TIIA 21 (The Internet is Awesome)

In case you are wondering, yes I did just put one of these out, but I kind of have a backlog of these video posts, I went through my saved videos last week, and put together like 6 of these posts, so I would like to publish them a lot sooner than once a month, otherwise I'd be posting them until next year. And I'm already collecting new favorite videos, so I need to catch up before I get overrun again. On to the videos!

We'll start this post out with one of my favorite Peter Hollens videos he's ever done, a collaboration with both Devin Graham and Evynne Hollens. For like a month after this song came out I had it on a continuous loop on every drive to work. I've never even played the game that this song came from, I just love it. :p



Speaking of robots, this is one of my all time favorite songs by Tessa Violet. I only wish she'd release a full music video of the fully produced version. This is just the acoustic version, which is beautiful on its own, but I do love the more electronic-y version. :)



Nataly Dawn + Kurt Hugo Schneider + Taylor Swift = This amazingness.



As I've said before, I love it when different artists put their own spin on the same song, and Evynne Hollens definitely put her own spin on it. :)



The Gregory Brothers have been making Sad Happy songs and Happy Sad songs for awhile, but this one is one of the best ones they have ever done.



I'm not sure where I came across this next video. All I know is that it went viral awhile back, and it was hauntingly beautiful. The only problem is this video is WAY too short. The good news is that she actually has a YouTube channel where she does this every once in awhile, but this is definitely the best version.



Normally when Pogo does his Disney/movies remixes, he makes the music video using the actual clips from the movies that he cobbled together to make the music, but for some reason, as odd as it is, I kind of love this weird little lip sync video he made instead.



We'll end this with another Lindsey Stirling video, this time a music video for the song she did for the new Disney movie Pete's Dragon! I was stoked to hear she'd been invited to not just do a song, but to actually be the featured violinist for the entire film! I can't wait to hear the soundtrack!

#UnicornFacts!

I wrote these true facts ages ago, mainly for my cousin, who loves unicorns, but I kind of left them on my phone and forgot about them. I came across them a couple days ago and decided that now was as good a time as any to post them, so here they are! True facts about unicorns!

About

Unicorns!

Did you know that unicorns are believed to have gone extinct around 600 years ago? The last known unicorn was documented in medieval tapestries. #TrueFact

Did you know that unicorns could not actually fly? They actually propelled themselves through the air with a combination of extraordinary leaps and levitation. And also mind powers. #TrueFact

Did you know that there were more than one breed of unicorn? There was even one rare breed that was carnivorous! Though, this particular breed only ate monkey squirrels, and that's why monkey squirrels are also extinct. #TrueFact

Did you know unicorns could be tamed by anyone? It is a common misconception that only virginal maidens could tame them, but that is just not true. Anyone trying to catch one could, as long as they used their favorite foods as bait: spinach and candy canes. #TrueFact

Did you know that unicorns used their horns as tattoo machines? They would use them to tattoo pictures onto each other's flanks. This is where the idea for the My Little Pony toys' cutie marks originated. #TrueFact

Did you know that unicorns invented yodeling as a warning to predators? This was actually quite effective, as it was absolutely terrifying. #TrueFact

Did you know that unicorns could play the lute with their mind powers? #TrueFact

Did you know unicorns invented the scrunchy in the '80s? The 1480's, that is. They wore the scrunchies on their tails along with four leg warmers while they dancercized to their favorite Gregorian chants. #TrueFact

Did you know that most current unicorn sightings are actually just horses with a parsnip duct taped to their forehead? #TrueFact

Did you know unicorns could travel through time? This is why, despite some confusion, due to the whole parsnip thing, a few actual unicorns are still seen in remote forests to this day. #TrueFact

TIIA 20 (The Internet is Awesome)

Everyone stop what you're doing! Pentatonix just collaborated with Dolly Parton! I never knew how much I needed this! This is amazing!



Lindsey Stirling just released a new album last month and every song is amazing. It follows then that the videos for those songs should also be amazing. And they are.



Postmodern Jukebox has a habit of taking a song that could get old because it's so popular and literally everywhere, and putting a fresh new spin on it that makes it completely different. Case in point: A bluegrass cover of Major Lazer and Justin Bieber's Cold Water.



This new song by Tessa Violet is so good, but I can barely focus on it because the music video is just so amazing!



And now, for something completely different. I'm not even going to tell you what this is, you just need to experience it.



This song is blowing up this year, and I am really enjoying it! The best part about a song getting so popular, is that everyone wants to cover it! Like Kina Grannis!



And Sam Tsui and Kurt Hugo Scheider!



We'll end this with another amazing Peter Hollens video, a medley of The Sound of Music with Shay Carl and his family.

A Strange (But Really Cool) Coincidence

Yesterday I put together post about my Grandpa Bell's funeral. I edited the photos in the afternoon, wrote it that evening, and put it all together last night. I put it up on the blog and scheduled the post for this morning on Facebook and then went to sleep.

