My husband showed me this video - NOT expecting me to weep uncontrollably. I grew up in a cabin in the woods with my grandma and it was pure magic. I always assumed I would have my family there someday. My mom offered it to me when we were just kids, and we would’ve had to pay $60k in taxes for it. At the time, we were just too terrified to make a purchase like that, so my wonderland went to auction. I still mourn that house years later. I’m expecting my first child and feel ALL of these things about not getting to show her my paradise. To top it all off, my grandmother and I used to explore historic cemeteries together. That was our thing from the time I was very little! So this whole video hit me so freaking hard!
That is quite a testimony. I was born and live in Portugal in the countryside and I'm now trying to get back to where my roots are and try to give to my children part of what I had in my childhood. I never thought that it would be so hard for someone like me to be able to acomplish this part of my dream... never I would thought that someone in the other part of the Atlantic would have lived something similar... Well, just thank you for sharing your story.
The older you get the more nostalgic you feel about your past.. As a kid, my cousins and i would walk up the hill about 2 miles to the graveyard to "visit" grandpa. It was actually an excuse to get away from the parental units and eat junk and smoke cigarettes. Im 61 now and i miss those moments. My cousins and snitched smokes. Nostalgia.
Wow...when I got to the end I thought, "That wasn't 18 minutes!" Totally drawn in on this one Van. The last cemetery I visited was Arlington National Cemetery, about six years ago, to visit my Dad and Grandfather's graves. It's powerful for my own personal memories, experiences and love for my biggest heroes...but looking around, there is a shared experience with everyone else there. Everyone is there to pay respects and remember someone who hasn't just passed, but lived a life of service that walked the edge between life and death on behalf of others. I'm sad, grateful and proud all at the same time...a license to surrender to the meaningful experiences in our future...beautiful. Thank you.
Arlington National Cemetery is one of my favorite places in DC, so peaceful, symbolic, beautiful, and orderly. Having moved away 4 years ago, I still remember it fondly. Respect to your family members' service!
I'm proud of you for letting the apartment go. I sense a lot of angst in younger generations about the lack of space and opportunity being made for them. I think your apartment represents some of that. Hopefully some new bright eyed spirited person will realize some of their dreams in that space. I'm only slightly younger than you and I feel like boomers, Xers, and even millennials are being strangled by nostalgia and it manifests in this hoarding of space and resources that previous generations let fall to the young. Something I have also been guilty of.
The flat stones make mowing and maintenance easier. You'll pay more to be interned with a larger stone that requires greater maintenance. Or some allow/require DIY.
Nostalgia always changes...and when we try to go back to visit it we see the reality of it. Even if there are still glimmers and sparkles of the past, our eyes don't live here anymore.
The Fort looks identical to Casey's studio in its style and vibe. Love that this 15 year project influenced that studio. Awesome work Van. Please more stories from the New York days.
I have been watching the Ducktales reboot with my young children for the past weeks and I just know I will look back at this moment in time and be nostalgic.
"Nostalgia is the license to surrender to the meaningful experiences in our future" - this is exactly what I've been trying to do with my nostalgia; use it as a reminder to appreciate and fully experience the present. It's only in retrospect that we fully appreciate certain moments from our past, and to me that's what nostalgia is.
18 minutes, Van. 18 concise, beautifully told minutes. Your story telling and imagery are the best I have ever seen. Your videos and life are so intriguing. Truly a spirited man
I loved this piece and this is so relatable. I can't shake that you've admitted to have an apartment in New York City that is subsidized by the gov or the city for poor people that was there unused so you could impress your kid. Man, this isn't right!
Yea exactly…the public was subsidizing a place that could have been rented to someone that needed it and then he knew he owed and instead of paying what he owed on a subsidized place (who knows what the real cost is) he rolls over on his obligations. Not a very moral way to live or something to be proud of.
Thank you Van. This has given me a great idea. My 16 yo son is terrified of driving and cemetery might be a calm place for him to practice. My father is buried in a very large cemetery and I have not been back to visit in almost 30 years. He died when I was not much older than my son is now.
