campaign genius

this is the most amazing ad i've seen in a long time. watch it. memorize it. live by it.



this next one is not bad either. please enjoy.

movies galore

today I went to this movie, and followed that up with a trip to this gallery. this is my report, and i'm sticking to it. sometimes i realize that i enjoy living in this city and this is one of those times. for now, please take a look at this deer head:



and this one:



if you have any questions, please call me.

the midwest diva

this will solve all your life woes.

yes we can?

please go here to do the right thing. you know you want to. you know you should. just do it already.

don't need a weather man

i guess it's time: visit here to see what i've been doing over the past couple of months.

this is our problem

not the gender breakdown, but the age breakdown (this is california's info, but stil)...

scotch mist

if you haven't yet, spend some good solid time with this video.

all my love,

emilio

it was then i noticed two sets of footprints....

no big deal.

this is the view from my hotel room. wish you were all here...

full circle

anyone remember this? Well, it's happened again, although this time Petey wasn't there. As you all know, the WGA is on strike, thus forcing our beloved Stephen Colbert and John Stewart off the air. What to do? How can we possibly get our news without their nightly reviews?

Luckily, UCB hosted the favorite son of South Carolina last nite and Brian (liz's brian) got us tickets. Just think, out of the three hundred million people in America, we were four out of 225 who were able to see Stephen. The show was perfect; in fact, even better with the school play aspect of the performance. For the word, the writers came out with posters to show the words that usually appear on screen. I won't say more, as you can find reports other places. But just know that I missed Peter not being by my side as well...

Also, if you are still reading this, you should check out this New York Public Radio interview. Brian Lehrer interviews Jan Shipps and does a pretty good job. I made some comments during the interview, but I'm afraid I did not represent very well...

hire this

So, this is what I do on a Wednesday nite.

mitt the mormon

i think paul will especially like this article about his favorite person ever.

ephinanies

sister beck must have been thinking of graco's slogan when she gave this talk. so, i guess graco wants the world to ask mormon women about their products. am i right?

get ready for utah

i know i can't wait. i hope you can't wait too.

ions bonding

so what if i like salt?

theo the dicy

check this out in the new york times. it's an article on how a practicing christian lost his faith because he couldn't answer the question of theodicy. the problem being that god, perfectly good, cannot create something evil or flawed. yet, on the earth, so much suffering and evil occurs. how did he create something so bad? it seems like most people (like 3 out of the 4 people who actually ever look at this) who read this web log probably believe in God. so, how do we reconcile it? how do we deal with the problem of evil? let's hear your thoughts. and no fair using vague quotes, etc. i'd rather we stick to what we believe and try to back it up with scripture, logic, or hard facts from pertinent sources. or we don't have to. we could just get ready for our big trip to chuck-a-rama over christmas time.....

photo fare

i've lately had a thing for very old photographs. i came across this collection of photographs. i think it may have something to do with all of the books i'm reading right now by this guy. maybe not all the books by him, but especially these three. the books are almost perfectly written and coincided nicely with my discovery of these photographs.

there is nothing more american than photographs of the western usa during the 19th century. the photographic processes they used were tedious and required much time of both the photographer and the subject. all involved were serious about preserving memories. the camera, however, was not as commonplace as it is today, and represented something new and advanced. these cameras and processes created more beautiful documents than can any modern-day megapixel or software-advanced photoshop.

i found the above collection of photographs made by george edward anderson, a photographer based out of spanish fork and springville. i found many scanned negatives of my direct ancestors, as you can see below. at christmas time, anyone who is in utah should plan on a trip to the library with me to find the hard copies of these photos. then we can go to the d.i. and shop for cameras. and after that, we can maybe go to chuck-a-rama, another thing that represents the essence of america.


this picture is of my great great grandfather's family. he has a goatee. and he has a wooden leg, but you can't see it here.


this is thomas david and priscilla merriman evans. They are my great great grandparents on my mom's side.


this is my great aunt, maggie evans.


The old guy is david thomas davis, my great great grandpa. he went to wales with thomas david evans (see above) on a mission for the mormons.


This is spanish fork at a 24th of july parade.


this is a house called the peter frandsen house.

my britney barometer

isn't it strange that no matter what company you are keeping, if you bring up britney spears, it will spark at least a 10 minute conversation? i thought that i used to be immune to it. unfortunately, last week someone turned on the tv and i saw her dancing at the mtv music awards, and now i can think of nothing else. seriously, i spend my days obsessed over britney. did you realize that she is just 5 months younger than me? which is totally wild because she is the only female artist in history to have her first four studio albums debut at no. 1 on the charts. and, in 2002, Forbes ranked her as the world's most powerful celebrity. but who needs money and power when you live in a room that measures 8 x 10?

a link

please read this

another mormon thing

saw this on mormon stories. take a look at our official stance on the mountain meadows massacre.

i just finished re-reading Juanita Brooks book on the subject, and I still know little about what actually happened. this new book that is coming out seems interesting. Elder Eyring claims Brigham Young is completely absolved of responsibility with this new research. sister brooks definitely didn't come to such a powerful conclusion, although she claims he probably wasn't to blame. however, she certainly does hold that he was responsible for some kind of cover up.

was there press on the movie september dawn in Utah? nothing much out here. the movie definitely places all the blame on Brigham Young, and almost none on local leaders, something that is not at all supported by the historical documents (at least probably, anyway).