a.joel.witwer.original
I made this for Northridge Church in Rochester, NY and I am quite pleased with the way it came out!

It's long but worth it.

Anyone want to take a skate trip through central asia with me?

Computers are ridiculous.
The 'making of' video is below.

Ladies ...

This guy, Carlin Isles, is being called the fastest man in rugby and he'd only been playing a few weeks when these videos were shot.
Just imagine how competitive the Eagles could be if rugby were more popular in the States and we had pick of/ability to pay and train the best athletes in the country!
(Nothing against the current Eagles. They're better than I'll ever be.)

Dave Kraines, what a guy.
Also, Rochester Family Mission.

My friends Drew and Beth got engaged at a Rochester Lancers (indoor soccer) game during half time this past weekend.
Good on you guys!

"When [the Bible] tells you to feed the hungry it does not give you lessons in cookery. When it tells you to read the Scriptures it does not give you lessons in Hebrew and Greek, or even in English grammar. It was never intended to replace or supersede the ordinary human arts and sciences: it is rather a director which will set them all to the right jobs, and a source of energy which will give them all new life, if only they will put themselves at its disposal."

- CS Lewis in Mere Christianity

“I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”

 - C.S. Lewis

Everyone should know this band.

For your last day of 'Movember'.

"Woke up this morning, mustaches blazing
Filled with testosterone, I feel so manly
Chop some firewood and drink some gravy"

Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger,
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.

 - C.S. Lewis in The Magician's Nephew

I promise this is the end of my Mumford & Sons video kick (for now).

9 minutes of musical wonderfulness.
Now if only everyone singing along actually believed the words.

Now this is a good combo band.

Community-level intervention in the form of mural art in Rochester. I'm so bummed I didn't find out about this as it was going on. In other news, half of these are on my various running routes.

"I like the idea of the log cabin; nothing is absolutely precise ... There are a lot irregularities here and there. It's more of a reflection of what life is in general. Life isn't perfect and neither is my cabin."

Dear Friends, Meet the best video ever.

Seriously Taylor, follow him on twitter already.

My friend Caitlin got baptized a few weeks back. Check it out.

This video taught me everything I know about picking up girls at the gym.

All your viral videos in one spot!

The Go Pro cameras, as well as what people use them for, continue to amaze me.

I still dream of doing this.

A little video I shot of the Bearfoot Brothers performing their song 'Only One Reason.'
Check them out on facebook or their soundcloud for some free downloads!

Just some great music for your Monday.

I shot some interviews today.

This is completely surreal. I'm probably going to have to try this here in Rochester!

And here is the 'making of.'

Things just got weird.

A movie with Jake Johnson (Nick from New Girl) and Aubrey Plaza (April from Parks & Rec). Can we please talk about a great cast!?

One of the best music videos I've seen in a long time.

Simply great.

Yet another movie I'm pumped for.

I'd consider moving to Canada purely based on this video.

Les Mise was one of the only books I had to read in high school that I actually enjoyed and now it's being made into, what appears to be, an incredible movie. I can't wait!

These songs have largely passed from the limelight, but this mashup is simply incredible.

Just some fun we had with my housemate's room while he was gone for the weekend.

This music video was all shot on one stage with projectors projecting all the scenery. As technology continually advances, I can't help but think this technique is going to get more and more popular.

Video shot during the opening of Northridge's new campus in Greece. Thanks to Jon Larson!

My church just expanded to a second campus and the local news came to check it out. I also made it into the clip which is the real narcissistic reason that I'm posting this.

I'm not sure if I feel bad for this kid of I want to be this kid.

One of my best friends from high school is in a band called Kingsfoil. This is their newest music video.

The future is getting closer!

People are dumb/

This is happening to the next person who pranks me.

"There are two great obstacles to developing a knowledge of affairs - shame, which throws a smoke over the understanding, and fear, which once danger has been sighted, dissuades from going through with an exploit. Folly, with a grand gesture, frees us from both."

- Erasmus

I'm not a fan of country music, but this is plain hysterical!

I've spent so many nights dreaming that something like this was real.

This gets me pumped up!
Makes me believe that the US can be a world force in rugby once again!

For those of you that know me, you know I go between NY and PA every now and again to visit my family. For a while now, I've wanted to make a timelapse of the trip. This time, I actually did it. I present to you 'Drivelapse: It's Actually Quite A Boring Drive.'

Check for a self portrait at 0m36s and the rain at 1m17s.