Nostalgia is the refeeling of a feeling from a previous juncture as well as the pursuit of said feeling, nostalgia is mostly if not always a positive feeling
I'm the same age as you Van and I always feel that the video essays you've done in this style are an expression of exactly how I feel as well. Even the 90's and early 00's B-Roll you use looks like my memories. Wonderfully done sir. I will watch this video multiple times in the coming months as I have so many others of yours. Thank you.
Very Poignant video! My late husband had to basically give up his 80’s V8 Vaga because of being behind on the rent as well 😔 it was simply something we had to let go 😔 he died never being able to finish a lot of projects so sad
My son is about the same age as yours, and while all the playgrounds were closed due to covid... that same cemetery became our playground. It was the perfect. Not many people around, shady trees everywhere, hills to summit, monuments and castles to discover. Best of all, the mini backhoes used to dig graves would always just be left out in some random place unattended. So my son could see and touch and sit in the drivers seat of a real life construction vehicle! Pure joy. I was always surprised and amazed at how many incredible headstones we would stumble across. Walt Disney, Mary Pickford, Elizabeth Taylor, Nat King Cole, Micheal Jackson (even though his is hidden, there is a secret tribute area people a have made for him behind some bushes) and so many more. I would always end up on wikipedia learning about these men and women. Often times watching old films of the people we found later that day.
I love the story about your son's obsession with cemeteries. Over here (the Netherlands) it is not common to just visit a cemetery but I always feel kind of relaxed when I am there. Looking at old graves, reading the text on the stones is, I think, the best way to pay respect to the people who have been buried there. Even if they are complete strangers - or maybe especially for complete strangers. I only visited my grand parents grave as a little kid. I pay respect to my grandparents and my father by remembering them in the things I do. Visiting a cemetery and reading about the people there is, for me, a way to respect what they did for all of us
I'm always blown away by the beautiful video documentation you have of your life. It must multiply the nostalgia when you can literally watch these moments again! Thank you for sharing.
i think you did the right thing with the apartment. my parents sold their first apartment in Albuquerque and raised me in maryland, and looking back they also regret it. but last summer on a road trip I did from MD to california we made their old place a stop on our route. Even though it was owners by someone else and i couldn't go inside, seeing the place and their old neighborhood was still very impactful for me, imagining them in that environment , ect. The same will probably happen to your son one day
😭😭😭this made me think of life as a dad, and of my dad. (He passed away recently and I still can’t wrap my head around it.) he used to take all of us kids to Cave Hill Cemetery-a truly gorgeous place in itself, but it’s also where Muhammad Ali rests. I took my girls there too when they were little. May we continue to recognize the good times while we’re still in them.
The other night, me and two close friends of mine went back to our high school we just graduated from to climb it. It was really cool seeing this place we knew for years in such a different angle. We attributed it to prisoners breaking out and sneaking on top of their jailhouse. After exploring a bit, one of my friends really wanted to climb the chimney. The chimney is maybe 50 meters high but looked like 100. He got a boosted to the raised ladder on the chimney from our other friend who is much taller than us. I decided to not go and instead film them from the roof. as my second friend followed up the ladder of the chimney, I knew that this was something special and started to debate what to do. My nostalgia had hit me, telling me this was one for the books. After my second friend got to the top, I quickly ran down to the base of the chimney and tried to jump for the ladder, but I couldn't reach it. I felt so cheated from this great experience right when I saw two tar buckets that were up there from a roofing job. I stacked them under the raised ladder and jumped up to it. I was able reach and climb up the ladder and join my friends on the top. It was incredible. We were on the highest point in the area which was already on a large hill, allowing us to see everything around us, most notably the glowing downtown skyline. Later on when we got down from the school, my friend said it was a life changing experience. If my nostalgia had not pushed me to climb that ladder, that beautiful moment I had with my friends from my teenage years, potentially one of the last memories with them for a while with us going to university, I would just have a video mocking me of what could have been. Van, thank you for helping me understand why I decided to climb the chimney.
