They often (and loudly) state “we are right,” but when the future arrives, and it always does, it’s not surprising that it turns out that many projections and predictions turned out to be wrong.
When smoking was banned in New York restaurants and bars, the trade associations vehemently protested, insisting that it would doom their businesses. It turned out to be a benefit instead.
All we can hope for is for an individual to say, “based on new information, I’ve made a new decision.”
While it might be satisfying for a group to publicly acknowledge what they’ve learned, waiting for this is a waste of time and energy. The alternative is to help a person make a new decision instead.
In one of the fastest games of the season, Brad Keller looked like the Brad Keller of 2020, and the Royals’ offense did just enough on Tuesday night. The result was a 2-1 win for Kansas City, halting the Tampa Bay Rays’ 11-game winning streak and denying them a franchise-record 12th straight victory.
Brad Keller, long overdue for a good start this year, turned in his finest performance of the season against an offense that was absolutely cruising over the last couple of weeks. Keller breezed through seven innings without much of an issue. He needed just 95 pitches to get his 21 outs. The only run that scored against him was a two-out RBI single in the third by Yandy Diaz. He struck out seven and walked four, though none of them resulted in any runs.
Following a very rough start to the year, Keller’s season line is finally starting to stabilize. His ERA is below 6.00 for the first time this year now at 5.72. He looks like, following a rough start, that he’s getting back to his pre-2021 form.
Carlos Santana smashed his 10th homer of the season in the fourth, answering back after Tampa’s lone run. Rays starter Rich Hill retired the first 10 Royals prior to the home run. Santana became the first Royal of the season to reach the 10-homer mark.
The game remained tied 1-1 until the sixth, when Cam Gallagher and Whit Merrifield singled to open the frame. Salvador Perez doinked a one-out single into left to plate Gallagher, but the Royals squandered a chance to further capitalize when Hill struck out the next two hitters. Hill, who threw 99 pitches in eight full innings of work, K’d a total of 13 on the night and took a hard-luck loss.
Jake Brentz relieved Keller and fired a perfect eighth. They sent him back out for the ninth, triggering further questioning about the health of Josh Staumont, to get the first out. It was Kyle Zimmer, perhaps the most stable piece of the bullpen this year, that got the last two outs and earned the save. It’s his second save of the season - and his career.
Adalberto Mondesi made his season debut after missing the first 45 games with an oblique injury. He looked terrific, holding down the fort at shortstop. He also ripped two doubles, which were the only two extra-base hits for the Royals other than Santana’s homer. If he can stay healthy, which has always been the question, the Royals’ offense is going to get an enormous boost.
This was a really fast game, which was enjoyable! The only sad thing is that Rob Manfred must be happy knowing how fast the game went. The teams combined for 11 hits and 23 strikeouts, which is kind of 2021 baseball in a nutshell for you.
This is my annual disclosure that I like Tropicana Field. I visited it two years ago and it changed my opinion on it. It’s a fun stadium that houses a fun baseball team. The Rays are really good. Ending their winning streak is impressive. The Royals can do everything except for beat the White Sox, apparently.
The Royals are 23-23. They have won seven out of 10 since the 11-game losing streak. I know it doesn’t work like this, but they’re 23-12 if you take out the long skid. This team has talent. They have ability. If Keller stabilizes and Mondesi stays healthy, they could make some noise.
SALT LAKE CITY — An old PBS documentary has been remade into a docudrama to present new information and bring the Joseph Smith story to life for viewers.
In cooperation with WETA, the flagship public broadcaster in Washington, D.C., co-directors Lee Groberg and Mark Goodman have taken the 1999 film "Joseph Smith: American Prophet" and created a version with dramatic scenes, new interviews with religious scholars and the latest research on Joseph's life.
The 86-minute film does keep the narrated voice of Academy Award-winning actor Gregory Peck as it chronicles the polarizing life of Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism. Heidi S. Swinton, who wrote the original version, co-wrote the new version with Mitch Davis. The film will be shown on PBS channels around the country in October.
"This is not your Sunday School version of the story of Joseph Smith," Goodman told a packed theater audience at Jordan Commons last Friday. "Because it was done for PBS television, we have to be balanced. You will hear those who don't believe and you will hear those who do believe. We were careful to tell the story in a balanced, accurate and fair way."
Groberg, who directed the 2011 three-part series "Fires of Faith," said the idea to relaunch the film came more than a year ago. WETA agreed it was a good idea, but when the men looked in a vault the original 16-millimeter film, they couldn't find it.
