Happiness and Entrepreneurs

I saw this TED Talk and found it inspiring.

I also saw this video on a TED Talk and liked it.

Reason #1,867 Why You Should Never Want to Run for President of the United States

Yearbook photos!



As if running for president weren't already the worst possible thing to ever do because (non-exhaustive list):

• everything you ever said will be repeated ad nauseum in and out of context
• you spend almost all your time begging people for money
• you have to say idiotically simple things because your party and the public will punish you for acknowledging that issues are complex
• your spouse/children will be villainized
• half of the people in the country will hate you simply because you exist
• if you win, you can never do anything normal ever again: no vacations, no simple walks around the block, no going to restaurants without a security entourage, etc.
  

Now, we get to see yearbook photos! Oh, my...what a terrible thing to have the public see. I know for a fact that there are numerous photos in my high school yearbook of me in a speedo (swim team, yeah!). I shudder at the thought of millions of people seeing that.

Here's the slideshow, however, of various GOP candidates' (and former candidates...Sarah Palin is included) yearbook photos.

And here's a fun little trip down memory lane, with more politicians' yearbook photos:

Let's start with Barry Obama, rocking out the leisure suit and the afro

"Why, yes! I was on last week's episode of Soul Train."

But don't forget Michelle Robinson--the only yearbook photo in color!

"I don't care what they say, Harvest Gold is the new Avocado."

Chief Justice John Roberts used to have a lot of hair

"Danny Bonaduce and I cut each others' hair while we listen to David Cassidy albums."

Former president George W. Bush, looking positively Ivy League

"How come they call it a 'tie' when you just clip it on?"

Former president Bush looking more like he'd slept on a park bench the night before

"There's no problem that an evening with O'Doul's can't solve."

Former first lady, Laura Welch, with an excellent bouffant hairdo

"No, silly! I never stay out past six on weeknights. That's when The Brady Bunch is on!"

Former Democratic presidential nominee and current senator John Kerry with quite the underbite

"I can't believe they hung my underwear in the tree out on the quad again. I just wish it weren't the pair with the little rocket ship pictures all over."

Former first lady, senator, and almost-Democratic presidential nominee, and current Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham

"Don't make eye contact with me if you don't want to be turned to stone."

Former vice president Al Gore, looking as though he hates the world as much as he actually does hate the world

"I hate everyone so much, including myself. That's why I'm going to run for president, even if my therapist doesn't think it's a good idea."

Former president Jimmy Carter, with a face that looks a little bit like he wants to cry

"I just did my hair, guys. Can you give me a swirly tomorrow instead?"

And finally, former president and Casanova-in-chief "Billy" Clinton, who used to have a little bit of chub around his cheeks

"I swiped a cigar from the drugstore. Any ideas on what to do with it?"

That Time I Almost Got Killed by a Lion

Happy 2012, people! So, it's not a new year if there aren't some new YouTube videos floating around the interwebs. Am I right?

One of them caught my eye (and about 3 million other eyes, too, apparently). It's of a little girl at a zoo in New Zealand. She's standing about six inches from the maw of a huge male lion, separated only by a (hopefully thick) pane of plexiglass. The lion starts batting at the glass, trying to get at the girl. Dinner--so close, yet so far away.



Seeing that video reminded me of my own zoo lion adventure a few years ago. I was in Birmingham, Alabama, visiting my grandparents. Almost by tradition, we visit the zoo every time we're in town. Even as twenty-somethings, my grandmother, Muv, usually takes us, because she's awesome (and because we all love getting spend some time with her).

So, we went together. We had a lovely time meandering about. Muv showed me some new additions they had installed, and it was generally just a pleasant afternoon. The sun was out, the day was warm. What could go wrong?

We walked up to the big cat area (my favorite, obviously!)


The lions at the Birmingham Zoo are in a big outdoor pen behind some glass, next to the "Big Cat House." They're usually really boring, sleeping all the time and rarely doing anything. It looked to be another one of those days. They were all just lazing about.


The big male, though, did lift his head up and yawn. It was just another day for him, reigning over his little quarter-acre plot.


However, as he finished his yawn, he looked over at us. He must see hundreds of humans every day, but for whatever reason, we interested him. He glared at me, and I glared right back.