In your video, “Narcissism vs Universality” you shared a quote at the four minute mark. I feel like it sums up parenthood and the way it makes you embrace nostalgia/homesickness as a willing participant rather than one who suffers its impact. Anytime you give fully of yourself there are elements of your old self that are dying, because a new self is in the process of emerging. -Brother Cornell West
Never take a moment for granted when they are that young. You will spend the entire rest of your life missing it more than anything you have ever missed before.
I went to a place I spent summers on summers as a kid, had not been for 20 years (not as an adult), got in a car (with wife of 6 years at the age of 38) drove there with visual memory of the journey, arrived with nostalgic feeling & to share the same experience as kid with my wife without thinking as an adult driving in a car. It is amazing how you to feel about a time & place from the past.
I lived in a 185-square-foot foot apartment near Stanton and Bowery for a couple years in the early 00s. I often tell people that I miss that time in my life more than I miss the place. Like Don Draper said, nostalgia is a place where your heart aches to return. I now live in my native Kansas and think about NYC constantly.
Van, I don't know how to say this, but your videos speak to me in a way only art has spoken to me before. It's indescribable. Safe to say I'm hooked. Thank you for awakening a part of me that I didn't really know could blossom. Love.
Bravo. Wonderful. Also, from one parent to another (I have a son the same age and so similar we could probably mix them up in a rush at a grocery store), it is inspiring.
I grew up across from and next to a cemetery, we always felt the sacred nature of that space when we would walk through them. So much information to be gleaned from the simple information written on the graves, so much grief and love.
What a wonderful experience. As a kid, we used to have a picnic on my sister's stone... I was only 5 and she had died at 13 months... I still visit, not as often. I am 72 and those memories are embedded in my heart. Great video!
I've always lived about 2 minutes walk away from a huge old Victorian cemetery (which I don't think is really a thing in America) which has an old church tower and hundreds of detailed headstones. As a child, it fascinated me to think that in some strange way I can have a form of interaction with these long dead people by reading their names and accolades. Maybe in a way that’s the nostalgia’s work.
I Van, Great film. In Portuguese we have a word that is very dear to us, which I think describes this feeling. The word "SAUDADE"... describes more than a mere feeling for the past, but also a hope in the future to relive that moment, such as seeing again a dear relative that you have not seen for a long time, or a place. A bit like you say at the end "Nostalgia is the license to surrender to the meaningful experiences in our future", it's funny that you described a word, in a language you don't know without knowing it. I discovered your channel recently, and I've been loving your style, the ideas and themes you put in your videos. Excellent work.
Nostalgia is about percentages, as I’ve gotten older more of my life is behind me than in front and so my future is now in my children and grandchildren and my memories are the fuel for me to help propel them into their adventures. I travelled back to the UK several years ago and had a burning need to visit my Grandmother’s grave, and I carry memories of her and now my passed mother and the passion they sowed into my life. How I wish I had created a video of that moment. Thanks Van for enabling our emotions.
You're great sir I'm watching you for so many years every video I watched I learned something new and then I applied that thing to life to become better you're an excellent mentor.😇
Man.. would have loved for you to somehow keep that place in NY, maybe transfer it to a patron or someone close to you to. That place was art in of itself
It's good to let the apartment go for no other reason than opening up the space for someone else. Not that long ago, I think I heard that NYC had anywhere from 20-40%, depending on the area, of non-occupied ownership. All these places occupied, but nobody living there. For example, rich people with "summer" places that only come to NYC for a couple days every few years. It's crazy to think of how strangled for space NYC is, but how many places have no one living in them almost all the time.
I have been experiencing a lot different things from the moment that I became father. I can feel all that you are saying, filming and sharing Van. Thanks, again.
In The Glass Castle by Jeannette Wells, she mentions living in a SRO when she was younger. When they moved in, she asked her mom what SRO stood for and she said, "Special Residents Only".
