- Favorite Blogs -

• Confessions Of A Monster
• My Divorce And The Lies I Believed
• First Look: Oddly Normal 2.0
• Fear And Time

- Favorite Video Game -

• Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now

- Favorite Sandbox -

- Favorite Clothing Line -

- Pssh -

- Favorite Music Video -

- Favorite Interview -

- Favorite Bad Lip-Reading -

- Favorite Public Service Announcement -

- Favorite Blogs -

• A Super Mario Summary
• I’m No Different Than Anyone Else
• 61 Cents In The Bank Account? It’s Time To Start The Adoption Process!!!
• Hanging My Hixon Bragg Show At Fullerton State U

- Favorite News Segment – This guy amazes me how he can stay in character:

I also love this.

- Favorite Skateboarding Vid -

- Favorite Jam -

- Favorite Interviewer -

- Favorite Blogs -

• I Might Miss Them
• Dang, The Dude Can Draw!
• Tattoos By Peter Aurisch
• Funerals, Twitter, and Hipsters
• Where The Darkness Hides

- Favorite Abstract Music Video -

- Favorite Cartoon About Kickball -

- Favorite Practical Jokes -

- Favorite Trailer For An Animated Graphic Novel -

- Favorite Movie Trailer -

- Favorite Blogs -

• There Will Always Be Another . . .
• How To Stop Worrying About Your Blog Traffic
• We Need To Talk About “The Office”
• “Blue Like Jazz” Box Office Update
• Once Upon The Internet

- Favorite A Capella Cover -

- Favorite Dance Video -

- Favorite Super-Slow-Mo Video -

- Favorite Watch -

- Favorite Blogs -

• Why Church: The Reason I Like Church Isn’t  Because People Are Nice.
• Old&New Project
• Beethoven’s 5th Symphony Visualized
• Blue Like Jazz Opens Friday Today!
• My Enemy Is Just Like Me

- Favorite Cartoon Show In Development -

- Favorite Animated Music Video -

- Favorite Short Film From My Favorite Comedian -

- Favorite Trailer For A Documentary I’d Really Like To See -

- Favorite Video About Creativity – (I’m not sure we EVER get out of this phase)

- Favorite Battle Cry For Creativity – (There’s some coarse language in this one)

- Favorite Inspirational Video – (This one made me cry, folks)

- Favorite Cartoon Promoting A Church’s Sermon Series – (This is the last one. It’s my favorite.)

Enjoy!

You can watch the first video by clicking here!

You can watch the second video by clicking here!

You can watch the third video by clicking here!

Whoa. Thomas Kinkade died. Craziness.

 

I then received the following replies:

If I said “finally” would I be a bad person?

 

The guy was a dirtbag who scammed investors and gallery owners out of millions.

Here’s the deal: I’m no Thomas-Kinkade-historian. However, I am familiar with some of the accusations regarding his business practices and his personal behavior, and I think it’s very unfortunate. Especially considering he was a professing Christian. I’m not gonna sit here and call the man’s faith into question (that’s between Mr. Kinkade and God) but I do think there is a lot we can learn from his life about “What NOT To Do” if you’re a Christian creative. Here are my thoughts:

Get off of your high horse (better yet, stay off of it altogether): Thomas Kinkade was the self-proclaimed “Painter of Light”. The keyword in that sentence is “self-proclaimed”. As a creative person, particularly if you are a Christian, you should strive to NOT be a self-proclaimed anything. I don’t care if you are really good at sketching poodles, don’t start calling yourself the “sketcher of French canines”. It’s elitest and people will think you are a douche bag. Let someone else make a positive comment about your awesome dog-sketching abilities, and, when she does, simply thank her and walk away.

Mo’ money, mo’ problems: Thomas Kinkade made lots of money. He was also sued a lot, which made his mo’-money-makin’ skills look kinda shady. Do I think Mr. Kinkade ripped-off a bunch of his gallery owners? Man, I don’t know. The piles of allegations, however, make the situation seem pretty stinky, and I personally would want to do business as ethically as possible to avoid that kinda noise. Granted, the more money you make the more likely it is that you’ll be sued, but can we all agree that there are different levels of litigation? It’s one thing to be sued because someone thinks your contracts are a little one-sided, it’s another to be sued because your franchisees claim you lied to them and ripped them off financially.

Guard your character: This can obviously be connected to the two previous points, but I think it deserves it’s own mention. We’ve gotta guard our character. I don’t care what you do: pastor, teacher, artist, mother, carnival worker . . . whatever! We have to protect our integrity. Mr. Kinkade has been arrested for drunk driving. He’s also been accused of lewd behavior while he’s drunk, including public urination and the fondling of a woman’s breasts. Guys, I’m not trying to spread libel about Mr. Kinkade, but, if these allegations are untrue, then he could have done a world of good by avoiding these types of situations. We need to surround ourselves with safe people. We need to avoid situations that may put us in precarious positions. We need to not be ashamed of living a life above reproach, even if it means hurting the feelings of someone who isn’t as concerned about his own integrity. Our character is valuable, and once it gets just a little tainted it will never be clean again. You’ll spend the rest of your life doing damage-control. The key is to be proactive.

I apologize if it seems like I’m throwing Thomas Kinkade under the bus in the wake of his death. That’s certainly not my intent, but I do think it’s sad that he leaves behind a tainted legacy. Regardless of what you think about the subject matter, he was a very talented painter whose work resonated with a lot of people. I hope he is in heaven right now. I’d love to talk shop with him one day.

- Favorite Blogs -

• Antigone For All
• A Prayer For This Holy Week
• eBay Expertise
• I Live With My Parents … Again

- Favorite Dance Audition -

- Favorite Stop-Motion Animation -

- Favorite Music Video -

- Favorite Stop-Motion Animated Drawing Of A Book By Ernest Hemingway -

- Favorite Cartoon Promoting A Church’s Sermon Series – (You only have one more week of this. I promise)