Community is not a lifestyle enclave that celebrates the narcissism of similarity, but an inclusive whole of differing people committed to interdependence in both public and private life and honoring each other's calling.

David Augsburger in Dissident Discipleship  p.72

This is a great/hysterical movie concept/way to write a script!

It seems that people are pretty much over the draw something app, but this is still pretty neat.

“But I do not believe that just because you're opposed to abortion that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking. If all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed, and why would I think that you don't? Because you don't want any tax money to go there. That's not pro-life. That's pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of what pro-life is.”

- Sister Joan  Chittister in a 2004 interview with Bill Moyers

Thoughts? Opinions? Ideas?

This song has largely passed from the limelight, but I'm still obsessed. And, as youtuber JuJuB3an9585 says "This is ridiculous ... Nobody can play the whole guitar by themselves."

This blog is back like I just got back from Canada.

(for real this time)

My trip to South Africa was a whirlwind of an adventure. I didn't have near enough time to see everything I wanted to, but I loved everything I did get to experience! All this means is that I'll have to go back to see the rest sometime.

They're closing state parks in California which is pretty sad, but this video is beautiful.

I'm back from Africa and so is this blog!

We'll start back with a great clip from Jimmy Kimmel!

Sorry the posts have been so irregular lately, I've been running around like a mad hatter! I'm currently waiting at the airport to head out to South Africa meaning, posts are going to go from sporadic to non existent for the next month.

Deal with it and I'll be back mid August.

In the meantime, enjoy this.

This is a short documentary (27min) on ship welder who retires to focus on his life long passion: wood. It's a beautiful story of talent, beauty, and family. I'd HIGHLY recommend finding some time to watch if.
If you can't find the time, at least watch the trailer below.

He's like a real life Michael Cera character who's really into Blink 182.

I'm honestly obsessed with this country.

High school me would've KILLED to live in this house.
Modern me would still dig it.

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."

- Leo Tolstoy

Leave it to Iceland to put together an incredible tourism initiative.

“The only people on earth who do not see Christ and his teachings as nonviolent are Christians.”

- Ghandi

The power of editing.

A masterpiece.

Beards and travel.
Thanks Jesse for the link!

Oh my sweet summer child,
What do you know about fear?
Fear is for the winter,
When the snow falls one hundred feet deep.
Fear is for the long night
When the sun hides for years
And children are born and live and die
All in darkness.
That is the time for fear.

- George R. R. Martin

If only I had the guts to do this.

My children will be this talented.

I am, in no way, an advocate of violence, but the visuals in this are incredible.

This made it's rounds online a while back. So, in all likelihood, you've already seen this video, but that's the danger of having a wait list of videos to post.
Hey, it's either that or risk not having videos to post on a regular basis!

My buddy Dave shot this timelapse of the stars over Mt Sinai, Egypt.

As you all probably know by now, Ray Bradbury died a few days back. Here's an obligatory quote:

"Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories."

- Ray Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451

We're just on an educational kick this week here at The Way I See It!
Side note: I really wish everyone would just use vimeo and youtube rather than hosting videos themselves. It would just make things easier.

Have I told you how much I love science?

Somehow, Ben Howard made this song sound good.

I'm missing Ireland* something terrible right now.
*This is technically shot in N. Ireland but I'm going with it.

Dizzying.

This should happen more often.

An entertaining personality, but watch out for language.
I'd hate to learn boxing from this guy though.

The first 1m15s of this video are awesome. After that, just turn it off.

In all likelyhood, you've already seen this video. I'm still posting it because it's still amazing. The dry banter just floats my boat.

1 Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast. Shout aloud! Don’t be timid. Tell my people Israel of their sins! 2 Yet they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about me. They act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God. They ask me to take action on their behalf, pretending they want to be near me. 3 ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say. ‘Why aren’t you impressed? We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’t even notice it!’ “I will tell you why!” I respond. “It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers.

4 What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me. 5 You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like reeds bending in the wind. You dress in burlap and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the Lord?

6 No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. 7 Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

8 Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. 9 Then when you call, the Lord will answer. ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.

- Isaiah 58 v1-9 (NLT)

“Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately after they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish.”

- Hermann Hesse

Continuing my obsession with this song, I present Fun. performing Gotye's 'Somebody I Used to Know.'

Beastie Boy remake video ... with kids!

I want to be like this when I'm old.

"Although there's snow on the roof, there's fire in the belly!"

