tell Me the Stories of Jesus) by Elder Neil L. Andersen.