I hate spiders! Hate, hate, hate them! It all stems from my childhood when my Dad was watching "Arachnophobia" with my brother Michael and I present. I don't think Michael ever recovered.
Still, when Steven showed me this YouTube video I couldn't help but laugh.
Looking at the picture of this cake you would think the birthday that happened this last week was for one of my nieces. If you assumed this you are wrong. This cake was for my brother Michael, who is closer to 30 then 20. Then you might assume that being the father of two little girls is starting to get to him . . . and you would be partially right. Just partially, because there is a phenomenon sweeping the geeky nerd World that I don't yet understand.
You see, my brother is a Brony. And what is a Brony?
The male, older fans of my little pony: friendship is magic.
Bronies internet convo=
Brony "yo man, you seen the new episode last night?"
Brony 2 "totally, midnight sparkle was the bomb with that friendship blast."
Micheal's a Brony. Michael and Robbie's friends are Bronies, and I'm not talking gal friends, it's all their guy friends who love My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Robbie went to a friends birthday party and every one of his friends presents were my little pony gifts! Shirts, toys, etc.
So to enlighten my Mom and I, who still have a hard time believing the core audience of the new My Little Pony series are teenage/young adult guys, my brothers showed us the first two episodes of season one. My Mom and I kept looking at each other in shock. This show is what's causing this craze?
Apparently, according to Robbie, the show really takes off after episode 13. And I must say I do like the animation style. A lot of animation these days are just plain bad ( *cough* Sponge Bob *cough*). Back in my day we had Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Darkwing Duck, Duck Tales, and a few other great kid shows. And I did watch the original My Little Pony, Strawberry shortcake, Care Bears, and Rainbow Bright. I had it pretty good as a kid, so I am glad that the younger generation is getting quality, new animation.
I don't know, I need to see more episodes to decide if I'll become a fan. Chances are I will, and I'm just avoiding the inevitable. Though I got to say the below clip, with John de Lancie channeling Q through Discord, is pure awesome.
My Mom came up with the most ingenious idea for our Christmas Eve Party: Glow sticks. She ventured into the dollar store, which has an amazing variety, and bought up a whole lot of wands, sticks, necklaces, rings, balls, etc.
Even the Grandma's got into the fun.
We turned on the soundtrack to Tron and danced around, which is the best music for any glow-in-the-dark party.
It was such a huge hit that we threw another glow stick party for New Years. The second time I went with my Mom to the dollar store, and it was amazing how much product we were able to buy for only $20.
My Dad took all these photos. The love of photography runs in the family.
These pictures are a compilation from both parties, each party had a different side of the family in attendance. Everyone had a blast. My brothers, sister-in-law, and I have decided we need to do this again soon, spontaneously going to the dollar store and buying more glow sticks, which our local store said they keep in stock. I hope a nice assortment will always be available. It was a lot of fun.
It's crazy to think that my brother Robbie came home from his Argentinian mission just last week. It's still sinking in. Here are some photos from his homecoming.
(The Flavor Grenades my brother and sister brought over)
"Do you want a Flavor Grenade?" my brother asked me, setting a box on a the kitchen table.
"A what?"
"A Flavor Grenade," he simply repeated.
"Those things are actually called that?"
Even after my brother and sister left, nieces in tow, I thought they were making up the whole "flavor grenade" bit. No fruit can actually be called that! A short google search later proved that that was the literal name of the fruit.
A Flavor Grenade is in the Pluot family of fruit, a cross hybrid of a plum and apricot. I was surprised by the crisp, soft, yet firm, texture of the fruit, and the explosive flavor. It's 10 thousand times better then a Grapple.
You can buy the fruit trees off a couple of websites including Amazon and Nature Hills.
Below is a farmer talking about the Fruit Grenade.
I don't know where you can buy the fruit, but my brother and sister-in-law bought a box from the Shops at the Riverwoods farmers market last weekend. Enjoy!
Peach City, in Brigham City Utah, is an old fashioned, 50's dinner. The parking lot is as such that you can imagine the restaurant served as a drive in at one point, a la Sonic Burger.
We all took turns picking songs for $0.25 each. I picked "Kokomo" by the Beach Boys, the second most quintessential 80's song from my childhood. The #1 quintessential 80's song? "We Built this City" by Starship (who also sang "Sara," a song that haunted me my whole childhood.) "We Build this City" had already played in the restaurant, so I got to hear my two most favorite 80's tunes.
Waiting for my food.
A Haddock fish sandwich with waffle cut fries and fry sauce.
The place had a really fun atmosphere. My only big complaint is the service. It took them a good ten minutes to get our order, and when a booth opened up nobody cleaned the tables. Some locals came in and started cleaning another booth, so we followed suit and cleaned our table. That was weird. Hopefully it's because the restaurant was packed. But still, cool times.
