YouTube Stars!

Kayleigh is back! As I mentioned last time, we recently passed One Million page views at YouTubeStars, and it is in large part thanks to our excellent guest bloggers. So here's a big Thanks to our great guest bloggers; Kayleigh, Emma, Danni, Christina, Ashlee, Anna, Samantha and all the other wonderful people who have written here over the last 6 years!

Guest Blogger, Kayleigh Levitt is back with this excellent blog post and it lives up to the kind of insight into the human condition that we have come to expect from Kayleigh! Kayleigh is a creative young lady with a real talent for writing. You can find all her guest blog posts here. We're happy to present the fifth Guest Blog post from this talented young lady who can sometimes be found in a tree singing and playing guitar! This post reviews one music video from the groovy swingin' psychedelic 60s; a song played by the Velvet Underground and sung by Nico. Kayleigh uses the lyrics of the song to dive into a discussion of subjective versus objective thoughts and how a meaningful dialogue with another person creates a transforming connection. Carefully read this post and give it some thought; its heavy, man!




I’ll Be Your Mirror by the Velvet Underground enchanted me recently. I love this song because I think the lyrics speak to what it is like to experience another person, fully.

“I’ll be your mirror/ Reflect what you are, in case you don’t know/I’ll be the wind, the rain and the sunset/The light on your door to show that you’re home”

A mirror reflects only what is there, but we perceive it through our beliefs of what is there. Say for example, I believed I wasn’t worthy of love. When I look in the mirror then, what I would see would be qualities I find unworthy. The mirror is objective. My eyes are not.

But I think there is no objective reality, ever.

To me, we all live in our own worlds. There are 7 billion little worlds walking around on this earth, experiencing something completely different than everyone around them. I think when we talk to each other; most of the time we are actually two people having a monologue.

A personality is a story. A personality is an expression of our beliefs about who we are and why we are that way. It is our story. Stories are not people. Those stories do not make a person who they are. True connections have nothing to do with liking someone’s personality. It has everything to do with realizing people are made of this soulstuffstardust that has no personality, only essence of Love. This song talks about two people who See each other’s essence.

A dialogue is rare. It is what I live for. I think it is what we all live for. In my experience, I see someone else and I experience myself through our interaction, our relationship. New parts of me may arise. For example, I might meet an intellectual person who is highly opinionated. They share their story. Then it’s my turn to speak. I search within myself for something to say and might discover something I didn’t know I felt.

Connection is alchemy. When I fully connect with people, I feel transformed. They forever imprint my heart. The next person I connect with gets a little piece of every person who imprinted my heart previously, and I experience every person who imprinted theirs.

This song is about two people who can just reflect the Light they see in each other. It is about Seeing each other without judgment. It is about showing this other person the Love within them, because they might not be able to see it at the time, because their beliefs might be blocking them.

Let us give the gift of looking beyond personality, and seeing the person.

Labels: 1960s, Connection, Dialogue, Kayleigh Levitt, Mirror, Velvet Underground

posted by KennyCrane at 9/21/2012 11:37:00 PM 1 Comments

Hello YouTube lovers! I would like to introduce you to our newest Guest Blogger, Kayleigh Levitt. Kayleigh was introduced to me by my dear friend and popular guest blogger, CelestialSam. Kayleigh is a creative young lady with a real talent for writing. In her first Guest Blog for YouTubeStars, she writes about Artist and Filmmaker Andrea Dorfman. We're proud to have this talented young lady who can sometimes be found in a tree singing and playing guitar as our newest Guest Blogger!

But first, The News!

This week's Featured Video on our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts is a great music video for an awesome cover of "Grenage" originally by Bruno Mars, sung by Tiffany Jo Allen! Tiffany is working on her 4th CD and you can download her older material here. Enjoy Tiffany's very cool cover of Grenade. Watch the video right here; click on the thumbnail of Tiffany and Bruno Mars!

We have a NEW Featured Video every week on our YouTube Top 100 Chart. If you missed any of our Previously Featured Videos, you can still watch them here.

Check out our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts of the Most Subscribed YouTube Channels every week! Go and Bookmark the Top 100 YouTube Chart at YTChart.com right now!



Speaking of YTChart.com - there is a new YouTube channel called YTChart! They have 12 videos so far which give weekly updates on the top Music Videos on YouTube. You should subscribe to that; I just did!



Congrats to Katie Belle Akin for winning the Ark Music Contest! Here's what Katie recently told me: "UP TO ME video, won with over 5100 votes cast for the ARK MUSIC FACTORY VIDEO CONTEST, there were 40 approved entries, it was a tough competition but my fans, friends came through with the votes, THANK U to all who voted!!! recording new music in Nashville this weekend and next stayed tuned for more, www.katiebelleakin.com"



Now, here is Kayleigh's article about Andrea Dorfman.




