Russell Cardon

Dumbo Joins the Air Force

2012-01-11T17:55:00.000-08:00

The above was inspired by below:

Today I Learned...

2012-01-11T17:53:00.000-08:00

... piranha are scared of dolphins.

Thank you, Jeremy Wade.

This Just Happened

2012-01-10T10:33:00.001-08:00

Historic Raptor Part 2

2012-01-10T10:32:00.000-08:00

Historic Raptor Part 1

2012-01-10T10:31:00.000-08:00

Animals

2012-01-10T10:29:00.001-08:00

Per Request

2011-12-28T20:03:00.000-08:00

Getting Into Space

2011-12-27T21:07:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T15:48:00.000-08:00

Santa comes to terms with his obstacles.

The Great Blue Heron: I Need to Work On Shading

2011-12-23T19:07:00.000-08:00

The Great Blue Heron is one of my favorite birds. My top three birds are owls, herons, then ducks (watch a mama duck protect her ducklings from a couple of crows).

It's a goofy looking bird. I used a picture of a heron that had its neck bent all weird from the book Birds of Utah.

These birds look really cool in flight (you need to scroll down a bit to find the heron).

Random Sketches: I Think Owls Are Cute

2011-12-23T18:52:00.000-08:00

No explanation for what you see here, except I drew the owl looking at this picture.

"A dragon! A dragon! I really saw a dragon!"

2011-12-23T18:48:00.000-08:00

My roommate suggested I draw a picture of a Dragon. The following is what I produced.

Ten points to the one who knows what movie the the quote used in the title comes from.

Monthly Challenges

2011-11-15T20:29:00.001-08:00

Man. Video games. They can be pretty crazy. They're fun, but I hate how much time I can waste on them. Some people play video games for the competition, for the release, or for the time killing factor. I got into video games because I liked interacting with the story. I love stories. I get sucked into books pretty easily and I love a good plot in a movie. Video games offer a fun opportunity to interact with the story. I don't play video games nearly as much as I used to, but now that I'm finishing my last college course to get my degree, I can see that a lot more of my time will be opening up pretty soon. How am I going to spend it?

In my experience, there are very few video games that have any redeeming qualities. Maybe chess on the computer and games that force quality human interaction are good, but mostly they waste time. They have never helped me achieve goals in the real world.

I watched a video a while ago of Matt Cutts from Google who decided to set a goal to achieve every 30 days. He ended up going places and doing things that he never dreamed he would do (see the video here). I'm afraid of wasting time when the time comes. There is a lot in my head that I want to do and accomplish, and video games won't ever help me get there. I decided to start my own 30 day challenges starting with no video games for a full 30 days to make sure I don't fall into bad habits now that school is ending. I mean none. Not even Angry Birds. Not even for a little bit.

I started 15 days ago. Now I'm half way through it, and it's awesome. I never want to go back. I'm a believer in having a good habit to replace bad habits, so instead of playing games I've been reading quite a bit more. Other people may disagree, but I feel very productive when I read.

I do have to admit. My roommate got the new Kindle Fire and he had me try it out by playing a game called Ninja Fruit or something. I played it for 90 seconds then realized later what I had done. I never said I was perfect, people.

Tyrannus Tyrannus: Not to Be Confused with Tyrannosaurus Rex

2011-10-22T20:58:00.000-07:00

My new book, Birds of Utah, came in the mail today. I ordered the book because I think birds are fun to watch and I'd like to identify the kinds of birds I see when I walk around town. What I'm saying is, I'd like to be something of a bird watcher.

Skimming through the book, I noticed a couple of fun . For starters, it turns out Utah has Bald Eagles! I had no idea. They are here year-round and fly all over Utah. That is one bird I definitely want to see. Also, the Eastern Kingbird's latin name is Tyrannus tyrannus, which obviously reminds me of Tyrannosaurs Rex.

I am a little frustrated, because I mostly got this book to find out what a certain bird I've been seeing around here a lot is called, but I can't find the bird in the book.

I also realized when I got the book that I didn't choose the best time to start my bird watching experiences. It's getting colder, and I'm pretty sure I remember the birds from The Fox and the Hound decided to fly south when they got the shivers. Oh well. At least the Bald Eagle can keep me company until all the other birds come back.

Knowing the More Contemporary Art

2011-10-10T22:12:00.000-07:00

Here is my latest paper for my English class. This paper responds to another paper written by my professor. The assignment is to describe some of the "critical approaches" we have been learning about in class that he used, agree or disagree with some of his arguments, and suggest any changes we thought he should make. So, here is my paper. Read it. Let me know what you think/how I should change it. This is a rough draft, so let me know what mistakes are in here as well. Fantastic.

The thing that I would want tochange the most about this paper is the examples. I am talking about theexamples of how literature affected Dr. Fox and others personally. I wouldn’tnecessarily delete all of the examples that are already in there, but I wouldinsert some examples that applied more to current literary happenings and thatare more up to date. I found this paper to be outdated, which isunderstandable, because it was written in 1979. Dr. Fox also talks about goodart as a way of knowing worthwhile things, but I would also add more to thepaper on bad art and why it is not worth our time. I think having that contrastin one paper, along with more modern examples, would be very beneficial,especially with all the immorality that is going on in the media today.

As I read thispaper, I tried looking at it from a rhetorical standpoint to see what Dr. Foxwas trying to get me to believe. He actually spoke to something that I havestruggled with for a long time and that is the real worth of the study ofliterature. I have often asked myself if there was any real worth to my Englishdegree. What does it do for me and how can I use it to benefit others? He usedcritical approaches to show me that art is actually very useful. It providesunderstanding, perspective and vicarious experience.

I noticed Dr. Foxused his own rhetorical approach to show how authors saw the writings in theirtime. On page 3, Dr. Fox inserts a quotation from Joseph Conrad that explainssome of the reasoning and purpose behind Conrad’s book, The Nigger of Narcissus, to show us that literature, with itscharacters, dialog, and settings, is “woven together for a designed effect.” Insome other instances, Dr. Fox uses authors’ and other influential people’squotations to shed light on the reasons behind works of literature and topersuade us that good literature and art is something worth studying, but Iwould like to see more contemporary examples of literature and learn whatauthors think of those works today. Is the literature of today worth studying?Using both modern examples and quotations from the past would give extrainsight on how art has changed up until now.

Besides studyingauthors’ quotations, I also saw Dr. Fox used a good amount of the readerresponse approach to show how literature has affected him personally and othersin general. He discusses some examples of people who went through life changingexperiences because of what they experienced vicariously through the literaturethey read. I think those things can still happen today, even with books thathave been written more recently. I read a book written in 2006 called The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, thatmay not be considered classic literature, but I still consider a work of art.It is a book set during World War II about a girl who is sent to live with afoster family to wait out the war and uses the different books that come intoher possession to get through a lot of difficult time. I remember learning alot of great things from The Book Thief.It gave me different insights on creativity and I felt a little bit of theterror of World War II vicariously through Liesel, the main character. I am notsaying that Dr. Fox is arguing that there are no good examples of goodliterature today; I do think there are more contemporary examples that are moreapplicable to current events that would be beneficial to insert in this text.Examples that would resonate with people more.

Dr. Fox also usedthe moral/religious approach to show the real value of literature. On page 2,Dr. Fox says art should provide a good example of moral values and “modelsdeserving imitation.” Adding to this paper more current examples of how goodart can affect us positively and inserting more commentary on why bad art isnot worth our time I think would make this paper even more beneficial than italready is.

On page six, Dr.Fox quotes Brigham Young saying, “We should not only study good, and its effects upon our race, butalso evil, and its consequences.” I don’t think Brigham Young meant to say thatwe should study evil books that promote evil learning, but that we should studyevil in a moral light. We should study “evil and its consequences” so that weknow what evil looks like and how to avoid it. But there are a lot of “evilbooks” and “evil art” in general that is widely accepted as “not that bad”. Dr.Fox should give some specific examples of what bad art is out there today andshow us why that is the case. Specificity would be difficult, but it would go along way in helping people decide what they will take as good art and what theyshould classify as bad art.