Last Wednesday, August 29, 2012, I had the pleasure of attending the Brigham City Utah Temple Open House with my siblings. With the Latter-Day Saint (aka Mormon) faith being so heavily in the news, it's interesting how often I've heard in recent months how mysterious and secret our temples are. Our Temples our sacred, and once a temple is dedicated, you need to have what is called a temple recommend to enter (essentially I'm required to pay a full 10% tithe (Genesis 28:22), keep the Word of Wisdom, and live a virtuous, chaste life).
What a lot of people don't realize is that right before the temple is dedicated, the temple has an Open House; during this time the temple is open to the public, regardless of faith. Anyone can come and see what is inside one of our temples.
On the bus with my brother Steven, after parking in one of the many parking lots, heading to the temple. I don't know why being on a charter bus made me feel so happy. It felt like I was on a field trip.
What's fun about each temple is figuring out the local theme that has been incorporated in the art. Brigham city is known as the city of peaches, so throughout the temple, inside and out, there were peach blossoms. Very beautiful.
This sign made me laugh! One thing we Mormons are expert at is refreshments! Seriously, have you been to a meet-n-mingle, ward potluck, or any other event? There are always refreshments. And after the tour there were water bottles and plates of yummy cookies.
Michael and Krista enjoying some shade.
There are many temples currently in various announcement/construction phases. The Brigham City temple is Utah's 14th temple, but there are three more currently being built. A 2nd temple in Ogden, a 2nd temple in Provo, and Payson's first. And there are several throughout the United States, but many worldwide including Rome Italy, Sapporo Japan, Paris France, and Peru. All these temples, before dedication, will have an open house.
Telsa is linked so you can discover his awesomeness.)
(My Sister-in-law Krista, who found out about Steamfest and made
it possible for my brother Steven and I to attend.)
Salt City Steamfest, in Salt Lake City Utah, was the first ever Steampunk convention in Utah, and it turned out to be a huge success. I'll admit, I've poked my nose into Steampunk here and there, trying to understand it, and what makes up this genre, but never getting a full grasp. I knew the Victorian era was important and that there was a lot of goggles and clocks involved. HG Wells and Jules Verne are the original fathers of steampunk: Victorian sci-fi. There's so much more then that.
My brother Robbie, the one on his mission, was crazy about Steampunk before he left, and he declared it would become the next big thing. Sure enough, Steampunk has been showing itself in media and products. Last fall I bought the most amazing Victorian military coat and buckled boots were all the rage. At the scrapbook store it was easy to find paper and materials with a clocks-and-cogs, Victorian theme.
(Michael preparing for battle!)
There were so many interesting classes. The first class I attended was all about weapons during the Victorian era, and it was fascinating. They were inventive, to say the least, with most of their weapons not doing well. A harmonica on a gun to hold extra ammo. A gun connected to a brass knuckle and a knife. A gun and an axe, in one. Etc.
A goggle making class was offered (because goggles are an important steampunk accessory). There was a pattern making class, building and fitting a corset (that class had some fantastic tips), 19th century fashion, and steampunk in novels were just a few of the classes offered.
LA Living Adventures, a company that specializes in larping, hosted a Nerf battle with steampunk looking weapons. I didn't participate, but it was a lot of fun watching, and my brothers had a lot of fun fighting.
I had a fantastic time at the SaltCity Steamfest. The character creation 101 class was really fun. Its not about creating a RPG style character, but the character you create for yourself. Really, the class was a love of history, of the years 1837 through 1901 and all the possibilities of "What if's" you can playwith. There were so many interesting things happening historically all over the world.
The Convention finished with "An Evening of Elegance." A Steampunk Victorian ball hosted by Old Glory Vintage Dancers, a group who specializes, teaches, and holds authentic, old fashioned dances. The class they had was fun, and now I want to get a fan and memorize all the ways someone can communicate with one.
The fan placed near the heart: "You have won my love"
Closed fan touching the right eye: "When may I see you?"
The number of sticks shown answered: "At what hour?"
Half-opened fan pressed to the lips: "You may kiss me."
Drawing the fan across the eyes: "I am sorry."
Touching fingers to the tip of fan: "I with to speak with you."
Letting the fan rest on the right cheek: "Yes."
Letting the fan rest on the left cheek: "No"
Opening and closing the fan several times: "You are cruel."
Dropping the fan: "We will be friends."
Fanning slowly: "I am married."
Fanning quickly: "I am engaged."
Fan in right hand in front of face: "Follow me."
Twirling the fan in the left hand: "We are being watched"
Drawing the fan through the hand: "I hate you!"
Drawing the fan across the cheek: "I love you!"
I first learned about the language of the fan in my BYU Theater of Civilization class and found it very interesting. Actually, it was a class highlight, next to the 5 minute complete Hamlet improv the theater students spontaneously performed.
Here is a video of the Old Glory Vintage Dancers dancing with the TLC Trio, good ol' steampunk style, to Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance." This really gives you a feel of what Steampunk is if you've never seen it. The instruments are awesome!! The amazing TLC Trio was there to perform during the ball.
Awesome weekend! I hope they did well enough so that they can hold a convention again next year; I have the feeling they did. I will attend, this time in costume.