I'm a huge fan of couples who put some planning into their first dance.

Food for thought - Christianity in Israel.

I'd watch this.

Cute.

New favourite skate video.

This is the best wedding video I've seen in a looong time.
If anyone wants to let me do this with their wedding, I'd be game!

I want to go so bad.

"The trouble is that all of the street signs are written in squiggly lines."

Absolutely amazing.

A goal for this summer is to learn how to box.

So as you start watching this video, it's going to look like a video of a girl lip synching to Sail by AWOLNATION in the rain ... which is kind of sketchy. Stick with it until at least 1m15s where you'll start to see why I posted this.

Life rule #2: Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.

My man, Michael Rome, found and sent me this.
Enjoy it!

Aaaaand more graffiti.

A few years ago, I compiled a list of "life rules" that I found in random places online. I recently rediscovered this list while reorganizing my room. Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting them here and over on my twitter.

Life Rule #1*:Don’t worry about what people think. They don’t do it often.

*The numbers are in no way meant to denote importance. They're just the order in which I found/wrote the rules down in.

You don't even know how excited I am that this technology exists and I can barely wait until it becomes widely used!

More graffiti videos for you.

Do want.
Preferably the real one in India though.

This is my kind of skate video.

Julia Sinclair. Check her out.

Mother's Day is just a little under a month away. This'll get you in the mood.

All rugby should be played like this.

On an average day, this blog gets about 10-20 hits. Not a ton, but enough to let me know that there are a few people that actually look at what I post and seem to like it. Now sometimes I'll post a video that really gets me excited and I'll promote the post via facebook/twitter/gmail status. On those days, the hits will jump up to somewhere between 30 and 50.
Yesterday, out of the blue, I got 55 hits; no special post, no promotion of any posts, nothing. I have no clue what happened. Anyone have any ideas?

Fun fact: My most popular post of all time was A Collection of Thoughts on Osama Bin Laden's Assassination where the single post got 181 hits compared to the 2 - 6 an individual post of mine normally gets.

So I've got this thing for graffittit ...

The cuteness factor overrides any controversy that may arise from a father pretending to shoot his baby.

Best TED talk I've seen in a while.

This almost makes me want to start shaving everyday again.
Almost.

I'm ready for summer again.

I've been a busy with videos these past few weeks and they're all starting to come to fruition. Here's a fun little one I made of my friend Elle Suroisea performing her original song 'The Lake.' Make sure to check out more of her music by clicking her name there.

As always with my original videos, I appreciate YouTube likes and comments.

I'm not a Ben Folds fan, but I do enjoy his covers.

Just for the record, this was all shot in Iceland.
And you wonder why I want to go so bad.

Some cool visuals made with, what I am guessing are projections.

There is pleasure in the pathless woods;
There is rapture on the lonely shore;
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love the man not less, but Nature more ...

- Lord Byron in Childe Harold

Last week was a blur of volunteering as a cameraman/director for the Acts 16:5 Conference at Northridge Church, general adventuring around Keuka Lake, a busted car, and a rugby tournament in NYC. All of this considered, I figured you could survive a week without my video posts.
This said, I do feel a little guilty so I'm trying to bribe my way back into your good graces with an original video I directed/shot/edited/ladeedahed for the Evangelical Free Church of Hershey.



As always, I appreciate youtube likes and comments on my original stuff!

Who wants to skate around Rochester with me as a RC helicopter follows us?

I swear I had this idea years ago.

“Sometimes I get a little sad, and I feel like being alone. Then I talk to my cat about it, and he reminds me I’m James Franco. Then we dance.”

- James Franco

I found this cover of Adele's 'Someone Like You' and it blew me away. Probably the best cover I've ever seen.

“if you can’t love a girl who isn’t perfect, then you can’t really love a girl who is. Not for real. Not unconditionally.”

- Don Miller in Through Painted Deserts p.42

Here's some chill music for your Tuesday.
found via Krissy Leigh

“I guess I’m looking for what any guy is looking for. I want a companion, you know. Just some one to share life with. I want her to be my biggest fan and I want to be her biggest fan too. I want us to raise kids in a home where they know their parents are in love with each other and with them. I guess that’s all I want.”

- Paul in Don Miller’s Through Painted Deserts p.42

Any takers?

“It is one thing to have a woman join your complete life and another to have her tag along.”

- Don Miller in Through Painted Deserts p.40

You don't spy on an All Blacks training camp.

