I am excited to announce I finished my first novel. This has been a new venture for me being that I am spending less time making films (saving that for another post). But my lovely wife Stephanie drew this art for the cover, which will be the eBook cover. I will have a printed version as well I will showcase when it is on paper.
My inspiration for this was in the 1990’s when I started writing scripts of films I wanted to make when I was young and wide-eyed excited to make movies. I remember some of the other students at BYU Film School would go out and film in the desert in a town called Eureka. It contained old mines that looked like a catastrophe happened. It gave me inspiration for post-apocalyptic material.
Then, a few years ago, film producer Lyman Dayton (“Where the Red Fern Grows”) came by my house and showed me his new novel. At 80 years old, Lyman Dayton wrote his first novel! I looked at myself and realized I has written many feature-length scripts. I can totally do a novel. After writing this first one, called “The End: Day of Impact”, I never knew how much more work it was needing to world-build the setting for the reader (and myself). But I had a great time.
As we get closer to releasing this book, I will talk more about the book itself.
So my friend Michelle Moore invited me to the premiere of “The Carpenter”. I knew about it, it played at the Zions Indie Film Fest, but never got to see it. They had their premiere last week and after watching it, I was thrilled by the prospect of the shift in the faith-based genre.
So the best way to describe this is a film during the time of Christ, mixed with cage fighting and a soundtrack from Metallica. Crazy, I know,
The film opened with an awesome drone shot that was impressive. We follow a character who is a cage fighter, and a really good one at that. He eventually meets a man named Jesus who is a carpenter and he finds himself being his apprentice.
Without giving too much away, we see his growth as a person between his cage fighting and learning carpentry through Jesus giving him lessons of life.
The cage fighting scenes are awesome, interesting choice to use metal music to act as the background. But it worked for me!
I spoke to director Garrett Batty (“Saratov Approach”, “Faith of Angels”) after the showing and asked about the accuracy of cage fighting during the time of Jesus. He simply said “maybe it did, maybe it didn’t”. Which said to me throw the historical accuracy out the window and focus on the story of a person growing and changing. It was definitely a different take on the story of Jesus (which I am sure there are a million of them). But much like the film “A Knights Tale”, it was a refreshing take on the life of Jesus.
I highly suggest looking for this film in the theaters asap.
Probably about 12 years ago, I met Dallas Jenkins on-line. I had made a new film he was interested in, became my friend on Facebook, and asked about my film. I sent him my trailer and information. Beyond that, I had little interaction with him for years after.
About 2018, I had bought the LDS Film Festival and was interested in inviting people of other faiths who were making films to come speak at our festival. I tried Alex Kendrick (Facing the Giants, Fireproof) for several years. Then, I tried David A.R. White (God’s Not Dead). I struggled to find one who would answer the call.
My friends at Harmon Brothers and VidAngel were starting a new program called The Chosen. Simultaneously, I decided to ask Dallas Jenkins instead to come speak and had no idea they were related. I finally got a “yes” from Dallas Jenkins and he even offered to come show the first episode of his new series The Chosen. We made that happen and it was overall a good experience. (I’ll tell more detail on that story in another post.) Dallas has now become the Spielberg of the faith-based film community.
In the middle of all of The Chosen madness, Dallas has made time to direct this cute film I wanted to comment on. Stephanie and I got invited to a prescreening of “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever”. I had never heard of this story, but I guess it was a book and a play. I also saw a video production of it on YouTube (after seeing the movie) starring Loretta Swift (MASH) made probably in the early 80’s.
The film surrounds the story of a small town church that holds its Christmas Pageant every year to a serious level. By this time in the history of this town, it will have been 75 years of putting on the play, so it is taken as sacred to the community.
Enter a family called the Herdman’s. The film did an excellent job at setting up the distain the neighborhood had for the family of 6 kids that always seemed dirty, poor, rowdy and definitely not religious. Always getting into trouble. I think we all have experiences of “that one” neighbor that is a hoarder or doesn’t take a bath very often, and it shows.
The local church starts to prepare for the Christmas Pageant, but the woman who has directed the pageant for years breaks both of her legs, putting the Pageant in jeopardy. A young mother, Grace, has now been roped into being the director of the play. Her daughter, Beth has had experiences dealing with the Herdman’s at school and becomes the narration of the whole experience.
Somehow the word got to the Herdman’s that there is free food at the church and they decide to make their way to partake. They happen to show up right about the time they organize the Christmas Pageant. All the kids are scared when the Herdman’s all volunteer the main parts of the Christmas pageant. This becomes difficult when they don’t even know who Jesus is.
