TILT: Elephants

This week's edition of {things i love} Thursday is brought to you by elephants.  My favorite animal.  I've been collecting them since I was 13. And I have been stumbling across elephants all over the internet recently and just had to share some of what I've found.  

>>>> I was watching HULU the other day and when the Residence Inn's Elephant commercial came on I just fell in love.  I went searching on Youtube for it and found this behind-the-scenes video about the commercial shoot and the sweet elephant who stars in it.  Make sure you click through to watch the actual commercial too.  Its pretty cute. 

>>>> Emily from Hope Squared has been sharing lots from her trip to Thailand including this amazing post from her visit to the  The Chiang Dao Elephant Training Centre.  She got to ride an elephant!!  And take some super cute pictures of them.  Here are just a couple of my favorites from her post. 

>>>> And then I discovered artist and filmmaker Gregory Colbert's work Ashes and Snow through someone's comment.   The interactive website took my breath away and then I saw an image that caught my eye...it was familiar.  

I have had this image cut from a magazine with me for years.  I glued it to a piece of cardstock and every time I'm moved its come with me and kept its home with all my treasures.  So you can imagine how excited I was to discover that this was not a lone piece but part of a moving, living, breathing masterpiece by this artist.  I ordered the film from the library and Chris and I watched it last night.  So touching.  This is my favorite quote from the letters featured in the film: 

"In the beginning of time, the skies were filled with flying elephants. Too heavy for their wings, they sometimes crashed through the trees and frightened other animals.
All the flying grey elephants migrated to the source of the Ganges. They agreed to renounce their wings and settle on the earth. When they molted, millions of wings fell to the earth, the snow covered them, and the Himalayas were born.
The blue elephants landed in the sea and their wings became fins. They are whales, the trunkless elephants of the oceans. Their cousins are the manatees, the trunkless elephants of the rivers.
The chameleon elephants kept their wings but agreed never again to land on the earth. They change the colors of their feathers every day. Today they are azure, and when it rains they are the color of pearls.
When they go to sleep, the chameleon elephants always lie down in the same place in the sky and dream with one eye open. The stars you see at night are the unblinking eyes of sleeping elephants, who sleep with one eye open to best keep watch over us." 

You can see more of his images HERE on his tumbler page or follow him on Facebook.  Take the time to experience his website.  You won't regret it.

>>>> And when sharing things with elephants I have to post this little video too.  Its an old GE commercial that I had recorded on our DVR and would watch when I needed a smile. 

What is your favorite animal? 

Have you seen Gregory Colbert's work before?  

What do you think of it?