It has been a few weeks since I last posted, although my Utah Jazz Manifesto was long enough to make up for it. I also appreciate and sympathize with anyone who read it. I wouldn’t say that I got in trouble, exactly, for my burst of prolificity, but The Wandering Moose expressed her displeasure with having to read something so lengthy. In the past version of this blog she would have simply ignored it and been happy, but she feels a bit more ownership now that her name is on the blog, and wants to make sure that the product is acceptable.

TWM also predicted that nobody would want to read something I wrote that was that long, which turned out to be true. This has caused me no end of concern, as I am currently writing a book that is already many times longer than the post in question, and I would like people to read that someday. To be fair, there is a clear difference in an actual book and a foolish, self-obsessed blog post – but that didn’t keep me from worrying about it for a few days.

Continue reading “An Unusual Evening” →

***WARNING – DO NOT READ THIS***

Sorry, that came out wrong. What I meant was: Feel free to read this, but it is long for a blog post and probably not very entertaining unless you are a serious sports fan (and possibly not even then). Please be advised.

Game Five of the Utah Jazz vs. Los Angeles Lakers series took place yesterday (it was going to be “tomorrow” and then “today” but I didn’t get around to posting this until the afternoon following the game) and it was another road loss for the Jazz. The Lakers lead the series at 3-2, of course, with the home team winning all games. The Jazz will be eliminated if they don’t win both of the next two games, and they haven’t won in Los Angeles since Gerald Ford was President (or something like that – the national broadcasters mentioned it about 670 times last night, but I managed to ignore them every single time).

Continue reading “My Utah Jazz Manifesto” →

I really, really wanted to title this post: “Welcome to the Jungle,” and even had it written that way a few times. There were plenty of good reasons for doing that, beginning with the obvious toughness and coolness factor that comes from associating something with Guns ‘n’ Roses, and then . . . well, I guess it was mostly just that, but it was enough.

However, that didn’t exactly fit with the whole Moose and Bear theme we are trying to establish, which is more of a northern hemisphere thing. Besides, this post is supposed to be introducing the new name and theme of this blog, which is Deep Forest Outpost (not Deep Jungle Outpost, in other words). Not that it really matters, one way or another. If not for the first two paragraphs, I suspect most people would have read past the title and not thought much about it. I guess if I’m being honest with myself, I only brought it up so this would sound more like an awesome rock song and less like a Winnie the Pooh story. Of course, as a devoted fan of The Walt Disney Company, I don’t really have a problem with The Pooh – he is a bear, after all.

Continue reading “Welcome to the Forest” →

Which is really sort of a grim way to begin a blog post, but it is accurate to describe the activity here. After all, this was a totally dead blog, where I hadn’t submitted a new entry in seven months. So much has happened since then, that I am uncertain where to begin updating. I feel a bit like Inigo Montoya in the book/movie “The Princess Bride,” where he comes to the same realization: “Let me explain… no, it’s too much… let me sum up.”

But still, even then I am not sure a summary would serve any useful purpose. I mean, should I try to write a multi-day recap and hit all the main events of the past months? Or should I perhaps just list all of the things that I would have liked to blog about? Would anyone besides me even read that? Actually, I already know the answer to that: not even I would read it.

Continue reading “Back from the dead…” →

A few months ago my friend Kerim mentioned that we should start a blog together, which I thought was a great idea. He suggested this in the course of an instant messaging conversation, which we were having while he was at home in the Netherlands and I was at work in the United States (still working hard, of course). The Internet does indeed make for a small world.

The product of that conversation is a blog named Nacho Talk, and we are launching it this week. The general theme of Nacho Talk is social and cultural commentary, with viewpoints coming from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. We take turns posting a weekly article, which will continue to be the format for the foreseeable future (at least until we each become independently wealthy).

Continue reading “Introducing Nacho Talk” →

This past weekend, the temperature for Utah sports was hot, cold, and lukewarm, all at the same time. The University of Utah football team was very hot, and looked virtually perfect as they trounced 11th ranked UCLA 44-6. Real Salt Lake managed a lukewarm 0-0 draw against Toronto, but considering they were down a man for most of the game and playing in Canada, the effort was hot. BYU’s offensive statistics were hot (they got in the end zone seven times), but the rest of the team was lukewarm at best (they still lost by more than a touchdown), and the special teams were downright cold. Utah State, sorry to say, is neither hot, nor cold. Following a 54-3 drubbing at the hands of the Oklahoma Sooners, the only word to describe them is: bad. Not bad that they lost to the #3 team in college football – bad that the overwhelming defeat was expected by everyone.