The film has a few unrealistic moments, but there is an unrealistic cornball feel to it that forgives the storyline loopholes. Overall, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is a fun, lighthearted comedy that has an amazing payoff at the end. It is a lot like “A Christmas Story”. The message of misjudging others as well as the true meaning of Christmas is very well represented.
The other bravo goes to the cast. The kids were amazing. Especially the main Herdman girl, was my favorite actor in the film. I will not be surprised when we see her in future films.
It opens in theaters November 8, go see it opening week.
This post is for those who believe in God and Satan.
I was reading my scriptures and came to the realization that there is no better believer in God than Satan. He was put in the place that he resides because he knew better, and he felt like he could BE better than our Father in Heaven.
Satan has many tactics and many faces, as well as many followers. And evil doesn’t always look like evil. Might be in the form of simple misinformation or misunderstanding. And not everyone who disagrees with you is not evil. Only those who intend to do harm.
I post the picture of a scene from Scooby Doo to display the modern-day thinking of what evil is. Somehow we think that true evil will always reveal itself, like the end of every episode when the ghost is caught and the mask is pulled off and we find out it was old man farmer Brown all along. He would totally give his evil plan by stating “I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you darn kids.” Mystery Solved!
I feel somehow we think that evil will be all wrapped up, like in a 45 minute episode of Murder She Wrote or a 2 hour James Bond movie. That is the level of our patience when it comes to telling the truth. The cops will always solve the crime. The news media will always tell the story accurately. We can go to bed knowing that all these authorities have your best interest at hand.
Now we obviously don’t want to live life full of fear and anxiety. In fact, that is another tool used by Satan is fear. But it is important to not fall for everything you read or hear. Even if it comes from a source you think you trust.
I personally started to question a lot of things lately. When someone says “they say that chewing gum gives you cancer”, I always ask the question “how do you know that” and who is “they”. “You know, the experts” is always the answer. “Studies show” blah blah blah.
I recently had a health scare where I ended up in the ER because I was having heart problems. My blood pressure went over 200 and my chest hurt over the course of a whole weekend. Luckily it wasn’t a full attack, but I had the signs. This led to my search to solve this problem not only through medication, but eating and exercise. (I’m down 20 pounds as of this writing.)
While going through my search to get better, I used social media to find ways to lower my cholesterol and bring my heart rate down. The flood of information was enormous. And you know how social media goes: you type in a search for something and then you are suggested page after page of solutions. Ugh! One of the first things I choose to do with my heart was get off of social media. Best thing I ever did. But the flood of short clips from know-it-all’s was annoying.
But back to searching for truth (and pointing out evil). I created what I call “The Sky Is Green” concept. What I take from it is people not seeing truth even when it stares them in the face. Let me explain. Imagine a stranger coming to your house and in your conversation with them they tell you that the sky is green. You look and see that it is blue. Maybe a little hazy dependent upon where you live, but overall it seems blue to you.
Then this stranger tells you that if you look closely, you can see green in the sky. He tells you it is his mission to make the sky blue again. You question him and say, “I don’t know, it seems pretty blue to me”. He throws facts and figures at you to the point where there might actually be a case for the green sky. He then shows you a photo of a green sky in China somewhere (a place you will have never heard of). Amazing you think. You look back and forth at the green sky picture and your own sky in front of you. Suddenly you notice… it just might be green.
This stranger then tells you that he has the answer as to why the sky is green and to make it blue again you must join his quest. You choose to invest in his journey. Now that you have invested in it, you might become somewhat of an evangelist to the cause yourself. Later, a neighbor might walk down the street, wave hello and say to you “beautiful day, isn’t it, the sky is so blue”. You feel the urge to challenge him with his happy-go-lucky statement that now offends you.
“Can’t you see the sky is green?” you ask. Your neighbor looks at you funny. He hears your claim, but might think you are a kook. Then, you will think he is a kook! A misinformed kook! In order to make it blue again, you MUST support this faction or organization, or vote a certain way. Pay a specific price. Thus we, as useful idiots fall for what ever gives us emotion and purpose.
Sound familiar?
It is important to understand that evil does not always come in the form of a man dressed in red horns and holding a pitch fork. We may not see it. There is a famous phrase in the Book of Mormon that calls it “Past Feeling”. It is when a civilization cannot see something clearly and doesn’t want to be challenged. Spiritually, it means the spirit of the Lord has been totally withdrawn. Man should always be allowed to question things, even the very existence of God. Only if he intends to do it with an honest heart, and not just to get out of something he doesn’t want to do, will man find the true answers.
It is a famous saying in my past romantic relationships that I laugh at today. When breaking up, I have heard the phrase “it’s not you, it’s me”. (I have to admit, I actually used it myself while ending a relationship. Terrible, I know.)
