31

Mar

LAUGH THERAPY: Geri’s Game – Pixar’s Short Animation

This short animation is still my all-time favorite.  I don’t know what’s so good about it.  I guess what I liked about it is Geri’s spirit, the way the animators have put spirit into the character of Geri.  It is amazing how they did it.  It must have required thousands and thousands of drawings to make Geri move and laugh like that.  Hihihihihi.

I guess one other good thing about it is that Geri is alone but he is not lonesome.  Can you see the difference?  We can be alone but not feel alone.  Heck, sometimes we can feel alone even if we are in a group.  But Geri knows how to delight himself even if he is by himself.  That’s a very difficult thing. Especially if you don’t have your cellphone, smart phone, iPhone, iPad or PSP with you.

I don’t want to play chess with myself but I want to learn how it is to enjoy those moments when I am by myself (without playing app games or lurking in facebook).

Here’s Geri for your laugh therapy today: :-)

 

 

414 days ago Short URL Comments

Laugh Therapy/Movies

//

30

Mar

MOTIVATIONAL: Take Care of your Aha! Ideas

I am sure this has happened to you one time or another.  You are living your routinary life doing routinary things you do everyday and then suddenly you stop and realized you have a great idea!  It could be an idea on how to make extra income, an idea on how to surprise a loved one on his or her birthday, an idea on a social project or advocacy you can start on, an idea on the theme of your next photoshoot, an idea on your next hobby.

And then quickly you put it aside, saying to yourself, “Hmmm. No.”

Before you throw that idea into the trash can,  STOP! You’ll never know, THAT idea may be the idea that will finally let you resign from your boring job or make someone’s day very special or THAT idea may be the start of a purposive life for you!

Take care of those ideas that suddenly visit you uninvited and make you exclaim, “Aha!”  Those Aha! ideas are the ideas filled with energy and will definitely do your life good.  Don’t immediately put them aside and tell yourself that they are impossible.

The reason why I am saying this is because I have watched this video that made me think of these things.  It was shared to me by a good friend.  I am sharing it to you and I hope that it also bring you something nice to ponder on:

 

415 days ago Short URL Comments

Motivational

29

Mar

MUSIC: Colbie Caillat – Brighter than the Sun

Bring out the sunshine this rainy Thursday!

Just because it’s raining, it doesn’t mean that you have to be gloomy. Happy music is always available to cheer you up and make you dance in the rain!

And here’s the acoustic version, which is equally great!

416 days ago Short URL Comments

Music/Music Video

/

29

Mar

VIDEO: CNN’s Anderson Cooper – Laughter is Contagious

Laughter is contagious.  Especially if you watch a respected CNN anchor breaking into giggle while doing a live report.

In the Ridiculist segment of his show 360°, Anderson Cooper was reporting about French actor Gerard Depardieu urinating in the aisle of an airplane.  What made the report hilarious was not exactly because of Gerard Depardieu but in the way the report was written.  It was filled with puns – words with double meanings. Of course the puns were all connected to urinating.

Here are some of them:

  • Created his own little jetstream (Getting angry and water jetstream)
  • Oui Oui (French for Yes and Wee-wee)
  • Incontinent-al
  • Putting the P back in PR (Pee)
  • Cannot hold it anymore
  • Spill
  • They saw an actual thespian thes-peeing
  • Pampered (reference to brand of diaper)
  • Depends on it (reference to brand of adult diaper)
  • Pissing contest
  • Pee Off
  • After Gerard took a solo flight to Euro nation (urination)
  • Cleaning crew had to deal with the Golden Globe winning tinkle

 

And this is the pun that made Anderson Cooper lose it in laughing fit: (2:23)

  • They can thank their lucky stars it wasn’t Depar-two (No. 2)

 

And here’s more:

  • Discreetly peed in a bottle but it doesn’t hold water
  • Sooner it will be flushed from the memory
  • Just go with the flow

 

That’s a lot of Pee puns in a few minutes of reporting.  Here’s for your laughter therapy today:

 


416 days ago Short URL Comments

Laugh Therapy/Television

///

29

Mar

MOTIVATIONAL: Let go of hate

It’s so easy to get angry. Yes it is. All you have to do is think of all the things you don’t think you deserve to happen to you, then the person you considered one of the most important in your life—put them together and you get the biggest heartbreak and disappointment in your life. So it’s easy to hate that person; it’s natural to get angry and think of ways to get even. It’s human instinct to protect ourselves from being hurt whether physically or emotionally because that’s what we do to survive.

But once you allow yourself to hate something or someone, you start to nurture it. Whether you admit it or not, you feed it little by little and the resentment motivates you. It may motivate you to try to become better, to take risks, try something new and change our life entirely—but resentment is still resentment. If there is anything worse than not being motivated by anything at all, it’s being motivated by anger and hate.

One of the most difficult things to achieve, especially under special circumstances, is acceptance. It’s so easy to tell other people to accept things and accept life, but is there really an individual out there who has not shed a tear after getting his or her heart broken? Have we not hoped at least once that our misfortunes are all a bad dream and that we will eventually wake up from?

Anger may be the shortcut to Acceptance, but if we really want to find peace and be happy, we have to go through the long journey of understanding ourselves and others with an open mind and a considerate heart—no matter how hard it is. And we all know that it will be hard. It will be the most difficult thing we’ll ever do.

