Tuesdays with Muerte

I love Undercover Blues!   I catch something new and interesting every time I watch it.  While listening to some oldies music, I heard the MOST-EXCELLENT Undercover Blues reference. The Story of Dr. Lotte Lenya: Michael Bublé sang a cover of Mack the Knife .  Bublé covered Sinatra who covered Bobby Darin's "definitive version," who took it from Louis Armstrong, who brought it to the U.S. from Germany in 1956 from a beautiful singer/actress named Lotte Lenya . So I looked up the song on Wikipedia and found that The Ballad of Mack the Knife was originally a medieval, German murder ballad sung in an Opera called, Die Dreigroschenoper or The Threepenny Opera.   The Opera opens with a carefree, traveling mistral (read: Jefferson Blue), who sings the gruesome tale of Macheath, comparing him (unfavorably) with a shark, and and recounting the tales of his robberies, murders, rapes, and arson in order to intimidate and frighten the audience (read: Mr. Ferderber

Click the BYUtv image to watch a movie about the early church member, and my great (x5) grandfather, John Tanner. This old Ensign article about Tanner and his descendants (that's me) is also worth reading, if nothing else for the story about Amasa Lyman basically proposing marriage with a "Do you like me? Check yes or no" note. Side note: these are the same actors and the same set (LDS Motion Picture Studio) where I helped film TC Christensen's latest film, 17 Miracles.

I'm finally off of the T-Mobile family plan, which my parent graciously paid for since I was a sophomore in College. This is my first smartphone.  I'm totally stoked.  I've already downloaded Angry Birds and LDS Scripture Study.  (I have to be sure to only download FREE apps because the Church is paying the bill this time. If I ever spend extra money, I am accountable to reimburse the Church via check to some guy on the 21st floor.) Although I had my heart set on an iPhone 5 through AT&T, it would have been significantly more expensive.  (The Church doesn't have a deal with AT&T like they do with Sprint, so I would need to pay at least $40/month plus the cost of the phone.  This Sprint Android phone is FREE!)  It definitely fulfills all of my current needs.  However, I have a friend who claims that he only pays $17 for his Church-bought iPhone... Phil, go ahead and take my spot on the family plan.  Enjoy unlimited texting! Dad, I've looked into i

Pictured: Kareena Steed, Jason Hills, Kevin Paulson, X, Scotty (couch) David King, Jamma, Matt My new dinner group is made up of 12 individuals; mostly all from our ward.  We get together every Mon-Thur for an hour of dinner.  There are 6 guys and 6 girls.  All but 1 of us is single. The group is an intellectual bunch.  We email each other articles that we are interested in and discuss them over our meals.  Kevin, the guy in the top left is a political activist and has a mission to convert us all to his way of thinking, so our conversations always turn to politics regardless of how they start out. The menus are excellent as well.  We try to purchase the best ingredients, if we can, and share some thing that will be unique and cultural.

Although I did enjoy living the Valentine's Day dream vicariously this year by delivering flowers for a local flower shop, I think I will go ahead and plan to have my own Valentine from now on. I went in to the flower shop at 8:00am this morning to pick up my load of flowers.  I spent the morning delivering 3 boxes full of flowers and chocolates to 11 women and 1 dude around the city of Murray.  Most were at their offices and places of employment.  Most seemed nervous and were quick to shew me out the door.  Maybe I made them feel awkward because I was dressed in my tuxedo with a red cumber-bun and bow tie. They probably thought I was going to start stripping if they didn't say goodbye soon enough.  Once my first load was complete, I took a nice, long lunch break.  Upon returning to the store there was an 1-2 hour wait for more boxes.  I decided to come back in an hour and see if the line had died down.  When I returned, the line was 2-3 hours long, so I called it a day and s

Movies I'm excited to see: Win Win -  Paul Giamatti is brilliant.  Excellent story! I can't wait. (Not in theater) Hanna - This trailer reminds me of Mission Impossible, mixed with my grandpa's favorite novel,  Louis Lamour's Last of the Breed. Cate Blanchett looks cold and incredible.   The Time that Remains - Life is Beautiful meets Waking Ned Divine. How can you not be excited to watch this film? (Not in theater) Cowboys and Aliens - If they do this film right, it will be the first of a new genre. Historic. (In theater) Cars 2 - I desperately hope this isn't going to just be "The Slapstick Mater Show." (In theater) The Illusionist - A Eastern European, animated film.  They bring their culture into its style. (On video) Today's Special - I love Indian food and films about food. This is my food film for the year. (Not in theater) Freakonomics - Research-based, psychological documentary. Love these films. (Not in theater)  Qu

Do you think I should have auditioned? Andrew Garfield - Actor to play Parker in Spiderman 4 Donald Glover - There was a campaign on Twitter , "#donald4spiderman", for Glover to be allowed to audition for the role of Peter Parker in the upcoming Spider-Man film. Oh, Danny.  You so crazy.