"Waltz (Better Than Fine)" by Fiona Apple

I just realized that I haven't posted a Sunday Sublime song since February (!), so I am rectifying that today with a little ditty from 2005.

This overlooked gem by Fiona Apple has been on my mind recently as I just learned how to play it on the piano and I love the feel of it (actually most of the album it's on, "Extraordinary Machine," has much of the same vibe). It sounds like a Danny Elfman score or something...

Anyway, enjoy - just close your eyes and listen:



Have You Downloaded the Sublime Goodness Mixtape yet?

Miracle Mom

It's pretty rare that I read something in Parade from the Sunday newspaper worth sharing, but this story made me smile out loud. Enjoy:

When Stacy Wiparina told her family seven years ago that she was pregnant, of course they were excited.

"But then I was also kind of scared," says her mother, Patti Goodman. "Afraid for Stacy getting through a pregnancy, surviving a pregnancy."

Wiparina is tiny and fragile and always has been. She was born with a genetic disorder called Type II spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). She has never walked--she never even crawled as a baby--and she has used a motorized wheelchair since she was 7, when her arms grew too weak to push a manual chair. Because her bones have never borne weight, they are extremely brittle and easily broken. Her spine is twisted by scoliosis, and her lungs are weak and prone to infections. She spends at least a week each year in the hospital fighting pneumonia, and when she was 22 a respiratory infection kept her in a coma from Christmas until Valentine's Day. Her doctors expected her to die.

Carry a baby in that body?

"Everyone always worries about me--except me," Wiparina says. "I just knew things were going to work out."

And they did. Twice. Today, Wiparina, 36, and her husband, Rodney, have two healthy, rambunctious children--J.J., 6, and his sister, Sophie, 4--bounding around their backyard in Centerville, Ohio. "I knew I was going to be a mom," Wiparina says. "It's all I ever wanted."

> Read the full story at Parade.com

10 Inspirational Videos on YouTube

10 pivotal and inspirational moments of the last century amidst the millions of videos on YouTube. Enjoy and thanks to Mashable for compiling them.

Ranging from silent footage from the early 1900s to modern digital video capture, these clips vary dramatically from political to sporting to scientific achievements. They all have one thing in common — a strong message of inspiration.

> Check out all ten videos

Here is my favorite:



Related Sublime Goodness Posts:

• 40 Inspirational Speeches in Two Minutes
• Don't Quit Poem Video
• Inspirational Video - The Laws of Attraction & More
• Inspirational & Motivational Quotes

New Yorkers Get Keys to the City...That Actually Work!

I've been meaning to post about this cool public art project I heard about in June for awhile - better late than never! How cool is this? And yes, if I lived in NYC, you better believe I would have gotten a key. Here are the details:

This summer hundreds of New Yorkers will be seen hastily undoing padlocks, ducking through creaky gates, and rifling through strange P.O. boxes. Do not be alarmed!

The city-wide security breach is part of the public art project Key to the City. Anyone can simply retrieve free keys at a kiosk in Times Square (pictured above), and those keys unlock 24 locations across the city's five boroughs, which are listed on the Key to the City website. These locations include secret gardens, hidden rooms, and tiny electrical panels. [Mayor Bloomberg mentioned that they unlock padlocks, post office boxes, steel gates and secret compartments across the city]

Since it launched last Thursday, hundreds of New Yorkers have already participated in the large-scale scavenger hunt, which borrows its name from the symbolic welcoming gesture relegated to visiting dignitaries and heads of state.

The piece was conceived by Honduran-born artist Paul Ramírez Jonas, who has worked with keys before, to symbolize ownership and civic pride. It was produced by the spectacle-specializing Creative Time and even has a key-making sponsor: Keys can be copied by visiting participating Medeco dealers around New York.

> Read more at Fast Company with pictures of locations

> Hear a story about the project at NPR

Related Sublime Goodness Posts

• Artists Set Up 'Free Store' in NYC
• Good Riddance Day
• A Million Little Pictures - Photo Project About Art of Documenting
• Sketchbook Project Enourages Anyone to Create Art

Pizza Man Saves Life During Delivery

Serendipity? Pretty amazing story from Colorado:

A man in Lakewood [Col.] is alive, thanks to a pizza deliveryman."The pizza guy saved his life," said Kami Linn, the wife of George Linn. "Every doctor and nurse has told me that."George Linn and his family moved to Lakewood July 9. Linn was having heart problems and was hospitalized last week. He was released on Wednesday.

On Friday night, the Linn family called for pizza. About an hour later, Linn collapsed."We are just talking and all of a sudden George said, 'Oh no,' grabs his neck and collapses onto the floor," said Kami.Kami said she had just dialed 911 when the doorbell rang."I don't know why, but I open the door [to] some burly-looking dude and I was like, 'Help me, come help me,'" Kami said. "I didn't care if it was a scrawny teenager. I am like, 'Get in here,' and [the pizza guy] is like, 'I am a paramedic.'"

"He runs in and immediately does CPR on George who has gone into cardiac arrest and has died," said Kami. "He revived him and got him to breathe again."The pizza deliveryman, Chris Wuebben, recently took the job at Johnny's New York Pizza in Lakewood. His boss said Wuebben had also just recently moved to Denver and was delivering pizzas until he found a job as a paramedic. Before that, Wuebben was an Emergency Medical Technician in the military and had just returned from Iraq. The CPR Wuebben peformed worked.

"By the time he had him revived the other paramedics came and took over and said if is wasn't for the pizza guy, who I found out later was Chris, George would have died," Kami said.Linn's fight isn't over yet. He is in the intensive care unit at Swedish Medical Center. He has an infection in his lungs that is making his heart weak and beat erratically. Once that is tackled, his wife said he should be fine.

"This only happens in movies. I don't know, whatever you want to believe, but I know that things are going to be OK because that never happens," Kami said. (from ABC7News Denver)

> Watch a video of the story here.

> Read more coverage on this story from Reuters

* Thanks to my friend Jill W. for sharing this great story about her hero nephew on Facebook!

Related Sublime Goodness Posts:

• 'Hero' Mail Carrier Delivers for Woman in Need
• Toddler Caught by Two Men After 40-Foot Fall from Window
• Fireman Dresses as Spider-Man to Rescue Boy
• Hero Cop Saves Toddler from Train & Inspires Children

Surprise Flash Mob for Birthday - Video

This video pretty much made my day.

It's Danish, but doesn't matter - the look of happiness on the bus driver's face is universal.

Here are the details: "On May 5th it's Mukhtar's, a bus-driver in Copenhagen, Birthday. In 2010 he had no idea that a large group of people had planned to celebrate him..."

I love the end - as if it wasn't awesome enough...Enjoy:



* Hat tip to my friends at Berrett-Koehler Publishers for sending the video.

New York City Public School Kids Sing "Man in the Mirror"

About a year ago, I posted about these awesome elementary school kids when they got attention for their rendition of Coldplay's "Viva La Vida." If you've never seen it (or any of their covers), then check out that post or more of their videos here.

Anyway, to honor the 1-year(!) anniversary of Michael Jackson's death, the PS22 Chorus did a short, moving version of "Man in the Mirror" for their graduation. Enjoy:



They even got the attention of the CBS Early show. Here they are doing a chilling rendition of "Ben.":



PS - Watch this short (& cute) TV Guide feature on the kids and their teacher here.