It's all fun and games....

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There was a challenge made a few weeks back by Bre Pettis. The challenge was to make a video that was 10 seconds long. This was my response. Unfortunately the challenge post was removed and not replaced on We Are the Media. So this video has been sitting on my computer....waiting.....

I've been thinking my posts and maybe even the way I have been looking at my life lately has been a little bit too much on the serious side. Maybe this will be the start of a string of videos that show some of my less serious and less philosophical side....Maybe. :)

(look there is even a smiley face made with colon and parenthesis...how fun is that!)

Seeing An Inconvenient Truth

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On Monday night I was able to see "An Inconvenient Truth". It is the documentary film brought to us by Al Gore. I must admit I didn't know much about the film or about global warming before I went to go and see this. A couple of months back though, I had heard some of the hype about the film. I also came across a video: "Our Thoughts on An Inconvenient Truth" by Jen and Kent of EbbandFlow.tv that offered a very well composed and communicated account of their experience going to see this very provocative and important movie.

Here are just some of my thoughts in no particular order.

• I don't think I have ever been to a film where I have heard people gasp in shock at seeing statistics before. I heard it at least once during this film.
• People sat through the beginning part of the credits at the end of the film because during those credits practical suggestions were offered about how we can reduce CO2 emissions. People really seemed interested in knowing how to practically do something about what they had just seen.
• If all those statistics we were shown are correct than we are doing horrible damage to the world we live in. But there are ways to stop it.
• Why aren't more people concerned about global warming?
• How much of this is really political? How much of this is economical? How much of this is ignorance of a great problem?
• Why can't I have a Mac like Al Gore's?
• If Al Gore is so concerned about pollutants why is he flying and taking taxi-cabs so often?
• Where do I start making steps to reduce globe harming emissions? (I make a living driving a truck and delivering fuel.)
  
• Does Al Gore videoblog? If not, why not?
• If the message in this film is so important why not make it available to everyone for free?

To learn more about this film and the issues it teaches us about check out http://climatecrisis.net. Click here to see their blog. And click here to see 10 simple things you can do to help stop global warming. Here are three examples from that list: use flourescent bulbs, adjust your thermostat (and use a timer), check your tire pressure.

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Music playing on my stereo:
Don Chafer (of Waterdeep)
Album: You Were At the Time for Love
Track Number 12: The Worst is My Being Alone

I am an unashamed Waterdeep fan. Don Chaffer lyrics provoke my thoughts and emotions. I listen and sometimes I think he understands. Maybe we've walked similar paths and have similar struggles, I don't know. Check out the music if you like, not cause I get a cut if you do, but because it is raw, real and heartfelt. Other than that I will leave this vid without explanation. Maybe I've said too much already.

Trembles (And things that can't be seen)

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[I wonder how many people read the text with the videos. I wonder if it matters so much if you watch the video and then read the text? Or if you read the text and then watch the video?

I think in vlogs the text and the video often go hand in hand. They are joined. One complements the other. One helps you "see" something that maybe you wouldn't have otherwise. This may not always be the case but it is sometimes.

Text and video in a vlog post......keep it together.]

So for this post I must join its text:

There is more meaning in this moment caught on video than I could have captured with my camera. I saw a shaky hand. I saw difficulty in accomplishing simple tasks. I saw aid given.

I also saw some of my previous interactions with this person. I see the standing of these persons in community. There is just so much here that I just couldn't show you in the shot captured to my memory stick.

But this made me think. It made me consider weakness. It made me question if some people are weak maybe even sick as a result of their own doing? That is a tough question. I think that some can be sick of their own doing. Maybe they don't even realize that the source of their disease is within their own mind, habits, beliefs, traditions, or ideas. Personally, I know I have caused myself pain because of false ideas or holding to wrong beliefs.

And this isn't just religious speak here. I mean, hey, if I eat ice cream and Doritos I do quite a job on my stomach. How do I know? Well, cause I have done it before......and more than once. I like Doritos and I like ice cream and sometimes I am forced to choose between the two. Well sometimes I don't like being forced into that situation so I eat em both. Then get sick to the stomach. You see I believe that tasting those yummy junk foods is good at the time I am eating them. Later,however, I pay the consequence.

So I wonder. These tremors I see. Is there more to them? I don't think I can ever know for sure. And I know that if I grow weak myself I hope that it isn't of my own doing but comes naturally.

Dude...you alive?

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It has been close to 1 month since the last time I have posted video. That is a long time. I'm not sure exactly the reason for this gap. Maybe a lot of it is laziness; I love to shoot video but am not so crazy about editing and posting it. Maybe some of it has to do with how I would like to put out some higher quality stuff. Maybe some of it has to do with how the communication that I hoped for using this medium is not as smooth or as easy as I was wishing it would be. I guess there could be other reasons too. But I'll not write about them now.

Dennis from Mexico Movies left a comment for me yesterday on my vlog. And it inspired me to post this video I made last night. The comment was: "Dude...you alive?"

I was glad that the comment wasn't "Dude....where's the video" or "Dude....come on you need to post something". I don't know if that was what Dennis meant. But, I would like to think that Dennis was just a bit more concerned about me as a person than he was concerned about the media I make. I was reminded that this vlogging can still be about people and about relationships. That like Steve Garfield reminded us when we subscribe to someone's vlog we are subscribing to a person.

Dennis thanks for asking if I am alive. Thanks for taking the time out to ask and let me know you noticed I hadn't been a posting as I normally do. Thanks man. And thanks to everyone else too who has had me in their prayers or thoughts. I really am thankful for you all.

Music in this post is from one of my favorite groups Waterdeep. You can find this whole song for free on their site by joining their fan club. Or you can purchase the CD Everyone's Beautiful which includes this song here. Or do a search for them on in the internet archive. Waterdeep likes it when fans make bootlegs of their live shows and share them with their friends you'll be pleasantly surprised with all the cool Waterdeep stuff you can find in the archive.