Forever Strong movie

We went and saw the Forever Strong movie yesterday. It was a good movie that wasn't just all about rugby - focused on the change we can go through if we are willing to repent and improve.

There were a few scenes of my brother Craig, but they were too fast. I don't know if they were just too fast in general or too fast because I wanted to be able to say - "Hey, did you see my brother Craig in that Forever Strong movie in the xxxxx scene...."

From Rugby games and cousins - California 2007

He was in the opening scrum or something and then in a lot of scenes in the final championship game. 

In honor of the haka dance in the movie, and at the numerous BYU rugby games played, here's Chris and Jared performing this at a mini-family gathering. It's always fun to re-watch.

From Hakaa - Chris and Jared

My Debut in the lead cast of a Hollywood Movie

My brother Christopher announced to the family today that I am in the lead cast of the Forever Strong movie ....that is, according to the following blog - http://hollywood-tollywood.blogspot.com/2008/08/hollywood-sport-film-forever-strong.html . My brother Craig, who is actually in the movie, is also a lead cast member according to this blog.

Obviously, they just posted what my brother Christopher put on wikipedia a few months ago.

And so, I've made my Hollywood debut. Let's hope that this is as far as it ever goes. But, perhaps if I am lucky, someone will actually check into what the "lead crowd filler" role actually is and maybe I will get an interview with someone or see some blog post talking about the absurdity of someone being cast as a live crowd filler.

Oh, and I clicked on this link - http://www.rugbymovie.com/ - and if you pause the trailer at the 20 second mark you can see my brother Craig tackling some dude for the 20th and 21st second. Now, that's a lead cast member. He made it to the trailer.

Rugby Movie - Forever Strong

I really enjoy rugby. I don't fully understand it, but all of my brothers play, make it the final four championships every year and give me a chance to fly out to Palo Alto to see the play offs and a few relatives. This is the first year in a while where no brother will be playing. But, when Brett comes off his mission, I'm sure he will be back on the playing field and I'll have another trip to look forward to.

A new movie will be coming out in September - Forever Strong. It's based upon a true story about the Highland rugby team (Utah high school) , but that's about all I know. Oh, wait, that's not all I know.

My brother Craig is in the movie playing rugby. He, along with a lot of other All-American rugby players from BYU and University of Utah in 2006, are real rugby players in the movie. The town they filmed in is outside of Toelle, Utah. The town is smaller than Toelle - so it might not actually be a town. I know, I was there. At least for one day. Believe it or not, I had to sleep in my rental car at a truck stop the night before because Salt Lake City had so many conventions that week. All hotels were booked in every direction. After driving around Toelle type towns (late at night- spooky feeling) and finding no hotels (not even Bates hotels), I finally realized I'd have to do the Hawaii vacation trick. That would be putting t-shirts over all the windows and trying to squeeze my six foot frame into the backseat of the smallest size rental car. Those kind of experiences are only good for journal entries at later dates. Anyway...off topic at hand.I sat next to this dummy in the stands and pretended to cheer. We weren't allowed to make any noise while we cheered. Silent cheer. I guess I had nothing else to do while I sat and waited for my brother to finish playing in some rugby scenes.

The players received free food for their efforts...and some exercise and bruises. Some of the volunteers that sat in the bleachers won free iPODs. I'm not sure how free that is after you've had to sit in the sun for 8 hours, but it was amazing to see the characters that came out of the woodwork to participate and await the chance to possibly win an iPOD and receive an over baked hot dog.

The main characters didn't know how to play rugby when they started shooting the film. Craig said they were told to be a little gentle when the main characters were running with the ball or being mauled. I would say tackle, but not sure if that is a rugby term.

Anyway, it should be a good movie. If anything, you will get to hear and see the rugby players doing a hauka (hakka?) dance at some point which is always interesting.

Other links:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMsVEyesEeM


• http://www.rugbymovie.com/


• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forever_Strong


• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigham_Young_University_Rugby_Team


• http://www.byurugby.com/

Rugby Championships - 2008

BYU played an awesome game on Friday night. It looked good most of the time. So, they beat Colorado. But, Saturday they got intimidated or something and lost to Cal-Berkley in the final championship game. So, they are 2nd place for the third year in a row. My brother brought his little son and he proved to be quite the cheerleader yelling "go, go, go" or "uuuurrrrggggh" really loud at appropriate, and inappropriate, times. It kept the audience on our end of the stadium entertained.

