Alf - Grona Linjen

Just Music

I keep coming across some really original and emotional music in my free time. I figure I might as well link them all here in sort of a beautiful music archive. Here goes...



Since I am here in Japan, I thought I'd start with a Japanese singer (although the music is entirely in English.) This is Yukimi Nagano, also known as Little Dragon.

A cappella

Meet Rock 4, an A capella band from the Netherlands. A capella is a beautiful thing, (and Queen is great too), so the combination simply kills. I think Freddie Mercury would be proud.

Here is Rock4's website.

Here's their Radiohead "Paranoid Android" cover:

Origami... of any size

Origami is amazing. Surprisingly, I don't see much while I'm here in Japan. But I found this while traipsing the web. This is one sheet of paper (a very large sheet of paper), made into a beautiful dragon.

Just amazing. The creator is Satoshi Kamiya, and he is my origami hero.

Knowledge

I find Knowledge to be incredibly beautiful. This show, Qi, takes the cake for beautiful knowledge... Qi (or Quite Interesting) is an English panel show hosted by Stephen Fry (Blackadder, A bit of Fry and Laurie), and quizzes the guests on the most peculiar trivia, debunking common myths, and educating the audience without dumbing down the dialog.
Gorillas sleep in nests, Earth has more than one moon, and most mushrooms are actually not poisonous, are just a few of the facts learned on the show.

Inventors and waterfalls

I'm a huge fan of Tesla, an inventor who more or less gave power to millions of people. He basically started the "electification of the world".

All inventors have a place in my heart. Well, inventing keeps kids off the streets (unless they're inventing drugs). Anyhow, I came across a great documentary, although a bit dated and low in production value, about Nikola Tesla. Great information about the inventor's life and inventions.

Definitely looks like he could be a relative of mine.





While I'm at it, I like waterfalls too.

Philanthropy

Philanthropy is beautiful, no matter what form it comes in. One of my favorites is of course monetary philanthropy. In Japan, some person or group of people are dropping off cash in peoples mail boxes, and in bathrooms, among other places. There may even be "copycat" philanthropy occurring around the area.

How neat!

A while ago I found an article about a man, Larry Stewart, who finally came in from the cold on his numerous acts of secret philanthropy. Over his years as a public servant, he is estimated to have given out millions to complete strangers. He explained it all started when he met a waitress who looked like he was having a bad day. He handed her a larger than average tip, and she began to cry and thank him, saying "sir, you have no idea what this means to me". You can read the full story here at wiki.