Ever Watched Man Vs. Wild?

The concept: Bear Grylls, seasoned adventurer extraordinaire, is dropped off in the middle of the wilderness somewhere in the world and must survive until he can make it back to civilization.

I loved the beginning of the show where Bear would tell you about being in the British Special Air Services and how he broke his back in three places while parachuting in Africa.

After a few seasons of Man vs. Wild there was a big controversy that Bear was being helped by his crew and so when he was showing you how to survive by say building a raft out of logs and floating down a white water river, he really had a life jacket on, and so was potentially encouraging people to place themselves in dangerous situations. So then Survivorman came out and was supposed to be more realistic. I tried to watch this new show, but what I discovered is I didn't care how fake Man vs. Wild was. I was only watching the show for British born cutie, Bear Grylls. I just loved the funny things he would say and that accent.

When I saw this commercial. I was, of course, delighted. I also find it quite hilarious.

What I Like About Who

My sister and I have been watching the new Doctor Who for our weekly get together and we finally finished the 5th season (all that is currently available in the US). Before starting, I'd heard from other people that the first Doctor, Christopher Eccleston, is their least favorite Doctor, but man it was hard sticking it out even with the warning.

Fortunately, the second season was a vast improvement over the first both in the new Doctor, David Tenant, and in the story. I actually became quite fond of David Tenant in the end.

What I liked most about the show was the emphasis on what amazing beings we humans are, and not just humanity as a whole, but how important we are as individuals. There were several episodes where a minor or supporting character, even though they think their life is meaningless in the grand scheme of things, is shown to be invaluable to the progression of the entire universe.

Example quote:
The Doctor: "Who's that?" (asking about a woman that has been cryogenically frozen)
Scrooge like character: "Nobody important."
The Doctor: "In 900 years of space and time travel, I've never met anyone who wasn't important."

I must say I quite liked that theme.

Yeah, I've Been Eating Out A Lot

But I've had really good reasons. I promise.

Mazza - Middle Eastern food to go with our Middle Eastern Sundance Film

This is my second time eating at this restaurant. I can't say I've had a lot of experience with Middle Eastern cuisines, but what I can say is that everything I've eaten here has been very tasty. I had the chicken and cauliflower dish and it was very good. There were also plenty of leftovers which I wasn't able to get to for two days, but they were almost as good the second time around. Which cannot be said for all restaurant foods.

Red Iguana - Mexican food to celebrate my birthday. Happy Birthday to me!

I've been here a few times, but it's one I'll always come back to. They have EXCELLENT food. This restaurant has won all kinds of awards. I usually order the Enchiladas Rancheras which has mushrooms. It's pretty rare to find a Mexican dish with mushrooms. This time I ordered the Entomatadas which is sour cream chicken enchiladas. The chicken was really good, but I didn't love the enchilada sauce.

Cafe Trio - Italian cuisine to celebrate AE becoming a Master. Congratulations!

This newer Salt Lake restaurant has been winning lots of awards. We called to make reservations, but they told us to call back about 20 minutes before we got there and they would put us on the list. When we did this, they told us it wasn't very busy so they didn't need to take our name. Then when we got there, we had to wait at least a half hour before we were seated. That was a little odd.

I ordered the three cheese ravioli with butternut squash sauce, sage, and asiago. My food had definitely cooled while it probably waited somewhere for the rest of the table's food to get finished, and I felt like the sauce was just a little too sweet, but after the first bite or two it started to grow on me. The dining area is actually pretty small (although they do have an outdoor seating area for warmer months) and so it was really loud. Other than these few glitches I quite liked the restaurant. I think everyone that was there that night liked their food.

Thai Village - Thai food to celebrate Suzanne's birthday

There is a new restaurant or at least a new location for this restaurant just about a block south of the library. So my work friends and I decided to celebrate a birthday and a visiting former co-worker by going out to lunch.

The prices were pretty decent and the food was tasty, but that's about all I can say. The waitress was terrible. She messed up almost everyone's order and then forgot one meal entirely, so everyone got their food while one person had to wait for hers. I ordered the Masaman Curry which is one of my favorites. It tasted good, but was supposed to have chicken, potatoes, carrots, and cashews. I only found about 2 carrots and one cashew.

