Top 10 Classic Animated Christmas Videos

Here are some videos I watched during Christmas time as a kid.  Enjoy!

10.  Donald Duck, The Hockey Champ

9. Donald Duck, Snowball Wars

8. Chip & Dale Christmas Tree

7. Claymation Christmas, Carol of the Bells

6. Claymation Christmas, Angels We Have Heard On High

5. Garfield Christmas, start at 6:10

4. Charley Brown Christmas

3. Nestor the Long-eared Donkey, part 1

2. Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer

1. Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too

New Testament Videos

Just last summer I had an amazing experience.  I was chosen to be an extra for two scenes in the New Testament Videos for the very last day of shooting.  Earlier that summer I had seen a flyer calling for extras on a bulletin board at a church in Orem.  For whatever reason, I felt like I should visit the site and make a profile for the New Testament Projects.  I went to their website, filled out my information, took pictures of my face, and sent them in.  I waited the entire summer before I heard from the casting crew.  A week or two before the beginning of this semester, I received an email asking if I would like to be an extra for two scenes in two days.  Frantically, I got off work and organized a ride to the Jerusalem site in Goshen, Utah.  I couldn't believe it was happening and still I hesitate to believe that I actually went.  It was an extraordinary experience.  The best part about it was seeing the Jerusalem film site.  Walking through it was so surreal and wonderful.  I pretended I was a temple patron at the time of Christ.  I saw the man who played Christ and experienced the filming industry.  Most of the time we waited on the steps of the temple.  I fell asleep lying across several steps in front of the doors to the court of the women.  It was surprisingly comfortable.  And being dressed as a Hebrew woman with a scarf around my face, I felt as if I belonged there.  Looking across the the courtyard to the other sleeping or chatting extras, I took a trip across time and found myself in Jerusalem.  Almost everyone around me was dressed as a Roman guard, a Hebrew, a Pharisee, or a disciple.  I could almost believe that I was there.

Because of this experience, the Bible Videos mean a great deal to me.  I wish more people would share and watch them.  In the future I hope they will have more views and that they will be used for church education and for spreading the gospel.

Please share the videos and spread the word.

Here are some of my favorite videos:

Newest Christmas Video with the wonderful Piano Guys

Go and Sin No More

He is Risen

Jesus is Resurrected

The Savior Suffers in Gethsemane

Jesus Teaches a Samaritan Woman

PS: The two scenes I was in have not been released yet.    

Spotify

One of the greatest discoveries I made recently was Spotify. While Facebook stalking someone, I saw a Spotify box on his page.  I'd heard and seen the word Spotify in several other places before, so I clicked on the link to explore this unknown program.  It turned out to be a free music program that you can download onto your computer.  I downloaded it instantly once I figured out what it was and it has been a useful tool ever since. 

I am a huge music lover, if you have not discovered from my other post, and Spotify was a dream come true for me.  On Spotify you can listen to any song when you want (as long as they have it and they probably do) for as many times as you want.  You can create playlists, listen to other playlists, star your favorite songs for future use, listen to songs according to your mood, keep up-to-date on all new popular music and releases, and you can listen to your own music from your computer using Spotify instead of several programs at once. 

Spotify also shows you what all your other Facebook friends who have Spotify are listening to (unless they use the private session option.) I've learned more about my friends' music preferences and discovered new music since downloading Spotify. I found my new favorite band, Imagine Dragons, eight months ago while exploring similar artists. 

The only downside to Spofiy is the advertisements.  However, they are not as frequent as those on Pandora and someone of them are for Spotify itself, sharing useful tools and apps for the program.  But I'm grateful for the ads which make this program possible and will wait patiently as they play.

Look, something good can come from Facebook stalking!  : P

Sharing the Piano Guys

One of the greatest advantages of the internet is you get to share!!  Since Dr. Coyne mentioned The Piano Guys in one of her posts, I thought I'd share some pictures of their concert I attend during the summer.  (I was going to share a couple videos too but they will not upload for unknown reasons.  Blogger fail.)

But here's some of their Youtube videos instead!

