This video with and about Charles Schulz, done right towards the end of his career and life, is both moving and sobering.

What strikes me is the brief reference to the possibility that Schulz never fully felt like the talented artist he was. He was an amazing artist who diligently drew and wrote day in and day out for decades; many, many people loved his work and paid for it. And yet, perhaps, he never internalized his talent in such a way that he felt confident in his abilities.

That stands out to me because, at least in part, don’t we all feel that way? We’re just doing the best we can. And it seems to us a miracle that anyone would show up and find joy from the art we create. How often do an artist’s fans see something great, while the artist herself sees only a humble, meager offering which is not all that special?

“I think I may boast myself to be, with all possible vanity, the most unlearned and uninformed female who ever dared to be an authoress.” — Jane Austen

At Circles Conference 2012, Joshua Blankenship’s session, titled “You Know Magic, So Stop Being Such a Terrible Wizard”, touched on this issue. The audio from his session is available here, and if this stuff interests you at all then I highly recommend you give it a listen.

A couple of Colorado natives have turned their love of craftsmanship into a business where they make amazing furniture out of discarded, vintage materials.

“Weebles always wobble but they don’t fall down.” (That was something we would constantly say to one another when doing training and sparring in my old martial arts days.)

Kicking off this week’s edition of YouTube Friday: Andy Greene’s Sports and Vintage Race Cars, profiled by Petrolicious.

Here’s a car you do not want to see in an accident. Bodie Stroud’s rebuilt 1969 Mustang. “Kinda.”

(Via Cameron Moll.)

Just go ahead and set aside 13 minutes to watch this video. You may think you’re going to take a 2-minute break and watch only a little bit because 13 minutes of car accidents back-to-back-to-back doesn’t sound very interesting or entertaining. Wrong. Before you know it you’ll be watching it for the 3rd time.

Shaun White was just recently on Larry King Now. In the half-hour show Shaun shares about a lot of things, including his ascent into professional snowboarding and skateboarding, and how his career differs financially from a pro golfer of football player because Shaun makes his money almost exclusively through sponsorships and design deals with big brands such as Target, Oakley, and Burton.

This isn’t the first time I’ve linked to this video, but I can’t post about skiing/snowboarding without bringing up Shaun White’s Double McTwist 1260 and his gold medal halfpipe run from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

At this competition, each competitor was allowed 2 runs, and it was their best score of the two that counted. This was Shaun’s second run of the night, and he was the very last to go. His first run was already so good he was secured the gold medal. So, for this final run of the competition he didn’t need to play it safe — he could do whatever he wanted. And he did.

This is one of my personal all-time favorite Olympic moments. So electric.

A few weeks back we had “YouTube Friday” here on shawnblanc.net. I had fun posting and it got some very positive feedback. So, kicking off installment number two is this video segment from the full-length film, All I Can. (Via Jory Kruspe.)

Since we’re in the height of Pomegranate season here in the Northern Hemisphere, here is the last video of the day. If you like pomegranate (who doesn’t?), this video just might change your life. My sister sent this to me because whenever she and my brother-in-law come over for dinner I put her in charge of what used to be the arduous task of cutting open the pomegranate and getting the seeds out for everyone.

(And hey, as a bonus, if you like Garlic (again, who doesn’t?) then here’s a similarly life-changing video on how to peel a head of garlic in less than 10 seconds.)

This video by Michael Marantz, Jared Levy, and Jason Oppliger is fascinating and beautiful. With both timelapse and still-motion photos they talk about what it was like in lower Manhattan during the power outage caused by Hurricane Sandy.

“It’s a different city when the lights are out.”

Watch this guy (or girl, perhaps?) make this microwavable, in-a-box hamburger, fries, and drink meal. It’s nothing but powders and you just add water. Clearly he’s done this before. Seems gross at first, but according to the video description it was delicious. Only 96 calories.

There are a handful of YouTube videos I’ve been meaning to link to but just haven’t yet — they’ve been collecting dust in the Link Attic. Well, Friday seems like a great day to share them, so here’s the first one.

Now, instead of saving the best for last, I’m kicking off “YouTube Friday” with what is one of my favorite YouTube clips of all time. I can’t say what it is about this ironing video that I love so much, but it’s just awesome. Maybe it’s the meticulousness and skill with which the man irons that shirt, or maybe it’s the neat-freak in me loving to see that wrinkly shirt get ironed out, or maybe it’s because this gives me hope that I don’t always have to suck at ironing.

Who knew that ironing could be a craft? It makes me wonder how many shirts this man has ironed. Would he even tolerate the cheap Black & Decker iron and squeaky ironing table that are hiding in my closet feeling very insecure and inadequate?