I'm it

So, Star tagged me, and I've decided to play along. Even though I think these questionnaire blogs are silly, I think always secretly hoped that someone would tag me. Now I feel included.

The rules:

1. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
2. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

The facts/habits:

1. I like food a lot. I know that's no surprise to anyone that reads my blog, but I really enjoy eating, and trying new foods, and comparing foods. I like food that has its own packaging.
   • Example: One of the things I love about burritos is that they come so neatly packaged up in a tortilla. (I also like that there's so many different insides. I don't think I'd ever get sick of burritos.)
   • Another example: Bananas. I like the taste of bananas OK, but the real reason that I like them is how them come grown in their own packaging, with an easy-to-pop top. I have a fantasy that Heaven will have trees that grow banana-looking fruit, but that when you peel them there will be corn dogs inside.
2. I daydream a lot. My family used to make fun of me for it, so I try to be discrete about it these days, but sometimes I like just sitting or walking around and imagining things.
3. I hate deleting things. I don't delete photos or school assignments, even if they're bad. I think I still have every file that I've made on a computer since I got home from my mission (and I wish I still had my files from before my mission). I don't delete my blog posts, even if later I realize that it was stupid and/or wrong. I just revise with comments. It drives me crazy when other people delete their blogs. Especially when they delete the whole things. I think the world is a worse place because Paul deleted his post about how email status evolved into blogging.
4. This is related to the last post, but I'm very afraid of things that are permanent, especially if it has to do with my body. Tattoos and operations scare me because you can't undo them. I always want to get my teeth fixed, or to get eye surgery so I don't have to wear glasses/contacts anymore, but I'm also scared of it because I can't go back to the way it was before if I don't like it. I think I've mostly given up the idea of ever changing the gap in my teeth, but hopefully someday I'll still get my eyes fixed.
5. I'm shy. People often don't believe me when I say this, because I've been known to do crazy things that would embarrass normal people. Somehow being shy and shameless aren't contradictory for me. When I'm in big groups of people or when I first meet people, I tend to be very quiet and have a hard time knowing how to talk to them. Weird, huh?
6. I think that everything that is alive has a soul. I think that nature is unpredictable because everything is alive and has free will. I like seeing the personalities in animals or even trees, and feeling like they have a spirit in them just like a human does. I don't think it in the reincarnation way, and I don't think that a buffalo has the spirit of a human, but I do think that it has an immortal soul of its own kind. I don't think that trees have the level of intelligence of an animal or a person, but that on its own level it has choices and feelings. I think that you can feel connections with other living things if you try. And I'm not even a hippie. I don't even recycle.
   

The tags
I wanted to tag some people that haven't blogged in a while, and that I'd like to see posts from again. Here's my six:

1. Jason Davies
2. Ronnie Steelman
   
3. Gabe Jones
   
4. Elizabeth Tanner
5. Karen Breffle
6. Richard Casteel

Unlike Star's tags, I really do expect you to do it, and I'm going to bug you about it until you do.

Eyeglasses

The irony in looking for your glasses when you've misplaced them is that the very need to look for them disqualifies you from the task.

Beto's Revolution

You've probably noticed recently that all of our beloved Beto's restaurants have been changing their names to Rancherito's. You may have also noticed the signs that say "Same food, same management/owners, new name!" You may have also noticed that the signs look exactly the same (as Beto's and every other Mexican food chain that uses that generic sign), just with a different name. If you're like me, you've of course tried the food and realized that it really is the same. So why the change?

Well, as far as this internet (and all of the others I've tried) will tell me, no one knows the answer. So, with my expert knowledge of Beto's, I've come to the conclusion myself.

Hint #1: All Beto's are not created equal
The Provo Beto's was my first exposure, but since I've moved to SLC, I've tried several other locations. They're not all the same. Not only is the Provo Beto's by far the dirtiest location, the menus look different and some of the menu items are tastier than they are at other locations (probably due to the excess dirt).

Example: The downtown SLC Beto's is not good. The Beto's by Jason's work is good. Don't ask me why. I don't get it.