On page three, Dr.Fox says art shapes our perception of reality. I agree! He goes on to cite anauthor who speaks to that very idea as well as some general information thatVictor B Clines’ book addresses about the negative effects of pornography andviolence. I think this would be a good place to insert a specific story or twothat shows the very negative effects being discussed. I know that Dr. Fox’spaper may not have been intended to address such specific points and that thepremise is “art is a valuable way of learning”, and not totally that “there isa difference between good art and bad art.” But Dr. Fox says himself at thebeginning of this paper that we “have been tricked out of the full vision bycontemporary trolls.” This paper should focus more on that idea, and not somuch on how studying literature can be a good way of knowing things in general.I think the paper should focus on the differences between good art and bad art,and give some specific examples of why good art is so beneficial.

At this point itis difficult to determine how much more specificity would be needed in thispaper, because no one can expect Dr. Fox to make the decisions of what we readand look at for us. However, I would be interested to see Dr. Fox’s perspectiveon what is good art and what is bad art using the literature of today.

Under the heading“Art As a Way of Knowing the Trolls are Taking Over”, Dr. Fox quotes Tolstoy,Brigham Young, John Gardner and “Romantic writers from Rousseau’s time.” Iagree with what each of them say about their theories behind art and literature,but I wonder what more contemporary authors have to say about the moral ideasbehind literature. I would want to seecontemporary views from both sides as well. I have seen the line between therepresentations of morality in art blur as I have grown up. I think it isamazing that “what used to shock our parents provides not the slightest ticklenow.”

I think a goodresponse to this paper would be to cite Dr. Fox’s arguments when he quotesIolani Luahine, a performer of the ancient hula, who said, “I am not going tobe here long. Hold to the old. Learn the modern, but hold to the old.” I thinkit very interesting that society’s ideas of morality have changed sodrastically over the recent years. I agree that good moral ideas can be foundin old literature, but history had its immorality too. With so much immoralitygoing on today, I think it would do a lot of good for this paper to take moremodern examples, and contrast more good examples of literature with badexamples of literature. This paper could use an update. It could use somethingthat applies more to people today to help them decide how they will fill theirminds.

Unstuck

2011-09-18T15:50:00.000-07:00

There aren’t many feelings that are worse than feeling stuck. It’s the feeling where you have these mounds of expectations, but there are things holding you back, and you don’t know how to sift through the problems and focus on the priorities. A few articles I’ve read and interviews I’ve seen recently about politics, economy, education and all sorts of other issues make me feel we are stuck in a lot of ways, trudging through old and outdated programs and ways of life. But I don’t want to expound on that too much before I do a little more research.

Everything we’re going through right now made me reflect on what I’m doing with life. I realized I get myself stuck in life quite a bit. I run into problems and end up relearning the same lesson over and over again. I think that happens because I put off solving the problems. I tell myself I’ll think about it later, but that obviously doesn’t work very well.

A few years ago I learned the value of analyzing my performance and planning ways to improve myself in the things I involved myself in. I have a chance every day to see how I can make the next day better. I can see what I need to do to turn setbacks into new and promising beginnings. I’ve noticed that every new day brings a lot of the same challenges that I dealt with the day before. I’ve learned that I can anticipate, plan and act to overcome those challenges to the point where they don’t seem like problems anymore, they’ve just become easier to deal with.

I have some challenges I’m dealing with right now. I’m trying to manage my money better and I’m trying to finish an online class that is pretty killer. I mean, who wants to work on a class today when they can just do it tomorrow and its still not due for another year? I’ve made up some rules for myself though, and already I see improvement. I made the rule that I have to work on the class at least one hour every day. I made a budget that I’m forcing myself to follow. I keep making mistakes, but I know that as I keep recommitting myself to my goals I get myself just a little more unstuck.

I’ve found that there is usually a way to look at something that seems pretty horrible in some kind of positive light. You don’t have to feel stuck. If you give something enough thought, you can probably find at least a little wiggle room.

Oh, I'll just pull that up on my Kindle

2011-07-04T17:01:00.000-07:00

Owning a Kindle is probably one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I love to read, and owning a Kindle makes it that much easier to read what I want. I can go online, order a book for way cheap, and it is there on my Kindle in seconds. But I hear a lot of people badmouthing electronic readers, and I don’t get it. I guess it took me a while before I really warmed up to the idea, but I think that is only because I did not know enough about the wonderful things electronic readers like the Kindle have to offer.

Pretty much the only reason I hear for people not liking a Kindle is that it takes away the whole experience of reading an actual book. I can see how that is important to some people, but I can still enjoy a book without feeling or smelling the pages. Those are not the reasons I read a book in the first place. I read for good plots and character development. I read to gain experiences that I will never really have, or enhance experiences that I have had; and for that I do not need paper.

Please do not misunderstand. I like page books. I have a running collection of my favorites, and I got some really nice hardbacks of some great classics for Christmas. I like to pull those out every now and again, but I do not like owning hordes of books that take up space and collect dust. I do not like carrying around pounds of books everywhere I go, and I do not usually read a book a twice. Owning a Kindle has made life so much easier. I can keep hundreds of different things to read, from books to blogs and magazines, all contained in one spot. Electronic readers are awesome.

What are some things you do or do not like about the Kindle? I would like to know.

July 4th

2011-07-03T17:01:00.000-07:00

Dear America,

I like living in you. Thanks.

And happy birthday.

<3 Russ

Russell Eats Spicy Chicken

2011-06-25T04:17:00.000-07:00

I didn't intend this post to be so much about spicy chicken, or spicy foods in general, but that's how it turned out. Here are my thoughts on the subject:

My roommates and I were talking last night about how I never post on my blog anymore. They suggested I write a post about how I like to eat spicy chicken. That suggestion was kind of random. For one thing, I do not like spicy chicken. I like regular chicken. I tried the McDonald's spicy chicken sandwich and I couldn't enjoy it. All I could think about was how much my mouth hurt and how much water I wanted to drink. I tried to convince myself that I did like the spicy-ness for some reason; probably because everybody else liked it and I didn't want to feel left out. But after ordering the spicy chicken a few more times I finally gave up on it. I definitely didn't acquire that taste.

Then there are the Wendy's spicy chicken nuggets. I would much rather have the original, non-spicy ones. The spicy nuggets just come off as annoying to me. They're not really spicy, but they don't really have any other taste, so they leave me feeling cheated and dissatisfied like the aftermath of a potentially humorous situation that just turned out to be awkward.

I never really did like spicy foods. To me, it takes away the real taste, and I don't like to hurt when I eat my food. I think that is also why I don't really drink soda (pop) any more. Now I only drink it if I am at a party or something, but I don't even enjoy it anymore. This might be a little gross, but I like it when soda (pop) loses its fiz a little bit; I should probably stick with drinking regular juice in that situation. But, in the end, I would much rather have water.

A Little Over My Head? Maybe… But Probably Not

2011-05-11T07:04:00.000-07:00

There are some really good designers out there. I started designing again. I kind of took a break after school ended so that I could get a grasp of what my life’s game plan will be. I started submitting designs the other day to a website called 99 designs that hosts contests for businesses who need new logos or website designs. Businesses submit requests for designs they need and specify an amount of money for the winning prize. Designers browse through the contests and submit their designs; then the business decides which design they want. Whichever design they choose gets the prize.

I think it is going to be a while before I ever win anything, because the people I am going up against are really good at what they do. It’s almost discouraging at times, but I remind myself that I am really just getting started and that I just need time to practice and get better.

Youtube has been a lot of help lately. Instead of being a waste of time like it has been for all of the time I have been using it, it is now a really positive tool for looking up tutorials on how to use the different design programs I use. My college classes were really good, but only took me so far. But I have been able to find a lot of good material to supplement my learning. As time goes on, and I start getting better at what I do, I want to put my own tutorials on the Internet, because I have really appreciated the help.

Winter Strikes Again

2011-04-09T05:19:00.000-07:00

I woke to another snowy day this morning. I think snow is great and everything, but it's Spring time, and this new snowfall is cramping my style. I was trying to express to my roommate how I felt about the whole situation and he helped me find the words. What he said is represented in picture form below: (Click on the picture to see it better)

Let Spring in, Winter.

