Goodbye 2008! (a video retrospective)

in connect, etc., musings by faryl on December 31st, 20086 Comments

As the year ends, I thought I’d share my three favorite videos from the past year. Perhaps a bit cliche, but each one gives me the warm fuzzies – so I share that with you!

The Zaklin Family celebrating New Year's 2000 - Memories!

Where The Hell Is Matt?
I love this one because Matt Harding just seems like such a happy guy, I can’t help but be stoked for him being able to dance around the world (even though in reality I’m insanely jealous and wish that were me). What I really love about this video is how, no matter where in the H-E-double-hockey-sticks Matt is, be it Papua, New Guinea or Seattle, Washington, across all cultural boundaries: people dance. And it makes them happy.Which makes me feel the world’s a smaller place.

It brings to mind Wayne Dyer’s explanation of “universe” as “uni” meaning “one” and “verse” meaning “song“. One Song. And we’re all dancing to it.

Christian the Lion
If you know me, you know I am a sucker for anything with animals. And this one, about a reunion between two men and a lion just slays me. That moment of recognition, when Christian sees his former owners – well, you need to watch it for yourself.

You’d think the Whitney Houston soundtrack would somehow detract from this, but the thick layer of sap it adds manages to somehow intensify the “AWWWW” factor. (and not in an “AWWWWW, why’d they’d have to add that Whitney Houston song!” kind of way, mind you!). Hey – even Matt Lauer got misty-eyed watching this one!

The Last Lecture
This one is a bit more of a time investment. Over an hour long, but worth it. A lecture on living by someone who had been told he was dying, its poignancy lies in its speaker’s optimism and upbeat outlook on life. The speaker, Randy Pausch, was included in Time Magazine’s list of 100 Most Influential People in 2008. When he passed away, he left behind this message about “following your dreams, dealing with the ones that don’t come true and having fun along the way”¹.

Bonus video
It’s not quite midnight in California, but here’s an early New Year’s kiss for you all!

I wish you all a wonderful New Year!

May 2009 be filled with love, laughter and music.

Best wishes, Faryl

¹ from Heros & Pioneers: Randy Pausch, by Katie Couric

Link to this page

Copy the code below to your web site.

Get LinkToThisPage from the Creative Real Estate Investing Guide.

About the author

I love technology, pop culture, animals & ice cream. I'm firmly against mayonnaise, math & meat.

Responses to “Goodbye 2008! (a video retrospective)”

Stephen Rothman January.01.2009 @ 9:43 am
Where the Hell is Matt was one of my favorites of the year too. Did you know that it was sponsored by Stride Gum? Wrote a post about "Matt" in that context if you're interested at http://socialmediasoapbox.wordpress.com/2008/07/2...
faryl January.01.2009 @ 10:05 am
Hi Stephen! I did know it was sponsored by Stride & LOVE that they did that. To be honest, I've watched the video two more times since posting it here!

I'm going to check out your post right now – thanks so much for stopping by & sharing it!
craftisan January.01.2009 @ 3:22 am
I LOVE the vid about Christian… saw it for the first time a few weeks ago and found it very moving. Made me tear up… kinda drives home the message that animals DO remember!

craftisan's Recent post…null
Lynne January.01.2009 @ 9:54 am
Great! Grrrrrreat! Great!
faryl January.01.2009 @ 9:08 am
Totally! I tear up every time. My fella was shaking his head when I wrote this post – since I rewatched the video a few times in the process!
faryl January.01.2009 @ 9:13 am
Glad you liked it! Thanks for taking the time to comment too!