My conclusion from this, however, is that Beto's is a franchise, and that the individual franchise owners have some freedom as far as how much awesome and how much dirt to put in their restaurants. I know that it's not that surprising of a conclusion since so many food chains are organized that way, but it is important.

Hint #2: Mexi-Burrito
The Beto's by my work in Holladay also changed its name recently. Like the others, it has a sign claiming that the owners and the food are the same, but unlike the others it changed its name to Mexi-Burrito. It's incredibly clever. I'm not sure how they came up with it. The real question, though, is why did this one change its name to something different than the other locations?

Surprise Twist Ending
Here's how I think things played out:

Rancherito's really did buy out Beto's. While the corporation did change owners, the individual franchise owners didn't change, so that's how they're justified in putting up a sign claiming that they have the "same owners". When the ownership of the corporation changed, some of the franchise owners (like the one in Holladay) opted not to renew their franchise fee with the new company, and they're now independent. They're also justified in their sign, because they are still the owners of their businesses. Since all Beto's were not the same in the first place, they don't have to change their food to match the new not-sameness, so all of the locations keep their same menu regardless of how the franchise identity has changed.

There it is. Mystery solved.

Collars and haircuts

You know what I'm going to say the next time someone asks me why missionaries need to wear white shirts and ties, or why BYU students can't have beards or mohawks? I'll tell you.

It's because in American culture (and the other cultures that accept its influence) Christianity has become aligned with the conservative right-wing. So, the LDS Church, whether consciously or not, has decided to fit the image of conservative, right-wing people so that it can be taken seriously as a Christian organization.

That's why.

Blond Beard

I went to the Greek Festival tonight, and I talked to a bum outside of the place before I went in.

"That is a beautiful beard," he said to me. "You look like Thor."

I immediately replied, "Thanks!" I was pretty surprised, but obviously flattered. It's not very often that I get referred to as beautiful.

"I like Thor," was the last thing that the man said to me, but as I walked away, I heard him say to the people that walked by behind me, "Watch out for Thor!"

What if we were cavemen?

Or if we lived on another planet, maybe?

And what if there were giant, flesh-eating monsters that prowled at night, and our only defense against them was to hide in our caves until daylight?

What if, instead of getting your girlfriend home by curfew, you had to get her home before sundown so that the man-eaters wouldn't devour the both of you?

What if, instead of dirty looks from your neighbor, the consequence for staying a few minutes later than you planned was that you'd have to fight your way past a giant reptile that would bite your arms off just to get you to stop poking it with your spear?


I think that'd be weird.

Attacked by Dogs

There's a park by my work that I like to go to when I run, mostly because it's big and pretty well shaded by the trees. And no, I haven't lost any weight yet (though hopefully I've at least stopped getting fatter). That's not really the point.

I don't think I had a problem with dogs before my mission. That's because in the United States, people keep their dogs in their yards or on leashes, so dogs don't just roam the streets looking for people to bite. In Chile it's different, and not just because the people let their dogs do whatever the want, but because there are too many dogs. I'm sure that's related to the lack of "fixing" (or the lack of money to do so?), but whatever it is, there are stray dogs everywhere, and they're not all very nice. So when I was there, I kind of learned to be cautious about dogs, because you never know which ones are going to decide to come after you.

Despite the odds and several attempts, I was never bitten on mission. I'm sure that was mostly due to the backup I received (both of the celestial nature and that of my companion's foot).

Where was I?

I had actually finished running yesterday and I was just walking back to my car when I passed two smallish dogs laying on the grass. (I only know a few breeds, so I can't say what kinds of dogs they were, though I know a few kinds that they weren't.) I don't know how long the dogs had been sitting there or how many people had walked past them before me. I don't know what it was about me that they didn't like, unless they could just tell that I was wary of them and decided to take advantage of that. Whatever it was they both jumped up suddenly and ran towards me barking.

I kind of panicked. At first I jumped back startled and started to run, but the smaller of the two dogs came in for bite. I didn't even think about it, but I kind of instinctively gave it a kick to the jaw. I wish that would have taught it a lesson, but they kept coming, so I just started running away from them.

