Sublime Goodness

A Pep Talk from Kid President

2013-01-28T13:32:00.003-06:00

Zeitgeist 2012: Year In Review

2012-12-12T08:36:00.003-06:00

Hope you and yours have a great 2013!

Caine's Cardboard Arcade

2012-04-13T08:07:00.000-05:00

Dan's Coffee Run

2012-02-17T10:56:00.004-06:00

From KarmaTube - Every Thursday morning, Dan Dewey orders 12 to 24 coffee items from the Starbucks in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He then delivers the coffee to patients and staff at the Michigan Cancer Institute (MCI). The tradition started when he took his own father to MCI for treatment. His father has since passed away, but Dan keeps the coffee, and the smiles, flowing.

> Click here to learn more about Dan's Coffee Run.

* Thanks to Starbucks for the video.

Giant Waves Captured in Super Slow-Mo

2011-10-27T15:24:00.002-05:00

Best watched in HD and full screen. Enjoy the natural beauty!

Related Goodness:

*Hat tip to PetaPixel for the video tip.

Mad Men Casting Call 2011 - Vote For Me!

2011-08-25T12:50:00.004-05:00

Have you seen Mad Men? It's my new favorite show now that it's streaming on Netflix. Great cast, great writing and the art direction is fantastic.

Because of that, I've entered to win a walk-on role on the show. Please, please, please (!) vote for me by September 9, 2011. It's easy - login with your Facebook, Twitter account or AMC account, then click vote!

> Vote for Christopher J. Morris here

Tell your friends too :)

Thanks so much dear reader!

Say Something Nice - Video

2011-08-23T15:49:00.002-05:00

What a simple, profound idea. Hope it makes your day as much as it made mine!

Learn more about this Improv Everywhere mission here.

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Inspirational Speech Given By Bike-Riding Kid

2011-06-02T21:00:00.002-05:00

The ending is my favorite part:

PS - Sorry for letting this blog languish. I've been very busy lately.

Happy Holidays - A Potpourri of Goodness For You

2010-12-06T20:30:00.005-06:00

It's a very LOLCat Christmas!

Seriously loyal readers, I feel genuinely bad about how little I've posted here. I'm a lot busier this year with my family, my band, work, freelance work, and everything else.

For the last month or so, I would see stories that I'd mark to post on this blog later...but later turned into later then later...and so forth.

So without further adieu, here are those stories. No fancy pictures, intros, or anything - just a potpourri of goodness for you to digest, smile and pass along to your friends.

Enjoy!

Now for my greatest hits for the curious. Like I did last year, here are the most popular Sublime Goodness posts of 2010 (ranked in order by page views from 1/1 to now):

Yes, most of these made the list last year and all posts are well over a year old. Anyway, that's the power of search engine optimization I guess.

Also,, strange that "Funny Cat Videos" was #1 last year...and isn't even in the top 10 this year! Pprobably because looking at the original "Funny Cat" post tonight I noticed the video was removed from YouTube...I've re-added it tonight and will see who wins next year in the battle of funny cats vs. dogs!

"Waltz (Better Than Fine)" by Fiona Apple

2010-09-12T13:04:00.002-05:00

I just realized that I haven't posted a Sunday Sublime song since February (!), so I am rectifying that today with a little ditty from 2005.

This overlooked gem by Fiona Apple has been on my mind recently as I just learned how to play it on the piano and I love the feel of it (actually most of the album it's on, "Extraordinary Machine," has much of the same vibe). It sounds like a Danny Elfman score or something...

Anyway, enjoy - just close your eyes and listen:

Have You Downloaded the Sublime Goodness Mixtape yet?

Miracle Mom

2010-09-07T19:58:00.002-05:00

It's pretty rare that I read something in Parade from the Sunday newspaper worth sharing, but this story made me smile out loud. Enjoy:

When Stacy Wiparina told her family seven years ago that she was pregnant, of course they were excited.

"But then I was also kind of scared," says her mother, Patti Goodman. "Afraid for Stacy getting through a pregnancy, surviving a pregnancy."

