12 Days of Thankfulness: Well Made Videos

Sitting at a computer for most of the day allows for YouTube videos and others to land on my double monitors. Sometimes I need a little motivation to keep working through the day. As I am not a coffee drinker, I typically look for something else to give me some energy or excitement.
Very often I find myself watching a YouTube video to grab my attention for a bit. So for this post, I am thankful for videos that produce some emotion and are a cut above the regular Tosh.0/America's Funniest Home Videos/viral garbage out there. In the world of Google and YouTube, there is plenty to be distracted by, so why not make it meaningful and interesting: whether it be well designed/directed short films, great eye catching trailers, interesting music videos, or simply something that you get a truly genuine emotion out of rather than your average "laugh at that person fall off a bicycle" reaction. Just as I look for my photography to create an emotion, I look for artists to do so with video.
So is a list of some of my favorite videos recently:

Bangkok By Night: My friend Cole, who is currently teaching in Bangkok at my old employer, has a knack for catching the everyday nightlife of the great capital of Thailand. He captures the speed yet laid back feel that Bangkok has when the city lights turn on. The nostalgia is incredibly powerful with this video he made.

19 (and 18) Days of Thankfulness

Today I am thankful for two to make up for missing Saturday:
First, I am thankful for water. You often forget how important water is for life (whether it be our planet or our bodies).

We just reached 7 billion people on planet earth and 1/7 of that (nearly 1 billion) people live without clean drinking water. Clean, drinkable water is such a vital asset of life and when you have the great fortune of living in a country with drinkable water highly accessible, you sometimes forget that.

Water surrounds our everyday lives. To replenish our bodies, to bring life to plants and trees, to clean our laundry, dishes, cars, bodies, etc. We rely on water and we can often take it for granted by wasting it.

Sadly, when something is so crucial to life, someone/company tries to profit. One film that I highly recommend checking out --which will forever change the way you look at the bottled water industry-- is called Taped. Check out their website which discusses the injustices and robbery of free municipal water.

But --like everything-- with every negative, like the previously mentioned rich water bottling companies, there is a positive. That positive is the awareness and overall charitable actions of those so lucky to have water and money to donate to a good cause like The Water Project. This great foundation provides information and ways to help those in need of fresh, clean water.

While in Africa, I got to see many people who's lives revolved around water specifically. Their days were driven by the long, grueling trips to water for their families. And their use of it was conservative and strategic. When living in a home where the water was literally looked at as "liquid gold" or one's "life blood" your perspective is changed. I challenge you to donate to such a great charity that can changes the lives of not millions, but billions of people. (Be sure to check out Water.org as well for more information)

The second thing I am thankful for ties into the water discussion and that is charities and being aware of the world around you.