Sherlock Christmas

Time has been flying out here in Indiana. I can't believe tomorrow will 2012. I wanted to write this post last week, but I was to busy playing Star Wars Lego III. That game is awesome! Best Christmas present I got this year, but it's not a Star Wars Christmas this year, it was a Sherlock Holmes Christmas!

It started the week before Allison left for Idaho. She was done with school, but had to still be in town because of her job. We decide to rent this great BBC show, Sherlock. This series was three movies long. It was set in modern London which made it a lot of fun. The first movie/episode was call A Study in Pink. Which was an awesome retelling of the first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet. A bit different than the original story as there was no Mormons in Pink. Which was a good idea since Sir Arther Conan Doyle didn't get a lot of facts right about the Mormons for his story. I think in England at the time it was still considered a cult. So we watch those three awesome movies and loved it. I think this Sherlock series might be my favorite. Even more than Robert Downey Jr. version. I love that version of Sherlock Holmes too.

Than came Christmas. In my stocking was a Lego mini-figure. If you know anything about the mini-figures they come packaged randomly so you never know what you're getting. When I opened mine up, Sherlock Holmes' head rolled out and was looking at me. I was like no way! This is to awesome. Allison was did you get one you needed. I said yeah I got Sherlock Holmes!!! Allison was like that's so cool. You love Sherlock Holmes. So yeah that was really awesome. Allison couldn't actually pick out Sherlock but was luckily enough to get me the mini-figure I really wanted from that Lego series. I was really happy and figured that might be all the Sherlock I was getting for Christmas, which is more than I ever thought I would get. Then when I was opening presents I got a book. From the size in the wrapping paper I though it might be a comic, but it wasn't. After ripping through the green paper with white snow flakes on it the present reveled to be a Sherlock Holmes novel! I haven't read very many of them yet. Just the first two. Allison had gotten me The Hound of the Baskervilles. How exciting! This is one of Doyle's most famous Sherlock works. I haven't read it yet, but it's next on my reading list after I finish my current book I'm reading.

It was a pretty awesome Christmas. Than to finish it off we went and saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie the day after Christmas. That was a lot of fun. I really liked it. Who would have though 2011 would be the Christmas of Sherlock Holmes? I sure didn't, but what a great turn of events,

wordless wednesday

The Quarter Bin – Wolverine 170 – 172

2002 was an exciting year. X-Men the movie had just come out the summer before. Wolverine was a hot property. Plus the yellow spandex was ditched for the black leather jacket. This three story issue arch was called Stay Alive. This story was not the best Wolverine story ever, but I’ve never heard of the writer, Frank Tieri. That doesn’t mean much in the comic world. Writers come and go in the comic industry. This story is a nice little adventure in Canada. Wolverine is looking for a bad guy who messed him up in previously. Instead he stops in a diner and sees some crazy guy eat all these people on a live reality show. The guy turns out to be Mauvais, an immortal French wizard who happens to be a cannibal too. Mauvais is going all crazy to unleash a Wendigo. Wolverine has to fight Mauvais and the Wendigo in issue 171. He’s beat pretty good and then in issue 172 Alpha Flight shows up. Nothing like Canada’s premier superhero team showing up.

So let’s get into what makes this story arch good.

The Good: Wolverine in black leather. I love this era. Grant Morrison run on New X-Men was one of my favorite. I love the old look now. I liked that the X-Men were all out of spandex and into leather jackets. They seemed cooler and who’s the coolest X-Men, Wolverine. The second issue in the arch is a “Nuff Said” issue. It was a challenge Marvel did with its comics for one month in 2002. No words were used in the comic, just pictures to tell the story. In issue 172 Sasquatch preforms a fast ball special. I don’t know about you, but I love seeing Wolverine doing a fastball special anytime I can get it. Also Tieri is setting up future stories with Sabertooth watching Omega Red and Lady Deathstrike. You see both of these characters for a second, but no explanation of what is going on with them. I like Omega Red and wish he was the main villain in the story. Also Wolverine has to fight some Polar Bears.

The Bad: Wolverine seems a little depowered in this arch. Mauvais seems like lame villain. He’s a French wizard. Not really that cool in my book. Wolverine has to fight and kill some polar bears. Doesn’t he know they are already in trouble with global warming? Come on Wolverine. Also the story plot from the first issue is just dropped. What ever happened to the guy who wanted to show everyone dying on TV. The TV producer never gets mentioned after he decides to air his reality show as his contestants are being eaten.

Stay Alive was an okay arch, not the best. I liked a lot of things about it, but it was lacking a real villain. French wizards just seem silly to me. Plus the fact that I spent $1.50 for it I would say it was worth it. I had fun seeing Wolverine in his leather jacket. Plus there was a fast ball special in it!

3.5 stars out of 5

dork driving to work

I feel like a real dork when I drive to and from work. It's starting to get pretty cold in the morning, but my job blasts the heat and I work right next to the heater. Because of this I have to wear shorts just not to over heat. If I was any where else in the warehouse I would be okay in pants. When I drive to work I wear the dorkiest outfit. I have my winter hat and biking gloves on. An old thin hoodie and shorts. Plus high socks so the fabric on my boots don't give my ankles a rash. It's kind of cold the first five minutes in the car ride, but after that it's okay. I still feel like a dork. Luckily no one ever sees me. I drive to work at like two am.

Sore Day

The first full week of peak is done at work. We started every day at three am, except Wednesday which started at two-thirty am. I thought I was ready for this peak season. I worked last year peak and a whole year since than. I figured my body would was ready for this year. I guess thinking is not my best suit. My body after just one week is a total wreck. Today at work I could barely move. I was so sore. I can't believe how sore I am. It feels like I've been hit by a freight train, well probably not that bad. If I was hit by a freight train I would be more than sore. So it's more like falling off a deck and hitting a grass patch, not concrete. That's how sore I am. To help with my soreness I took along bath today. It was a nice long bath were I watched some funny TV. My body feels a lot better, but the soreness is still there. So one week is done, lets hope I can make it through another three weeks.

peak

The return of peak is at UPS. This morning we started our early morning start time. We showed up at three am instead of four am. This might sound bad, but its not horrible. Some people call this month hell month. I can understand why. On top of working early they encourage us to sign up for a second program, the Driver Helper program. This program is what I was originally hired to do last November. the driver helper program is also called jumping, but they discourage people calling it that. The main reason for that is they don't want people jumping in and out of the trucks. This leads to injuries and UPS hates injuries. Injuries hurt profits and they don't like that.