“I’ve heard it said that there are two types of men in this world - one is looking for a woman to make his life complete and the other is looking for a woman to join his complete life.”

- Don Miller in Through Painted Deserts p.40

I don't fully understand the narrative in this video, but it's certainly stunning/

Nice guys finish last if they think that being a good person merits them a great performance.
If they think that they deserve results because of their integrity and kindheartedness, they finish last.
The truth is, performance depends on your ability to execute, not on who you are.
The goal for nice people needs to be to realize that they are undeserving of anything other than what their hard, smart work merits them. Then, they will not only finish first, but they will become indispensable.
Because when you perform, people trust you. And when people trust you, you can influence an entire culture to become nicer.

- Rosanna Tomiuk in Nice Guys Finish Last

“When you build a city near no mountains and no ocean, you get materialism and traditional religion. People have too much time and lack inspiration.”

- Don Miller in Through Painted Deserts p.21

Long, but incredibly interesting.

“Leave // Roll the word around on your tongue for a bit. It is a beautiful word, isn’t it? So strong and forceful, the way you always wanted it to be. And you will not be alone. You have never been alone. Don’t worry. Everything will still be here when you get back. It is you who will have changed.”

- Don Miller in Through Painted Deserts's Author’s Note

Anyone want to have a wedding like this that I can film?

“People commute from the land of Thoreau’s solitude to Boston, to work at banks, to work at law firms. And I wonder if Walden exists anymore. I am not talking about the real Walden, the one in Boston; I am talking about the earth God meant to speak before we finished His sentence.”

- Don Miller in Through Painted Deserts p.4

I can't wait for this documentary to come out!

“No, life cannot be understood flat on a page. It has to be lived; a person has to get out of his head, has to fall in love, has to memorize poems, has to jump off bridges into rivers, has to stand in an empty desert and whisper sonnets under his breath.”

- Don Miller in Through Painted Deserts’s Author’s Note

"And as with all those who have come before you, their path came to an end and they only found me, their future. Quiet. Waiting. And I asked them the same two questions that I will someday ask you. Is it possible to be happy with this life? And then I will ask, as I do everyone else, did you enjoy your story?"

Chile anyone?

“I could not have known then that everybody, every person, has to leave, has to change like season they have to or they die. The seasons remind me that I must keep changing, and I want to change because it is God’s way. All my life I have been changing. I changed from a baby to a child, from soft toys to play daggers. I changed into a teenager to drive a car, into a worker to spend some money. I will change into a husband to love a woman, into a father to love a child, change houses so we are near water, and again so we are near mountains, and again so we are near friends, keep changing with my wife, getting our love so it dies and gets born again and again, like a garden, fed by four seasons, a cycle of change. Everybody has to change, or they expire. Everybody has to leave, everybody has to leave their homes and come back so they can love it again for all new reasons.”

- Don Miller in Through Painted Deserts’s Author’s Note

A great little short about working with your hands.

"There's a satisfaction in putting something together, a sense of accomplishment."
"The idea was to do as much as you could because the quality of your life would be better."
"You can still use your hands to build a home. There's no way that machines can really build homes other than sterile ones."
"Shelter is more than a roof overhead."

Also check out the old man longboard session at 4.06!

Fun.'s new album, 'Some Nights,' dropped yesterday and is amazing. Check it out.
This is a single off of it that's been out a while, but is still super good!

"Nor does a man, even though he is spiritual, judge the disordered state of society in this world. For what business of his is it to judge those who are without, since he cannot know which of them may later on come into the sweetness of your grace, and which of them may continue in the perpetual bitterness in their impiety."

- St. Augustine in Confessions p.250

This man is my new hero.

"Let truth spring up out of the earth, and let righteousness look down from heaven, and let there be lights in the firmament. Let us break out bread with the hungry, let us bring the shelterless poor into our house; let us clothe the naked, and never despise those of our own flesh."

 - St. Augustine in Confessions p.241

I can't even handle how cute this is!

"how is it that there are two times, past and future, when even the past is now no longer and the future is now net yet? But if the present were always present, and did not pass into past time, it obviously would not be time but eternity. If, then, time present - if it be time - comes into existence only because it passes into past time, how can we say that even this is, since the cause of its being is that it will cease to be? Thus, can we not truly say that this is only as it tends towards nonbeing?"