Then this morning I woke up to this picture in my Timehop.

So, it might seem like I did this on purpose, but I didn't! Completely by coincidence I posted my blog post, including this same picture, exactly one year after Grandpa's 90th birthday party.

Now, I'm not one of those people who believes that this was a sign that Grandpa is looking down from heaven and sending me a message or whatever, but it was such a cool, strange coincidence that I thought it was worth posting about. :)

Grandpa Bell

As most of you know, my Grandpa Bell died last month. Sadly it was the same day as Jacob's wedding. We found out as we left the reception. I didn't want to mention that in the post about the wedding, but thought I should mention it here. We knew it was coming, but it was still a shock.

As funerals tend to do, we had a ton of family brought together that week. I took a bunch of pictures before and after the funeral, so I wanted to share them here. Before I do that though, I did want to share a couple of the pictures I took at Grandpa's 90th birthday party last year. All his kids made it down for that special occasion, and we had to photograph it. This was my best picture from the day.

My other favorite picture I took that day was this one. There were a bunch of really old photos on a table at the party and I decided to arrange and photograph them. I'm really glad I did.

We miss you grandpa.

The whole weekend of the funeral, my nephew Jackson was the center of attention.

Dad is obsessed with Jackson the most, and of course gets first dibs as grandpa, but Mandi loves all babies and had to be persuaded to relinquish him. :)

We spent a lot of time at Uncle John and Aunt Becky's house that weekend. It's a great place for big family gatherings.

I swear I didn't put an Instagram filter on this picture, it just turned out this way!

Jared had a story to tell and Afton was a captive audience.

The funeral home was decorated so nicely. Lots of amazing pictures from the past.

That big one was taken by my cousin Kim. It's one of the best pictures any of us had of him.

It's one of my favorites. It's just the perfect picture of him.

I didn't get any more pictures here after this because I just feel weird about taking pictures at funerals. Plus I was a pallbearer and had to focus on that. I'm glad that Mandi was there because she stepped up and took some great pictures that day.

I don't think anyone likes funerals, but grandpa's was really nice, and a fitting tribute to him. I'm really glad I was a part of it.

After the funeral all the pallbearers were given a shell from the guns that were fired at the ceremony. I put mine on my bookshelf, next to a couple of diamonds from Jacob's wedding.

After the funeral we had a picnic in a park, though I didn't get any pictures there either, because it was a lot of people I didn't know and the few I did were too scattered.

After that, the family all headed back to Aunt Becky and Uncle John's.

Sometime later, an ice cream truck came by for some reason, while a bunch of people were outside, and Uncle John bought everyone ice cream!

The rest of these pictures were probably taken the next day. We went back to Uncle John and Aunt Becky's after church on Sunday.

I loved this picture of Grandma and Maggie. :)

Then Jackson was back to being the center of attention.

That's all I've got. It was an emotional weekend, but really nice too.

Disney+Hollens

Awhile back I did a post of only Disney covers by YouTubers, but lets narrow that down even further, with Disney covers by YouTubers named Hollens. Peter and his wife Evynne of course. :) They have been releasing a LOT of Disney music recently, so I decided to compile a bunch of it all into one big post.

Disney's Tarzan has been one of my favorite soundtracks to listen to independently from the movie since it was released, Leave it to Peter Hollens to do such an amazing cover to one of the best songs.

The movie Brave didn't really have much by way of music with lyrics, at least, not when compared to most other Disney movies, but of course Evynne, in her quest to be every Disney Princess, was all over what it did have. :)



And speaking of that quest: Here she is as Pocahontas. :)



Peter is not to be outdone of course. :)



Here's Evynne as Mulan, as Peter mentioned in that last video.



I liked this song before Peter and Evynne did it, but once they did it, I loved it. They seem to have had that effect on me with other songs before...



Evynne doesn't just do the well known princesses, she also does the obscure ones. :p



Peter doesn't always get into the cosplay for his Disney videos like Evynne does, but they are still amazing.



This is all for now. It's not all that they have done, but it'll be enough for one post. I'll have a (not exactly) regular post up soon. :)

You Go, Grandma!

Last week in one of my advertising classes, our teacher showed us a commercial by Nike as an example of a company using a commercial to put forth a strong, identifiable, brand identity, as well as market themselves to as wide a target as possible. I'd say they succeeded on both fronts very well.

Many people who know me, know I have a thing for awesome little old ladies. Not a weird thing, I just love it when little old ladies do something awesome or inspiring. This one is both. They call her the Iron Nun.



What I find the most impressive is that literally none of this was fabricated. I would have really liked the commercial, even if it was just a fictitious nun who ran marathons, but the fact that Sister Madonna Buder is an actual, real-life person who does this all the time just made me love her, and love the commercial that much more.



I was curious to learn more about her, so I searched YouTube and found some more videos about her.



This last video has a more personal interview with her, and it's one of the best. She is just such an inspiring person.



I just can't help but love her!