What a truly inspiring piece of story telling this video is, In 10 years time you will wish that you could be back exploring grave stones with your son, enjoy the present, it is a gift after all.
i hate to say this as an artist myself but it's the practical thing to do for the apartment...I'm sure there are more treasures your kid will unravel in the future with the many wonders you continue to make
I am just captivated by what you do and how you articulate it. thank you for the insight you’ve given me into art, artists to help me better understand my husband (musician) and my personal creativity.
"Nostalgia is a license to surrender to the meaningful experiences in our future" wow... Van. also on the tangible side; I lived in Germany for a bite; and discovered they have the most beautiful ceremonies in the world.
Nostalgia cuts deep like a knife sometimes . It's like man where did the time go? We used to be all here at one time and now we barely know each other. We've drifted apart and the world moved on...
Look for some old, abandoned cemetaries in your area, I'm sure your kid would really enjoy that. Abandonded, overgrown cemeteries are really interesting to go check out because they're not like what you normally see in a city. Especially if you likes the traditional headstones.
I think the evolutionary purpose of nostalgia is to provide the ability to naturally and innately recognize ‘safety’. Being in a nostalgic place, can help us recognize what a safe place might be back in the hunter gatherer days, without having to fully recognize specific criteria that make an environment safe. Nowadays, nostalgia is more a feeling of being at ease, making us feel warm when certain situations are seemingly replicated (I.e. watching a past video or being in a familiar place).
Another beautiful video, many thanks. The graveyard trip reminded me of when my son was very young, learning to walk and I had just started my Architecture practice. He used to sit in his high chair at one end of the office while I was working and he would play with the pens and drawings. Our afternoon break was taking a walk around the local graveyard. We are in Aberdeen, Scotland and many of the graves would describe what the person did for a living, and very occasionally they would say how they died. Must be a Scottish thing. Thanks again for the films, you have captured how many men feel.
Van, an amazing place for your son is Laurel Hill cemetery in Philly. Place is massive and it’s essentially a public park. Very famous figures are buried there. The gravestones are massive and beautiful. You could get lost in there.
I think of everything I create now as making new nostalgia, because eventually it will be. Thank you for making this - the shared experience is nostalgia made exponential and common.
I heard once that nostalgia is our instinct to return to Eden, to return to paradise. It maps onto the famous line “there’s no place like home.” And the significance of Baum’s grave being under a tree is obvious.
you're an amazing storyteller Van. I don't know if you've heard of The Moth but its where storytellers can share with the world. I'm going to recommend you to their team so they can contact you for a story.
I never thought that I would give a thumbs up and leave a comment concerning a story about graves. But here I am doing it. Thank you for discussing nostalgia.
Beautiful video Van. Cemeteries really are powerful places. I was last in a cemetery in May with family for my Dad's 10 years. Mt. Auburn, a serene, immaculately maintained spot. Before that we visited an incredible one in Charleston in November, and the previous October I walked through a small cemetery around Halloween with all the fall foliage popping. They're special and gorgeous, physical reminders of life and our limited time here.
“They’re not Fenway” hahaha, I love NYC, but man, I was born/raised and always come back to Cape Cod, I live here again, to this day. So, although I love going to NYC and have always wanted to live there, my heart belongs to Boston, always has, there’s something old and cool about Boston that I’ve never really seen in any other city, plus it’s home.
Thank you for sharing. It is great that you captured images before it ended. Imagine if you only described it to the boy when he is older instead of showing him the framed photo. Nostalgia sucks so good
In Wales we have the word 'Hiraeth'. It roughly translate to a sadness related to longing, yearning or a pull to return home. I've been living in England for the last 16 years and regularly get the pull to return to the motherland.
Nostalgia is the license to surrender to the meaningful experiences in our future - Van Neistat
Hey that’s from the video!
*a
Van, how good are you at turning insight into a compelling story. You should be able to afford that 12x12 with your valuable philosophy - Gold!
