Books on Cd

This time of year isn't the busy season at work. I spend a lot of time at the computer making orders and occasionally making some products. I listen to a lot of podcasts, mostly from espn but decided I wanted to try something different. Why not listen to a book while at work. So, the first book I decided to get was the the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, which I've never read previously. I'm enjoying a lot and it makes my days go a little quicker.

Boca Campeon

Yes, I love Argentine Soccer. Boca Juniors won the Copa Libertadores (South American Club Championship) Wednesday in Porto Alegre, Brazil beating Gremio 2-0. Riquelme scored both goals and will be sorely missed. Here is the headline of the biggest argentine sports newspaper and a video of all of Boca's goals in the tournament. Riquelme had 8 in the tournament.

80's Music videos speak for themselves

The Smiths - Stop If you think you've heard this one before
Talking Heads - Once In a Lifetime
A-Ha - Take on Me

Crazy Weekend

Beckie and I are very relieved that the weekend is over. Sunday was the Clark's day at church as Beckie and I both spoke in sacrament meeting and both taught, beckie, relief society and I, elder's quorum. Beckie even said a prayer in Sunday school. And for the icing on the cake, I met with the bishop after church and received two callings, ward mission leader and elder's quorum instructor (3rd sunday). The crazy weekend is over and we are ready for a new week and looking forward to getting our new computer, going to the temple, and going camping.

Boca vs. Gremio video

Here are the goals from Boca's win over Gremio. The stadium is La Bombonera "The chocolate box" in Buenos Aires.

Boca 3 Gremio 0

Boca Juniors, my favorite soccer club in Argentina, is in the final of the Copa Libertadores, which is the biggest club tournament in South America. They have a great history in the tournament and it looks like this year is no different. They beat Gremio of Porte Alegre, Brazil last night in the first leg of the championship. Here is the cover of Ole with Riquelme, the star midfielder of Boca.

Concert Posters = Art

I love all types of art. Everything from architecture to photography, painting and sculpture. I would say my tastes are pretty eclectic. I love classic artists such as Vermeer but also more modern artists like William de Kooning and Mark Rothko. But, there is one type of art that I especially enjoy. It is often overlooked. It is the concert poster. There are many good and bad posters but the good ones are great art pieces. Here are a couple of my favorites.

What is Math Rock?

When Beckie and I got back from New York, I came back with a renewed desire to find new and interesting music. I have done this in the past but am trying to expand my tastes. One day I stumbled across a review for an album called Mirrored by a band named Battles. The review was quite positive and I soon found this album with a great rating on metacritic.com (a site that averages reviews from various magazine and websites to come to an overall consensus of good music, books, and movies). Anyway, this album was described in one review as "a mix of over-the-top whimsy, extreme rhythms, vise-tight musicianship, and a 21st century man-machine interface between live and laptop." I don't suppose myself an expert when it comes to music but I think this album deserves the praise. It's very interesting, loud, and quite fun. Oh yeah, and it's math rock.

Sgt. Pepper's 40th Anniversary

Today is the 40th Anniversary of one of the greatest albums in history. I'm not going to give a history of the Beatles or this album. Let's just say that the Beatles paved the way for nearly every musician that followed. Thanks Paul, John, George and Ringo.

The Orem Library

For a couple of years now, I've known about some of the treasures of the Orem library. I started renting foreign and film noir movies for fun and for school. I'm amazed at their collection of dvd's and vhs's in every genre. Their foreign and criterion film collections are especially impressive. Well, Beckie and I went the other day and while I rented a documentary about the Buena Vista Social Club (a group of musicians from Cuba), Beckie found the CD's. I always knew they had quite a few of them but wasn't aware of how diverse their collection was. We went back this past Saturday just to check out some CD's. I was amazed at the collection they had. It included several indie bands that you wouldn't expect to find along with some rock classics like R.E.M. and The Smiths. We're excited to go back and find even more music that we enjoy.