"We figured an angel must have taken it because it forced us to redo the film," Groberg said with a grin.
The missing film gave the filmmakers the opportunity to add new elements in telling the story. In addition, citing journal entries and scholarly interviews, audiences will see dramatized scenes of Joseph translating the Book of Mormon by looking at a seer stone in a hat, being pulled out of his home at night to be tarred and feathered, shivering in the Liberty Jail, speaking to his wife about polygamy, and being martyred at Carthage Jail, among others.
"Joseph Smith’s Mormonism emerged as a new American religion during a time of spectacular religious fervor," Groberg said. "Perhaps no other time and place could have produced such a homegrown prophet and movement. His life and era offer a fascinating glimpse into a young nation coming to grips with its first freedom. We are thrilled to work with WETA, which has long been an important producer for public television stations, to bring this story to viewers around the country."
Actors John Foss and Anna Daines play the roles of Joseph and Emma Smith. The two had previously worked together for an LDS Church film that is shown at its Priesthood Restoration Site in Oakland Township, Pennsylvania.
"This film touches on a lot of things without diving too deep, but I think it presents an interesting case on Joseph Smith and is a good introduction for people who don’t really know a lot about him," said Foss, who played the role of Jesus Christ in the LDS Bible videos.
Among the historians and religious scholars interviewed for the film are author and Columbia University professor Richard L. Bushman; Joseph Smith Papers Editor Ronald K. Esplin; Laurel Thatcher Ulrich of Harvard University; Washington University's Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp; the late Robert V. Remini of the University of Illinois at Chicago; Messiah University's Richard T. Hughes; John G. Turner of George Mason University; and Richard E. Turley Jr., director of LDS Church Public Affairs and former assistant church historian and recorder.
"Do I personally believe? No. I have no evidence for that," Remini said in the film. "However, you can say, look what he did. Is one human capable of doing this without divine help and intervention?"
"Joseph Smith had a vision and some folks agreed with that vision, caught the vision, endorsed and worked for it," Esplin said in the film. "Others were repelled by it."
Two LDS apostles, Elder Dallin H. Oaks and Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve, were also interviewed for the film. In 1979, Elder Oaks co-authored a book titled "Carthage Conspiracy: The Trial of the Accused Assassins of Joseph Smith." Elder Ballard is a direct descendant of Joseph Smith's brother Hyrum Smith.
"He was a man without any political or administrative experience. He was a man without money. He struggled to support his family throughout his life. He was a man with no background to lead one to believe that he'd be able to found a church, establish a doctrinal foundation, assemble remarkable people to be leaders in that church, send missionaries to different corners of the earth and lead the church from one place to another under immense persecution," Elder Oaks said in the film.
Since 1999, books like Bushman's "Rough Stone Rolling" and research by the Joseph Smith Papers have presented new findings about the life of Joseph Smith, Groberg said.
"Our scholars we selected had some incredible things to say. With the benefit of 'Rough Stone Rolling' and the 'Joseph Smith Papers,' we have new scholarship that is very enlightening," Groberg said. "It's a real blessing to us to have access to that."
Turley thought the new version of the film was considerably better, he said.
"I think it’s a fine combination of dramatization and historical commentary by fine scholars," Turley said. "I think it’s a film that can be enjoyed by the broader public, but that also makes it a consistent effort to try to stay as close to the facts as it can. There is some dramatic license but it’s not unreasonable."
The production included more than 40 days of shooting, 70 cast members, 275 features, extras and background, along with 55 crew members. They compiled 34 hours of footage, including 12 hours of interviews, before condensing it down to 86 minutes, Goodman said.
Seated among the large crowd at the premiere were more than 10 general authorities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including Elder Hugo E. Martinez of the Seventy and his wife. Elder Martinez, a fan of PBS, said he thought the film's balance and transparency give it added credibility.
"I really liked it," Elder Martinez said. "I think it’s accurate in the portrayal of the history as has been documented. ... It should be right for everybody to watch and gain their own understanding."
Viewers should check local listings for airtimes. KBYU will have the program on Sunday, Oct. 1, at 2 p.m. (all times MT); Monday, Nov. 6, 8 p.m.; Sunday, Nov. 12, 1 p.m.; and Sunday, Dec. 3, at 4:30 p.m.
New code for 50 free prints. Amazon Prints is offering another round of 50 free 4×6 photo prints, with free shipping for Prime members. Use promotional code FREE50PRINTS by September 17, 2017 11:59pm PT. This current code should work again even if you already got 50 free prints using a previous code. Supposedly the actual printing is done by Snapfish.
