I had occasion to drive from Sandy to Springville today, about an hour on the freeway. I had intended to find some great new book or talk to download onto my iPod for the journey, but my morning got away from me and I ran out of time. As I got into my little Toyota Tacoma and got ready to drive, I browsed through the selections on my iPod to see if there was anything interesting that I hadn’t listened to for a while. I wasn’t in the mood for music and wasn’t really mentally engaged enough for serious doctrinal stuff.

As I browsed I found that I had downloaded several short (25-30 minutes) biographies that we have available on LDSAudio.com from the World Classics section (see “World Classics” tab on the LDSAudio.com homepage — it is nearly obscured by the graphic of the temple). I had downloaded biographies of the great Scottish microbiologist Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, and also of Rembrandt, DaVinci, Van Gogh and Picasso. The four artists I had downloaded to help my wife prepare for some art classes she was teaching. I have no idea why I had downloaded Fleming. These are all from a series of biographies that we carry on LDSAudio.com called, The World’s 100 Greatest People. It can be purchased as a big bundle with all 100 biographies, or in 5 smaller bundles (To see who is included in each bundle go to: Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3, Vol. 4, Vol. 5), or each biography can be purchased separately.

I was so pleased to find these little gems! I had listened to some of these a couple of years ago when we first put them on LDSAudio, but had forgotten that I had them. They are really terrific. The quality of the production is excellent all the way around. The content is interesting, the stories are entertaining, the narrators are professional and pleasant to listen to.

On the way to Springville I listened to the biography of Fleming (of whom I knew virtually nothing). I learned of the “happy accident” of his discovery of penicillin when an errant dust particle flew into a petri dish he had not cleaned out. To his credit, he watched over time to see how the mold that was growing began to interact with the foreign object, took careful notes, experimented, and eventually found a way to harness the power of the mold to kill infection — ultimately, of course, paving the way to save millions of lives. Next was the fascinating and inspiring life of Leonardo da Vinci. I couldn’t wait to get back in the truck and head home so I could listen to the story of Rembrandt, and then Picasso.

When I got home I went straight to LDSAudio.com to see what else was available. In addition to the 100 Greatest People, there is a series entitled The World’s 100 Greatest Books, also available as a total bundle, or in volumes or separately. My wife had also downloaded two of these titles; To Kill a Mockingbird and Last of the Mohicans. She used these as sort of audio Cliff Notes when we went on a long road trip to California so she could get a jump start on some books they were reading in her book club. She also downloaded the entire audio book of Last of the Mohicans, knowing it would be easier to listen to her iPod in the car rather than read. The final bundle is The World’s 50 Greatest Composers. These have short bios and then samples of the composers great works.

I loved listening to these short biographies. I learned a lot, was entertained, and didn’t feel I had wasted an hour of my time while I was driving. How many times do we wish we had more productive learning time? I do all the time. This was one way to remedy that. I am actually looking forward to the next time I need to be on the freeway for an hour! Now to get some of these onto the kids’ iPods . . .

Anybody who has seen “The Testaments: Of One Fold and One Shepherd“, has an opinion of Tomas Kofod, the Danish actor selected to play the role of Jesus. I can’t imagine a more difficult role to play. Each of us has a very specific and intimate portrait of the Savior in our own heart based on our own experiences and understanding. We have our own impression of how he looks, talks , walks. We each have in our minds an image of his eyes and hair and hands and voice. These images are complicated by the many Hollywood images of Christ, from Max von Sydow in “The Greatest Story Ever Told” to John Caviezel in “Passion of the Christ”. Now imagine the additional pressure of being cast in a film about the Savior that the Church will use to show visitors — members and non-members alike — the story of Christ from the perspective of the Old World and the New. Now imagine you are a young stage actor, from Denmark, and a convert to the Church.

“Of One Fold and One Shepherd - Fireside“, is the story of Tomas Kofod, told by himself and his wife, Ane Marie, about his experience being cast in this most singular role. It is a live recording of a fireside that Ane Marie and Tomas presented and is full of stories about the miracles associated with their conversions to the Gospel and the incredible experiences surrounding their involvement with the production and the lessons of faith, patience and the reality of the Savior that they learned while making “The Testaments”.

LDSAudio.com made this fireside available in April and had an immediate rush of orders. In fact, it quickly became our bestseller for the month. Then it became our bestseller so far this year! Last week I finally took the time to listen. At about an hour in length, it features both Ane Marie and Tomas Kofod relating the stories of their conversion as well as stories regarding “The Testaments”.

I recommend this audio fireside highly. The messages that are presented are sweet and powerful. The delivery of the messages is mesmerizing. Both Ane Marie and Tomas have voices that are so compelling that it is impossible to stop listening. They are warm, sweet and the Danish accent adds a touch of character that makes the presentation perfect.

I really want to relate a number of the stories, but I don’t want to spoil anything. They speak about their time as exchange students at Orem High and Bingham High, how they were converted to the Gospel (great messages here for kids about their influence on their friends!) and great stories about the casting and production of The Testaments, the events that conspired against their involvement and about how all things were resolved.

