Oh, the fame! Oh, the glory!

You'll all be pleased to know that this morning, the Deseret News awarded the Cecil is my Homeboy shirts a 2006 "Sammie" award. Check out the article here:
http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650219029,00.html

I think this is great--I didn't know they were cool enough to win a fake award. Heck, I don't even know what the name "Sammie" means, but we'll take it nonetheless. I give the Deseret News some credit for recognizing that BYU is an actual college where young people have a good time, instead of insisting that its students spend all their time in rigorous study, with the occasional break to become engaged.

If nothing else, the article has provided us with this priceless quote:

"I always enjoy my association with our students, even if I'm not up on the
latest terminology."
President Samuelson

And here's the text of the important part of the article, in case the link stops working:

Sober? BYU is full of drollery
By Tad Walch
Deseret Morning News

PROVO — Brigham Young University's sober reputation is cemented in the national consciousness — more on that in a moment — but 2006 proved that humor, if not alcohol, flows freely in the shadow of Y Mountain.
The biggest campus wits included the president of the Board of Trustees and the president of the university. Since those men double as President Gordon B. Hinckley, leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Elder Cecil O. Samuelson, of the church's First Quorum of the Seventy, students have strong ecclesiastical examples of drollery.
Without further ado, then, let's hand out the 2006 "Sammies."
• The first goes to three students who caused a ruckus after they printed and sold T-shirts with Samuelson's image and the phrase "Cecil Is My Homeboy."
The students — Austin Craig, Landon Pratt and Roger Pimentel — dropped off one of the shirts at Samuelson's office and said they would stop selling them if he wished it. Instead, his secretary sent them an e-mail: "The president has no objection to you selling it. However, he wanted you to know that he probably won't be wearing it in public!"
Craig said that proved Samuelson has a sense of humor. So did the comment the president provided for this story: "I always enjoy my association with our students, even if I'm not up on the latest terminology."
The phrase became standard student jargon. One example: The campus comedy troupe Divine Comedy does a sketch where Samuelson is a Superman-like character who flies in to save the day. ("Faster than a Provo engagement, able to leap over the Botany Pond, more powerful than the combined testimony of the BYU Men's Chorus, he's President Samuelson!") During the sketch at a recent show, a student in the audience yelled out, "Go, Cecil."
Improvising, the student playing Samuelson/Superman turned to the audience and said, "Thank you. You're my homeboy."

(Not bad, eh?)

(Christmas) Tradition!

I don' know about you guys, but I'm basically the youngest in my family, and all my brothers and sisters are married and have their own plans for Christmas. They're starting their own families and traditions. The question is, what are some of the Christmas traditions out there? I'll start. Though we're not doing it since my parents moved , we used to have a party on Christmas eve with everybody from our neighborhood, then on Christmas morning, after all of us kids had slept in the same room (I don't know why we did that) we marched downstairs from oldest to youngest.

Ok, your turn. Go. Tradition!

P.S. I know the picture isn't very Christmas-y, but it is extremely Tradition-y.

Some Snow Disease

I've decided I suffer from some Winter ailment. I have repeatedly woken up, only to discover that my bed is warmer, softer, and less work than actually getting up and getting dressed for a day with nothing that interests me. I grew up in ARIZONA, and while I've not lived there for over five years, I don't think I will ever become completely acclimatized to these darn Utah Winters. It's pretty, I know, but I can see it all just fine from the window next to my bed.

Cure for loneliness.

I don't care what anyone says. Spring is not the worst time of year to be single, because winter takes the cake.

You know it's true. The cuddling by a fire. The walks in the snow holding hands. The wretched mistletoe tradition that truly only benefits the romantically endowed. It's enough to make you want to grab Jack Frost by the head and squeeze until figgy pudding comes out his ears. Or maybe that's just me. *cough*

Lucky for me (and you, dear reader), the kind folks at Biography have come to my lonesome aid. Thanks to this fabulous site, I have finally found my one....my only....my...

Dead Celebrity Soulmate.

That's right, just answer a few simple questions about yourself and your ideal corps--I mean, partner, and Biography will find you the love of your life that you missed by a century or so. It's just like the dating game, only slightly more morbid.

So can you guess my dead celebrity soulmate? Here are some clues he gave me:

The Book On My Bedside Table: "Teach Yourself Electricity and Electronics, 2nd Ed."

Fill In The Blanks: Youth and Beauty is sexy. Engineering a system by which one can deliver running water throughout an estate is sexier.

My Ideal Date Would Include: After a simple meal in my studio, you would disrobe for me and I would translate your beauty into sculpture. You would smile mysteriously at me, a sort of half smile that I'd have trouble interpreting. We would probably have to schedule several dates in a row for me to complete my tribute.

What a swooner, right? Okay, and maybe a fast mover. Any guesses as to who this bearded casanova could be? That's right! It's....


Leonardo da Vinci! No more lonely nights for me. I've got Leo. And the Priory of Sion.

Now it's your turn! Leave a note and let us know who your deceased soulmate is. As for me, I've got some digging to do.

The Winner

Hey, 'member when we had that contest? You know, back when we first decided we were going to do hoodies? Well, now that we have them, we can award the winner. Big Congrats to Danner Banks, who got a big fatty freebie hoodie. Here he is with his winnings and winning ticket.
So stay tuned, folks, cause theres more fun coming your way right after..umm..we post it.

Sweet mercy. It's the hoodies.

I think this may be our proudest moment ever. You've got to see these.

It's the Cecil is my Homeboy hoodies, and these things are terrific. Why, you ask? I think bulleted factoids are the proper medium in which to answer:

• It's cold. Really cold.
  
