I see black black green and brown, brown brown brown and blue, yellow...violets...red

I have been to many a show at Kilby Court and been witness to many a winning performance. So do not take it lightly when I say that last night was GOLDEN. Probably the gold-iest of the golden. My face was beaming the whole time.

First, Allison and I picked us up some Mexi-Fries from Taco Time. We were slightly dissapointed when we found out that "Mexi-Fries" is spanish for "Tater-Tots". There was not even the semblance of Mexican spices or anything. Oh wells. 

Waiting in line, we discussed the different names for carbonated beverages. I loathe the term "pop". I prefer saying "soda". But I think that "soda pop" is the best of all.

Yep. I love soda pop. 

Almost as much as I love Dally.

 But that's a story for another time. 

Back to the show. 

Our expectations were not low, per se, we just didn't know what to expect. I was familiar with a grand total of 4 songs before going, so I was content with just hearing those.

The first band, The Steelwells, hooked us within seconds of hearing their first song. They were great. Allison and I kept glancing around at the crowd with looks on our faces that essentially said "This is AWESOME! Don't you guys think this is awesome?! Am I right? AM I RIGHT????". We were entranced. 

Next up was Grouplove.  I heard them for the first time on the radio. Can you believe that? Who finds cool new music on the radio anymore? It wasn't even a podcast! 

This photo pretty much encapsulates what the group is like...

...and if the sentiment on their communal shirt is true, these fellows are the most untrustworthy of them all. 

Every song was lovable. I was anxious to hear them perform their single "colours" (it's on my march mix if you want to check it out), but to be honest, it paled in comparison to their other tracks.

and then

Foster the People

By the time they were done setting up the stage again, I was pretty tired. In my mind, I thought, "I could leave now and be perfectly content". But we did come for Foster the People, so we would stay for them too. 

I feel like I am running out of adjectives here. 

They simply made the night. 

Allison and I were dancing fools. I am sure Allison's friends can attest to that.

We especially loved the enthusiasm of the maraca-shaking man (when a kid in the crowd asked the band their name, the lead singer shyly mumbled, "foster the people". And then the kids insisted, "No, your names!" and he rambled off a spew of names we couldn't really decipher. He was so bashful. As a consequence, that one guy will forever be known as maraca-shaking man in my book). 

Here is a video from the show I found. You can kind of see our heads bobbing up and down, right in from of the keyboards, and maraca-shaking man doing his thing.

To sum it all up, last night was wonderful. Just the boost I needed to make it through the week.
When I thought it couldn't get any better, I saw this on twitter:

I'll personally take credit for that one.
My work here is done.

Rolling in the Deep

This song has stuck in my brains and veins ever since I heard it on NPR tiny desk concert. Now it's "the big thing" and I am grateful for that. Everyone and their mother is covering it or remixing it. Awesome.
So this post is for my comrades who are also in love with the song. If the original is not your style, I'm sure you will be able to find a cover version that suits your taste.

ORIGINAL - ADELE


"Crazy in the Deep" Adele vs. Gnarls Barkley


Jamie XX Shuffle version


Mike Posner


Young the Giant



AND THE BEST OF THE BEST!

John Legend (aka love of my life)

Stand in Holy Places

We had fast and testimony meeting this Sunday because next weekend is General Conference. As usual, it was great; all the testimonies seemed so insightful. Quite a few of them remarked on the importance of the temple.

This is the first temple I ever visited. Salt Lake.

I saw the Cochabamba, Bolivia temple from the sky as we were

leaving for Peru. I just love it so much, and I can't wait to go there someday.

Ingrid showed me photos of the Manti temple yesterday.

It is beautiful. I'm definitely hoping to visit it sometime soon. 

The Provo temple is the one I'm visiting the most lately.

I know it's kind of funny looking, but I have grown to love it.

One my recent resolutions that has actually stuck around is attending the temple. I'm glad that it has. Out of all my resolutions, it has made the most difference. It has made me more concious not only have how I spend my time, but where. I like taking the idea of "standing in holy places" literally. A holy place is anywhere the spirit can dwell, and some places are more inviting to the spirit than others. More specifically speaking, places that inspire awe, reverence, and contemplation.

