Glenn Beck: Hurricane Irene a “Blessing”

Thank Glenn Beck, ever the optimist, for this little nugget.  In a radio broadcast on Friday Beck told listeners that Hurricane Irene, the category 1 storm now ravaging Virginia and working its way up the east coast, is a “blessing,” and “God reminding you you’re not in control.”

Here’s the “blessing:”

• Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter declared the first state of emergency in 25 years.
• Nearly 1 million are without power in North Carolina and Virginia.
• More than 8,000 flights canceled.
• Tornado watches are in effect for parts of Delaware, New Jersey Maryland, and Virginia.
• Claimed at least eight lives, including an 11-year-old boy was killed by a falling tree in Newport News, Virginia and a surfer in Florida.

Glenn Beck stated that:

 

How many warnings do you think you’re going to get, and how many warnings do you deserve? This hurricane that is coming thorough the East Coast, for anyone who’s in the East Coast and has been listening to me say ‘Food storage!’ ‘Be prepared!’

 

… If you’ve waited, this hurricane is a blessing. It is a blessing. It is God reminding you — as was the earthquake last week — it’s God reminding you you’re not in control. Things can happen. Be prepared and be someone who can help others so when disaster strikes, God forbid, you’re not panicking.

The entire statement basically adds up to a wordy “I told you so.”  People are losing lives and more lives are in danger as the hurricane heads north.  It is easy to say that any kind of disaster is a blessing from God when you have not lost a child and are far removed from the danger.

I resonate with and understand the theological sentiment, but calling it a “blessing” was extremely poor word choice.

Warren Jeffs Sentenced to Life

Warren Jeffs has been served his sentence of a lifetime in prison on charges of sexual assault of 2 minors, members of his 78-wife harem.

Jeffs is known as a “prophet” amongst the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a Mormon fundamentalist denomination, but has no affiliation with the similarly named Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

In May of 2006, Jeffs was placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List, and was arrested in August of the same year.  He has since been charged with various crimes leading up to his sentence today.

Letter From the Editor

Summer is fast coming to a close, and to kickstart the new year we at Adverse Atlas are trying out a new look and a slightly different direction.  With massive staff cuts and time-consuming side projects (currently we are being run by a very small staff), the newspaper has decided to begin taking a new approach towards lab journalism and news reporting.  We will be broadening our focus on news stemming from a variety of interest circles, from videogames to international politics.  This will become a learning place and proving-ground for students and enthusiasts.

The new course for Adverse Atlas is both exciting and inspiring.  We hope you will enjoy the news that we bring, and work to get in the fight and have your own voice heard.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Issues Statement on Boehner Plan

 

Today on his campaign website, presidential candidate Gov. Jon Huntsman issued a formal statement regarding the passage of Boehner’s debt limit plan.  The statement promoted his campaign platform and criticized both Pres. Obama and his GOP opponents, while praising the plan that Boehner had presented, and urged for its passage into law.

Speaking of Pres. Obama, Huntsman stated that, “It’s easy to talk about hope, bang podiums, and point fingers. It’s another thing to stand up and offer a serious solution like Speaker Boehner’s proposal.”

The debt ceiling crisis which has gripped the nation for the past few weeks is quickly approaching its Aug. 2 deadline, when the US will default on its financial obligations.

Top 3 Reasons I Left the Theatre Smiling – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. II

This movie broke all the records.  In one weekend it monetarily destroyed cult classics like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and any other movie you could think of. As the climax of the Harry Potter visual experience, this film lived up to the hype and is making J.K. Rowling an extra billion dollars or so for 3 reasons.

1.  Voldemort = misogynist – After casting what Voldemort thought was the final death curse on Harry, Helena Bonham Carter leans down towards the fallen man who must not be named and politely asks if he needs help.  ”NO!” he states emphatically.  ”I don’t need your help.”  Then, on his way up, he gives Helena a gratuitous push all the way to the ground.  Classic move.

2.  19 yrs. later –  Spoiler alert.  The movie ends with a flash forward of 19 years, and we get to see Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and even Malfoy with makeup and CG making them appear to be in their middle ages.  Hilarious.  Ron has a beer gut.  Harry looks nerdy.  And Ginny looks. . . strangely the same.  She already looked 35 at the age of 17, so I don’t think much makeup was needed.  A boring haircut did the trick.

3.  I haven’t seen the first Harry Potter movie in years, and I had forgotten how incredibly young the actors were in it.  They look like they’re 6!  Yikes.  In this final movie there is a flashback to the first, and seeing young Harry with new Harry is a strangely. . . paternal moment.  You feel like you’ve seen these kids mature, and now they’ve finally graduated high school and are moving off to college all grown up.

Things I Love: Designers.MX

Who here can appreciate some good graphic art? Everyone. Good.

Now, raise your hand if you like music. Oh! All of you. Swell.

Let us now visit DesignersMX, where the two worlds are intertwined in a manner that just makes sense. What they have done over at DesignersMX is tap some of the greatest designers to share with the world exactly which tunes get their creative juices flowing and allow them to create a” cover” for their online playlist, which by the way, is available for our enjoyment at no cost.