I'm sure I ran way faster right then than I had during the whole of my workout, but all of the same I didn't get very far before realizing that I couldn't outrun the dogs, so I turned around to face them. For some reason I thought about something I'd read on a sign post in Colorado about mountain lions, and so I stuck my arms out to make myself look big and yelled nonsense sounds at the dogs. They both stopped, but didn't retreat. I wasn't very far from my car, but any time I started to move towards it the dogs would think I was retreating myself, and get courage to come at me again. When they did this the first time I tried kicking again, but I realized that I couldn't swing at one without being vulnerable to the other. So I went back to just acting tough, and there we stood in a deadlock.

I could see people coming around the park on the path, so I waited so that they could help me when they got close. When they actually showed up, though, they just strolled past and the dogs left them completely alone. Three sets of people walked by, and instead of helping me out they just said how cute my dogs were. I was too embarrassed to admit that I was afraid of them and that I needed some help, so I just let them go by.

I finally got away because a car drove by and I managed to have it separate me from the dogs, and the I got back to my car. I felt really shaken up, even though I hadn't been hurt.


Somehow this turned into a really long post, but I figure that embarrassing things make good stories. Enjoy.

Burger Supreme

The great equalizer: Burger Supreme. Everyone from Provo probably knows it, and for me it was a favorite and the first of these Greek burger places that I was really familiar with. So, how does it stack up?

Pastrami Burger: 8
Tomato, lettuce like the normal toppings, but with a tiny bit of (what I think is) the fry sauce and a slice of american cheese. The truth is that the american cheese doesn't go as well with the burger as the swiss did at Mad Greek, and it's almost too much.
The killer of this burger, though, is the pastrami. It's a subtle difference, such that it took me a minute to realize what it is, but the pastrami on this burger takes more like corned beef than normal pastrami, so it has a really unique flavor that I think makes the burger.
(And as a side note, I looked up pastrami and corned beef, and they're almost the same meat, except that pastrami is smoked and peppered. So, maybe BS just doesn't smoke their pastrami, and that's how they get the unique hybrid flavor. That's just a theory, of course.)
I think this is still the best pastrami burger I've had. If it had swiss instead of american cheese, it might be unbeatable.

Gyro: 8
The first thing I noticed about the gyro at BS is just how juicy the meat is. The slices are thick, juicy, and flavorful. Can I say juicy one more time? The meat was great.
The cucumber sauce was creamy, but not with the same extraordinary richness that Mad Greek had. It was, however, full of chopped cucumber, onion and tomato. The cucumber really added a freshness to it.
The oil, however, was a noticeable downside. While Mad Greek's oil has a unique and pleasant flavor, Burger Supreme's seems like normal animal/vegetable fat, so the presence of the oil kind of weighs the gyro down and makes it seem heavier and greasier than it needs to be.

French Fries: 7
The fries are very greasy at BS, but not so much that it makes them soft or soggy. On the contrary, they were fresh and very crispy, which in my opinion, makes them great. (And from experience from visiting this place many times when I lived in Provo, I can say that they're consistently this way.)

Fry Sauce: 7
The fry sauce is ketchup and mayo, like usual (and I don't think it's any weird kind of mayo). It does have a little bit higher content of mayo than ketchup (which I like, but I realize that not everyone does).

Conclusion
The thing Burger Supreme does best is meat. The meats are flavorful and juicy. (I know I've said that too much, but it really is true.) While the trimmings (like sauces and cheeses) are consistently good, they're not anything extraordinary, either.

Mad Greek

Sorry, I know it's been awhile, and I'm sure everyone's been going hungry waiting for me to tell them where to eat.

So, Mad Greek. I have to admit that I kind of judged it by it's name, and I thought it was going to be some cheap trendy kind of place. The sign outside of the location I went to () even says "Ze Best Greek". (That's at Mad Greek Too, and yes, it is a chain, though there's only 5 of them, so it's still just a local chain.) Though, maybe I should have realized they don't know how to be trendy since they made their slogan bigger than their name on the sign.

This is all beside the point. The food's what's important here.

