From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #834 Reply-To: aml-list Sender: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk aml-list-digest Wednesday, September 18 2002 Volume 01 : Number 834 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 19:15:52 -0600 From: "Thom Duncan" Subject: RE: [AML] Neil LaBute Interview in _Salon_ >And yet you >and Tom were discussing me over dinner? I find that funny. >Especially since >you and I have never met. I'll tell you, and the rest of the list, how that came about. Tom, Miriam, and my then wife and I became good friends after his directing of my play, Matters of the Heart in 1986. The Rogers' would invite us over to their house near BYU to watch movies -- all kinds of movies - foreign and otherwise. It was at Tom Rogers' house where I saw Blue Velvet for the first and only time. I'm sure he knew that he could share his love of all kinds of cinema with two people who wouldn't complain to someone that he was watching R-rated movies. Ofttimes, over dinner, we would discuss Mormon theatre. It is not surprising that in any discussion of that subject that certain names are bound to come up: Orson Scott Card, Tom Rogers, Tim Slover, Rob Lauer. Your play was very cutting edge for its time and is considered by many of us in the LDS theatre world as one of the Top Ten of Definitive LDS Plays. I had never met you but had read the play in Sunstones and loved it. So that's how we came to talk about you. It was again through Tom Rogers when I first heard of Eric Samuelsen. I had submitted an early version of my play The Survivial of the Fittest for him to direct but for some reason he chose the finished and better written Samuelsen play Accommodations. Thom Duncan - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2002 01:04:39 +0000 From: "Andrew Hall" Subject: [AML] FALES, _Confessions of a Mormon Boy_ (Deseret News) Deseret News Sunday, September 15, 2002 Openings by Ivan M. Lincoln CONFESSIONS OF A MORMON BOY, Steven Fales' one-man show, which focuses on his homosexuality and premiered last November in Salt Lake City, is returning for a four-day engagement at the Rose Wagner Center, 138 W., 300 South. Fales has retooled and expanded the play to touch on his gay lifestyle in New York City. The new version, directed by Jack Hofsiss, the Tony Award-winning director of "The Elephant Man," recently had a four-week run at the New Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and a one-week run in Las Vegas. It's scheduled to open off Broadway later this year. Performances are 8 p.m., Thursday-Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 22. Tickets, at all ArtTix outlets (355-2787) are $25 for adults and $15 for students. Copyright 2002 Deseret News Publishing Company _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 19:50:53 -0700 From: "gtaggart" Subject: RE: [AML] Neil LaBute Interview in _Salon_ Chris Bigelow wrote, "I just want to say that I disagree strongly with those who have said it's completely inappropriate to discuss or speculate about Neil LaBute's disfellowshipment (that is what some have said, right?). Certainly it's not fair or wise to speculate about a private citizen's status with the Church (a neighbor, ward member, or extended family member), but when somebody is a public figure like LaBute and has made public statements and acknowledgements of what happened to him, it's not only understandable but also important to explore that further." Based on what? One side of the story? One side that we're not even sure the magazine got right? One side that it's possible even LaBute didn't even want to tell and therefore deflected a bit? What do we learn from that? That we all agree that if it happened the way we suppose it happened for the reasons we suppose, then we disagree or agree with the Court or LaBute? Can't we just do that with a hypothetical without getting hot and bothered by, at best, one side of the story? Now, if you could get LaBute and the people on the disciplinary council to sit on a panel and discuss the whys and wherefores, that might be instructive. And in answer to your question, "Can a person be a good Mormon and a good artist?" Yes. At least this Mormon thinks so. Wondering and speculating about what happened with LaBute and why is an important way to address that question. Then Chris wrote, "For the record, I did hear a rumor about LaBute's Church status that I was able to verify was wrong, so I did what I could to halt its progress. Things like that come with the territory of going public with our art, and I appreciate the frankness of LaBute and Bestor in their recent interviews." How do you know how "frank" LaBute and Bestor were? (I'm not accusing either of being less than honest here. I just