This jumper season I decided to sit it out. Last year I last about three weeks before I hurt myself to the point that I couldn't walk. My knees are already sore right now from working for the past year. I figure working five to six hours every morning will be enough work for me. If you don't hear from me for awhile I just want you to know I'm either laying in bed trying to get some sleep or laying in the tub trying to soak my sore muscles. Which I'll need both. I hope everyone has a great peak season! I know I'll be trying to make the most of mine.

one year

I hit my one year mark at UPS on 11-11-11. I know. Who would have thought I would make it a whole year. I sure didn't. I thought I would die or something, but I didn't. I work hard and I got reward with more work. Here's what I learned from work at UPS for one year.

1. The harder you work the more work you get.

2. Just because you have more work than everyone else, doesn't mean you'll get help.

3. Time move slower when you know what time it is.

4. Country music stations in Bloomington play the national Anthem at 6 am.

5. The better you do your job the more work you'll get so you mess up.

6. If you mess up it's no one else fault, because you should be able to handle more work than the two people next to you combined.

7. Your bosses don't care unless you're going to involve your union rep.

8. If you walk out on your shift in the middle of the day you can use the union to get your job back.

9. It's always hot in the warehouse.

10. No one really cares about your feelings.

Working at UPS has been awesome. I can't wait to get two years under my belt, oh wait yes I can.

new Mormon art

I was watching the new I'm a Mormon videos online today. They had some very interesting people on the site that were famous. People I'd actually heard of that were Mormon. When these ads first started I didn't pay them much attention. I figured they would be boring like most LDS ads have been for years. During my views I found two new artist that I liked. The first was Rose Datoc Dall. Her blog is http://rosedatocdall.blogspot.com/ and http://www.rosedatocdallfineart.com/.

After watching her video I had to go look at her paintings. These are probably the first Religious themed paintings I've liked in a really long time. Rose's style is beautiful. My favorite painting that I've seen so far of her's, is Eve's Creation. This painting is beautiful. The way the shadows and lights play with each other. I just think the style that Rose paints in is amazing. This is the kind of art I want the church to get behind. It's new and different than what the church has been pimping for the last decade. I think it's time for a change.

The second artist I found was Cassandra Barney. You can find her blog at http://churningsandburnings.blogspot.com/ and her art can be found at http://www.cassandrabarney.com. Her style is different and just as amazing. I can't give justice to the art work she does. You need to go and look at it yourself.

These artist are amazing. The very different styles they bring to world is important. Looking at the I'm a Mormon ads in a different light now. These ads are not just to introduce people to the Mormon faith, but to help the Mormon community. We are such a large community that it's hard to find each other sometimes. These ads can help spotlight different individuals and show Mormons a different way of viewing the world in our own little corner of it. I plan to continue to watch these different ads and learn more about my people and hopefully find some more great artist.

wordless wednesday - two years

growing up

It seems that all my life my teachers and counselors have told me to follow my dreams. That I need to find what I love and do that. I know what I love, comics. I really love the X-Men. I remember being about ten years old when I discovered the X-Men. Fox had a great cartoon for them. A cartoon I based all my X-Men knowledge on for years and got a lot of things right about the X-Men cannon. Then my first comic book ever was the X-Men Volume 2 Issue 5. I got it as a present. It was a sweet comic. Wolverine fought Omega Red. Since that time I've been a big X-Men fan. I might not always collect the comics, there are like ten to twenty a month to buy, but I keep track of what's going on.

Here's my problem. Since I was about ten I've wanted to be an X-Man. That has been one of my big problems. I figured I'd eventually get mutant powers. Something really cool like I could stop time and live between the moments of time. Maybe I could travel in time or fly. I also could end up with a lame power like talking to fish or being able to jump twenty feet in the air. I just figured by now I'd have power. The problem is I'm now 29 and don't have a mutant power. According to X-Men lore the power manifest themselves at puberty which I had quite awhile ago.

I feel like I should give up on my dream. I'm getting a bit old now. I'm married. I have a family I need to look out for. The X-Men don't seem to worry to much about having families. Most of the kids end up being sent to the future to be raised. I just hate to think that I could never be an X-Man. I don't really want to grow up. I love being a kid and just doing kid things. Sure I finished college. I work a regular job, but that doesn't mean I have to give up the dream, or does it?

Mormon:Facts (Monster Edition)

wordless wednesday

ten reasons

10. Her desire for adventure
9. The way she cheers me up all the time
8. Being determined
7. Looking at the bright side of life
6. The way she kisses me
5. Letting me be my weird self
4. The way she always wants to hold my hand
3. Her love of books
2. Making me a better man
1. Loving me enough to marrying me

These are the top ten reasons I love Allison!

the lost car wash

One of the perks of buying our new Jetta at the dealership we bought it at was that we get a free car wash every Saturday morning. Luckily the dealership is right in front of our house! Mind you we went all over town before we went to that dealership to look at cars. Today was the first time we decide to use the free car wash. I wasn't sure exactly how it was going to work, but it did. We got our car washed. The wash was really nice too. They did it by hand and detailed the outside of the car. They even shined the tires! So nice. The one problem with that is the fact that it takes a little longer than the five minute auto wash at the gas station. When we took it in they said about an hour to an hour and a half. We decide to go grocery shopping in that time frame. Everything is like a two minute walk from our apartment. Life is good. So good. When I went back I wasn't sure what I was suppose to do. I saw that they were still washing a Jetta. Not thinking about the fact I was at Volkswagen Dealership and there are lots of Jetta there, I thought it was mine. It was an older Jetta too. So I just waited outside while they finished up the wheels. When they pulled it out they were like here you go. I got a good look at it and realized it wasn't mine. I was like my bad, not my Jetta. I looked around for a second and couldn't even see my car in the back lot where they kept the car they were washing and working on. I finally asked someone what was up and they were like oh, go check with the cashier to get your keys. Not knowing where that was I ended up going to a couple different people before finding the cashier. As I got my keys I asked her where they might have put my car. She said to check along the side and back. Having already checked there I was thanks. Walking out the side doors to check if it was over there I noticed a nice looking Jetta parked out front of the dealership. Oh yes, my car was looking so fine they put it out front to attract customers. It's nice to have a good looking car that runs really good.

the new 52 - Static Shock

The new 52 has finished it first month. That would the total relaunch of DC comics line of comics. They rebooted their entire line in September. I stopped reading DC comics at this time too. It felt like it would be a good jumping off point since all the stories were wrapping up. I was only reading two Batman books at the time so not a big loss for me. Then this week was the first rounds of issue two for some of the comics. I also only had one comic I as picking up at the comic shop so I figured I might give one comic a shot. I was thinking about Men at War and Action Comics. I heard some good things about both. Who doesn't like a good Grant Morrison Superman story or a war comic? Well in the end I went a totally different direction. I went with Static Shock! I picked up the first two issues of this book mainly because of 00's cartoon. I didn't watch the cartoon regularly but I did like it.