- St. Augustine in Confessions p.193

He honestly takled about how he doesn't understand how time is possible for 20 pages and over the course of those 20 pages, he made me doubt everything I thought I once knew.

It was bad.

Start listening around 1.05.
So good.

"More willingly would I have answered, ‘I do not know what I do not know,’ than cause one who asked a deep question to be ridiculed - and by such tactics gain praise for a worthless answer."

- St. Augustine in Confessions p.192

One of the dumbest sports ever so of course I want to play.

"The true man wants two things: danger and play. For that reason he wants woman, as the most dangerous plaything."

- Friedrich Nietzsche

Ohhhhhhhhhh, I dig.

“Effective rebellion isn’t just expressing your personal feelings. It means replacing one set of authorities and institutions with a better set of authorities and institutions. Authorities and institutions don’t repress the passions of the heart, the way some young people now suppose. They give them focus and a means to turn passion into change.”

- David Brooks in How to Fight the Man

My incredibly talented friend, who is probably going to yell at me when she finds out that I uploaded this, combined parts of Hillsong's 'Sometimes by Step' with Mumford & Sons 'Awake My Soul' to make one great worship song.
Enjoy the music, the lyrics, and us trying to keep a three year quiet and off sugar during the song!

"If I could offer advice to a young rebel, it would be to rummage the past for a body of thought that helps you understand and address the shortcomings you see. Give yourself a label. If your college hasn’t provided you with a good knowledge of countercultural viewpoints — ranging from Thoreau to Maritain — then your college has failed you and you should try to remedy that ignorance."

- David Brooks in How to Fight the Man

If being a travel videographer for an advocacy organisation like World Vision doesn't work out as a career, I wouldn't mind working for Red Bull.

“Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies. Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life … She is clothed with strength and dignity and she laughs without fear of the future. When she speaks, her words are wise and she gives instructions with kindness. She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness … Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last, but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.”

- Proverbs 31:10-31

Everything I love about skateboarding.

"It's not that everything works out "in the end" - because this isn't "the end". This is today."

- Sarah Jarvis in The Unexpected

“O God, I beg two favours from you; let me have them before I die. First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s hold name.”

- Agur son of Jakeh in Proverbs 30:7-9

One day I'll be here (Jan2013?).
Also, booya, Palestinian Christians!

“But now in writing I confess it to you, lord! Read it those who will, and comment how they will, and if they find me to have sinned in weeping for my mother for part of an hour - that mother who was for a while dead to my eyes, who had for many years wept for me so that I might live in your eyes - let them not laugh at me; but if they are persons of generous love, let them weep for my sins against you, the father of all the brethren of your Christ.”

 - St. Augustine in Confessions p.145

I'm really digging the simple elegance of this song right now and, based on the number of covers, it seems that I'm not the only one. Check out some of my favourite ones below:



Walk the Earth
This one has been making the rounds based on the whole weird factor, but I like their music best out of all the covers I've heard.



Ingrid Michaelson
This cover not only makes the list because I love Ingrid Michaelson, but also because the video itself is a standalone piece of art! Without a doubt some great editing!



4FRNT
Finally, if you're into the whole remix thing, this should float your boat.

“And I marveled that I now loved you, and no fantasm in your stead, and yet I was not stable enough to enjoy my god steadily. Instead I was transported to you by your beauty, and then presently torn away from you by my own weight, sinking with grief into these lower things. This weight was carnal habit. But your memory dwelt with me, and I never doubted in the least that there was one for me to cleave to but I was not yet ready to cleave to you firmly. For the body which is corrupted pressed down the soul, and the earthly dwelling weights down the mind, which muses upon many things.”

 - St. Augustine in Confessions p.104

First off, ignore the title of the video.
The guy is an openly gay DJ and this is his interaction with one of the members of Westboro Baptist "Church."
Not how I expected that to go.

Two of my roommates are learning to play guitar and they found out that another one can sing. This is what the lesson turned into.

“And I asked what wickedness was, and I found that it was no substance, but a perversion of the will bent aside from you, god, the supreme substance, toward these lower things, casting away its inmost treasure and becoming bloated with external good.”

 - St. Augustine in Confessions p.103

Bluegrass is so good that the animals just flock to it!

