Tuesdays with Muerte

I first witnessed this brilliant marketing strategy at the Little Caesar's Pizza in Spokane, WA over Christmas break.  I think the main reason why execs haven't swapped in robots here in Provo is because humans here are still better sign-shakers...for now...

Infinity Blade  ($5.99 → Free, 595.2 MB) Journey to the Dark Citadel to battle powerful Titans and free your people from an endless legacy of darkness in this visually stunning combat game. Swipe across the screen to perform attacks, dodge blades, block hits, and cast devastating spells. As you make your way deeper into the castle realm, you’ll have a chance to upgrade your knight and collect new weapons and armor. The game includes gorgeous 3-D graphics powered by the Unreal engine, online multiplayer, and achievements and leaderboards via Game Center. Infinity Blade   is available for free for the next 7 days (Feb. 14 - 21, 2013). It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 16500 ratings. This might be the GREATEST iOS game of all time! Do yourself a favor—clear some memory and dl this app asap.

Here's a quick guide for the baffled: Harlem Shake videos all follow the script of one person, often in a helmet, dancing alone in a room full of bored-looking people. Then, as the beat kicks in on  Baauer's "Harlem Shake,"  we smash cut to the entire room going nuts in the most ridiculous ways possible. In a post titled "The Harlem Shake is Exploding," YouTube trends manager Kevin Allocca reveals that more than 12,000 Harlem Shake videos had been uploaded by close of business Monday. Collectively, they have been watched more than 44 million times in a week. Clearly, part of the success of the videos can be attributed to the anticipation of that breakout moment. Another reason: The videos are so short, you can easily consume a dozen of them in a ten-minute lunch break. I did a quick search on Google Trends, and the stats say the meme is still exploding (especially in Canada) as of February 13th. This chart will update to show you the last 90 days. ...

Love, The Internet (P.S. Not to kill the magic,  but anytime there are real glasses, these are likely played backwards.)

Image Source Finals is Here—Please Enjoy My Study Playlist : The XX —   Intro   (EP)  and every other song on their album, XX. Beta Radio —  Either Way  and their Christmas stuff like  O Holy Night . Tyler Lyle —  Anyhow    and  California . Bronze Radio Return  —  Shake Shake Shake . Peter Bradley Adams  —  Los Angeles . Fort Atlantic —  Let Your Heart Hold Fast   (creative, fan-made,  music video  feat. lyrics ) Churchill —  Change   (music video) The Workday Release —  Love in a Box .  (They should make a song with Taylor Swift.) April Smith and the Great Picture Show —  Movie Loves a Screen Special thanks to Chelsea Smith, the only friend whose music recommendations I trust, for pointing me to most of these!

Check out my church talk ( Google Drive ) Hope you enjoyed reading the material I used for the talk I just gave in sacrament meeting today.  The topic was  service, and what it means to be your brother's keeper .  Here's how I prepare talks: I write the first half of my message before the presentation, Then I gave it, and afterward, I furiously write down what I should have said. *The reason why I don't bother write out talks completely before the event, is because I know that the Spirit is going to reveal the truth to me as I'm speaking—so I've learned to just wait to write it down until after that inspiration comes and I have a moment to reflect on it.  I learned this behavior as a student seminary teacher.  I would work so hard preparing a lesson plan the night before.  Then, when I would deliver it to my first period class, it would always drastically change! (I felt so bad for those 1st period kids.) Once I figured out what work...

* I started writing this post back in 2012, but forgot to post it.  Now I can't remember anything beyond what I have recorded here. * Elder Christensen invited me into his office for a visit today. (This sort of thing doesn't happen every day.  It was a pretty big deal for me!) Here are some of my personal impressions from our 30-minute visit: Global church growth cannot be sustained on pioneer tithing.  Chapels are probably the Church's most significant cost.  Brick and mortar worship, as we know it, may have to go. There is a disconnect between exercising faith to serve a mission and exercising faith to get married.  In Elder Christensen's era, returned missionaries said, "well it [faith] worked for me on the mission, I guess I'll exercise faith now and get married."  He asked me why I thought that had changed? Not wanting to pass the buck, but determined to speak my mind I responded that I thought my generation had witnessed to too many failed m...