Animal Collective

Last night I went to an Animal Collective concert in SLC. Animal Collective is 'band', I use that word loosely, originally from Baltimore but now residing in NYC. They are on of the most innovative, creative and important acts in music. Look them up on Wikipedia and you can understand more of what their sound is really like. Anyway, the concert last night was excellent. 3 of the 4 members played to a packed house. I was right in front and was amazed at the sound that they could make from a few machines, drums, and vocals. No guitars. They are so original. I posted a couple of videos of them here. The first one is a live show and the song "leaf house". It's not the best video so I posted another with the same song where the audio is much better. The live video is really similar to what I experienced. Any questions about the band just ask me. Oh, and I almost forgot to say that on my current list of best albums now, the Panda Bear cd is a solo release by one of the members of Animal Collective. It's great. His voice reminds me of Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys.

NYC

Beckie and I came back from New York City on Sunday and are glad to be back. We love our vacation there but were pretty tired of all of the walking and the crowded sidewalks. Here's a list of my five favorite things we did in NYC
1. The Manhattan Temple
2. The Museum of Modern Art
3. Cruise around Manhattan and the statue of liberty
4. Greenwich Village
5. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Here are a few pictures from these places.(Beckie has a lot more on her blog)

Las Vegas

Beckie and I went to Las Vegas a couple of weekends ago. Here are a couple of pictures. We didn't get as many pictures as we wanted because got really hot very quickly. And when I mean "it" I mean the weather, of course.

Champions League Hightlights

The tournament that determines the best teams in Europe now has it's finalists. Liverpool of the English Premier League and AC Milan of Serie A in Italy. This is a rematch of the 2005 final where Liverpool made a miraculous comeback from 3-0 down in the first half to win it on penalties. Here are the highlights from the Liverpool vs. Chelsea matchup and the AC Milan vs Manchester United highlights. Liverpool beat Chelsea on penalty kicks and AC Milan manhandled Manchester United 3-0. The final will take place in Athens on May 23rd.

The Decemberists in Vegas

Beckie and I traveled down to Vegas this past weekend for a concert by one of our favorite bands, The Decemberists. The concert was at the House of Blues at the Mandalay Bay casino and resort. The venue was excellent and we had a great view on the floor of the band. It was one of the best concerts I've been to. Very fun. Each member played several instruments. The video below isn't the concert we went to but is just a small taste of how it was. The concert we went to, and the version of this song, O! Valencia, was much better than this appearance on the Letterman Show.

RAD!

Here is a clip from the best movie to come out of the 80's. My friend Ryan and I used to love this movie and then after awhile had a very hard time finding it. Ryan found a copy on ebay (a dvd copy of the vhs) and got it for me for my birthday. This clip is the trailer. The dance scene is the best scene in the movie. Oh, and yes, that's Lori Loughlin a.k.a Aunt Beckie from Full House.

New Harry Potter trailer

I found the new trailer for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on yahoo movies yesterday. I was able to find it on youtube today. It is a slightly different version than the one I saw yesterday. It looks very good. Beckie and I are very excited to see it on July 13th.

Maradona goal 1986 World Cup

Here is the goal by Diego Maradona, the greatest soccer player ever, in the 1986 World Cup against England. Compare it to the goal by Leo Messi in my previous blog. Very similar. Messi is the new Maradona

Goal of the season

This goal by the Argentine superstar Leo Messi who is currently playing for Barcelona is one of the best goals of the season. It is very similar to the goal by Maradona in the 1986 World Cup (I will post this goal in my next blog entry). Sorry it's in Spanish. Enjoy

The Mustache

This past saturday I decided to shave my beard. While shaving I left some unshaved and had a mustache for a few minutes. I don't know why but I was dying of laughter. Beckie thought it was pretty funny but even more gross. She wouldn't kiss me of course. The idea of having a mustache is funny but I would never really have one. It just doesn't fit me.