a simple, powerful statement which is incorporated into the over absorption of mass media and lifestyles that are wrapped in consumer culture. The intention behind this project is to reach beyond ourselves as individuals to make a difference by creating moments of positive self realization. We’re just attempting to make the world a little better.

Intention is the most important aspect of the You Are Beautiful project in its idea of purity. Nothing is sacred. Everything that has a perceived value becomes commodified. We work extremely hard that this message is received as a simple act of kindness, and nothing more.

Advertising elicits a response to buy, where this project elicits a response to do something. The attempt with You Are Beautiful is to create activism instead of consumerism.

How is this achieved? Well, for example, if you send an SASE to the folks at You Are Beautiful you’ll receive five free stickers that say as much on them. Then, you’re encouraged to place those stickers in open, surprising places to spread what amounts to a true, often forgotten, and powerful positive message. Click this sentence to find out how to get a hold of your own stickers.

It goes further than that, though. You Are Beautiful frequently takes part in collaborations with individuals and groups. The only caveat is that this simple message should be spread by any means except through commercialism. That means no t-shirts, mugs, calendars, etc. Nothing to sell. No product are to be created to give away, even if they are to be given free of charge. They’re pretty serious about this.

Again, in their own words:

We work extremely hard to not let this project become commodified or commercialized. We have respectfully turned down every commercial opportunity that has been offered. We feel for this particular message, it would water down the mission. We have several copyrights in place to protect ourselves, and limit its use to solely noncommercial projects.

The aforementioned Felix (he’s been keeping an interesting, engaging, content-rich blog going since 2002) worked on a collaborative project with You Are Beautiful. The project, You Are I Am, is an “exploration of repetition and variation.” He describes the process of creating this Flash-based experiment on his website: “Participants were given a sticker labeled ‘I Am,’ followed by a blank. After filling out their phrase, each person was then photographed. It was often surprising how much you could tell about the person… based on how they described themselves.” You can read even more about the process by clicking here.

“You Are I Am” is stunning, beautiful, revealing, vulnerable, funny, fun, and remarkably honest. In short, it’s the kind of art that the Internet needs more of. Check it out for yourself by clicking any of the sentences in this paragraph.

Friends (and I’m not just saying this because you’re reading this website, but, you know, it doesn’t hurt anything)… friends, you are beautiful.

But the movie isn’t really about the brutality of the murders (and they are brutal) or the murders themselves. And the film’s not really about who actually committed the murders (though we’re led to believe who it likely is/was). This film is really about Robert Graysmith (played with an unaffected texture by Jake Gyllenhaal), a cartoonist at the San Francisco Chronicle when the Zodiac killer began sending cryptic letters to the area’s newspapers. These hand-written letters include admissions to certain killings, matter-of-fact explanations of why he enjoyed killing people, demands that newspapers print some of his letters (which they do), and coded messages, most of which were never cracked.

But here’s a sampling of one of the few ciphers figured out: “I like killing people because it is so much fun. It is more fun than killing wild game in the forest, because man is the most dangerous animal of all … I will not give you my name because you will try to slow down or stop my collecting of slaves.” You get the rated-R idea.

After several years of letters received, unsolved murders, and unsuccessful leads, the police and reporters essentially give up trying to crack the case. But Graysmith can’t let go. He obsesses, quits his job, and starts tracking down leads let go years and years ago, crossing over several different police jurisdictions, interviewing cops, neighbors, surviving victims, and reporters. In the end, he writes two true-crime books, Zodiac and Zodiac Unmasked: the Identity of America’s Most Elusive Serial Killer. But this all comes with heavy prices.

And so this is a film about secrets kept and secrets we reveal, about safe and unsafe obsessions, about deaths and the ways we lead our little lives. Zodiac is a piece of gripping film-making that leaves your mouth agape and your mind wanting more.

Enjoy….

P.S. I can’t vouch for the validity of this website, but it might be worth checking out after seeing the film.