After reading the first two issues, I have to give Static Shock a passing grade. It was a lot of fun to read. He held onto some of his Milestone roots. Milestone was the company that first published Static Shock comics. They have Hardware being Static mentor in superheroing, since he's still a teen. Hardware stayed back in Dakota while sending Static to New York City to investigate some crime. In the first two issues we start to see a criminal organization that Static will be fighting. He crosses their path by accident at first by stopping someone from stealing a powersuit for S.T.A.R. labs. This leads the organization to want to stop Static. They don't want any Superheroes in New York City. They are using a teenage gang of techheads to pull of most of their crimes, the Slate Gang. The organization puts a hit out on Static and all hell breaks loose, very entertaining. They use great cliff hangers at the end of each comic.

All and all Scott McDaniels does an excellent job writing Static Shock. I've always enjoyed his writing since I can remember. He did a lot of great comics in the 90's and 00's. He wrote my favorite run of Nightwing comics. I hope that he continues with his awesomeness and keep Static Shock in my read list. That's it for the new 52 for me. I plan to read more of it, but probably in trade from the public library. When I get my hands on that I'll let you know if the other new 52 is worth reading.

Mormon Culture: Music Festivals

When I was a junior in High School I had a friend that dad was a Baptist Preacher. Luckily the kid wasn’t all about making a Baptist or even hating on my Mormon beliefs. He kind of got me confused with Amish people and was always asking me if I had electricity in my house. One thing he convinced me to do one Saturday was go to a music festival. This music festival wasn’t a normal one though, it was Christian music festival. I wasn’t really sure what I was going to be hearing when I agreed to go. If it was anything like the religious music I had been hearing in my youth, it was going to suck. To my surprise it was nothing like bad contemporary Mormon music. They had rock bands, rap groups, singer song writers. It was really amazing. Since then I’ve always wondered why Mormons can’t make good music. Sure there are some famous rock stars that are Mormon, but are they really?

Music has always been an important part in Mormon culture. During the pioneer treks Brigham Young would have people break out their fiddles and play upbeat music to dance too. At the time this would be considered the latest music styles. Young was all about the pop music of his time. Lately it seems that the church is against rock music or just popular music, which is fine. I don’t think I would want Weezer approved by my church leaders. The thing is why aren’t Mormons making their own rock music? Why are there not Mormon music festivals? When I hear about, Mormon music it takes place in the church chapel. Why can’t there be some good punk bands that are Mormon. There are a few good Christian punk bands, MxPx, Owl City, and Reliant K. They don’t sing about Christ and how they saved them. They just sing music and are very open about their religious views. How awesome would it be if we had some Mormon bands like that? I know Aquabats might be considered our Mormon band, but the lineup has changed and I don’t know if they are Mormon anymore. I’m not saying I need big bands, but some rock bands. I remember listening to Sweet Haven, whatever happened to them. They would be the perfect band to get behind and build an awesome rock community behind.

Here’s what I want to see:
1. More Mormon rock bands
2. A Mormon Rock band festival that happens once a year
3. No more crap music by the other Michael McLean

I don’t think that is asking for too much. Okay maybe it is. I mean, Mormons hate rock music. That’s what I learned from my church leaders. Of course they’re the same people that say listening to anything other than Mormon Tabernacle Choir will send me to hell. So I never really listen to them. Yeah, I might be a little bad, or more.

my nightmares are weird

I had nightmare last night. They happen every once and awhile. I usually don’t talk about them because they’re really boring nightmares, like I have to work for hours and hours at UPS. That is a nightmare I have regularly. Last night I had a really weird dream. I was living in Cedar Rapids again. In the brown house I grew up in. I was upstairs in the big bedroom; it was big when I was five. I was there with Allison just hanging out. I heard some noise from the window. When I went to look out it there were some large gazelles; I’m not sure how big they get but they were bigger than mule deer. It was night time too. The sky was a weird navy blue; kind of like in the movies when they are saying it night. There was a light fog covering the ground. I couldn’t see the hooves of the gazelles. Scanning the backyard a little more I saw a lion too. It was a normal size lion, but not a normal lion. The lion wasn’t hunting the gazelles. He was just lying there on the ground. He turned its head up towards the window. That was when I noticed it wasn’t a normal lion. It had a pug face, like those cute little dogs. It had a burned yellow pug face with gold locks of a mane. It was beautiful and ugly all at the same time. I told Allison I needed the camera. I need to get proof of this crazy beast. I couldn’t get any good shoots from the window I was at. Luckily the pug lion was down by our sliding door in our backyard. I figured I would be safe if I went downstairs to take the picture. As I got downstairs I noticed something was wrong. Someone had left the glass sliding door ajar. There was no way I was safe anywhere in the house if pug lion could get into the house. I crept up slow to the door trying not to be heard by the beast. As I got right up to the door the pug lion swung his head right towards me. His eyes flared up. He wanted me. I tried to close the door but his huge paw with his pearl colored claws caught the door before it closed. He started to pull the door open. I ran back upstairs to Allison and slammed the door shut. Hoping the pug lion wouldn’t get to us. No luck for that. He smelt the fear on me. He started to bang on the door. I tried to hold it shut with my body. I yelled to Allison for help. The pug lion started to pry open the door. I could see those deadly paws again. Then I sort of woke up and was like I’ll get the X-Men to help me. I asked Nightcrawler to teleport out there and teleport the lion out of my house. He was like no way. He wasn’t going to fight a lion. Then I woke up all the way. It was one of those weird dreams.

songs you can listen too

Finding good music can be a hard task. I know some people don’t even try to find new music anymore. They’ll listen to the radio and that’s it. That’s not bad, but I’ve always been one to seek new music. I’ve been this way since I discovered music. I was a little older when I did. I was fifteen when I bought my first cd, Sugar Ray’s Floored. I have to say I’ve come a long way since then. One problem I know a lot of Mormons have is finding good music without curse words. I for one don’t care very much about this. I like a good curse word here and there. Okay if you ask my wife she’d say I curse worse than a sailor at times. It’s true. I’ve tried to cut it out. I did okay on my mission. I was able to cut it out in front of people.