Wiparina is tiny and fragile and always has been. She was born with a genetic disorder called Type II spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). She has never walked--she never even crawled as a baby--and she has used a motorized wheelchair since she was 7, when her arms grew too weak to push a manual chair. Because her bones have never borne weight, they are extremely brittle and easily broken. Her spine is twisted by scoliosis, and her lungs are weak and prone to infections. She spends at least a week each year in the hospital fighting pneumonia, and when she was 22 a respiratory infection kept her in a coma from Christmas until Valentine's Day. Her doctors expected her to die.

Carry a baby in that body?

"Everyone always worries about me--except me," Wiparina says. "I just knew things were going to work out."

And they did. Twice. Today, Wiparina, 36, and her husband, Rodney, have two healthy, rambunctious children--J.J., 6, and his sister, Sophie, 4--bounding around their backyard in Centerville, Ohio. "I knew I was going to be a mom," Wiparina says. "It's all I ever wanted."

> Read the full story at Parade.com

10 Inspirational Videos on YouTube

2010-08-31T20:17:00.002-05:00

10 pivotal and inspirational moments of the last century amidst the millions of videos on YouTube. Enjoy and thanks to Mashable for compiling them.

Ranging from silent footage from the early 1900s to modern digital video capture, these clips vary dramatically from political to sporting to scientific achievements. They all have one thing in common — a strong message of inspiration.

> Check out all ten videos

Here is my favorite:

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New Yorkers Get Keys to the City...That Actually Work!

2010-08-11T20:17:00.003-05:00

I've been meaning to post about this cool public art project I heard about in June for awhile - better late than never! How cool is this? And yes, if I lived in NYC, you better believe I would have gotten a key. Here are the details:

This summer hundreds of New Yorkers will be seen hastily undoing padlocks, ducking through creaky gates, and rifling through strange P.O. boxes. Do not be alarmed!
The city-wide security breach is part of the public art project Key to the City. Anyone can simply retrieve free keys at a kiosk in Times Square (pictured above), and those keys unlock 24 locations across the city's five boroughs, which are listed on the Key to the City website. These locations include secret gardens, hidden rooms, and tiny electrical panels. [Mayor Bloomberg mentioned that they unlock padlocks, post office boxes, steel gates and secret compartments across the city]
Since it launched last Thursday, hundreds of New Yorkers have already participated in the large-scale scavenger hunt, which borrows its name from the symbolic welcoming gesture relegated to visiting dignitaries and heads of state.
The piece was conceived by Honduran-born artist Paul Ramírez Jonas, who has worked with keys before, to symbolize ownership and civic pride. It was produced by the spectacle-specializing Creative Time and even has a key-making sponsor: Keys can be copied by visiting participating Medeco dealers around New York.

Pizza Man Saves Life During Delivery

2010-07-22T20:41:00.005-05:00

Serendipity? Pretty amazing story from Colorado:

A man in Lakewood [Col.] is alive, thanks to a pizza deliveryman."The pizza guy saved his life," said Kami Linn, the wife of George Linn. "Every doctor and nurse has told me that."George Linn and his family moved to Lakewood July 9. Linn was having heart problems and was hospitalized last week. He was released on Wednesday.

On Friday night, the Linn family called for pizza. About an hour later, Linn collapsed."We are just talking and all of a sudden George said, 'Oh no,' grabs his neck and collapses onto the floor," said Kami.Kami said she had just dialed 911 when the doorbell rang."I don't know why, but I open the door [to] some burly-looking dude and I was like, 'Help me, come help me,'" Kami said. "I didn't care if it was a scrawny teenager. I am like, 'Get in here,' and [the pizza guy] is like, 'I am a paramedic.'"

"He runs in and immediately does CPR on George who has gone into cardiac arrest and has died," said Kami. "He revived him and got him to breathe again."The pizza deliveryman, Chris Wuebben, recently took the job at Johnny's New York Pizza in Lakewood. His boss said Wuebben had also just recently moved to Denver and was delivering pizzas until he found a job as a paramedic. Before that, Wuebben was an Emergency Medical Technician in the military and had just returned from Iraq. The CPR Wuebben peformed worked.