This fireside is available to download or the CD can be purchased. One possible way to use this is to watch “The Testaments” for family home evening, then download this fireside to the kids’ iPods (especially the teenagers). They will have a greater appreciation for this actor and for the production.

I was in Gospel Doctrine on Sunday and enjoying a wonderful lesson — well prepared, excellent participation from the class, beautiful spirit, learning new things — all of the things I hope for when I attend. Then there was a HINT of a disruption. Not a major problem, just a glitch. Our teacher started to tell the story from Luke 19 about Zacchaeus, chief among the publicans. Now the problem was that she didn’t know how to pronouce the name “Zacchaeus”. The fact is, neither did I. At least I had a different pronunciation than she did, and several others had a different pronunciation than I did. Finally a vocal member of the class prevailed and that was the pronunciation we went with.

I don’t want to overstate this little disruption. It was far from a skirmish. Barely even an issue. I’m not certain how many in the class even noticed. I noticed because I have been thinking about this some in the past few weeks since we started uploading audio clips from the Sunday School lessons onto LDSClip.com. I have listened to the material nearly every week, but this week I read instead. Listen to how wonderful it sounds from the most recognized bible narrator in the world, Alexander Scourby.

As a Gospel Doctrine teacher, I want to have as little disruption as possible. Something as simple as HEARING someone pronouce the name of Zacchaeus properly before I have to pronounce it in class, gives me great confidence and minimizes unnecessary distractions. I have also heard from a Gospel Doctrine teacher whose class is getting along in years and they struggle reading. He downloads the clips to his iPod and uses them in class so EVERYONE can hear them read clearly and well.

Since the reading assignments are so short, my new goal is to make certain that I read AND listen every week. It will be fun to see what I pick up when I do that!

Both of our sites, www.ldslibrary.com and www.ldsaudio.com, have affiliated with a site called LDSClip.com. this is a site that contains small snippets of spoken audio for personal use or for convenience for Gospel Doctrine teachers and students, Priesthood and Relief Society teachers and students, and even Family Home Evening. They can even be used to email a scripture or thought to another person. Right now LDSClip.com has a small but growing number of clips in the library, mostly scriptures pertaining to the Gospel Doctrine lessons. There is also a great clip to go along with the lesson on the Parable of the Prodigal Son. It is from Robert Millet’s book “When a Child Wanders”.

Soon a tool will be included that allows users to clip thier own audio files and include them in the ldsclip library.

As this catalog of clips grows, this will be a more and more useful tool.

I was listening to some of the music from the new Halestorm Movie soundtracks today.  Let me just preface my remarks with the fact that I’m at that age where text seems smaller than it used to and my wife notices wild eyebrow hairs starting to sprout.  I say keep’em she says “NOT gonna happen”.  With that in mind here I am working on answering emails from our beloved customers and I have this big grin on my face while listening to “In the Hollow of thy Hand” by The Sugarland Run from the album Janice Kapp Perry’s Parallel Universe, or “Onward Christian Soldier” by The Cretins from the soundtrack from ”The R.M”.  Now, you have to understand that I grew up on this music in the 70’s.  The first song always made me tear up (yes, I admit it ….  now).  So I’m smiling because I’m really enjoying the song.  I’m smiling and at first was thinking I shouldn’t be.  It doesn’t make me cry anymore.  It does make me smile.  How can I put this…. it’s not what I grew up with but it’s really fun.  It’s like getting a whole new shine on my worn out shoes.  Made me feel good.  While I probably wouldn’t be playing these songs in church or maybe even on Sunday, I can definitely enjoy the upbeat even rowdy ( did I just say that?)  new style of these songs.  They remind me of the great bands I would listen to in the 70’s and early 80’s only filled with messages of  Heavenly Father and family and hope instead of my girlfriend or my car or…whatever. 

 Not all the songs are fastpaced or rowdy (i said it again!?).  Some are folksy and some will make you cry.  You can just sit back with your eyes closed, relax and enjoy.  Sweet and melodious.  A great mix that I don’t mind my kids listening to… and they would.  Now I want to go see the movies again or go see the movies I didn’t see. 

If you’ve seen the movies you gotta have the soundtracks.  If you haven’t seen the movie, get the soundtrack and you’ll want to see the movie they were created for.  These songs can break down the barrier between young and old and leave you with a grin on your face that could last for hours.

“Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo” by Obert Skye

I loved, loved, loved, loved, loved this book. Did I say it enough.

As an adult with a passion for juvenile fantasy, I rank this one with Dragon Rider, Harry Potter, Eragon etc.! What a great book! Fun, energetic, full of suprises…

The book starts a little slow but I got dragged in and found myself not wanting to stop  even to eat. How could you not like a book that features a brave little talking toothpick???

I picked this book up for my 11 year old daughter. She said it was Better than Harry Potter!!  And she can’t wait for book 2 to be released.

But you do not have to take my work for it and Check it out for yourself.