I degrees, I do that a lot in my blogs. I was talking about music. I have many different ideas for music, but I want to talk about one person right now, Vanessa Carlton. I’m not sure if people know her. I know she has been on the radio and on MTV when they use to play music videos. I just picked up her new album from my local library and it is beautiful. Rabbits on the Run is just a wonderful album. Vanessa plays the piano and sings. She has a gift that is amazing. If you are looking for a pop star with a beautiful voice and great skills Vanessa Carlton has it all. She is an artist that I would say any Mormon could listen too. I wouldn’t even turn her music off if my parents came into my house. Trust me I have a lot of music I wouldn’t listen to with my parents, but isn’t that true about each generation? You listen to music your parents wouldn’t listen too.

Here are some of my favorite songs by Vanessa, White Houses. If you listen to the lyrics it’s not very innocent, but the piano piece is amazing. She talks about some very mature subjects in a very upbeat way.

A Thousand Miles was Vanessa first I knew by her. It’s a sweet little song. If you were listening to music in 2000 you should know this song. It was everywhere. It reminded me a lot of the Proclaimers 500 Miles. The music video on this song is very cool too. I like the idea of traveling the world on a piano keyboard. Plus she’s wearing armbands.

Vanessa’s new song Carousel is also good. It has that upbeat feeling. I hope to get to listen to this song for years to come.

wordless wednesday - beauty

who i am - blink 182

Blink 182's new album Neighborhoods came out today. As many people know I'm a huge Blink 182 fan. A little over a year ago I wrote an essay about how they affect my life. This essay is very much about me and what I think of Blink 182. I hope you enjoy.

It’s a balmy eighty degrees on a late Sunday night in September. The air is stale with a hint of body odor whiffing through the room. The television is blaring as four newly married couples start to play Guitar Hero. I hold the mic close to my dry pinkish slightly chapped lips. The sweat is starting to bead up on my forehead as I wait for the song start to play. Allison’s guitar riff starts firsts on the television. Red, green, green red, yellow. I jump up a foot in the air my legs bending a little in true punk rock fashion as I yell in to the mic, “Take your pants off!” a classic rebel cry for Mark Hoppis and Tom Delong. These are not the words to the song that just started on the television. I don’t care the lyrics haven’t started yet I’m primed to rock out as if this was my last night on earth. I’m just buzzing hearing that opening riff on the guitar played on my television. I’m no longer a twenty-eight year-old unemployed loser playing Guitar Hero in his living room to escape reality, but a dorky fifteen year-old.

There are very few things and moments in a person’s life that they can point to and say this has changed my life forever. I no longer want to be my old self, but a new person. This one song, this one band helped form my personality, the essence of who I have become over the last fourteen years. I can name a few different things that have done this in my life, but there is one thing that is so defining that it changed the course of my life: Blink 182. No other band had more influence on me as a teen. One song changed my life from dork to punk. Not the 70’s Clash punk or the 2000’s emo, but a true 90’s short-haired pop punk band. The only kind of punk I have ever wanted to be. To this day I would say I’m still a 90’s pop punker just waiting for the next Blink 182 album, which is coming.

When I was fifteen I wasn’t actively searching for anything to change me. I was happy listening to Sugar Ray’s album Floored. I was happy with my crappy hair cut with the part on the side when I put a pound of gel in it. I was happy sitting in my house being just what my parents wanted me to be. But I wasn’t happy; I just didn’t know it yet. How can you know you’re not happy when you’ve never experienced anything? How can you know you’re happy when you’ve never really had great joy? My home just got cable television a few months earlier. Before that we only had PBS in the house. I was experiencing MTV for the first time; it still played a couple music videos at this time. Not all the time, but at least enough to find new music. Music I would have never been exposed to without it. I remember hearing “Dammit” for the first time on MTV.

It’s alright to tell me what you think about me, I won’t try to argue or hold it against you. I know that you’re leaving you must have your reasons. The season is calling, your pictures are falling down.

Those first words sung by Mark Hoppis with three cords played by Tom Delong was a spiritual awaking for me. No longer did I have to listen to Top 40 crap on the radio. No longer did I have to be nice and pretend I liked everyone. No longer did I have to have a lame 50’s-style haircut that never worked with my hair. No longer did I have to try and discover who I was. No longer did I have to wonder if the Spice Girls were the best girl group on the earth, a debate that never mattered in the first place. I was a punk. This song was about girls and how they screw up your life, which I knew nothing about, but Mark and Tom were going to be my teachers for the rest of my life. I need some teachers, because the rest of pop music told me to find a girl that likes Breakfast at Tiffany’s and that was enough. I had no clue what that meant, but why would pop music lie? I just needed to find this amazing restaurant and I would have women. Oh Top 40, how you lie to me. There is no restaurant at Tiffany’s; it’s just an overhyped movie from the 60’s that girls love.

The transformation wasn’t overnight, no transformation can be that fast. I had to go down to the record store and find this new band, Blink 182. I only saw this music video once before I searched it out. This was before youtube, before bands were on the world wide web. Searching took time and effort; it was like you were Indiana Jones looking for the Holy Grail. You could ask the guy at the record store, but there was never a guarantee that he knew the band you wanted. They usually only cared about the obscure Indie Rock that was coming out. I had to go old school and search Karma for the CD. I found it. I was able to remember enough to actually find it in a large CD store. This new discovery was amazing, not just for me but anyone who would know me post-“Dammit.” Over time I grew out my sideburns, the classic 90’s sideburns that everyone was sporting. You can tell which guys lived through the 90’s as a teen because most of them still sport the sideburns. I decided to cut my hair short on the sides and a little longer on top. Then my hair went straight up a year later. I’m no early adopter, but I was one of the very first kids in my school to sport that look. All of a sudden people started to notice me in the halls. I wasn’t a nobody anymore, I was a cool kid. Okay I wasn’t a cool kid, but people stopped making fun of me. My pants got huge, and I learned the white guy dance from The Offspring’s Pretty “Fly for a White Guy” music video.

Discovering yourself shouldn’t be as easy as finding a silly Blink 182 song on MTV. Everyone knows who Blink 182 is now. They sing that song “All the Small Things.” When I discovered “Dammit,” I was alone in a crazy world. It would be about a year before any of my friends were listening to “All the Small Things.” Bands have weaved in and out of my life. Blink 182 has not left me. The only time I stopped buying Blink 182’s CDs was when they decided to stop making new music.

