An old classic

Spring is here, put on a hat my dear.

The sun is shining and there is naught a cloud in the air. And I feel great. Isn't it amazing how much the weather affects ones mood? Something so simple and primal, yet it has the most profound effect on us, supposedly complex, human beings. I guess we really are just simple beings ruled by simple emotions. I love being simple on days like this.

I hope the sun keeps this up and we have spring on our hands before you can say "double-chocolatechip-and-blueberry-muffin-with-a-vanilla-milkshake".

Nature is awesome.

Just saw the cutest thing on tv. Myotonic goats (or fainting goats) look like normal goats, but when they get scared or excited their muscles stiffen up and they fall over. Which is exactly as cutely hilarious as it sounds. I think I might want one.

Heres a youtube clip of some myotonic goats:


And for the more scientific of you heres the wikipedia link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fainting_goat

burning bridges

to build a bridge, decided a man
so he did tinker and plan
for this was to be the greatest bridge in the land

many a friend offered to help
alas, he pushed them away
for this was a stubborn man
with what he thought a master-plan

the days went by
and the years rolled on
but our chief engineer only trudged along

then one day, disaster struck
a bolt of lightning crashed into the bridge
and set fire to the monstrosity in the midst of night
a searing wall of flame that was quite a sight

the bridge, weakened and brittle
crashed into the waves beneath
and was swallowed by the sea little by little

our engineer was left stranded on an island
for he had stood at the wrong end of his link to the town
an unfortunate turn of luck for the stubborn man
who had failed to bring a backup plan

now all alone the man sat down on the grassy knoll
which was neither greener nor softer than it was at home
he watched the sun set beneath the hills
and realised that he had no way of paying his bills

Chinese Algebra

Jack can't stop thinking about how he thinks too much about everything. This, he feels, is a conundrum. Jack is becoming increasingly annoyed with himself over his over-thinking. Help Jack find a solution.


Solution:_________________________________________________

Silence is golden.

I have nothing to say. So I'll let someone else say something better than I ever could.

Love life.

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is to love and be loved in return."

Just watched Moulin Rouge and just felt like I needed to say that Baz Luhrmann is a genius. Moulin Rouge and Rome + Juliet are magnificently spectacularly Spectacular, the music, the dancing, the editing, the vision, the love. Truly wonderful films.

Surfing the Waste

Check this out. Fantastic musical documentary about dumpster diving.

http://citizen.nfb.ca/surfing-waste-musical-documentary-about-dumpster-diving

Also, if you get the chance - watch 'Our Daily Bread' by Nikolaus Geyrhalter, an amazing and powerful documentary about food-production.

Star Wars?

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

This is the end, my beautiful friend

A new year is approaching increasingly rapidly, so I figured I'd post one last post this year. We could call it "2008: An Epilogue". Or we could call it nothing.

Either way, I find it fascinating that we celebrate the end of a year or the beginning of another, whichever you fancy (I guess this is one of those half-full/half-empty debates), because what have we actually done or achieved? Not died for a year. It's the same with birthdays. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of celebrating things, no matter how mundane or weird they might be, I just find the reasons for our celebrations fascinating. Maybe its got something to do with the whole 'fresh-start' aspect of an oncoming new year, people seem to have a tendency to distance themselves from their (bad) pasts with imaginary boundaries. I include myself in that category.


But so, what did 2008 bring with it? An economic crisis of huge proportions, an inspiring election, continued wars that we felt bad about but did nothing to stop, the best Batman movie so far (this was a huge deal to me), Spain winning the European Championship in football (equally awesome). And on a more personal note - going to IDFA in Amsterdam, and subsequently becoming inspired; working on my own movie that I love; making a bunch of amazing new friends; getting a job I absolutely love, and keeping it; buying a green and gorgeous typewriter named RITA.

So all in all, it's been a pretty good year. It's had its ups and its downs, definitely, but that's life and life is great. It doesn't matter if you've been sad or had a bad year, at least you've been alive and living. This is worth remembering (I have to remind myself as well from time to time).

And what should we expect of 2009? I know I feel fantastic about going to the new year, I feel inspired in many ways - to make my movie and 'Baby Steps' the project I think I've mentioned and which you'll hear more of in the future. I'm gonna start taking Dutch and Spanish lessons. So it seems like this could be a good year for me, nothing wrong with being optimistic. And what about more globally? I hope Obama can bring a change to the most powerful nation on earth, I hope the world will wake up to the deterioration of our environment, I hope people might change their consuming habits, I hope some of the wars on this planet might be brought to a peaceful end, I hope people will smile more, I hope people will hug one another more, I hope...

Carpe Diem!