"By the time he had him revived the other paramedics came and took over and said if is wasn't for the pizza guy, who I found out later was Chris, George would have died," Kami said.Linn's fight isn't over yet. He is in the intensive care unit at Swedish Medical Center. He has an infection in his lungs that is making his heart weak and beat erratically. Once that is tackled, his wife said he should be fine.

"This only happens in movies. I don't know, whatever you want to believe, but I know that things are going to be OK because that never happens," Kami said. (from ABC7News Denver)

> Watch a video of the story here.

> Read more coverage on this story from Reuters

* Thanks to my friend Jill W. for sharing this great story about her hero nephew on Facebook!

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Surprise Flash Mob for Birthday - Video

2010-07-08T20:22:00.003-05:00

This video pretty much made my day.

It's Danish, but doesn't matter - the look of happiness on the bus driver's face is universal.

Here are the details: "On May 5th it's Mukhtar's, a bus-driver in Copenhagen, Birthday. In 2010 he had no idea that a large group of people had planned to celebrate him..."

I love the end - as if it wasn't awesome enough...Enjoy:

* Hat tip to my friends at Berrett-Koehler Publishers for sending the video.

New York City Public School Kids Sing "Man in the Mirror"

2010-06-25T20:54:00.003-05:00

About a year ago, I posted about these awesome elementary school kids when they got attention for their rendition of Coldplay's "Viva La Vida." If you've never seen it (or any of their covers), then check out that post or more of their videos here.

Anyway, to honor the 1-year(!) anniversary of Michael Jackson's death, the PS22 Chorus did a short, moving version of "Man in the Mirror" for their graduation. Enjoy:

They even got the attention of the CBS Early show. Here they are doing a chilling rendition of "Ben.":

PS - Watch this short (& cute) TV Guide feature on the kids and their teacher here.

"All You Need is Love" by 156 countries - Video

2010-06-17T20:31:00.003-05:00

This is one of those rare songs I've heard a thousand times but will never tire of. The message, the melody...sublime.

Anyway, I came across this cool and creative video recently that covers the song nicely. Here are the details:

On December 7th, 2009 at 1:30 pm GMT Starbucks invited musicians from all over the world to sing together at the same time to raise awareness for AIDS in Africa. In that one breathtaking moment, musicians from 156 countries played "All You Need is Love" together. Watch now, as musicians from all around the world come together and share a song.

Enjoy:

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Soldiers Coming Home - Compilation Video

2010-06-08T20:14:00.006-05:00

It was a video like this that led me to start this blog a year and a half ago. Some truly emotional wonderful moments caught on film:

I don't talk about it much, but I was in the Army for three years after high school, stationed in Germany for my entire time. I didn't see my family for a year and a half, with seven months of that time in Bosnia. I'll never forget the the day we came back from Bosnia, fresh off our trucks standing in a gymnasium getting welcomed back by some Colonel. In the bleachers in front of us were all the soldier's wives & children, practically bouncing with joy and excitement. Even though I was single and childless at the time, I'll never forget those faces just glowing with absolute love.

I'll also never forget what it's like to embrace your family after not seeing them for 18 months!

Oh and that dog in the second clip going crazy for its owner is pretty awesome too.

Blind Man Ignores Naysayers & Becomes a Doctor

2010-06-04T20:07:00.004-05:00

As soon as I saw the byline for this local story, I knew it was meant for me - "UW's Tim Cordes ignored the naysayers to become one of the few sightless doctors in the country."

Ignored the naysayers indeed. Cordes has led one heck of an inspiring life - on top of his achievements in the medical field and his tenacious drive, buried in the article is a mention of black belts in jujitsu and tae kwon do! Unbelievable.

Check it out:

> Read Cordes' full story at the Capital Times

Now I'm sorry I didn't know about his speech at the Madison Civics Club.