At one point in my fourteen year love of Blink 182 people started to think they were lame, in fact at many times of my life I run across this. For some reason people think Indie Rock is where is should be. They don’t care about pop punk. They don’t want to listen to happy upbeat tunes about boys losing girls and trying to figure out how to get them. Yet that is what life is all about. You are either trying to get a girl or trying to figure out how to get over them. My teachers Mark and Tom taught me this. It doesn’t matter if you’re married either. You are still just trying to win your wife over every night, at least I am. Why do you think so many marriages go south? It’s because they don’t listen to Mark and Tom about love. If you take it for granted you lose it. Now that’s a true punk belief.

To this day if I hear “Dammit” or any Blink 182 song I have to stop for a second and punk out. If it’s the car I just nod my head. If I’m walking when it come on my ipod, then maybe a little dance move right there on the street. The best is when I can rock out to the entire song. I can scream at the top of my lungs for the entire song. I can jump up and down and be a maniac, because I know I’m a punk. I’m no longer that dork with lame tight jeans and a bad haircut.

It’s happened once again, I’ll turn to a friend someone that understands, she screwed the master plan. But everybody is gone and I’ve been here for too long to face this on my own. Well I guess this is growing up.

Well I guess this is growing up.

For two minutes and forty-five seconds I was a legend of punk rock. I let the eighty degree weather shove it. I didn’t care if I was dehydrated. I belted out “Dammit” for the whole world to hear. I turned away from the television, not needing to see the lyrics, and serenaded my wife as she played the fake guitar. I jumped up and down. If this is growing up, I don’t want to stop. I want to keep going. I want to listen to “Dammit” a hundred thousand more times and remember I can change and be something amazing if I need to. We all can.

national comic book day

It's National Comic Book Day! I've never heard of this holiday, but I do love comics. I would have thought this day was the first Saturday in May which is Free Comic Book Day. I love that day too. Comics are the best and yes, you should be reading them if you are not.

I wanted to talk about five comics I love reading right now. I have a bunch that I love to read. Since I am one for the spandex muscle comics I'll be talking about them. I know that's not every ones cup of tea, but it's mine. I'll try and throw in some other good books too.

1. Invincible by Robert Kirkman. This is the best monthly comic book out there. Invincible follows Mark Grayson on his adventures. The twist and turns of Invincible will totally keep you reading the comic. Mark grows from a high school kid with no powers to one of the most powerful superheroes on Earth. He deals with every day situations and with the morale decisions he has to make as a superhero. Should he kill villains? Should he work for the government, even if they're a little corrupt? His decisions will effect society he lives in. I love the personal drama Mark goes through with his family life. Everything is being thrown left and right as Mark grows up.

2. The Amazing Spider-Man by Dan Slott. I'm a huge Spider-Man fan. I've loved Spider-Man for so many years, I can't count them. The most current story going on in the Amazing Spider-Man in Spider-Island. Normal people are getting spider powers. They can webswing and stick to walls. Mayor Jameson doesn't like this. The world see this as a epidemic. Can Spider-Man protect New York when he's now just like everyone else? Slott has been plotting Spider-Man for about a year now. There has been a lot of changes in the last few years and this Spider-Man is ready for action. For once most things are coming up good for Peter Parker.

3. American Vampire by Scott Snyder and Steven King. This is a new comic I've been reading from Vertigo Comics. I for one thought vampires were played out. Twilight made me feel that way. This comic has no superheroes. I'm not even sure if there's a hero in the book. The vampires in this book are evil. They suck blood and murder humans for fun. They're not about finding love and sparkling. They are about killing. One of the interesting things going on in this book is that each line of vampires has different powers and weakness. The old European vampires are the classics, the ones we all know. The American vampires are new, the story starts with following the first one, Skinner. He is a bad cowboy for the 1800's. Snyder and King both write different sections of the stories and weave the magically evilness of them. If you like good vampire stories this is an excellent one.

4. Gladstone's School for World Conquerors by Mark Andrew Smith. It's the Hogwarts for super villains. That alone should say enough. If you're a super villain you send your kids to this school to learn to use their evil powers and fight superheroes. Or do they? There's an evil mystery behind the school and the super community. What is that secret? This all ages book is amazing. It will grab your attention and make you want more and more.

5. 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente by Wilfred Santiago. If you like baseball this is a great comic. It tell the true story of Roberto Clemente. How he was from Puerto Rico and made it all the way to the majors. It's a great story and I think everyone should read it.

Okay there's five comics I love right now. Now you all need to get up and go find a comic you'll like to read. You can check them out from your local library if you want too. It'll make your life better. Trust me.

car quest

This past week has been a rollercoaster of a week. Our car died last Saturday. It’s still in the shop, waiting for a part to come in. Since our car has been giving us to much trouble lately we’ve decide to start seriously looking for a new car. Unfortunately our budget for a new car is small, but we should hopefully find one. We’ve already had some funny experience this week car shopping.

While looking on the internet we found this sea green ‘04 Honda Civic that looked like a good deal. It had a few miles on it, but you have to except that in our price range. Well over the course of a few days I went over and checked out the car. It looked good, I talked to the guy and it seemed like an okay car. The carfax looked okay on it. There was nothing major on it. So I took Allison a couple of days later to look at (with our schedule it’s hard to get to car dealers at the same time). She looked at it and thought it looked good. The car was her favorite color for a car. We decide to take it for a test drive. After getting the keys we sat down in the Civic. It felt good. There was a little fabric damage, but not much. I went to put my seatbelt on and as I locked it in, it flew back up at me. The driver side seatbelt did not work. Who tries to sell a car that is illegal to drive? Yes, in Indiana they will pull you over and ticket you for not having a seatbelt on. First thing we didn’t like about it. We decided to still see how it ran though. As I pulled out and touched on the brakes, I heard a bit of crunching. Of course, the civic would need brake work. The civic was turning more and into a bad buy. This was making us sad. We both love Honda so much, and to find a relatively new one for a good price was a dream. We thought maybe the Lord was guiding us to our first car purchase together, but no it wasn’t. Oh way does buying such an expensive purchases have to be so hard. So the quest for a new car continues.

Talk like Pirate Day

It’s International Talk like a Pirate Day! This is an important day in our lives. If we don’t go out and talk like pirates then who will? I know I can’t let the boring people win. Rrrrr. If you want to take it one up, you can dress like a pirate too. Shiver my timber that sounds better than Long John’s treasure. My real question is should I be talking like a modern day pirate from Africa or an old school one. My best guess is neither. I should be talking like a movie pirate. Rrrr, matie. Go have some fun on this Monday. I know it might cure my Monday blues. Hi, ho. Hi, ho. It’s a pirates life for me.

