Here’s another gem from Five for Fighting from their album SLICE. We all have our own story, our ups and downs, our triumphs and tragedies…This song captures our journey so well. We must endure our bruises like badges of honor…and enjoy the story as it unfolds. We must appreciate each new chapter and keep the story moving forward to our own happy ending. 

THE STORY OF YOUR LIFE

At 17 she left Long Island bound for Hollywood
Another story like the ones you’ve heard before
He left her broken like you figured, like you knew he would
She shut her heart after his ring rang off the door
It’s the story of your life
You’re tearing out the page
New chapter underway
The story of your life
You live it everyday
You can run, you run
But you won’t get away
I don’t know what’s coming up
Where will you go now
It’s the story of your life
She hit the ground
She built a fine career
Every weekend walked her dog beside the sea
In the salt she met a man who knew at once but wait
Is he the one we need him to be
In the story your life
You’re moving down the page
As the words begin to change
The story of your life
You live it everyday
You can run, you run
But you won’t get away
I don’t know what’s coming up
Where will you go now
It’s the story of your life
Look around look around and the world will find you
There’s a reason that we live so far from Hollywood
In the country looking hard to find a home
We’re nothing perfect
All considered
But we’re so damn good
It’s the story of your life
You’re moving down the page
And you know you’re on your way
The story of your life
You live it everyday
You can run, you run
But you won’t get away
No one knows what’s coming up
Where will you go now
It’s the story
It’s your story
It’s the story of your life

One of my favorite music artists is Five for Fighting which is really John Ondrasik. You’ll find many of his songs on this blog. Some of my favorite songs are: 100 Years, World, The Riddle, etc.

This song called “SLICE” is another delightful piece that culls back a better time and place. When music, not the Internet, brought us all together. I laughed at his part

Have you read my blog today
300 million little USA’s
Your doorstep is just a click away
We’ll get together one of these days

This is an obvious jab at all of us who’ve made the web so important in our lives, perhaps too important. He harkens back to the simpler time when we preferred to get together in person instead of online in a social network.

Yes, I see the irony of sharing my love for a song that pans the medium (blogs) that I’m using to share it with the world. Still, it’s a wonderful song with a lot of truth in it. But I still love technology and the web.

Here John talks with Mitch Albom about the origins of Five for Fighting, songwriting and even performs Slice live.

SLICE

There was a time a long, long time ago
Chevys and levees played on the radio
No cell phones, just 20,000 lights
Swaying on a Saturday night alright
Can you imagine that slice of time
Rock and roll was young
People stood in line
To hear music that played into their lives
That you could carry till the day you die
Hey man sing me a song
When we were everyone
We were more than just a slice of American Pie
Have you read my blog today
300 million little USA’s
Your doorstep is just a click away
We’ll get together one of these days
How can you be as nice as me
You’re not from the same slice as me
Where do we go from here my friend
Is this the way our story ends
Hey man sing me a song
When we were everyone
We were more than just a slice of American Pie
I can’t stop singing along..
Can you join in… come on
Are we more than just a slice of American Pie
We’re top down lovers
It’s Saturday night
The band’s running
And it feels so right
The moon’s dancing and the stars are free
I caught your heart on a summer breeze
Whatever was or what’s meant to be
Our melodies are memories
There was a time a long, long time ago
Chevys and levees played on the radio
No cell phones, just 20,000 lights
Swaying on a Saturday night alright
Hey man sing me a song
When we were everyone
We were more than just a slice of American Pie
I can’t stop singing along
Can you join in, come on
Are we more than just a slice of American Pie
We’re more than a slice
We’re more than just a slice of American Pie

I love Zooey Deschanel so of course I was thrilled to see her new music video with SHE & HIM for their new song “IN THE SUN”. It’s such a joyful song and video with scenes in high school hall ways and classroom. It’s such a reflection of her cute and quirky personality.

Enjoy!

Katheryn Bigelow became the first woman to ever win the Oscar for best director last night for her amazing work with THE HURT LOCKER (2009). I’ve enjoyed all of the success she and this wonderful movie has experienced this entire awards season because I loved it before anyone else did. I mean, they had me at hello with their incredible trailer. This was the shorter version that featured the breathtaking super slow motion explosion.

Here’s the full trailer.

There were so many strange things about this year’s Oscars. The odds of the top two movies having directors that were once married are astronomical. Then the fact that one of them is the highest grossing film of all-time and the other one turns out to be the lowest grossing Best Winner of all-time. What are the odds of that ever happening again?

Much was made of Bigelow and Cameron’s marriage which was only 2 years from 1989 to 1991. In that time, she made Blue Steel and Point Break and he made The Abyss (1989) and Terminator 2L Judgement Day (1991). They actually collaborated on Strange Days in 1995 as she directed and he wrote and produced it. He had just released True Lies (1994) at the time and more than likely had begun working on his next project known as Titanic (1997).

I remember Blue Steel (1990) which was a cop thriller directed by Bigelow starring Jamie Lee Curtis who dates a killer played by Ron Silver. While the story wasn’t that great, what did impress me at the time was the director’s style. I liked the look of her movie for some reason. Yes, perhaps it was a tad too dark sometimes but there were many cool scenes and excellent camera work.