My Favorite Piano Guys Video

The One that Always Makes Me Smile

The Song that Started it All in 2009

MoTab on YouTube

If you haven't heard already, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir has begun their own Youtube channel!  I'm so excited to see what videos and songs they post.  I am a choir nerd and I relish wonderful, power choir pieces.  Out of the videos they have posted on their channel thus far, this one is my favorite:

Pilgrim Song By Ryan Murphy

I'm not sure why, but this song helps me feel the spirit every time I hear it.

I hope the power of their music will convert people to the gospel of Jesus Christ!  

The Legend of Zelda

My favorite video game will always be The Legend of Zelda.  It even rivals Mario Party and Mario Kart which fall in the second and third slots.  As fun as they may be, they do not even rival the Zelda games.  

When I was in middle school, my brother got me into playing video games, particularly The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.  I played this game for an hour everyday after school until I beat it.  You may think that this is antisocial behavior, and perhaps it was, but my little Juli self needed the distraction.  

Life was hard for shy little me during middle school.  This game gave me an outlet that made me feel better about myself.  Whenever I beat a level I felt accomplished and proud.  

The game taught me persistence and patience.  Whenever you died you had to start at the beginning of that level, even if you died near the end.  I would sometimes become annoyed but then I would attack the level with a new determination.  I believe that playing video games, especially the Legend of Zelda games, contributed to my ability to stay on task and persist even when things became difficult and tedious.  

This video game helped me learn.  Many of the levels involved games that used observation and problem solving to get to the next level.  The levels contained long puzzles which involved memorizing and mental exercises.  It taught me to think quickly and strategically.

The story line of Legend of Zelda games usually involve acts of kindness.  The main character, Link, is fighting to rescue a princess and to save the people of Hyrule.  Along the way, Link is often asked to help people with their difficulties.  He puts aside his rescuing quest to assist various people in the land from finding chickens to saving lives. Zelda games are filled with prosocial acts.  The newest Zelda game includes awards for kindness called gratitude crystals.  When Link does something nice for someone, a gratitude crystal appears before them. You collect these as the game goes along.  Once you get a certain amount of crystals, you receive an award.

I love playing this game because of all the wonderful prosocial acts. It might be considered an aggressive prosocial game, but I believe that the acts of violence committed do not negatively influence the player.

If you are going to play any kind of one-player video game. I'd recommend the Legend of Zelda games.

Why do we cry? - Spoiler Alert

If you watch Downton Abbey and haven't seen the second season, be warned; this blog contains a spoiler.  There are no details but I may still give things away.  So if you haven't heard of the series, keep reading.  If you have, proceed with caution.

A few nights ago I watched an episode of Downtown Abbey season 2.  I was comfortably wrapped up in my blankets on my bed watching a TV show that, after a hard few days work, I well-deserved.  I couldn't sleep so I decided to distract myself for awhile.  But poor unsuspecting me did know what was in store in this episode.

One of my favorite characters died in a most sudden and distressing way.  I may have been PMSing or something, but the next thing I know, I was crying--really crying.  Quiet sobs shook my body and tears were actually running down my cheeks.  Mucus started dripping from my nose; I had to run to the bathroom to clean up.

I watched the rest of the episode in tears and then lay down to sleep.  And as you might guess, sleep did not come quickly.  I was too distressed.  Why did they kill one of the sweetest girls on the show!?!?

While I waited for sleep to come, I wondered why I had cried.  I had no connection to this person.  She wasn't even real so why should I feel such emotions at her death. It's not like my mother just died.  I have a few theories, and I'm sure the book for my media class would have some more that might explain my despair.

