29 comments for “This Must Be Good…”

  4. I’m not quite a teenager thank you very much although I may sound like one. I just prefer not to take certain things too seriously. I find that using humor is a great way to keep you from having a heart attack. If I sound immature then oh well. About the commenting system, well I think I just might overhaul the whole blog soon but we’ll see.

  7. “www.wemadeoutinatreeandthisoldguysatandwatchedus.com”

    That’s one of Eric Snider’s goofy creations. I wonder what Eric’s up to now? I heard he was fired from The Daily Herald. (Hey, we should invite him to blog!)

  8. Eric’s an old friend; you can keep up with him at . He’s still reviewing films like crazy and Snide Remarks is back (but you have to subscribe).

  10. Yeah, I got fired from the Herald — you show up to work without pants on ONE TIME…! — and now I’m doing some freelance work and occasionally performing my little one-man comedy/music show. As Greg mentioned, I’m still reviewing films and writing “Snide Remarks.” I keep a blog on my site, but it’s not very personal, and I don’t update it as often as the hardcore bloggers do.

    Thanks for wondering about me!

  11. No, I’m actually 23. To think that I thought all the judgemental people lived here in Utah Valley. Maybe you do.

  12. No, I’m actually 23. To think that I thought all the judgemental people lived here in Utah Valley. Maybe you do.

  13. Spencer, the comment was facetious.

    FTR, I would venture to guess that more judgemental people live outside of Happy Valley than inside.

    Also FTR, I live outside of Happy Valley. My exposure to it in my mission was enough to convince to stay as far away from it as I could. So far, I’ve been fortunate to be able to meet this goal.

  14. Eric (assuming that’s actually you, and not Greg or someone else assuming your name), I just checked out your website; glad to see you’re busy. I missed your tenure at the Daily Universe (I was both a DU and Student Review guy, and graduated in 1993), but a younger brother of mine set me on to an earlier incarnation of your website, and I used to read your columns regularly. I was also good friends with the Ahlanders, who dragged me to Garrens shows way back when.

    Has enough time elapsed that the full story of why John Gholdston was fired can be told? I and a bunch of old friends of mine wrote numerous angry letters to the administration when we heard the news, but never received a reply (no surprise there). I hope John found someone who recognized his talents.

  15. Spencer: You write: “I find that using humor is a great way to keep you from having a heart attack. If I sound immature then oh well. … To think that I thought all the judgemental [sic] people lived here in Utah Valley.”

    I don’t know that anyone here is attacking humor per se—or rudely judging those who use it to stave off heart attacks, etc.—it’s just that for them humor must be, you know, humorous.

  16. To follow up on what Kingsley has posted…

    Spencer: Althought humor is subjective to a certain extent, there are certain elements of humor that can be relied upon, I think.

    Part of the problem with your blog, as I see it, is that your posts are both commonplace and underdeveloped. By that I mean that, for example, you simply post something and say — that’s lame or stupid or funny — without any of the extra commentary or biting criticism or exaggerations or inconogruous comparisons, or wry allusions that makes things humorous.

    Take the Chuck-A-Rama post. We all know that all-you-can-eat means all-you-can-eat. We also all know that people who eat at buffets are fat. You’ve given us nothing there.

    So here’s my challenge for T&S posters/commenters [and this includes Eric if he’s willing to impart just a small portion of his funny-ness for free]: let’s help spencer by coming up with material that would be funny in a blog post on the Chuck-A-Rama incident.

    Ready. Set. Go.

  17. Yeah, I guess underdeveloped would be a good way to describe my posts. I don’t exactly have that much time to think about it. I actually do appreciate the comments though. It’s really nice to know what people are actually thinking about my site. I’ll get to work on making it better and more entertaining. And congratulations on Kim for staying away from this place. Like many a returned missionary I was sucked here by that infamous siren song, “You need to get married.” Fortunately I’m engaged so I think that my mission here has, thus far, been accomplished.

  19. I would be glad to impart some free funnyness, except that the Chuck-A-Arama thing is already going to be part of my column next week, so that’s off-limits. If I think of something else funny to say, I’ll do so.

    As for John Gholdston, I wrote a column about his firing that my bosses wouldn’t publish, simply because The Daily Herald printed The Daily Universe on its presses, and my bosses didn’t want to disrupt the Herald/Universe working relationship. The column is here: http://www.ericdsnider.com/view.php?srkey=323 .

    The reason Gholdston was fired was basically that the university wanted to make the Universe less a newspaper and more a public-relations arm. Gholdston was one of the last remaining old-school journalists on staff, and when the university does something big and/or stupid, old-school journalists usually want to write about it. The university didn’t want that sort of thing.

    (When I say “the university,” I’m talking about Pres. Bateman’s influence over the Communications Department, and the Comms. Dept. giving the actual orders. Bateman was always a P.R. guy, and the Comms. Dept. was at this point being run not by journalism-trained people, but by P.R. people.)

    So that’s what happened. The excuses they gave for firing Gholdston didn’t make any sense, and since Gholdston wasn’t around to let/make the Universe investigate it, no one ever really questioned the excuses anyway.

  20. One part of the story not mentioned by Spencer is that the two people in question were actually on a *diet*—one of those low-carb things—and that the wife was on her twelfth or thirteenth piece of roast beef when the police arrived. She seemed to believe that eating half a cow in one sitting is a perfectly healthy thing to do so long as you don’t wash it down with a slice of bread. That’s got some possibilities.