Andrea Dorfman is an artist and filmmaker based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She confronts the way society shuns the idea of loneliness. She brings it into an endearing and familiar light. She whispers words of comfort to the heavy head that hits the pillow at night thinking the same thoughts it did the day before. She makes loneliness into a friend instead of an enemy.

If we do not want to hang out with ourselves, what makes us think anyone else will want to? Company starts with us, when we are alone. Constantly we play this game of social interaction. The goal seems to be to get as many companions as possible. Being alone is not frightening if we like ourselves the way we are. Andrea Dorfman suggests it is time to seek love within instead of from others.

We all break down to atoms vibrating at different frequencies. We all break down to human beings who breathe the same air. We all break down to people who want the same thing. Connection. And we already have it. We are all connected by our desires. We are all connected by the nature of our humanity. We are all connected at the soul of our being. We are not alone. We are ALL ONE.

She mentions the miracles that happen when we let ourselves be alone. Serendipitous conversations may fall into our lap at the most profound moments. We may let ourselves dance with wild abandon. Maybe we can let our lives be a testament to the heat among the freezing moments.

In knowing this, there is nothing to fear about being alone. We just need to re-learn how. We need to make it okay again.






Andrea Dorfman helped Sook-Yin Lee produce this music video called “Beautiful” for the CBC radio website for her show Definitely Not the Opera. She says “I was lost, and I’m still lost, but I can’t deny the feeling It’ll be okay my friend.”

Being lost is a part of finding our way back to ourselves. Being lost is not a waste of time like most people think; it is actually a highly productive part of life.

At a certain point people gain this sense of self. It is the point when the question “Who am I?” changes to “What am I going to do with who I am?” It is called the Finding part of the journey. We whistle along through our day to day activities, happy to know who we are finally and everything begins to fall into place. Certain assets come with knowing who you are. Things like steady jobs and living situations and cats that you have had for over a year.

This steadiness passes though. It passes with the time it takes for a breeze to circle the earth. It passes like all things pass. Lost and found. We were found; now we’re lost again.

Everything we thought we knew begins to shake from underneath our steady feet. At first it’s a quiet rumble that can be ignored if you try hard enough. After a certain point, the rumble becomes an earthquake that can’t be drowned out. One day, the same ole’ same ole’ just doesn’t satisfy you anymore. Humans need change as much we say we are creatures of habit. It is in our nature to grow and expand like this infinite universe. As we grow, we have to lose the old idea of who we were so we can find the new person we are becoming.

In knowing that being lost is a gift in disguise, we can see that as Sook-Yin Lee says, it is beautiful. And that if I am still lost, I can’t deny the feeling that everything will be okay, my friend.






Andrea Dorfman helped make another music video for Tanya Davis entitled “Art”. In this video she is questioning what it is worth to be an artist in today’s world. She asks if telling her stories to the world will keep her healthy and well. She wonders if people will get something good out of her expression and be glad she made art because it made them feel inspired.

Then she watercolors out an Art Manifesto. One of the lines says, “A broken heart makes great art.”

Art is a conversation between the artist and the person experiencing the art. There is something about taking the broken pieces of something and making it beautiful again. It extracts the essence of the struggle and then transforms it. The person experiencing the art and the artist both feel a satisfactory triumph at the ability to transform what was broken. Art is about the resilience of spirit despite the human condition.

So follow your bliss. If you are an artist, it is a gift to the world. People are not made out of atoms, they are made out of stories. Each strand of DNA tells a story of the human that came before it. And we get to add on another chapter to the odyssey of our lineage. The plot thickens far too often to feel like we are alone on this journey. We need to resonate with each other. We need stories to be expressed through art to remind us that there is a common thread that runs throughout everything. That thread is simply that we are humans with hearts.

Labels: "Andrea Dorfman", "Kayleigh Levitt", andyradorfman, Katiebelleakin, Kayleigh Levitt, TiffanyJoAllen, YTChart

posted by KennyCrane at 9/24/2011 10:32:00 AM 2 Comments

Hello and Happy Holidays! Are you ready for them? Got all your shopping done? Regardless of what you celebrate this time of year, take a minute to reflect on the origin and meaning behind these special days. Have a wonderful time with your family and friends!

Guest Blogger, Kayleigh Levitt has written another excellent blog post for your reading pleasure! Kayleigh is a creative young lady with a real talent for writing. In her last article, she discussed nothing less than Life and Death! In her first Guest Blog for YouTubeStars, she wrote about Artist and Filmmaker Andrea Dorfman. We're glad to present the third Guest Blog post from this talented young lady who can sometimes be found in a tree singing and playing guitar! This post reviews three videos; a film about random acts of kindness, an interview about how curiosity leads to scientific discovery and a talk about a 17 year old girl who decided that she was going to change the world! Kayleigh does a great job of discussing the subject matter of these must-see videos - read on!

But first, The News!

This week's Featured Video on our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts is a warm and wonderful music video from Kayleigh's friend and also a guest blogger here at YouTubeStar.com, Emma Samuelson! Emma has captivating covers and original songs too, on her YouTube Channel. Watch Emma sing Samson by Regina Spektor, it will make you smile!