Katheryn was still married to Cameron when she made Blue Steel and her next one which was called Point Blank (1991) starring Kiannu Reeves as an FBI agent that chased Patrick Swayze and his band of robbers who wore masks of former Presidents. Once again, not an Oscar worthy movie but it was a fun ride with superior direction.

Strange Days (1995) was an excellent Y2K sci-fi thriller that Bigelow directed and her ex-husband James Cameron wrote and produced. Even though their marriage was done years early (1991), then still worked together on this exciting project. Obviously, Cameron could have very easily directed it himself but he chose Katherine to take the helm. This is clear evidence that their breakup was amicable as they both insist it was.

By the way, I remember how original this idea was at the time. It was long before the panic of Y2K and midnight on December 31, 1999 loomed over the horizon. As we all know, nothing Earth-shattering took place on January 1, 2000 but still, no one can deny the excitement in the air around that time.

Strange Days had a stellar cast too with Ralph Fienes in the lead and Angela Bassett and many others. Some of the technological concepts in the movie even became a reality.

Useless trivia: Jamie Lee Curtis starred in Katherine’s Blue Steel in 1990 and then James Cameron’s True Lies in 1994.

Thoughts:

I was wondering how much influence each had on the other during their brief time together. Naturally, they shared all of their deepest thoughts and secrets about filmmaking. I have to believe that they did make a significant impact on one another’s creative lives as well as personal lives.

Also, I’m thinking about Cameron’s The Abyss (1989) which he wrote and filmed during the period of time that he was falling in love with Katherine and ultimately married her. There’s a scene in this much underrated movie that really touched me. It was so breath-taking, literally. The man lead (Ed Harris) has to give mouth to mouth to the woman he loves (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) after she willingly risked her life for their cause. It was a powerful and extremely romantic scene. I wonder if Cameron was thinking of his new bride to be at the time, Katherine Bigelow, when he wrote that scene and movie. I guess we shall never know.

All these years I’ve never understand what in the world “Man in Motion” was all about. It’s the theme song from one of my favorite movies, “St. Elmo’s Fire” by John Parr and David Foster. It was a big number one hit song and it made a nice music video with clips from the movie but the lyrics made no sense and had no connection to the movie’s story.

“All I need is a pair of wheels?” Huh?

Then I saw this short interview with David Foster who explained the inspiration for the song!

Here’s the trailer for the movie about the Canadian paralympian Rick Hansen that inspired the song

Here’s the original music video for Man in Motion

John Parr
"St Elmo’s Fire (man In Motion)"
Album: St Elmo’s Fire OST

Growin’ up, you don’t see the writing on the wall
Passin’ by, movin’ straight ahead, you knew it all
But maybe sometime if you feel the pain
You’ll find you’re all alone, everything has changed
Play the game, you know you can’t quit until it’s won
Soldier on, only you can do what must be done
You know in some way you’re a lot like me
You’re just a prisoner and you’re tryin’ to break free
I can see a new horizon underneath the blazin’ sky
I’ll be where the eagle’s flying higher and higher
Gonna be your man in motion, all I need is a pair of wheels
Take me where my future’s lyin’, St. Elmo’s Fire
Burning up, don’t know just how far that I can go (just how far I go)
Soon be home, only just a few miles down the road
I can make it, I know I can
You broke the boy in me, but you won’t break the man
I can see a new horizon underneath the blazin’ sky
I’ll be where the eagle’s flying higher and higher
Gonna be your man in motion, all I need is a pair of wheels
Take me where my future’s lyin’, St. Elmo’s Fire
I can climb the highest mountain, cross the wildest sea
I can feel St. Elmo’s Fire burnin’ in me, burnin’ in me
Just once in his life a man has his time
and my time is now, I’m coming alive
I can hear the music playin’, I can see the banners fly
Feel like you’re back again, and hope ridin’ high
Gonna be your man in motion, all I need is a pair of wheels
Take me where my future’s lyin’, St. Elmo’s Fire
I can see a new horizon underneath the blazin’ sky
I’ll be where the eagle’s flying higher and higher
Gonna be your man in motion, all I need is a pair of wheels
Take me where my future’s lyin’, St. Elmo’s Fire
I can climb the highest mountain, cross the wildest sea
I can feel St. Elmo’s Fire burnin’ in me
Burnin’, burnin’ in me, I can feel it burnin’
Oooh, burnin’ inside of me… (to fade)

Sometimes it can be fun to watch movies or videos as a group in real-time even when everyone is located in different regions of the globe.  There are some new apps that make this usual solo endeavor a more social experience. Here’s a run-down of the best web apps available for sharing videos in real-time with groups for free.

SynchTube provides a simple way to share any video from YouTube including your own original videos that you’ve uploaded. Just copy and paste the YouTube URL and create a room for the viewing part. Then share the link with your team. The room can be public or private which is a good option to have. This allows you to have private sessions for training, for example or public sessions where you can share a demo of a new product or service with the general audience along with your team members. It allows live chatting so everyone can interact during the viewing experience. Here’s a sample room that I created with the short film "Validation"
Note: You can actually create a playlist of  videos to watch in your public or private screening rooms.