Then I had the worst possible reaction. My cats enjoy playing a little bit of cat-and-mouse. I move my hand around a bit or wiggle a laser pointer, and they go all bonkers over it. Wouldn't a lion, which is just a big kitty, want to do the same thing?

Keeping eye contact, I started dipping and dodging, running back and forth along the little fence in front of the glass.


Sure enough, the lion kept watching me. He quietly got up and started walking toward me.


That's when I realized that I was actually being hunted by a lion. He had crouched into the medium-tall grass a few dozen yards away and was inching a little closer each moment.

Once again, I made clear why I would die if I had to survive in the wild. While a normal human/prey reaction would be to stop taunting a 500 lb. cat and run, I just doubled down on my efforts. Muv was starting to get a little nervous.

"Josh," she said, "I don't know if you should keep doing that. I think he's actually stalking you."


A moment after she said that, the lion charged. I was amazed at how quickly it ran and, as it approached, how big it really was. It lunged at the glass, and we both jumped back.



The lion hit the glass--BAM!--at full speed, and the stuff shook violently. We weren't close enough to the door of the Big Cat House to escape if it broke, and I quickly figured that I'd push Muv out of the way so the lion could eat me. I mean, it wanted to eat me anyway, so I don't think my potential gallantry would've changed much, but whatever.


The glass did hold (whew!), but the lion still stood there, on its hind legs, at least seven feet tall, growling and batting at the glass. It never once stopped staring at me, which was kind of frightening. I've never had anything want so desperately for me to be dead.


We watched it for a bit before heading into the Big Cat House. The lion was not a happy camper, and a crowd was starting to develop. I figured the thing would probably calm itself down if I were no longer part of the excitement.

I don't think we got any pictures of the event (did you, Muv?). It was terrifying. And awesome. Lions are so cool.

Assuming the lion is still the same as it was a few years ago, his name is Kwanzaa (deadliest holiday ever, apparently), and he just became a dad. Good for him. Here's a video of him being trained. Around the :40 mark, he goes up on his hind legs. Notice how huge he is and how much he could make you dead if he wasn't barricaded by something. Eek.

74 Years Ago Today

I know that Christmas is right around the corner, but I just saw on a different blog that today is the 74th anniversary of the opening of Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I only just saw the film in its entirety this past year, and it was quite an experience. Now, it's true, the story is cheesy and saccharine, a lot of the animation is rotoscoped, and there are some really slow parts. However, the modern eye should overlook those seeming faults and be able to recognize how big of a deal Snow White really was. The only slight analogy we have today is Toy Story--a film that many people doubted would be successful. "No one will watch 3D characters for a full 90 minutes on screen!" For Walt Disney, it was even more extreme; animation as a medium had never been tested outside of goofy shorts. Even more so, it had never been used to tell a dramatic story.

However, Disney went with his gut, and the film became a massive, massive success. My grandpa told me a few months ago about going to see it when he was a kid. He mentioned how his Uncle George (my great-great uncle) absolutely loved it. Funny how it's considered now to be not just a kids' movie, but a little girls' movie. Back then, it was for all ages. The film cost about $1.5 million to make and grossed almost $67 million, showing the world that animated films could compete and giving Walt Disney the capital to build an entire new studio. The current Walt Disney Studios, while substantially renovated since that time, are at that same location today.

Neil Gabler, in his excellent biography "Walt Disney: Triumph of the American Imagination," goes to great length in describing the idea, production process, and release of Snow White. I'd definitely recommend either going to your local library or buying a copy.

I love Walt Disney and his philosophy of film for a similar reason that I love Jim Henson. Both felt that they could utilize their chosen mediums to influence people--especially children--in a positive way. I leave you then with statements from both men, saying effectively the same thing, and showing, at least to some extent, why their works still affect us the way that they do:

Disney:

“Movies can and do have tremendous influence in shaping young lives in the realm of entertainment towards the ideals and objectives of normal adulthood."

Henson:

"At some point in my life I decided, rightly or wrongly, that there are many situations in this life that I can't do much about - acts of terrorism, feelings of nationalistic prejudice, cold war, etc. - so what I should do is concentrate on the situations that my energy can affect. I believe that we can use television and film to be an influence for good; that we can help to shape the thoughts of children and adults in a positive way."