We have a NEW Featured Video every week on our YouTube Top 100 Chart. If you missed any of our Previously Featured Videos, you can still watch them here.

Check out our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts of the Most Subscribed YouTube Channels every week! Go and Bookmark the Top 100 YouTube Chart at YTChart.com right now!



Now, here is Kayleigh's article on Thought Provoking Videos.


Change For A Dollar

Sharon Wright wrote and directed this film about the journey of a homeless man and the ripple effect.

Change.

We can befriend change by being the change. The idea a little goes a long way works if you let it. Philanthropy is not just about having the financial resources. Changing the world is not fueled by money, it is fueled by compassion and love.

This film is mostly silent. It opens up on this homeless man sitting on a cement step holding up a cardboard sign that says, “Change?” This provokes thought as he proceeds to pass a long the dollar he made in coins through random acts of kindness.

Throughout the day, he participated in making the world a better place. By placing a penny on the sidewalk, he helped a poor mom get a job. He bought coffee for 35 cents and gave it to another homeless woman. He gave a dime to a charity and a little girl gave him a flower in return. A couple had a fight in the Laundromat; he gave the man a flower. The man gave it to his partner and they made up. He bought matchsticks for 15 cents and gave it to cold homeless people who stood in front of a bundle of wood. He gave his last quarter to a teenage girl sitting in the park at dark, which she used to walk to a payphone and call her mom. She asked to come home.

This short film speaks to the act of giving for the sake of giving. It makes us ask the question, what kind of change are we asking for and how can we be that for the world? The cheesy posters from elementary school instruct us to do random acts of kindness. The man in this movie does not live in his own little world where being kind is random recognition of the world around him. He lives in the world outside of himself. His life is not the self-absorbed life that most of us live. Maybe his kindness came from the humbleness of having no material possessions. Maybe it is in losing everything that we learn to give.

Change.
Be it.

He is not the only one asking for it.
The world is.






Curiosity and Science

Richard Feynman created this video about the concept of curiosity. No one meets up and says, “What about those cars?” We would probably just shrug our shoulders and say, “What about them? They are just cars.” We may care about what kind of car it is or how much it costs, but he invites us to consider the fact that the complex outcome of a car just breaks down to atoms that are following orders. This universe is very strange, but we are used to it. It is not foreign to us because we are comfortable in this mysteriously functioning world.

He states, “There is so much distance between the fundamental rules and the final phenomena that it is almost unbelievable that the final variety of phenomena comes from the steady operation of such simple rules.” The stunning visuals of this video reflect on the beauty around us that is all interrelated and connected. It shows amazing architecture, beautiful animals, the Stonehenge, the desert and many more of just things that are on this planet.

When people wonder how things work, they get answers. Then only to realize that the answers to these questions are connected. We are made of curiosity. At our most primal human nature, we are designed to be curious in order to survive and evolve. He points out how exciting it is to realize that we are actually on a floating rock in space and half of us are upside down at some point or time. The truth is so much more remarkable than the stories that we could ever create with our minds. The universal mind is infinitely more creative and we get to tap into it with our curiosity.

We are all just atoms that are working perfectly. The world around us is complex yet it breaks down to the same thing, atoms. How does that work? Atoms create the Grand Canyon. Atoms create sky-high buildings. This earth is floating in space. When we look at the basic truths of this universe, we are faced with how much we do not know. Curiosity leads us to understanding. Curiosity is what created science.






Anonymous Extraordinary Teen

Natalie Warne is an Anonymous Extraordinary. To be an anonymous extraordinary one must let go of the need to be recognized for their service to this world. One cannot give and receive simultaneously just as we cannot inhale and exhale at the same time. We truly give when we give without the motivation of our ego.

At 17, she decided she was going to change the world. At 17, most of us are still idealists because we have not had the years of reality disappointing us. At 17, she did. She became a part of the Invisible Children organization. There was a 25-year long war happening in Africa where children were being forced to be soldiers.

If we are not a part of the solution, we are the problem. She decided to be a part of the solution. She stood on the shoulders of giants as she helped orchestrate a hundred thousand silent protesters, a bill being passed by Obama, and getting Oprah’s support on national television.

The youth of this generation have pure potentiality readily available and Natalie is the perfect example of that. We know where we have been and with the combination of technology and the evolving minds of our youth, anything is possible.
How much does it take for us to realize it is time to change the way we think and act? As Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Empathy is a commodity. Where is the action to back up this feeling? It begins with connecting with each other. We cannot change the world single-handedly. Together we are strong. When we stand for something together, we make a statement. The only way we can come together is to begin to understand where others are coming from. It begins by the way we live our life. When arguing between political issues, we must listen to the other side and hear more than the words they are saying. People are just people like us. Their beliefs are not them. Let us see other people as more than what they say. Anything that doesn’t show up as love is just a call for love.