Station 22 - Sandwiches. Umm...because I didn't want to eat the leftovers I brought for lunch.

New restaurant in the same building Angels of Philly was once located in just a few months back. Went with Ann-Marie to check this new restaurant out.

Here's what the Mayor has to say. "Station 22 specializes in business lunches and features craft sandwiches, fresh homemade soups and a salad bar. They conceived this cafe as a place where downtown business people could safely frequent and not sacrifice their health. Watch for the locally sourced bread, compostable dishware made from recycled sources, and featured local art"

I ordered the parmesan chicken sandwich. It was very tasty and the bread was indeed excellent. We also ordered the chili cheese fries to share which were pretty good as well. I was expecting more cold cut sandwich options, but wasn't exactly disappointed when they weren't there. This restaurant also offers a variety of soups and salads.

It's for Humanity People!

Ann-Marie and I have attended the annual Food and Care Coalition fundraiser event, Bowls for Humanity, for a couple of years now.

It's quite a fun thing to do. Every March, The Food and Care Coalition gets local potters to donate bowls they have made. Then for the event you get to choose one and get it filled with yummy soup. This year I had Tomato Basil and Ann-Marie chose Beef Stew. It's quite fun looking through all the bowls and selecting which one is your favorite. Bowls are usually between $5-25. Which I think is a great deal for your very own one-of-a-kind work of art...AND it's all for a great cause.

Why I'm not a Children's Librarian

So this week is the Fairy Tea Party at the library. If you're not familiar with the Fairy Tea it's basically where little girls and their mothers dress up as fairies or in Sunday dress, eat a light catered meal, promenade in their fairy finery, and basically revel in the explosion of glitter and tulle.

The Children's librarians love this event. They spend hours making their costumes, putting their makeup on, and talking to all the little girls.


So yesterday I had a meeting in the board room which is over on the Children's side of the library. As I was walking over, I passed several fairy dolls and other fairy decor including life size fairy mannequins that rotate on pedestals and a small fairy perched on a swing inside an elaborate bird cage.

As I was passing all of this, I was laughing to myself that I found all the fairies more creepy than charming. When AE walked into the meeting, she immediately commented on the probability of having nightmares about creepy fairies.

Then Ann-Marie walked in and she mentioned that the fairy in the cage was really disturbing. We started to laugh because just about everyone that came to the meeting mentioned the creep factor of the fairies. As we were laughing CL (who is in charge of the whole event came in). Needless to say that she heartily disagreed with our assessment of the fairies. She did however, tell us that the fairy in the birdcage need not frighten anyone because she was of course trapped in her cage!

I did concede that the fairies are dark and capricious in all the adult and teen books. So maybe my point of view is a little skewed from this, but there's just something about little fairy figures with their pointy faces that creeps out a lot of adult librarians and is somehow entirely lost on the Children's librarians.

I Got Me Some Cookin' Skills

A month or so ago I tried out a new recipe. I am kind of an improvisational cook so I rarely follow a recipe exactly, but that day I did. The dish didn't turn out very well. It was really salty. As I was adding all that salt in, I thought it was a lot, but usually recipes don't have enough salt. So I figured it couldn't be that bad. Boy, was I wrong.

This got me thinking that I would really like to improve my cooking skills. I did a little searching online and discovered that UVU's Continuing Education program offers an Italian Cooking class. Well, since I love Italian and I have failed miserably in the past to make a good Alfredo sauce, I figured this would be perfect.

The classes were offered once a week through the month of February. The classes were fun and I learned a lot, but not quite as much as I was hoping to. Here are some of the things I did learn.

1. There is nothing more important than having a sharp knife to cut with. I bought a new knife after the first class and it made a WORLD of difference. Our teacher also taught us all about how to keep them sharp.
2. Alfredo sauce is the incorrect name. It is actually just called a white sauce. Alfredo is a specific sauce made in a restaurant in Italy called Alfredo's.
3. The best skill I picked up is a fast and less messy way to mince garlic. It involves salt to grind the garlic to a pulp.
4. There are indeed different qualities of chocolate and it starts with the type of cacao tree the beans come from.
5. Risotto made with chicken stock can taste like a creamier version of Rice-a-roni, but with A LOT more work involved.

