"The clock of history, like the sands of the hourglass, marks the passage of time. A new cast occupies the stage of life. The problems of our day loom ominously before us. Surrounded by the challenges of modern living, we look heavenward for that unfailing sense of direction that we might chart and follow a wise and proper course. Our Heavenly Father will not deny our petition."

via LDS.org – Ensign Article – True to the Faith.

We are in a war. This war is the same that was waged in the pre-mortal world. Lucifer and his followers are committed to their evil direction. Our Heavenly Father and his Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, have given a plan for Heavenly Father's children and we have the responsibility as leaders and members of the church to take this glorious plan to all of our Heavenly Father's children.

via Mormon Arts Festival 1995 – Elder M. Russell Ballard.

He applied to several schools with strong broadcasting programs and eventually chose BYU. Wrubell and his family had converted to the Mormon faith when he was 10 (he interrupted his stay at BYU to serve a two-year LDS Church mission in Brazil).

via Greg Wrubell working his dream job | Mormon Times.

God's purpose for the artist in the Gospel plan is ultimately the same as for all his children: to bring to pass their immortality and eternal life. Each of us must use our tools, our gifts and opportunities to triumph in the contest of mortality.

Immortality is a gracious gift; eternal life may demand that you discover God's purpose for the artistic passions he has given you.

Whether to declare the gospel in quiet singular ways or proclaim that Christ is Savior with the power of universal symbols, it may be the same to God's purposes. You must strive to understand your role and in the shadow of His purpose carry on your work.

And as in all things spiritual, only the process of prayer and inspiration can yield sufficient guidance. You must not succumb to the ways of the world. You must not compromise, under any circumstance, your standard, for which you cherish your testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

via Mormon Arts Festival 1995 – Elder M. Russell Ballard.

Mr. Beck acknowledged that he was not cut from ordinary cloth. He is a largely self-educated man who took a single college class at Yale University before dropping out; a tough-talking critic who frequently breaks into tears; a man now wrapping himself in a religious mantle but whose religion he is a Mormon is not considered Christian by some of his ardent followers.

via Glenn Beck Leads Religious Rally at Lincoln Memorial – NYTimes.com.

Composer Robert Johnson based the piece, titled "Nephi," on accounts from the first two books of the Book of Mormon. He will be in the choir when it is performed Sunday at the Topeka Stake Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

via Composer to hear his 'Nephi' cantata | Mormon Times.

This isn't the very first color motion picture experiment, any more than the blockbusters mentioned above the first color movies. But it's an incredibly well-preserved look, that gives texture to a time that too often lives in the mind's eye as simple black and white. [Boing Boing]

via Watch This Color Movie, From Before Movies Were In Color.-Gizmodo

Ever wondered how St. George, Utah, got its name? Heard the story of the "stumpy steeple" and wondered if Brother Brigham really used lightning to get his way? And just how did they use a cannon of mysterious origin to help build the temple?

via Cricket & Seagull: Stories from St. George with Doug Alder | Mormon Times.

The Tillman Story is ferocious filmmaking, but it wouldn't have half the force it does if the director didn't also get at the complicated man Pat Tillman was — the football star who volunteered to serve in a war he later doubted the logic for; the avowed atheist who read the Book of Mormon. As you get a sense of Tillman the man, you better understand his family's fury at the flag-waving being done in his name.

via Movie Review – 'The Tillman Story' – One Family's Quest For The Truth : NPR.

Many viewers may feel searching for ‘decency’ in the modern movie industry is akin to taking bites out of items in a restaurant dumpster, hoping for a few morsels of food that are edible and nutritious. You may succeed, but is it even worth the trouble digging through what will certainly be a lot of rotten and disgusting items to get there?  Maybe it’s no wonder many LDS seem to have thrown in the towel, saying: “I just don’t *watch* movies (or TV) any more…”

via Searching For Decent Films | LDS Cinema Online.

New writers seem to ask this same question more than any other. What can I expect? So today, I thought I’d share three negative emotions you WILL experience and how to deal with them. Next week I’ll share four positive emotions.

via Six LDS Writers and A Frog: Three (Bad) Emotions You Will Experience as an Author.

Great musicians comprehend a song on the first look or first hearing, and when they perform it, they do so with all the feeling, intonation, phrasing, style and dynamics on the first playback, as it were. It is such a pleasure to work with the pros.

via New Janice Kapp Perry Album « LDS Music News – LDSMusicNow Blog.

HOLT, England — He's Britain's most talked-about young artist. His paintings fetch hefty sums and there's a long waiting list for his eagerly anticipated new works.

via 8-year-old painting prodigy is new art world star | Deseret News.

Local actor Thom Duncan will recreate the colorful, riveting and often hilarious LDS apostle in his one-man show, “Preposterous Parley P!” during the Covey Center’s dinner and drama today through Saturday.

via ‘Preposterous Parley P!’ in Provo | Universe.byu.edu.

Utah's writing community is turning heads, and on Aug. 21, Writing for Charity event organizer Kristyn Crow invites aspiring authors to attend an all-day workshop where they will have the chance to get their work critiqued by successful Utah names in children and young adult literature.

via Utah authors can get work critiqued at writers workshop | Deseret News.