"Saying What I’m Doing!"... Or Doing What I’m Saying (video!)

2011-04-05T03:42:00.000-07:00

Calling for an "activity". (Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs)

With all the life-changing decisions that accompany graduation, I’ve been thinking a lot about the kind of person I’m letting myself become (don’t worry, I’ll try not to make this post too cheesy). While reflecting on such matters, basic character traits keep coming to mind, specifically whether or not I do what I say I’m going to do.

You might be wondering why I put that video into this post. While Flint uses a robotic arm to dial Sam Spark’s number for the second time he says, “Saying what I’m doing…” This clip in no way resembles my female calling strategies, but this post made me think of it. And I think it’s hilarious, so I decided to put it in.

I make a lot of promises throughout the day; some are big, most are quite small, but they’re all promises. They’re all things I say I’m going to do or not going to do, whether it’s telling my roommate I’ll go with him to that thing he loves, or telling myself I’ll get ahead in my homework so I don’t have to do it over the weekend.

I started to wonder how much I fulfill my promises, so I started a “do what I say” journal. I write in it every night and specifically reflect on whether or not I did the things that I promised either myself, my family, my employers, or my friends I would do. The results have been self awakening. There’s no middle ground for promises, they're either finished or unfulfilled.

Although I think it is extremely important to keep the promises you make to other people, I think it is just as important, or at least pretty close to just as important, to keep the promises you make to yourself. There’s a difference between worthwhile hopes and desires that don’t really do anything for you, but that’s a discussion for later. There are a lot of things I want to do, some more important than others. I make goals and plan my days to try and make sure that I get it all in, but when bedtime arrives I realize I let a lot of things slip by.

I’m a fully aware that plans change throughout the day and some things need to be set aside to make room for others, but, in general, I want to not let mundane distractions get in the way of my own self improvement.

Book Trailers?

2011-04-01T09:58:00.000-07:00

There's a cool new idea spreading around: Video trailers for books!

Quite a Bit of Work for a Cell Phone Commercial

2011-04-01T09:56:00.000-07:00

How long did it take them to do this?

Talking Husky

2011-03-30T02:42:00.000-07:00

This video of a dog saying I love you is hilarious. Some think it's creepy, but I think it's adorable.

Weekend House Sitting

2011-03-29T12:21:00.000-07:00

I’ve been at my sister’s house the past few nights watching over her dog and two cats while she was on vacation. The dog’s name is Honey and the cats’ names are Molly and Oreo. Being at the house all alone has taught me a couple things about myself:

I scare easy

I don’t dislike cats as much as I thought I did

I am scared of the dark. I always have been. Going to bed at night, I have to systematically turn off all the lights in order until I get to my room so that I am not caught in the dark. Turning off the switch right before I jump into bed is the hardest part. I prep myself, tensing every muscle in my body, so that right when my finger flicks the switch off the rest of my body simultaneously plunges for the safety of the bed sheets.

For some reason, I feel completely safe under my bed sheets, as if there were some kind of magic elfish cloak like Frodo has in The Lord of the Rings. I cover up every part of my body except for a little hole that I leave open for my mouth so that I can get fresh air. Nothing can touch me when I have my bed sheets over me, but getting there is intensely nerve racking for me.

Although I feel that, in most cases, it is completely irrational for me to be as terrified as I am in the dark, it’s just the fact that I can’t see anything around me that really freaks me out. I’m pretty sure it all originates from my childhood. I can remember this mangled monster mask my family had for Halloween. It literally made me cry every time I saw it. It had really dark, ratty hair, black eyes, grey skin and sharp, bloody teeth. I could see it every time I went to sleep. No wonder I’m scared of the dark.

My sister’s house gave me a few scares while I was there over the weekend. It was so quiet that any time I walked anywhere or just sat down in the chair in the living room I’d hear the creaks and sways of the house. It gave me the creeps. I started turning on music throughout the house to drown out the sound.

I kept getting scared that someone would sneak into the house while I was outside getting the dog to go to the bathroom before I locked up the house (it wouldn’t go unless I was outside with it). One time I was walking around on the grass before I went to bed and I felt something caress my feet. I yelped and jumped out of the way, expecting some rat thing to eat my feet. It was only the cat trying to be friendly. I nearly smashed it trying to dance away from it. Luckily no harm was done.

I’m really starting to appreciate cats (random). I still love dogs a bunch, but cats have their own loving quality. It’s harder to get them to like me. They take their own time to decide whether or not I am worth their time. Unlike dogs that love you no matter what. This weekend I respected the cats’ space and made sure they were taken care of and eventually they were crawling all over me. Plus, cats are awesome, because they can climb everywhere and jump pretty far. Cats are cool, and this weekend was fun.

New Address

2011-03-24T22:11:00.001-07:00

I decided to go a little more official and move my blog to russellcardon.com -- pure and simple. Go there for all future posts. Thank you.

This Could Really Be a Good Life

2011-03-24T15:48:00.000-07:00

The roommates and I had a little discussion the other night about goals and aspirations. One of them said something I thought worth noting. He said that no matter what, in five years we will all be different people. We will all change; even if we don't consciously try to. However, we can decide how much control we have over that change. We can decide what kind of person we will be in five years.

I have a lot of goals running around in my head. If I don’t write down my goals and make plans to get them done I get this sad dwindling feeling. My brother-in-law related a quote to me by Francis Bacon, an English Philosopher, who said, “Reading makes a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.” That quote rang very true for me. When I write things down they become permanent and more difficult to deviate from. When I leave my goals unwritten in my head they change and twist easily, making it hard to achieve much of anything.

I determined after that evening discussion with the roommates to write out my goals. I had a friend a while ago who helped me develop some great methods for doing good goal setting. He’d start out with general goals; things he wanted to do and be. Then he’d make plans for what he wanted to have accomplished at the end of the month. Next he’d go through what he would have to do every week. Then he’d make plans of things he would do every day to help him get it all done. The next month, he’d analyze his progress and do the process over again for the next month.

I remember feeling so accomplished planning that way and following through. I felt like I was living life to its fullest, because I was achieving everything I wanted to achieve. I’m going to do that again.

Great Video of Albert Einstein

2011-03-21T16:11:00.000-07:00

Albert Einstein as a child. Proof that the apparent presence of evil does not disprove the existence of God.

-----Apparently this event never actually took place. If you want get your own info on it go to this link:

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/religion/a/einstein_god.htm

I still think it's a good message.

Procrastination: The Short-Lasting Fun Feeling

2011-03-21T16:08:00.000-07:00

Despite all the progress I have made in school, I still have a problem with procrastinating. Even though I know I’d feel a lot better if I would only plan ahead and do a little work on a project every day, I still let it all build up and do it at once. Life is too stressful that way.

We are working in groups on a brochure project in my design class. My teacher talked about a personality test that determines how you function and what kind of attributes you bring to a group. I hardly remember any of the details from this lecture, but I do remember that she talked about some personalities who, when working on a project, systematically plan out everything they will do until the deadline, and then there are those who would rather do it all at once. I am the latter, but I want to be the former.

One approach to working with how I am is to accept the fact that I do things all at once, but to plan it a little more ahead of time instead of the day before. However, I’ve tried this before and it doesn’t work for me. However, I have tried planning and doing things a little bit at a time, and I am a lot happier when I do. I just wish I would do that all the time.

I think part of the reason I procrastinate so much is that I have so many other things I want to do that I lose focus on my priorities. One thing I try to do every week is write down everything I want to accomplish and review it every morning to keep it fresh in my head. Then it’s just a matter of accepting the fact that I can’t do everything else that comes to my mind.

Progress comes a step at a time. It would be really nice if it came all at once, but, sadly, that hardly happens to me. I usually like to think of myself as pretty athletic. It doesn’t take me long to get pretty good at a given sport, but if something ever appears to be too difficult, or if I feel like my peers are already far beyond my skill level, I immediately want to give up. I want to get over that, because that attitude transfers over to my academic and business careers and eventually gets me to procrastinate, because I don’t want to deal with feeling behind.