Mormon:Facts - 2

Primary, what else is there?

This past Sunday Allison and I took primary off. The primary presidency gave put these cards at the beginning of the year that let you take one Sunday off to go to your regular meetings and they would cover you. It’s one of the nice things they do for you. It was the first time I’ve been to Elder’s quorum and Sunday school since last December. I forgot how nice it was to go. It’s not very often I just get to sit back and listen to intelligent adults talk. I almost never hear a deep discussion on anything, if it’s not between Allison and me. I don’t get out much and work gives me nothing. We don’t hang out with our friends that often, so yeah, this was the first time in a very long time I actually heard the gospel in a class setting.

When I was younger, I hated Sunday school. The teachers were boring and they really never discussed things I didn’t already know. Now, it’s a little different. It’s a hundred times better than being with five-year-olds. It’s still a little boring. Most of the topics are that deep and amazing, but adults have opinions. Opinions that are their own. Opinions that they can clearly state and are passionate about. This is something I’ve been missing. I never voice my opinions in church; I don’t like talking in large groups, so Sunday school will never know what I know.

What I’m getting at here is that I love grown up interaction. I even got to talk to people between classes! I haven’t had time to do that forever. I got to sit next to one of my friends other than my wife. I was able to listen to engaging ideas of the gospel that might challenge me to do some more studying to see if people’s ideas are correct. (Yeah I never take anything at face value at church, doesn’t matter who says.) It was so nice. I miss being out of primary. I miss the little social interaction I use to get at church. Church has lost most of its meaning since they put me in primary. I feel like I’m there to babysit some people’s kids. I feel like I get nothing out of church, especially after seeing what I’ve been missing this past year. I don’t have the social aspect of it or the religious part. It’s a three hour waste of time for me. They need to change how the primary teachers work.

They need to make it possible that each teacher gets one Sunday a month or every two months where they go to their meetings. That’s not too much to ask. If any other primary teacher feels like I do, I’m sorry. It’s not right how the primary program works. I feel like I’m not really part of the ward when I’m in primary. They need to make it possible for people like me able to go to Elders quorum sometimes. It would be nice to meet some people in my quorum.

Mono for a Year

"I once thought I had mono for an entire year. It turned out I was just really bored." - Wayne Campbell

I'm a little bored with my life right now. It's my own fault. I can't motivate myself to do anything really awesome right now. Last year at this time I was drawing comic and working on paintings. I was doing both of these things until a few months ago and then I just stopped. I don't have any great ideas for new comics. Well that's not true. I've got a couple ideas for ED the Business Warrior, but I want to do more than just ED. One thing I want to do is draw a Mormon comic. I've been feeling like this is something I should do for awhile. I've been dabbling with it in my daily sketches. I've done a few Mormon:Facts, but I want to do a story. Then the question is what do I write/draw about? I do not want to do a pioneer story. I think there's to much of that in church literature already, plus I want to appeal to more than just Utah Mormons. I would like to do a story with Mormon characters more than a story about the Mormon faith. That still leaves a huge hole of what do I want to do. I have to really be passionate about it too. If I'm not, I won't finish it. That happens to all my comics I start that are longer than five or six pages. The only comic that has had any story lines over that many pages is ED. It's strange to say this, but ED is my most accomplished comic I've ever drawn. Although I believe my Political Fridays comic is my most viewed comic I've ever done. Being able to see stats are awesome. I just need to find something that will motivate me. Once I'm motivated I should be out of my funk. If it's drawing a Mormon comic that would be cool. If it something else that would be good too.

i'm a goner

the British want my Mind

The British have invaded my life. This is not a new thing to me; I’ve always liked British things. Some of my favorite bands are English, like Art Brut, The Streets, and The Specials. It has been getting worse and worse since I moved to Bloomington. This past week Allison decided she needed to see the new Doctor Who. Her friends have been talking about the Doctor none stop or something. She’s never seen any Doctor Who before. I watched the new series on and off when it was on SciFi channel. The problem was I just couldn’t get into the show. I’d come in to the show in the middle and be like what is this? I’d watch half an episode and be like this was lame. I warned Allison it might not be good. I know I didn’t really enjoy it that much seeing it that much. Luckily I was wrong. That first season of Doctor Who was awesome. Sure some of the special effects were BBC standard, which wasn’t really good until recently. Now I’m addicted to the Doctor and I need to see season two of the second series.

One show isn’t really enough to say the British have invaded my mind, but it more than that. We started watching Misfits on Hulu. Oh my goodness that show is off the hook. It follows these delinquent youth in community service that accidently get super powers. Do they become super heroes? Some of their powers are totally horrible for saving people. We’ve watched half of the first season and need to finish it still. Then on top of that we started watching The Book Club. That show is really dry and uncomfortable. I enjoy it so much.

For Labor Day we went to the movies. A movie I’ve wanted to see for about four months finally made it to America, Attack the Block. This movie was insane. Not just a little insane, it was full off insane. You had these crazy aliens attacking a small neighborhood in South London. A small street crew has to man up and take them on. The aliens were really well done and the movie was the best alien movie I’ve seen in years. The main reason I wanted to see it was Nick Frost had a small part in the film. He was okay, but the hoodlums made the movie awesome.

That might not seem like a lot of British television and movie, but there more. Tons more that I love. Someday I’ll talk about them too. Yes, I’m talking about The IT Crowd and more.

Dreaming in Nauvoo

Every morning on the way home from work (I come home at 8am) my wife wants to tell me all about her dreams. She has many strange and odd dreams about everything. Many times I have no clue what she’s talking about, but she is talking about her dreams. I don’t remember my dreams very often. I’m not sure why this is. Allison says that men just don’t remember dreams. It has something to do with my biology. I can accept this. The question is if I do remember a dream is it important? Is it really a repressed memory? I don’t know. A while ago I had a dream. I still remember it days later, which makes me wonder if it was real.

My dream takes place when I was a teen, probably around 14 or 15. I was out on a scouting trip; a scouting trip with my Father. We were going canoeing or kayaking. Here’s the weird part we were doing it in Nauvoo. When I think of Nauvoo, I’m not talking about the church part, but the real city part. With buildings and houses people live in. It was really weird, because Nauvoo is on the Mississippi and you don’t go canoeing on the Mississippi. I think I might have been dreaming about the New River in West Virginia and the city of Nauvoo. Both places I’ve been as a Boy Scout.