As I watched the show, I became attached to the characters.  I felt and cared about their pain, their happiness, their anything.  I became virtual friends with these fictional characters. At this girls death, I experienced and saw the pain her family felt as she died.  The circumstances in which she died were heart-wrenching.  She died after childbirth, leaving behind a daughter, a husband, and a family who depended on her for her love.  Suddenly she was stripped away from them. Along with her family, I felt their pain.  I sympathized with them and put myself in their place.  If my sister had just died in childbirth, leaving behind a husband with a newborn daughter to raise, I would have cried just as much.  That small portion of pain I felt while watching this character's death would become full-fledged and real if it were in my own life.  Not only did I feel for the characters but also for my possible future pain.  Some strange, masochistic side of me wanted to live their pain, to pretend as if it had happened to me.  The way people think, the way people imagine, is sometimes perverse.  In my mind I was imagining something horrible;  I was purposefully causing myself pain.

I cried in empathy for the characters. 

I cried in sympathy for myself, for the human race, and our inevitable struggles and pain.

Kindleton

In class last week, someone mentioned e-readers and I figured I put in my two bits about it.  When I first heard of the kindle or the nook, etc., I thought it was a horrible idea.  Who would replace books with an electronic device, right?  Why replace a book with its real paper and crinkling, turning pages with a boring screen and buttons.  What a travesty!

My opinion changed when my mom got a Kindle Touch for her birthday.  I began to see the wonderful advantages of an e-reader.  I mentioned off-handedly to my mother that it might be nice to have a Kindle, and the next thing I know, I got one for Christmas.

Here are the reasons why I love my Kindle:

1) Portability: It's flat. It's small. It's amazing. I can carry it around easily in my purse or backpack and pull it out whenever and where ever I want.  I no longer have to carry around several heavy books.  And best of all, I can have 20 or more books with no additional weight.

2) Scriptures: I downloaded the scriptures onto my Kindle soon after I received it.  Since then my scripture reading has increased dramatically.  I always have my Kindle on me so I always have my scriptures.  During free time I pull it out and read a page or two.  I usually read my scriptures before bed, and ever since I got my Kindle I've been even more excited to turn it on and read.  Plus, the Kindle saves where you left of so I no longer have to wonder where I stopped.

3) Light weight: this is one advantage that I did not entirely appreciation until I experienced it myself.  Holding a Kindle is so much easier than holding a book.  I can lie in bed with my Kindle above my head or to the side and my hand never tires.  Books used to irritate me because I had to prop them open or keep them in my lap because they were too heavy to hold up.  Now I can relax and read a book with no struggle.

4) Highlighting: I can highlight and save my favorite quotes and scriptures on my Kindle.

5) Privacy: How you ever felt embarrassed when reading a book in public?  With a Kindle you don't have to feel embarrassed; no one knows what you are reading but you.  You no longer have to try to discreetly hide the fact that you're reading a sappy romance novel, a kids' book, a gigantic fantasy series, or a popular vampire romance novel.  Those old, embarrassing book covers will plague you no more.

6) Reading in the bathtub:  I got this idea from my aunt.  She puts her Kindle in a zip-lock bag and reads while taking a bath.  It's wonderful and a dream come true.

The only disadvantage is having another electronic device I have to recharge.  Sometimes I forgot, which is very distressing sometimes. 

But other than that, I love having my little Kindleton with me.

A Voice in the Wind

My favorite book now is hard for me to pick.  I love so many.  I like to keep track of the books I’ve read and according to goodreads I’ve read 269 books and I’m sure I’ve forgotten to add more.  But for the sake of this assignment I will pick one that is a top favorite.  It’s call A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers.  Rivers is mainly a romance author, and there is a hint of that in her books, but A Voice in the Wind is a historical fiction.  After the destruction of Jerusalem, Hadassah, a Christian girl, is taken as a slave for a Roman aristocrat family under the pretense that she is a Jew.  If anyone found out she was a Christian, she would be sent to the arena to be brutally killed.  This book is about her, her faith, and the Roman family she serves and grows to love.  To make things more difficult she falls in love with the handsome epicurean in the family, who surprisingly falls in love with her.  But because he does not believe in God, she cannot love him as he would like.