Do All Cops Have Bad Taste in TV?

Being a city employee, I often exercise in the basement of the city center building where they have an employees only gym. On the plus side, it's a free gym, but ohhhhh the negative side...

Whenever I go, there are typically a few other employees exercising. More often than not these "other employees" are cops. I have discovered that cops and I don't really see eye to eye on what we like to watch on TV. If it's just on some sports show I can handle that, but that's the best it gets. Try watching the golf channel (yes, an entire channel devoted to golf). Even worse is watching Bambi get shot on a show about hunting, or political pundit talk shows like Bill O'Reilly, bleargh...

Last week, we hit a new low, however.

Spike TV apparently has this show call 1000 Ways to Die. It is HORRIBLE!!! From what I could tell (since I was mostly busy trying to look away) it gruesomely re-enacts stories of the strangest ways people have died. Every time it got to the part where the person would die, one of the copper guys would walk over and stand in front of the TV and laugh.

Did I mention it was horrible?!?

Things That Would Lure Me Into a Trap

Any sexy British actor might lure me, but after watching Season 8 of MI-5, I am reminded once again why Richard Armitage tops the list.

Here are a few other things that might get me to fall for a trap:

White Chocolate Tiger cake from the Pastry Pub in Cedar City, UT

Kittens

Red Velvet cake bites from The Sweet Tooth Fairy

A serenade from Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol

A time portal to the 2009 "T in the Park" music festival in Scotland



What about you? Is there something you just couldn't resist?

Only About 5 Years Late

So I finally got around to reading The Book Thief recently. I knew it would be a good book, but it's just so hard to read something if everyone else has already read it. Why is that?

Anyways, the author, Markus Zusak, is coming to the library in March and I wanted to read it before he came.

Can I just say wowowowowowowow! Now I understand. It's not just a good book. It's an AMAZINGLY good book. The way Zusak describes things. . .wow. . .and the story. . .wow. . .and the characters. . .wow. There were so many moments that I had to stop and reread a sentence just because it was like nothing I'd read before.

Probably most of you will know what I am talking about, but if not, get out there and read this book as soon as you can!

Sweet Home Chicago...Pizzeria

Since our trip two years ago to Chicago where I got to try authentic Chicago style deep dish pizza, I've been wanting to eat it again.

Well, now it's possible and the farthest you'll have to go is Draper or South Jordan. Sweet Home Chicago Pizzeria, brought to you by a family born and raised in Chicago and who have apparently moved to Utah to provide us with this tasty piece of the Windy City, has (according to my inexperienced taste buds) a pretty authentic taste.

Ann-Marie and I decided to make a break for lunch there on our way to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple last Saturday. The restaurant is actually just across Bangerter Hwy from the temple so it's an excellent choice if that's where you're headed.

We ordered the Jake and Elwood which has fajita chicken, fresh tomatoes, black olives, onion, and green peppers. It was very tasty! I'm not a huge fan of chicken on pizza. I always think I am going to like it, but rarely do. This was one of those rare cases, however.

Ann-Marie and I were told that if we could eat the entire pie, the pizza would be free, PLUS we'd get a t-shirt, AND our photo taken. . . Yeah, we had to pay.

Sundance Film: These Amazing Shadows

The last film I saw at Sundance was another documentary. This was the only film I saw that was not in competition. These Amazing Shadows was at Sundance for its premier.

These Amazing Shadows is about the history of film in America and how the National Film Registry which is a part of the Library of Congress has been selecting 10 films a year for preservation based on their cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance.

This was such a fascinating documentary to watch. They covered why the Library of Congress decided to start preserving films, how the films are selected, and the issues with preserving films. It also took a look at some of the most significant films in the registry and why they are there.

As always, I loved the Q&A with the directors. They discussed some of the difficulties in finding these films even just to add a few short clips to their documentary. Apparently over 50% of the films made before the 1930s (?) have already been lost because the movie industry didn't see them as being of value to keep around.

A very interesting trip through American film history.

Sundance Film: The Green Wave

Ok, so I am an ignorant American.