• These are really top-quality hoodies. We got the top-of-the-line ones, and these things are plush and warm. Really terrific.
• They're inexpensive for a good hoodie--$25. If we were in this for the money we'd be charging as much as the Bookstore. But we're making almost nothing on these.
• They're stylish. We wanted them to be something worth wearing every day, and goodness knows I haven't taken mine off since I got it.
• Cecil's awesome.
• Just like the t-shirts, they turn heads. It's like being John Beck for a day.
• I take back that previous statement about John Beck. He's cooler than I will ever be.
• This is a really limited offer--we only made 25. And there's three of us, so that's down to 22. And a few have sold already. So I wouldn't waste precious time, if I were you.

Click here to order! or go to the Shirts page. That's where they are.

Sorry for the mock-up picture... we'll get a real photo of these up as soon as we can. That really is what they look like, though--brown with tan, in the hoodie form that you've come to know and love. And they make me so happy. So happy.

Christmas Wish List

Well, now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, we all know what time it is. That's right, time for Christmas. So to get things rolling this Christmas season, I am going to give you a few of the highlights from my Christmas wish list.

Christmas Wish # 1: Scarlett Johansson

Okay, so maybe this one isn't all that realistic. But hey, it is Christmas. Miracles have happened before. Take "The Miracle on 34th Street" for example. Scarlett should be a piece of cake compared to that one.


P.S. I highly recommend The Prestige. Even without Scarlett it would have been a good movie.


Christmas Wish # 2: Alienware

Not quite (but almost) as sexy as the number one item on the wish list would be an Alienware computer. Maybe there are some out there that would argue that the money would be much better spent on an Apple, but they are wrong. An Alienware may not have iFilm, but in contrast to an Apple there are more than 7 programs in existence that it CAN run.

Christmas Wish # 3: Brand New

These guys just came out with a new CD, entitled The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me. If you were fans of Deja Entendu, I think you will enjoy this one also. I've listened to the CD, but don't yet own it, and thus it holds the number 3 spot on my list. My favorite tracks off of the CD are probably the harder hitting "You Won't Know" and "Sowing Season (Yeah)" but there is plenty of variety on the album.

Christmas Wish # 4: Airsoft

I was introduced to the world of Airsoft in the dorms my freshman year. My personal favorite is the Beretta 92FS. These guns can be a lot of fun, just don't shoot your eye out.




What's on your Christmas Wish List this year?

Top Reasons I am Looking Forward to the Thanksgiving Break

In no real particular order.
Turkey, Arizona, family, sleeping in, going to a movie on thanksgiving night, neighbors, leftover turkey sandwiches, my mom's stuffing, Black Friday sales at electronics and hardware stores, my nieces and nephews, two new nieces, and seeing old friends.

Your own favorites are welcome here as well.

Ideas

I'm going to just put this out there. Start now to think of ideas for shirt designs, because I'm thinking its time for another contest. I don't know how we're going to work this, but heres the idea.

1. You submit ideas for shirt designs, or the design itself. Must be BYU/Provo specific.
2. Visitors to the site pick from the best ones.
3. The best one(s) get printed, with a prize going to the winner.

What do you all think? Should we do this thing? Yea or Nay, ladies and Gents. I just want to make sure theres interest /slash/ see if you're out there still.

Col. Mustard, in the conservatory, with the lead pipe.

Have you all heard about The Murder Mystery? I went last year, and let me tell you, it was a blast. The setup was that we were all foreign dignitaries that had been invited to a party thrown by a Presidential candidate from the U.S. My cohort Landon seriously considered bringing a fake gun just to mix things up, and it would have too, they did a search on us, but he didn't end up bringing it. The premise is different this year, but the concept is the same, you get to live out Clue. They serve dinner, you get to try and solve the mystery, and they just put on a great show. And there's dancing for those who like to boogie. In the spirit of the Halloween...spirit, I suggest that everybody go. Now.

Three Reasons

In honor of Holloween, I give you, ladies and gentlemen, three reasons why zombies are awesome.
1. Michael Jackson's Thriller
2. The Half Life series of Games
3. Shaun of the Dead (I saw it back in the days of Clean Flicks)

Feel free to expand the list.

Classes everyone should take.

Some people insist on only taking classes that directly apply to their major. I laugh at them. The following list consists entirely of classes I took for no apparent reason, and they’re the best classes I’ve taken at BYU.

EXSC 125 – Flexibility
I’m in this class right now, and it’s perhaps my favorite ever. It’s a half-credit PE class, and so you get an A if you show up and sign the roll. The class consists of—I kid you not—stretching and power naps. Half the time you do a nice long routine of stretches, then the teacher turns out the lights and does a relaxation thing. It rocks. I think I’m going to take it again next semester, just because it’s that cool. I feel like a million bucks when I walk out of this class.

HIST 380 – History of Popular Culture in America
As far as I know, this class has met its demise because the professor (Dr. Fox) has retired. It was just like it sounds, though, a history of pop culture—movies, comic books, TV, cartoons, etc. We watched Marvin the Martian cartoons in class, and homework was watching movies and reading comic books. The lectures were brilliantly interesting, and the topics were actually things we cared about. I’m telling you, the class was dynamite.

TMA 150 – Public Speaking
I think the name of this class is deceiving, because the principles that I learned applied to way more than just speaking. It was about persuasion, and about gaining peoples’ trust… really, this is as close as I’ve found to a class that teaches you how to be charismatic. I know a bunch of people teach this class, and it’s probably different with each teacher, but I can recommend Kurt Mortensen without reservation.