Procrastinating makes it so much easier to give up. I know that if I plan ahead and work hard, it usually doesn’t take me long to get up to speed. Because my family moved a few times while I attended high school, I had to start over in martial arts a few times. They didn’t have the same styles where we moved, so with every new martial arts school I had to restart with white belt (the lowest level). Although it was frustrating starting over and learning the new techniques, I eventually got through it and earned my black belt. I need to be able to do that with everything I undertake.

I hate procrastinating. It never remains a good feeling. It might feel fun for a little while, but then I just realize there’s a thousand other things I would better spend my time doing. I’ve already made some plans in my head to do better at it. Now I just need to write them down and do it.

Best Semester Ever

2011-03-18T09:37:00.000-07:00

This semester is turning out to be the best semester I have ever had. Too bad this will probably be my last one. Each semester in college progressively gets better. I’m taking two design classes right now that are working me over big time, and I love it.

We started working on our final projects a few days ago. We have to redesign an already existing brochure or create a new one from scratch. The best part of all this is that these brochures are actually going to serve a purpose. They won’t be handed in for a grade and then be thrown away. We are doing them for professors around campus who will use them to promote their graduate and internship programs.

The other day we got to talk to one of the heads of the Spanish and Portuguese graduate program. We talked to him about what he wanted and expected out of his brochure and discussed how we would be able to deliver a satisfying design. The whole experience provided an excellent opportunity to practice working with a client and work out the details of a design job.

My area of study brings together everything I love to do. I get to read great books and essays, write articles and criticisms, draw whatever I can imagine, create workable designs, and talk with many interesting people. Doing what I do makes me want to make the most of every single day.

Priorities

2011-03-08T16:57:00.000-08:00

I’m graduating very soon. I thought being a senior in high school was bad, but these last few weeks have been really testing my sense of priorities. As much as I value education I cannot wait to be done. I’ve started working and writing articles for people online, and I wish I could do more, but I still have a lot of projects to finish for school before I can really focus on my career. I’m trying not to spend too much time on work so that I can spend the time I need to finish all the projects I have to finish before April. It’s a good thing the classes I am taking right now are helping me with what I am going to do for work in the future, because otherwise I don’t know if I would spend any time on them at all.

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Networking

2011-02-23T04:04:00.000-08:00

The past few weeks have been a lot of fun for me (which is partly the reason I have not posted in a while). I am graduating from college this year and have therefore been exploring different ways I can launch into my career. I had the general idea that I wanted to be an editor, so I started talking to everyone I knew who has some kind of experience in that field.

My brothers and brothers-in-law are all successful in the businesses they are building, so I went to them to gain some general professional and business knowledge. They helped me prepare and be professional in the way I looked, the way I dressed and the way I spoke. I learned to anticipate questions I thought people would ask me in different interviews and I was ready with multiple answers and questions of my own. That kind of preparation is essential to be able to adapt to the different kinds of avenues conversations are wont to take.

Being thus prepared, I started with my professors at school. They helped me get an idea of the different options available to me, and how I might be able to research those possibilities to find out what I really want to do. Then, I got to talk to the father of one of my really good friends I met while I lived in Uruguay. Besides having a lot of really good insights himself, his dad also knew a lot of really great editors and writers and set up interviews with them for me. In these interviews, I got to learn about all of the amazing experiences that brought these editors to their current positions, and I got a lot of really good ideas of what I can do for my own career. The best part is that I will be able to stay in contact with most of these people through email in case I have any follow up questions.

It is amazing how many doors can open simply by talking to people and showing a genuine interest in what they do. I remember when I started writing papers for my English classes I thought I had found a loophole in the system when I would go in and talk to my teachers about what I was writing. They would tell me what I was doing wrong and what I needed to add or take out or improve in order for my paper to be the best possible. I thought I was cheating by getting all this help, but that is where the success is. It is in talking to the experts. Just like my English teachers held the secrets to writing good papers, professionals in the area I would like to work in have incredible insights on how to progress and be the best as can be. All I have to do is talk to them and apply what they say to what I am doing, and I’ll have enhanced my chances of being as successful as possible.

Online Video Games: Can They Save the World?

2011-02-05T13:00:00.000-08:00

There are certain games that I think are a complete waste of time, and there are other games that actually help me achieve what I’m trying to do with my life. Games like Halo and Call of Duty are really cool, and a lot of fun to play, but they do nothing for me besides distract me from real priorities in my life. Then there are games like Z-type and dictionary.com’s flashcards that not only help me practice and learn what is going to help me at school and work, but let me have fun while I’m doing it.

My biggest problem with games:

They are addicting.

I recently came across some news articles and videos about a woman, Jane McGonigal, who argues that gaming is a good thing. She believes that online games can be used to solve world problems like hunger and disease. She pulls out statistics that suggest gamers have the potential to drastically change the real world for the better. From her research, she concludes that games help develop four basic “superpowers” that can be applied to the real world. They are:

Urgent Optimism – Gamers desire to tackle extremely difficult challenges asap

Tight Social Fabric – Development of strong friendships through online gaming

Blissful Productivity – Gamers are willing to work hard to achieve a goal in the game

Epic Meaning – Gamers feel empowered because they are participants in “awe-inspiring missions"

McGonigal develops games to harness these powers and to help apply then to solve difficulties going on around the globe. She has some really great ideas that I happen to agree with. She produces games that are based on actual problems that are coming in humanities future and challenges players to not only solve the problem on the screen, but in their life outside of the screen as well.

Although I think games like what McGonigal is talking about are a great idea, I’m not sure how realistic it is to think that all gamers will one day give up their mindlessly violent games in order to play something that actually stimulates brain cells instead of destroys them. One of the reasons video games are so addicting is that they are mindless. The most popular games these days present a world where there are little or no consequences for actions, and if the player messes up they can just start over. These games provide instant gratification with very little working and thinking power required. Games that create that kind of virtual reality make it difficult to want to keep living in real reality where time doesn’t stop, and there are no chances to go and redo something.

I definitely think games should be geared more toward helping real challenges in the real world. It seems like McGonigal and her gaming ideas are making some progress in the right direction. But I wonder how much of a transition the gaming community as a whole will make from the mindless, instant gratification games to the problem solving, brain power games McGonigal is trying to advertise.

Links to a couple of videos featuring Jane McGonigal and her ideas can be found below:

TED talk - 20 minutes

CNN - Seven minutes

Benjamin Franklin Had the Right Idea

2011-01-29T13:32:00.000-08:00

I decided to pull out some old journals of mine from right before I left to go live in Uruguay for two years in 2006. I’m really glad I keep a pretty consistent journal. I came across something while I read that surprised me. On June 16^th, 2008 I said, “Everyday here, I learn something new, or something I could improve on, that I thought was already taken care of.” I then went on to describe some specific goals I was working on at the time, like managing my time better and stuff like that. I got a mixture of emotions after I read this entry.

First came relief, because, for some reason, I feel like I did everything right while I was in Uruguay. I have this perfect impression of myself back then, so it’s nice to think I made mistakes even back then.

The next emotion was a little of frustration, because I am still working on the same things today as five years ago. Aren’t I supposed to be perfect by now if I’ve been working on something for over four years? I’m just kidding, but it is frustrating.

I could probably use my journal more effectively. My roommate told me he read that Benjamin Franklin used to pick one attribute to work on, like honesty, and then every week he would review the different situations he had been in and evaluate how honest he was until he felt he perfected that attribute. Instead of just writing in my journal and then forgetting the entry, I want to start reviewing what I write and keeping track of my progression. That would probably cause a little less frustrating in the future.

What I Get to Watch for My Folklore Class

2011-01-25T08:59:00.000-08:00

There are some good documentaries to be found at this website. You might not think you are interested at first, but just watch one. They're good.