You will cry at random times of the day. You will feel stupid and cheated. You will doubt yourself and your own strength. You will even hate yourself. You will feel lonely for a long time. But loneliness doesn’t have to be accompanied by bitterness. Make friends with it and understand it. Be comfortable with loneliness and deal with it. But never let Hate follow you around or hover above you like a vulture. Being lonely doesn’t always mean closing yourself and your heart to everyone else. Sometimes it just means allowing yourself to feel.

When you’re lonely, it’s so easy to be angry to forget about things and people. It’s easy to put the blame on others and consider them as scums when they hurt us. But I refuse to take the easy way out. I choose to take the high road. I will strive every day to rid myself of anger and channel my energy into more positive things. It will be difficult to do with a broken heart and an injured spirit, but I will take every day as a challenge.

And I hope you do the same. Every day, choose not to be angry. Choose not to hate.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

—Martin Luther King

416 days ago Short URL Comments

Motivational/Photography

28

Mar

Album Art

Pumapatak Na Naman Ang Ulan by Apo Hiking Society

A cover of this song was popularized a few years ago by Parokya ni Edgar but nothing beeats the original.  The song talks about the things that we can’t do when it rains and the things that we need to confront when the rain stops.  In short, it’s a rant on life.  But the rhythm is so relaxing and the voices of Apo Hiking Society so soothing.  Just perfect on rainy nights.

Hit the play button and chillax.

 

416 days ago Short URL Comments

Music

//

27

Mar

ART: Get a Visual Treat with These Amazing Street Art

I may not always appreciate classical or contemporary art, not always be able to differentiate the works of Monet from that of Manet, and not really get what the hell Pollock wants to say in No. 5, 1948. But I think art is good and artists are special gems in this world. I have high respect for artists because they let us see the world through a different perspective. They add colour to our lives and they let us believe in whimsies and magic.

How wonderful it must be to have these various street art along EDSA or a random street in Taft. Amidst the pollution, the traffic and the cramped public transportations, these creations will be a breath of fresh air and are definitely reasons to smile.

I really hope someone here does something similar to one of these! Feast your eyes! :)

 

417 days ago Short URL Comments

Art

27

Mar

MUSIC VIDEO: 500 Days of Summer – You Make my Dreams

When was the last time you couldn’t help but dance and smile at every people you meet in the street?  I remember this part of the movie “500 Days of Summer” and I remember that feeling when you have finally got what you have been aspiring for and you couldn’t contain your happiness you want to rub it on others.  And in those moments, there has to be a great song to match the mood.   In the movie, it’s Hall & Oates’ “You Make My Dreams”

Music can make you feel good.  If you are feeling a little gloomy today because of the gloomy weather, the simplest therapy is to listen to songs that will make you stand up and walk with gait and smile at the world.

Remember that your happiness is your responsibility.  Sulk for a few days when you feel like it but don’t stay there for too long.  Hall & Oates is waiting for you.  Go ahead and play that song.  You deserve that happy song!

418 days ago Short URL Comments

Movies/Music/Music Video

/

26

Mar

MUSIC: Let Depapepe Bring Out the Summer in You!

Nothing says summer like a good ol’ playlist!

Even a four-minute guitar piece can give you temporary amnesia and transport you to paradise. And to give you a jumpstart on your own epic summer soundtrack, here’s a suggestion.

Depapepe is a Japanese acoustic guitar duo comprised of Miura Takuya and Tokuoka Yoshinari. Some people laugh at their name at first but once they start playing, you’ll be transported to a musical haven. I know, because I laughed and was pleasantly surprised too. :P

Among their many hits is Summer Parade, which, when you listen to, will make you want to lay under the sunny blue sky with a piece of watermelon or halo-halo in hand – at least, that’s how it makes me feel. Although it starts off slow, it breaks into an explosion of dynamic chords. It’s as refreshing as a warm sea breeze.

So listen to it now and feel the exciting wave of summer flow through you. :)

 

If you want more of them, you should try listening to their other hits such as Katana, Mayonaka no Kaitou (my favorite), Over the Sea, and their rendition of Canon. :)

418 days ago Short URL Comments

Music

///

26

Mar

POETRY: Poetry for me is…

Poetry is how you feel when it suddenly starts raining after wishing it silently for the past two hours. It is waking up in the morning with a smile on your face and the smell of pancakes filling the entire house. Poetry is the first ten seconds of your heart beating so fast because he’s talking to you. It is looking at things all around you in colors that don’t exist. It is looking up at the night sky and feeling like you have everything because you know, at that moment, you are loved.

Poetry is when you smile for no reason other than you want to and you can. It is looking someone straight in the eyes and saying the words “I love you”. It is both the birth and death of something—an idea, a belief, love. But whether it is about death or love, poetry is always beautiful.

“I know this much is all,” Franny said. “If you’re a poet, you do something beautiful. I mean you’re supposed to leave something beautiful after you get off the page and everything.”

-Franny and Zooey

###

Don’t go through life not reading poetry. Life is poetry.

Fantastic reads: 

Under One Small Star by Wislawa Szymborska
Sonnet XVII by Pablo Neruda
Having a Coke with You by Frank O’Hara

419 days ago Short URL Comments

Poetry

/////