Warne says that we must remind ourselves everyday to be extraordinary. She says that the most pivotal moments in our lives are the everyday moments we are walking the path of our dreams.

Labels: "Kayleigh Levitt", change, curiosity, emmalane94, empathy, science

posted by KennyCrane at 12/18/2011 12:56:00 AM 1 Comments

Hello and Happy Halloween! Did you dress up this year? Go to a Party? Scare little children? LoL Have fun and stay safe!

Guest Blogger, Kayleigh Levitt is back! Kayleigh is a creative young lady with a real talent for writing. In her first Guest Blog for YouTubeStars, she wrote about Artist and Filmmaker Andrea Dorfman. We're glad to present the second Guest Blog post from this talented young lady who can sometimes be found in a tree singing and playing guitar! This post reviews three videos; a bipolar person engaged in public speaking about his life, and two music videos about Life and Death. Kayleigh gives beautifully expressed insight, read on!

But first, The News!

This week's Featured Video on our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts is a cute Halloween video from long time friend of YouTubeStar.com, Miss Tiffany Jo Allen! Tiffany is working on her 4th CD and you can download her older material here. Enjoy Tiffany's Halloween video where she is dressed as a Vampire Kitty and her dog Lucky is dressed as a witch! (Watch the video right here)

We have a NEW Featured Video every week on our YouTube Top 100 Chart. If you missed any of our Previously Featured Videos, you can still watch them here.

Check out our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts of the Most Subscribed YouTube Channels every week! Go and Bookmark the Top 100 YouTube Chart at YTChart.com right now!



Now, here is Kayleigh's article about Life and Death.


Joshua Walters (on the Ted Talks channel) is a bipolar comedian who explores language, beat boxing and playwriting. His trademark is his unpredictability on stage. He lives in Berkeley, California and is a National Alliance for Mental Illness state speaker. Humor is his way of bringing light onto the dark side of mental illness.

Bipolar disorder has a lot of societal baggage weighing it down. So often, these miraculously sensitive minds lose their edge to medication. Bipolar people have a choice. They can be numb to all their emotions with medication or oscillate wildly between believing they are Jesus Christ and being suicidal. There is no middle path when it comes to the extremes of Bipolar Disorder.

Joshua Walters encourages us to shift our paradigm. As he says, he “can either deny his mental illness, or embrace his mental skillness.” There is magic in the chaos. There are perks to insanity. There are gifts in the madness. He poses the question: What is the right balance between medicating craziness away and riding the manic edge of creativity and drive?

For bipolar people, they experience a rich life with a wide emotional spectrum that makes them risk-takers in the business world and highly imaginative. They can also experience a deeper sense of empathy and compassion for other people’s emotions. Why does this have to be seen as a disorder? It can be a gift.

We all have a choice. In every moment, we can either accept the way we are or try to suppress it. Everything that may look like a weakness actually makes us who we are. We can turn anything around and make it a gift. Walters took his unpredictable behavior and let it help him create a stage presence. Everyone has roadblocks on their path. We get to use our creative minds and make something great out of ourselves given the life we were given. Life is here for us, it is not against us.






This song is called “Exactly” by Amy Steinberg. Amy Steinberg writes her songs with the intention to empower people to see how magnificent they are. Her intention is to reveal beauty in the world we live in. Her intention is to let her art be a vehicle for a spiritual experience.

In every moment, we are exactly where we need to be.

This statement is relatively hard to accept. I may be in school thinking exactly where I need to be is my bed. Or I may be thinking that I have not accomplished everything I should have in my life. It is even harder to accept when tragedy strikes. Silver linings can only stretch so far.

Except for when it is not a stretch. Seeing the positive aspect of a situation is not a euphemism for the truth. It is seeing the unseen. Silver linings form when the clouds completely mask the sun. It is when you know something greater exists beyond momentary cloud coverage. The sun is always there. The sun is not always in sight. Yet, when we fall asleep every night, we do not cry over the tragedy of the lost sun. We instinctually know the sun will rise the next day. We leave it up to the universe to figure that out.

In every moment, the sun is our truth. The clouds give the illusion that our truth does not exist. We can choose to cry over the tragedy of our lost truth. Alternatively, we can trust that although we cannot see it, it is there.

In every moment, we are exactly where we need to be. Our human minds cannot wrap around the mystery of the universe. The reason why we need to be in a situation may be obscured by clouds. We do not need to try to know the unknowable reasons behind every situation. Amy Steinberg conveys through this song that life works for us, not against us.

She states, “If you look at me just right you will see a kiss.” She dares us to look close enough to see something at its origin. Every little moment becomes apart of this butterfly effect. It can begin with a breeze, a kiss, a glance and end with anything. It can begin with wherever you are, in this moment, because that is exactly where you need to be to live the life you are destined to live.






This song is called At the Bottom of Everything by Bright Eyes. Conner Oberst is the lead singer/songwriter/guitarist. He has a rotating group of multi-instrumentalists and collaborators from the indie music scene.

