Recently I watched a crowd-sourced documentary film titled “Life in a Day” produced by Scott Free Films and the YouTube video sharing site. This film captured life around the world on a single day – that day being July 24, 2010.
This documentary was the first of its kind because the raw footage was shot by average people across the world and uploaded to the YouTube video sharing site. In all there were over 4,500 hours of footage submitted in 80,000 clips from 192 countries.
Director Kevin Macdonald told The Wall Street Journal that the project was initially conceived as a way to commemorate the fifth birthday of YouTube, and that he wanted to “take the humble YouTube video, … and elevate it into art.”
I would say his mission was a success. The video captures the essence of humanity in a single day. It broadened my perspective – you know, that perspective that we are really bigger and more important than we actually are.
As the film comes to its final “hours” of the day – it appropriately reflects on fears that we as humans collectively share.. The fear of being lonely.. The fear of losing what we hold onto the most.. The fear of sickness and death.. The fear of this short life coming to its closing hour.. The fear that we will not have made a difference in the world, that our existence – as brief as it is – will not be remembered.. The fear that our lives will have been lived in vain.. The fear that there is no God and that when this life is over, nothing will remain..
Director Kevin Macdonald said that the film focused on a single day “because a day is the basic temporal building block of human life—wherever you are.”
We live by the clock and the calendar. It’s a mathematical mechanism – this brief time here on this rock called Earth. With each passing hour and each passing day, our time reserve lessens but our experience and memory tank fills. What does it all count for? What does it all end up as? What will we feel in our closing hours?
I pray that you and I would spend each day, each building block, for a greater purpose.. Not that everyday is special because of something out of the ordinary – but that we would find something special in the everyday ordinary..
JoePa… an icon of College Football and of Penn State..
JoePa… the winningest coach in Division I College football history..
JoePa… 62 years of coaching at Penn State University (the last 44 as head coach)..
JoePa… at age 85 dies just three months after diagnosed with lung cancer and also just 3 months after being fired from his long-time position as head coach by the board of trustees at PSU for his failure to report sexual child abuse to more than just his athletic director..
JoePa… after setting a record for most wins by a college football coach watches his lifelong career come to an abrupt end in horrible terms; but with great humility defers his own feelings about his situation towards the sympathy and sorrow that he felt for the children who were abused..
JoePa… while his legacy will not exclude Sandusky’s name; he will be remembered by more than that.. He will be remembered by all the good that this imperfect man had done throughout his lifetime.. He will be remembered by making a difference in so many others’ lives.. He will be remembered as he had hoped to be remembered..
JoePa… in his words said as pictured behind his statue above, “They ask me what I’d like written about me when I’m gone. I hope they write I made Penn State a better place, not just that I was a good football coach.”
JoePa… you will be remembered fondly by many.. Even though as humbly as you came into life you humbly left it – this is the kind of humility that allows us to see Christ..
SOPA & PIPA, buzz words of the week, have been sparking an Internet blackout from sites such as Craigslist and Wikipedia. Google protested the proposed bills by blacking out its logo yesterday on its search engine.
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who cosponsored the PIPA legislation, pulled out his support yesterday and said this about it..
“I have decided to withdraw my support for the Protect IP Act. Furthermore, I encourage Senator Reid to abandon his plan to rush the bill to the floor. Instead, we should take more time to address the concerns raised by all sides, and come up with new legislation that addresses Internet piracy while protecting free and open access to the Internet.”
Republican Sen. Roy Blunt tweeted, “We can find a solution that will protect lawful content. But this bill is flawed & that’s why I’m withdrawing my support. #SOPA #PIPA.”
CNN covered the story here if you haven’t caught up with it yet..
There’s a lot of illegal activity on the Internet, no question about it; the big question is does the US government have the right to police the Internet for its citizens? Take a look at countries that censor the Internet in the graphic below…
The purple colors and the light yellow are censored. Dark yellow is under surveillance and green is no evidence of censorship. SOPA and PIPA would put us in the light yellow.
I’ve never been a fan of “big brother” unless its from someone I would consider like a brother. Its not the government’s job to restrict access to the Internet. Restriction is different from defining certain activities illegal. It is well within reason for lawmakers to define illegal activity (such as child pornography) and attach legal ramifications to persons engaging in such activity. Putting restrictions on the World Wide Web, however, is a very slippery slope.
I watched a video today in a subject that I’ve been interested for over the past decade- that is- copyright law. As an artist I’ve had to process through various viewpoints on where copyright law is taking us and where it should take us.
In this era of share – it is becoming more common for artists to realize that free distribution of certain content is actually a good thing. For an artist like myself, my bread and butter doesn’t come from sales of my copyrighted material. I allow free streaming and even downloading of a lot of my digital content.
True art shouldn’t be intended for profit. However, a worker is worth their wage. I’d like to see artists come up with sustainable ways to earn a living while not selling their creativity as a profit making machine.
Piracy and sharing is the issue here and the future of the Internet (a global and non-policed organism) in the USA is at stake. Will US lawmakers begin to tamper with the fabric of the World Wide Web? Let’s hope not.
We enjoy a day off of school or from work.. We don’t mind that bills don’t arrive in our mailbox today.. We appreciate one of the greatest leaders from the previous century in Martin Luther King, Jr.
If you live in Pittsburgh, like my family, you may or may not already know that there are beautiful murals around the city that honor MLK (click here).
But do you know what MLK stood for? Have you told your kids about him? Has your heart been pricked by the realization that this man gave such a call against the injustices that plagued our society against minority peoples only five decades ago?
He captured the essence of this in what was has been ranked the top American speech of the 20th century, MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr. himself to over 200,000 civil rights supporters on August 28, 1963 from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
So here it is.. The video of MLK’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech and a portion of the closing text follows.
I Have A Dream (closing portion)
By: Martin Luther King, Jr.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
I, too, have a dream.. That one day we’ll have to look up the word injustice because we no longer see it played out in our world. That one day freedom will ring not only for the USA but for all peoples, everywhere. I, too, have a dream that one day you and I will stand before a great God and give an account for the ideals that we’ve carried out in our lives and He will say to us, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”
This week I heard about some pretty big news.. Twinkie manufacturer, Hostess, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Twinkie sales for the 2011 year were 36 million packages, down about 2% from 2010. Hostess blames the healthier food choices that consumers are finally gravitating toward. Hostess hasn’t thrown in the towel yet – and they plan to continue pumping out these cream-filled delights.
Ode to the Twinkie. You represent so much in our society. You represent a never-ending shelf-life (at least according to Ghostbusters and urban legend).
Ironic is it that despite the myth of your eternal life, people continue to vote with the almighty dollar. We are beginning to realize that the temporary taste of two little Twinkies isn’t as important as the longer lasting gratification of grazing on other more healthful alternatives.
I’ll spare everyone the obvious correlation between the empty promise of eternal shelf life from the life-taking nutrition found in these tempting little treats. I’ll further spare you of tying this truth into a society that has used the USD to vote against another promise of eternal life and whole health – but this one is legit.
So… When was the last time that you tasted a Twinkie?
