Click here to view the embedded video.

Now the Mayor of Pittsburgh is honoring him by declaring 20 November as Randy Pausch Day.
Randy had also made a cameo appearance in 2009′s Star Trek reboot movie, during the prologue scene on board the USS Kelvin.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Excerpts:
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has declared Sun., Nov. 20, Randy Pausch Memorial Day in Pittsburgh.

The proclamation praises the late professor and alumnus of Carnegie Mellon University for raising awareness of pancreatic cancer, co-founding the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) and Alice computer programming curriculum and bridging the gap between technology and the arts.

[...]

Pausch, who inspired countless students in the classroom and others worldwide through his highly acclaimed last lecture, died of complications from pancreatic cancer in 2008. He was 47.

[...]

Outside the classroom, he gained public fame for delivering what would come to be known as “The Last Lecture.” On Sept. 18, 2007, only a month after doctors told him that he had three-to-six months to live following a recurrence of pancreatic cancer, he presented a lecture called “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” to an overflow crowd in McConomy Auditorium.

The moving and often humorous talk recounted his efforts to achieve such childhood dreams as becoming a professional football player, experiencing zero gravity and developing Disney World attractions.

In the process, he shared his insights on finding the good in other people, working hard to overcome obstacles and living generously.

“If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself,” Pausch said. “The dreams will come to you.”

The video appeared on countless websites and has been viewed by millions. Appearances on the Oprah Winfrey Show, ABC’s Good Morning America and the CBS Evening News followed.

A book version, “The Last Lecture,” co-written by Jeff Zaslow of the Wall Street Journal (and a fellow CMU alumnus), became a best-seller upon its release this spring.

“Randy had an enormous and lasting impact on Carnegie Mellon,” said CMU president Jared L. Cohon.

[...]

Read the full story on the source link below.

Source: Randy Pausch Day.

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Looking back, she recalled that no publishers wanted to publish her book, twelve publishers turned her down. She also recalled that editors kept reminding her that children’s book won’t see big commercial success but she went on and kept writing.
Then it was the thirteenth publisher, thirteen’s the charm, took them to the single most successful children’s book franchise in history of mankind, paving its way in becoming Hollywood’s most successful movie franchise of all time, as well. The budget for the total of eight Harry Potter movies in the franchise: $1,155,000,000. The box office for all eight movies in total reached $7,642,955,524.

Seeing that Harry Potter books and movies franchise have come to a close. Rowling said it was like saying goodbye to a friend, it was hard, and one of the most heartfelt moment of one of the chapters of her life. Especially when she remembers that a young girl came up to her and said “you are my childhood.”

During the interview, Rowling shared about the appeal of magic: “We ourselves have power and we can shape our world.” She also shared more about failure and imagination, referring to her 2008 Harvard Commencement Address (video and some of the text as follows).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Source: http://harvardmagazine.com/2008/06/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imagination
Copyright of JK Rowling, June 2008

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Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. I had no idea then how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality.

So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.

Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above the price of rubies.

The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more than any qualification I ever earned.

So given a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.

Now you might think that I chose my second theme, the importance of imagination, because of the part it played in rebuilding my life, but that is not wholly so. Though I personally will defend the value of bedtime stories to my last gasp, I have learned to value imagination in a much broader sense.
Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation.
In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.

[...]

We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.

You might also want to read my previous post about J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter here: http://sys-talk.com/inspiration/libera-mentem-nil-desperandum/

References:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_(film_series)

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Shot entirely on the Nokia N8 mobile phone. Winner of the Nokia Shorts competition 2011.

Director: JW Griffiths
Producer: Kurban Kassam

Source:

http://vimeo.com/25451551

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So here’s another beautiful time-lapse by Dominic Boudreault, showing you the comparison of how it’s like in the city and elsewhere, in nature… Enjoy!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Excerpts from Dominic:
I shot this timelapse montage from late 2010 through early 2011.
One year in the making.

My goal was to show the duality between city and nature.

Locations include :
- Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Quebec city, Quebec, Canada
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Manhattan, New York, USA
- Chicago, Illinois, USA

The music sounds familiar? It’s from the movie Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” entitled “Time” by Hans Zimmer.

Source:

• http://vimeo.com/23237102

Dominic Boudreault - Motion Photographer
Artist  |  fans  |  View on Facebook

References:

• http://dominicboudreault.com
• MSNBC.com: Time-lapse video contrasts urban and rural scenes

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Excerpts from Brad Kremer’s video description:

**To all those affected by the earthquake and tsunami. You are in our thoughts and prayers. We wish for the safety of you all.**

Japan is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. This is my Japan. This is one of the many reasons why I love Japan. I shot this in many locations around Japan in the summer of 2009. Some of the location include Tokyo, Matsuyama, Imabari, Nagano, Gifu, and Ishizushisan.
[...]
“Hayaku” definition: Hurry up
[...]

Hayaku is a preview of the beginning of Brad’s larger project in the future. Brad is currently looking for producer(s) or investor(s) to help fund his future dream project. Read more about it and how to contact him on the source link below…

Source:

• http://vimeo.com/12112529 by Brad Kremer

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Excerpts:

(Reuters Life! by Ben Tai and Christine Lu, editing by Elaine Lies) – Though Asian girl bands such as Japan’s AKB48 and South Korea’s Wonder Girls are gaining fame around the world, Taiwanese performer Shara Lin goes them one better — she is her own band, playing violin, zither and piano.

Credit: Reuters/Pichi Chuang

Now her musical multi-tasking is on global display in a training video of her performing Taiwanese artist Jolin Tsai’s song “Dancing Diva” that has racked up more than 4 million views on YouTube within three weeks.

Lin, a 25-year-old actress who has a music degree, put the performance together within five days for a blend of classical and Taiwanese pop music that has her tucking the violin under her chin and stretching out as needed to both piano and zither.

“I think the toughest part is to play the piano and the zither simultaneously. We tried many times to figure out this position for my left hand to play the piano, and right hand to play the zither,” Lin said.

“When I have to look at both the piano and the zither, I really wished my eyes could grow wider apart. If I have to play (them) together, I must play by feel.”

Lin started to play the piano at age three. Her interest in music soon expanded into other instruments including the violin, zither, guitar, jazz drums and harmonica.

Lin said she is willing to try other creative performances in the wake of her YouTube success.
[...]

Click here to view the embedded video.

Source:

• Taiwanese “one girl band” gains fame as video goes viral

Shara 林逸欣
Actor/director  |  fans  |  View on Facebook

References:

• Taiwan Artist – Shara Lin “One Girl Band” video on YouTube
• Shara Lin YiXin @ facebook.com/iamSharaLin

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Source:
http://vimeo.com/20596477 by Mario Feil

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Excerpts:
[...] “Chiemgau” is the region I live. It’s between Munich and Salzburg in the very south of Bavaria. The shots were done in and around the “Chiemgau”.
[...]

Read the full description at the “Source” link above.

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Source:
http://vimeo.com/15055882 by Darek Sepiolo

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Personal Notes:
Celebrating Earth Day today: April 22, 2011 by sharing more beautiful nature video by gifted and talented photographers / directors all over the world.
This one is a little closer to home… North Sulawesi in Indonesia.

Reference(s):

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day

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