Amazon Prime Photos includes unlimited online photo storage, plus 5 GB for videos and files. These free prints are a little push to get you to upload your photos with Amazon instead of Google, Apple, Facebook, Shutterfly, etc.
Our Christmas Jammies and sweatshirts, a gift from Jerrica
I really enjoyed my Christmas package! Sorry I didn't mention it on Christmas-I forgot about it as soon as I got online. The sweaters fit well and the skirt is awesome! I love all the stationary and the nail polish is really cute! I will have to exchange the shoes for some that are a little wider :( Sis P and I did talk about it for like 10 minutes about how I should just suffer in pain, because they were so cute! I'll let you know what I exchanged them for though. It was a rather slow week, but there are a few new things to report, which I'll do in a list because I feel like it would be easier!
1. On Saturday we went with a Laurel to Mississippi, which is always a good time. It was a miraculous day in which everyone we needed to see was there! We got to see a less active woman who has been really sick and got to know her a little bit better. Then we went to see Bookie-who is really old and has no teeth. He invited us to come back this week and help him kill and skin his pig. We had a meeting on Sunday and we told the ward council that and the YM president said that he wants us to do it and he'll film it for us. He said that we should do it so I could talk about it in my homecoming talk in church. We'll see if Bookie even calls us :) haha. Then we got to see a 23 year old investigator that goes to college so he's only home every other weekend. We got to teach him a quick lesson and schedule one for this week. He's ready, he just doesn't know it yet!
2. We had a lesson with our 13 year old investigator that we hadn't seen all December :( His family hasn't been coming to church and we were a little worried about them. We got to read a chapter out of the Book of Mormon with them and he had a question about a certain verse and it was about how Nephi learned the truth about Lehi's vision. It was awesome, because he figured it out himself that Nephi did it through prayer and work, so he realized that is what he needed to do! It was so cool to see it finally click with him! Yay for the Spirit!
3. There is a part member family where the wife has been a member her whole life and married this non member man from New Zealand that refuses to take the lessons, but comes to church every single week and supports his family in the church. So...President Wakolo, his wife and their daughter Jasmine were invited to dinner with us at this member's house. The husband loves and respects President Wakolo because of the islander origin so that is why they were invited. It was a little intimidating to be eating with President, but it was actually a really fun night. I got to hear President's conversion story and got to eat some of their food from the islands. I totally ate raw fish and it was delicious! My favorite part of the night was when we had cleared off the table and President was talking to the husband and I was a little bored and was messing off. I found a remote that went to these flameless candles...so you could turn them on and off. I was practicing to turn them on without seeing the remote to impress their daughter, but President Wakolo saw me doing it and thought it was the coolest thing ever so he came over and was practicing it with me and he did it to Jasmine and she thought it was awesome! President Wakolo is actually really chill and I'm glad that I got to be with them for a couple of hours!
Really nothing else to report, but I tried to give you some details about how the work is going! Thanks for all your support!!
We check in on the big news links from yesterday, including more WCC scuttlebutt, coaching changes, and more
Slower day around the internet yesterday, but that doesn't mean there isn't some news to report.
First, our friends at Rush the Court have broken down the WCC so far, and the results, like you would expect, are not pretty. RTC has BYU 8th in their WCC power poll, breaks down a lot of what we already knew (WCC looking a little single bid-like, many big names struggling, etc), but gives solid details on Pacific, Loyola, and the rest of the WCC "middle class", as it were, and breaks down what is up ahead.
Second, if you're the type of fan who tracks Exposure Numbers, you'll be pleased to know that quite a few people tuned in to watch BYU and Washington. Per this data, it looks like 3.75 Million fans watched the game, which would have easily been BYU's biggest viewship of the season, if not several seasons It even beat the Breaking Bad marathon on that night!
Finally, another sportswriter, Paul Meyerberg of USA TODAY, put Bronco Mendenhall on a list of potential candidates for the Penn State opening. We broke this idea down in a little more detail yesterday, and to sum it up, while I understand part of the appeal of Bronco to Penn State, I think ultimately he'd be a pretty poor fit, and I suspect it's pretty unlikely that this gains real legs. Our friend Jeremy Mauss also broke down a lot of those reasons in greater detail.
STILL, Meyerberg and Russo are two of the best national names in the business (outside of MAYBE Bill Connelly, NOBODY does preseason previews better than Meyerberg), and if both of them think that Mendenhall could at least be on the radar, that makes me think this isn't totally baseless speculation.