A lot of places have that quality, and I appreciate what people have done to create places that inspire that sort of veneration.

A favorite article of mine from the Ensign talks about one of these places. It discusses how the stained glass windows in the Chartre cathedral in France were used to teach Christian parables, specifically the story of the good samaritan.

It's beautiful, isn't it?

I wonder about these cathedrals.

They are monuments meant to inspire reverence to God. Like Latter-day Saint temples, members of the community often had to sacrifice so much so that they could be built. But where do they "stand" today? Are they filled by pious worshipers, or tour groups hurrying through so they can get their requisite photo and move on to the next site?

I love visiting the Cathedral of the Madileine, just down the street from my house. It's cool, because they do a lot of services in spanish, and they have free musical performances a couple times a month. When they are have something special like a carol service or those humanities performances that are coming up, they are usually filled to capacity. But mass? The few times I've gone, it's been pretty empty.

When I heard Mitt Romney's speech on religion and America, this sentiment rang true with me:

"I'm not sure that we fully appreciate the profound implications of our tradition of religious liberty. I have visited many of the magnificent cathedrals in Europe. They are so inspired … so grand … so empty. Raised up over generations, long ago, so many of the cathedrals now stand as the postcard backdrop to societies just too busy or too 'enlightened' to venture inside and kneel in prayer. The establishment of state religions in Europe did no favor to Europe's churches. And though you will find many people of strong faith there, the churches themselves seem to be withering away."

Let's not let these places be forgotten. I spend so much time at school and work; it is nice to have the temple as a respite. But you don't even have to go there to be in a holy place. You just need to make sure that wherever you are, the spirit is welcome there also.

This quote from President Faust puts it best:

"As President Brigham Young taught, 'Every moment of [our lives] must be holiness to the Lord, . . . which is the only course by which [we] can preserve the Spirit of the Almighty to [ourselves].' May the Lord bless each and all of us in our special responsibility to find holiness to the Lord by standing in holy places. That is where we will find the spiritual protection we need for ourselves and our families. That is the source of help to carry forth the word of the Lord in our time. Standing in holy places will help us rise above the evil influences of our time and draw us closer to our Savior."

Happy Sunday.

March Mix: Waiting for us to be brave

A good month for music. I've shared most of these before. I hope you like them.

1. Lovers' Carvings - Bibio
2. Black Night - The Dodos
3. Last Night At The Jetty - Panda Bear
4. Love Lust - King Charles
5. No One's Gonna Love You - Band of Horses
6. Cosmic Love - Florence + The Machine
7. Wolf & I - Oh Land
8. The Look - Metronomy
9. Somewhere Else - Mesita
10. Dancing With The DJ (Acoustic Campfire Version)
11. Pumped Up Kicks - Foster the People
12. Puzzle Pieces - Saint Motel
13. Colours - Grouplove
14. The Funeral (Butch Clancy Remix) - Band of Horses
15. Bien o Mal - Julietta Venegas


3.

I always have plans to go there, and I never make it.
Why?
7. It's official. I am going to copy her hair next week. Maybs.
14. Julietta Venegas: A veces no te entiendo como en este video. Pero esta bien. Las mariposas...pobrecitas.

Zuckerberg Zeal vs. Hatch Match

What a blustery day on BYU campus.

Walking into the Marriott Center, I wasn't sure what to expect from Orrin Hatch and Mark Zuckerberg, but I did think what resulted was a little odd. The stage was "cosily" set with two arm-chairs and a coffe table with flowers on it which only served as a place where Mark could let his bottle of orange juice rest. I don't know. Did anyone else think that was funny? Everything started well. The questions were slightly boring, but I felt that Mark answered them intelligently and honestly; overall, he seemed like a pretty personable guy.

The forum served as an interesting clash of cultures:

Mark Zuckerberg - 29, Harvard drop-out, youngest billionaire in the world

Senator Orrin Hatch - 77, Republican, longest-serving state senator in Utah

The forum served as an stage showing how different these guys are. 

