Utah: a land of contrasts. Utah is the greatest place in the world. They have everything: Taco Time and baby mini-horses and pumpkin patches, and also other things as well, most likely. In my time there I learned wonderful things.
1. A great many fervent young Mormons post videos of themselves receiving their mission calls to YouTube, and it’s kind of like that part in season seven of Buffy when Willow activates all the potential Slayers at once.
“Mission Call to Twins”
< http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uweITtX-L-Q >
“Carpenter Twins Mission Call”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65OAiv_vVxA
“Buffy Final Battle”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN0Oh97OYDo
(This one is my favorite, by the way.)
2. I also learned of the FAKE MISSION CALL, wherein a mischievous young Mormon pranks one another by sending a pretend letter. It is very delightful. That said, I am slightly concerned about this excessively credulous young man.
“Dude…I switched your mission call.”
< http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUKInrGvuto >
“You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in…the Antarctica? No way! Oh my gosh! What? Oh my gosh!…No freaking way!…You will prepare to preach the Gospel in the Emperor Penguin language…That’s what it says! I’ve never even heard of that!”
I fear life will occasionally not be kind to this adorable young man, but I wish him the best.
3. I became briefly and intensely obsessed with the BYU sketch comedy troupe “The Divine Comedy.” I did not think there were any Lord of the Rings jokes left in the world that I would be willing to hear; I was pleasantly surprised. “Gandalf Intervention” was delightful.
< http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3n-s6rT_6c >
“Keeping It Clean” was another strong contender. The adult-women-as-five-year-olds bordered on creepy, but it’s a really solid sketch.
< https://youtu.be/4pn0n_-rM4E >
This one, though…I think I ended up watching it four or five times. It’s bananas. It has almost 40,000 views! I’m not in the habit of watching proposal- or wedding-related videos (I still haven’t seen the wedding dance thing from like five years ago), but I felt like I knew these people after falling asleep watching their very specific comedy stylings for a week in a row (Nicole goes to bed very early, and there are only so many times I can re-watch 30 Rock). Stephen and Whitney! I hope those two crazy kids make it!
< http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVWouB3-pAM >
Also, this was fantastic. You are free to have many problems with the It Gets Better Project, Lord knows, but this was a lovely video nonetheless.
< http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym0jXg-hKCI >
I love everything about Utah. If any Mormon missionaries are in my neighborhood and want to talk about BYU or YouTube, come over. I’m not in the market for a new religion at the moment, but that doesn’t mean we can’t hang out.