ECON 110
I took this class for fun. For fun. It was so hard, but it was really cool. I had it from Mark Showalter, and he quickly became one of my favorite people ever. I’m also keenly aware that you might have to be the slightest bit nerdy, like me, to think this class is the cat’s pajamas.


That all being said, I've got one semester left, and I need to know what other classes rock. Any suggestions?

Googlefight

The Linguistics Department at BYU is utterly obsessed with www.Googlefight.com. I blame them for my current addiction.

The idea of Google fight is that you pit two words or phrases against each other to duke it out and see which appears more out in cyberspace. In class, we usually use it to see what words and phrases are standard in English (i.e. potatoes vs. potatos, who vs. whom, etc.) But don't be deceived. Googlefight not only features semi-amusing animation while it makes its search, but the fights you can concoct can be utterly brilliant, if you only use your imagination. So give it a try, boys and girls!

Fights to get you started:
Boys vs. Girls
Pen vs. Sword
Macs vs. PCs
President Bush vs. Bin Laden
Arnold Schwarzenegger vs. Your governor ( I told you my governor could beat up your governor)
Tom Cruise vs. Satan

Use your imagination and report your findings! If all problems were so easily solved, the world would be such a happier place. I propose showing Googlefight to our world leaders. You in?

to those of you who had the audacity to leave the priesthood session before the closing hymn was over

Don't think we didn't see you. Everyone saw you. For crying out loud, stay sitting down until the meeting - in its entirety - is over. You'll be fine if you get home ten minutes later. Show some respect for the meeting. Honestly.

And don't think that I don't have my eyes on you, people who leave devotional before the closing prayer is given. You're next on my list.

Oh Wow.

I may have just recieved an email with a picture attatched. The picture may be of a new mother and her baby. And the new mother may be wearing a Cecil is my Homeboy shirt. Wow. Oh Wow.

Music Mania

Do you ever hear songs that you get completely hung up on? Here's my current top 10, in no particular order:

1. "Dog Problems" by The Format. BRILLIANT. It just is. I've seriously become obsessed with this song."Dog Problems" is a bizarre blend of rock/folk/pop/Sesame Street/New Orleans/stream-of-consciousness/genius-ness. You think you have this song all figured out at first, until the bridge rips your heart out. I still can't find mine.

2. "Heavy Metal Drummer" by Wilco. Wilco is one of those bands that nobody knows about, but everybody SHOULD know about. Listen to them. Love them.

3. "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol. Snow Patrol has this uncanny ability to write songs that just get me right in the gut. I hate that this song has gotten popular recently, because I somehow feel it downplays the actual physical reaction I got the first time I heard it. It still gets me everytime, but now I have to share it. I hate that. And to add insult to the injury, "Run" is now in the trailer for "The Guardian"? What is that all about? Another song that really hit me hard, and now it's in an Ashton Kutcher movie. It's insulting. All the same, you just have to listen to this band. They're incredible.

4. "Skeleton Key" by Margot and the Nuclear So and So's. Like nothing I've ever heard before. Beautiful and haunting, self-deprecating, but with a sense of humor. A band I'm expecting big things from.

5. "Head On" by The Pixies. Oh, Pixies. I can't listen to this song and NOT bob my head like an idiot. It can't be done.

6. "Baba O'Reiley" by The Who. I would recommend playing this song when you get up in the morning. Once the piano makes its appearance, you feel like you can kick the day's butt.

7. "Cut Your Hair" by Pavement. This song just makes me ridiculously happy. That is reason enough for it to make the top 10.

8. "So Says I" by The Shins. I love The Shins. They are like the sixties with an added dose of awkwardness.

9. "I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor" by Arctic Monkeys. This song just kind of makes me want to yell. I don't really know why. I just want to get onto a dance floor and yell. A lot. And then dance like a madman. A lot.

10. "Philosophy" by Ben Folds. Ben had to be included somewhere. He's a bloody genius. This song has to be my favorite, though. This guy is freaking insane on the piano. It almost makes me want to practice piano....wait, no, the feeling passed, because I can never be that good.

That was seriously difficult to condense my list to ten. So many great bands out there. Holy! Anyway, try something new, friends! Music makes the world go 'round! (Among other things).

White and Nerdy

Over the years I have been forced to admit the fact that I am a nerd. I owned my first computer years before I had my own car. Java, to me, isn't an island or a term for caffeinated beverage. I was once ranked in the top 1000 players in the world at Instagib CTF Unreal Tournament. I can do more with my phone than many people can do with a computer. I can't dance. At all.

So, with a history like that, it is no wonder why I fell in love with "Weird Al" Yankovic's new music video. A parody of the Chamilionaire rap "Ridin'", "Weird Al's" rendition is a nerd anthem.

With that said, I invite my fellow nerds to check out the video. Oh... and keep your eyes open for the Donny Osmond cameo. That's right... I said Donny Osmond.

10 reasons to go on living

(in no particular order.)

1. The new Decemberists CD coming out on October 3. Their last two albums (Her Majesty the Decemberists and Picaresque) have been nothing short of fantastic. I expect nothing less from this new one. There's really nothing bad you can say about a band that employs nautical themes into their music on a regular basis. Same goes for a band that uses the word "priory" in their lyrics. It's wonderful. Pick it up on the 3rd.

2. Author Nick Hornby. If you haven't read anything by him, you're really missing out. His famous books like About a Boy and High Fidelity are both really good, but his lesser-known books like Songbook are just as excellent. He's a tremendously accessible writer. I don't know anyone who has read anything by him who hasn't completely enjoyed it. I recommend About a Boy first, but you can really start wherever you'd like.

3. The Office. It's back on TV. Thursday nights at 7.30. It's not too late to start watching it. Watch a few episodes and catch up on what you've missed by either reading up on it on Wikipedia or by renting the DVDs from Blockbuster or something (or a friend - tons of people own the DVDs).