Senator Hatch, while having a general sense of what Facebook is, he doesn't really know what it is. From the questions he asked and his approach in general, he sees it as an financial opportunity. Something that can help build the economy and create jobs. In fact, that's what he talked to Zuckerberg about over the summer. Well yes, and no. part of what makes Facebook incredible is how few people it takes to run. Zuckerberg pointed this out himself when he state that a staff of 2,000 serves 500,000,000. Do you see all those zeros. And that number is growing everyday. It was odd for Senator Hatch to say that one of the questions students were most interested in was "how they can work for facebook". It ran counter with everything that Mark had been saying, and truthfully, I think it was the farthest thing in most of our minds. I don't know many kids who are thinking "I want to work for facebook when I grow up." They want to create something new, something that's their own. Facebook isn't going to hire TONZ more people. It doesn't need to hire in order to expand. It is already taking over the world.

It was also pretty funny when Senator Hatch asked which classes students should take to be able to create something like facebook (or whatever it was he said). Zuckerberg kind of laughed at that one considering he dropped out of college. Do you know who else dropped out of college? Steve Jobs. Oh yeah, and Bill Gates. You don't learn how to be creative in a classroom. Innovation happens on your own time through dedication, practice, and desire. Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers talks about this. It is worth your time.

The real power of Facebook isn't in the capital it generates, but in how it is changing the way we interact as a society. We have already seen how it is a catalyst for change, dialogue and revolution. I know that sounds dramatic, but we have seen over the past few months how this is true. I was dying, DYING for a question about the role of social networks in cases like Egypt (some other kids in the audience had the same idea), but it seemed Hatch was interested in other things. I was super bummed. Zuckerberg touched on this subject when he mentioned peace.facebook.com and also Khan Academy. Super cool.

Zuckerberg: A-

Hatch: D+ 

This article does a pretty good job of covering the forum.

Social media is huge. duh. But we don't know what to do with it. We have a revolutions being triggered all over the middle east with these networks serving as a backbone. And what do we do with facebook? Farmville. I feel dumb about my Lent resolution. To take yourself out of facebook is to exclude yourself from the world, really. I'm excited to go back in and see what changes we can make.

Lent Lament: Life Outside of the Social Network

Forty days is oh so long.

I think I should have considered my options for Lent more carefully. There are many things that I should give up, but the purpose of Lent isn't necessarily giving up stuff that is bad for you. The most common thing to abstain from is meat, partly with the intention of enjoying days of feasting afterward. So like many have done before me, I gave up Facebook.

It is unsettling much of my daily rhythms and rituals are centered on this website. While my scholastic productivity has sky-rocketed, my awareness of viral you tube videos is abysmally low.

Just one more month, and I'll be back on the grid.

In related news, Mark Zuckerberg is speaking at the Marriot Center tomorrow. I wanted to come in costume, but I don't have a GAP sweatshirt (because duh, we don't live in 1995), and I think it will be too cold for flip flops.

I will be there regardless.

Will you be going?

Fashion Smashin'

My dear friend George just graduated from fashion school! He escaped LA for a bit, so Linds put on a little get-together for him to celebrate his achievement. We all dressed up as different fashion styles (I got the 80's), played "pin-the-clothes-on-the-mannequin," and ooohed and ahhhed over George's portfolio.

I like to pretend I am "fashion" (note: I remember going to my new ward in Peru, and Sister Loidith introduced herself saying, "Hermanas, soy lo mas fashion de todo el barrio!" tranlation: "Sisters, I am the most "fashion"/stylish in the whole ward". She was fun.) I follow The Sartorialist and Garance Dore in hopes that their good taste will rub off on me.

But I'm not usually not interested in fashion shows that much. Unless it's Project Runway, but that's cheating. They just seem so unbelievable. There is usually nothing anyone could really pull of wearing in public, and I don't have the right background to fully understand it all. That is, until I saw photos from the Hermes Fall 2011 ready-to-wear show:

I WANT EVERYTHING AND I WANT TO WEAR IT ALL THE TIME.

When I saw this, my first thought was that this outfit would be great for the Hunger Games themed party I will inevitably throw:

Leather leggings? So necessary.

Why yes! That is a bow and arrow!

Go here to see all the photos from the show.