HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

Times Square Ball Drop from History.com

History of New Year's Eve from History.com

THE AMOS AND ANDY CHRISTMAS SHOW (1952)

The Amos and Andy Christmas Show (1952). This episode has all the elements of the Christmas spirit with one of the most endearing and touching moments as Alvin Childress (Amos) tells his daughter the meaning of the Lord's Prayer. Truly as relevant now as when it was filmed fifty eight years ago.

SIMON'S CAT in 'SANTA CLAWS'

SIMON'S CAT 'SANTA CLAWS'

A WORKING SOLUTION - DOWNTOWN STREETS TEAM - PALO ALTO, CA

"For those of you making charitable donations this holiday season, this is my choice for a superbly run, results driven organization in the San Francisco Bay Area. Please take the time to check it out." - By: Joan Baez
Downtown Streets Team or Downtown Streets Team on Facebook

"Homelessness drags people down. It makes them feel worthless, helpless, hopeless; trapped with no way out. Downtown Streets Team offers help, hope, and a path to a new life. We are changing lives, one job at a time. Downtown Streets Team (DST) is a get back to work program based in Palo Alto, CA that teaches participants successful work habits: getting to work on time, the satisfaction of completing tasks, and communicating effectively with management and co-workers. All with the goal of re-entering the workforce and building self-esteem. Building relationships with local businesses is also a key goal. The participants work for food and shelter while learning job training skills, resume writing and mock interviews. DSt also provides casework, housing placement, transportation assistance, and more!" - Palo Alto Downtown Streets Team

DOWNTOWN STREETS TEAM IS A WORKING SOLUTION IN PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA AND CAN BE A WORKING SOLUTION IN YOUR CITY.

IMPROV EVERYWHERE - GUERRILLA HANDBELL STRIKEFORCE

IMPROV EVERYWHERE sent a 13-member handbell choir to provide some unexpected accompaniment for a Salvation Army bell ringer on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan. Enjoy the video first and then go behind the scenes.

Better To Give Than Receive

When we all give, we all receive. Advent Conspiracy

REQUIRED LISTENING: TOM CHAPIN

NOT ON THE TEST by John Forster & Tom Chapin: Go on to sleep now, third grader of mine. The test is tomorrow but you'll do just fine. It's reading and math. Forget all the rest. You don't need to know what is not on the test. Each box that you mark on each test that you take, remember your teachers, their jobs are at stake. Your score is their score, but don't get all stressed, they'd never teach anything not on the test. The School Board is faced with No Child Left Behind, with rules but no funding, they're caught in a bind. So music and art and the things you love best, are not in your school 'cause they're not on the test. Sleep, sleep, and as you progress, you'll learn there's a lot that is not on the test. Debate is a skill that is useful to know, unless you're in Congress or talk radio, where shouting and spouting and spewing are blessed 'cause rational discourse was not on the test. Thinking's important, it's good to know how and someday you'll learn to, but someday's not now. Go on to sleep, now, you need your rest. Don't think about thinking, It's not on the test.
From Make A Wish in 1970 through today, Tom Chapin has been an inspiration and motivation to all.

Alice's Restaurant - HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

THE ILLUSIONIST

THE ILLUSIONIST is a story about two paths that cross. An outdated, aging magician, forced to wander from country to country, city to city and station to station in search of a stage to perform his act meets a young girl at the start of her life‟s journey. Alice is a teenage girl with all her capacity for childish wonder still intact. She plays at being a woman without realizing the day to stop pretending is fast approaching. She doesn‟t know yet that she loves The Illusionist like she would a father; he already knows that he loves her as he would a daughter. Their destinies will collide, but nothing – not even magic or the power of illusion– can stop the voyage of discovery. A script for THE ILLUSIONIST was originally written by French comedy genius and cinema legend Jacques Tati as a love letter from a father to his daughter, but never produced. Sylvain Chomet, the Oscar-nominated and critically acclaimed creator of The Triplets of Belleville, adapted the script and brought it to life in his distinctive hand-drawn animated style.

LENINGRAD COWBOYS - "Stairway To Heaven"

LENINGRAD COWBOYS with the Red Army Choir performing a cover of Stairway to Heaven.

Owl Cupcakes - This is a hoot.

OWL CUPCAKES

SIMON'S CAT by SIMON TOFIELD

SIMON'S CAT

An interview with SIMON TOFIELD.