The Green Wave is another documentary in the World Documentary competition. This one was about the 2009 elections in Iran.

How did I not know any of this had happened? I resolve to pay more attention to world politics. So here is the simplified version of the of what the film covers. In May of 2009 the majority of the people of Iran supported a new man for office instead of re-electing the one who had been in office (sorry too lazy to look of the spellings of the names). People went out to vote, but by evening, polls were starting to run out of ballots because, as it turned out, the party for the guy currently in office was stuffing the ballet box. This sparked peaceful demonstrations in the streets for a fair election, but the government sent in the police and put the smack down on the people. The result was 70 people dead, hundreds injured, and hundreds more sent to prison and tortured. The government's terrorism went on all summer long until the people finally just gave up. So the current president got to stay in power and is currently still the president.

I know! It's hard to believe that something like this can happen. I know it does, but it just always seems like stuff like this should be in the past.

Anyways, a very interesting, if depressing film. Although I do think it ended on a note of hope: that even the people who were victims of these terrible crimes against human rights still believe that their country can one day turn around.

Sundance Film: Family Portrait in Black and White

AMM, KK, and I went to see our first Sundance film tonight. It is called Family Portrait in Black and White and is in the World Documentary competition. There are four categories of competing films at the festival; US Dramatic and Documentary and World Dramatic and Documentary. There are other films that show or premier at the Sundance Film Festival (hoping to get picked up by a larger film company), but they cannot win any of the awards or money.

Anyways, Family Portrait was a excellent film. One of the best I've seen at Sundance. It follows a Ukranian single woman who is foster parent to 27 bi-racial (half Ukraine, half African) children. The director did such an incredible job showing these AMAZING kids and their struggles with racism in the Ukraine even though they identify themselves as Ukranian. The film also showed Olga, the foster mother's, amazing capacity to love these kids, but her flaws too. You could definitely see her way of thinking was shaped by her life in Soviet Russia (keep your head down, and work, work, work).

This film was so emotional for me. My heart breaks just thinking of young Andrey who was sent to a boarding school for special needs children, when he has no real learning disabilities except maybe dyslexia.

Wow, this is why I keep going to Sundance even though it's such a headache trying to get tickets, find parking, wait in lines, etc.

SMART Goals

So it's coming up on a month since New Year's. How are you doing on your resolutions? One of my resolutions is to review my goals every month. I took a look today at my list. So far I'm doing fairly well. Not as good as I would hope, but not as bad as it could be.

I was reading a running magazine today and I came across something interesting talking  about smart New Year's goals. That's smart as in S-M-A-R-T. Here's what it said. Keep in mind that it came from a running magazine, but I think it can and should definitely be applied to all types of goals.

SMART is an acronym describing a goal-setting method developed by sport psychology  researchers to help athletes. The letters in the acronym stand for characteristics of effective goals:

S= Specific. Goals need to be specific. Simply setting a goal to increase running pace isn't specific enough. Rather, a goal to run 10 seconds faster per mile puts focus on a specific performance characteristic and guides training.

M= Measurable. Every goal needs to have some measurable characteristic. In the endurance sports world, the task is a little easier because everything comes down to distance, speed and time. When setting training sessions, clear measurable goals are best. An example would be setting a goal to average 20 mph on the bike over the course of a training session.

A= Adjustable. A lot of people are surprised by this characteristic, but goals should be adjustable. Injuries or other personal issues happen and can derail goals that are set in stone. The ability to adjust a goal ensures progress. It can also help maintain motivation.

R= Realistic. It is great to set lofty goals and to challenge oneself, but unrealistic goals are rarely achieved, which leads to discouragement. Realistic goals encourage continued achievement.

T= Time Sensitive. Goals should not have an indefinite deadline. For example, the goal of consistently running 50 miles a week after six months of training provides a deadline that requires some time and effort from the goal-setter to make a reality.

AMM had actually mentioned these first two to me around New Year's time, but I have to admit that adjustable did come as a surprise to me. I think too often we just give up as failures rather than try to figure out how we can adjust or adapt a goal.

