Monday, February 29, 2016

Leonardo DiCaprio's 2016 Oscar Acceptance Speech for Best Actor - And Teach on Climate Change

Watch Leonardo DiCaprio's 2016 Oscar Acceptance Speech for Best Actor | 88th Academy Awards 

Liked this moment, a lot. Historic, meaningful:

"Thank you all so very much. Thank you to the Academy, thank you to all of you in this room. I have to congratulate the other incredible nominees this year for their unbelievable performances. The Revenant
was the product of the tireless efforts of an unbelievable cast and
crew I got to work alongside. First off, to my brother in this endeavor,
Mr. Tom Hardy.
Tom, your fierce talent on screen can only be surpassed by your
friendship off screen. To Mr. Alejandro Innaritu, as the history of
cinema unfolds, you have forged your way into history these past 2
years... thank you for creating a transcendent cinematic experience.
Thank you to everybody at Fox and New Regency…my entire team. I have to
thank everyone from the very onset of my career…to Mr. Jones for casting
me in my first film to Mr. Scorsese for teaching me so much about the
cinematic art form. To my parents, none of this would be possible
without you. And to my friends, I love you dearly, you know who you are. 

And lastly I just want to say this: Making The Revenant
was about man's relationship to the natural world. A world that we
collectively felt in 2015 as the hottest year in recorded history. Our
production needed to move to the southern tip of this planet just to be
able to find snow. Climate change is real, it is happening right now. It
is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to
work collectively together and stop procrastinating. We need to support
leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters, but who
speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for
the billions and billions of underprivileged people out there who would
be most affected by this. For our children’s children, and for those
people out there whose voices have been drowned out by the politics of
greed. I thank you all for this amazing award tonight. Let us not take
this planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted. Thank you so
very much."

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Sunset, Venice 12/20/2012

Sunset, Venice 12/20/2012
I've been thinking some about the Winter Solstice, the Mayan end of the 30,000-year-cycle on 12/21/12.

What if in fact the world did end? Even though this probably will not happen, to live consciously it is honest for us to take a bit of an inventory.

Am I happy with how I've lived my life? (Yesterday, I thought mostly yes, with some areas for improvement, as below.) Are there changes I would make?
Would I have tried to forgive those that were hostile or disappointing to me?
Would I spend more time with those I loved the most, telling them that, feeling that more?
Would I be happier, grateful for what I have, what I've experienced, the joy, the beauty in this world?

Maybe the answer is yes to all of the above.
So this time can serve as a point of rebirth for all of us. If we think about it.

Because somewhere along the line I realized I think maybe mankind deserves it. !
The way we are killing each other, killing the planet.
How selfish we are, and snotty to those around us. Petty, competitive. Why is this? Do we have to behave this way? (I say no, it greatly detracts and misdirects energy from the full-time celebration in which we could engage, the great multi-cultural, multi-rhythmic dance we can sustain here.)

Maybe God or the Great Universe is fed up, and will pull the rug out from under us.
Don't think I can say we could blame Him/Her/It.

But it probably won't happen. (Probably not! This time.)

Still we are finite on this ride.

It is a time to think, am I happy with how I've lived my life?
Hopefully most of us can say yes.

For the part of us that have a little worry, a little sadness....
This is the time to be present.
This is the time to be the person you want to be, that can die at peace, that can hope to every day be able to look yourself and the Universe in the eye and say, how beautiful, smiling, and thank you. Let's do that.

Antidotes to Violence, a.k.a., Take Charge of Where Your Head's At - here

Tell Congress to Strengthen Gun Control Laws NOW - here

Good News & Brain Food News -
Christians & Muslims Gather, for Peace here
Good News - Top RIO+20 Summit Posts here
The 'Busy' Trap - NYTimes.com
here