If you want to setup a viewing party for video content of your own, then try Meebo Rooms which lets you or any member share videos. This is done simply by copy and pasting the URL of the streaming video, such as from YouTube. The videos then appear in order on a timeline. The room includes live group chatting so everyone can comment while watching the video. One of the nice things about Meebo Rooms is the fact that it can connect you to all of the major instant messenger services such as Yahoo messenger, AIM, MSN, GTalk, and more.

Here’s a live sample of a Meebo Room that I created for Dad-O-Matic.

CBS Social TV has been around a while but it continues to improve with time. This can be used for non-business social activities for employees. You can watch many programs in either a public room with others or you can create your own private screening room where you can invite your own team members or friends. They’ve added the ability to connect your account to your Facebook profile which helps the invitation process a great deal. Every room you create gets its own link that you can send out to those not on Facebook.Once in a social TV room you can chat live or privately and even throw things at the screen such as tomatoes, darts, hearts or kisses. Some of the programs you can watch are well-known entries such as How I Met Your Mother, Survivor, CSI:Miami, Medium and more.

I always liked Danny Gokey from American Idol season 8 where he finished 3rd which was very good. I was very happy to see/hear his new song called “My Best Days Are Ahead of Me” which he performed tonight on American Idol.

It’s such a personal song for him because he feels as if his best days are in front of him, not behind him in his American Idol 15 minutes of fame. He’s grateful to the show (which is refreshing to see for a change from former contestants) because he said it helped him deal with the tragic loss of his wife who passed away very young. In an eerie twist of fate, Danny learned after recording this song that touched him deeply that the songwriter had also lost his wife.

Here’s a live acoustic performance of the song followed by the recorded version and the inspirational lyrics.

MY BEST DAYS ARE AHEAD OF ME

Blowing out the candles
on another birthday cake
Old enough to look back and laugh at my mistakes
Young enough to look at the future and like what I see
My best days are ahead of me
Life hasn’t always been a party
but mostly it’s been good
There’s only one or two things that I’d change if I could
I dont get lost in the past or get stuck in some sad memory yah
My best days are ahead of me
Age is nothing but a number
Sometimes I have to wonder
What does it really mean
But heeeey im still putting it together
I keep getting better
if I keep getting better
I can be whatever I want to be
My best days are ahead of me
Age is nothing but a number
Sometimes I have to wonder
What does it really mean
But heeeey im still putting it together
I keep getting better
if I keep getting better
I can be whatever I want to be
My best days are ahead of me
I’ve got sunsets to witness
dreams to dance with
beaches to walk on
and lovers to kiss
there’s a whole lot of world out there
that I can’t wait to see
My best days are ahead of me
My best days are ahead of me

Here’s an excellent short 8 minute film from HONDA called “LIVING WITH ROBOTS” that shows all of the innovations and breakthroughs they’ve achieved in developing human-like robots.

Being a dreamer, I’ve always loved “Spread Your Wings” by Queen written by bassist John Deacon. It tells the story of Sammy the dreamer who’s stuck in a dead-end job. I remember even as a kid relating to this wonderful song.

I like how it shows the negative forces that keep us down and prevent us from fulfilling our destiny and making our dreams come true. Most of us never never overcome this oppression and too many of us are our own worst enemies.

Here’s what Sammy’s boss tells him:

‘Boy you’d better begin
To get those crazy notions right out of your head
Sammy who do you think that you are?
You should’ve been sweeping up the Emerald bar’

I love this simple but powerful message:

Spread your wings and fly away… far away
Pull yourself together
‘Cos you know you should do better
That’s because you’re a free man 
 

S P R E A D  Y O U R  W I N G S!

Sammy was low
Just watching the show
Over and over again
Knew it was time
He’d made up his mind
To leave his dead life behind
His boss said to him
‘Boy you’d better begin
To get those crazy notions right out of your head
Sammy who do you think that you are?
You should’ve been sweeping up the Emerald bar’
Spread your wings and fly away
Fly away far away
Spread your little wings and fly away
Fly away far away
Pull yourself together
‘Cos you know you should do better
That’s because you’re a free man
He spends his evenings alone in his hotel room
Keeping his thoughts to himself he’d be leaving soon
Wishing he was miles and miles away
Nothing in this world nothing would make him stay
Since he was small
Had no luck at all
Nothing came easy to him
Now it was time
He’d made up his mind
‘This could be my last chance’
His boss said to him ‘now listen boy
You’re always dreaming
You’ve got no real ambition you won’t get very far
Sammy boy don’t you know who you are?
Why can’t you be happy at the Emerald bar?’
So honey
Spread your wings and fly away
Fly away far away
Spread your little wings and fly away
Fly away far away
Pull yourself together
‘Cos you know you should do better
That’s because you’re a free man
Come on honey
FLY WITH ME!