Utah painters of the late 1890s and early 1900s flocked to the ancient volcanic remnant. Alfred Lambourne tackled it. JT Harwood, John Hafen, Richard Tallant assayed it as well. So did Paul Fjellboe, a painter so eccentric he loaned his numerous works to Salt Lake City medical and dental offices for a nominal deposit, then seldom reclaimed them.

via Rock of ages | The Salt Lake Tribune.

As youth in his stake prepared for a regional dance festival and youth conference this summer, President Kelly Summers of the Grand Junction Colorado West Stake recalled the last time such a gathering took place in the area.

via LDS Church News – Ties to the past fortified by dance festival.

Certainly, many have a hidden wish to be whisked back in time. Not forever — just to go back for a meaningful visit, to experience firsthand those places and events that were meaningful to our pioneer ancestors. As far back as I can remember, I've felt a strong desire to know them, to be among them, to touch them and to gracefully photograph them.

via LDS Church News – 'I walked with them' — Photographer recounts her experience fulfilling lifelong dream.

As can be expected of any fan of film and animation, R. Brent Adams' office at BYU is covered with movie posters.

The combination of films featured on the posters, including "Star Wars: Episode III," "Shrek," "The Prince of Egypt" and the recent remake of "King Kong," though somewhat eclectic, is not totally random. Each poster bears signatures, not of movie stars, but of BYU alumni who helped animate each film and sent Brother Adams the posters as a thank-you gift.

The nicest posters – the ones framed and printed on archival paper meant to keep the image pristine for at least 200 years – do not promote Hollywood blockbusters. They are posters made for films produced by the BYU animation program since its creation in 2001.

"They're the ones I'm most proud of," said Brother Adams, a professor of industrial design and animation and director of the Center for Animation.

via LDS Church News – BYU animation a work of collaboration.

While he's sung everything from boy band to musical theater and pop since he first became the lead singer of The Osmond Boys at age 4, this is David Osmond's first inspirational album release. And what's more, it's full of contemporary Christian songs he's co-written from his own life experience.

via Steven Kapp Perry: 'The Road Less Traveled,' new music from David Osmond | Mormon Times.

Looking back, Annette Kleinhenz can see how her daughter Megan always had an eye for art.

"She liked to write and draw on everything, but we never took it seriously at all," she said.

They take her seriously now. Megan Kleinhenz Payne designed her father's political campaign advertisements, created her brother's business website, caricatures teens for fellow church members, and is a published children's book illustrator for her mother-in-law.

via Eagle Mountain resident illustrates books.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will treasure the second season of “The Joseph Smith Papers: Television Documentary Series.”

via Review: Documentary presents in-depth look at Joseph Smith – Rexburg Standard Journal: News.

John Vawdrey, a former LDS missionary who helps translate for the troupe, said the dress, the costumes, the music — which includes an unusual horse head fiddle and a python skin mandolin — are all different from any other region in China.

via Unique Chinese dancers tour Utah landscape during visit for International Days | Mormon Times.

"There is no 'one way' to keep a record," she said. "(There is) a lot more to remembering than passive recall — 'remember when we did this, remember when we did that…'"

via Early Mormon women set examples of record-keeping | Mormon Times.

In her Big Apple LDS ward, McBaine saw many such women, who seemed empowered, not hindered, by belonging to the American-born church.

via New LDS women’s site features unique stories, common faith | The Salt Lake Tribune.

True life has more plot twists and turns than any made-up play or film, and no one needs to tell that to Doug Stewart.

Stewart is the playwright who wrote the script for "Saturday's Warrior" and screenplays for any number of films, including such noted family movies as "Against a Crooked Sky" and "Where the Red Fern Grows."

He lives on a comfortable, tree-lined street in St. George, where he claims a status these days as "mostly retired" but admits to still being involved in movie projects and other creative endeavors.

via Tuacahn born of a dream | Deseret News.

Everyone has the chance at least once in life to go down the road less traveled. It may be a path we choose or a path that chooses us.

David Osmond, the fourth son of Alan Osmond, has been down the road less traveled.

via Inside Mormon Music: David Osmond, from wheelchair to center stage | Mormon Times.

Explaining that "apologetics" does not mean the science of saying "I'm sorry," but rather denotes defense of one's religious faith, Daniel C. Peterson said Friday that Mormons have "an obligation to do apologetics."

Apologetics, in the sense of defending one's beliefs, is actually an older derivative from the Greek term apologia than are words that connote expressing regret or sorrow, he noted.

A BYU professor of Islamic studies and a prolific writer and speaker, Brother Peterson himself is arguably Mormonism's most prominent and energetic apologist. On Aug. 6, he addressed the annual FAIR conference, where

via LDS Church News – 'Be Ready' to Defend Faith.

As the Joseph Smith Sr. family continued to move from place to place, they came to settle on the farm of Lucy Mack Smith's father, Solomon Mack. They apparently stayed in his home after he moved to a different one on the same property.

via Portraits of the past: Monument at Sharon | Mormon Times.

Luckily, Utah Shakespearean Festival’s new adaptation of Pride and Prejudice had two savvy theater directors — Joe Hanreddy and J. R. Sullivan — for playwrights. The two are experts at propelling words into action. Instead of having the characters tell us their back stories and read letters, we see them acted out in little tableaus that illustrate them. Each scene flows fluidly into the next, triggered by a connecting line and linked by Jaymi Lee Smith’s subtly shifting lighting and Joe Payne’s classical music score.

via Utah Shakespearean Festival: The ‘Pride’ of British society | The Salt Lake Tribune.