Death has never seemed so fun.

In the beginning, the airplane has a huge mechanical failure. The girl asks the man next to her, “Where are we going?” he looks at her, and he says, "We're going to a party. It's a birthday party. It's your birthday party. Happy birthday darling. We love you very, very, very, very, very, very, very much."

As humans, we fight death for as long as we can. Our natural lifespan is now 85 years thanks to improvements in medicine. It used to be 45 years. With all this extra time we borrowed, what are we doing? What could we be doing that we are not?

Their impending doom initiated the greatest birthday party ever thrown. Every moment in their lives led up to up to this grand finale. They realized in that moment how fragile their mortality was. What does that call for? A birthday party! It suddenly was time to celebrate life.

We convince ourselves that the future is a promise life intends to keep. The truth is no one gets out of this life alive. At every moment, our mortality is just as fragile as it is seconds before our death. Every moment could be our grand finale.

The lyrics of a verse in the song go, “We must stare into a crystal ball and only see the past, And in the caverns of tomorrow, With just our flashlights and our love, We must plunge, we must plunge, we must plunge.”

When we look into the future, more often than not, we think we know. We make goals. We make plans. We make promises to live our dreams later. It is easier to do that than to plunge with our flashlights and our love into the unknown.

The past no longer exists and the future has not started. All we have is right now. In moments closest to our death is when we feel most alive. It is when the mind is present with the body. Instead of waiting for that split second to realize life starts here and now, let us make today our birthday party.

Labels: "Amy Steinberg", "Bright Eyes", "Kayleigh Levitt", Kayleigh Levitt, tedtalksdirector, TiffanyJoAllen

posted by KennyCrane at 10/30/2011 09:25:00 PM 3 Comments

Hello my friends! It's not Springtime yet, but Love is in the air. We just passed Saint Dwynwen's Day on January 25th, the Welsh equivalent to Saint Valentine's Day which will be here on February 14th. So whether you have a love, are looking for love or are content being Single, have a nice Valentine's Day and enjoy this post which talks about Love!

Guest Blogger, Kayleigh Levitt is the author of this excellent blog post and it may be her best one yet! Kayleigh is a creative young lady with a real talent for writing. You can find all her guest blog posts here. We're happy to present the fourth Guest Blog post from this talented young lady who can sometimes be found in a tree singing and playing guitar! This post reviews three videos; a video from the Burning Man festival about choosing to go places, an Ingrid Michaelson music video about Love and a video about a Sufi Love poem! Kayleigh adds so much more to these videos' contents in her insightful reviews and analysis - read on!


But first, The News!





Now, here is Kayleigh's article on Choices and Love.


Oh, the Places You'll Go at Burning Man!

The Burning Man is a festival that takes place every summer in the desert. A city is created for a week, full of people dedicated to self-expression, community, art, and self-reliance. After a week, not a trace is left that an entire city was built there and then taken down, and its citizens usually make everything.

Ted Saunders, Parker Howell, and William Walsh directed this inspirational video. Find out more at tedshots.com.

"You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go."

Dr. Seuss is not just a children's book author. His words have outlived his body because they are the truth, and that is how the truth works. It sticks.

Our greatest power lies in our choices. Everything is a choice. I am choosing to type. You are choosing to read. In every moment, we are at choice.

Some things feel like they are not choices. I feel like I have no choice whether or not I go to school, but I do. I could wake up one morning, get in my car and drive west until my gas ran out. If I think about that option, even on a Monday morning, I realize the consequences of that choice are not what I want out of my life. I have the inalienable right to choose.

Not only can I choose what I do, but I can choose my perspective. On that same Monday morning that I am not wanting to go to school, I can take that moment, breathe, and choose to look at it from another point of view. I can see education as a gift, think about how it is giving me tools to live a happier, more fulfilling life. I can see how 3rd world countries are suffering because of a lack of education and realize how fortunate I am to have a free one. I can think about how it gives my life direction and a platform to live my dreams. I can see that it opens my eyes to things I would have been ignorant to and brought me to people who have changed my life.

Recognizing all of those things completely changes the way I view waking up and going to school. I have brains in my head, and these brains can alter the way I live and view my life. At any moment, I can shift my thinking to something that will effect how I do even common things. I can choose to be happy. I can choose the way I want my life to look. The world is not a cage if I choose to free myself.

Some people think that they are bound by circumstance, trapped by situations, or waiting for luck. Dr. Seuss talks about how sometimes we end up in the "Waiting Place" where people are just waiting.

"Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a sting of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting."

So often, we put off the things most important. I could wait for "Another Chance" or I can choose to go out and create another chance. I can choose to change what I think I am looking for and look for something else. I can choose to do what it takes to stop waiting and start living.

I can choose the way I want my life to look.
In any given moment, above all else, I have the power of choice.







Everybody

Ingrid Michaelson is an indie-pop singer and songwriter based in New York. She is the epitome of eccentric and her songs often speak of love.