During the rafting part of the trip my canoe flipped over and I was hurt. My arm might have been broken, but I never found out. My Dad got me out of the river and drove us into Nauvoo. Once we got there he refused to take me to the hospital. Instead he drove me to an Appliance store. I kept asking to go to the hospital, but my Dad said he knew a guy here that would fix me right up. I thought this was weird, considering I don’t think my father would ever deny me medical attention if I was hurt. I sat on a washing machine as I waited for this guy my dad knew.

My dream took an odd turn here. I found some old school Human Torch comics while waiting. I’m talking 1940’s Human Torch comics. This is the android Human Torch from Timely Comics (which later became Marvel Comics). While looking at them I realized they were about me. I was this android and these were stories about me in the 40’s.

The guy finally showed up to look at my arm during this part. He was wearing jean overalls and hat. He looked like a mechanic more than a doctor. He looked at my arm and was like the kid will be fine. Then the dream ended.

So weird and odd. I don’t think I’m the Human Torch or that my Dad refused to take me to the hospital, but what could this dream mean. I’ve been thinking about it for over a week and I have no clue. Maybe it means nothing and I just remember it because it had my Dad in it. I don’t know if I’ll ever really know.

Mormon:Facts? - one

Extreme Mormon's in Primary

Sitting through Primary every week can be a difficult task. As many people know I'm not a big fan of kids. I like my nieces and nephews, but past that I don't really like kids. So, every Sunday I try to help teach primary with Allison (I try, but I don't do a great job at it). One thing I've noticed is that some people in the Primary are a little to extreme when it comes to their beliefs about church and what we should be teaching the primary children. Then there are some people that I feel understand that we are not their main source for gospel teachings and shouldn't force their own opinions on these kids.

I don't know how to deal with the extreme Mormon views. In my opinion they take the commandments to a whole other level. I feel it's important to teach kids right versus wrong, but I feel the need to give them the tools to make correct choices, not tell them one thing is better than another.

A few weeks ago we had a lesson on the Word of Wisdom in Sharing Time. If you know me, you know I really have a hard time with this one. I feel most people don't interpret it correctly and focus on the wrong parts. I was really worried when this lesson started. It could have been a down out slug-fest of misinformation if done by certain people in the Primary. To my surprise it was done really well. They talked about not drinking alcohol and eating good foods. I was amazed how they didn't bring up caffeine. Especially since most Mormons eat tons of it but refuse to drink it. It's my personal opinion if you have a problem with caffeine you shouldn't eat chocolate ever. Some chocolates have as much caffeine as Coke. The lesson was well done that week.

A couple of weeks ago we had a lesson on our bodies. This lesson mas done amazingly. They talked about how we need to dress modestly, but didn't tell kids what type of close were modest. Instead they handed out pictures to color of little boys and girls. They told them to talk them home and discuss with their parent what they felt modest clothing was. They emphasis that this was a topic for them and their parents to decide on. Then they talked a little about what the Strenght of the Youth said, but always making sure the children knew to ask their parents what was correct.

Then this week we had a lesson on keeping our mind clean. This one should have been easier than the last too. Most of the kids in our sharing time don't have to worry about this. The oldest kids are six. Yet, the extreme view point came out. This lesson was done by a different person the the other lessons. She talked about how her kids couldn't watch some kids show because they dressed to immodestly. I asked Allison what that meant to her later and she thought the person was talking about nudity. I was like, I don't think so, because she refereed to kids shows on kid networks. To say the least I can, this person said a few other things that were way beyond the mark. If my children came home and said my primary teacher said this, I'd would tell them that they were wrong and full of crap. I just wanted to walk out of that sharing time and take my class because I really felt she was filling their heads with mis-truths and half-lies. I doubt anyone would feel the same way as me. They probably think that her lesson was fine, even though she was using scare tactics to get the kids to not think bad thoughts, which is impossible, because our minds will think bad thoughts no matter what. It's more of what do we do when they enter our mind versus we're unclean if we have a bad thought.

This post has gone on a little longer than I wanted. What I'm trying to say is if you have kids be careful. Primary might be filling their heads with half truths and opinions as doctrine. I'm not saying all Primary teacher's are bad, I think most are really good. They are doing this for free which I think is amazing. It's the extreme Mormons you have to worry about. The ones that homeschool their kids because they don't want them around non-lds influences (kids). (Not all homeschooling is bad either.)

Summer is Coming to an End

I hate and love when summer is over here in Bloomington. One thing that is nice about summer being over it the temperature and humidity goes down. The leaves start to change color (that's still about two months away). The sun goes down earlier and earlier, which is nice for me since I go to bed early. Yes, autumn is coming and I can't wait.

The problem with fall in Bloomington, the return of the students. This has always been a double edge sword for me. Without the students I would have never lived in Bloomington period. When I was a kid my Dad taught at the University. Now my wife is one of those many students. There are many ways to tell that the students have moved back. Traffic is doubled through town. You can't walk through Target anymore. There are tons of extra boxes and people inside. It worst than Christmas.

Although the main way I know the students have returned is my habit of almost hitting them on the way to work. During the summer I have no trouble getting to work at four am. Hardly anyone is up and I don't have to worry about people dressed all in black darting out in front of my car as I drive to work. This week I almost hit four or five different people on their way home from the bars. You would think they wouldn't jump out in front of the only car on the road to cross the street. I am always the only car on the street, but they still feel the need to cross the street before I pass. I do not understand this, is waiting ten or twenty seconds really going to affect their time getting home?

As much as I love the end of summer in Bloomington, it's a bitter sweet. I love the crisp weather. I love the changing of colors. I don't like the crazy students jumping in front of my car at four am.

wordless wednesday - baseball fever

Mormons at our BBQ

Guess what was at my public library in Indiana? Baptist at our Barbecue! Who would have thought that movie would be in a city so far east of the Great Salt Lake? This little Mormon flick is one of the many I think might be doing it right. It won five different Best Pictures awards in small festivals. It also one Best Film of the Decade at Hope & Dreams Film Festival. I tried to look this festival up, but it's webpage no longer exists. That was sad.

Baptist at our Barbecue was an interesting little film. It was a love story about Tartan a single 29 year-old Mormon. This alone doesn't sound like a very big deal, but if you understand Mormon Culture, you know that being 29 and single is like the having the plague. Tartan lives in Provo, where there are tons of single Mormons. He feels he just doesn't fit in there so he moves to Montana. To a city that is split in half. Half are Mormons and half are Baptist. Thus the religious rivalry begins. Through this all Tartan meets a beautiful single Mormon girl from Utah trying to escape her old life, Charity. Mind you she is the only female in this film that looks like a movie star. The rest look like country folk. Not like the hot farmer's daughter type though. The I've worked on the farm my entire life kind.

