The 8 Best Videos of 2012 - Lincoln Awards

Ladies and gentleman, Happy Holidays! Welcome to Hug the Rhino's first ever "videos of the year list". And what's a great awards show without the well-known name? If you were wondering, it comes from the famous Lincoln quote:

"If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my ax and one watching videos on YouTube." 

Here are the categories for 2012:

• Most-Unappreciated Video (#starthome)
• Best British Oddity Video
• Best Poetry Video
• Best Music Video
• Best Inspirational Video
• Best Cheesy Inspirational Video
• Best Gay Marriage Video
• Best Overall Video

Some of these have around 1,000 views. Only 1,000?!? For the best of the year in this category in the whole world? That's outrageous. 

To be clear, they don't have to be new this year, just ones that we've watched for the first time in the last 12 months. All videos also come with instructions. These will help you get the most of the viewing experience. 


Most Unappreciated Video - Orphan Eyes - Mi Hogar, Home Sweet Home

All we can say is, why isn't this a viral sensation? It has a cheesy saxophone melody, stellar cinematography and some of the best slow motion we've seen in years. The three keys to great videos!

Really though, we want you to take some action taken and popularize the most unappreciated video of the year. If you love it (and you are going to), tweet #starthome with a link to this video or my blog, or share it with that hashtag on facebook (or both). Notice the connection to #stopkony? Well, yes, we are trying to make someone famous. These guys. 

Currently it has 1,950 views on YouTube. Want to try and hit 10,000 by Tuesday? Maybe a 100,000 by New Years? Well, it's worth a try.  

(Update - We added about 1,000 views. Not bad!)

How to Watch

• Go into a forest with your favorite instrument and pretend to play it along with the music.

Seriously. Wasn't that amazing? My favorite part is 2:50. #starthome.

British Oddity Video of the Year - The Way of the Bells

A short ethnographic film about bell ringers of the UK. It's just so properly British. 

How to Watch

• Quickly sign up* for your nearest bell-ringing group. (*May need to move to the UK)
• Grab some tissues. It's a tear-jerker. 

Poetry Video of the Year - Sarah Kay - If I should have a daughter

We are HTR are such suckers for beauty! And poetry, especially spoken word poetry delivered by captivating speakers makes life a little brighter. Thank you Josh Cleary for showing me the light. This last only for about the first four minutes of the video. 

How to Watch:

• Get out a note pad and a pencil. You are about to learn how to be a great parent. 

A close second is Shake the Dust, by Anis Mojgani: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qDtHdloK44

Music Video of the Year - Antwon - Helicopter (warning: explicit language) 

This video is simple, beautiful, and straight up gangster: 

How to Watch

• Grab a stack of pancakes and pour Sriracha sauce and Olde English on them just like Antwon. 
• Pause the video when Antwon and his posse are chilling on the apartment steps and appreciate their superb ethnic diversity. 

Inspirational Video of the Year - Adora Svitak - Learning from Kids

Now, this isn't traditional "inspiration". But it's an invitation to think differently, rediscover the joys of youth, and learn a lot from a 10 year old. 

How to Watch

• Try not to feel too bad that you weren't speaking at international conferences at the age of 10. 
• Listen to what state she is from... And if kids from there are like this, imagine how cool kids from Oregon are!

Cheesy Inspirational Video of the Year - How Great I Am 

HTR is no unconditional lover of inspirational sports movies, but we've been known to "Remember the Titans" a time or two. Here we present a montage of some of the greatest lines from those movies, mixed with inspirational sports figures. Yes, goosebumps be a coming. 

How to Watch

• Set your running shoes out for the morning. You'll be a training fiend by the end. 
• Grab a bottle of arsenic and drink every time they feature a female athlete (hint, you'll survive, and the lack of such figures is a travesty)

Best Same-Sex Marriage Videos of the Year - John Corvino

Really want to thank Emily Lindgren for sharing these videos with me after the Gay Marriage blog. They are just gems! Here's one on the definition of marriage. 

How to Watch

• Keep on for the after-credits joke. There's one in each video in the series. 
• Post some YouTube comments about the video! It's a good place to have reasonable discussions about the issues....

Best Video Of the Year- Sir Ken Robinson - Changing Education Paradigms

How do we decide the video of the year; humor, significance, potential for impact? Well, we've decided to go with all three. This video is Sir Ken's extremely meaningful, funny, and engaging evisceration of our education system. 

How to Watch

• Remove socks and fold, placing them nearby. They'd be blown off anyway. 
• Graduate school before watching. Otherwise, you might be encouraged to doubt the system. (Or change it.)

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#starthome

Hug the Rhino Team
For a better life

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Why I Support the Legalization of Same Sex Marriage

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes 30 seconds

“Follow those who seek the truth, doubt those who find it.”