4. Bacon. 'Nuff said.

5. Amelie. Quite possibly one of the best movies in existence. If you're ever feeling down, find a copy of this movie and devote two hours of your life toward feeling better. You'll experience "waves of euphoria," as a good friend of mine described it. You won't regret it.

6. Timothy McSweeney's Internet Tendency. If you don't already read this, you're really missing out. McSweeney's posts ridiculously hypereducated humorous essays that will just make you laugh yourself silly. Personal favorites of mine include lists such as "Businesses that Failed to Duplicate the Success of 'I Can't Believe It's Not Yogurt'" and open letters to entities that are unlikely to respond (like the nest of pigeons living outside your window). Absolutely hilarious.

7. Toothpaste for Dinner. Quite possibly the single greatest webcomic in existence. It's completely random, yes, but intensely funny. You're cheating yourself out of some serious enjoyment if you don't visit this site on a regular basis.

8. The 100 Hour Board. I would be seriously remiss if I didn't at least make passing reference to this. Online question and answer forum. The answer to any question you can think of in 100 hours. No catch. Try it and be amazed.

9. Kingdom of Loathing. This is the most intensely fun role-playing game I've ever participated in. It's a game dedicated to making fun of RPGs as well as providing an endless supply of puns and witty pop culture references. It's fantastic. If you appreciate things that are funny, you'll want to at least take a look at this.

10. The interrobang. This page will link you to a column entitled Interrobang, but that's not what I'm referring to. Take a look at the punctuation mark at the end of the title. It's simultaneously an exclamation point and a question mark. Pretty cool, eh?

Keep on truckin'. There's plenty to look forward to, dear readers.

More ways to waste time effectively.

So I'm sitting in class in the trailer behind the Amanda Knight Building, and I turn to my friend sitting next to me and ask if she knows any good ways to waste a few minutes. The results were pleasantly surprising. And now I pass the savings on to you.

Our first winner is called Stuff On My Cat. It's a website full of pictures (submitted by good folks like yourself) where people have piled stuff on their cat. For example, in this photo someone has piled a few pillows on their cat. I fully endorse this behavior.

The caveat, though, is that dumb people have gotten ahold of this site and submitted photos of their own cat wearing a Zorro costume, or a princess crown, or whatever, and it really ruins the whole idea of the site. But, regardless, there's enough good stuff to make it worth your (wasted) time.

The other site actually came from my teacher. He made the mistake of showing us this site right at the beginning of class, and I've been fascinated with it for about the past hour. It doesn't really seem to have a name, but I'll call it the George W. Bush Falling Ragdoll. It's President Bush. And he falls through these big round things. And he bounces off. I can't think of a single time when I've had this much fun.

The best part is grabbing him (by clicking on him with the mouse), and dragging him through cracks between bubbles that he shouldn't fit through. This may also be the most confident I've seen the President look in a while.

That's all I've got... I should probably start paying attention now.

Glad I got a Movie Today

So, here's a thought.
Some BYU guys entered a film contest where YOU are the judge. Can you believe it? YOU! Anyway, The Project has this college film contest, and the people who come to the site get to vote for which is the best. And lets be honest. The ones from BYU are the best. I know it. You know it. Its time the rest of the world knew it too. So go and let them know! The films are "Glad I Got a Sword Today" by Seth Warburton and Steve Shimek, and "Major Sampson" by Eric Anderson. Go, Vote, there's a lot on the line for these guys. They are in the third phase of voting, and the third segment in their respective trilogies.

Score one for Gloria Steinem...sort of.

Well, it finally happened. After careful deliberation, heated debate, and the loss of (more) hair on behalf of the Cecil team, the Cecil Blog has finally decided to add some well-needed estrogen to the mix.

Now before you get yourself too excited over diversity finally making its way to the “blogging scene,” it must be understood that sinister forces were at work here. You see, while it may seem like a great civil stride was made in taking on a female to an all-male blog, the Cecil team knew full well what they were doing in approaching me to contribute:

They were not hiring a true female.

Don’t get me wrong. I am full-blooded woman and darn proud of it. Rosie the Riveter and I are tight. But while I do have a pension towards towering heels and excessive amounts of purses, my speech, writing style, and overall personality reek of a different gender. Growing up with men your whole life will do that to you. I don’t giggle. I guffaw. I’m more sarcastic than most men. I’ll call you a moron if you deserve the title. I’m crass. I’m crude. I enjoy making people uncomfortable. Whatever pops into my head is usually what comes out of my mouth. . "A Walk to Remember" makes me gag. Spike TV is better than the Oxygen network. And darnit….Jet Li is the man.

Thus the opinion that you’ll get from me won’t be distinctly female, as I’m sure was the creator’s intent. But I’m happy to be apart of this blog, all the same—even if it’s only because they needed a chick on board. These guys are awesome, and they’ve worked hard on this site. To be a small part of it is truly a pleasure. The Cecil team is composed of my homeboys. Future posts will not be so lengthy and will actually have a point.

But so you get your female input dosage for the day: Men—just say no to socks and sandals.

Represent!

So, Last week I was walking through my living room and looked up at the end of a commercial for a new show on MTV called "sportsblender" and I yelled "THATS BRIAN PETERSON!" but then the commercial was over.

Brian was a friend of my sisters when she was here and I was still in high school. He was a film student, he was in final cut (the student film festival) a few years ago. Anyway, he went to BYU and now he has a show on MTV. He got to interview Lebron James, which isn't bad. Be sure to check out all his clips on youtube, in the explore more videos box.