So, Matt, what’s the story? Oh, the story. The story is about Christopher McCandless. In 1992, after graduating with honors from Emory University, Chris dropped off the face of the earth to those who knew him. He donated his savings to Oxfam, burned his cash on-hand, cut up his driver’s license, and abandoned his car. He hoofed, hiked, kayaked, and hopped trains all over the country for two solid years. He worked when he needed some money for equipment or meager amounts of food and drink, but he led a tramping life, one of solitude and revelation ending in Alaska. I’m going to give something away: Chris dies. The end isn’t what matters: the why and how of the way he viewed life matter.

This is a story about new friendships, enthusiasm for solitude, male identity, and a consumer culture gone haywire. This is about a world that drives some to drink, others to hit the open road. This is a film about the only two things meaningful: how we live and how we die. This movie makes you want to get off your ass and do something, anything, before the final period is typed and our stories come to close.

So do something for me: watch this film. And then? And then do something you’ve always wanted to do: if only for a few moments, be free.

It took some somewhat serious searching, but I hunted around and found a theater nearby (assuming you consider 45 minutes away “nearby”) playing Into the Wild, the based-on-a-true-story flick Sean Penn directed and scribed based on the book by the same name. It’s a must-read (it’s my favorite book for now–I’m assuming my first book will ultimately take over the top slot) and a must-see. But it’s also a must-listen. The original soundtrack was written and performed by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam fame, and his grizzled vocals mixed with killer lyrics lift the film to another level like an aesthetic elevator.

So first up, here’s the video for the song “Hard Sun.” Dig it.

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Here's a poem. (Those of you rolling your eyes, be prepared to have your lids pulled back by the beauty of this gem.) So, like I was saying, here's a poem by my friend Aimee Nezhukumatathil from her latest book, At the Drive-In Volcano.

. 

WHEN WEAVER ANTS CUT (A VALENTINE)
.

I love the dance of every one helping.
Each ant chews and chews a bit of juicyleaf
and stands on his back four legs to raise
the leaf shape up high above his head.
The congo line– ”a honey shimmer of bodies
rushing to bring the cut leaf home. For twelve
years, the ruler of Garwara was a jackal.
All the laughing in that town cannot
compare to what you have brought
into my home: a filament of light inside
a dark jellyfish bell. It's this dance of ants
down a tree, around a stubborn frog– ”I want
to dance with you– ”how brave the line,
how tiny the step, a hundred green valentines.

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(Do yourself a favor, buckaroo, and order her book by clicking here.)

*** 

Finally, I’ll toss you a delightful bubblegum-pop softball in the form of “Beverly Hills– by the band Weezer. I'm a fan of this video because it was shot at the Playboy Mansion. And that's not really why I dig it. I dig it because the irony of the song was lost of Hugh Hefner and his delicate brand of misogyny.

Instead of three, I’m only giving you one today, because I can’t pull myself away from this tune enough to come up with two others I’d rather hear, and therefore, rather share, dear readers. The song? “1234.” The musician? Feist. This number blends all the right things together, resulting in a bittersweetness morphed into an infectious hopefulness. It calls to mind the group singing of Polyphonic Spree, the avant-rock orchestral arrangement of Anathallo on “A Great Wind More Ash” and Arcade Fire on “Wake Up,”and the pure pop of Fiona Apple’s “Paper Bag” and Wilco’s “I’m Always in Love.”

And the lyrics? Check these out: “Sweetheart, bitterheart, now I can’t tell you apart. / Cozy and cold, put the horse before the cart. / Those teenage hopes, who have tears in their eyes, / too scared to own up to one little lie.”

In my book, “1234″ is the best of many worlds, and a welcome reminder of the power of music done “just so.” Plus, I’m a sucker for hand clapping, baby. So here’s the “official” video for the song, as well as live versions performed on Letterman (a must-see!) and O’Brien. Enjoy….