know that if I were in their shoes, sitting with an interviewer I didn't really know and unsure of how much I could trust him, I'd be less than completely open.) Chris continued, "To consider possible scenarios, reasons, and motivations related to their Church situations is, I argue, healthy, as long as we're careful not to cross the line into gossip by stating our speculations as fact." Or we could simply discuss hypotheticals. Greg Taggart - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 22:32:18 -0600 From: "Nan McCulloch" Subject: Re: [AML] Accuracy in Published Sources - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Thom Duncan" > Even those who saw what really happened probably didn't really see what > happened. It's pretty much a given nowadays that even eye-witnesses differ > as to actual facts. I suspect that now one really knows what really happened > in totality. > > Thom > For these same reasons I am suspicious of the accounts of all writers of history. When I wrote my personal history I bent over backwards to be scrupulously honest and I still had a couple of people dispute some of my accounts. Thus, I coined the phrase "When my truth and your truth are not the same truth, whose truth is the true truth?" God only knows. Nan McCulloch - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 19:57:46 -0700 From: Jeffrey Needle Subject: Re: [AML] What Makes Good Reviews? For me, the best reviews are those that help me see aspects of a book that I hadn't seen when reading it. Good books are multi-dimensional. A good review explores as many dimensions as possible. - ------------------ Jeffrey Needle jeff.needle@general.com - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 21:25:30 -0600 From: "Paris Anderson" Subject: Re: [AML] World Without Credit I'm so out-of-the-loop as far as reality is concerned, Harlow. I couldn't be of any help. I have no idea how that stuff works. I know when I get hungry. That's my understanding of economics--dark, dark. Paris Anderson - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 22:10:57 -0600 From: "Nan McCulloch" Subject: Re: [AML] Sept. 11 Tape My favorite lyrics for Sept. 11 would be "Show the Way" by David Wilcox. = Check out http://davidwilcox.com/STW.html Nan McCulloch - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2002 02:32:12 -0600 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] BYU Education Week Event Fred C Pinnegar wrote: > So what are you saying here Michael? That there actually are certain categories > of what some people (not on the AML List) might call art that should be smashed > with a sledge hammer if they were, by some chance to come into our possession? I'm saying the only examples you gave of art that should be destroyed was pornography. But I don't know of anyone involved into his discussion who categorizes pornorgaphy as art. Therefore the point you were making in that message was not relevant. - -- D. Michael Martindale dmichael@wwno.com ================================== Check out Worldsmiths, the new online LDS writers group, at http://www.wwno.com/worldsmiths Sponsored by Worlds Without Number http://www.wwno.com ================================== - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2002 11:08:19 +0000 From: "Andrew Hall" Subject: [AML] Newspaper Reviewers Thanks, Harlow, for the interesting review of the Radio West program on the Hoffmann murders. I tried to listen to it, but the KUER site link to it was not working, good thing, I didn't have time. You mentioned the Tribune's book reviewer Martin Naparasteck's comments on the books. After a couple of years of skimming through the Tribune, I have found it a basically fair voice on Mormonism. Peggy Fletcher Stack is a fair, thurough, and credible commentator and reporter, with interesting things to say. Vern Anderson was recently broughut in as an editor, he also was pretty fair when he wrote for the AP. Kirby can be bittingly funny, but he includes himself in most of his jokes, I've never seen a reason why a Mormon should be mad at what he writes. Naparasteck is the major exception. He consistantly displays himself as a one-note anti-Mormon. He is always right there to sing the praises of new fiction and non-fiction which criticize the Church or the culture. Especially Brigham Young, he seems to love to hate Brigham Young. In a recent review of a book about Jewish women in Utah, the one quote he picked was one by a contemporary of BY's criticizing him. He can find an opportunity anywhere. Now, I have no problem with criticism, but Naparasteck is so unfailingly predictable on how he judges a book based on its take on the Church that he has lost almost all of his credibility with me. On the other hand, I have found Dennis Lythgoe, the