“And it was made clear to me that all things are good even if they are corrupted. They could not be corrupted if they were supremely good; but unless they were good they could not be corrupted. If they were supremely good, they would be incorruptible; if they were not good at all, there would be nothing in them to be corrupted. For corruption harms; but unless it could diminish goodness, it could not harm. Either, then, corruption does not harm - which cannot be - or, as is certain, all that is corrupted is thereby deprived of good. But if they are deprived of all good, they will cease to be … So long as they are, therefore, they are good. Therefore, whatsoever is, is good. Evil, then, the origin of which I had been seeking has no substance at all; for if it were a substance, it would be good. For either it would be an incorruptible substance and so a supreme good, or a corruptible substance, which could not be corrupted unless it were good. I understood, therefore, and it was made clear to me that you made all things good, nor is there any substance at all not made by you. And because all that you made is not equal, each by itself is good, and the sum of all of them is very good, for our god made ‘all things very good.’ “

 - St. Augustine in Confessions p.102

ALL THIS LEG SHAKIN' AIN'T MONEY MAKIN'!

I'm reading St. Augustine's Confessions right now and it's a strange book. As the title suggests, it is the personal confessions of St. Augustine to God. The book is an intensely personal and thorough (sometimes painfully so) account of his life to his saviour.
As I read it, I feel like that creep sitting in the coffee shop overhearing a couple break up; the guy going on about how he still loves her and the girl making up weird and vague excuses. I'm not using this as a metaphor for Augustine and God's relationship, it's just that this happened to me a few weeks back (while reading Confessions actually). Awkward.
All this said, you should read Confessions.

“I entered into my inward soul, guided by you.”

 - St. Augustine in Confessions p.100

This is one of those cases where I find a video, add it to my list of videos to post and, by the time I get around to posting it, it's already made rounds on the internet.
So if you haven't seen this before:
1. Where have you been?
2. Get ready for gorgeous.

If you have seen this before, deal with it because you know that it's beautiful enough to watch again.

“Lord our god, under the shadow of your wings let us hope - defend us and support us. You will bear us up when we are little and even down to our gray hairs you will carry us. For our stability, when it is in you, is stability indeed; but when it is in ourselves, then it is all unstable.”

 - St. Augustine in Confessions p.56

I started watching this video thinking that it was all about electronic music and that it would be the stereotypical life of a musician. I was so incredibly wrong.
This video is the closest visualization I've found of what I want to craft my life to be like; a beautiful wife, wonderful children, a house I built, a garden, and a personal space to make my art. Who knows if it'll ever happen, but I sure aim to try.

I'm not the biggest fan of his music, but you can check it out here and you can read an article on the house he built for his family here. My favourite quote: "We have a no contractor rule. If we can't do it ourself than we don't do it."

“Thanks be to you, my joy, my pride, my confidence, my god - thanks be to you for your gifts; but I ask you to preserve them in me. For thus will you preserve me; and those things which you have given me shall be developed and perfected, and I myself shall be with you, for from you is my being.”

 - St. Augustine in Confessions p.18

How I learned to cook.

Unball the fist of fury
Forgive the offender's deed
Raise your eyes to heaven
Let Father set you free.

This is a video I made promoting the Life Change class at my church, Northridge. While I can think of a lot of ways to make it better, I'm pretty proud of it considering it went from a concept to a film in less than a week! Not proud enough to upload it to my vimeo, but expect great things to come.

Unrelated note: This blog has officially had over 10,000 views since I started it. I know a ton of websites get 10k views in a day, but I feel like it's a milestone of sorts.

"Thus I exchanged with those about me the verbal signs by which we express our wishes and advanced deeper into the stormy fellowship of human life, depending all the while upon the authority of my parents and the behest of my elders."

- St. Augustine in Confessions p. 9

Eight year old Juliet's first hardcore song.
Definitely worth the watch no matter what your opinion on hardcore is! So good!

Birds are dumb, but this is cool.

"What's friendship, when all's done, but the giving and taking of wounds?"

- Frederick Buechner

"What is the most brutal reality of life? It’s this: It’s not about us. It’s not about you, and it’s not about me. If we don’t get laid or paid, it goes on in all it’s brutal beauty."

- Don Miller in Embracing the Sweet, Brutal Realty of Life

To my future wife: expect something like this at our wedding.

"It sometimes happens that what you feel is not returned for one reason or another -- but that does not make your (love) less valuable and good."

- John Steinbeck on Falling in Love: A 1958 Letter

I'll never be able to dance like this.

"Girls have a way of knowing or feeling what you feel, but they usually like to hear it also."

- John Steinbeck on Falling in Love: A 1958 Letter

I posted this a long time ago and just re-watched it.
I'm absolutely in love withe grittiness of it.

