“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.