Saturday, February 26, 2011

History of Rock N' Roll YouTube Contest

This afternoon, while drinking hot chocolate, my 8-year-old son, Aleks, didn't know who the Beatles were. We're not the biggest Beatles fans in the world, but it reminded me of a joke I once heard:
A: They're Beatles lyrics, aren't they?
B: I don't know. Sorry.
A: Of course you do. Everyone is born knowing Beatles' lyrics instinctively. They're passed into the fetus along with all the amniotic stuff. In fact, they should be called The Fetals.


When repeated, my son didn't get the joke either. So it occurred to me that what we really need is a YouTube playlist to walk us through the history of Rock N' Roll. We homeschool, so we have plenty of time to watch YouTube videos. It also occurred to me that different folks might design different playlists. This is perfect. This means we can make it a contest.

All you have to do is create a playlist of YouTube videos either by listing them and submitting the list via email, or by creating a playlist on YouTube for public sharing (and submitting the link to the playlist link in the comments here, on the Facebook event page or by email). You'll need a YouTube account for this latter option. See this tutorial.

The prize is yet undecided, but will be homemade by Aleks and I. All participants will receive a certificate of thanks. Feel free to share.

All submissions should be sent with a name and contact information by 11:59 pm March 27th to Anna Kiss at annakissmm at gmail dot com.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Valentines!

Bastian glues.


New box.

Aleks' homemade Minecraft Valentine.
The Valentine I made for folks using mostly fair use images found online. St. Valentine, it turns out, was martyred by being beheaded by the Romans, mostly for being a Christian priest. It's really unclear as to whether the paper hearts, illegal marriages, or miracles (like curing blindness) were real at all. He was definitely beheaded, though, in about 269 CE.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Tesla Orchestra

My friend Ian started this Tesla Orchestra, so part of an ongoing series of field trips to meet and talk to artists while they work, Aleks and I are going to see the Tesla Orchestra next Friday. Maybe we'll even get around to blogging about it.