I loved this book because it delved into the struggles of a girl around my age who lived my standards but in a wholly different time. Hadassah was so much like me in many ways and her personality and her actions in the book inspired me to be a better person.  She followed her faith no matter the consequences.  Her strength and courage in the book gave me a model to go by.  I loved the historical detail and I thought the author did a marvelous job portraying the beliefs, actions, and environments of the Roman people. The book also gave me much to think about concerning the beliefs of the Romans and the reason for their fall.  It taught me history and gave me an image in my mind of what life must have been like.  After reading this book, I went on to read other historical fiction books to learned and, in a way, experienced history more than I ever could in a classroom.  

Dragonsong

One of my favorite books when I was younger was Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey.  It’s about a girl who finds herself involved the planet Pern’s troubles.  Menolly lives in a hall beside the sea, and her only love and desire is to create music, but her father forbids it because she is a girl. The planet Pern is a dangerous place.  Every two hundred years, gray threads rain from the sky to destroy every living thing they land on.  It is up to the native dragons and their riders to destroy the thread and protect the land.  In addition to the dragons, little fire lizards, miniature dragons, roam the land and are highly valued as pets.  Angry at her father for destroying her dream, Menolly runs away from home, gets caught in Threadfall, befriends nine fire lizards, and lives to tell the tale.  But that’s just the beginning of her story.  Menolly moves on the Harperhall to be trained as a harper, a teller of tales and a musician, but also finds herself submerged into bigger things with her nine singing fire lizards. 

This book is my favorite because it embodies all I wanted in a book when I was a teenager.  I loved fantasy books with dragons and adventure.  The main character Menolly was easy for me to relate to.  She was a musician like me and her personality was similar to mine.  Her struggles suddenly became dear to my heart and I felt for her.  She reminded me so much of myself.  I also loved this book because it reminds me of good times with my sister.  She read this to me out loud as we gave each other back tickles and ate heath bars.  It was a great bonding moment for us and this book will forever remind me of my sister.  The book itself didn’t have a huge impact on my life but it did influence my imagination.  This book and many others inspired me to imagine stories, plot lines and lovable characters.  Dragonsong sparked a huge interest for reading.  After this book I went on to read every other book Anne McCaffrey had about the Dragonriders of Pern.  It sparked inside me a huge desire to read and vicariously have adventures through the characters.  But it also taught me how to create adventures of my own making inside my imagination.  

Day without Internet

Yesterday, a horrible thing happened.  I was watching a video on Youtube, basically just wasting my time when I should have been doing my homework, when suddenly the internet stopped working.  I tried to load the page again, but the message that popped up was quite unexpected and unwelcome.  It said, "The bill for your internet has not been paid." Knowing this wasn't my fault (I am not in charge of the internet bill) I could do nothing about it.  It turns out that my roommate wants to switch to another internet provider and stopped paying the bill for our current provider.  The ladies above my apartment are planning to install the new router and let us share with them but it will take a couple days.  Anyway, my apartment is going to be without internet for the next few days, perhaps the next few weeks.  And it is going to kill me.  After the internet was shut down, the next few hours of yesterday were quite revealing.  I was having serious internet withdrawals.  I wanted the internet back!!  I didn't know what to do with myself.  After wasting my time pouting because of my loss, I decided to do my reading and play the piano instead--activities which are a much better use of my time.  However, I still miss the internet greatly.  I couldn't check my email or Facebook.  I couldn't access my Google docs which contained much of my homework.  Oh, yesterday was a sad sad day...such a tale of woe.

Saw this picture on Facebook and thought I'd share:

Music and Word

Music is power.  It has the ability to change and influence our lives.  Certain music has the power to make me hope, to make me dream, to make me relax, to make me me, to make me imagine.  At this very moment I am listening to my epic soundtrack playlist and feeling totally inspired. 

When I was a teenager--well, now that I think about, I still do this--I would turn on my music and put headphones to my ears and just sit and listen.  The music would inspire thoughts and emotions.  I would think about my life or just imagine life being more amazing.  I would see myself saving people and doing heroic acts.  Or I would imagine a new place and new people, entirely of my own creation, and develop plots and personalities to go with it. On car trips I would listen to music for hours and just entertain myself with my own thoughts and mental images.  For me it was better than watching a movie or listening to books on tape.  I was the creator and the observer.  No one, not even me, would know how the story ended.  The music led me through a story as I followed the emotions of the songs.  I have brainstormed my best stories while listening to music.

