Movie Night: ****^ High Road to China

This movie is Tom Selleck at his best.  This is a 1983 adventure  movie based in the 1920s.  It was put out by Golden Harvest/Warner Brothers.  This movie was made in the wake of "Raiders of the Lost Ark."  Tom Selleck plays Patrick O'Malley, a pilot who teaches lessons, drinks too much and womanizes too much.  He and his two planes are offered employment by Eve Tozer (Bess Armstrong) who needs to find her father (Wilford Brimley) and get him to a British court, or he will be proclaimed dead by her father's partner in business, Bentik.  His partner is with out morals, and will do anything to get his way, including murder.  Jack Weston portrays Struts, his mechanic and drinking buddy. 
The movie is filmed in Yugoslavia.  O'Malley and Tozer fly all over, having great adventures looking for her father.  They fall into the hands of Suleman Khan, who wants to use the plans to drop bombs on the English.  This does not work out and O'Malley drops bombs on the Khan's camp instead, allowing his friends to escape.  They go farther and farther into the back country, arriving in Nepal.  The elder who tells them where to go to find her father advises, "The oz is slow, but the earth is patient."  Bentik sends a fighter pilot to stop their travels.  He destroys one of the planes, but O'Malley meets him in a dog fight with the other, which he wins of course.
They then travel to China where her father is conducting a war against a Chinese emperor.  Father explains that the company is not where the wealth is, but in the patents which are still in his and daughter's name.

This movie is fun.  It turns out to be romantic comedy in addition to adventure.  The two planes used are vintage, and not actually destroyed.

Mormon Movie Review: ****^The Drop Card

This is one of my favorite of the old BYU movies.  It tells the story of La Nina, freshman age from who is attending BYU.  Her family is very traditional and of Italian descent.  Going from rural Idaho to the campus is a struggle.  Her struggles becomes more intense, as her first assignment in communications class is to talk about something she does well.  She immediately asks the instructor to please sign her drop card.  He decides to not do this, but meet with her to see if he can help her.  Her struggle is the assignment, she does not think she does anything well.  They go through several meetings, and she is still determined to drop the class.  The professor comes upon her in the cafeteria, where she is after skipping an appointment.  She makes a comment on the poor pizza they serve, and the professor has proven his point.  She does have value, and has a skill at making pizza.  I find this movie motivational on two fronts.  The professor goes the extra mile  to work with LaNi.  Lani's struggle is also motivating, as she realizes she has worth, and is able to share this with others.

Book Review: John Steinbeck's Cannery Row: A Time to Remember

This is a photographic look at Cannery Row in Monterrey which was the background for two John Steinbeck books.  "Cannery Row" was set before WWII, and Sweet Thursday after WWII.  The sardines were fished out during the war, and never came back, and the cannery business was doomed.  The fishing boats had to seek other ways to make money, and slowly the cannery fell into decay.

This book is a photographic essay of this decay.  It is written by Tom Weber and published in 1983, meaning after almost 40 years of decay.  There have been thirty more years since these pictures were taken.  This book has few words, but the author wrote a poem.  These are a few lines:



I run to hold these images
before they left no trace at all.
But you can't grab much from running time....

...Here then, are these images
from the time of other men
who came and built and fished the waters
and thought their dream would be "forever".

Here is their "forever" now:
The rotting planks and doorless doors
and window sashes with glassless holes
that sucked in torrents of winter rain
and called each fog like a reckless lover.

And in the bay, the concrete piers
that once held up a stage of life,
now are marker shrines
where canneries stood.

This book makes one realize that change is part of our journey.  Part of that change is decay, but then part of it is rebuilding.  The Monterrey Aquarium is now in this area, and it is more a tourist region than anything else.

Gary Norman: A Friend Passed Away Last Week

I am not sure what a pulmonary embolism is, but my sister's brother-in-law passed away much too early last week as a result of one.  Gary lives close to my daughter, and he took time away from his Easter Saturday to help her move.  Gary seemed to be doing fine, so when Sheri called me Tuesday to say he had passed away, it was quite a shock.  Sheri said he stayed home Monday from work with the flu.  Then on Tuesday he started turning blue and they rushed to the doctor.  But the pulmonary embolism caused him to go into cardiac arrest, and even though they did CPR for 45 minutes, they could not bring him back.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/hjnews/obituary.aspx?n=gary-grant-norman&pid=164039686#fbLoggedOut

Music Review: ****^Spirit: Alex Boye (to MMBOE)

Alex Boye's songs in this album are a please to God, to help find his place, his status with God.  He lends his distinctive tone to these songs, and in doing so inspires us to seek God.  He  teaches repentance; starting over.

My favorite is "A Prayer Away."
When will you listen?
When will you hear?
A still small voice can be loud and so clear.
Just when you thought, you had it all
You find you have nothing
Then you stumble and fall.

So reach for the sunlight
Stop chasing the storms all over town
You can't keep on running
You got to start living, yeah

Nobody deserves to be lonely
God's love will give hope to each wondering soul
Whenever you feel you're the only hope in this world
is only a prayer away

There's time to let go
And time to move on
To even be moved by the words to this song
Come back to the alter
Back to yourself
Trade silver for gold
Leave your past on the shelf

Fall into forgiveness
Your life can never be the same
I'll help you through this
Just lift up your hands
And say His name

What good is a crown!
If you don't wear it
You're standing for nothing
You keep falling down, oh no
Hope in this world
Is only a prayer away

That last statement is true, hope in this world is only a prayer away.  The other messages in this song are also true.  It is possible to stop falling down, we can pick ourselves up, and see repentance, and make a change in our lives.   God's hand is always extended towards us.  It is our need to humble ourselves, and call to him for his loving forgiveness.

Other of his songs also are a plea for God's guidance. 

"Word of God Speak"
[Chorus]
Word of God speak
Won't You pour down like rain
Washing my eyes to see Your majesty
To be still and know that You're in this place
Please let me stay and rest in Your holiness
Word of God speak


"Great Light of the World"
Oh great light of the world
Fill up my soul
I'm half a man here
So come make me whole
Oh great light of the world
Come to impart
The light of your grace
Fill up my heart

Boye concludes this album with a song common to Christians, "How Great Thou Art."  He makes this song unique, as he adds an African Chant which he does so well.  This song is much more moving than anything from "Lion King" where the same strategy was employed.