Cool Documentaries

How I Want to Feel After a Movie

2011-01-25T08:56:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I went to see a movie. The good guys got into a few fights, cracked some jokes, and eventually beat the bad guys in the end. It was a pretty standard movie, and I left entertained. I didn’t feel any different from having seen the movie. Most of the movie did a lot of cool things with special effects, but nothing happened that really made me think about life in a new perspective, or inspire me to some worthwhile goal. The movie fell under the classification of what I heard some people call “mindless entertainment”.

I’m kind of being vague on purpose; because that last paragraph describes the kind of feeling I usually feel when I leave movies now. They’re good for a little entertainment, but they don’t really help me in any way besides eat up a few hours of my time. This lack of service has led me to watch less of mainstream filmography and delve more into the world of documentaries.

Just last night I watched a documentary called Unforgotten with my roommates after I finished my homework. It featured the survivors of the Willowbrook State School; a school functioning in the 70’s for those suffering from mental handicaps. I had never heard of the Willowbrook incident before. The stories of what patients went through were horrifying. Cuts in finances and personnel, put a lot of stress on the functionality of the school. One surviving patient, who suffered from cerebral palsy and never should have gone to the school in the first place, said he thought it could’ve been like living in a concentration camp.

That documentary heightened my sensitivity pretty greatly. Not only were there sad stories of neglect and disease in the school, but there were messages of hope and recovery after the patients were rescued from the facility. A large focus of the film revolved around the need for everyone to have meaningful human contact and the need for everyone to have the option to fulfill their potential no matter the circumstances they are born in. The brother of a severely mentally challenged patient said that he could tell from his challenged brother’s responses to the environment around him that he was greatly affected by the pressure of a touch or the strength of tone in a voice. It reminded me how important it is not to think of anyone as worthless and to give people a chance to do some good; not only the handicapped, but “regular” people too.

Unforgotten didn’t just provide me with a couple hours of mindless entertainment; it changed my outlook on life. It made me a little more aware of opportunities to help. It made me want to do something.

Also, this morning I watched a documentary called Crawdad Slip about pottery making. It’s amazing how documentaries can make something I’ve completely taken for granted and not even thought about into something incredibly interesting. I loved that documentary. There has not yet been a documentary that I didn’t like, and I’ve been watching a bunch.

I Pledge Allegiance

2011-01-23T12:29:00.000-08:00

Red Skelton

I'll Need a Flyswatter Instead of a Raquet

2011-01-19T16:01:00.000-08:00

There’s something humiliating about playing racquetball when you haven’t played for a few years. I never know what to with the shots that end up floating around in the corner. I end up looking like a swatted fly, because I’ll be running so fast for the ball that I plaster my body against the wall. Racquetball makes me look like a fool, but it is a lot of fun. I might even go so far as to say that it is my new favorite sport. I found out recently that my university lets us check out rackets and balls for free; and we have a bunch of courts to choose from. Racquetball is just another awesome activity on my list of awesome things to do.

My life is getting to be pretty busy. Besides school, I’m trying to get editing experience as much as I can, I’m volunteering for awesome journals on campus, I started playing racquetball, and I think I’m going to start going to a gospel choir that practices in the building where I eat lunch. There are so many opportunities to learn all kinds of new things available to me; I want to take advantage of them all.

I’m not going too crazy though. In fact, I had to change around a lot of my schedule when school started again. I got pretty excited with the New Year; I made a lot of New Year’s resolutions. I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to handle all of my goals, so I toned it down a little bit.

I feel OK about toning it down. I’d rather succeed at a few things than fail at a ton of things. But maybe those are just the philosophies of a slacker. In my case, I think not.

Club for Girls

2011-01-18T11:34:00.000-08:00

We had another book club meeting yesterday. One of my roommates in the club said that his mom told him that book clubs were for girls. Woops. Now I know how Napoleon Dynamite felt when the campus bully made fun of him for being in the Happy Hands Club (a club for girls). However, it makes sense why she would say that. In our book club, there are three guys and about eight girls; and now that I think about it, I don’t ever remember hearing about a guy starting a book club; I’ve only ever talked to girls about starting book clubs.

As I thought about it more, I realized that girls dominate a lot of the things I participate in. I study English in college, and there are far more girls than there are guys in every single one of my classes. I volunteer for a couple of journals on campus as an editor, and there are a ton of girls and very few guys that show up to the meetings. There are even more girls that show up at readings for Leading Edge, a science-fiction magazine, and I always thought science fiction was for dudes.

Not that I’m complaining. I think girls are a lot more interesting than guys anyway. But it’s interesting to see this kind of divide in education. One of my roommates studies mechanical engineering and he says there are probably three girls in his same major. The same goes for my other roommate who is an information systems major. There are very few girls studying things about technology and mechanics, and there are very few guys studying humanities. At least it seems to be that way.

I wonder if this divide is as big as I think it is, or if there is really much of a difference at all. I wonder if there is the same kind of divide in other universities across the country. I’d like to research this a little bit more when I get the time, cause there are some other related questions buzzing through my brain about this topic. But for now, I’ll be content reading my books, writing my papers, and talking to girls.

It's Better to be an Optimist

2011-01-13T15:44:00.000-08:00

Condoleezza Rice spoke at BYU this morning. She focused most of her thoughts around optimism, and not falling into the trap of envy and entitlement; thinking I deserve something for what I am. She touched on her belief that the sad education status of current K through 12 students being the factor that could prove this county’s fall. She talked about how the U.S. has always welcomed innovators into the country; those who were willing to scrub floors for five dollars an hour instead of fifty cents so that their children would have an opportunity for an education. I thought that was an incredibly interesting perspective on immigration. It is always such a dismal topic, because people come here thinking that upon entering these borders they will become instantly rich. But instead, the majority of immigrants still live in poverty. By describing these parents as such workers really brought a lot of optimism to the subject for me. It turned it into a selfless act, sacrificing so much to give their children the best opportunity they could, instead of being a problem.

Rice came from such a family of optimism. She grew up in a deeply segregated area where she wasn’t even able to go to certain restaurants. Yet her family followed the philosophy that you can’t control what you are dealt in this life, but you can control how you respond. Even with all the segregation, Rice’s grandfather got a college education, which changed his family’s situation forever. Poverty was not an excuse, segregation was not an excuse. The Rice family did the best they could with what they had, and achieved incredible life victories for themselves and their fellow men. She used her own life experience to shed some wisdom on the BYU student body.

Rice counseled all of us students to follow our passions. It took her a few tries before she finally decided to follow her political career, though she was an accomplished pianist. She said that there has been a few times where she finds herself meeting with representatives from other countries and flying over the world and thinking, “I’m glad I changed my major.”

Condoleezza Rice’s words today were full of hope. She began her message by saying that the news headlines of today are rarely the same as the historical records that come later. No one remembers the headlines that condemned the purchase of Alaska from Russia. Today that historical event is praised because we now have a beautiful landscape under our flag (There are a ton of T.V. shows coming out that are based in and bout Alaska). Rice’s message today reflected that same attitude of a positive future perspective. Though things may be seem pretty bad, there is still much opportunity. One of her concluding remarks expounded on the idea that if we at BYU, who have so much opportunity, cannot find reasons to be optimistic, how can anyone else? It is through optimism and belief in a better world that we conquer our seemingly impossible challenges.

Specific Goodness

2011-01-11T02:38:00.000-08:00

A few stories:

The other day, my neighbor asked me how my day went, and I said, “Great!” I even had a big smile on my face.

The next day, someone asked me the same thing, and I said, “Really good.”

The day after that, another neighbor asked me the exact same question, and I responded, “I’m just having a really great day.”

What does each of these stories have in common? Answer: Similar questions and similar answers.

Sometimes I feel like the answers I give to these questions of how my day is going properly illustrate the way I really feel. Just saying “great” or “really good” doesn’t carry enough feeling in what I am trying to communicate. So lately I’ve been trying to improve my answers to these questions, and I’ve found that specificity is the key. It doesn’t matter what synonyms I use in the place of “good”; in fact, using other words like “awesome” and “fantastic”, though I might be trying to be sincere, may make me look like I’m being sarcastic and come off as pretentious. It all goes back to my writing classes: The more specific, the better.

