So Many Things and I Have a Question for You

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” - John F. Kennedy in his Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, 1963

I know, I know, it’s already Christmas movie season and we’re all browsing lists to find some Christmas movie gem we haven’t seen yet and I planned to post our faves in this edition, but decided instead to ask you:

What are some of your favorite holiday movies?

Very sincerely I’d love to hear what are a couple of your favorite Christmas movies and we’ll send those around on Dec. 17. And especially more recent Christmastime films like “Happiest Season (view trailer).” It’s only on Hulu for now and it was worth subscribing for a month to see it. I love that we see so many different perspectives in this film: men and women with critical roles, straight and gay people, sisters, moms, dads, friends, strangers...it’s a warm-hearted story.

Otherwise, these things inspired me recently:

• Language Alters our Experience of Time - This article blew my mind–to consider that some languages, like English, describe the future as in front of us, and others, like Amaya spoken in Peru, describe the future as behind us which makes sense in that we can “see” our past (in front of us) but not our future (so it must be behind us).

• Blaseball: what is it and why is it taking over the Internet? - While I consider the Internet to be of amorphous shape, my friend Chris with the big red beard (and web guy you want to work with) finds the weird dead ends and corners like the online game blaseball. It’s an online baseball game...but...no...the rules constantly change for the players...no...the whole world changes based on people playing the game and developers responding to their ideas. It’s like a real-time continuous movie that continues to evolve.

• The Monolith that appeared in the Utah desert - A group of people we’re counting sheep (from a helicopter, not trying to get to sleep) and saw a 10-foot tall metal monolith in a crevasse in the desert. A few more people saw it. Then it disappeared. I’m fascinated.

  • Alien visitors or avant-garde installation? Mysterious monolith discovered in the Utah desert

  • Helicopter pilot finds 'strange' monolith in remote part of Utah (this article includes video)

  • Here’s a great 1:30 video on Twitter describing the finding using stop motion

  • Metallic Monolith In Utah Vanishes Just As Mysteriously As It Appeared

  • Did John McCracken Make That Monolith in Utah?

  • A mysterious monolith has appeared in California after others were seen in Utah and Romania

• An engagement via the New York Times six-word gratefulness challenge - Super sweet story.