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Improv Everywhere - Guerrilla Handbell Strikeforce

Very cool stuff from Improv Everywhere - love the expression on the volunteer for salvation army as more & more ringers keep joining the force.  Beautiful . . . Enjoy:

 

Give More - Buy Less . . . Advent Conspiracy

I'm a fan . . . watch & live a little differently this season:

What's Your Art? III (Liu Bolin is the Invisible Man)

According to this article artist Liu Bolin paints himself into the background of urban cityscapes because of the dehumanizing effects of modern society.  So rather than paint on paper canvases to portray his disaffection & disconnection with 21st century urban contexts Liu Bolin will literally spend up to 10 hours painting himself (or having his assistants paint him) into the background of certain urban scenes.  At once becoming invisible to passersby while becoming a very part of the dehumanization he is protesting.

In the above-linked article Liu Bolin said: "'Some people call me the invisible man, but for me it's what is not seen in a picture which is really what tells the story.

'After graduating from school I couldn't find suitable work and I felt there was no place for me in society.

'I experienced the dark side of society, without social relations, and had a feeling that no one cared about me, I felt myself unnecessary in this world.

'From that time, my attitude turned from dependence into revolting against the system.'  

Liu said he was further pushed on with his work when the Chinese authorities shut down his art studio in Beijing in 2005.

He said: 'At that time, contemporary art was in quick development in Beijing, but the government decided it did not want artists like us to gather and live together."

In some ways I suppose Liu Bolin is telling us all, "I dare you to notice me.  And I'm going to make it hard for you to notice me.  But if on rare occasion you do notice me - you will not be able to ignore me."

And I suppose this is what all true art does.  It does not just serve the individual - rather it invites and demands us to twist our heads & see our place in this universe all over again. 

What is your art?  And what is keeping you from it?

 

 

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What's Your Art? II (A Skate Escalation - Kilian Martin & Brett Novak & Patrick Watson)

Art is canvas & paint.  Art is brush & pen.  Art is music & movement.  

The question we need to ask is what is my particular canvas?  What brush do I work with best?  And what music do I really move to - deeply & intimately. Or rather - what is the thing I do that I lose myself in entirely? That I get so far caught up into the "flow" & "zone" of this activity that hours become seconds & days become mere hours?

My daughter who is seven & can't help but move her legs & dance puts it this way - "I love to dance - I just have a song in my feet & it has to come out."

Beautiful.

And so then I must ask myself - what is the song in my feet that just has to come out?  And why I am so incessant at keeping that song unsung? 

The point is - we all have a song in our feet.  We've been to the promised land of having lost ourselves in something at some point in our living.  The greatest gift is finding our way back there.  To move out of the house of the mundane & to rhythm into the house of our art - our deepest calling.  

And there we must relentlessly guard the sacredness of that living.  This is not selfish. It is the unfolding of ourselves - of who we were meant to become.  And in that unfolding there exists great renewal not only for ourselves but for the universe at large.

God didn't make pawns - God made giants in the breath of love.  We simply need to wake up from our dogmatic slumber of the routine & the small. 

But here's the catch.  You will not get an official invitation in your inbox or mailbox asking you to risk into your art.  In fact the opposite is true: you'll receive a hundred invitations a day to live into the quick & the easy - and it's all junk mail.

Rather the great grand invitation from the King is inside of you.  And a response is inevitable.  You can deny it & give up the sacredness of your life.  You can accept it & embrace a journey that will lead into dark valleys & grand peaks.  Or you can ignore it (which I think many people do -religious & non-religious folk included) - and live reluctantly in the land of bitterness & regret.

The short films below are a meditation of sorts.  Initially we may be tempted to think that the only artist is the skater - indeed the art is in the choreography & power of the skating - but it is also exists in the colors & the shadows & angles of the film that the director captures, & it is in the music that underscores the depth & intimacy of the skater & his particular canvas.  Thanks to Dustin for giving me a heads up on these videos & cheers & blessings to him as he lives into his art in Antarctica starting tomorrow.

 

Homeless Veteran's Choir on America's Got Talent . . . It is worth the watch.

Okay . . . so I'm not a big fan of the tube that sucks our time & presence away from one another but this was sent to me today & I thought it powerful & beautiful enough to post.

Over the last year I've been meeting with & befriending a lot of homeless men & women - many of whom are veterans.  Many are addicts of one kind or another, some suffer from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), some have other mental diseases that completely sideline them into depression & eventual suicide attempts, and most all of them suffer from feelings & thoughts of utter unworthiness & guilt for past actions.

But when we enter into presence with one another as equals - recognizing the image of God in one another (whether we use those words or not) there is often a small shift in how we begin seeing the toothless, sun leathered skin men & women before us.  The question we must ask ourselves in the end - do we ultimately view strangers (especially the unattractive ones) as potential threats to our being & society or as potential allies & friends in a universe awash in love?

More thoughts on the homeless & marginal people later.  Be upended by this choir.

Cool Thoughts on the Marshmallow Challenge from Tom Wujec

And of course - thanks Ted.com