People toss around the word love like it is a Frisbee. It is either a casual "I love you" or haphazard metaphors like "love is. [insert any noun, adjective, verb here] to describe the indescribable. Sometimes, the only thing we can describe is what love does not feel like. Love cannot be simplified into our language. Some things are just too vast and unlike anything found in the dictionary that it would be a crude summary of what it means to be in love. If one describes love too accurately, it loses something magical about it.

It is a feeling that is beyond body chemistry.
Desire is only .0001 % of the feeling of love, barely a taste.
Love is most often portrayed as a partnership of two. However, we can get flashes of love in any moment. It can happen in the most peculiar of times.
It can happen while driving down the highway with the windows down in a rainstorm.
It can happen when caught surprise by daffodils in January.
It can happen the moment your eyes open in the morning one minute before your alarm is supposed to ring.

Love, as Ernest Holmes put it, is just a spontaneous realization of life.
It is the moment we realize we are alive. It is the moment we see the spark of life in us, is in the daffodils and the rain. It is the moment that catches us off guard, bringing us back into the Here And Now.

Ingrid Michaelson sings in this song, "Everybody, everybody wants to love. Everybody, everybody wants to be loved."

To feel love we do not have to go anywhere, we can just breathe and realize that we are alive. When we see that bright spark of life within ourselves, then we begin to see it in everything. Suddenly, it is a spontaneous realization of life everywhere you go. That is what it means to be love. You can just be it. You can exist as love condensed into a human body. You walk around falling in love with your reality, because you see that you share the same life energy with everything around you.
It is not about loving another person or another person loving you. It is just about being love.

Being love is a ripple effect because the people around you will begin to realize the life within them with you. They will begin to see it everywhere they go. Love does not mean you have to be in a relationship with red rose petals and sugar cookies. It is within us. It is around us. It is the sugar cookies, the people who cooked them, the cane the sugar came from, it is everything.

How can one simplify everything? You can say the word `everything' but the word itself barely says anything at all. Therefore, we do not have to talk about it to define it.

If you want to love, breathe. If you want to be loved, breathe.
Taking a deep breath says all that needs to be said.







The Sun Never Says

"Even after all this time,
The sun never says to the Earth,
You owe me.
Look at what happens with a love like that.
It lights the whole sky."
-The Sufi poet, Hafiz

Sufism, is the spirituality of lovers. The poets that came out of this teaching show what poetry is really about. They show that poetry is the essence of life. The sun shines because that is what it does best, not because the earth validates it every day.

In today's society though, we desire the love we give to be given back. It is not our fault. We are human. At some point along the way, we forget that love is the quintessence of who we are and we do not need to go anywhere to get it. This forgetfulness may cause us to think, `I am not enough. I am not worthy of love.'
That is the farthest thing from the truth possible. Just by being ourselves, we make a huge impact on the world. Just by being alive, we deserve love.

Therefore, we become seekers. We dance as if every moment is a show that needs a standing ovation. We adapt to our surroundings. It is a subconscious process. It is an exhausting and unnecessary process. It is human. We are here to forget the love that we already are, and then get the gift of remembering. Remembering is the most fun we can have on this planet.

We can experience love in every moment whether it is from another person or not.

This is freedom.

Look at a tree. It is breathing. It is growing. It is made of atoms, just as we are. It is living as we are. A tree does not ask us to love it. It expresses itself anyway. A tree grows because that is what it does best. It seeks no validation.

Let us reinvent what love means. Let us love with no attachment to the outcome. That is what lights up the whole sky. That is what we live for. We do not have to go anywhere for love. It is already inside of us. Love is a reflection for the love we have for ourselves. That is the only reason we can experience it through another. The love that shines the brightest is love with no need for validation from the other. It is love for the sake of loving. People have hearts that are meant to beat in rhythm with another.

People love because that is what we are meant to do.

Labels: "burning man", "Kayleigh Levitt", IngridMichaelson, tedshots, TiffanyJoAllen

posted by KennyCrane at 2/03/2012 03:32:00 AM 2 Comments

Guest Blogger Emma Samuelson is back with her second post! Emma is a singer-songwriter from California who writes her own songs, sings and plays guitar. Check out the excellent music videos on her YouTube channel! In Emma's own words, "I am a spiritual person and I love music, listening to it, creating it, and everything about it." Her love of music is obvious in her videos!

Emma's first post for YouTubeStars was a review of some videos about Comedian Bill Hicks. In this post, Emma does something similar to what her friend and fellow guest blogger, Kayleigh Levitt recently did in this post on Thought Provoking Videos.



Emma tells us about three videos on what gets us motivated, the state of the environment, and a Free Hugs campaign. See what she has to say and watch the videos she discusses!


But first, The News!


This week's Featured Video on our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts is a beautiful performance of the classic Christmas song, "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire", by 11 year old Tina! Visit her YouTube channel for more great music videos. This video is featured in our YouTube Christmas 2011 playlist and is our way of wishing a Merry Christmas to kids from 1 to 92! Enjoy the Holiday Season!