The film was okay for a Mormon film. There were a lot of inside Mormon jokes. There were also a lot of weird comedy moments, like when things would be stolen that shouldn't be able too. I enjoyed the movie, but I wouldn't rate it as great. It was nice to be outside of Utah, but you were still in a heavily Mormon community. Anytime you have a town that is half-Mormon, it's a large population. I feel like this film could have been more than it was. It had a good message of communities need to come together and live with their differences. I still want to see a Mormon movie that doesn't have a high Mormon population situation. I know all those Missionary movies out there, but they don't count. A missionary is a sub-culture all in itself. They don't interact with the general population like normal people. I would like to see a movie about Mormon set in the east. Where the character has LDS friends, but their best friends are not LDS. That's how I grew up. I had my Church friends and I had my school friends. Sure a couple of them were in both groups, but not my best friends in high school.

In closing I want to say this movie was good for a Mormon film, but only okay for a regular independent film. I still want to see more films based outside of the Mormon bubble. Plus I want a film I could show people who don't know a lot about the Mormon culture.

my type of classical music

From some odd reason I've really been into The Postal Service lately. It might not be odd, but it is to me. For someone who loves to listen to punk and hip-hop it's a strange departure. Sure the Postal Service has nice beats and smooths vocals, but that's not what I always go for. I like raspy male voice. Someone who has drunk their life away. That's why I like bands like Rancid, Bad Religion, and Say Hi so much. They aren't smooth, they feel like they have some life to tell. I know, Say Hi, isn't punk or Hip-Hop, but his voice is so amazing. I've been turning to The Postal Service more and more when I want something light to listen too. It's almost like I consider them my classical music. I don't know why, but I do. I just feel like who they arrange their synthesizer is how Mozart would do it if he was alive today. I personally don't think Mozart would be make classical music if he was alive today. Mozart would be more like a Hipster and be make grand rock and hip-hop operas. It would be smooth and amazing. I could see him teaming up with Trent Reznor and making sweet noise.

So what I'm saying is I've been listening to an album made in 2003 a lot lately. I've even though about buying on vinyl cause I like it so much. I use it to lift my mode out of the blues. I hope you can like it too. Maybe if you haven't heard of this little project by Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and Jimmy Tamborello you can check it out. I like it a hundred percent more than Death Cab, but who doesn't? Probably Death Cab fans. Also I decide to give you a peak at Say Hi. I love this band. Saw them live and they do not disappoint.

Madison County, I went there!

Mormons in Films

One thing I feel the Mormon culture has embarrassed well is film. Mormons have been a part of movies since the silent era. Notably not always shown in the best of light by others, but we have been a standoffish culture for many generations. Over the generations we have slowly developed our own sub-genre for film. As Mormons we love movies and we like to make them. That is ever apparent if you go to Deseret Books. There are movies upon movies made by Mormons for Mormons. It's amazing how many movies have been made now. I remember only ten years ago I'd never even heard of a Mormon movie. No one I knew owned one east of the great Mississippi for sure.

The first Mormon film I saw was Singles Ward. I was 19 at the time and had never seen anything like it. A movie that portrayed Mormons as they really were. Not some uptight religious freaks, but real people. It made me laugh. I could actually identify with some of the characters. The only movies I'd seen before that were produced by the church. They were boring and kind of put me off.

After seeing Singles Ward I saw another Mormon film, God's Army. That film was more down to earth. It was a serious drama about missionaries. I feel like this film is one of the best versions of what it's like to be a Mormon missionary. It's hard and sometimes you have to let of steam. This movie is even in my public library, which is amazing, considering we have such a small Mormon community in my city.

Then came the big Mormon movie. So big, it was released by Disney and had screenings across the entire United States. No other Mormon film has done this yet. What movie am I talking about, The Other Side of Heaven. I'm not sure if this counts as a Mormon film. I don't know who made it and I'm not sure if the actors are Mormon. One thing I do know is it's about Elder John H. Groberg missionary experience. It was a good film.

What is the state of Mormon films now? The last decade has seen some amazing things happen for the Mormon film industry. Will we continue to see new films? I'm sure we will, but what about major releases? That I'm not so sure about. I haven't heard of any new films, but I'm not surprised by that either. It cost hundreds of thousands to make a major release. I'm sure there will be another one someday. What I'd like to see is more Sun dance style films. Independent films that go to the many different film festivals to make some big splashes for Mormon films. Look at Sun dance Film Festival, it's in Park City, Utah. It's in the heart of Mormon country, we need to get on top of that.

We should start our own Film Festival, but no restrictions on it. It should not have to have a message about Christ or Mormons. It should just be films by Mormons. A Film Festival to celebrate Mormon's in film. It would have to start out simple, but it could grow over time. If anyone actually knows if there is a small film festival let me know. I'll promote it and make sure people know they can see original Mormon films there.

Another thing I would like to see is more broader movies. It seems that not most Mormon films are very exclusive. If you're not a Mormon you don't get a lot of the jokes. If you're not a Mormon you don't understand what going on in some of these films. We need films about Mormon outside of Utah. Films that still feature Mormons, but not exclusively in Utah. The best film I can think of for this is Napoleon Dynamite. Not my favorite movie, but it's done by Mormons and it features a lot of Eastern Idaho lifestyle, but doesn't force the whole Mormon jokes. People love this film that are not Mormon.

Okay so here what I think:

1. Mormon's have been doing good with films for the past decade.

2. We cannot rest on our laurels, we need to push ourselves as a culture to make better films than before.

3. We need to make some Mormon films that are assailable to the general public, e.i. not so many Fast Sunday jokes.

4. Let's make a film festival to celebrate Mormon's in film.

i heart baseball

I have a secret love, but it's okay my wife knows. It's baseball. I like going to the games. I like watching a game in the middle of the afternoon and falling asleep in the fifth inning. I like the overpriced hot dogs and popcorn. I like the silly little entertainment show they put on between innings. I like to watch the score board and see the stats. I like watching movies about baseball, like Field of Dreams and Eight Man Out. I like watching batters hit home runs and pitchers striking players out. I like the excitement of it all. After all, this is America's favorite pass time. It should be loved by everyone. Baseball isn't my life, but it's a fun distraction.