I happened upon DesignersMX a few weeks ago as I was diversifying my streaming music portfolio, as the IT department here at the office is making it harder and harder to find legitimate online radio. Once Last FM started getting spotty, in swooped DesignersMX and stole my troubled heart.

The one thing they could do better is aide the user in knowing exactly what type of music a playlist contains before actually having to click on it. That in mind, some that I have listened to/enjoyed /recommend (don’t be judging, now) are No. 1, Ride Like the Wind, Keep it Fresh, Go Do and Tights & Glamorous.

If none of those tickle your fancy, enjoy the the artwork until something fun catches your eye. Give it a shot! You never know where your new fav band could be hiding.

But Really, Why You Need to Go to the Utah Arts Festival

Errybody hold up a sec’.  Before I jump into this, I need all of you to know that I’m not kidding around here when I see you NEED to go the four-day Utah Arts Festival this year (which is starting today).  They have done an absolutely incredible job getting this ready, and I’m so proud of the support that the Salt Lake City voters have given to the arts.  Like, literally.  The artists, who have all been judged based off of submitted portfolios, include local to national professional and amateur artists.  The festival is 4 days long (June 23-26), and is completely booked with music, folk art, street work, theater, etc.  The art festival, in the fashion of a music festival such as Austin City Limits, will have 6 stages or areas that will showcase the artists, musicians, and exhibits via a schedule system.

I’m not going to provide a “how to properly festival at this festival” guide, because they’ve already prepared a great one with their own How to Festival guide at the Utah Arts Festival website.  But, I am going to give you all a run-down on the top 8 (arbitrary number, don’t worry about it) reasons why everyone should attend at least 1 day out of the 4 and enjoy themselves silly.

1)  Free Bicycle Valet Parking – #awkwardbikemoment – Being forced to lock your bike to someone else’s because there’s absolutely zero room on the bicycle rack.  To all of the bike-friendly art-appreciators reading this, that little problem is solved by having a free bicycle valet service!  Talk about edgy.  Also, for using the valet, you get $2 off of your admission ticket.  Far out!  For the serious roadies in Provo, the ride is about 50 miles to SLC and pretty safe if you use the access roads, etc.  Ride your bike there, valet freakin’ park it, enjoy some art, and ride back.  Or do what I’m going to do and bring your bike to SLC in your car and ride said bike from where I park my car to the bicycle valet.  Reduce your carbon footprint, save $2 plus whatever you would have spent on gas, and wear a helmet.

2)  Printable Schedules - You can print out a pdf schedule of all 4 days here.  It’s a great idea to look over that and see what catches your eye.  That way you won’t regret missing something and can plan which day has the most going on that interests you.

3)  Salt Lake Electric Ensemble – Music of the Machine - What better place is there to hear the technocratically inclined Salt Lake Electric ensemble break out their Macbooks and loop-pedals to serenade us with some experimental arrangements.  The shift in contemporary classical music to accommodate current technology is endlessly fascinating.

4)  Vintaged Vintage Jewelry - One-of-a-kind Christine Fedor + vintage jewelry pieces + blowtorch and sautering iron = Punkenstein Jewelry!  Great pieces.  Buy one for that girl you like.

5)  Graphic Classics:  Create Your Comic Book - Okay, so I grew up reading X-Men.  And Spiderman.  And Batman.  And I was a nerd.  There, I admitted it.  But a quick look at contemporary media will show that comic books are no longer the blacksheep child in the world of visual storytelling and literature.  For the past few years 2 or more movies based on comic books have been released and grossed millions of dollars in their first weekends.  Richard Jenkins, who teaches the art of comic book making in various school districts nation-wide will be doing a hands on workshop on creating your own comic book.  Das’ pretty dope.

6)  Folk.  Music -   I want to get my troubadour on, and so should you! There’s a number of great folk artists that are going to be performing.  Kate MacLeod, Sarah Sample, Doug Wintch, other people.

7)  Culinary Arts; Treat Your Palette - I’m going to throw out some names here of some of the food vendors that will be on location during the festival.  Crepe Tyme.  Dolcetti Gelato.  The Pie Pizzeria.  Some sushi place I’ve never heard of.  I’m so there.

8)  The Artist Market Place - Over 155 local and national artists, of every genre, will have their work showcased in the Artist Market Place.  Check this out for a quick preview.  It’s a perfect opportunity to explore the merging of street and fine art, gauge your reactions to pieces, and better understand for yourself the nature of art.

This is only a proverbial sliver of what this year’s festival has to offer, and you should look at the official site to get a true to taste of what’s in store.  Plan to go one day at the least if you can make it, and let us know what you thought!  What was your favorite exhibit?  Which artists inspired you?  How tempted were you to ask the guy/girl out that works at Dolcetti Gelato?

I’m still not sure which day I can go because of my ever-changing work schedule, but hopefully I can go more than once and write out some impressions!  Go appreciate art!  Wear an artsy hat!  Listen to folksy music!  Be safe travelling there!

Leave some comments por favor.