11 Days...

I Live On Sesame Street

Emily and I went to go see "The Muppets" last week (it's a fun movie; you should see it) at a local movie theater in the neighborhood where we now live. It's a totally community-oriented place and is reasonably priced to boot, so we were pretty excited. Emily has been saying for weeks that we live on Sesame Street, but without eight-foot-tall, yellow, preschool-aged birds walking around, I couldn't fully agree.

Imagine, then, my ecstasy when ahead of us in the line we made out what appeared to be that very same felt frog that made Jason Segel cry and makes America's collective heart flutter.


Sure enough, it was Kermit! He was chatting with fans as they bought their tickets. We got ours and had a few words with him. I didn't know what to say; I was starstruck.


We were a little late to the movie, and, worrying that there would be a lot of people there and no seats (everyone ahead of us had bought tickets to the same movie), I went to get popcorn while she grabbed a spot in the theater. The concessions were right by the tickets, so as I waited, I watched other people interact with Kermit. Some just ignored him, but most had kind of a cute little interaction. Then a little a girl walked up to him.

"Kermin! Kermin!" she yelled (adorably mispronouncing his name). He looked down and said hello.

"What's your name?"

"Angela" she said shyly. They spoke for a minute or two--her telling him about her school and her family--and then her mom started to pull her away.


"Bye, Kermin!" she hollered, "Bye!"

"Bye, Angela!" he responded.


Then she got really serious and looked right at him. "I love you."

Without missing a beat, Kermit said "I love you too, Angela."

That's when my heart melted.


Emily is totally right. We do live on Sesame Street.

Thanksgiving!

So, happy belated Thanksgiving, everyone! This year was the first as a married couple, so Emily got to experience and endure the ten hour marathon that is the Sauerman family Thanksgiving.

Highlights of the day included:

Uncle Don--who is still flammable--and his pants falling down,



my cousin's suicidally terrified cat (I didn't see this one; only heard about it),



My cousin's grandpa's now racist terms during Scattergories (it's not 1952 anymore!),



and me getting BOTH the drumsticks. No one else wanted them!



Hope you all had a fun, delicious, tryptophan-stupor-inducing Thanksgiving!

And yes, I wore a sweater vest.

I'm Back, With Another Big Cat! And other stuff!

Of course I am. Sorry, I've been gone for a while. Been busy getting married and stuff. Yay for that. Maybe I'll do a little illustratin' later about it

Here's a snow leopard that I did on real paper instead of on the new-fangled computer gizmo that's all the rage with the kids these days.


I've also been somewhat religiously listening to Nickel Creek, and loving their song "The Fox." I decided to do a few illustrations for it in my notebook (watercolor!):


Also, just working on either a zebra or a quagga. Not sure, which is why it isn't finished. I was thinking it would be an angel quagga looking at an angel dodo. Poor extinct animals...

How About A Little Motivation?

I get pretty cynical about motivational quotes and posters and things, mostly because I don't think the person who expresses the sentiment has any idea of the context of it. For example, I recently saw someone use a quote from Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame about love. It was a nice little statement, but I doubt that the friend has any idea that (spoiler!) in the book, Quasimodo, the hunchback, dies (starvation), as does the love interest, Esmerelda (hanged), and the villain, Frollo (thrown from the top of the cathedral). It's a tragic story of unrequited love in the face of physical deformity, Church law, and different ethnicities. Using a quote from it for your marriage isn't bad, per se, but it seems somehow...unadvised?

Here, on the other hand is a good motivational poster that made me laugh, courtesy of S.T. Lewis:

Prohibition

I love Ken Burns and his documentaries. Ever since I was a kid and watched The Civil War with my dad, I've been hooked. As many critics say, he has the ability to take otherwise complex and inaccessible history and turn it into something fascinating. Some say he makes things seem too simplistic. Well, that's a critique that can be leveled against any documentarian. You only have so much time that an audience will grant you. With the time that he has, Ken Burns makes people who don't like history absolutely love it.

That's why I can't wait for his new documentary, which will be showing on PBS starting this Sunday. It's on that great American experiment, Prohibition. So, go grab a tumbler, make yourself an Old Fashioned, and enjoy the featurette with great anticipation: