Who Has Time to Come Up With These Things?

I've always loved watching contraptions like "Newton's Dream" at the Clark Planetarium.

If you also enjoy these small and entertaining wonders in engineering, watch this video. It's great.

Pizzeria 712

Today I got a lovely surprise just before noon when my Mom called and invited me to lunch.

We ended up having lunch at Pizzeria Seven Twelve. Sooooo very tasty. They use sustainably farmed products ("whenever possible"), focus on in-season produce, and they use a brick oven to make their deee-lish pizzas. They also have great salads and offer three or four different kinds of panini (which I haven't tried yet).

They have funky art by local painters up on the walls, the kitchen is open to the entire restaurant, and everyone who has ever helped me there has been extremely friendly; all around it just has a great atmosphere.

Next time any of you are in Orem and have a pizza craving, try Pizzeria Seven Twelve. Yum.

*That's it for my very unofficial review. Thanks for reading!

The Challenging Pleasures of Art

In the September/October newsletter from the Orem Public Library, they included an excerpt from Dana Gioia’s commencement address at Stanford in June. Gioia is the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. His address really resonated with me, so I thought I would share parts of it with you (with emphasis added in multiple places). You can find the entire text here.
Please note: This is not me preaching... I just found myself agreeing almost out loud with so much of what he said, I wanted to pass along the thoughts that he so aptly conveyed.

Marcus Aurelius believed that the course of wisdom consisted of learning to trade easy pleasures for more complex and challenging ones. I worry about a culture that bit by bit trades off the challenging pleasures of art for the easy comforts of entertainment. And that is exactly what is happening—not just in the media, but in our schools and civic life.
Entertainment promises us a predictable pleasure—humor, thrills, emotional titillation, or even the odd delight of being vicariously terrified. It exploits and manipulates who we are rather than challenges us with a vision of who we might become. A child who spends a month mastering Halo or NBA Live on Xbox has not been awakened and transformed the way that child would be spending the time rehearsing a play or learning to draw.

If you don't believe me, you should read the statistical studies that are now coming out about American civic participation. Our country is dividing into two distinct behavioral groups. One group spends most of its free time sitting at home as passive consumers of electronic entertainment. Even family communication is breaking down as members increasingly spend their time alone, staring at their individual screens.

The other group also uses and enjoys the new technology, but these individuals balance it with a broader range of activities. They go out—to exercise, play sports, volunteer and do charity work at about three times the level of the first group. By every measure they are vastly more active and socially engaged than the first group.

What is the defining difference between passive and active citizens? Curiously, it isn't income, geography, or even education. It depends on whether or not they read for pleasure and participate in the arts. These cultural activities seem to awaken a heightened sense of individual awareness and social responsibility.

Art is an irreplaceable way of understanding and expressing the world—equal to but distinct from scientific and conceptual methods. Art addresses us in the fullness of our being—simultaneously speaking to our intellect, emotions, intuition, imagination, memory, and physical senses. There are some truths about life that can be expressed only as stories, or songs, or images.

Art delights, instructs, consoles. It educates our emotions. And it remembers. As Robert Frost once said about poetry, "It is a way of remembering that which it would impoverish us to forget." Art awakens, enlarges, refines, and restores our humanity.

You don't outgrow art.

Bridal Veil Falls

In light of Camille's death at Bridal Veil Falls (this week last year), I have a hard time going there very much.

I've been thinking that I should make the effort to go hike the trail there in honor of Camille, but I just don't know that I can bring myself to do it. I am certain I would look at every overhang, cliff, or narrow strip of trail and wonder if it was the spot where she fell. (Morbid, I know. I can't help it--I know that's what I would do.)

This month there is an Outdoor Film Festival going on there. I thought it might be a good 'transitional' activity to get me to Bridal Veil Falls for more than about three minutes at a time.

What do you guys think? Have you ever consciously tried to change your negative associations with a certain place?

The Organ Loft - a.k.a. "Edison Street"

Last night I went to The Organ Loft on Edison Street to participate in the first installment of their fall Silent Movie series. Click here to find the Organ Loft on Mapquest.

I have to admit, I was a little bit skeptical about going, but it was a BLAST!!


The cool thing about the Organ Loft is that they have this Wurlitzer organ front and center, and as they show the silent film they have someone playing the organ LIVE to provide sound (and great random sound effects, too). It was incredibly fun, and something I will definitely do again.
This has to be the coolest thing I have done in Utah in a VERY long time. Have any of you ever done this? If not, I highly recommend it.

Our State Fair is a Great State Fair, Don't Miss It...

... (who can fill in the missing lyrics? Who even knows where this title inspiration came from??)


As any of you who read Jessica's blog already know, we wandered up to Salt Lake for the Utah State Fair last weekend. Such fun.

I love the state fair... even though it seemed like all we did was eat. We didn't plan very well, and everyone wanted different food. So, instead of splitting up and meeting in a designated spot, we ALL waited in line with EACH person.
Regardless, we did have time to see and experience some of the finest things Utah has to offer:


Square Dancing

Ginormous Butter Sculptures of Farm Animals

Navajo Tacos (my personal fave)


Deep fried PB&J/Twinkies


And... the lovely Mody Dick ride. Which was a lot more fun than it looked like it would be. Awesome!


Can't wait until next year!! Maybe then I'll go on this ride...

Labor Day - Arches National Park

On Labor Day I went to Arches National Park with Mom, Dad, and our new friend Alexandra (who is visiting from Germany for some job training).

It was a good time, even if trying to take a picture of Delicate Arch without someone doing every imaginable GQ pose all over it is like asking for a Christmas Miracle...

All in all, it was a fun --and exhausting-- day in one of my favorite places on Earth.