I know when people ask how my day is going, they usually aren’t looking for very long answers, but when I do give them a tiny bit more information, they’re able to understand why I’m feeling so good a little bit better. Instead of just saying “good”, I try to think of something that actually happened in my day that was good. For example, “I just finished all my homework”or, “I think I did OK in my job interview.” Saying “good” all the time is so empty, and sometimes I say it even when my day isn’t going all that well. What’s up with that? Sharing just a little bit more can help people identify with each other more, and maybe even get a chance to spread around a little more good cheer.

Anyways, none of that is really what I wanted to talk about. Mostly I just wanted to say that I’ve been having a long streak of good days and I want to keep it up. I’m keeping my resolutions, and it’s awesome.

Fluctuation and Weathermen

2011-01-06T05:51:00.000-08:00

School recently started, and I’m working out my schedule so I can get to all of the things that I need to do and want to do. I have high hopes for this semester. I’m taking design and rhetoric classes that I think will make me a lot more marketable as a writer and editor. This school has so many opportunities available to take advantage of. One of my new semester resolutions is to take advantage of as many opportunities as possible. I mostly just want to get myself out there; I want people to know about me. I want to participate and volunteer. Every semester has so much potential. I just hope I can keep up my enthusiasm.

Keeping that enthusiasm is something I think is going to be hard. I recently read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. Screwtape is a devil writing advice to his nephew on how to best tempt a patient down to hell. He says that all of us humans have undulations, high points and low points, and the low pints are when we can be most vulnerable. I’ve definitely felt that way about school. At times I feel extremely excited to do the best I can, and then at other times I feel really loaded down with assignments and I want to give up. For some reason I’m always surprised when I feel that depression coming on, and I let it get the better of me.

The comedian Bill Engvall talked about something similar that happens to weathermen in his hometown. Engvall couldn’t understand why the local weather guys were so surprised every year it got really cold toward the end of the year. He said wished he could reach through the screen every time they expressed their dismay; smack the weatherman in the face, and say, “Last August!”

Falling into low points after experiencing high points should catch me by surprise so often. I think it’s perfectly natural. I’ve found that the way to get through those undulations is to stick to my goals and obey the rules I’ve set for myself, like no youtube until homework is done. When I do that I am a lot happier when a new high point comes because I stayed consistent even though my life fluctuated.

False Opposition: God vs. Science

2011-01-04T06:03:00.000-08:00

This article talks about the relationship between God and science. A lot has been going around about whether or not God exists and how science has not proven or disproven the existence of a god. Ricky Gervais, a comedian, had some thoughts on the matter recently over the Christmas holiday. I thought Don Lind's article, though a little dated, a good response to what Gervais talks about. Just as science tests theories of natural occurences, God asks us to test his word to see if it is true for ourselves. We can know if he exists, we just have to take the steps that He has outlined, just like following the formula of a scientific experiement. Follow this link to read more.

New Dinosaur Discovered by BYU

2011-01-04T05:50:00.000-08:00

http://news.byu.edu/archive10-feb-abydosaurus.aspx

Book Club

2011-01-03T16:01:00.000-08:00

I highly recommend book clubs. I started one recently with some friends in the neighborhood. We met this afternoon for the first time to talk about The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. I was a little nervous before the meeting. I’ve never been a part of a book club before; luckily, neither had anyone else, so we all had an open attitude about the proceedings. I prepared as best I could. I reviewed all the notes I wrote down while reading, I bought some frosted animal cookies and hot chocolate, and I played the “Big Band/Swing” station on Pandora radio. That station seemed like the best option to set a relaxing mood for discussion, but maybe I was wrong. You can decide for yourself by listening to this sample (I played it softly). The meeting went a lot better than I expected. I actually loved every minute of it.

There are a few reasons why I liked our book club so much:

The discussion was just like the discussions in my college literature classes except better. We didn’t really have a time constraint and we could go a lot more in depth than I could ever do in a class setting.

There were only a few of us friends, so everybody got to contribute a good amount to the discussion. And it seemed like everybody enjoyed contributing too.

Being in a group like that enhanced my reading experience. People pointed out details and made connections that I didn’t think about. It was like reading the book over again, but as a completely different person.

A few people brought treats, and that’s always a plus.

Talking about this particular book was so enjoyable we decided to have a round 2 before deciding on the next book we are going to read.

Brittle Drywall

2010-12-29T16:01:00.000-08:00

I put a hole in the wall yesterday. A big hole. We had a burglar break into our house late in the night. I happened to be up getting a snack and he surprised me. I tackled him and tried to pin him to the ground, but he got loose. Before he could run out the door, I grabbed him and threw him across the room. I didn’t think I threw him that hard until I heard a resounding crunch and crack sound that woke up my roommates. They all came out of their rooms and in the confusion the burglar got away. But he left his mark; a giant hole where I had thrown him.

None of what I said so far is actually true, except the part about the hole in the wall. I’ll get to the truth now.

The neighbor across the street has a large black Labrador she asked us to take care of while she went away with her family for the holidays (don’t worry, it’ll all come together). The dog gets two cups of dog food in the morning and one at night, and he needs to be taken out regularly to “empty the tank”, as it were. He’s a really good dog. He hasn’t torn up anything in the house since he has been there alone all this time. Every time I go over, he is in the same spot where I left him. I don’t know if he ever moves. But anyways:

Last night, I remembered I hadn’t taken care of him yet that evening, so while other people in the house conversed and joked, I began putting on my shoes. To be honest, I’m not exactly sure how it happened, but I lost my balance, fell over, and my shoulder punctured a gaping hole in the wall with a resounding crunch and crack sound. Everyone in the room fell silent and jerked their heads toward the sound in unison. This is what they looked at.

[caption id="attachment_68" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="My shoulder did that"][/caption]

It’s interesting all the thoughts that run through your head when something unexpected like this happens. First, I didn’t believe it. Then, I thought, “what a pain.” Then, all the hassle and money it would take to fix the hole rushed into my brain. And then I heard some people say, “oohhh.” Then, I thought about what the landlords would say, and pretty much everything in my brain was making this entire mishap out to be worse than what it actually was. A hole in the wall isn’t that big of a deal, as it turns out, and it’s pretty easy to fix. Just take a look at this video:

How to Fix Drywall Hole

One of my roommates did some drywall work at his parent’s house, so he has all the materials I need. And there’s a bunch of extra paint in our basement. I’m pretty set to fix it. No big deal. And it should all be done before the landlords come.

Rocket Launcher

2010-12-28T08:50:00.000-08:00

I helped my nephew and his dad make a rocket launcher to give to my other nephew. I'll post pictures soon, but it was pretty rad.

again

2010-12-28T08:47:00.000-08:00

I come again
To this dreary place
With my plans,
Nails, wood
And hammer;
To rebuild what I tore down.

I’m here again
On this familiar field;
It’s a rich plot of land.
To clear the ashes,
Fill in the holes,
And build my walls anew.

I wait again
To let Him in.
I know he’s coming soon.
I’ll hold out this time;
Not break down in shame.
My banner flies clear and true.

http://www.1timothy4-13.com/files/chr_vik/banner.html

Ants

2010-12-28T08:01:00.000-08:00

I watched an amazing documentary the other day about ants. Yes, you read correctly. Ants. I kept saying, "Wow!" about every ten minutes during the film. The best part is at the end. A team of researchers found an abandoned colony and poured a bunch of cement down the tunnels and then dug it all up to see what it looked like. You can see for yourself here:

Ants

This video had the best quality I could find on youtube. Also you can watch the whole documentary on hulu by clicking on the next link:

The documentary

Should've Taken Before and After Pictures

2010-12-27T16:27:00.000-08:00

I think the multiple facets of our lives need a good deep clean every once and a while. My roommates and I pulled back both the refrigerator and the oven out of their pockets of filth to reveal nasty communities of mold and dirt flourishing on the wooden floor. The rag I used to scrub out the infestation quickly changed color from white to slimy brown. How long has it been since anyone did a good and thorough cleaning around here? I’ve lived here for almost two years now, so at least that long. Ew.