  21. I would be glad to impart some free funnyness, except that the Chuck-A-Arama thing is already going to be part of my column next week, so that’s off-limits. If I think of something else funny to say, I’ll do so.

    As for John Gholdston, I wrote a column about his firing that my bosses wouldn’t publish, simply because The Daily Herald printed The Daily Universe on its presses, and my bosses didn’t want to disrupt the Herald/Universe working relationship. The column is here: http://www.ericdsnider.com/view.php?srkey=323 .

    The reason Gholdston was fired was basically that the university wanted to make the Universe less a newspaper and more a public-relations arm. Gholdston was one of the last remaining old-school journalists on staff, and when the university does something big and/or stupid, old-school journalists usually want to write about it. The university didn’t want that sort of thing.

    (When I say “the university,” I’m talking about Pres. Bateman’s influence over the Communications Department, and the Comms. Dept. giving the actual orders. Bateman was always a P.R. guy, and the Comms. Dept. was at this point being run not by journalism-trained people, but by P.R. people.)

    So that’s what happened. The excuses they gave for firing Gholdston didn’t make any sense, and since Gholdston wasn’t around to let/make the Universe investigate it, no one ever really questioned the excuses anyway.

  22. Thanks for the info Eric, and thanks for making the column available. John Gholdston was–is–a giant among men. The patient guidance and wisdom he provided to–and the crap that he suffered because of–various malcontents, misfits, iconoclasts and otherwise dubious sorts during his years at the Daily Universe has no doubt long since made his calling and election sure. The fact that he was, in the end, trampled under by the BYU public relations machine was probably inevitable, though no less saddening for all that.

  23. Look on the bright side Russell, maybe Gholdston will take his journalistic integrity to a place where it is really needed: aka the NYT or any other media outlet that prefers to skew, however slightly, the news in favor of ratings/public relations for their preferred policies, etc.

  24. Adam — Okay.

    Granted this is my patented style so it may not be easily reproducible. ;-)
    —

    Fallout from the Chuck-A-Rama incident continues:

    1. The Pacific Islander community in Utah has suspended its luau hosting operations as a form of protest against the stereotypes engendered by the Chuck-A-Rama incident. The southern Utah community of Richfield was especially hit hard by the protest as at least one Hawaiian-themed ward activity and three wedding receptions had been planned for this summer. Former child model [Toughskins “Husky” line; Incredible Hulk Underoos] Colby DelRay Leavitt found the news particularly difficult to take as he had planned to share an entire pork loin with his soon-to-be eternal companion Charlene at their June wedding reception.

    2. Chuck-A-Rama spokesperson Michael “12-Slice” Hutchins announced Tuesday that exhaustive Internet research has shown that not only does “buffet” not mean all-you-can-eat, but it actually means “a blow especially with the hand” so customers should be happy they’re getting generous (if not unlimited) portions of “Seafood Newberg” and “Swiss Steak” rather than being smacked upside the head when they eat at Chuck-A-Rama Buffet Inc.

    3. In a wonderful example of the type of synergetic energies that Stephen R. Covey talks about, Colby e-mailed 12-Slice about his sadness over the lack of luaus and 12-Slice e-mailed him a reminder that “Chuck-A-Rama is perfect for wedding breakfasts and rehearsal dinners — For over 33 years Chuck-A-Rama has been Utah’s most affordable wedding rehearsal facility and a tradition for many local couples. Chuck-A-Rama offers delicious home-tested recipes and ‘scratch’ style cooking in a buffet setting or you can design a menu to fit your budget. All of the home style dishes are prepared daily using only the freshest ingredients.” See: http://www.utahweddings.com/chuckarama/index.php

  25. How about:

    Atkins Diet + Bullets Proves Fatal—Couple Killed in Police Standoff at Chuck-A-Rama.

    The word is finally in—the Atkins Diet, plus a generous helping of bullets, may be harmful to your health. A disagreement over the definition of “buffet” was brought to a tragic conclusion on Tuesday when Isabelle Leota and her husband Sui Amaama were shot to death in a Taylorsville Chuck-A-Rama. “We told them again and again to drop the roast beef,” said local police officer Jeremy Smith, “but they purposely ignored us, feeding themselves hand-over-fist while attempting to hide their enormous bodies behind the salad bar. We had no choice but to open fire.” Proponents of competing diets see the incident as a victory. “The deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Leota, tragic as they are, prove once and for all that the Atkins Diet is deadly, especially when combined with a seemingly endless succession of red-hot, metal bullets,” said a spokesman for the Zone Diet.

  26. Exceeded their metallic RDA, eh?

    Maybe the Chuck could put some Mormon-themed posters around the place:

    “If Twelve Apostles is enough for the Lord!
    Twelve slices is enough for you!”

    Or, with just a few more posts, they could advertise a reverse Miracle of the Fishes, in which enough food to feed 500 people was turned into 7 basketcase bloggers trying to be funny with nothing better to use than their own wit.

  28. yes
    Adam does win

    although I thought the original chuckorama bit on spencer’s blog actually was funny-
    it wasn’t trying too hard.

    I don’t mind that things are just posted and comented on without any real comentary. Sometimes “what’s the deal with that” is funny enough. It worked for Seinfeld.

    Plus, I live outside of Utah so I hadn’t heard about the Chuckorama incident

  29. although, the whole complaint of professors expecting a lot form their students doesn’t really seem to make sense to me.

    But, that is of course why I commented on it.

Comments are closed.