As I get older, I have had to take second looks at my career, my life, etc. (One person suggested a mid-life crisis, haha.) As I have talked about in recent posts, I have hit some moments of depression that I have never experienced. It’s not terrible, I can function just fine. And my understanding in a God and His Gospel helps me in knowing my place here on Earth.
My career is very personality based. Constantly looking for more work is the name of the game. And if I have a personality that lacks, I do not get hired. I have done so many projects over the years working solo, or I am the only one hiring others to work for me. Successful film producers usually work in groups. But I have never partnered with someone else in my projects, which I feel might have been a detriment. (I am currently trying to change that for future endeavors.)
One of the things I have noticed in later years is people drawing away from me for many different reasons. I realized that I might have a personality that might scare people, or look at me as silly or embarrassing. There’s not enough space on this post to give all the examples. But there is one story I noticed that happened to me in recent history. (I will refrain from naming names because I am sure I could be wrong and I love the people I am talking about.)
I go to many concerts, mostly in the summer. And when I go, there are several long-time friends who will show up at the same concerts. Most are pretty fun! This summer Stephanie and I have seen Howard Jones, ABC (who was awesome), Haircut 100, Doobie Brothers, Steve Winwood, Train and REO Speedwagon.
One couple I run into at concerts will often say “hey we should just go together” (which has never happened). When I was still on Facebook, I posted months before that I got tickets to this one concert. Of course, my friend said they got tickets as well! Awesome! And not only that, we got tickets literally right next to each other!
Concert time was here and when I approached them, he informed me he had sold his tickets and moved to the other side of the section. Not sure why. I am sure he had his reasons. But for a person who is fighting depression, one cannot help but to think…is it me? (I know, so high school!)
I am sure I have done that to other people. And it would look like I was avoiding them, or not wanting to get too close to them. And…maybe there are people who I have chosen not to get close to. I believe it is a personality conflict that is not meant to hurt anyone or do damage.
There are several people that Stephanie and I would admit we avoid, or limit our time with. Not necessarily because we don’t like those people, but some people have energy that is different than ours.
There have been people who I feel avoid me that I had felt we had a lot in common. Whether it is in the film business, or the church, or is a fan of the same movies or music. But I feel it is ok to be selective with those whom I may not totally gel with. I have had to learn that I too may have a personality that I have had to alter to be pleasant to be around.
About 14 years ago I felt chest pains and thought I was having heart problems. I took a stress test and found out I had high blood pressure. I was already on Prilosec for acid reflux, the doctor suggested instead of high blood pressure medication, that I would raise up to 2 Prilosec (I can’t remember the technical reason) and it worked.
Over the past year, I have started feeling momentary chest pains on occasion. Finally, about 2 months ago, my chest pains got bad and lasted over the course of a weekend. Finally on Monday, I went to Instacare where my doctor was, but they told me to hit the ER.
Let’s just say I haaate going to any doctor or hospital. Not because they aren’t doing their best or are bad people, but it usually means something is wrong with me.
Also, over the past year, I have been fighting depression. Not to the level of being suicidal, thank goodness. I have just struggled with my career and now that I am 57, I have hoped to be further along (hence, my leave of Facebook). So with all that, it was theorized that anxiety would have been the cause of my chest pains.
But the truth is, my blood pressure went high, and as I sit in the ER, I see it going over 200. Many things have to change now. Including my diet. The DASH diet was suggested, or the Mediterranean diet. I knew for years my eating was going to have to change. And in a way, I was excited to change. Now I had a reason.
I remember 13 years ago I was working producing videos for Blendtec. One of Blendtec’s higher clients was Robin Openshaw, also known as the Green Smoothie Girl. I made a few videos for her. She was going to Mesa to study a guy named Doctor Lodi who had a new natural way of killing cancer, including green smoothies.
My mother was tired of going through another round of chemo, and Robin offered to take her as a guinea pig. I went along and saw the amazing work done with killing cancer naturally. My mother not only lessened her cancer, but her eye site improved, her acid reflux was gone, lost a lot of weight and was definitely an improvement in her life.
After my visits, I went right on the diet and started to see my weight go down. I also have seen an absence of my chest pains and improvement in my energy over all. I have lost about 20 pounds to the date of this writing (I have a few more to lose).
My awesome wife, Stephanie, has been my greatest cheerleader and she has opted to go on the diet with me.
Friday Night was the end of another summer of concerts. July, August and September is usually the months we would go and enjoy the night air at an amphitheater, usually The SCERA Outdoor theater in Orem, Utah, or the Usana Amphitheater in Salt Lake City (it has a new name, but I cannot recall it).
