Once more, I have a cavalcade of video goodness to offer you today, culminating in today’s vid from moi.
I’m telling you, these videos just take longer to make each time. Video is hard work, yo!
But each one is just a little better than the last. We will see how they look when I have done 60.
On with the show. Our first vid is this amazing TED talk by the Queen Of All Gamer Chicks, Jane Mcgonigal.
Isn’t she cool? Her work in the field of expanding the ways in which gaming interacts with real life is absolutely amazing, and there is a lot of good advice backed by good science in there.
But what I want to talk about is her incredibly brutal story. To be in a horrific accident is one thing. But to be told you can’t think for three months… I would have killed myself. Or at the very least, I would have gone to the doctor and said “Listen. Either you put me in a medically induced coma for three months, or I am going to go walk directly into traffic. ”
In fact, when I was watching that and how she talked about her despair, I realized that it is possible that all mammals have an instinct to respond to long-term intractable pain with suicide.
Like an animal that crawls away to die when it gets too old, we have an instinct to go away and die when we just cannot endure the pain any longer.
It’s a very depressing thought, and I am not recommending suicide to anyone. But it would explain how such a seemingly unnatural and counter-evolutionary practice as suicide is even possible in human beings.
I know that my own pain from depression has brought me face to face with this instinct many times in the past. Perhaps it is related to our desire for freedom. We want to GET OUT.
Next up, we have another Ellen clip of Ellen being the awesome Ellen that she is.
I believe it has been scientifically proven that Ellen Degeneres is composed entirely of awesomeness. She is awesome on a subatomic level. You look at the atoms of her body and they are all cute little blonde atoms dancing to soul music.
I had no idea that her girlfriend was killed when she was just 19 years old. (What is it with me and finding women with extraordinarily tragic yet inspiring biographies lately?).
I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to lose your lover and not be able to tell anyone exactly why you are so upset. They think that, at most, you lost a close friend, and it was so much more than that. I think she must have been very strong to make it through that and keep on trying things until she found the right path for herself.
It really makes me realize just how limiting being afraid to try things can be. You might have to try a dozen or two things before you find what fits you best.
But you will never find that perfect fit if you are afraid to even try.
Next up, an Australian general lays the almighty smack down about how women are treating in the military.
Pretty damned good, especially for someone who is not a professional public communicator. With a little punching up, I could see that being a great speech for Tommy Lee Jones or Samuel L. Jackson to deliver.
Just imagine TLJ saying “If you think that I just might be talking about your and your friends, soldier, then you have exactly three options : get right, get out, or get busted. There is no fourth option.”
Man, that would be awesome. Almost makes me want to write a movie on the subject just so I can write that speech for it.
Oh what the hell, it isn’t video, but I will include this too.
Warning, it is quite naughty in a way that is not immediately obvious to the casual viewer.
It is the results of a woman trying to use a penis shaped cake pan in non-penis ways.
It is a hilarious confection of creativity, carbs, and completely immature humour. I suggest you share it with the hip ladies in your life, they are bound to find it hilarious to the extreme.
My favorite is definitely the elephant.
Anyhow, now, for my own vid, which is the result of around four hours of creative labour, believe it or not. Not that you can tell.
I think the next step may be trying to bring in a little wardrobe to the process in order to make each list entry a little more distinct.
At the very least, I should put a freaking shirt on. I look naked. I’m not, I swear!
It’s just that big sweaty fat guys don’t wear shirts in the middle of the day in the summer if we can possibly get away with it.
We need all the exposed surface area radiating heat that we can get.
Doubt I will get into makeup, though, at least until my scripts because a lot more elaborate. I have worn makeup a half dozen times or so for stage productions and I hated it every time.
All that goop on your skin making it sticky and oily, which are two sensations I loathe, and you are not allowed to do anything about it because you will mess up your makeup.
So having something annoying my skin and then telling me I dare not touch said skin is like a form of torture to me. I would need a pretty strong incentive to go there again.
Like loads of money, for instance.
Oh, and just a reminder : if you like what you see in my videos, please click the big thumbs-up Like button on it on YouTube, and share it with all your friends.
That would be the best kind of applause that a writer/performer like me could get.
See you tomorrow, folks!