This is almost as good as the little girl on YouTube who tells the story of Star Wars to her father. That one's much cuter, but the animation in this one is classic.
Found via BoingBoing.
Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.
A collection of about 50 children opening up their Christmas (or other holiday) presents only to be surprised by getting a Nintendo Wii under the wrapping paper. Some laugh, some cry, some faint, but most go crazy and scream.
I saw some tweets last week about the season premier of Flight of the Conchords, but kept forgetting to check it out. So, better late than never, in case you haven't seen it...
Bret and Jemaine are back and finally so is The Flight of the Conchords. Sorry guys, the video only works in the US. We all want the WHOLE world to be able to watch Flight of the Conchords, but to be honest, legally we only have rights to stream the video in the US. But there will be other opportunities internationally to watch it. HBO.com Canada (http://hbocanada.com/) will be streaming the premiere episode of Flight of the Conchords Season 2 ... starting on Tuesday December 23. For other international FOTC fans please check your local providers for additional details regarding when the episode will be broadcast in your area.
575 Castro St. from FilmInFocus on Vimeo.
575 Castro St. is a simple, beautifully shot short film from the Focus Film crew Jenni Olson on the set of MILK. In 2008, the Castro Camera Store, where Harvey Milk lived and worked in the late 1970's, was recreated at the same address for Gus Van Sant's film MILK.
For me, the joy of my films is found in the poetry of the static image — in the experience of time passing on film, undistracted by plot, actors, dialogue and other narrative conventions. An internal drama is evoked in the sensitivities of each viewer who is open to the subtleties of these mundane shots that are almost bereft of movement and sound. So quiet, so still. All the better to showcase the range of emotions evoked by Harvey Milk’s words.
The audio track is an edited down version of the 13-minute audio-cassette that Harvey Milk recorded in his camera shop on the evening of Friday, November 18, 1977 (a few weeks after his election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors which made him the first openly gay elected official in America). Labeled simply: “In-Case” the tape was to be played, “in the event of my death by assassination.”
I can't say it any better than Perez Hilton did (never thought I'd type those words!).
The Gays Doing What They Do Best
Fighting inequality and homophobia with….song and dance!
Click here to watch Prop 8, The Musical!, featuring an all-star cast that includes Margaret Cho, Andy Richter, Maya Rudolph, John C. Reilly, Allison Janney, Kathy Najimy, Rashida Jones, Sarah Chalke, Jack Black, Neil Patrick Harris and Marc Shaiman.
Movember (the month formerly known as November) is a charity event held during November each year.
At the start of Movember guys register with a clean shaven face. The Movember participants, known as Mo Bros, then have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their Mo (Australian slang for moustache), raising money and awareness along the way for men's health and the fight against prostate cancer.
My latest post at /Ground -- Briefing 2.0?
The U.S. Department of State is surprisingly hip to all this "2.0" jazz... On October 31, McCormack held the department's first "Briefing 2.0" where he answered ten questions that were submitted via YouTube and two questions that were submitted via the Dipnote blog.
First of all, let me say THANK YOU to the 43 people who donated $2655 to No On Prop 8 since my blog post on 10/14. As soon as I follow up with you all via email, I hope to put together a post listing your names and giving you the thanks you deserve.
We were close. But unfortunately, surprisingly low voter turnout (50% compared with 64% nationally)* and the ugly fear that children would suddenly be taught about homosexuality in the classroom created the perfect storm for this hateful thing to pass. Edited to add: turns out low voter turnout is no excuse. CA was in line with the rest of the country at around 64%. However, surprisingly high turnout of other minority groups is a popular scapegoat...
I decided not to pay much attention to the returns regarding Prop 8 Tuesday night -- fearing the worst after the kerfuffle on TechCrunch on Monday (search that page for "hillary" and you'll see what I mean) -- choosing instead to get totally swept up in the drama, emotion, and history of electing our first African-American President. It was an amazing night. I laughed, I cried, I hooted and hollered, and I got a bit drunk. :)
However, Wednesday and Thursday were a different story. I still welled up a couple times when I saw all the "Yes, He Did" headlines, but the joy was tempered with a deep and profound hurt. I'm sad. At In-N-Out Burger last night I was putting little green checkmarks and red Xs over peoples heads: Do you think I'm disgusting? How about you? I'm pissed. I've had some of the same hateful thoughts that I'm sure people have had about me. And it stings that there's so much activity in the wake of Prop 8's passage. Where was this urgency last week? Why were we all so complacent, so sure that there was "no way in hell" it could succeed?
But all that will pass. Even just 24 hours later I'm again full of hope, and thankful that I live in a place like San Francisco and am surrounded by friends and family and coworkers that feel the need and take the time to reach out and say, "You are not alone." The vigil last night and the march through San Francisco tonight were enough to put a smile back on my face, and fill me not only with hope, but with the will to fight.
And so, I give you my latest blog comment. Some background: I was searching twitter for "Prop 8" and ended up clicking through to a lot of the links. I felt that this post deserved a response -- "Is there a downside to Prop 8?"
Hi there. I stumbled across your post via twitter, and thought I'd take a minute to reply to a few things.
First off (so you know where I'm coming from), I'm gay and legally married thanks to the window of opportunity between the Supreme Court decision and the passage of Prop 8.
I am not going to try to convince you that I'm just as normal as you because I know that's a dead end. I will also refrain from pointing out the obvious biblical passages that fundamentalists choose to ignore because they acknowledge that they make no sense in today's society. Instead, I'll try to point out a couple of flaws in your argument.
Even if I weren't a Christian, I would be opposed to the notion that homosexuality might be taught in schools.
Fact: Not one word in Prop 8 mentions education. And no child can be forced, against the will of their parents, to be taught anything about health and family issues at school. California law prohibits it.
California’s top educators including Superintendent of Schools Jack O’Connell and California Teachers all agree: Prop 8 has nothing to do with education and the idea that "homosexuality might be taught in schools" is ridiculous.
Also, it wasn't right for a minority to push their agenda on the majority.
I don't quite understand what agenda you mean. The proponents of Prop 8 were the one with the agenda. We simply wanted people to vote no -- to say no to a bill that would use state law to single out one group of Californians to be treated differently. No matter what your faith, equality under the law is a fundamental constitutional guarantee.
Would you have supported a bill that erased the right to marry for atheists? For Muslims? For African-Americans? After all, it was just a short 40 years ago that it was illegal for whites and blacks to marry -- the common thought was that interracial relationships were deviant, unnatural and disgusting.
Again, I realize that you and I fundamentally disagree. But I simply ask you to think about what has happened:
Just over half of Californians who went to the polls on Tuesday (which represent less than half of all Californians) were able to amend the Constitution and strip away rights from a tiny minority. It doesn't matter if homosexuality is a "choice;" the CA Supreme Court has designated us a suspect class (groups which meet a series of criteria suggesting they are likely the subject of discrimination) just like the federal Supreme Court recognizes race, national origin, religion, and alienage. Prop 8 is discriminatory at its very core, and I hope that you can take a step back and recognize that.
EqualityCamp SF was a huge success. Thanks to all who participated. Stay tuned for EqCamp OAK!