Pastrami burger: 7
Tomato, shredded lettuce, and thick lean slices of pastrami. Not high on quantity like at Crown Burger, but the pastrami was leaner, thicker, and peppered. Nothing amazing or groundbreaking there, but it definitely met expectations. The novelty with the pastrami burger at Mad Greek is the thick slice of swiss cheese with which they topped the burger. That was a great touch, and it really made all the difference.

Gyro: 9
It's a high score, I know, but I really think this is going to end up being the best one. I've tried it several times, partly just so I could have a good description (but partly, too, just because it's so good).
The pita was lightly toasted (not fried). It had very little tomato and onion, cut into small strips, and mixed in with the meat (instead of sitting in a pile on top). The meat uses a mixture of beef and lamb, and it's very tender. Not as high quantity as Crown Burger, but definitely tender and well-seasoned. The oil on it has this really subtle sweetness to it. It's really unique, but once noticed, it's worth reveling in.
And the sauce. Oh, man. The sauce was really thick and creamy (like if it had gotten any thicker or creamy it would have been cheese instead of a milk-based sauce), with a cucumber flavor that's just mild enough to be noticably cucumber without being strong enough to overpower the flavor of the meat. The best sauce I've had.

French Fries: 7
The french fries were very potato-flavored (which I think is good, seeing as they're made of potatos), and very lightly fried (which may be good if you're not as fat as me and don't need that much grease), and heavily salted (which is good, and I don't have any qualifier for that). They were fried enough to be crisp on the outside, but not to be greasy or really crunchy. If you don't like greasy fries, then these might be the best you'll find.

Fry Sauce: 8
Mayo and ketchup, like normal; at least at first glance. More mayo than ketchup, and the mayo was the thick, pasty stuff that I've only had in Chile or from my grandma's Dutch import store. That kind of mayo is made for french fries, and it really made the fry sauce better.

Conclusion:
Mad Greek was dang good. Don't discount it because of the name or the silly buildings. All the food was good, and the gyro was fantastic. I'm skeptical if I'll be able to find one to beat it.

Not a hate-free zone

So recently the blogs of Kelly and Loyd were visited by an anonymous mormon-hater. It started with just a rude remark on Loyd's post about trying to be nicer, and then when Kelly snapped back at him/her, he/she posted some random anti-mormon comments, first on Loyd's blog (which the new, nicer, Loyd apparently didn't want to argue with), and then on Kelly's. Since I'm not new or nicer, I thought I'd provide a place for the anonymous hater to post his arguments without tearing down other blogs. (I've got a community to uphold, after all.)

Background
So, the hater's main topic was Mountain Meadows massacre. Just some background for readers that don't know, the massacre happened in Utah in 1857, when some mormon militia members slaughtered a group of settlers along a wagon trail.

From what I understand (and I admit that I got most of my information from Wikipedia and the recent PBS special), the relationship between the Utah territory and the US government wasn't so great at the time, and the mormons in Utah were (rightfully) afraid of further persecution and of losing their sovereignty.

So, apparently a group of militia members from southern Utah disguised as Native Americans, along with some actual Paiutes, (unrightfully) attacked a wagon train with the aim of getting them to turn back and leave Utah (possibly with Brigham Young's consent).

That isn't the most awful part yet. While they had the wagon train surrounded, one of the settlers got a good look at one of the mormons, presumably realizing that he was a white man, and not a Paiute. When the rest of the mormons were informed that their disguise had been found out, they decided (premeditated, in group meeting) to cover up their action by killing every member of the wagon train that was old enough to tell the tale. They met with the settlers, feined a truce, and then led them off and executed them.

The mormon participants swore to each other to keep secret what they'd done. Later an investigation uncovered the event and the militia officer that led the attack was tried and executed.

Discussion
So, with that all as background, this is the string of comments from Kelly's blog (just to provide context and separate the argument from the unrelated post):

Anonymous said...

Count your blessings, you got off easy. You could just as easy been one of the poor innocent victims at the Mountain Meadows Massacre. You lucked out and they didnt. They got shot in the head at close range by a bunch of crazed blood-thirsty Mormons. The young children got their skulls bashed in with a rifle butt weilded by the "good" Mormons of Utah. I dont ever want to see the Mormon Welcome Wagon heading my way.