Family Literacy Symposium

On Saturday, the library hosted its 4th annual literacy symposium. It's a free conference for adults in the community to get themselves and their family excited and involved in reading. It's stuff like this that reminds me why I love my job. I love being involved in something that promotes the love of reading, great authors, and the sharing and spreading of thoughts and ideas.

This year's guest author was Leif Enger from Peace Like a River fame and he was great if a little scattered. It made me so happy just being in the room listening to Leif talk about why reading is so great. I want to do a little happy dance just thinking about it.

I was also excited/nervous because I actually got to present in one of the break out sessions again this year. My presentation, along with my supervisor, and the director of the library was on the best adult books of 2010. I feel like the session went well, we needed lots more time and my summaries made less and less sense as I had to adapt for the lack of time, but otherwise I felt like it went pretty well.

Some of the books I discussed have already been mentioned on this blog, but below you will find a list of all the ones I talked about and a here is a link to our official bibliography for the session.

Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomons
Romancing Miss Bronte by Juliet Gael
Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay
Juliet by Anne Fortier
The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
The Girl with Glass Feet by Ali Shaw
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
Brava, Valentine by Adriana Trigiani
Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik
Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal
Shades of Gray by Jasper Fforde
Troubled Waters by Sharon Shinn
The Blind Contessa's New Machine by Carey Wallace

I haven't heard any official word yet on how well the symposium went, but from what I observed it went smoothly and was well received by the people who attended.

Another Restaurant Review - Milagros

On Monday, I got together with all my work friends to celebrate some birthdays. There were 4 people there that had had a birthday in the last week (including husbands). It's almost like my family birthday clusters. I just love hanging out with the people I work with. They are all so much fun! Is that odd?

We decided to try a new Mexican restaurant in town called Milagros. Apparently the former owners of Bajio's have now opened this restaurant and while Milagros is a dine-in restaurant (with a take-out counter) I did notice several similarities.

1. They had the same rice options, Spanish (spicy) or sweet.
2. The decorations, especially the paintings, looked very similar.
3. The menus were very similar. Of course that's to be expected with Mexican food, but what I mean is the ingredients were the same for a burrito, etc. at both places.

Anyways, the food was very good. I would definitely recommend going. I'm just not sure if I'll be going back. I just don't dine out enough, and I'm not sure I would crave the food enough to NEED to go back. Especially when I can get most of it at Bajio's.

What Would the Founding Fathers Think About Our World Today?

Seth Meyers from Saturday Night Live weighs in on the 2nd Amendment debate in the wake of the Arizona shooting.

This made me laugh!

Este's Pizzeria

I'm not picky when it comes to pizza. I like pretty much every pizza place out there, but if you're looking for some good pizza, then look no further than Este's.

I've been there only once before and since their two locations are only in Salt Lake, it makes it hard to get back there.

Este's is a New York Style Pizzeria with large slices of of thin crust pizza. They have very tasty sauce and heavenly bread. I ordered a slice of the black olive and garlic. The garlic was real, fresh garlic not the dehydrated powder stuff. Making for an excellent slice of pizza.

Their special that night was Pig Lightning. Intriguing name, but didn't really tempt me.

We got there right before a huge dinner rush so we were lucky to get our pizzas in about 20 minutes. If we'd been any later it would have been 45-60 minutes. I don't know if it's always like that or not.

Este's will definitely stay on my restaurants to try again list.

Z is for Zamboni

AMM, KK, Jen, and I went to a Grizzlies hockey game on Saturday. The Grizzlies are Utah's pro hockey team. They were fighting the Stockton, CA Thunder. I say fighting because there was a lot of fighting and not as much competing.

KK got us great seats. They were right behind Stockton's bull pit. So we got to see everything up front and personal.

To prepare ourselves for this hockey experience, we read this book on the way to SLC.

We figured a Children's book would give us the basics of the game without getting into too much detail. The book was perhaps a little too basic considering A was for Arena. I think I already knew that one.

So instead I will provide my own A-Z list for you.

A is for Anniversary. A couple was celebrating their 58th anniversary at the game! They put them on camera and they gave each other a kiss.

C is for Coach. The Grizzlies coach got so mad that they were losing that he threw all their extra hockey sticks out onto the ice and a few water bottles just for good measure.

