April 2008 Archives
This lecture was posted to YouTube last year and was quite the sensation then. Now, because Prof. Randy Pausch has published an accompanying book, the video has surfaced again.
It's known informally as "The Last Lecture" — and in this case, it's almost literal. Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2006. In August last year, his doctors told him his situation was terminal and estimated six more months of good health. Since then, he's been fighting a battle against time.
A devoted husband and father of three young children, he has said he wanted to focus on making the most of what's left of his life by focusing on his wife and his kids. Meanwhile, because of an outpouring of public interest and support, he has chronicled his progress.
I sometimes have to wonder how it is that fate often steals away the good while they have so much potential, and how it is that those people are able to burn more brightly when life slips away from them.
In any case, here's the video.
A terrible nightmare shocked me awake this morning and left a lingering shadow on the rest of the day.
To banish the gloom, I went out for a walk and then sat down to read. A duo on guitar and muted trumpet were playing jazz at 'wichcraft near NYU. The location didn't seem right but the guys strung together standards that got my mind and ear wandering between sets.
Running through my head were some of my favorite versions of Tin Pan Alley hits and crooner classics: "Witchcraft" by Frank Sinatra, "Soon" by Sammy Davis Jr., and probably the hottest 90 seconds in a movie about down and out piano bar players, Michelle Pfeiffer singing "More Than You Know."
The New York that inspired so many of these songs is long gone now, but the music lives on.
Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald perform the complete piece, written by Vincent Youmans, with lyrics by Billy Rose and Edward Eliscu for the musical "Great Day!"
Filmmakers are prepping their works for an international event known as Pangea Day, created by TED.
While it seems overblown, there's still some cool stuff surrounding it. Like this idea, from New York ad agency Johannes Leonardo: a choir from one country sings the national anthem of another.
There are four films, but a French choir singing the U.S. national anthem resonated most with me. It works on so many levels.
And check out the better-looking QuickTime version.
If ever there was something to make me homesick for L.A., it'd have to be this — a bunch of goofballs turning a Little League baseball game into a major-league event. The Improv Everywhere troupe are at it again.
But why the sentiment? I spent many years in the enclave where the game took place. It was a little bit of suburban hell in paradise. The Goodyear Blimp that flew over the game once carried me and a friend on a private tour high over the South Bay — the "charter member" club card is faded now, but I still have it, complete with the pilot's signature; the memory of that golden afternoon remains vivid.
But most of all, the video reminds me of the immense volume of good intention among Angelenos that can make people happy when the doers don't flake out.
So here it is: the mission known as "Best Game Ever."