Indie Loves to Talk!

This girl loves to talk! Don't mind the title screen for the first minute of the video, I didn't know it would be there that long!!

Here's another one.

And make sure you check out my YouTube channel every once in a while to find more videos!

Cheers!
-marc

If

My brother had this hanging on his wall growing up. I love this poem and wanted to share!

If - Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools;
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!




If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;



If you can make one heap of all your winnings



If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Black, White, Yellow, Red ... Racism still exists?

I hang out with a 2 1/2 year old and a 9 month old all day. I guess I find it hard to believe that evil still exists outside our little bubble. I find it harder to specify that evil into categories like racism, or hate. But really? A kid, just a kid, minding his own business was gunned down because of the color of his skin?

I was taking my wife to work today and thinking about this. I have several multi-colored friends, and I was wondering how they must feel about this. How scary to think you could be killed for just walking down the street. I mean, I know it could happen to me too if I was in the wrong part of the world, but I'm thinking United States here for the moment.

When I got home I saw a friend/client post this on Facebook:

Sad. WTF people? Let's change this aspect of our world. My girls don't see people differently for such a silly concept like skin color. Their generation could grow up not knowing racism. Can we make that happen? At least?

Cheers,
-marc

I fear...

Having kids has made me more aware of the world around me. I fear what is happening, as I assume all fathers of all time have feared.

I'm watching #Occupy videos on YouTube of people getting arrested for practically nothing. I'm hearing of laws being passed, such as the NDAA Law passed on December 31st, 2011. I'm reading of bloggers being shut down by big government and it scares the shit out of me.

What am I going to tell my children? How will I explain this world to them, when they understand? When will I begin? My oldest is almost 2 and a half ... how do I tell her to speak her mind ... but only when it's acceptable...

I dunno ... maybe this half of bottle of wine isn't helping situations ... but John Stewart's Daily Show isn't funny anymore ... it's sad. I can't laugh at the mockery of government we have in America. But anywhere else isn't any better.

I guess I'll just bunker down in my little hole, raise my family the best I can, explain it to them as best I can, and hope for the best. I've lost hope that anything can change.

What do you think? 

History ... Live. OWS

www.ustream.com/theother99

Last night I got sucked into history.

Regardless of your views on the whole Occupy Wall Street ordeal, technology has made our world one crazy fast paced world.

Last night via Google+ I was directed to a Live Stream on livestream.com where NYPD were evacuating OWS Protestors from Zuccotti Park in NYC. Stream after stream started to pop up as police officers arrested peaceful protestors and started trashing tents, supplies, food and cleaning the park. One stream was coming from what was called "the Kitchen" in the middle of the park and as the protestors were chanting tear gas flied in and the stream went dead. Other streams started going down and people in the chat rooms wondered if the NYPD was interfering with the channels by firebombing (sending a lot of traffic to the sites). I believe people's batteries started to die, or they got arrested and the cops turned off their phones. It was crazy to watch and participate live via social networks, it was about 2:00 am California time but people were still going strong in NYC. Cops everywhere, protestors getting tired, real conversations being broadcasted live for the world to see. Thousands of people were jumping from livestream to livestream as #OWS was trending on Twitter. It was fascinating.

Marcus Yam for The New York Times

When I woke up this morning, I turned on the computer (luckily in the comfort of my warm home) and the streams were back up. People have not slept. This one "Occupier" has been streaming for almost 12 hours. People have brought him batteries to keep his 4g livestream going. Strangers have found him on the street to say thank you, and that they were watching his stream from home. His is a true citizen journalist! His stream has been on national and international news shows.

One attractive female who shared her twitter handle received over 2000 new followers in a matter of minutes. You can actually see her in the NY Times photo above! (bottom left)

One crazy side note, some people did not want to be filmed. I guess this particular guy's stream that I'm linking to has a phone with the words "LIVE STREAM" on the other side of his phone. He was verbally abused and physically abused in front of 10s of thousands of people. Just so you know, if you are in public, you can be filmed.

Now, police are keeping Zuccotti park empty as court rulings are being decided and marches are being planned.

This is America, this is the 21st century, this is crazy.

Robert Stolarik for The New York Times

Meet the newest addition to our family!

A few days ago the beloved goldfish we won at the Encino Street Fair left this world. Have you ever tried to explain the floating dead fish to a 2 year old? We had a proper burial (the toilet) and told Z that "fishy" went bye-bye and probably wouldn't be back.

We even used the words "died" and dead".

Interesting.

Anyway, we picked up this female Beta today and Z seems to like her! I mean, as much as you can like a fish. 

Cheers!

-marc

Living Room Mess Time-lapse

This was taken before we went to Texas, but I'm just now getting around to posting it. And please, apologies for the crappy camera. My poor iPhone has been dropped, stuffed into pockets with keys, and sucked on by a 4 month old so the camera is not as crisp as it used to be. But you still get the picture. :)

We try to pick up the house every night, so in the mornings this is what it looks like.

Through out the day, Z gets her toys out ... and I move stuff around too.

More toys...

Even more toys!  

Can you spot I?

So we either try to pick up before mom gets home after 5 or we let her see how much fun we've had (and convince her to help us clean up!)

Much love y'all!
-marc