SIMON'S CAT IN THE BOX.

The Fathers of the Founding Fathers

POGO - EARTH DAY

EARTH DAY 1970

EARTH DAY 1971

ONE PEACE AT A TIME

Filmed in 20 countries on five continents, One Peace At A Time looks at the possibility of providing basic rights – water, nutrition, health care, education and more — to every child. The film features the insights of Nobel laureates Muhammad Yunus and Steve Chu, American icon Willie Nelson and many others. For additional information, visit Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute

Pax Christi El Paso Film Series

This film series on peace and justice themes, now in its fifth year, is sponsored by Pax Christi El Paso and the Peace and Justice Ministry of the Catholic Diocese of El Paso. Admission is free. Donations are graciously accepted but not required. Light refreshments are served, and there is time for discussion after each film. Movies have been scheduled at 3:00 p. m. generally on the second Sunday of each month (but check the schedule for changes) through the end of 2010.

FEBRUARY 21: INVISIBLE CHILDREN TRIPLE FEATURE

"ROUGH CUT"

"THE RESCUE OF JOSEPH KONY'S CHILD SOLDIERS"

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

"TOGETHER WE ARE FREE"

Invisible Children Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing financial resources to invisible children by documenting their true, untold stories in a creative and relevant way, resulting in positive change. Our goals, or “BIG IDEAS”, can be simplified in three major objectives:

MOVIE: how it all began.
Can a story change the world? In the spring of 2003, three young Americans traveled to Africa in search of such a story. What they found was a tragedy that disgusted and inspired them. A story where children are the weapons and the victims. The “Invisible Children: Rough Cut” film exposes the effects of a 20-year-long war on the children of Northern Uganda. Children who live in fear of abduction by rebel soldiers, and are being forced to fight as part of a violent army. This wonderfully reckless documentary is fast paced, with an MTV beat, and is truly unique. To see Africa through young eyes is humorous and heart breaking, quick and informative - all in the same breath. See this film, you will be forever changed.

MOVEMENT: how it involves you.
After people viewed the movie the one question repeatedly asked was, “What can I do?” And so a non-profit was born in 2004. The Movement is the awareness, mobilization, and fundraising effort taking place throughout America and other countries around the world by people who are inspired to act. The goal of the Movement is to empower the individual viewer to become a part of the story, and “be the change they wish to see in the world” through action.

MISSION: how we are creating change.
The Mission is the ultimate goal of Invisible Children. It is the resources, skills, and funds that hit the ground in Uganda. These resources will provide health, safety and education for the children of Northern Uganda who are affected by this 20-year-long war. It is our belief that we need to live for more, because the invisible children need more to live.

For more information, call (915)532-0527 or (915) 497-0384
Show time: 3:00 p. m.
Mother Tesesa Hall of Dioscesan Migrant & Refugee Services
2400 E. Yandell Dr.
El Paso, TX
(Between Piedras and Cotton St.- From I-10 take the Piedras exit, go north on Piedras turn left on Yandell.)

Schedule for 2010
January 10 - PEACE IS EVERY STEP (Thich Nhat Hanh)
February 21 - INVISIBLE CHILDREN TRIPLE FEATURE ROUGH CUT along with THE RESCUE OF JOSEPH KONY'S CHILD SOLDIERS and TOGETHER WE ARE FREE
March 14 - REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES
April 11 - FUEL
May 16 - THE HARVEST
June 13 - FRANZ JAGERSTATTER: A MAN OF CONSCIENCE
July 11 - PRAYING WITH MY LEGS: ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL AND THE SEARCH FOR A MEANINGFUL EXISTENCE
August 15 - HIROSHIMA: REPENTANCE AND RENEWAL
September 19 - WALMART: THE HIGH COST OF LOW PRICE
October 10 - THE LAST WORD
November 14 - THE COLOR OF OLIVES
December 5 - ADVENT CONSPIRACY

INVISIBLE CHILDREN WINS THE CHASE GIVING CHALLENGE

Congratulations Invisible Children on winning the $1 Million Dollars in the Chase Community Giving Challenge.

Kseniya Simonova 2009 Ukraine's Got Talent Winner

2009's winner of "Ukraine's Got Talent", Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. The Great Patriotic War, as it is called in Ukraine, resulted in eight to 11 million deaths out of a population of 42 million.