Music also makes me introspective.  As I listen memories and ideas come to my mind as they are triggered by the lyrics or sounds.  I have received many epiphanies and clarifications about life, humanity, and the universe from music. My testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ has increased many times just by listening to one song. This is the power of music.

Here are some of the songs that have inspired me...

To Feel the spirit

To Relax

To be Empowered

To Have Fun

Mormon Messages

Today in SFL 358 we watched one of the Mormon Messages and it made me realize the impact they've had on me.  Many if not all of those messages have touched my life and given me strength in different ways to continue living my life well.  Some days I reach an ultimate low - like today - with no motivation or strength to fight the pressures of the world or to tackle the stresses of life.  Homework, classes, relationships, challenges, and fatigue.  On and on and on.  What I need is a little hope, just a pleasant thought or encouragement to keep me going.  Mormon messages are often the source I seek for that hope.  They are some of the best outputs in the media.  Below are some of my favorites.  Enjoy and feel the spirit today.

Create

Patterns of Light

Moments that Matter Most

EviDANCE

Saturday I attended EviDANCE which used to be known as World of Dance.  I'm not sure if dance concerts can be considered media but I'd like to think that they do.  This concert in particular attempted to share a message to the audience.  They were discribing what dance is.  In the process they used large screens that you think are backdrops at first but are actually images projected onto a  canvas.  Each of their performances was assigned to one of four catagories.  Whimsical, romantic, mysterious, and life.  For each introduction into the catagories, the screen was used to display it.  It was beautifully done.  The message they conveyed to us was that dance can be a part of life and life can be in dance.  I'm not a huge dance fan but I think it's fun.  I've taken Social Dance 180 and I enjoy dancing around my room by myself.  But this performance was inspiring.  It made me feel like I could do great things. I cried almost four times during this performance.  While I was walking home I felt like I was on cloud nine.  Attending performances like that is like stepping into another world, escaping life and its dullness, to be thrust into a world of beauty and inspiration.  The magical combination of music, dance, and images impacted me strongly.  Before the concert even started I felt more at peace.  I was sitting by myself, attending the concert alone as I am want to do, surrounded by people I did not know.  The sound of chatter around the large room was loud and rumbled in my ears but I did not hear it.  The music in the background was what I focused on.  Playing over the speakers was music from the Lord of the Rings.  It was calm and serene.  I closed my eyes and let myself relaxed.  Every stressor and pessimistic thought lifted away from me, and I became a figure of stillness in that room full of noise.

Performances are one of the greatest forms of media and they are my way of escape. 

While I was working on an assignment for this class, I noticed that the synonym for entertainment was 'diversion' and 'distraction.'  In some ways these two words have a negative connotation but they can also be viewed as positive.  In this instance my positive diversion from life was music and dance.  But instead of making me feel wasted and dead inside like some entertainment leaves you, this distraction left me feeling empowered.

Phoneless

I usually consider myself not addicted to my phone.  On any given day I check my cellphone maybe once a day for text messages and missed calls.  I talk on the phone maybe once every two weeks and text maybe five times a week--and that means only five text messages per week.  I'm notorious for not answering my phone and responding to texts.

I carry my phone for two main purposes: 1) clock, and 2) emergency calls.  I do call my family every once and a while, but other than that I avoid it.  I do not like talking on the phone.  I prefer speaking face to face with someone if at all possible.

The downside to my neglect is I miss out on invitations and people stop texting me because I don't respond.  I perpetuate the neglect of my phone.  And sometimes, I don't care.

However, I had an enlightening event this past week that opened my eyes to my dependency on my phone.

I was visiting my sister and my nephew Jonathan on Tuesday.  Jonathan loves to play with my phone so I gave it to him to carry around.  He laughs every time he presses the buttons and a red screen comes up.  It says 'to unlock, press ok, then clr.'  It's the only reason I allow him to play with it.  I'm pretty sure he won't press those two buttons in the right order and accidentally call someone. I love watching him giggle every time the screen pops up.