In 1958, John Steinbeck responded to a letter that his son wrote admitting that he had fallen in love with a girl at boarding school. I'll be posting a few of my favourite excerpts from it here over the next few days, but if you can't wait, the whole letter is linked at the bottom of this post.

"First -- if you are in love -- that's a good thing -- that's about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don't let anyone make it small or light to you.
Second -- There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you -- of kindness and consideration and respect -- not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak but the second can release in you strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom you didn't know you had."

- John Steinbeck on Falling in Love: A 1958 Letter

This is a really cool approach to extreme sports filming.
Also, check out the trick at 0:44.

"Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life."

- Proverbs 4:23

"If only I had an enemy bigger than my apathy, I could've won."

- Mumford and Sons in I Gave You All (song)

This is made by the same guys who made the video I posted last Friday, but even better!
I'm really digging Australia at the moment.

A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely."

- Roald Dahl

I want to make their videos.
I can do better!

“Remember that there are only three kinds of things anyone need ever do. (1) Things we ought to do (2) Things we’ve got to do (3) Things we like doing. I say this because some people seem to spend so much of their time doing things for none of the three reasons, things like reading books they don’t like because other people read them. Things you ought to do are things like doing one’s school work or being nice to people. Things one has to do are things like dressing and undressing, or household shopping. Things one likes doing — but of course I don’t know what you like. Perhaps you’ll write and tell me one day.”

- C. S. Lewis, in a letter to Sarah, his godchild, on 3 April 1949

Can it be summer again soon?

"The easiest way to become invisible is to wear a day-glo vest and carry a tiny transistor radio playing Heart FM very loudly. If questioned about the legitimacy of your painting simply complain about the hourly rate."

- Banksy in Banksy: Wall and Piece p.237

Burning Man and Dr. Seuss mash up.

"Any advertisment in public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It belongs to you. It's yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head."

 - Banksy in Banksy: Wall and Piece p.196

I can't embed for some reason, but here's the link for the interview with Where the Wild Things Are author & illustrator, Maurice Sendak. Check out the quote excerpt after the break to be enticed!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXAjkLUv7dY

"People said, 'Why don't you do Wild Things 2? Wild Things 1 was such a success.'
Go to hell. Go. to. hell. I'm not a whore. I don't do those things."

"After sticking up the picture (of a discount soup can in the museum of modern art in new york city) I took five minutes to watch what happened next. A sea of people walked up, stared and moved on looking confused and slightly cheated. I felt like a true modern artist."

- Banksy in Banksy: Wall and Piece p.179

My guide: You could paint here - there are no guards in the watch towers, they do not come until the winter.
Me: (Returning to the car after painting for 25 minutes) What's so funny?
Guide: (Laughing hysterically) Of course the guards are in the towers, they have the snipers with the walkie-talkies."

- Banksy in Banksy: Wall and Piece p.140

Just all around gorgeous.

Only when the last tree
Has been cut down
And the last river
Has dried to a trickle
Will man finally realise
That we cannot eat money
And reciting old proverbs
Makes you sound like a twat

 - Banksy in Banksy: Wall and Piece p.121

I would LOVE to be able to play guitar like this one day!

"I'd been painting rats for three years before someone said 'that's clever it's an anagram of art' and I had to pretend I'd known that all along."

- Banksy in Banksy: Wall and Piece p.104

12 minutes of great!

"Imagine a city where graffitti wasn't illegal, a city where everybody could draw wherever they liked. Where every street was awash with a million colours and little phrases. Where standing at a bus stop was never boring. A city that felt like a party where everyone was invited, not just the estate agents and barons of big business."

- Banksy in Banksy: Wall and Piece p.97

I want to paint like this someday.

"There’s no word in the Icelandic language for “please,” the Prime Minister’s number is in the phone book (listed, like everyone else’s, by first name), 20% of the population believes that elves exist, there are more broadband internet connections in Iceland than anywhere else in the world (per capita), 80% of the country’s power comes from renewable sources, and earthquakes happen every day."

- 10 Reasons to Visit Iceland

Love Poem

Beyond watching eyes
With sweet and tender kisses
Our souls reached out to each other
In breathless wonder

And when I awoke
From a vast and smiling peace
I found you bathed in morning light
Quietly studying
All the messages no my phone

- Banksy in Banksy: Wall and Piece p.77

Take some time and relax in this new year.