A to Z 2024: Y is for watching Viral Videos on Youtube

 

For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate. Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day. I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter. At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in an A to Z keepsake playlist on Spotify. Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.

April 29th is Viral Video Day

• The first viral video on You Tube was an unauthorized bootleg of the SNL digital short Lazy Sunday.  It had over 5,000,000 views between December 2005 and February of 2006 when You Tube took it down.  SNL has since put the video up on it's own You Tube Channel.
• Like many subsequent viral videos Lazy Sunday spawned some response videos.  This one being a shot by shot remake
• In 2008 the viral video Charlie bit my finger - Again blew up  on You Tube.  To date it has 886,000,000 views.  My son was 7 when this came out and I must say he was very good at shutting people down before they ever got to teasing him about that.
• By 2013 most everyone knew what a viral video was.  April 29th 2013 was the first known occurrence of Viral Video Day.
• Since then, viral videos have not gone away.  Video's like this one my daughter calls Chewbacca Mom. It had 13,00,000 views in the past 7 years.  

I know there are just two days left in the A to Z challenge.  I say take a moment and watch some You Tube videos.  You may just help one go viral!

*********************************************************************************

The song of the day is You Make It Easy To Fall In Love by Three Crosses

25 songs are on the Leap of Dave A to Z 2024 playlist.  Just one more letter, one more holiday and one more song!

********************************************************************************* 

To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!

The Progressive Poem is Here!

 Okay, before I go one step farther, I need to get two things off my chest...

1) Who ever decided to put National Poetry Month on the same month as the A to Z challenge

should have their poetic license revoked.

2) Who ever decided to put the A to Z challenge the same month as National Poetry Month needs to get more than just their alphabet in order.

I feel a little better.

Speaking of both challenges, yesterday Donna Smith of Mainely Write did a great job of bringing us closer to the end of this excellent epic of emigration. Her theme in the A to Z challenge is good words and I am going to start my intro with a doozy of a good word.

Today is the antepenultimate day of the progressive poem.  I learned antepenultimate 2 Summers ago when I was  reading Benjamin Dreyer's amazing book, Dreyer's English.  Antepenultimate means third from last.

Before I continue I want to advise that I made 2 changes to today's post.  The first is that I started all lines with a Capital letter.  Whoever comes behind me can certainly copy and paste from yesterdays post rather than mine.  The second is that I have changed the links, so now when you click on the previous poets pages you go directly to their original post.  

Cradled in stars, our planet sleeps, 

 Clinging to tender dreams of peace

 Sister moon watches from afar, 

 Singing lunar lullabies of hope. 

 Almost dawn, I walk with others, 

 Keeping close, my little brother. 

 Hand in hand, we carry courage 

 escaping closer to the border 

 My feet are lightning; 

 My heart is thunder. 

 Our pace draws us closer

To a new land of wonder. 

 I bristle against rough brush— 

Poppies ahead brighten the browns. 

Morning light won’t stay away—

Hearts jump at every sound. 

 I hum my own little song 

Like ripples in a stream 

Humming Mami’s lullaby

 Reminds me I have her letter

 My fingers linger on well-worn creases, 

Shielding an address, a name, a promise– 

Sister Moon will find always us 

Surrounding us with beams of kindness

 But last night as we rested in the dusty field, 

Worries crept in about matters back home. 

I huddled close to my brother. Tears revealed 

The no-choice need to escape.  I feel grown. 

 

Leaving all I’ve ever known 

The tender, heavy, harsh of home. 

On to maybes, on to dreams, 

On to whispers we hope could be. 

But I don’t want to whisper! I squeeze Manu’s hand. 

“¡Más cerca ahora!” Our feet pound the sand. 

We race, we pant, we lean on each other 

I open my canteen and drink gratefully 

 Thirst is slaked, but I know we’ll need 

 More than water to achieve our dreams. 

 Nights pass slowly, but days call for speed 

Through the highs and the lows, we live with extremes 

 We enter a village the one from Mami’s letter, 

 We find the steeple; food, kindly people, and shelter. 

 “We made it, Manu! Mami would be so proud!”

 I choke back a sob, then stand tall for the crowd. 

 

A slapping of sandals… I wake to the sound 

 Of ¡GOL! Manu’s playing! The fútbol rebounds. 

 I pinch myself. Can this be true? 

 Are we safe at last? Is our journey through? 

 I savor this safety, we’re enveloped with care, 

 but Tío across the border, still seems far as stars. 

 He could not yet come to this new place 

 But Hermana moon, kiss his tear-stained face

¿Dónde está mi querido Tío? (Where is my Dear Uncle?)

¡Mi corazón está muy frío! (My heart is very cold)

I originally wrote this in Spanish.  I then translated it into English by myself and used an online translator back to Spanish to correct  any grammatical errors I may have made.  I have the translation in parentheses but I did not intend that to be part of the poem.  Perhaps an * can be used if we feel the young readers might not know what was said. 

