Two songs, both based around political speeches, both great songs, both great speeches. Obviously, one speech is much much more famous, but I like the message of the other one too. I've listened to both a lot lately. Gets the inspiration juices going. On a more interesting musical note for me, Will.I.Am. from the Black Eyed Peas is involved in both too. I like that dude.
Common Feat. Will.I.Am. - "A Dream" (Based around Martin Luther King Jnr.'s famous speech). Favourite lines:
"Dear Self, I wrote a letter just to better my soul, if I don't express it then forever I'll hold"
"With a story to tell, my eyes see the glory and well, the world waitin' for me to yell, 'I Have a Dream'"
(But also.. pretty much the whole second verse. Lyrics here.)
Will.I.Am. - "Yes We Can" (Based around Barack Obama's New Hampshire address. YouTube that too.)
Favourite lines:
"We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change."
(But again. Whole speech/song is good. Lyrics here.)
Language warning on this one. But still, hilarious. Check out the website for some more amusing videos. I recommend the B-Boy Stance and Pennyweather Lemonade ones. Some are rather rude. But still... amusing.
I found this, and it was greatly amusing.
EDIT: Sorry kids! Link is now fixed. Enjoy.
One of the things I want to do in my lifetime, and it's been a goal for quite a while now, is to be a teacher. Some of the others are to be a missionary, continue running Africa Aid, and more recently, to go into ministry. For pretty much all of those, lots of people - family included - say to me, "Why do you want to do that? You have to give so much time, and get almost nothing in return." Of course, they mean money. But you see... I know you need money to get by. Keywords being get by. I know I need to earn a bit to survive and keep up a standard of living (that will probably be better than that of the majority of the world, as I am part of the lucky 10% or so of Earth's population). I just don't care that much, and don't want lots of money. I never really have. Of course, if a million dollars was to come my way, I wouldn't say no. I'd want to do something good with it though. (and yes. would probably buy some crap too.) I felt weird about it in primary school, because lots of people wanted to be rich (that's not just in primary school I guess). I was more interested in doing something interesting with my life. I feel like I'm being high and mighty. Hope not. I don't want to come across as that.
ANYWAY. This is a video. A speech. A poem - part of 'Slam Poetry'. You might say it's a bit dramatic, but I think it holds truth, and it is like that because of how much passion(fruit) this guy has for teaching. I get the same sort of feeling when I teach someone something, or can see someone learning. Learning is one of the things I guess I value most in life, and to be able to be part of someone else's learning feels special to me. Enjoy. Interested to see what people think of it.
THIS is the magic we saw on the Opera House, on the 07.07.07
It's not the actual Opera House, so it's not AS magical. But it's still awesome. Try to spot me!
DVD of the entire VIC Road Trip comes out this Saturday, free with the Herald Sun. Get one. Watch it. Love it. Then get out there and lend your hands.
The first episode of the McCrae SUFM Serial Drama Movie is now online! Look out for the sharpest and most colourful characters. Then come back here and comment on how good that joke was!/...Just kidding./But seriously. I am totally. Cereal.
This is a video made by some of the ambassadors from the Victorian team as their application for the Road Trip. I think it's awesome.
Well. I have a post I am going to write, that actually has substance. But first: This.
I realise these are everywhere, and most people will have seen them. But whatever, some won't have. And now you can. My favourite parts of this: 0.30 seconds... makes me start laughing uncontrollably. 0.55 seconds... just. awesome.
And then...there's this:
HA! I love how he makes noises and when he kicks his legs out. And it's awesome how at the end of every bit of movement, he gives the camera a 'tough guy' look. It's also a bit weird that it cuts to a basketball court at the end?
If you had to be one of them... who would you choose? They're both so awesome. Substance post coming tomorrow.
I didn't know how to follow up the last post. It was an emotional thing for me to do, and I didn't know how to post something else without taking away from that. The thanksgiving service is on Friday. Maybe I'll feel something by then, because it's fairly emptiness/numbness at the moment. I don't know what I want to write. So I won't write anything, except this:
I found this video. I haven't seen it since I was really young, and I remember I loved it and used to run to the tv to watch it. If only things were still that simple. For Jono, Matt, and everybody else who remembers how cool the song is, and sings with me.