Things get dirty and cluttered over time. It gets pretty gross without attention. I took this Christmas break as an opportunity to clean out my belongings a little bit. I went through all of the things in my room and threw out or gave away everything I don’t use anymore. It was hard for me. When it comes to clothes and old Lego sets, I start to let myself think that I might use it one day in the unforeseeable future. Then it sits in a drawer for another few months before I repeat the process. But not this time. I threw out a lot of junk today; books I’ll never read again, jackets I’ll never wear again, and an old backpack I already replaced. My room is finally in order.

I think thorough de-cluttering needs to be done with life and aspirations in general. I have a lot of goals I want to accomplish, like being a better writer for example. There are a lot of things I can cut from my regular day to get me more on track. Leftovers from old plans can be cleared away to make room for current work to get me to where I want to go. I’ve already done a little bit of a life cleaning and it feels great.

Carl Bloch Exhibit at BYU

2010-12-23T06:32:00.000-08:00

Brigham Young University is hosting an incredible exhibit featuring paintings by Carl Bloch, a famous Danish painter who lived from 1834 to 1890. Most of the paintings in the exhibit display unique insights on the life of Christ. J.C. Jacobson commissioned Bloch to create these religious works to replace paintings that were destroyed in a fire that consumed the King’s Prayer Chamber in the Frederiksborg Castle Chapel. The tour offers an iPad rental for 3 dollars, which greatly enhances the experience with background information and additional analyses. I saw some common themes popping up throughout the tour. Bloch contrasted light and darkness in many of his projects; he showed a great amount of detail in each of his paintings, and a lot expression and emotion comes through the hands of his characters.

I love paintings that reveal more interesting and perspective changing details the more I look at them. That’s how Carl Bloch’s paintings worked for me. I had spent an hour going through all the paintings and reading all the information I could about them and barely tasted the amount of information behind each one. I met up with my sister at the end of the tour and we decided to make one last quick run through the exhibit. The second time we went through was like my first time. She kept pointing out details in the paintings that I had completely missed. In the painting where Christ is healing people by the waters of Bethesda, there is a man with no legs hidden in the shadows next to Christ’s feet on the bottom left corner of the painting. It’s amazing to see how much work and attention would have gone in to making these great works of art.

You can learn more about Carl Bloch and the exhibit at BYU here: http://carlbloch.byu.edu/

Good Books

2010-12-21T04:19:00.000-08:00

I remember when I first started to really love reading. In sixth grade my teacher, Mrs. Walcott, set a certain day in the week for all of her students to read whatever they wanted for most of the morning. I usually brought in big picture books about dinosaurs and Star Wars – the extent of my interests in elementary school. She took me aside one day and said, “Russ, you need to expand your reading a little bit.” She told me there were loads of interesting books she thought I would really enjoy. Then she said, “You might want to start with this one,” and handed me a copy of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. That book changed the entire course of my life. It led me to read the rest of the Narnia chronicles and on to explore many more imaginative worlds and epic stories in literature.

My brother-in-law showed me an article recently posted by Micheal Flaherty in The Wall Street Journal. Flaherty talks about the criticism behind Sarah Palin’s choice of putting C.S. Lewis at the top of her reading list and argues that Palin is on the right track. Media personalities have taken shots at Palin’s source of inspiration saying, “aren’t those children’s books?” Flaherty says good books like C.S. Lewis’ novels help us work with the problems in our own lives. You can read the whole article by following the link at the end of this post.

As I’ve read more books, it seems like there are some works that people classify as literature and the others that are dismissed as something less, though these lesser models may sell well in stores. I’ve wondered what characteristics put some books in the “literature” category and others in the “whatever” category. I looked up the word “literature” online at dictionary.com, which yields this definition: Written material such as poetry, novels, essays, etc, especially works of imagination characterized by excellence of style and expression and of general or enduring interest. With this definition, everything ever written on Earth can be part of the human literature, but some works of writing have more literary value than others. Books like The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe show us different perspectives on situations in everyday activity and how to deal with difficulty. We can learn how to outwit the terrible giants and dragons of our time and find the more important aspects of life through these valuable children’s novels and other good works of literature; good books teach us how to work life to its full potential.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703929404576022043778752626.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

To Be What I Want to Be

2010-12-16T09:21:00.000-08:00

[gallery]

To: Mom and Dad

I just presented my last final for the semester this morning. I say “presented”, and not “took”, because all I had to do was give a five minute presentation on a paper I wrote about Ben Okri’s The Famished Road. That’s one thing I love about my English major. Instead of having to memorize information and regurgitate it onto a multiple choice test on a given day, I get to write papers.

Reasons why I love writing papers:

-          I can usually write about what interests me

-          No memorization needed – just research and write down what applies as I go along

-          Multiple drafts – If it’s not very good at first, which it never is, I can get help from my teacher or friend, and rewrite it until it’s basically perfect (try doing that on a test)

-          Writing papers for my English classes mostly takes the place of test taking

Not only do I enjoy the feeling that the English program has been catered specifically to my educational needs, I also love studying it in general. A few weeks ago I attended a reading by an author named Ron Carlson. He would stop as he read some of his short stories and give a little more insight to what he thought while writing. He talked about his college days and how, for the longest time, it seemed like he did everything he could to not be an English major and to not be a writer. But he “ached” to write, so that’s what he ended up doing. For some reason my world made a little more sense when he said that.

Once I decided to major in English during my second year of college, I never switched. But for so long I tried pursuing careers that didn’t directly have a relation with what I naturally gravitate toward (literature and writing), because I thought those other pursuits would yield better job security in the future. For one thing, job security these days isn’t very secure, no matter what the market is. For another, I didn’t enjoy those other pursuits. Working on them drained me, while writing and studying literature invigorated me.

I recently decided to put my energy depleting life ideas in the disposal and take the energizing writing route out of storage. Many roll their eyes at aspiring writers and English majors and can only think of one possible career path for such a study focus; a teacher. However, after talking with professors on campus and doing some research of my own, English is actually a very marketable focus for many different fields. I argue that businesses can teach almost anything they need a given applicant to do; what are important are transferable skills like diligence, focus and people skills; things like that. One of my professors made a very good point: There are probably just as many majors in college that don’t lead directly to a given profession as there are that do. Jobs for English, history, and psychology majors just aren’t as clear cut as jobs for information systems, accounting, and nutrition/health majors.

I’m still not sure what I want to focus on for my career, but I have options. For now I need to get as much experience as I can. I feel behind in my profession. I want to know what everyone is talking about in my editing classes. Next semester I plan on volunteering for a couple of journals on campus as an editor. I’m signing up for an editing internship. And these next couple of weeks, during Christmas break, I’m going to do as much of my own research as I can. And it’s going to be awesome.

Performed its Function

2010-12-14T09:22:00.000-08:00

I got to see the latest (and probably last) installment of the Narnia Chronicles, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, last night. I heard the movie differed pretty significantly from the book; but since I haven’t read the book in years, the changes didn’t bother me. In my mind, the Narnia books don’t seem very movie friendly in that what happens in writing is great for the imagination, but it’s not very transferrable to the screen. With that said the changes they made for the movie worked well in helping the story line run a little smoother. However, I thought the plot was the worst part of this movie.

I felt the plot served as canvas for what was really going on in the film. Basically, Lucy and Edmund Pevansie, with their cousin Eustace, get sucked back into the Narnian world through a painting on their relative’s wall. There they meet Caspian on his ship, The Dawn Treader, on a quest to find the seven lost lords of his father’s kingdom. They find out there is a “Dark Island” threatening to destroy Narnia. The voyagers must find the swords of the lost lords and put them on Aslan’s table to unlock the power that can destroy the island. But, in order to “defeat the darkness out there” they must first “defeat the darkness inside” themselves. The whole “defeating the darkness inside yourself” motif was what I like most about this film.

Although the plot was too convenient and coincidental for my taste, the actors were solid and the characters were developed very well, especially Eustace. In fact, this movie is more about Eustace and his inner struggle than it is about anybody else in the film. Eustace is the annoying cousin of Lucy and Edmund; he doesn’t believe in Narnia, and, for most of the movie, he’s a selfish and scared ignoramus with a lot to say. I hated Eustace from his very first scene, and I cringed every time he opened his mouth. But that effect slowly wore off for me as he saw the trouble his attitude and selfishness brought him until he ultimately had a change of heart. I thought Eustace’s character did exactly what it was supposed to do, and enriched the film to a great degree. I forgot about the usual things that make me dislike movies and really enjoyed the characters.

Though a movie well worth seeing, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader came out at a difficult time. It doesn’t pack the same kind of weight that The Deathly Hollows or those ridiculous Twilight movies carry. Dawn Treader is meant for the more devoted fans of the book and for children. Its moral lessons and Christian parallels are thick and not nearly as subtle as, say, The Lord of the Rings or other similar fantasies, though there are some intriguing inspirational messages if one has the desire analyze it a little bit. I still don’t think any of the Narnia books should ever be put on screen, but this movie gave it a very good run. Go see it sometime.

the cute works

2010-07-24T18:56:00.000-07:00

So a while ago I remember watching a CARMAX commercial. Specifically, this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8LT5hrI1sk

and I thought, "Wow. That made absolutely no sense". I mean yes, the message is kind of clear, but what's with the little animals watching TV and the music? None of it fits together. Companies can't expect people to buy what they offer just because they put cute little critters, that have nothing to do with the product, in their commercials.

But then I was corrected:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfJnqbudMzs

Once again, it makes absolutely no sense. The hamsters, the toasters and the cardboard. What is going on and what does any of it have to do with a Kia? I don't know, but for some reason I still love it.

And all of this reminds me of a really cute website my roommate showed me a while ago:

http://cute-n-tiny.com/

another reason why the prehistoric world rocks

2010-07-01T10:09:00.000-07:00

National Geographic reports the finding of a "Leviathan Whale". It looks a lot like the modern sperm whale. Except, sperm whales these days primarily only go after squid. Wimps. These leviathans, with their foot long teeth, were going after "more challenging prey", including other whales. National Geographic describes them as being "raptorial", basically saying they were active hunters, which is a reference to my favorite dinosaur: the Velociraptor!

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/photogalleries/100630-leviathan-mellvillei-sperm-whale-fossils-science/#whale01-leviathan-rendering_22737_600x450.jpg

i love knowing things

2010-07-01T09:51:00.000-07:00

I've been listening to a lot of podcasts lately. Podcasts are awesome. You can get them on iTunes and there are all sorts of options to suit anyone's needs. Also, it's great cause there are a bunch of really good ones you can subscribe to for free!

Currently I subscribe to:

Radio Lab

This American Life

Stuff you missed in history class

Classic Speeches

Car Stuff

My personal favorite is Stuff You Should Know. They talk about all sorts of interesting things, like the Sun, how the moon can save us, bees, taxidermy, how bounty hunters work, and all sorts of different topics. There's a lot of time while I'm walking or driving where I can pop in the ipod and get educated. Rockin'.

the world during my life

2010-06-24T21:04:00.000-07:00

My roommates and I started brainstorming innovations and groundbreaking events or ideas that changed the world. This list is what we came up with. I'm not sure how accurate to the times some of these things are but I plan on doing some research

INNOVATIONS / WORLD CHANGERS:

Internet
DVD
Cell Phones / Smart Phones
Netflix / Red Box
CDs
Social Networking
Laptops
iTunes
Ipod
MP3
Wireless Internet
007 (N64)
Texting
Email / chat
Digital Phone book
Extreme Sports
LED lights
LCD screens
Computer Animation (PIXAR)
Online Retail (Ebay, Amazon)
Google / Youtube / Google Docs
A few countries
Hybrid Cars
Alternative energies
GPS
Reality TV
CFL Bulbs (Compact Florescent Lights)
Flash Drives
White Boards
Energy Drinks
First Black President
Small Temples
Conference Center
Family Proclamation
Microsoft Word
QT
Touch Screen
Laser Printers
Berlin Wall
Laser Pointers
Electric Toothbrush

Then we made a list of things that have become obsolete in our lifetime.

OBSOLETE

Floppy Disks
Laser Disks
VHS
Cassette
Gameboy
Nintendo
Gamecube
Newspaper
Hummer
Answering Machines
Land Lines
Memorizing Phone Numbers
Roller Blades
Mini disk player
Walkman
Diskman
Portbable CD player
CDs
Blockbuster
Hollywood Video
C and D batteries
Boom Boxes
Space Shuttle
A few countries
Netscape
The Outdoors
Human Interaction
Big Satellite Dishes
Chalk Boards (Black Boards)
Typewriters
Word Perfect
The watch as a time piece as opposed to a fashion accessory
Chat rooms

These lists are subject to expansion.

danger-russ

2010-06-17T20:13:00.000-07:00

My blood is a very vibrant red. I never realized that before today.

Our neighbors have a big pile of dirt in their front lawn. We've taken our bikes over the pile before, but today we decided to go back to elementary school days and make a legitimate jump out of the dirt. It is important to make a casual increase in elevation and to pack down the dirt so it's nice and solid.

Across the street from our neighbor's house is a long and steep ramp that leads up to a parking lot. That's what I used to pick up speed. The first attempt went well. I got enough speed and made it over the jump without any incident. On the second attempt, my friend decided to lay down in the space between the take off ramp and the landing ramp while I sped down the runway. I had no idea he was there. When I saw him laying there as I went over the jump, I was extremely startled. In the second my bike flew through the air my brain imagined my back tire smashing into my friends head. I tried to pivot or do something so that wouldn't happen and I came down very shaky on the landing, falling onto dirt, rocks and concrete. Luckily, neither one of us was seriously injured. My back tire did not slam into my friend's head.

It's kind of a bummer because my fall happened off the screen. Oh well.

This was my coolest injury. My hip and knee still kind of hurt.

After the tumble, I rode over the jump a few more times. It was awesome.

things to look forward to

2010-06-15T10:33:00.000-07:00

After receiving a few suggestions from my roommates, I've decided to take up comic book creating once again. My first new series will feature me and my roommates as we battle... stuff. It's gonna be awesome. However, I think it might turn out to be one of those things where nobody else but us is going to like it, because we kind of have a lot of inside jokes. We'll see.

Once my neck heals I'm going to learn how to do a back flip. I already know how to do them on a trampoline so how hard can it be to do them on solid ground? Also once I get that down I'm gonna learn how to do one of those run-up-the-wall back flips. Something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-gnk_PvV6k&feature=related

...or not.

I still need to climb a mountain this week.

Oh, and tomorrow I get a snow cone. Woot game day.

roundabound

2010-06-09T22:36:00.000-07:00

We're going to learn how to do back flips at my house.... Hopefully in the future we will make more progress, but for now I need two spotters.

cool it

2010-06-08T20:55:00.000-07:00

The best shaved ice I've ever had is 30 minutes away from me in Salem. It's this box with a window on the side of the road. Every Tuesday and Thursday is buy one get one free and if I show up in my baseball uniform after a game I can get one half off. Christian and I went today. Christian offered to let the owner, Ryan, advertise on Christian's car if Ryan gave him one free cup of shaved ice a day. Ryan said he would do it, so now Christian is going to be driving around with a giant Styrofoam cup on top of his Toyota. So worth it.

To get there, take the I-15 to exit 257. Turn left and follow that road through a bunch of stop lights all the way to Salem. As you drive into Salem, the shaved ice shack will be on you're right. If you get to the light at 400 North you have gone too far.

I like this

2010-06-07T16:20:00.000-07:00

I try to be a lot of things,

but I am a new thing today.

Five thousand mosquito bites and four rattle snakes later,

I am a mountain climber

I climb mountains,

plural

and period.

Tristan and I climbed West Mountain. It's a beautiful 6904 ft trek to the top. There's a road leading to the top of one peak then we trudged south to a higher peak. We came across four small rattle snakes on our way up. Those things are hard to see if you're not looking for them. I've never seen these things in real life and the first one we saw made me let out a startled yelp. Not to worry though. We kept our distance and the snakes barely even twitched. Well, one rattled its tail at us... but that's it.