We have a NEW Featured Video every week on our YouTube Top 100 Chart. If you missed any of our Previously Featured Videos, you can still watch them here.

Check out our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts of the Most Subscribed YouTube Channels every week! Go and Bookmark the Top 100 YouTube Chart at YTChart.com right now!



Now, here are Emma's Comments on Thought Provoking Videos.



In the current of life, there is a constant flow of information, opinions and issues that provoke our thoughts. Whether it be an environmental disaster, struggling with income, or simply deciding what to eat for a meal, it's all here for us to think about. You could take any person in the world, and have them watch a video, read an essay, or be told a story, and the information they have received will be traveling through their train of thought, initiating feeling and opinion. Thinking and analyzing our thoughts is what makes us human. It's our basic, yet extremely complex biological feature that has created countries, economies and governments. Simultaneously, it's also what has created music, film, and art. It all began with a single thought.

So what's something currently flowing through our world that is provoking our thoughts?

Work. Working in a career, in school, or just working to solve a problem is something that is present in everyone's life. But, what is our motivation to work? Why are we working? Dan Pink gives us insight on what he believes to be the answer. In this video, RSAnimate illustrates and outlines Pink's speech at the RSA (Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, their website: www.thersa.org) about motivation, the 'Rewards System', and how thinking affects working and having a job. With the clever and brilliant illustrations RSAnimate brings to this speech, viewers take a look at what is going on within the economy and workforce, as Pink examines what people are doing and why they are doing it.






Currently, we are discovering, that after hundreds of years of utilizing the earth's natural resources, we are beginning to see depletion of these resources take a toll on something much larger than our society. Mother Earth herself is suffering the consequences for our benefit. Now, when you are eating a nice and juicy hamburger from a local fast food joint, what are you thinking about? Do you think about the animals that were raised to provide you this meal? Or what about the trees that were cut down to become your wrapper, napkins and soda cup? Many would probably answer: "No, I was thinking about my burger."

Although it isn't an option to destroy all fast food restaurants and force everyone in the world to recycle, buy a hybrid vehicle, and only purchase organic food, it is possible to provoke their thought about the possibilities of doing those things.

This video shows Mother Earth in her prime, as she inhales, water is abundant and plentiful, creating beauty among nature. But as she exhales, the water is sucked away, leaving the earth as a dry, unlivable habitat that is causing casualty among species. We are taken on a journey, through the world of majestic landscapes, diverse species, and colors unimaginable. But what do we want? Technology, money, sex, luxury… resulting in the over production and destruction of Mother Earth. This means that we are sacrificing the very nature of what gave us life.

At the end of the video, there are various people shown that helped to protect and preserve the environment. Sadly, all these individuals were killed fighting for their cause. So the next time you're sitting there, eating a burger, on your cell phone, or throwing a bottle in the trash, stop for a moment, and think. Think about the people who gave their lives to save the world you might be taking for granted.






If you saw a man stand on the street, smile, and hold up a sign that read "Free Hugs", what would you think? What would you do? Would you hug him? Would you make a judgment and continue on your way? Well, this was put to the test.

In this video, a man walks around with his "Free Hugs" sign and no expectations. At first, many people have questioning looks, and he is clearly avoided by most that are walking by. What were all these people thinking as they saw this casual, normal individual on the street hold up this sign? Was he even being serious?

Eventually, a small elderly woman looks up at the man, so he gets to his knees, and they embrace. At this moment, it seemed as if a huge lock had found it's key, and love was open. All of a sudden, various people embraced this man with enthusiasm and love, some even took the sign themselves and tried it on for size, creating a chain of connection between the people who released fear, and embraced love. This man opened up the possibility to connect to other human beings in the simplest form: physical touch. Towards the end of the video, local officers make the man aware that what he is doing is banned, and he will not be allowed to continue his "Free Hugs". At this juncture, the man creates a petition, for which he reaches his goal of 10,000 signatures to allow "Free Hugs". The connection continued. Provoking our thoughts is what makes us have impulses, make actions, and decide on how we feel about everything in our world. Thinking is a revolutionary art that cannot be mastered, and it leads to the opening of society's mind, allowing knowledge to be accessed. All actions start with a thought, and this mans' was a great one.

Labels: "Emma Samuelson", bittusahgal, lindas32, theRSAorg, zcau06

posted by KennyCrane at 12/23/2011 02:24:00 AM 2 Comments

We have another new Guest Blogger, Emma Samuelson! Emma is a singer-songwriter from California who writes her own songs, sings and plays guitar. Check out the excellent music videos on her YouTube channel! In Emma's own words, "I am a spiritual person and I love music, listening to it, creating it, and everything about it." Her love of music is obvious in her videos!

Emma decided to write for us after reading the Guest Blogs from her friend, Kayleigh Levitt. If you would like to write for us, and get paid, contact Kenny!