I think we should all give Brian a little shout out. Ask him why his movie never played out here. He made a feature length gig a while ago, and I don't know about you guys, but I feel like if a BYU student does well enough to make a full movie, we should try to get it shown out here somewhere. On campus or movies 8, SOMEWHERE. Anyway, stop by their site, leave your mark, show some love. Way to go, Brian!

Here is his email. Don't worry, I asked him if this was okay.

brianspost@gmail.com

Too Much

Stupid Computer.

I started to write a blog the other day and my computer crapped out on me. I've had that thing for two years, and it has only given me problems. I don't know why I have this curse, this love hate relationship with technology.

That being said, am I the only one who is feeling bogged down in work, even though its only the...what...third week of school? I feel like too much is expected of us students, or maybe its just that we expect too much of ourselves. Go to school, get a job, go on dates, magnify your calling...oh...and don't forget to RELAX and HAVE FUN! Sometimes seems contradictory to me. I'm a firm believer that we live in a world of unavoidably mixed signals, and its a heck of a job to sift through them all and decide what to do with every day.

And the winner is... (drum roll please)

Boy howdy. This was fun. We had a slow turnout at first, but at the end we had people coming out of the woodwork. I hope y'all kept your tickets... the winner is:

Ticket #523608

If you have this ticket, get ahold of us ASAP. We haven't printed up the hoodies yet, so we'll even let you choose your color. To everyone who didn't win: It's not so bad--you all tied for second place.

We should have another contest like this. What a kick in the pants.

Googlearchy

I have to say, sometimes Google amazes me. There is definitely a reason they are number one in just about everything having to do with the internet. Okay, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point.

Recently, the geniuses at Google were faced with a dilemma. They wanted a way to make their image search more effective. One of the most effective ways to do this would be to assign keywords pertinent to each image, also known as "Tagging." But how to undertake such a monumental task? There are millions and millions of images on the internet, and image recognition software is not nearly sophisticated enough for the process to be automated. It would have to be done by hand.

Google's solution? Turn it into a game, and get someone else to do it for you.

I was quickly sucked in after finding the Google Image Labeler a few weeks back. You are paired randomly with another participant, and given 90 seconds to "tag" as many pictures as possible, neither participant being able to see what the other is suggesting. As soon as you and your partner suggest a matching tag, it moves on to the next image. After your time has expired, you are able to see exactly what suggestions your partner was making. It is intriguing to see the different ways people have of describing what they see. Some focus on actions, while others objects, and some focus more on colors and shapes.

Give it a shot! Help Google make the internet a better place, and have a little fun at the same time.

The Competition

Okay, so its not really a competition, its more of a contest. But I couldn't get the voice of strong bad out of my head on this one.

Anyway, this is the gig. Tomorrow, President Samuelson will speak at the Campus Devotional. We here at Cecilismyhomeboy.com thought, since he is our namesake and all, that we would play a little game in his honor. Wear your "Cecil" shirt to the devotional tomorrow and you could win. Or if you don't have one, buy one from us, because we will be there with shirts. Anyway, come find us outside of the Marriott Center, and you will get a raffle ticket if you have your shirt on. Don't know what we look like? Well thats part of the fun, you have to find us. We'll have our Cecil shirts on too. When you find us, we'll give you a raffle ticket, and that gets you into the contest for...

A FREE CECIL HOODIE!!!

Thats right, campers, we're gonna make some hoodies, and you can be the VERY FIRST to get your mits on one. Just Wear your Shirt tomorrow, get a raffle ticket, and we'll announce the winner tomorrow on the Blog.

Cool? We think so.

P.S. Did you guys see President Monson Speak on Sunday? And Elder Eyring? And of course, President Samuelson? Man, I love those guys.

Oh, and remember five years ago today? So do I.

"and I don't feel any different"

Death Cab for Cutie's song "The New Year" begins with the lyric, "So this is the new year; I don't feel any different. This is a common feeling, I think, for most people. Flipping the page on a calendar doesn't fundamentally change a whole lot in our lives. I feel no more different on January 1 than I would on, say, any given Monday. I had a particularly bad week last week, and more than a few people told me that I'd feel better once the new week started, as though entering a new row on the calendar would alter the reality that I live in. (Predictably, not much changed with the shift from Sunday to Monday.)

It's a new year, dear readers, and I don't feel any different. That's not to say that I feel indifferent to the coming year or that I'm cynical toward the future. Rather, I just feel like my life is plugging right along at the same pace that it always has. There's little sense in relying on the calendar to make your life interesting, really. Why wait for a new week, month, or year in the hopes that something interesting will happen to you when you can make something interesting happen now?

Mind you, that doesn't mean that I have anything interesting going on tonight.

Happy New Year, I guess.

So another school year is here, and so far it looks a lot like the last one. We'll see, I guess. I'm sitting here in my new apartment, listening to "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson, and mustering up the courage to plunge into another school year. It's a bit like ripping off a scab.

The good news is that we've got some big plans for the site here.

First things first--we've got some new contributors to the blog. Optimistic (of 100-Hour Board fame) and the Canasian (known for his distinct Canadian/Asian brand of coolness) have joined the blog team, and they're cooler and more interesting than I am. So that's good news for everybody. I'll let them introduce themselves better, if they want.

The other good news is that we've got some sweet stuff planned that I'm not totally going to give away just yet. Part of it will roll out in two weeks. The other part is some rockin' new stuff to wear.

Specifically, stuff to wear for anybody else who is taking a deep breath before ripping this dang thing off.

Zwok

Just a short post to introduce you all to a great little game... but be warned, it is very addicting. It is called Zwok, and you can find it at this link. I am making it my personal goal to make it onto the leader board. I am getting really close!

New York Doll is way cool.

So, yeah, I hope everyone is having a summer full of wholesome entertainment. The blog isn't dead, don't worry - though it has been comatose for a while.

Have you seen New York Doll yet? It's pretty much the coolest. Plus, anybody who's anybody stayed after the credits and saw the coolest part - David Johansen and Brian Koonin playing "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief." Pretty sweet stuff. A cool tribute to Arthur. There's another one, though, that nobody knows about. They did "Come, Come Ye Saints" as well, but I don't think it was in the theater version, just on the DVD. Regardless, I've got it, and here it is:

David Johansen and Brian Koonin - Come, Come Ye Saints.mp3

I would have pulled off "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" too, but I couldn't really figure out the software I was using, and then I had to give the New York Doll DVD back to the person I borrowed it from. If anybody's interested in "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" just post on here or let me know and I'll see if I can get it. Or, better yet, if you have it, send it my way and I'll get it up here.

As far as I can tell, this is the online debut of this song - I couldn't find it anywhere else. How cool is that? A launch on cecilismyhomeboy.com. A cursory check didn't seem to indicate that there's a soundtrack out for New York Doll, so I think this is okay to spread around. If it ends up being some sort of copyright violation then I'll take it down, but I think we're okay.

Tell all your friends... cecilismyhomeboy.com has the mad hookups.

Holycrapfinalswillkillme.

Sundry items of sun-dried interest

It's that time of the year again - time to start on all the projects I was supposed to be working on all semester.

The good news is that we have some good things in the works. So, for today, some housecleaning items:

1. We're going to have more stickers soon. Norm stickers this time, too, not just Cecil. We had a lot of requests for them last time, so we're going to make them available on the website. They'll be cheap, too - and they look great.
2. There will be somebody here all summer to fill t-shirt orders, so don't worry about that.
3. The blog will stay alive over the summer too. I'm already planning on a post about how annoying EFY is on campus.
4. The really good news is that we're going to have a contest running over the summer. It's not up yet, but it will be soon, so keep checking back. It's going to be sweet - and the prizes are going to rock the house. I'm pretty stoked about the prizes.

I hope everybody had a good Easter. Somebody told me that in their Sacrament Meeting, the person who was conducting the meeting got a little flustered and ended up announcing one of the hymns as "I Know That My Redeemer Die." That's embarrassing.

A Stunning Victory

I'm told that the Daily Universe is a rather good student newspaper, compared to those of other schools. I suppose it is - I haven't attended any other colleges, so I can't really say. They have some problems with their image on campus, but everybody knows that. Today's paper has a pretty interesting article - apparently the Universe won a handful of awards at a competition, 6 first-place awards and a few seconds and thirds.

Closer inspection makes the article a lot more fun.

The writer of the article mentions several times that the state-wide competition was not only for student newspapers, but also professional papers. Cool. Among them? The Tooele Transcript Bulletin and the Davis County Clipper. I couldn't be more proud that the Daily Universe team brought down the Tooele Transcript Bulletin juggernaut. When you can hang with Tooele, you can hang with anybody. It's a mandate. The start of an era.

The other fun part is the resurrection of that blasted feature they did on wolves a few months back. Remember? The entire paper was about wolves for a week or so. It was rough. It won an award, though, and the Universe folks are proud of it. The reefer on the front page was enough to show that:

Remember the wolf package?
The Daily Universe win six first place awards
See Page 8

And, of course, we know that every student, teacher, and staff member read every word of it when it was in the paper. If wolves aren't relevant to BYU students, then what is? The day we start having feature packages about on-campus, student-relevant topics is the day I turn elsewhere for BYU news. But that's me.

So, congrats to the Daily Universe team! One can only hope you'll pull off another stunning victory next year.

The Dating Game

I haven't been feeling the creative juices lately, so I am going to go ahead and steal a previous post of mine from one of my other blogs. I think it is still very relevant, and hopefully all will enjoy.

In a recent late night conversation with a friend, I stumbled across a beautiful gem of knowledge. (It seems that my greatest insight tends to come when I am least in control of my faculties.)

We were both commented on the ridiculous nature of the dating game, and how we wished it could be avoided. I mean, imagine it?! What if you could just tell someone you liked them, and they would either say, "Oh, I like you too." or "No, not really." Then you could just be like, "Oh, cool." and then you could move things in the right direction, be it towards or away.

But instead...

• You have to try and use subtle tactics. That way you don't expose yourself to the enemy.
• You are prohibited from saying what you are actually thinking. If you were to do this, you would automatically be considered "weird" and you may be relegated to "undateable" status.
• Mind games.
• Doubt.

It is all just so miserable.

However, there are a couple of problems with the idea of not playing the game. For one, everyone would have to stop playing it. If half are playing, and half aren't, it would cause an even bigger mess. This is when I had my epiphany.


JUMANJI

My mind jumped immediately to the movie Jumanji staring Robin Williams. It seems that my subconscious had already drawn the connection between the two evil games. You see, in both of them the only way the game will ever end is if you keep playing till you reach the finish.

There is no quitting.

There's nothing left to give.

It appears that the Choose to Give campaign has started up again. Few things get my dander up like Choose to Give.

Before I get fully to my rant, I should say that I'm sure that the Annual Fund goes to really good causes. I'm sure that the money that is raised every year goes to help my individual education. I'm sure it's done great things. Despite all of that, though, I'm sure that it rubs me the wrong way.

I don't respond well to being asked to "donate" money to BYU. Maybe I'm off base. Can I just pay my tuition instead? Is tuition so low that BYU students just have piles of cash lying around?

(breath)

Doesn't it seem a bit like having a blood drive in the in-patient ward of a hospital? Don't take their blood! They need what they've got - and often quite a bit more!

I'd suggest that they make it easier to target a donation. They do have an option where you can choose what school your money goes to (fine arts and communications, physical and mathematical sciences, etc.), but that doesn't help much - each school has lots of departments, and within those plenty of majors, and chances are good that your donation isn't going to go where you'd like it to go.

But, anyway, go donate, because I'm sure it's good. Pay your tuition. Be a Hero.

Peter Priesthood's Pious Pretense

More than a couple times in recent history, I have heard from my friends who are girls (not girlfriends, sorry ladies, I'm tight with Official Declaration 1) about a certain breed of dating male. Tell me if you know any yourself; the defining characteristic is that he will try to win girls over by virtue of his intentionally overbrimming piety. Maybe in casual conversation he will mention how much he respects women, or how much he wants to be just like his mission president, or how many wonderful promises his patriarchal blessing makes, but no, he can't tell you about those. And then he does anyway.
Now don't get me wrong, piety is a thing I strive to have in greater abundance. However, that will not be the subject on a first date, or even a second or third. I don't want the girl to think I'm her dad or something. Pretty sure a much better idea would be to...uhhh...make her laugh. Maybe instead of telling her how much you respect women, you should just let them know how much you like them. I'm sorry, I don't mean to go all Dr. Phil on ya'll, but your own righteousness and respect and reverence for eternal things, that should just come through if its really there. You shouldn't need to advertise it.
Oh, and if you are a BYU student, that kind of religiosity is the last trait that will set you apart from the 15,000 other guys here.
I need feedback, people. Let me know if I'm out of line here. I've never witnessed this lameness myself, but being a guy, I'm not in much of a position to see it.

Facebook and MySpace: The Devil's Social Networks

My stake president told us to get off of Facebook and MySpace this Sunday. No explanation. He mentioned chat rooms in passing, but came down hard on these networking sites. So, I did. I cancelled my Facebook account. I'm willing to trust him here - I haven't had any problems with it, but if it's a big enough deal to announce in stake conference, then I'll take his word for it.

This topic has come up lately in conversation, and in another board I frequent - a friend's stake president did the same thing. Before you go any further, watch this clip from The Daily Show
on the subject. Many kudos to Optimistic for bringing it to my attention.

There seems to be a couple of things that people are worried about:
1. Sexual predators - a problem, yes, but nothing unique to online social networks. If this is the reasoning, then message boards and blogs probably need to go, too.
2. Kids forming "virtual" friendships instead of real friendships - a reasonable worry, I guess. A market researcher did a study and found that, to a great degree, the time spent garnering "virtual friends" is time that would otherwise be spent alone watching TV. That's kind of how I feel about it, but I understand the worry.

Austin said he quit his MySpace account a while ago because it went too far - weird people wanting to be his "friend," people masquerading as something they're not, bots trying to generate traffic to porn sites. I'm not sure what's wrong with Facebook, though... it seems to be a bit more on the tame side. I like Facebook because it has allowed me to stay in touch with friends from high school, that I haven't had any other contact with.

Has anybody else gotten this counsel from Priesthood leaders? Did you close your account? I closed mine, but I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has thoughts on the topic.

Be Somebody!

I have become increasingly surprised at the number of people I run into who have never heard of Mr. T. I was always under the impression that the man was one of the icons of our generation. I mean seriously... The A-Team rocked. So I have taken it upon myself to enlighten all who will read.

We will start out with a blurb from wikipedia:

Mr. T (born Laurence Tureaud, May 21, 1952) is an actor known for his roles in the 1980s television series The A-Team and as boxer Clubber Lang in the 1982 film Rocky III.

Laurence Tureaud was born in Chicago, Illinois, the eleventh of twelve children; he and his four sisters and seven brothers grew up in the city's housing projects. He was a college football star, studied martial arts, and won a scholarship to Prairie View A&M University, Texas, but was thrown out after a year.

For about nine years Mr. T was a bodyguard to the stars, protecting such well-known personalities as Muhammad Ali, Michael Jackson, and Diana Ross. He charged around $3,000 a day and his business card famously read, "Next to God, there is no better protector than I." He always boasts that he never lost a client, saying, "I got hurt worse growing up in the ghetto than working as a bodyguard."

In 1970 he changed his name by deed poll from Laurence Tureaud to Laurence Tero and then in 1980 to "Mr. T" so that people would have to address him as "Mr."

It was while reading National Geographic that Mr. T first saw the unusual hairstyle for which he is now famous, on an African Mandinka warrior. He decided that adopting the style was a powerful statement about his African origins.

A friend of mine the other day somehow got his hands on an old motivational video that Mr. T did back in the 80s. I have seen few things in my life as funny as this. One of the segments on the video is a rap that Mr. T wrote about "Mothers." You should check out this clip if you haven't seen it already.

I also recently found out that he released a rap CD in about the same year... I am going to see if I can get my hands on some of the tracks.

There are better ways.

So, while I have still never been arrested, I came pretty close a few nights ago. We decided to try some guerilla marketing. We cut out some stencils of the site, and darn near perfected the method of chalking the website onto asphalt. We erroneously assumed that it wouldn't cause much of a legal snafusis, but on the last spot of ground we were going to tag, it all went sour. A couple of security guards saw us and wondered what was going on. Not really wanting to take the time to explain it all to them, we...uhh...we bolted. Ya, we panicked and bolted. But I am a little dense, and had my car parked there illegally. When we went back about 30 minutes later, there were two cop cars, taking my plates and making some calls. I knew I wasn't going to get out of this, so I went to talk to them.
They played the "Good Cop, Bad Cop" routine to a capitol T. They said they had been on the phone with a tow truck when I came (that coulda' been pricey) and they were about to come to my apartment to question me. They ran the seriel number on my car stereo to make sure it wasn't stolen. Was that for dramatic effect? But long story short, they made us clean it up, and by the end of it all, they thought it was pretty funny, I mean the business and the shirts and all.
Oh, and Bad Cops parting word: "You can bet that most of the guys down at the station will be checking out your site. Who knows, maybe they'll buy a shirt or two."

