The Mystery of the Tasties - SOLVED! Mostly...

Remember the IT guy from my work who was of no use to me because I wrongfully assummed that he was some kind of master code breaker? Well it turns out that IT guys are good for something other than encriptions - apparently they also read the newspaper.

My excited IT guy approached me this morning, waving a newspaper article in front of my face with the flourish of a fancy pants waiter. It was cut out from the Daily Universe, and the mystery of the Tasties was finally solved.

The following is an excerpt from the article, including the picture that was featured:

John Beeson is an English professor at BYU. Beeson's main message to students is to constantly be "on to something" in life, and fight against "everydayness," and he has followed those same edicts all his life.

One activity Beeson has found to help him live by those principles is painting.

Roughly two years ago, he called up the local Borders bookstore, asking to display some of his paintings throughout the store. The store obliged, and the paintings hung in the store for a week.

Out of the blue, however, Beeson got a phone call from a Borders representative, notifying him his paintings needed to be taken down because of a complaint.

Beeson was upset, but he obliged and took matters into his own hands.

"I was so mad that I nailed one to a pole outside Borders when I left," he said. "And it was so addicting, I mean that's really the best word. Then, the next day when I drove by and I saw them, I felt famous, like it was the weirdest ... I don't know ... it was like this self-inflicted fame. Delusional fame," Beeson said.

From that point on, he's gone out on random nights and nailed paintings to telephone poles lining the route on his way to work.

"It's about making stuff, that's why I do it," Beeson said. "Thoreau said live life deliberately, and that's what my paintings are all about."

Beeson has made over 500 paintings in the past two years, and his goal is to finish 730 by the 31st. That's one per day for the two years since the Borders episode.

"They're not good, but there's a lot of them," he said with a grin. "Quality fades, but quantity lasts forever."

Beeson says he's not out to hurt anyone or damage anything. He says he's too old to spray paint, and, with a wife and four kids, he's a bit reserved, but he's still passionate. His goal in painting is to get people to see the world around them in a new light.

"The theory behind it is to see the things you see every day differently," Beeson said. "It's to avoid everydayness."

You can read the entire article here.
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So, that's it folks - that's the whole mystery behind the Tasty signs. A BYU professor who paints them just for fun. While I'm glad to have the answers, I can't help but feel a little disappointed that the signs weren't clues to underground raver parties. Now what am I going to do with all these glowsticks?

I emailed the Professor to try and get more information about all of the Tasty trademark symbols, which remain a mystery to this day. I'll keep you posted if I get any more information from him.

In other news, this will be my last post for awhile, but I should have plenty to blog about after my return from Elvis Week, or as Andi and Adam call it, the continuation of Graduation Tour '06...

Elvis Week is the week-long tribute to the King, leading up to the anniversary of his death on August 16. My BFF Johanna and I are driving to Memphis from Philadelphia for 5 days of greasy food, rock n'roll, humidity, and Elvis fanatics. Did I mention that we're going all out for this? All I can say is that I busted out the puffy paints for our homemade tshirts...

See you in 2 weeks - Viva la Elvis!