April 1 Patricia Franz at Reverie 

 April 2 Jone MacCulloch 

April 3 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse 

April 4 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life 

April 5 Irene at Live Your Poem 

April 6 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche 

April 7 Marcie Atkins 

April 8 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a God Forsaken Town 

April 9 Karen Eastlund 

April 10 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance 

April 11 Buffy Silverman 

April 12 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise 

April 13 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care 

April 14 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link 

April 15 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities 

April 16 Sarah Grace Tuttle 

April 17 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe 

April 18 Tabatha at Opposite of Indifference 

April 19 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core 

April 20 Tricia Stohr-Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect 

April 21 Janet, hosted here at Reflections on the Teche 

April 22 Mary Lee Hahn at A(nother) Year of Reading 

April 23 Tanita Davis at (fiction, instead of lies) 

April 24 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone 

April 25 Rest 

April 26 Karin Fisher-Golton at Still in Awe

 April 27 Donna Smith at Mainely Write 

April 28 Me at Leap of  ME Dave  

The Penultimate Verse  will be presented tomorrow, 

April 29,  by Robyn Hood Black @ Life on the Deckle Edge 

The big Finale, will be on Tuesday, 

April 30  by Michelle Kogan @ More Art for All

This was a lot of fun.  It's my 2nd time around in the progressive poem and again I am having a blast. Looking forward to seeing how Robyn and Michelle bring the journey to an end 

A to Z 2024: X marks the spot that pampered dogs have in our heart

  For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate.  Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day.  I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge.  At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter.  At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in an A to Z keepsake playlist on Spotify.  Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.

April 27th is National Little Pampered Dog Day

That's it.  That's all I've got it's 11:54 on April 27th and I've gotten all my posts this month in on time.  What I lack in content, I make up for in punctuality.

********************************************************************************

The song of the day is Xandadu by Olivia Newton John & ELO from the 1980 film, Xanadu.  I saw it when it came out.  I didn't like it then, it was more of a xanadon't.  But this clip makes me consider giving it a second viewing.

X is 10 in Roman Numerals but today X makes 24 songs on the Spotify Playlist

**********************************************************************************

To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!

A to Z 2024: W is for Warmly Embrace Austalians

  For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate.  Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day.  I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge.  At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter.  At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in an A to Z keepsake playlist on Spotify.  Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.

April 26th is Hug an Australian Day.

Australia is the lone continent that is also one entire country.  Australia Day is celebrated each year on January  26th marking the 1788 landing of the first fleet into Sydney Harbor and the subsequent raising of the Union Flag  of Great Britain.  3 months to the day later you can celebrate Australians all over again by hugging them.  

Originated in 1996 in Melbourne, Hug an Australian day promotes warmth and wellness.

Wallaby,Dhammagiri Forest Hermitage, Buddhist Monastery, Brisbane, Australia www.dhammagiri.org.au 

 Not everyone can visit Australia.  However everyone can promote good will to Australians everywhere by wishing all Auissies you meet well wishes and perhaps even a warm embrace.  Here's a cute video of someone hugging a koala bear.

****************************************************

Today's Song of the Day is We are Here by Randy Stonehill & Buck Storm

23 songs for the playlist

****************************************************

To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!

A to Z 2024: V is for Various Holidays

  For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate.  Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day.  I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge.  At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter.  At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in an A to Z keepsake playlist on Spotify.  Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.

April 25th: Multiple Holidays Abound

Everyday of the year there are a plethora of holidays,  My job for the challenge was to scour through those holidays and find one that somehow relates to the letter of the day.  Since todays letter is V, I thought I might give you a variety pack of holidays, events, and occurrences to celebrate today.

Holidays

National Hairstylist Appreciation Day Held on the 25th April since 2012.  Prior to that it was celebrated on April 30th, but alas, that wasn't it's "permanent" day.

International  Delegates Day - United Nations The current U.S. Ambassador for the U.N. is  Linda Thomas Greenfield.  The last former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. that I voted for for President of the U.S. was Nikki Haley.

World Penguin Day Statred in 1972, April 25th coincides with he day that Adelie penguins begin their northern migration.  It is a little confusing because I thought it was March of the Penguins, not April.  

3 Adelie PenguinsCC BY-SA 2.0, Link

License Plate Day On April 25th 1901 the state of New York made the first law requiring automobiles to have license plates.  Speaking of license plates click here to see the I holiday Indicted Illinois Governors Day.

Born On April 25th

Al Pacino - American Actor 1940- present

Edward R Murrow - Radio and Television Journalist - 1908-1965

Edward R Murrow Public Domain,

David Strathairn As Murrow in Good Night and Good Luck

Guglielmo Marconi - Inventor and Physicist 1874-1937

Died on April 25th

Ginger Rogers - American Actress and Dancer.  Died in 1995 at the age of 83

Rogers and Fred Astaire

By RKO Radio Pictures Public Domain, Link

John Havlicek - Boston Celtics Basketball Star died at the age of 79 in 2014

Bea Arthur- Actress best know for her roles on t.v. shows Maude, and Golden Girls-  died at the age of 86 in 2009 

Happened on April 25th ...

2021 - Chloe Zhao win's Best Director Oscar for the film Nomadland.  Frances McDormand won the Academy award for Actress in a Leading Role for Nomadland, which also won the Oscar for Best Picture.  

1990- Hubble Space Telescope Sent Into Orbit.This hour video show the Space Shuttle bringing the telecope into space and then releasing it into orbit.  

 

This poster shows many of the great pictures taken with the telescope.

By Unknown author Public Domain, Link

**********************************************************************************

Song of the Day The View From Here Bob Bennet  

There is an entire house concert from 2019 on this video, if I have set this up correctly, the intro to the song should start as you open the video.  There are 22 songs on the A to Z Spotify playlist now. Just like today it houses a lot of variety.

To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!