BYUSA elections: Y?

Is anybody else really, really bothered by BYUSA elections this year? Wow.

In past years it's something that I have smirked at, but had a gentleman's agreement with - I leave them alone, and they leave me alone. This year, though, it's gotten out of hand. I can't walk around campus without hearing the Official Oldie of one candidate or another - and it seems that color schemes are a major part of political platforms this year.

I'm told that about 1,000 people voted in last year's election - out of about 30,000 BYU students (quick math: that's 1/30th, or around 3%). Only 1,000 cared enough to vote! That sure sucks the credibility out of it. I'd suggest that a good portion of that 1,000 will vote no matter what, and also that a good portion of that 30,000 will NOT vote, no matter what. Targeted advertising is a wonderful thing - sell yourselves to the people that are actually going to vote. You're only alienating the rest of the student body.

BYUSA differs from other student governments because, well, it's not a student government.
I'm sure they do wonderful things, but I've never noticed an iota of difference from one year to the next due to different leadership. Whether that's a result of BYUSA's lack of influence or just the sheer homogeneity of the candidates, I'm not sure we could tell. Perhaps both.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who disagrees with me. If you can make a compelling enough case for BYUSA, I'll kick around the idea of voting before ultimately deciding not to.

Comments

We would appreciate it if those who visit the blog would comment on what they like/dislike. It is the only way we will know if it is something we should keep up, so if you have a minute, leave a comment!

Thanks.

Celebrity Lookalikes

Well, we finally got the website up and looking mostly respectable, but it means I am left trying to write my first blog entry at 1 in the morning. Not when I am generally most lucid.

I do however have a fun website that everyone should know about. I discovered it thanks to my Spanish Teacher, Bob Valentine, father of the lead guitarist of the band Maroon 5. This website is called myheritage.com.

On the myheritage website you can upload a picture of yourself, and it will analyze it and run a comparison on the photos in its celebrity database. You can see which celebrity you most look like! Here are my results for this particular photo:

Julianne Moore (55%)
Emma Watson (51%)

Emma Watson, eh? She is pretty cute. But also a girl. What else we got here...

Grace Kelly (50%)
Mariah Carey (48%)

Okay... still no guys. This is a little discouraging.

Katie Holmes (44%)

At least I look like attractive girls, right? Is that a good thing?

Patrick Stewart (44%)
Gilbert Becaud (43%)

Ah sweet. Finally some men. But Patrick Stewart? Is that really any better. And Gilbert Becaud? Who is that. Turns out he is a French singer. Not better.

Orlando Bloom (41%)

The Light at the End of the Tunnel! Famous. Good-looking. Now we are getting somewhere.

If you want to see more of my results, you can stop by my apartment blog.

To try it yourself, head here.

The Wonders of Modern Technology

I recently saw on campus the engineering students next to the Clyde Building working on their maze navagating autonomous robot and wondered about some of the projects we have here at "The BYU", as my grandmother would say. I love technology, robots, and the sort, but I wish we could have more focus on practical application. The quintessential example of what we should be sinking our time and money into is exemplified in this piece of magic at MIT. Please, please, please watch the video, and take special note of the androgenous banshee speaking the native tongue of its creation.

NOTE: Tone of voice unfortunately doesn't come across in blogging. This is all dripping with sarcasm, and that should become clear when you watch the video. So watch the video now.

Hasselhoff: Not Since the Beatles

I came across this video recently - okay, I saw it in class.
David Hasselhoff - Hooked on a Feeling

It's priceless for several reasons, enumerated here:

• It's David Hasselhoff
• It appears to be serious
• It's the worst video work I've ever seen
• Yeah, it's David Hasselhoff

Apparently he's a big thing in Europe. His first album went triple platinum and won him "Most Popular and Best Selling Artist of the Year" in Germany. He sang at the coming down of the wall, for crying out loud. Does anybody have any insight on how something like this can be so popular? Or perhaps this isn't representative of his normal stuff?
What makes this even more fun is that he tried to launch his singing career in the U.S. with a performance on TV - however, on that evening, O.J. Simpson decided to flee from the law by driving his white Bronco at maddeningly slow speeds on the freeway, so nobody saw the concert. I'm not convinced, though, that that's the only reason he's not popular here. Even his name is funny.
Anyway - you've got to see this video, if you haven't already. Oh man.

So, the blog's up.

Welcome to the Cecil is my Homeboy blog... a blog for all things that are cool in the world, and all things that are Provo. Feel free to comment, because we're not just talking to ourselves here. And if you have something that merits its own post, email it to one of us and we'll stick it up. We're not exactly control freaks.

If you're into the shirts, you'll be stoked to know that we're looking to expand. First of all, we made some sweet stickers - if you want some, drop me an email. We don't have a ton of them, but they are pretty darn sweet. The important news, though, is that the new shirt designs are on their way. We're looking at Monday, March 6th, assuming we can get our ducks in a row by then. Yessir, we're going to have several of them, and you get to vote for the coolest one. After a specified period of time, which we haven't bothered to decided on yet, we'll take the winningest one and have a billion of them printed. At which point, of course, we pass the coolness on to you.