"Governor Schwarzenegger" Prank Calls Mitt

This is awesome. One of the commenters on Youtube noticed that you can get Mitt's phone # by watching the video. I bet they've changed it already.

What Candidates' Names Mean to You

I recently heard a segment on NPR entitled "What Candidates' Names Mean to S.C. Voters," in which the host, Michele Norris, asked approximately twenty people to give "the word or image that immediately springs to mind when they hear a specific candidate's name." (The link for the segment follows.)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18228048

As I listened, I thought "what kind of people is she asking?" Mostly because out of the many respondents, only one person had a negative association with Hillary Clinton. To me that seemed improbable--particularly in South Carolina where Hillary is not doing so hot. And also because there were plenty of negative things said about the other candidates (excepting, of course, Obama whom I can't see evoking a negative response from anyone.)
Sampling issues aside, it seemed like a fun exercise to choose a word or image to describe each candidate. How would you respond? Here is my response:

1. John McCain: straight talker
2. Mike Huckabee: Baptist minister
3. Mitt Romney: business whiz, Mormon
4. Rudolph Giuliani: very likable
5. Fred Thompson: true Republican
6. Ron Paul: Libertarian
7. Hillary Clinton: can't stand her (this is my immediate gut response, she has some strong positive qualities to be sure)
8. Barack Obama: dynamic
9. John Edwards: populist, foolish (I don't apologize for dissing Edwards)

Revisiting The Wall Of Pain

'The Wall Of Pain' was a fixture on the west dinning area wall in apartment 15 in the Cinnamon Tree apartments in winter of 2001. If I remember correctly it was started by Dwerden and Ollerton who affixed a 'WALL OF PAIN' sign on the wall and hung images of people experiencing, or items that cause, pain (I believe Kevin hung up an O-chem test score where he got, I think, 38%). In honor of that wall, I humbly present, my own wall of pain.

If you're wondering that is my daughter at the end there. Did NOT want her picture taken.

I Am Your Brother

This just made my day.

Did anyone see the Golden Globes?

Let me just be the first to say that it was the most awesomely bad thing I've seen in a while. Because of the WGA strike, and the fact that WGA wouldn't grant a waver to the foreign press for the event, writers were going to picket the event, and none of the actors/celebrities would have crossed the line, well...at least if they ever wanted to work again.

So, the awards were called off and a press conference hosted by Billy Bush and a younger version of Mary Hart took its place. They would read off the nominees, read the winner and then have a back and forth that went a little like this...

BB: WOW! I did not see that coming!
YMH: Yeah, what a big surprise, although I did love that movie.
BB: Yeah that movie was great, and I'm a big tool.

Occasionally they would go over to two other tools, whose names I didn't bother to read and they would talk about the winners in this matter:

T#1: Wow, what a great performance so and so gave!
T#2: Yeah, there's certainly nothing getting in their way for the Oscars this year!

BLAH! What a complete waste of an hour, the only significant thing is the fact that hopefully it will be the only awards show like it.

And frankly, this just brings home the fact that the real losers with this strike mess are us viewers. No offices, no 30 rocks only 8 episodes of Lost...

And the globes were usually fun to watch because recipients of the awards were loose and candid in their acceptance speeches, which lead to some genuinely funny moments like Geena Davis (who knew?) and Sasha Baron Cohen (A bit PG-13, watch out for little ears in the room). Surely watching Johnny Deep accept might have been fun.

Now we have to hope for some sort of resolution, or the Oscars are going to be the same sort of thing, which REALLY will be a shame.

So Provoian, what think ye?

Old Copy of the Book of Mormon

Once every three or four weeks I help my shut-in neighbor pick up groceries and other necessities. I also help him empty his cat litter and do other chores that are difficult for him. He lives with chronic pain and requires lots of medication due to numerous physical ailments that I won't detail here. When I help him shop, etc. he usually insists on paying me or buying me something. Previously he had showed me this old copy of the Book of Mormon that he owned so one week I told him that instead of paying me he could give me the book--and he agreed! I haven't done any careful research but according to this article it is probably a variation on the 1879 edition with Orson Pratt's verses and footnotes. It's definitely not the 1920 edition because it lacks the double column format introduced in that edition.

This page was included. I can't decipher it. It looks like it says "Mrs. Watson from some guy Utah. June(?) 16, 1917." What do you think?

Tucked inside the cover were some old Christian tracts decrying the evils of alcohol and tobacco. The poem above is the cautionary tale of one Tom Gray. "Tom Gray lay down on the barroom floor, Having drunk so much he could drink no more; So he fell asleep with a troubled brain, To dream that he rode on a hell-bound train." He sees how he is going to suffer in Hell and wakes up and prays "to be saved from drink and the devil's power . . ." If you click on the picture it is large enough to read the whole thing.

Another tract entitled The Bar. The tracts were printed here in North Carolina and I imagine they made their way into the book after it's time with the Watsons in Utah--or a Watson brought it here. The book also contains the birth dates of the Watson family:

James H? Watson, March 3, 1888
Marth R. Watson July 19, 1895
Ethel Watson Dec. 15, 1912
Baby James Watson Feb. 10, 1914
Kathleen B. Watson May 16, 1913

I'll have to see if these folks are in Ancestral File. It's fun to hold a piece of history. I will show this book to my gospel doctrine class tomorrow as we are just starting our study of the Book of Mormon.

Weary of Boring Holmes Posts? Take the Poll

Admit it, with time the initial luster of The Provonian has begun to dull. You thought you would imbibe merrily from an eclectic stream of chuckleworthy and thought-inflicting posts by the likes of Jed, Tony, Mat, and Brandon--and if you were really lucky maybe even Kirk or Mikey. Instead, you've grown lethargic and weak on a steady diet of stale Holmes and his grad student ennui. Sure he has his moments, but he's not the RSC franchise player. So c'mon Provonian readers, let's show these guys how much we want to hear from them. Please take the poll to select the non-Rob blogger from whom you would like to see more posts. (I know it's hard to choose just one, but it is a necessary evil. This is not a popularity contest, just a motivational tool.)

I'm not denigrating the past efforts of these fine gentlemen, but it's time to take The Provonian to a higher level of execution. Let's make this blog something Bronco would be proud of. Fully invested! And what about you gentle reader? Did you know that if you lack your own blog we will happily post your inspiring composition, free of charge? That's right, we will graciously share our sophisticated cosmopolitan audience with you.

Thanks in advance!