Helen Hardin is one of my favorite artists. I was looking for links to articles and the like online and came across the fact that there was no Wikipedia entry for her. So I’ve done something I’ve never done before - created a new Wikipedia article (or honestly, a Wikipedia stub). You can find it here.

Note: Whoops. I forgot that I also started up the Wikipedia page for Bloggernacle. What can I say? It’s been awhile.

Yesterday, like many people, I ‘watched’ the MacWorld San Francisco 2007 Keynote Address with complete and total fascination, waiting with bated breath for Steve Jobs to tell me what device I’d be coveting for the next period of years. It was a very interesting experience that did not disappoint.

However, despite it’s unquestioned coolness and awesomeness, there are a number of reasons why I won’t buy an iPhone in June:

1) It’s too expensive. The initial $499/$599 prices are high. Then you have to factor in the Cingular subscription price which I’m guessing is at least $40 a month (locked into a 2-year contract).

2) Though I’m extremely confident Steve Jobs and co. know what they’re doing, I’m still concerned about bugs/problems that might emerge with the first release. If anything about this phone is fragile or buggy, the first generation buyers are going to feel the pain.

3) Apple has a consistent history of making rapid improvements on their iPods - they have pretty much destroyed the competition by re-inventing and re-vamping the device at least a few times a year. It’s almost certain they’ll follow this pattern with the iPhone. Why purchase this model when 3-6 months later they’ll release an improved thinner version that has more storage space, a bigger brighter screen, a better camera, etc.?

Conclusion: over time the price might come down a little and the device will get better. I’m willing to watch and wait a year (or two or three) - which is how I handle most of these kinds of developments.

My off-the-cuff ridiculous prediction - the executives of Wii and iPhone will put their heads together. In two years people are going to start violently swinging the iPhone in the direction of their television sets.

There are two videos I’d like to see that I’m finding difficult to locate.

The first is a movie I saw in Israel years ago. It is called Avanti Popolo. This movie was interesting because it had dialogue in English, Hebrew and Arabic. If I remember right, it also had Arabic and English subtitles (the movie is Israeli-made). It also had a very interesting scene where an Egyptian prisoner quotes Shakespeare lines (from the Merchant of Venice) to Israeli soldiers:

“Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in all the rest, we shall resemble you in that.”

Back when I took Shakespeare at BYU, I was hoping to find this clip to show to my teacher. I never came across it anywhere.

The second is a recording called “Helen Hardin - Santa Clara Artist.” It is a recording that is only 30 minutes long. I am able to find copies available online, for $79.99 or more. Helen Hardin was (in my opinion) a brilliant artist who combined Native American Indian art with modern abstract art. But I don’t want to spend that much for any movie, never mind one that lasts only half an hour.

Last time I checked, neither of these was available on Netflix. I have Israeli friends and they haven’t been able to locate Avanti Popolo (even in Israel) for me. Anyone else have suggestions?

While I’m at it, I’d just like to kvetch about the fact that Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet (originally released in 1996) has yet to be released on DVD. I don’t know the reasons for this, but at this rate we’ll probably never see it in DVD format.

Yesterday I was released from being ward mission leader and called (with my wife) to be a Gospel Essentials teacher. We’ll be sharing that responsibility with another couple in our ward.

It’s been years since I had a teaching calling. I welcome the chance to teach basic principles of the gospel out of the Gospel Principles book. However, I’m interested in getting feedback from people who have had the responsibility to teach Gospel Essentials or who have attended the class.

Any thoughts or suggestions?