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"I Am" - Video Social Experiment

2010-06-02T20:27:00.004-05:00

Poetry. Randomness. Makes me miss Chicago. Beautiful people inside and out.

Here is the background:

I Am is not only a film but a social experiment that took strangers in Philadelphia and asked them to finish this sentence. "I am ___."

Enjoy:

I Am from Steven Nicholas Smith on Vimeo.

Video of Baby Hearing for the First Time

2010-05-29T13:24:00.003-05:00

This just makes me happy in so many ways - the baby's expression is just priceless.

From Guy Kawasaki's blog:

For the first eight months of his life, baby Jonathan had never heard the sound of his mom’s voice, but a cochlear implant changed all that. Jonathan’s dad captured the touching moment on video:

Boy With Cancer Granted Wish to Turn into Superhero for a Day

2010-05-24T20:11:00.004-05:00

Stories like this make me so grateful for organizations such as the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

Thursday was shaping up to be just another school day for 13-year-old Erik Martin, but then something extraordinary happened: Spider-Man called.

Spider-Man happens to be one of the few people who knows that Erik, too, has a secret identity — he's Electron Boy, a superhero who fights the powers of evil with light.

And Spider-Man needed Erik's help.

Erik, who is living with liver cancer, has always wanted to be a superhero. On Thursday, the regional chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation granted him that wish with an elaborate event that involved hundreds of volunteers in Bellevue and Seattle.

> Read the full story (The Seattle Times)

Watch a video:

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*Thanks to my friend Stacy for the tip on this story.

Song Created from Garden Sounds - "Gardyn"

2010-05-14T20:51:00.002-05:00

This is pretty cool.

Sound artist Pogo created a techno song entirely from garden sounds and his mother's voice as a gift for Mother's Day. (Thanks to Gimundo for the tip). Enjoy.

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Long Lost Brothers Find They Are Neighbors

2010-04-26T14:43:00.004-05:00

These stories never cease to amaze me. Hearing about siblings that have reunited is always fantastic...but when they turn out to be neighbors or coworkers, it's reminiscent of Hollywood. Here is the recent story of a pair of brothers in Canada:

After years of trying to find each other, two long-lost Newfoundland brothers have discovered they live just metres apart in Corner Brook.

"He was across the road. I could not believe it. That was crazy. It took me about three hours to get up the nerve to call," said Tommy Larkin, 30.

Larkin and his brother, Stephen Goosney, 29, were adopted as children by separate families. Larkin grew up in a happy family in Cook's Harbour, on Newfoundland's Northern Peninsula.

Goosney grew up a few hundred kilometres south, in Woody Point.

Both Larkin and Goosney spent years searching for their biological family but had no luck, until they received help from Newfoundland and Labrador's Post Adoption Services agency.

On March 25, the brothers found out they have been living on the same street in Corner Brook, western Newfoundland, for the past two years.

"[Finding him in] Newfoundland would have been really exceptional … but across the road is something amazing," said Goosney.

> Read the full story here at CBC News

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Surfer Paddles 40 Miles for Breast Cancer & is Joined by Whale

2010-04-14T20:13:00.002-05:00

This story of surfer Jodie Nelson's 40-mile journey to raise money to fight breast cancer would have been amazing enough on it's own...but wait:

18 miles into the paddle, Jodie had a close encounter with a 30-foot minke whale, which are fairly rare for the waters but are known to be friendly and docile. She dubbed him Larry and watched as he blew bubbles beneath her, fluked, and showed her his belly. The whale stayed with Jodie for about an hour and a half. "It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life," she said.

According to Ray Hsieh from the Crow's Nest Boat Center, who was driving Jodie's support boat, "I've been boating and fishing all my life and have never seen anything like what I saw today. It was so strange, I actually called my friends at Sea World to ask them if it was normal, and they said, 'It's your lucky day! That whale is just playing. Sit back and enjoy the show.' So I did."

> Read more here

> Check out Jodie's site "Paddle with a Purpose" (some great videos and pictures there - you can also donate to the cause too.)

Her goal was to raise $50,000 - she's raised over $100,000 so far!