The question lurking in the midst of all this is: which of the many teams we have seen are the real ones? Is Utah the team that is capable of demolishing strong Pac-10 opponents? It wasn’t just a loss, either – Utah beat them in every possible way, and made UCLA hang their heads. Or are they the team that can’t manage more than one touchdown against a lesser-talented (but very hard-working) Air Force defense? Which BYU will take the field next Saturday – the team that worked over Arizona? Or will it be the team that racks up lots of offensive yards but also lots of penalties and turnovers? Even RSL has had flashes of brilliance in the midst of their dismal season. At least Utah State is consistent, even if it is consistently awful.

Continue reading “Utah SportsCast Blog Episode 40 (The good parts of it)” →

We all remember where we were, right? Going over a highly suspect, vain, self-congratulatory list that doesn’t interest anyone but me? Okay, great – right back into it then:

Let’s Groove — Earth, Wind and Fire
The very best part of this song is at the start, when the funky robot voice is imploring us to “boogie on down.” Of course, this was recorded back when robots were supposed to be buddies with their human creators, but “The Terminator” and “The Matrix” have ruined all that. Now we live in fear of the day the world will be overtaken by robot masters, and there is nothing funky or boogie-worthy about that. Speaking of lost ideologies, when did the era of fun dance music bands end, anyway? Was Kool and the Gang the last one?

Continue reading “Au Revoir, 50 Songs V.5 (part two)” →

I am a big music fan. I have been for years – as long as I can remember – so this era of technology has been a boon for me and the millions and billions of others who share my passion. (Actually, come to think of it, is there anyone on the planet who doesn’t like some kind of music? Musical tastes differ of course, but has anyone ever said “No, man, I don’t like music at all. It’s garbage.”? I wouldn’t think so.)

One of the benefits of the recent musical revolution has been the ability to store large amounts of music on small hand-held devices. For example, I have exactly 700 songs on my iPod mini (outdated, but still functioning at top levels), which only requires about two-thirds of the available memory. The idea of carrying 700 songs around was laughable in the recent past, when it would have been on vinyl or magnetic tapes. Now there are commonplace digital media devices that carry upwards of 20,000 songs, all at your fingertips, as they say. Why anyone would need roughly 1,100 hours of music at any one time is a fair question, but the ability is there.

Continue reading “Au Revoir, 50 Songs V.5” →

We are now almost two weeks into July, and the sports year (as I choose to observe it) is just about over. Almost all of the sports I like to follow are in their off-season right now, Utah sports in particular. Fortunately, we will soon be celebrating the New Sports Year with the beginning of football season, which is only about six weeks away. Until then, I have at least one Utah sports item that will have to tide me over.

At the top of the very short list is Real Salt Lake, who would be much more exciting if they would just win a few games. I have been a casual soccer fan for about 15 years and a legitimate fan for the past three years. This means I am still getting used to The Beautiful Game being a part of my regular sports rotation, but I’m excited about it. However, in the last year or so I have made what feels like a Soccer Breakthrough, and my interest level is now teetering on the brink of “big fan.” If this is the case, and I continue to progress along those lines, then I could graduate to “soccer hooligan” in 5-7 more years.

Continue reading “Utah SportsCast Blog Episode 36 (The good parts of it)” →

My wife and I really enjoy going to the movies (just like everyone I know) but we don’t always have time to do it (also, just like everyone I know). We seem to average about a movie a month during the year, which is pretty good, but probably not as much as we would like. We also see more in the summer, when all the blockbusters come out. My consumption falls off during the late fall/early winter, when the serious dramas and award winners hit the screens. That’s true for me, anyway – my wife is a much more avid fan of movies, and she likes the Academy Award season.

[Note: I am not complaining in any way about our comparatively modest entertainment budget – lots of people are lucky to just put food on their tables. I added that because I just finished reading one of those “Reasons why your life is better than people struggling in a third world country” e-mails and I was feeling a bit guilty. Thank you.]

Continue reading “Transformers: Less Than Meets the Eye (movie review)” →