main reviewer at the Deseret News, to be an excellent commentator on Church-related books as well as general works. (As far as general fiction, he seems to have a better eye for well-written work than Naparastack, who often falls for literary technique and a big whack-you-over-the-head message over clarity and subtlety). As far as Mormon-related books, he reviews histories and non-fiction much more often than fiction (he is a former university historian), and clearly has a rich interest in Church history. His reviews are consistantly fair to both Mormon and non-Mormon authors. As far as fiction is concerned, he has shown little interest in anything that ends up on the LDS fiction shelves at Deseret Book stores, although he is quick to discuss nationally published authors like Brady Udall. Andrew Hall Fukuoka, Japan - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2002 07:41:38 -0500 From: "kumiko" Subject: [AML] Re: Neil LaBute Interview in _Salon_ >For the record, I did hear a rumor about LaBute's Church status that I was >able to verify was wrong, so I did what I could to halt its progress. When "God's Army" was playing in theaters I had local missionaries over for dinner and mentioned the movie. They reacted negatively, because they had heard that the movie's director had been excommunicated because his movie showed a baptism. I asked them where they had heard this, and they said that every missionary in the mission knew this. I did what I could to point out that what is in the film is staged, filmed in pieces and not a real baptism, and point out that half of the Church videos ever made ALSO show a baptism. I was pretty shocked by the fervor with which they thought this preposterous rumor was true. But there simply had never been an LDS-directed Latter-day Saint-themed feature film like this before... It was new territory, and elicited some odd reactions. By the time "Singles Ward" and "Out of Step" came along, doing many things which were equally in film unprecedented a decade ago, members had adjusted to the concept of being portrayed so openly in feature films. Preston [Hunter] - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2002 09:33:54 -0600 From: "Brown" Subject: Re: [AML] What Makes Good Reviews? Good question, Jana. And P.S. I loved what you said about MORMONVILLE, and we told everyone at the press. A hearty thumbs up (even with reservations) is the best recommendation anyone could give! (I loved Sisco and Ebert) But that isn't all that inhabits a good review. I just want to record a short bravo for Jeff Needle. The reason his reviews are so excellent is that he is creative. He finds the meat of the message and, beginning from there, he elaborates upon it. I am sometimes stunned by the connections he makes, his creative effort--genius. Also, may I say a very important thing about Jeff. He has a way of zeroing in on the benefit of a work to the target audience. He is NOT a snob, dismissing this and that because it is not "literary," etc. A wonderful gift. He has read some books and given reviews to which I sometimes say, "That deserves that much attention?" He is compassionate and gifted. I also have hats off to Harlow Clark, who is our resident genius, though sometimes his language gets galloping. I would love to do reviews myself and must admit I am a delinquent. I read a lot. But I've chosen to write and I'm having such a difficult time with that and the theatre I just can't cough up the reviews. I guess I review manuscripts in the raw, and when we publish them I am offering my "review." (Watch for the past president of Dixie College, Doug Alder's new book SONS OF BEAR LAKE, plus the twenty-year old novel of Veda Hale, Maurine Whipple's biographer, RAGGED CIRCLE.) That was a great question, and I hope others respond! Thanks. Marilyn Brown - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2002 10:48:41 -0600 From: "Thomas Baggaley" Subject: RE: [AML] Box Office Report Sept. 6 02 According to our sources, screenwriter Mark Andrus is a practicing Church member. You may also refer to http://www.ldsfilm.com/lds_box.html Thomas - ---------------------------- "Of course, there should be a structure, an architecture to any score. It's not a piece here and a piece there. It has to be thought out. You can't approach each cue as a separate piece of music." - Jerry Goldsmith, composer Contact info: Thomas C. Baggaley Composer 9446 Fox Hunt Drive Sandy, Utah 84092 Tel: (801) 942-3580 E-mail: thomas@baggaleymusic.com - -----Original Message----- Pardon me if I missed this previously, but what is the LDS link to this movie? >37 The Divine Secrets of the 106,440 280 94 > Ya-Ya Sisterhood 69,192,825 - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #834 ******************************