This time it was two nights in a row. The Remington’s invited us to see REO Speedwagon and Train. I have seen REO about 7 times, but Train was my first time. I admit, I was skeptical, but they put on a great show. I might have recognized about 3-4 songs, but couldn’t tell you the names (I’m an oldie).
The next night was with Gary and Michele Bell and we saw Steve Winwood open for The Doobie Brothers. Another wonderful night. The truth is, besides Train, all the other bands we have seen are in their 70’s, and we may never see them again. Only a memory.
A few weeks ago, we saw Howard Jones, along with Haircut 100 and ABC. I knew what ABC sang, but never thought I would like them as much as I do now. They were the best part of the night. Martin Fry (the lead singer) was an awesome performer, along with his band.
That is probably why I listen to this music. I recently upgraded my music library and made an awesome playlist and gallery of all of the music of my past. In fact, I bought everything on CD and manually loaded them onto iTunes, then onto an older iPad and my phone. It has taken a lot of time to do it that way, but way better than moving from device to device, wondering if I still have that Rush album or not.
I listen because I like the memories of the time. Maybe that is too sentimental. It has been an interesting time for me. There will be more to discuss on this topic, but I am finding myself reaching for the past lately. I am so lucky I have an awesome wife who listens with me and is a sentimental fool like me.
I have been asking that for the past few years. This year especially has been a time for reflection. My posting has gone down quite a bit. I get more ads than ever. For every post from a friend, there are about 2-3 ads and suggestions of people to follow. There is also the political and religious aspect. Things are getting crazy and I am not sure I want to see (or participate) in where it might end up.
Probably my greatest reason for leaving Facebook is seeing others who are doing better than me. I know that seems childish or even high school-ish, but it seem to to be real for me. For the past year I have been fighting depression because my career has taken a southward turn. And it is hard to experience.
Since I was a kid I always wanted to make films. It has been all I can think of. But for the first time, I don’t really see a future.
I will probably talk more about this in the future as I start working on my exit. But it is a mix of my energy to constantly raise money, convince others it will work, and then produce the movie. And then to worry about a flop. In recent years, I have been able to use my own money to make a few films, but have seen very little return. It is the reality of the business.
The model of filmmaking has changed and in many cases not for the better. (I will go more into that in the future). The audience is divided. Things have become overtly political. And nothing fresh and new are not being produced.
So when I do see my friends succeeding on getting things produced, I am totally happy for them, but I am also fighting back the depression of “that should have been me”. Selfish, I know! So being on Facebook has been good to keep up with the few people I still love, especially those I have not seen in years (and may never see in person again). But how long can that go on.
I am currently seeking other means, hence the revival of this blog post. We shall see. I do have an obligation to finish the Come Follow Me, Book of Mormon studies every Monday morning live (you can catch me at CFM Group). But I am thinking by the end of the year I will move on.
*I wrote this 4 years ago during the election and forgot to push “publish”. Now that I’m back publishing, I chose to post it:
I got in my car this morning, ready to take my youngest son to school. I love my music collection I have worked hard to collect. I personally still purchase CD’s and load it up on my computer and an MP3 player I recently purchased. (I’m admittedly old fashioned.) What is cool about my car is I have a hard drive where I can load up all my music and call it up way easier then my iPhone.
Sorry I digress, I’ll go into my retro music collection in another post.
I was looking at a playlist I created called “Kels Ultimate Collection”. It’s a best of, feel good music list I play at parties. The song that turned on was Richard Marx “Should Have Known Better”. This song, as many songs of that era, give me good memories of the 80’s, running around late nights in high school and college, chasing girls, etc.
As I sat in the car waiting for my son (he was tardy, by the way), I browsed through the news on my addictive device (iPhone) and saw Richard Marx tweeted “Donald Trump is shit and his worshipers are toilet paper”. He misspelled “worshippers”, but hey he’s a musician. So let’s take that intelligence into consideration when he also tweeted “Trump supporters are brainwashed” and “Trump is a piece of trash”. Of course there is no actual event listed to show Trump’s trashness.
I’m not here to defend Donald Trump. I’m not a worshipper. I do like good economy and government getting out of my business. If that means supporting Trump, so be it. I often get embarrassed by his tweets. But then again, is he the ONLY one with ugly tweets? Honestly?
What I would like to do is make a case that the hate for Trump is so great, that it is almost like an illness. I have lived for 53 years worth of presidents from Democrats to Republicans and I have never seen a hate such as this. EVER. I am most honestly more worried about the hate then anything Trump has actually done. And the hate I want to display comes from the idols I USED to look up to coming from Hollywood and the entertainment business.