However, the highlight of our ice cream party was not my choc-mint/bubblegum with nuts. It was meeting an old man, who was very much like Forrest Gump. So I'll call him Forrest. He was a really genuine, nice man, who just started talking to us about peanut butter, which turned into honey, which turned into the country, which turned into beaches, which turned into his children...the navy... farming...a lake near Ballarat...where he lived...his son's failure to get a degree...some guy with lots of guns in his truck...etc. Most of his stories didn't end, but he was interesting, and loved telling us, total strangers, about his life. I quite enjoyed hearing it. Anyway, he walked out with us, and before saying goodbye, he stopped and told us to get our degrees, or if we didn't do that, to find something we love and do that. As long as we were happy. And that he wished us good, safe, happy lives. Pretty much, Forrest was one of the best elderly people I've ever met. He was a fairly simple guy, but simple is good. He seemed very free, very happy. It's sort of infectious.
After dropping uni friend off, DB and I came home, singing to Donavon Frankenreiter and Jack Johnson. Good, relaxed, appropriate music for such a sunny, awesome day. DB and I talked about relationships, etc. and how we appreciate simpler things and signs that you care, rather than presents or spent money. I think that K and I have that. DB was also talking about being frustrated at having to go to work, but more frustrated that they were complaining about having a job, when so many didn't. I don't really have a job, but relating that to other stuff, I don't have much to complain about. Life is, although sometimes stressful, really good for me. I'm alive, healthy, have a house, friends, family, money. I shouldn't be so naive as to think all this happiness can come without a little negative, to balance it up. After all, if all I had was good, I'd think it was just average and want better stuff. Also, there might be rules and laws I have to abide by in this life, but I'm very free to do what I want, if I'm willing to do what it takes to get it. I sound cliche but I really don't care, because I believe this.
So there it is. Things I'm thankful for:
That about wraps it up. After struggling with all that frustration and loserish-stuff, I'm happy. Very. That stuff will come back, but for now, I'm free of it. It can just go burn in a hole somewhere.
Here's one of the songs we were listening to. I think it's appropriate...not really the standard surf video, but the song is awesome. "Free" - Donavon Frankenreiter, feat. Jack Johnson.
So I've unleashed a bit, but this will be the last one for today. This guy is pretty amazing, maybe a little lame that he spent so long working on his skills, but still awesome what he can do in Paint. Although, that's coming from me, who spend ages playing minesweeper one boring year, and tried on this ranking site. 4th fastest in the world for a month. That's the best pickup line I have.
So I'm pretty much a YouTube pusher, if you've noticed. Ask Digger Randle, he loves it haha. Anyways, if you appreciate good rap, as I do from time to time, you'll find this pretty cool, as I do. The guy, Aries Spears, does impersonations, and this is him doing Jay-Z, DMX, LL Cool J and Snoop Dogg.
Most people know about this. A dude from Sydney, Juan Mann (haha I laugh at this, it's like one man, making a difference, you'll see after you watch the clips), started walking around Sydney carrying a sign saying 'Free Hugs'. People loved it, except the council banned him, because if someone got hurt they'd be liable. They said he needed $25 million liability insurance. Ridiculous. Anyway, he overcame it in a different way. I saw some people commenting the videos, saying they were 'nancy' and stuff, but they're just haters. I know how cool it is to have random people to random nice things for you. It's even just cool when there's a person who's willing to listen to you, often they're not that close of a friend. Last year when I went through a whole lot of stuff involving family, I had dudes who weren't my closest friends just sit and listen to me ramble, and it helped hugely. Just recently I've met someone who's told me lots about themselves, and I've told them, and I think it's cool that we can trust so easily. I don't really worry about if in the future it might be thrown back in my face. I used to.
There's an idea I have for the Garage on doing random acts of kindness, but we'll see. It might end up just being stolen from "Pay It Forward", but that movie might even end up being a movie theme study.
From the same site that gave us the animal hand paintings, these are origami creations that are ridiculous. It'd be even more impressive if someone told me they were all done with one piece of paper. Go [here] to see them.
