Tuesdays with Muerte

"What can I give Him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part; Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart." — In the bleak midwinter  BY CHRISTINA ROSSETTI WOW! These videos are incredible! For the past 12 days, these amazing, LDS YouTubers have inspired us with their respective gifts for the King of kings. I invite you, as you watch a few (or all) of these meaning-filled videos, to think about what it is they all have in common. Consider what makes a gift a  good one. Then, after coming up with a few ideas, ponder on what you could do  to add your gift to theirs. Then do it. Without further ado, I proudly present 2015's 12 Days of Social #ASaviorIsBorn! O COME, O COME, EMMANUEL - Jenny Oaks Baker (DEC 1) UGLY CHRISTMAS SWEATER DANCE PARTY! -  Ellie and Jared  (DEC 2) THE FIRST NOEL  - Gardiner Sisters  (DEC 3) AVE MARIA - Lexi Walker & Lyceum Phi...

Synopsis The six-person crew of a derelict spaceship awakens from stasis in the farthest reaches of space. Their memories wiped clean, they have no recollection of who they are or how they got on board. The only clue to their identities is a cargo bay full of weaponry and a destination: a remote mining colony that is about to become a war zone. With no idea whose side they are on, they face a deadly decision. Will these amnesiacs turn their backs on history, or will their pasts catch up with them? ( IMDB ) Backstory Produced in Canada,  DARK MATTER was  syndicated by the U.S. Syfy channel, June 15th, 2015, and was made available on Netflix just 2 days ago. September 28. The show has quickly accrued more than a cult following. Wikipedia reports 1.28 million views of the pilot, just in the U.S. Its popularity is no surprise since the script was written by the same folks who did Stargate. Personal Review While lacking the blockbuster budget, effects, and drama of Ba...

 VERSE 1  There are loved ones in the glory Whose dear forms you often miss. When you close your earthly story, Will you join them in their bliss?  CHORUS:  Will the circle be unbroken By and by, by and by? Is a better home awaiting In the sky, in the sky?  VERSE 2  In the joyous days of childhood Oft they told of wondrous love Pointed to the dying Saviour; Now they dwell with Him above.  (Chorus)   VERSE 3  You remember songs of heaven Which you sang with childish voice. Do you love the hymns they taught you, Or are songs of earth your choice?  (Chorus)   VERSE 4  You can picture happy gath'rings Round the fireside long ago, And you think of tearful partings When they left you here below.  (Chorus)   VERSE 5  One by one their seats were emptied. One by one they went away. Now the family is parted. Will it be complete one day?  (Chorus)  Three Arrangements of the Hymn A beauti...

Soundtrack Cover Art Book Summary [Spoilers] Paul A treides  embarks on his hero's journey as a   royal manling . He's then stranded on a harsh planet, surrounded by treachery, with nothing but his mother, his training, and fate to aid him. He ultimately faces off against the universe—and wins! There's no wrong age to visit the pages of Dune, but I'd say the ideal reading age for young men is 12-20 years. Why? It consoles young men who perceive themselves as  misunderstood; it serves as a guide. By co-experiencing Maud'dib's adventure, adolescents can believe that  their coming of age can be survived. Additionally, it teaches parents how to communicate with their omniscient sons. These actors were so cool in 1984 Book Review Dune  by  Frank Herbert My rating:  5 of 5 stars Desiring to appear literate, like my college friends, I lied about having read Frank Herbert's Dune. Sure, I had read the Cliff's Notes in high school....

Personal Experience I first discovered this beautiful melody while watching Christian Bale salute a squadron of Japanese Kamikaze pilots of the Zero-sen in Spielberg's 1987 cinematic masterpiece,  Empire of the Sun . Spielberg adapted this WWII story with such beauty and sadness, it was incomparable to anything else I have ever seen. Bale's performance brought me to tears. I had never witnessed anyone his age give a truer performance. For me, Bale's singing of this song was the central moment of this entire 2.5 hour, coming-of-age film. It perfectly captured the juxtaposition of boyhood innocence, and the horrors of war depicted throughout the flim. In a prison camp—infused with the hate of the Allies for their captors, sedated by Bales's youthful view of humanity, and countered by the extreme honor felt by the Japanese Zeros—Bale's character, Jim, exhibited great reverence and empathy for his fellow human beings, despite them being his enemies. After view...

Preface I slept from 11pm to 11am last night—a luxury I felt I deserved after spending literally all day on BYU's tennis courts. One of the benefits of sleeping past the morning and well into the day is it enhances my ability to remember dreams. (I love remembering my dreams; they're dependably bizarre.) Dream My family was chilling at an exclusive mountain resort for week-long getaway. (Think Snowbird, but Ritzier.) We were in one of the hotel's larger guest rooms awaiting a formal dinner in the resort's main banquet hall. My 95-year-old mom's mom, Besta, sat on the couch facing the bay window. And 10-12 of my extended family members on my dad's side shuffled about aimlessly. Arnold Schwarzenegger was also there, naturally. He was seated comfortably in the love seat closest to the window, which overlooked a snowy, alpine landscape. (High muscle mass = immunity to cold seeping through the window.) Strangely, Arnold was dressed from head to toe in jean. I c...

This is an actual job "aid" from my STATS 747 class, Structural Equation Modeling. Man, These Times Are Hard Only fourteen days until the end of Spring semester, and I just realized I'm not going to be able to finish my school projects on time. [Deep exhale.] I can't seem to buckle down. I never want to work on them because, essentially, I have no idea what I'm doing. And as a PhD student, the feeling I get from my faculty is that they expect me to discover the resources I need on my own.  I am feeling crippled and alone. It's like I'm a blind wanderer. And I don't know how legs function. girl  by Tomiokajiro My Boy Scout training taught me to hug a tree in situations like these. But I'm afraid the tree  in this analogy  (aka: Netfilx) has done nothing but filled me with guilt and anxiety. I needed to figure out how to get my mind right. The Plan In an attempt to escape the hole I found myself in, I first identifie...

How about a nice piledrive to the face... How 2 year olds experience the world. Sportsmanship. Sadistic predator torments cornered feline. Frog Dog. So cute! This girl JUST discovered she could raise her eyebrows. What I imagine happens in Crossfit gyms. Just two girls at the office. Bboy Flipty. Let's take this New Years party to the next level! When you discover you're on TV. How Europeans parents deal with their kids when they throw a tantrum. LL&P Inspirational Quote: "The problem is not the problem; the problem is your attitude about the problem." —Captain Jack Sparrow

Preface As many of you already know, I just ended an eight-month relationship, which I thought was going to last infinitely longer. Upon returning to the single's  dating pool,   I realized that my stay would be finite, and that I didn't have nearly enough funny dating stories to share with my posterity. This  #datingprobs  post is an attempt to remedy that. Enjoy. The FB Epiphany Three weeks into my return to Tinder dating, I came to another realization—that I wasn't dependent on a dating app to present me with suitable, online-dating prospects. I have a facebook account! Facebook already suggests friends that it thinks I'd be compatible with. So why not leverage this list for dating purposes?!  (Surprisingly, this was the first time the thought of using facebook to  find  friends had seriously occurred to me. Perhaps, I should have thought more about why that was before doing what I did next.)  With fresh eyes, I looked at the...