Thu Jun 14, 12:08:00 PM

kel said...

So, anon, I'm wondering what your motivation is here. It's quite apparent that you're anti-mormon. It seems random, though, that you start spouting on this post. Your comment has virtually nothing to do with any of the discussions on this page. So it would seem that you simply want to spread some of the ugly history about the mormon church around wherever you can. Is that right? I really have always been curious about the motivation of anti-mormons. Please, if you'd like, do fill me in.

Thu Jun 14, 04:31:00 PM

Anonymous said...

Actually I love Mormons, but I do indeed hate Mormonism. The historical account of the Mountain Meadows Massacre is well documented. I know most Mormons will tell you it never happened just like Nazis will tell you that they never ever killed a Jew. Come to think of it Mormonism and Nazism have many things in common but I wont bore you with the details because you wouldnt believe me anyway. My real goal is to educated everyone in the world about Joseph Smith. Joseph was one of the most evil men to ever walk the face of the earth. He was a pathological liar, a cheat, a scoundrel, a child molester, an adulterer, a thief, a murderer, a castrater, and all around bad person. Im glad you asked. And if you want to know Brigham Young wasnt much better.
I think my post was right on the money. You lost a radio. So what, someone will buy you a new one. The innocent victims of the Mountain Meadows Massacre lost their lives and to this very day the Mormon Church has not accepted one ounce of responsibilty. That is shameful. But apparently you are OK with it as are all Mormons. Shameful, just shameful.

Thu Jun 14, 05:47:00 PM

Now, my two cents. First, I in no way want to condone or justify the Mountain Meadows massacre. When I found out about it and just what happened, I felt sick. It was a horrible crime, and yes, it is shameful.

That said, why is it that people continually use this event as a reason for hating our religion and organization? The anonymous commenter claims, "I love Mormons, but I do indeed hate Mormonism." I think you have that backwards. You haven't said anything at all about Mormonism, but rather you've used the inhumane actions of these militia members, who were, sadly, members of our faith, to justify a belief that "all Mormons" condone, support, or "are OK with" murder.

You say that "to this very day the Mormon Church has not accepted one ounce of responsibility". As recently as this PBS special Church leaders express deep regret and sympathy for what happened. You might point out that this is not the same as accepting responsibility for the massacre, but the fact is that the Church is not responsible: those that attacked, plotted, and murdered are responsible. If you knew anything about the doctrines of the Church, you could see that the Book of Mormon teachings against secret combinations condemn the plot and oath and murder done to cover up what these men have done. Mormonism condemns what happened more explicitly than any other philosophy of which I'm aware.

Mormonism didn't cause the murder of those innocent people. So why persist in attacking the Church, and members of the Church, over this? It doesn't make sense to continue to hate mormons, or Mormonism, because of the sins of those murderers. I guess I don't actually expect a change from you or anyone else, but (maybe for my own benefit and for that of my friends) I wanted to point out the problem with this hateful line of thinking. I can at least hope that we'll eventually develop a hate-free zone for discussion.

Crown Burger

There's a few points to notice before I get started here. First, since I'm using Crown Burger as my base case, as a basis of comparison, I've predetermined that it's ratings will all be 5 (middle of the rating scale), to give room for other restaurants to be better or worse than it. So, the 5 here doesn't necessarily mean that it's average, just that it's the first one. You can wait to see what that rating means based on how other restaurants fair in comparison.

Second is that since there are a lot of Crown Burger restaurants, it's possible that they aren't all the same. These ratings are based on the Crown Burger at 33rd and Highland Drive. If later I decide that another Crown Burger needs to be considered, then it will get its own ratings in comparison to this Crown Burger (as though it were a separate restaurant).

Are you excited yet? I am. Ok, let's begin.