In her first Guest Blog post for YouTubeStars, Emma reviews three videos about "The Conscious Comedian" - Bill Hicks. Emma does a great job of telling us who Bill was and what his message was, read on!


But first, The News!


This week's Featured Video on our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts is a beautiful duet from Australian singers Zoe Giddings Jones and Maribelle Anes. Zoe says this in the video description: "I am a singer, songwriter, Actress, Fashion Designer & dancer from Brisbane, Australia. I believe that you can Achieve anything if you put your mind to it. Never stop Aspiring to reach your goals no matter how far away they may seem. You will Astound yourself and Astonish the world."

We have a NEW Featured Video every week on our YouTube Top 100 Chart. If you missed any of our Previously Featured Videos, you can still watch them here.

Check out our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts of the Most Subscribed YouTube Channels every week! Go and Bookmark the Top 100 YouTube Chart at YTChart.com right now!



Now, here is Emma's article about Bill Hicks.


The Conscious Comedian

Combine dark humor, profound insight, and a strong, independent voice… and you have William "Bill" Hicks. Born in 1961, this young stand-up genius began his career at a local Comedy Workshop in Houston, Texas at 16 years old. Soon he became a regular, along with his good friend Dwight Slade, and they were quickly seen as an unforgettable comedic duo. After Slade moved to Oregon, Hicks focused on his solo comedic career, began touring and eventually, moved to Los Angeles with Slade. After a while of trying to make it big in California, Hicks made his way back to Houston, where he continued to tour and expand his career. Hicks experimented with drugs, and eventually started to drink heavily, which affected his comedy greatly. His friends commonly refer to that time as the 'dark years' of his career. With time and commitment, Hicks leaned away from drugs, which transformed his comedy, and took his career to New York City, where for 5 years he performed regularly and worked on leading a sober lifestyle.

By his mid-20's, Hicks had developed his voice further, with main topics of drug use, politics, philosophy and society that questioned the power in America. Not only was his dark comedy intriguing and hysterical, but he also brought out his deeper side as an activist. Hicks never ceased to tie in the humanity of life, and how corruption in government and religion erodes the fabric of love in the human experience.

This video shows Hicks in 1979 during the beginning of his career, as an 18 year old regular at a local comedy club. Hicks discusses the absurdity of 'flinching' and the draft, and receives a consistent response from his audience. Even as a young adult, there was something in him that was different and enlightening. He wasn't afraid to speak his mind, and he always spoke with great conviction.






Hicks wasn't just known for his comedy and strong opinions. Since adolescence, Hicks also pursued music and formed the trio "Stress" during his teenage years along with Slade and Kevin Booth, his high school buddies. Although it wasn't always his main focus, Hicks quite enjoyed creating music and never gave it up, producing songs throughout his life.

This song "She's A Woman" is a calm, sweet tune that captures the attention of any pair of ears close enough to listen. Hicks has a classic voice, with somewhat of a Neil Young tone, that comforts you in this pleasant song about loving a woman. "She's a woman, I'm a man, together we stand, face the winds and the rains in our life." The depth in Hicks' heart as he serenades us with this loving melody is quite beautiful, and expresses how facing struggles with a person you love is worth the time and the effort.






After constant touring in the United States, Hicks became interested in expanding his audience, which took him to London, where he was critically acclaimed for questioning American society. British audiences were much more receptive to his ideas than American audiences were. Hicks continued to tour throughout England and gained more and more fans.

Hicks reached a new level of expressing his ideas, and focused on the truth of humanity. He often stated, "We are the facilitators of our own creative evolution." Hicks began frequently talking about consciousness, and that we are all part of One life, and he would stipulate that we are actually living within a dream, and that we are the 'imagination of ourselves'. His ideas were very metaphysical, in that there is only One, and we are all apart of it at every moment. We create our life as we want, and we can be conscious of all that is truly going on. These ideas took hold in Hick's shows and routines, and he became seen as the comedian who dared to speak up about what had been suppressed.

In the early 1990's, Hicks was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He decided not to share this publicly, and continued to tour for the last time. His last show was on January 6, 1994 at Caroline's in New York. He spent his last few months with his friends and family, and just enjoying his life. Some of the last documented words from Hicks were: "I left in love, in laughter, and in truth and wherever truth, love and laughter abide, I am there in spirit." Hicks passed on February 26, 1994, at the age of 32.

This video is the trailer for the biographical documentary about Hicks' life entitled, "American: The Bill Hicks Story", which was released in 2010. This documentary is a profound, intriguing film that navigates through Hicks' life by means of archive footage, photographs, and interviews of his friends, family and colleagues. It outlines how he became the comedian who sought to show the truth, and reveals his ideas about the world. Bill Hicks is the American comedian who showed the world the conscious way of looking at life, and was truly the 'outlaw comic who tried to save the world.'

Labels: "Bill Hicks", "Emma Samuelson", emmalane94, ZoeGiddingsJones1

posted by KennyCrane at 12/02/2011 05:38:00 PM 2 Comments