I took some pictures and put them in my Flickr account for the viewing pleasure of those that want to know. Feel free to add comments as well. I need help identifying some people in the pictures.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11632617@N02/sets/72157604904552247

(Picture: Alma Chris, Little Alma, Brett, Rebecca)

Skymall gadgets

So, I just flew into San Francisco for the final four rugby games. I was on a non-stop thank goodness, but I was so enthralled with my Fast Company magazine and the Skymall catalog that I didn't even look up what kind of flight I was on. It wasn't a 747, but it did have the multiple sections. I like those because then I get the first row of a new section that has more leg room.

Anyway, I love the Skymall catalog. It is my favorite catalog (besides Eddie Bauer) because every page brings a new surprise OR something that I thought of inventing and didn't. One of my goals in life is to invent something that makes it into the Skymall magazine.

They have the coolest gadgets. Some of which are very useful for photo and video projects. You can get little gadgets that convert the audio tapes to CD, old records to CD/DVD, old videos to DVD, slide converters, converters directly to the iPOD, and converters that convert your videos and stuff to the right format for the iPOD/MP3 players, etc. Most of the gadgets don't require you to even hook up to your main computer. I wish I had purchased some of these before I completed my video and slide converting project, but I honestly don't think these were in the magazine back then. After all, I take every Skymall catalog home with me every time I fly.

Anyway, take a look at http://www.skymall.com/

P.S. I guess I should add that I actually have purchased several items from the catalog. I know some people think that no one does, but I'll admit that I'm willing to pay more for something that promises to be unique.

Rugby - Brett's turn to win the Wasatch Cup

Ok, so BYU takes rugby pictures with incorrect lighting on a consistent basis, but here's Brett's picture.

It looks like BYU won the Wasatch Cup for the third year in a row. I looked up the info on the BYU rugby site and found a little sports report.

I must say that I do enjoy watching rugby. Partially, it's because I can never really track the ball. I will think it's under some kind of pile of players, but out of the corner of my eye there will be swift movement in another part of the field and yep, the ball has somehow transfered over to the new location through some kind of strateg-ery that is beyond the grasp of the untrained eye.

Speaking of rugby, there is a movie that is supposed to come out with my brother Craig in it - Forever Strong - where he plays some rugby as well. Not sure on the movie status, but the premier seemed to bring positive reviews. Ok, at that link take special note that my brother Chris added me to the list of people on the movie. Yes, I did actually sit in the bleachers and do fake clapping and yelling while sitting by an actual dummy.

Merry late Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It's January 4th and I'm barely writing my yearly Christmas letter. It seems that it comes faster every year! But, here it goes...

2007 started out fairly stressful. Work stressed me to the point of my first gray hairs. As a result, I decided to make work a lower priority even though I still go everyday to manage expectations, people and projects. Responsibility isn't all that it is cracked up to be, but we all have to experience the "greener pastures" for at least 5-6 stressful years, aye?

This year I didn't take many trips. Those I did take involved seeing family members. My youngest brother graduated from high school. There's almost an 18 year gap between us! That means that 2009 brings my 20 year high school reunion. Gasp. I'm finally experiencing those weird feelings of being old. However, my first haircoloring erased some of those strange feelings. ..temporarily.


We've had a few family gatherings, but none with everyone. A few of us met up in San Franscisco in the spring to cheer on the BYU Rugby team in a national championship game. BYU came in 2nd place again. All of my brothers (and Mom and some cousins) were there and all participated either as alumni athletes (cheering) or in the game (Craig).



Craig made it to the All American team again and played a great game at West Point in New York. Mr. Adam Brett Clark is making his debut on the team this year and will be the 4th, and last, brother to play on the team. His high school team won the state championship and so hopefully that carries over in Utah. Go BYU Rugby!

The largest event of my year was actually a project that took a few hundred hours out of my life. I converted all of the old family videos onto DVDs so that they could be viewed and shared by all. I had finished the project and backed up on appropriate hard drives only to have two hard drives fried in the same week. Not good. Luckily, the second time around was faster and more efficient with a new round of technology at my disposal. I also compiled all digital photos and videos to date. Let's just say that 10 copies of everything gets old after a while. Costco photo center became a close friend. I got my time back and they got all of my money. (-:

I'm teaching little five year olds at my church. In the past, kindergarten was my least favorite grade, but these little people grew on me. This year I will be teaching 10 year olds. That is typically the age I enjoy working with, but I'm sure my work will be cut out for me.

Other than that, life moves along. I always appreciate interacting with family, friends church members and some co-workers. Thanks to all that stay in touch. I'm a little slow at times. Does everyone get a couple hundred emails a day like me? By the time I get home from work, I'm completely technology weary.

2008 is shaping up to be a great year! Hopefully there will be wonderful news from me and wonderful news to me from you.

Happy New Year and keep in touch, Rebecca

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