Eventually he lost interest and left the phone somewhere and I left without it.

It took me a while to realize it was gone. I went back to my sister's and we found it in the diaper bag.  I was so relieved and also shocked that I actually missed my phone.  All my talk about how I don't need it was a lie.  I use and need it more than I thought--even only to tell the time.  I don't know how people lived without the ability to contact others whenever and wherever they wanted.  Phones are one of the greatest inventions and has changed humanity forever. Never the less, I am glad I am not completely dependent on it.  Too many people are addicted to using their phones and neglect things that are more important, like personal interaction and basic appreciation of their surroundings.  I see too many people walking around on campus, talking on their phones or texting, while completely ignoring the people and the world around them.  They become self-centered and consumed by their phones and transmitted conversations.

Imagine Dragons

I promise, I am not obsessed with dragons.  It's just a coincidence that my first two blogs have to do with them. I have to admit, I did read a lot of fantasy books when I was a teenager so perhaps I am.  But lately I prefer to read dramas, weird but yah.  Anyway, I'll move on.

Imagine Dragons, if you do not know, is a band.  And I am obsessed with them.  Their music is peppy and fun with a unique sound and voices. When I hear their music, I can't help but be happy. I love listening to them.  If you haven't heard them before, you should give them a listen.  They came out recently with a CD which includes several of their most popular songs, like 'It's time' and 'Radioactive,' and some refreshing new ones which keep getting stuck in my head.  I think my favorite of the newest songs is 'Bleeding Out.'

Music is an escape for me.  I turn it on when life gets too overwhelming or when I need at extra boost to get something unpleasant done.  I listen to it when I clean the dishes or when I work on other monotonous tasks.  It helps me relax and enjoy life more.  Sometimes when I'm extremely stressed, I put on some of my favorite, calming music and just sit, listen, and meditate.  When I'm feeling melancholy, happy music is the best medicine.  But sometimes when I'm angry and depressed, I turn on music that matches my mood and even that consoles me.  

Music has power, people.  It can be great good in our stressful lives. But beware, it can also evoke emotions that can hinder your happiness.  Don't listen to things that make you want to hurt someone, behave rashly, act inappropriately, or go against what you know to be right.  Limit or completely rid yourself of music that endorses sex, promiscuity, violence, depression, anger, and revenge.  There is a plethora of good music out there; you just have to sort through the slush pile to find music that is worthwhile.

Imagine Dragons was a diamond found in the rough.  I came across them while exploring music on Spotify and have listened to them constantly ever since.  Let happiness and excitement begin!

Here There Be Dragons and Devotional

Today I attended the first BYU devotional of the semester.  I closed up the reference desk where I work and headed to the Marriott Center.  I was quite excited and pleased to see so many people walking along with me.  Sister Samuelson and Brother Samuelson  spoke and what intrigued me most was Sister Samuelson's speech.  She told us about old maps and how in areas where the topographers hadn't explore or where they encountered danger, they drew a dragon along with the words "Here There Be Dragons."  She went on to talk about the "dragons" in our lives which are those things which terrify or tempt us.  She told us to mind our dragons.  If they be temptations, avoid them.  If they be irrational fears, face and explore them.  As we come into this new semester, we will be faced with dragons.  There will be places on our  maps that are unexplored, dangerous, and unknown, marked with the words, "Here There Be Dragons" but we must be brave and face them with caution.  Half way through her talk, she spoke of media and mentioned how it can be used for good or ill in our lives. Media can be used to extend our knowledge and enlighten our minds. It can share good messages and be a useful tool.  But media can also be our dragons, those things which tempts us, and we can use it for ill.  So, my peers and happenstance visitors, beware of your use of media and choose it wisely because you may find a quite unfriendly dragon in your path and it's not going to be Toothless or Puff the Magic Dragon.  Be brave and stay away from those treacherous regions.  Proceed with caution.  Beware. Be aware.  Because Here, in the media, There Be Dragons.