I just spent the past four days peacefully with my family. We do three things a lot (and, I think, well):

1. read
2. play boardgames
3. drink

There was also a delicious dinner and some fudge in there. Here’s some video from the adventure:

Christmas Morning 2008 from danielle morrill on Vimeo.

My Mom is a Total Martha from danielle morrill on Vimeo.

I wanted to come up with three high-level goals to encapsulate how I’m approaching 2009.  I made this video this morning at breakfast, and I’ll be explaining them more in depth soon.  For now, here’s what I’ve got:

Heading into the office late today, I just happened to be on I-5 shortly after the two charter buses crashed into the guard rail.  To say they were “dangling” over the freeway is an exaggeration, but there is no doubt in my mind that the driver and passengers must have been terrified.

Here’s the video:

Listening to talk radio this morning, the host asked listeners what the deal was with their reaction to the financial situation of this country.  Why aren’t they panicking?  Why is everyone continuing on as if nothing has happened?  As large sums of money get thrown around in conversation like they’re nothing, it does seem a bit odd that the average person on the street seems somewhat disinterested in talking about the economy.  Is it because we’re just so sick of the doom a gloom — or do people actually buy into the idea that this crisis is a creation of the media, as opposed to a legimately disasterous policy debacle?

I’m certainly aware of these bailout and their long-term impact on me, my family, my business, my goals, and ultimately my entire future.  I’ve heard so many people say that the losses of the stock market had no impact on them, and therefore how can it really be that bad, as I’ve watched my investments’ value cut nearly in half.  Investments that aren’t just stocks, but 401(k) plans I packed tight with money for the 2 1/2 years I worked at Expeditors for tax reasons.  Le sigh…

I also notice the price cuts all over the place, even Starbucks was offering 20% off all merchandise and whole bean coffee in their store – and if you imagine that is happening nationwide then that could indicate a significant drop in profits.  So what am I doing, panicking?  No, but I do think it’s important to have our eyes wide open now and through the coming months while Barack Obame takes over the roll of president.  The risk of further dillusionment of Americans towards their government is great.

Love yourself with great music.

This song resonates with me deeply, and while I’m on this Mark Kozalek kick in the blog I’ll include a video that has the song (a redone version of the original) in it, AND scenes from one of my favorite foreign films “He’s Loves Me… He Loves Me Not” (1992) with Audrey Tautou playing an erotomaniac (only the French, I swear!)

Enjoy!

Thinking you recognize this sound. Red House Painters (Mark Kozalek lead singer) has a song on the movie “Excess Baggage” called “All Mixed Up”. You might like it if you like this. Click here to view (embedding has been disabled).

Megan just sent me this video of her playing John Denver’s “Around and Around”.  If you know much about me or my musical influences, you’ll recognize John Denver as one of my earliest folk singer favorite (thanks to summer camp).  Most of his songs make me nostalgic.

This is played in the style of Sun Kil Moon (and Redhouse Painters) lead singer, Mark Kozalek – who is one Meg’s main influences.  Check out her YouTube channel for more songs and videos.

Meg Clark singing Around & Around by John Denver

Lyrics (by request):

Time as I’ve known it
Doesn’t take much time to pass by me
Minutes into days turn into
months turn into years
They hurry by me

Still I love to see the sun go down
And the world go around

Dreams full of promises
Hopes for the future
I’ve had many

Dreams

I came across this post by Randy Zuckerberg (via Valleywag) on her (or “our” since she’s speaking for The Daily Beast) dislike of lip-dubs.  How perfect for follow up to my post on lipdubs in mainstream media.  She says:

In case there was any doubt that the chief purpose of the internet is to perpetuate narcissism, lip dub videos put that to rest.

Hmm, really?  I’m not so sure we’re all narcissists on the web – but I guess people write about what they know.  Truth: the first time someone sent me a Julia Allison lip dub it was with a note that said, “Wouldn’t this be fun to do some weekend?”.  I watched the vid, and thought, this goofy, photogenic chick looks like she’s having a lot of fun.  (I’ve added it here, because you’re probably too cool to go search for it *wink wink*):

Lip Dub! Disney’s Little Mermaid from Julia Allison on Vimeo.

Other than the echo-chamber of internet celebs and their requisite snarky haters, few people give a damn about all the context/scandal/fifty-thousand blog posts/page rank yadda yadda yadda – they’re just looking for a fun and entertaining three minutes and thirty seconds.  At least that’s what I’m interested in.

Aside from Zuckerberg’s self-condemnation (as Valleywag points out she’s been in lip dubs as well) and bashing of coworkers and friends (ah, harkens of Paris Hilton – burn those bridges!), she’s got the chief purpose of the internet all wrong.  All this media – our pictures, video, tweets, comments, status updates, posted items on Facebook and elsewhere are tied much more deeply to the chief purpose of the internet than mere narcissism.  The internet is about scalable information sharing, and all the little pieces of information we put out there about ourselves paints a picture of who we are that we share with our networks of friends and family.

Who Are the Content Creators?

I don’t know many people who are that into creating content on the internet for its own sake.  Sure, there are media personalities making videos to further promote themselves and there are Twitter-addicts who are sharing every mundane (to me, anyway) detail of their lives with the whole world.  Even these people are telling stories.  I think there is a very core human need to tell stories, and I certainly feel a strong desire to be known by the world through the day-to-day things I do. The reason for this is that I want to offer some continuity. I want the little details to be captured, because they matter to me. It seems like there’s something beautiful, strange, or otherwise remarkable that I want to remember and share at least once a day.

What Happens When I Die?

What happens?  When I die in 90 years (fingers crossed!) all the content I’ve contributed will be out there in the world.  If people want to remember me, they can.  It seems like there might be a business in collecting all that up into a lasting memory place… but death doesn’t sell well… and I digress.

Beware Revisionist History

People are storytellers.  Like all stories, the teller can try to shape the truth into a form that is closer to the image we WISH was true.  As someone put to me succinctly, “life gets messy”, and often we can make it look neat and tidy with the right editing, the right context.  There are valid reasons for romanticizing a story appropriately – such as sharing pictures on Facebook like “first week with baby” pictures that don’t show the exhausted parents or “Sarah’s bachelorette party” that doesn’t include the photos of her sh*tfaced friends flashing the camera in the limmo.  Then there is outright faking a life you don’t even lead – thinking LonelyGirl15 here – for the sake of attention, without telling the world that what you’re offering is fictional.

Favorite Lip Dub, Lately

LipDub – Undone – Weezer (in Paris) from Chryde on Vimeo.

The Seattle 2.0 events calendar just got some much needed TLC from yours truly, and I’ll continue to update it with events as I find them.  Marcelo gave me some serious props in his post today on resources for Seattle entrepreneurs, so I want to make sure I can live up to it.

Events I’m particularly looking forward to this month:

Dec. 4th – TiE Funding Forum because hearing other people’s business plans always motivates me to write my own.

Dec. 10th – WTIA Cocktails & Contributions Holiday Party because it’s a party at a cool venue (ACT Theater) and I’m in the Christmas spirit

Dec. 11th – Hops & Chops Happy Hour because I don’t show up nearly enough and the people who come and a lot of fun to talk to and drink with