First, for no particular reason, here’s a totally random photo from my last trip to Oklahoma. I have a lot of photos. Might as well toss some out there from time to time.

OK, so, what’s on my mind today?

Well, I’ve had a semi-crappy week and I’m stressed out, so I’ve been watching this awesome interactive music video a lot. It’s a guaranteed stress reducer. Really, go watch it. Use your cursor to move the line. The song is lovely, too. (Worth the wait for it to load, I promise.)

***

Every now and then I get to write an article that makes me very happy. This article, in Southwest Spirit magazine, about the benefits of nostalgia, is among those.

***

Oh hey, check out the polite umbrella.

***

Speaking of nostalgia, this blog of photos of NYC in the 1970s (my NYC) moves me to tears. Look how little the skyline is!

***

And finally, some interesting research:

Here’s research into our friendship networks—evidently, although the size of our networks tend to stay stable, the contents change about every seven years, when we cut and replace half the people Hm. Having undergone a great deal of churn in my friendships recently, this makes perfect sense to me. I’m sure proximity and other environmental factors have a lot to do with friendship turnover, but it’s also a matter of my ongoing re-evaluation of what I need, want and don’t want in my relationships. Also, sometimes I really piss people off. And sometimes, I don’t care when I do.

***

Expanding further on the ever-fascinating introversion theme, here’s research into the social brain, although I kind of resent the way this blogger divides us into “socialites” and “curmudgeons.” Oh, I suppose I’ve called myself a curmudgeon, but it does have negative implications and I contend that there is nothing wrong with liking solitude.

***

And finally, research into a subject I have gone back and forth on a thousand times: couples staying together for the kids, something I’ve seen my parent friends wrestle with. It sounds right, it sounds wrong, it sounds right, it sounds wrong. I don’t know. These researchers say that if the marriage is truly contentious—lots of fighting—kids tend to drink, smoke and do poorly in school by adolescence. I suppose that’s kind of a no-brainer. I wonder, though, about homes with unspoken tensions.

Have a nice weekend. I plan to drink heavily.

Labels: nostalgia, photography, psychology, research, video, writing

Dozens of people break into choreographed dance at Antwerp's Central Station. You must smile.

Labels: travel, video

I’ve never been to Mardi Gras in New Orleans and it sounds like hell to me. Crowds of drunken people who have thrown off inhibitions is not my idea of a good time, to understate the case.

But I went to my very first Mardi Gras parade on Sunday and it suffered the opposite problem. It was “family friendly.” And you know that can’t be good for Mardi Gras.

I’m guessing that family-friendly distinction is why, although much of Oak Cliff is considered the gayborhood, flamboyance was in very short supply. So was music. Not so much as a high school marching band. The Libertarian float had a pounding disco beat, but it came and went so fast. There was no dancing in the streets of Oak Cliff for this.

With all due respect to the monumental volunteer effort required for any community event, this parade bore no resemblance to the festive debauchery that is synonymous with Mardi Gras. It barely resembled a parade. The highlight for me was a float from a local sports bar, Alley Oops, which managed to misspell its name on its sign. How does such a thing happen?

I watched the parade with friends and we all did our very best to have fun, helped by high-octane margaritas. Here, along with some casual tipsy commentary, is a condensed two-and-a-half dull minutes of what actually took about 30 dull minutes to unfold. But for some reason, the very dullness of the whole thing makes me laugh. Maybe you had to be there, but the beaded cop just about does me in. And the Segways. God help us, the Segways...

What do we learn from this? Perhaps that, like Las Vegas, Mardi Gras is not meant to be family friendly.

Labels: dallas, mardi gras, video

Tom and I spent last night at the Hotel Palomar, here in Dallas, for a story. On the desk, along with a note pad, the hotel directory, and some snacks, was this poor fishy, trapped in a tiny vase--bored, restless, pleading for freedom with his little fish eyes. Sometimes he would look at the wall, sometimes he would look at the bed, sometimes he would float to the top of the water and with his little fish lips, silently beg for mercy.

We went to sleep, there he was. We woke up, there he was. Nothing to do, nowhere to go. We found it horribly depressing. We should have brought him home, bought him a decent-size tank and some friends.

Poor little fishy.

Labels: dallas, hotels, texas, travel, video

How’s everybody holding up with this new economy? Kinda sucky, eh? I’m accepting work I would have turned down a year ago. I figure that’s what Obama is asking when he urges sacrifices and all pulling together. Besides, any checks are good checks, and perhaps I can help a few publications survive. I just hope they give me lots of love back when things turn around.

Anyhoo, it’s been a long time since we’ve had any flotsam so let’s get down.

I got this link from my friend Meryl and sent it on to Ms Krit who said, “It has now been proven that---without any doubt---the devil invented the internet.”

Ms Krit sent me this link to a Dutch catalog. Just watch. Brilliant.

Some Valentine’s Day flotsam:

Tom cooked his favorite food last night, Brussels sprouts, and our house smelled of ‘em all night. For the record, this is not an aphrodisiac. However, these foods evidently are.

If you’re planning a gift of a great experience for your sweetie, be sure you know what you’re doing. Research shows that emotions elicited by experiences, bad or good, “stay with us” longer than those from material purchases. So if the experience goes well (dinner, a trip, that sort of things) you will generate lots of happiness for a long time to come. But if things go badly, you’re gonna wish you went with flowers and chocolate.

Or perhaps a love poem.Here are some tips on writing one.

Did she like the poem? Hard to tell. Maybe you should have played some music while you read it to her.

And now, for your viewing pleasure...

I rarely watch videos that are more than a minute or two long, but this parade of stars from the CBS 50th Anniversary special in 1978 had me mesmerized.



And finally, two kid videos that made me laugh and laugh and laugh. And laugh. You will too. Guaranteed.

Labels: flotsam, love, relationships, Valentine's Day, video

Oh you lucky, lucky people. Santa Tom brought me a Flip video camera, which means lots of video fun ahead. Or maybe just a little video fun ahead. We'll see.

Primitive as this is, here we have a short video from my early filmmaking career--back in December 2008.

My favorite part is the "atta boy." I said it but I didn't really mean it.

Labels: dogs, jack, video

No need to watch the whole video. The best bit is less than a minute in.

Labels: video

They keep raising the bar.

Labels: art, travel, video

Life, it is hard. Sleep often.



Thanks Ms. Krit.

Labels: humor, video

Thanks to my friends at the United Methodist Reporter for leading me to this.

You must look. Yes, you must.

Labels: humor, video

Brilliant. Sound necessary. (It's short.)

Labels: advertising, music, video, viral marketing