It’s one thing to dislike Trump and disagree with his policies, even though I argue that most of these people don’t even LOOK at the policies or advancements done by the Trump administration and tell me what there is to hate. It’s another thing to shame the people who agree with the policies he has upheld. That is literally half the country!
I will showcase a number of examples of the “love” given by the caring Hollywood type:
RICHARD MARX: “Donald Trump is shit and his worshippers are toilet paper. Those who supper Donald Trump are brainwashed.”
ROSANNA ARQUETTE: “They are a Nazi gestapo they blindly follow their insane unhinged leader and commit crimes against humanity.”
WHOOPIE GOLDBERG: “The party that doesn’t care if you drop dead because you can’t breathe.”
ALEC BALDWIN: “Bury Trump in a Nazi graveyard and put a swastika on his grave. Trump needs a beating.“
STEPHEN KING: “I hate Donald trump and if you like him: I hate you too.”
SAMUEL L JACKSON: “F**k Jon Voight” (for supporting of Donald Trump).
JOHN CUSACK: “30 % of country that Are nazi – are enemies.”
ROBERT DE NIRO: “They should be afraid of what’s gonna happen later when he’s not around.”
I’m curious Mr. De Niro, want IS going to happen? ….
“I should have known better then to fall in love with you guys.”
Yep. If you are old enough, you’ve probably heard this song by Billy Joel. It’s a sad song, and I usually avoid sad songs on my playlist. But notice we don’t hear it much anymore. Must be a trend.
I’m going to go into this segment building the argument that lying is a baseline problem in society. While, besides under oath, we don’t really punish people for lying much anymore. Could be the one thing that across the board most people are guilty of in one form or another.
It usually starts as a child. I have tried to teach my kids to not lie. In turn, I try to practice what I preach. I try to not put myself in a position to have to lie. I’m not proud to say I have done it before, and lived a lie for a short time, it was not pleasant, and I worked hard to earn trust back with those who I lied to. Ever since then, honesty has been sort of a quest of mine.
But in a way, I understand the lie. Reasoning includes not hurting the one you love, to cover up in an effort to move on, to not shock a group of people, to stay out of trouble or simply state “it’s none of their business”.
Living in a blended family, you witness a myriad of lying from both kids and adults. I notice from the kids I’ve raised that lying can be something you get comfortable with. Now that most of my kids are older, they will occasionally tell me about a lie they lived, or that a friend coerced them to do…now that the years have passed and we’re adults now. Right?
That’s actually the part where I get concerned. It’s sometimes hard to hear “hey dad, remember that time I said I did this or that? Yeah, I was just lying.” Because now that some are married, have jobs and relationships, I hope and pray that lying streak hasn’t translated into something done to another person. It also feels terrible knowing you’ve been lied to.
This takes me to the art of the lie when it comes to our political leaders and the nut jobs in the media. I’ve seen so much lying going on in the media and the politicians, especially these past few years. It’s honestly amazing. I sometimes wonder if these pundits have taken a course on lying before they entered the field they’re in. Politicians lying is almost a constant butt-end of a joke, and yet, it keeps coming. No one seems to be held accountable.
In Mormon doctrine (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), the Book of Mormon trace the story of the constant battle between the Nephites and the Lamanites. Those who strive to follow Christ are constantly persecuted by those who have left the faith, or were taught by non-believers. It was a constant cycle of righteousness and wickedness. But what always led to it was changing the family history in an effort to justify hurting the faithful. After a while, the persecutors became what was called “past feeling”.
I would see people who have become “past feeling” and would be amazed at the work. I would comment to my wife that a certain person is now in the phase where the sky is green, and 2 plus 2 is 7, right is wrong, and etc. No matter what evidence you present, what ever you bring to the table, it won’t matter because you are wrong. You’re not part of the team.
In this turbulent world, I present a few rules I live by when finding truth:
First off, only seek for the truth you need for your current condition. I’m not saying don’t learn history or study from the past, but as you scroll on social media, only focus on what is most important to you.
Second, learn to discern truth. In your learning, be ok with being wrong. This is your time to weed out the falsehoods in your life.
Third, cleanse your own life of dishonesty. If you are living a dishonest life, do NOT expect to feel the promptings of the Holy Spirit helping you to discern truth. Earn back the trust of our Father in Heaven to give you the truth that you need.
Honesty is such a lonely word. But so many problems could be solved when honestly abounds. Our political leaders will never act as the old man always dressed as a ghost in Scooby Doo when, after being caught, he would say “I would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for these darn kids”. I think the general public continue to wait for that moment in our politics.
Kels Goodman 