D is for Double Bubble. We never did figure out what it was for but there were several pieces evenly spaced out on the ledge at the back of the bull pit.

E is for Equipment Manager. Since we were right next to the team we got to watch him quite closely. He did a great job catching those sweaty/bloody towels and he was kind of a hottie to boot.

F is for fight. One broke out in the first 2 seconds of the game.

H is for the best half-time ever! They brought out the Mites (little league hockey team) to play a quick game. They were falling all over the place and absolutely adorable.

R is for Ref. They have to be quick on their feet or they can accidentally get caught in the middle of a body slam against the side.

S is for Stretching and Staring. What one of the Stockton players did at the beginning of each period. He would stare right at us while he did a few leg stretches.

T is for Teeth. Something lacking for a lot of the players.

Z is for the Zamboni kid. Cute 10-12-year-old that got to ride around the rink at half-time. They announced that he likes science and reading and he waved the whole time like he was in a parade.

Canadian Indie Electronica...Me Likey

The band, Miracle Fortress, is actually only one man (although you would never know it to hear the album).

I first heard the song Maybe Lately several months ago and liked it, but never got around to listening to any other songs until recently. Having now listened to the whole album, I can tell you I quite like it. The songs are very soft. Miracle Fortress, like most electronica bands does get a little carried away with the sound effects at times, but I am willing to overlook this.

It also seems strange to say this since electronica seems like it should be the antithesis of folk, but there is a folksy feel to certain songs.

In true Indie spirit, Miracle Fortress is so far under the radar I could only find one music video on You Tube. So you will just have to make do with some home made videos I found.

Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks Vol. 2

I helped an older gentleman the other day. He came up to the desk and tossed down a scrap of paper with a call number on it and said he had no idea where to look for the book. So I took his request as a two-parter. One, help him locate the book he was looking for and two, give him the know how to find books in the future.

I walked over to the row the book was located on and pointed out the sign with the call number range explaining that his number fell in that range so the book would be located on that row. The old man looked at me like I was crazy and went off about how old he was, and how could I expect him to learn new things. He was almost dead after all (his words, not mine).

This got me thinking about learning new things. Are we ever too old to learn something new or is it just our mind set? A few years back I asked one of my brothers to help me change the oil in my car. He said he would do it, but then lectured me about how easy it was to learn to do, and that I should be doing this myself. Well, I know I could learn how to change the oil, but frankly, I have no desire to do so. Instead I just now ask my other brother for help who never pesters me about learning to do it myself. Helping this man got me thinking that when I have the opportunity to learn something new, should I be taking that opportunity? I definitely don't want to be the old person who is unwilling to learn anything new.

Here's another thought. Does it get harder to learn things as we get older? Technology is the perfect example. Older people complain all the time that they just can't figure it out. Is there a process to learning that if you haven't developed the foundation then no amount of trying will allow you to retain what you are trying to learn? Maybe this is proof that you need to stay on top of new trends and always be ready and willing to learn something new.

Just FYI, one of my New Year's Resolutions is to learn (or improve upon) two new things this year.

Is It Rational to Be Irrational or Irrational to be Rational?

Why is it that we can completely understand something rationally, yet at times still react irrationally?

I’m sure many of you have experienced something like this when confronted with a fear or phobia. For example, I am deathly afraid of doctors, needles, and blood. Rationally I know that the needle isn’t going to hurt that bad, but I still freak out, start crying, and so forth.

Fears are the most obvious example, but it happens plenty of other times in life too. I’m sure you can think of a time or two when you wished you hadn’t overreacted.

However, at other times our emotions are completely controllable. For example, over the holidays, I started to get really annoyed with certain family members because they are ALWAYS late and on top of that they don’t even call. Those of us on time have to wait, while starving, for everyone else to finally show up. Well, I was working myself up to a fever pitch about the whole thing when all of a sudden it hit me that these were people I cared about and it wasn’t really worth getting mad over. The bad habit would probably never change so why should I create animosity between us? After I thought that, I totally calmed downed and everything is cool again.

So why, I ask you are we able to act rationally some times but not others?