Pastrami burger: 5
Crown Burger's really proud of their pastrami burger: they call it the "Crown Burger". Admittedly, it is very good. They really pile on the pastrami. There was a lot of it, though the meat did have a lot of fat in it. The composition was pretty standard: pastrami on top, followed by cheese, burger, shredded lettuce, tomato. There wasn't much seasoning on the meat nor any special sauces (but if you're getting this burger, try putting pepper on it; it makes a big difference).

Gyro: 5
Like with the pastrami, the meat was piled high on the gyro. The meat itself wasn't very tender (it was kind of stiff, like it'd be sitting there for too long before being served), but the seasoning on it was very good.

The sauce was basically just ranch dressing (it might have been a cucumber ranch, but definitely just a salad dressing). There wasn't any feta cheese. The pita was lightly toasted on the griddle, and that was really good.

It also had sliced onions and tomatos (and a lot of these). The slices seemed a little big on the gyro, but I'm sure it's just because they use the same onions and tomatos that they put on the burgers.

French Fries: 5
The fries were pretty run of the mill. Big thick fries, but not very fresh. They weren't soggy, but not very crisp either.

Fry Sauce: 5
The fry sauce seemed like it was simply ketchup and mayonnaise mixed, with a tad higher proportion of mayonnaise. Pretty standard. (I do think I've had a different fry sauce at Crown Burger before, so maybe that's one thing that varies by location.)

Conclusion:
Do I get conclusions? I think I'll do it. It seems like the common thread to the food at (this) Crown Burger was low on flavor but high on quantity. It was all good, but pretty mild flavors. They did give a lot of everything.

Another post about Stefani's name

In Italian, the name "Steven" is "Stefano". Well, also in Italian, words that end in "o" are made plural by changing them to an "i". So, if you could pluralize the name Stefano, it would be, "Stefani". So, that means that Stefani is "Stevens". Maybe "Even Stevens". Hopefully that will help her out with her Disney-loving roommates.

Quest for the Supreme Greek Burger place

Since moving to Salt Lake I've noticed that there are a lot of Greek restaurants. Maybe this is becoming standard procedure in a lot of cities, but it was surprise to me. (My brother says that there are a lot of Greek restaurants in Denver, but I don't remember there being a lot of them.)

One type of restaurant that seems peculiarly popular is the Greek burger restaurant. I first saw this pattern with Crown Burger and Burger Supreme in Provo. (I always wondered if there was a connection between these two restaurants, since their menus are so similar, and I didn't realize until recently that there are tons of restaurants that follow this same pattern.)

So, now that I've moved to Salt Lake where these restaurants are so common, I feel that I must answer a certain calling, for which I'm sure I am destined: To identify the Best of these Greek burger restaurants!

To do this, I've decided that I must sample each of the Greek burger restaurants that I can find, and compare them. I want to do this as scientifically as possible (considering that it's completely subjective), so I'll be ordering the same items at each restaurant and rating them on a numeric scale. I'll use a 1-10 scale for the ratings, but since the ratings only make sense when placed relative to each other, I'll choose one restaurant as a basis for comparison: Crown Burger. (I would have chose Burger Supreme, because it's what I'm most familiar with and because it's universally awesome, but since I live in SLC now, I just won't be able to eat there often enough to make it the basis. Crown Burger makes the most sense of the others because it is the most popular and has the most locations.)

There will be four categories for comparison, based on the items unique to the Greek burger places: The pastrami burger, the gyro, french fries, and fry sauce. (I choose the pastrami burger instead of a regular burger because this seems to be the one that Greek places specialize in.)

And, this post is already beyond Ronnie-readable length, so I'll start the reviews with the next post. I hope that I can make the world a better place with this quest.

The Last Samuri

I saw this movie recently for the first time. Why didn't anyone tell me that there was a battle between ninjas and samuri in it? That was the most awesome thing ever! I'd always wondered about how those groups overlapped. Well, they overlapped with a lot of arrows and swords. It was awesome.

Stefroni

I just thought of that. Cool, huh?

Stadium Arcadium

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are great. That's all I have to say about that. Oh, and VP is 9 tracks away from my work.

Obama

Ok, seriously. I don't get it. I realize that I don't watch as much news as I should, but I hadn't even heard of Obama until CNN decided he should be president. Now it seems like he's the only candidate anyone ever talks about. I don't understand where he came from or why the hype is so big.

