Dare You to Move

As this time of year draws near, lots of emotions float around and the feeling in the air causes me to reflect on glimmerings of various spiritual awakenings I've had. Some ripples in the family circus the past few days, making good progress on my course, dealing with the daily adventures, and overall looking forward to lots of exciting travels and visits this year.

But amidst all of this, as I said before, I was inspired by seeing various movie images in my head while getting lost in my iPod-world, and just had to take advantage of my little 'mini-break' over Easter Weekend to get this creative impulse out of my system. It's been awhile since I've made one of these, so it's long overdue.

I present to you a music video I edited over the weekend, inspired by lyrics which I realized reflect the experience of the Hero's Journey and the spiritual thread that runs through so many epic movies. Soak in how the stories weave with the words and your own journey, and if you're stuck in something or "refusing the call"...I dare you to move. ;)

A Flurry of Activity

So lots of stuff going on these daze...and yes I mis-spelled that word on purpose, because I've been in a bit of one due to the time change. It always screws up my eek-wilib-rium. My evenings as of late have been spent starting to finally write content for my online stop-motion course. I have the first module now pretty much complete and have started on the second one. It's been fun looking through my stop-motion film collection seeking out clips that help illustrate my points. Tonight I was selecting moments from Clash of the Titans (specifically Medusa and Calibos' tail movements) to illustrate the wave principle in action. Fun eh?

"Calm down, spaz! I'm going to the Clash of the Titans con, dressed up as Calibos, remember?"

Anyway, while waiting for the magic bus to take me home, I've also been inspired anew by one of my favorite songs coming on to my ipod. I've repeated it over and over again, getting lost in it, visualizing things and writing down notes for using it on a secret project which shall remain a secret for now, because it's too awesome to leak. And since Jay has shown me how to embed songs into my blog, you get to be graced with it in the meantime. This song feeds my soul...hope it does something for you.



This evening, Ariel got to chat with her Grammy in Michigan over the magic webcam through MSN. I've been wanting to get this set up for a long time, so I was really thrilled to finally get it working.



As Mom/Grammy observed, Ariel got quite engrossed in creating some abstract art at my animation table. Once she had a few pages on top of each other, I showed her how to flip the drawings and she caught on right away. I am so proud of my little animator!

I Heart YouTube

YouTube is like the best thing ever. I've been wanting to hear this song again for years...it's a favorite of mine & Jay's and we used to sing it all the time to her dog Lucas.



Also recently I've discovered somebody has been posting clips from Jim Henson's memorial service, which I have always wanted to see. There is footage with the Muppet performers singing Jim's favorite songs, and of Big Bird singing 'Bein Green' (Carroll Spinney fights hard to get the song out through his tears...he's so emotional he even gets some of the lyrics wrong.) Frank Oz is also visibly emotional...he keeps leaning his head back and smiling as if he is sucking in as many good memories of his best friend as he possibly can, just to keep from breaking down.

This one was just recently added much to my delight. It's one of my all-time favorite songs from the Muppet library (or favorite songs, period), 'When the River Meets the Sea' sung by the best singers to do it justice, Jerry Nelson and Louise Gold. (I want this song at my memorial too, as it means alot to me, and the lyrics are a beautiful reflection on the cycle & mystery of life and death).



To see the rest of the clips, check out this fellow's account here, and I challenge you not to shed a tear! I hope more material gets posted, as this is such a loving tribute during a time of sudden shock for the Henson family. I remember I was cleaning out my closet when my mom told me the news that Jim had died, and I think I just sat there for about an hour afterwards. I couldn't believe it. Jim Henson's work has always been such a huge part of my life, and he left us way too soon.

Across the Universe

Finally saw Across the Universe this weekend and really enjoyed it (especially the incredible music and visuals), and posted my deep thoughts surrounding its significance on Hollywood Jesus...