Nothin' Else to Post Anyways

I haven't really had anything noteworthy or otherwise to post for a few days so instead I will provide this entertainment for you. (stole from a friend who posted it on Facebook)

Talking Myself Off the Ledge

So yesterday, New Year's Eve, I had some time to think about what I wanted my goals (resolutions) to be for 2011. I very diligently wrote them all down, thought about them for a few hours, revised the list, and generally felt pretty good about the whole thing. I was, however, in one of those "anything is possible" frame of minds.

Today I woke up completely stressed that I wouldn't be able to accomplish anything, and what was I thinking coming up with these goals, etc., etc.

I had to give myself a little pep talk about how all of my goals are feasible. I didn't put anything crazy on there and that nothing has changed in one day that could prevent me from accomplishing these goals.

I call this talking myself off the ledge, and I really hope I'm not the only one this happens to.

I just hope I don't have to do this every morning. Wish me luck!

The Sundance Film Festival Experience Begins

I've been attending the Sundance Film Festival for many years now and it is always a unique experience.

The festival experience actually begins long before arriving at the theater. After registering for a time to purchase tickets, you then have to decide which films you want to watch. This can be a tricky process. There are all kinds of factors you have to take into account such as where the film is showing (Park City, Salt Lake, Ogden), when the film is showing (any time from 8:00 am - 12:00 midnight), if you can actually get tickets to the films you want to watch, but the best part of this process is reading the film summaries. They are awesomely crafted works of genius in themselves. Here are some examples (I have replaced any names with "this film", or "the director", etc.)

It's shocking how much can be said about a film without ever describing the plot.

"The director cinematically renders the film to complement its philosophy by uniting the everyday and the transcendent. Rich, rewarding, and profoundly moving, this film affirms peace and happiness within and posits "once a punk rocker, always a punk rocker."

"The subtly heightened imagery and sound, crafted with unsettling intensity, illustrate a frightening crisis of social conscience. Tinged with mordant surrealism, the director demonstrates that rare ability to transcend genre and a remarkable storytelling vigor, anchored within a haunting and arresting visual motif."

"A minimalist film that nevertheless feels visually and emotionally full, without forced sentimentality or manufactured drama, this film questions the nature of love and happiness and the sacrifices we may make to achieve either. In this film directed and written with precision and economy, the director allows us to know these characters in a single line of dialogue, and feel their conflict within the power of a glance."

"This film plumbs the shades of gray to find humanity in every perspective and offers a rich understanding of what it means to survive unimaginable terror, and the astounding resilience of the human spirit to find ways to heal and forgive."

"A playful satire, this film feels like the collision of a moral tale and a fairy tale. The director strikes a clever tone, mixing drab realism with sardonic humor, splashes of vibrant color, and fabulist flourishes. While the film plays with the idea of miracles in our image-obsessed material world, it is grounded emotionally in the relationship between mother and daughter."

"The director poetically fuses the harsh realities of violence, healing, and family."

"Marked by restrained writing, which leaves significant details open to interpretation, this film depicts the rich texture of modern Israeli society."

"An astonishingly assured first feature, this film elegantly applies restraint and precision to mount subtle, quotidian moments into an emotionally crushing story."

"With a genuine affection for its lost-souled protagonists and tapping into the raw frustration endured during this period of history, this film captures the drive toward hope in the face of utter despair, even when it leads to an unsettling and twisted place."

"Breathtaking, lyrical camera movement and unconventional framing capture beautifully macabre images while the evocative music and sound design complete the sensory tour de force. The terrific ensemble cast stretches out of its comfort zone and syncs up perfectly with the director’s dark vision, which explores the essence of existence and what drives some to end it."

"As they cope with the excruciating and evolving pain of loss, time helps them refashion the scaffolding of their lives. This exquisitely moving documentary helps us process what is unimaginable."

"The director’s atmospheric, contemplative aesthetic encourages us to examine the personal relationship we all form to both physical space and story space. Because of his work (called ground-truthing), one character comes to view the land as a source of faulty data, while the other sees it as a way to redefine her relationship with home. As the film suggests, "truth is conjecture."

Here's one for all you alliteration fans

"Splendidly constructed and saturated with a sumptuous sense of style and sensuality."

I can't decide whether I want to see the one with "fabulist flourishes" or the one with "quotidian moments."