And the funny thing about this is that, despite all of the hype and how much everyone is talking about this movie, no one ever talks about why he is good. All I've heard so far is that the he's the best Democratic candidate ever, but the only indication of why is just because he's black.

Now, I understand that some presidential nominations are strictly publicity stunts and don't try to be more meaningful than that. I'm indifferent to that. There's a lot of those people that I enjoy. I also understand that sometimes controversy in the media is entertaining (and though I probably shouldn't think so, there's some of these that I enjoy, too).

So, I ask this not by way of criticism, but as an actual question for anyone that's studied this candidate: Is he good?

---

So I wrote that in response to a comment on the 300 post, but after I wrote this modified version about Obama, I realized that I could do one more:

---

Ok, seriously. I don't get it. I realize that I don't watch as much news as I should, but I hadn't even heard of Mitt Romney until he decided he should be president. Now it seems like he's the only candidate anyone in Utah ever talks about. I don't understand where he came from or why the hype is so big.

And the funny thing about this is that, despite all of the hype and how much everyone is talking about this movie, no one ever talks about why he is good. All I've heard so far is that the he's the best Republican candidate ever, but the only indication of why is just because he's mormon.

Now, I understand that some presidential nominations are strictly publicity stunts and don't try to be more meaningful than that. I'm indifferent to that. There's a lot of those people that I enjoy. I also understand that sometimes controversy in the media is entertaining (and though I probably shouldn't think so, there's some of these that I enjoy, too).

So, I ask this not by way of criticism, but as an actual question for anyone that's studied this candidate: Is he good?

300

Ok, seriously. I don't get it. I realize that I don't watch as much TV as I should, but I hadn't even heard of 300 until (the) Don posted about it. Now it seems like it's the only movie anyone ever talks about. I don't understand where it came from or why the hype is so big.

And the funny thing about this is that, despite all of the hype and how much everyone is talking about this movie, no one ever talks about why it is good. All I've heard so far is that the it's the best war movie ever, but the only indication of why is just because it's the most violent war movie ever.

Now, I understand that some movies are strictly entertainment and don't try to be more meaningful than that. I'm fine with that. There's a lot of those movies that I enjoy. I also understand that sometimes violent media are entertaining (and though I probably shouldn't think so, there's some of these that I enjoy, too).

So, I ask this not by way of criticism, but as an actual question for anyone that's seen this movie: Is it good?

Lent

I guess we're in lent. Normally it's Ronnie's job to let me know when I'm supposed to start celebrating holidays that correspond to religions other than my own, but I guess he's forsaken me, because I had to find out from Kylee.

All the same, I figure that lent deserves some of my attention, though I'm not sure what I should give up. I've pretty much already given up all of the habits that I can. (Not that I've given up all of my bad habits, just that I intend to keep the ones I haven't given up.)

Anyway, two years ago I gave up blogging for lent, and that's kind of when I made Provo Platinum (instead of posting my own blogs). Now, considering that I haven't blogged very consistently for a while, I thought I'd give up not blogging and see how that goes.

The New AT&T

I was a little confused by these new commercials about Cingular and AT&T, so I did a little research, and found this nice explanation.

Nazis in New York

I just found out recently about this: New York Bans Most Trans Fats in Restaurants

(I had to create an account to access this page, but it's the best plain explanation of the ban that I could find. All of the newer articles are reactions to it instead of explanations.)

I realize that trans fat is "bad for you" and all that jazz. I'm not arguing with that. In fact, I think the addition of trans fat to the nutrition labels is a really good thing. I'm all for disclosure. I think that consumers should be told what they're getting then be allowed to make their own decisions. I know, it's a weird concept.

Kelly gave me the book Animal Farm for Christmas. Here's a quick quote:

He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?

Yeah, good point. We'd better ban those things lest anyone make their own decisions.

On a good note, most of the commentaries I've seen, like this one from the Washington Post, acknowledge how ridiculous this law is. At least there's educated people in the media (even if not among politicians and voters.)