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!

Good Christmas Eats

Christmas isn't festive unless you eat some dang good food. Here I am with some North Carolina sourwood honey (dang good) and two goat cheese logs (even dang gooder). I got the goat cheese at the Raleigh Farmers Market where I get my eggs (In the Red Farm). One was rosemary garlic, the other was peppercorn. Best cheese with crackers you'll ever eat, hands down!

My other feat was making a tiramisu for Taliatha's birthday (okay, she ended up helping me since she wanted to do it together, but I will still take the credit). We used mascarpone cheese instead of vanilla pudding like some recipes call for and it was well worth the $4. We substituted Pero for the coffee. SO GOOD--and I'm not even a great cook. You can probably tell that we finally got a digital camera. (Holmeses tend to lag on adoption of new technology. We didn't have a touch tone phone until I was in 10th grade--that's 1994. I think we were the last family in Provo to make the switch to color television.) Anyway, it looks like Mallory enjoyed all of the Christmas eats too! What were your favorite Christmas eats?

Mitt Romney's "Faith in America" Speech

Last Thursday Chenae and I had a chance to attend Mitt Romney’s speech, “Faith in America”, at the George Bush Library in College Station, TX. We felt extremely lucky to be able to get tickets to the speech since the auditorium at the Bush Library only seats about 300 people. We got great seats, 5th row right in the middle.

It was interesting to watch the media circus around the event. We even got to see the one lone anti-mormon protestor almost get in a fight with a FOX camera man for trying to stick his sign behind a reporter during a live report. Both before and after the speech we got to talk to a number of “important” individuals such as Glen Beck, Dr. Richard Land (a Southern Baptist Convention big whig), a number of invited pastors, Carl Cameron (Fox News political correspondent), Jonathan Martin (Politico.com blogger), and Spencer Zwick (Romney’s National Finance Manager). Everyone was very friendly and willing to talk about their reaction to the speech.

We talked to Spencer Zwick before the speech and asked him if he had read it already. He told us that he had and that he thought it was going to go over very well. He also told us that usually before a big speech or debate that Romney gets a little anxious, but that we was surprisingly relaxed as they flew down to Texas. Spencer asked him how he could be so laid back on the eve of such an important event and Romney told him that although he didn’t know if giving this speech would be good or bad politically but that he felt personally that it was the right thing to do. He said that once the decision was made to give the speech he had felt very peaceful regardless of the outcome.

I thoroughly enjoyed the speech itself. First off, it was a historical moment, regardless of political outcomes, and I’m really grateful to have had the opportunity to be there. Although Romney is not a pound on the pulpit, emotional speaker, which at times leads some to label him as plastic, he’s a very powerful speaker in person. His delivery was articulate, passionate and sincere. I loved the focus on the religious heritage of our country and quotes from Samuel Adams, John Adams, and Abraham Lincoln. It’s a moving speech that combines and unifies a variety of important themes pertaining to religion, freedom, and politics. I know there are those that take issue with Romney on a variety of issues but I came away from last Thursday’s speech with a strong impression that Romney would make a great president if given the opportunity.

Mr. Sub Commercial

This great commercial was brought to my attention by Kirk.