This quote lies at the foundation of my moral and spiritual life. I’m a skeptic, a doubter, someone who is never quite satisfied with traditional explanations. But even I will say that sometimes there are truths so self-evident, so clearly moral and just, that it’s possible to say “I believe in this 100% and I will fight to make this belief a reality.” Ladies and gentleman, gay marriage is one of these truths. The United States is slowly realizing this fact - as of February 2015 37 states had legalized Gay Marriage, and 7 of the remaining 13 have an active appeal to overturn their respective Gay Marriage bans. 

I'm the type of person that sees this in the store and thinks... "Wait a minute..."

I’ll dedicate this blog to expanding upon the reasons that I feel so strongly about this topic, and I’ll try to give a proper thrashing to some of the common arguments against this extension of equality and civil rights. I'm focusing this blog on people who find homosexuality acceptable but draw a line at same sex marriage, but it's a fun read for everyone!

Two sides to every coin?

To those of you who oppose same sex marriage, I understand that your opinion on this topic is based on a series of life experiences and a certain system of beliefs or assumptions.  I would even go as far to assume that you’ve arrived at this position after a great deal of soul searching, discussion, and possibly even prayer. But I’m challenging you to go further.  It’s time to rethink your position, to have new discussions, and to eventually join the side of equality. Because like every issue, there are two sides to this coin.  In this case, it’s equality or intolerance. And I’m intolerant of your intolerance.

My awakening

My journey towards supporting same sex marriage is part of a larger change in my beliefs and perspectives. This shift started in the Australian outback, where I spent a week with a student group learning about the oppression and racism inflicted on the Australian Aboriginal community. This example encouraged me to reevaluate my worldview, and search for other injustices around the world. I found an alarming re-occurrence of oppression and blatant discrimination against minority groups across the planet. Both modern and historical events told the same story. Structural Racism. Systemic Inequality. Cultural Homicide. Genocide. Denial of Civil Rights.

Over time it became clear that the struggle for marriage equality was very similar to the struggles of women or African Americans pursuing civil rights. All three consist of groups that were traditionally oppressed or villianized working together to gain civil rights while certain members of the already-privileged society fight against the equality for what in hindsight look like ridiculous reasons. For example:

• In 1873, Harvard professor Dr. Edward Clarke wrote a best-selling book stating that if young women studied too much they would divert blood away from the uterus to the brain, rendering themselves “irritable and infertile.”
• In 1957, Governor Orval Faubus announced on statewide television that "Blood will run in the streets if Negro pupils should attempt to enter Central High School."
• In 2012, the Family Research Council posted the following statement on their website: "Sympathy must be extended to those who struggle with unwanted same-sex attractions, and every effort should be made to assist such persons to overcome those attractions, as many already have."

Our Mission: Not to be a modern-day Orval Faubus

Maybe that connection is a bit overstated. Maybe you think that this time it’s all about the institution of marriage, the sanctity of marriage, etc. etc. Well, let's talk. 

Redefining “traditional” marriage worked before

Marriage had always been about one man and one woman. Well, except for the Old Testament, where it was one man with a few women. But we changed that! And recently we changed it again to include marriage for love. Through change, we strengthened the institution of marriage …..

It’s the same way this time, where changing “the traditional definition” of marriage to be the loving union of two committed individuals will be a step toward increasing inequality and lessening oppression, thereby strengthening the institution of marriage. 

Sanctity and exclusion do not go together.

Marriage is sacred! It’s a pure, loving bond between two people that keeps them together for the rest of their lives at least 50% of the time…

If you want to strengthen something, look at the causes of the weakness. In this case, our society should have a critical discussion about the cultural and societal factors that lead to such a high rate of divorce. Denying loving couples the right to marry will not help strengthen the institution of marriage. 

You can’t pick and choose Biblical Laws

Of course I follow Leviticus 15:19-30, “When a woman has a discharge, and the discharge in her body is blood, everything on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean...", so why should I not follow Leviticus 18:22, "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination."

And to this point, I quote the eminent scholar Mackelmore, from his recent song about gay marriage, entitled “Same Love”:

America the brave

Still fears what we don't know

And God loves all his children it's somehow forgotten

But we paraphrase a book written

3,500 hundred years ago

It’s won’t even directly affect your life

Same sex marriage will negatively affect my life and the life of similar families around the country. Here's an example. Three years ago I planted a flourishing vegetable garden. A year later, my neighbor planted a similarly successful garden with different types of vegetables. My garden is now seriously damaged.

That’s the silliness of this idea. Same sex marriage isn’t going to negatively affect other marriages. Period.

In the end, I'm choosing equality

Marriage should be the loving and committed union of two individuals regardless of gender.
  

This isn’t politics. It’s not Democrat v. Republican. It’s simply not up for debate. By supporting gay marriage, we are extending marriage equality to all Americans regardless of sexual orientation. By opposing gay marriage, we are withholding this right and continuing the cycle of ignorant oppression that has marred so much of the earth’s history. 

Please join me in supporting the legalization of same sex marriage in the entire United States and the world beyond. 

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Kurt Berning

Hug the Rhino
For a better life

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