Ze Frank

About five years ago I was introduced to Ze Frank.   

I guess “Internet Personality” might be one way to describe him.  When I originally began getting to know Ze, it was through what he called The Show.  The Show was an online video blog posted every day, Monday through Friday, for one year.  He’d discuss a wide variety of topics including current events, pinky snapping, dressing up your vacuum cleaner, product placement, hotel etiquette and concepts like “hindsight.”  (You know you've had a productive day once you've learned all about pinky snapping, and the effects of hot sauce on said snaps).  I enjoyed my daily dose of Ze until The Show ended, and then to be perfectly honest, I pretty much forgot all about him.  Harsh I know, but I’m pretty sure at the time I was looking for a job or something.  Paying rent on time is an unfortunate but necessary reality. 

It wasn’t until this past year that Ze popped back into my life.  On a particularly uneventful day, I decided to go back and search out a number of websites, blogs, etc… that I used to go to, but for one reason or another had allowed to fall by the wayside.  Delightfully, I realized that when The Show ended, Ze continued to work on new projects!  I saw that he’d spoken at a TED conference in 2010 and talked about the sort of things he’s been doing.  If you take a look at his speech at TED you’ll get to hear all about various projects he’s put together like Earth Sandwich, a childhood walk, angrigami and my personal favorite, the chillout song.

In a time where we all spend so much time online and have so much more information about the world and about each other at our disposal, some may say it has diminished the time we actually spend together face to face.  What I love so much about what he has done and is doing, is how he is taking a medium that could potentially draw people further and further apart, and is using it in a way to bring them together in new, meaningful and creative ways. 

In the chillout song for instance; I just love the idea that he was able to take the voices from people from all different walks of life, and put those voices together in way to provide support and comfort for the woman he wrote the song for.  Perfect strangers are brought together in support of someone they’ve never met.  Just thinking about that as a concept feels so uplifting and hopeful to me. Perfect strangers coming together to feel a real and new connection to their lives and to each other; its kind of a beautiful idea.