Beautiful
Hogwash
My husband showed me this video - NOT expecting me to weep uncontrollably. I grew up in a cabin in the woods with my grandma and it was pure magic. I always assumed I would have my family there someday. My mom offered it to me when we were just kids, and we would’ve had to pay $60k in taxes for it. At the time, we were just too terrified to make a purchase like that, so my wonderland went to auction. I still mourn that house years later. I’m expecting my first child and feel ALL of these things about not getting to show her my paradise. To top it all off, my grandmother and I used to explore historic cemeteries together. That was our thing from the time I was very little! So this whole video hit me so freaking hard!
Wow 😯 thank you for sharing this
That is quite a testimony.
I was born and live in Portugal in the countryside and I'm now trying to get back to where my roots are and try to give to my children part of what I had in my childhood.
I never thought that it would be so hard for someone like me to be able to acomplish this part of my dream...
never I would thought that someone in the other part of the Atlantic would have lived something similar...
Well, just thank you for sharing your story.
Happy birthday to your kid, whenever it is :)
I thought that NYE footage was from like 1985..then realized that 2008 is starting to look and feel that long ago😢
This man does nothing but make art! Inspires the hell out of me, I'm going straight to make a video today. Thanks for the inspiration my guy!
Love your videos Corey.
@@Mike-ox1hs thanks man! I appreciate the hell out of that!
Another black leather sofa video
@@ericm1014 the more the merrier!
@@mel5519 that is amazing
The older you get the more nostalgic you feel about your past..
As a kid, my cousins and i would walk up the hill about 2 miles to the graveyard to "visit" grandpa. It was actually an excuse to get away from the parental units and eat junk and smoke cigarettes.
Im 61 now and i miss those moments. My cousins and snitched smokes. Nostalgia.
Wow...when I got to the end I thought, "That wasn't 18 minutes!" Totally drawn in on this one Van. The last cemetery I visited was Arlington National Cemetery, about six years ago, to visit my Dad and Grandfather's graves. It's powerful for my own personal memories, experiences and love for my biggest heroes...but looking around, there is a shared experience with everyone else there. Everyone is there to pay respects and remember someone who hasn't just passed, but lived a life of service that walked the edge between life and death on behalf of others. I'm sad, grateful and proud all at the same time...a license to surrender to the meaningful experiences in our future...beautiful. Thank you.
Arlington National Cemetery is one of my favorite places in DC, so peaceful, symbolic, beautiful, and orderly. Having moved away 4 years ago, I still remember it fondly.
Respect to your family members' service!
I'm proud of you for letting the apartment go. I sense a lot of angst in younger generations about the lack of space and opportunity being made for them. I think your apartment represents some of that. Hopefully some new bright eyed spirited person will realize some of their dreams in that space. I'm only slightly younger than you and I feel like boomers, Xers, and even millennials are being strangled by nostalgia and it manifests in this hoarding of space and resources that previous generations let fall to the young. Something I have also been guilty of.
Spot on mate!
Agreed, It's meant for people who need it to survive. It was the right thing to do.
such spot on words, thanks Brian !
The Boomers are most guilty of this. I swear they hate everybody that came after them.
Kansas Quarter with the little paper tornado. Nice touch.
The flat stones make mowing and maintenance easier. You'll pay more to be interned with a larger stone that requires greater maintenance. Or some allow/require DIY.
Nostalgia always changes...and when we try to go back to visit it we see the reality of it. Even if there are still glimmers and sparkles of the past, our eyes don't live here anymore.
The Fort looks identical to Casey's studio in its style and vibe. Love that this 15 year project influenced that studio. Awesome work Van. Please more stories from the New York days.
I have been watching the Ducktales reboot with my young children for the past weeks and I just know I will look back at this moment in time and be nostalgic.
This has got to be one of the best videos from the spirited man!
"Nostalgia is the license to surrender to the meaningful experiences in our future" - this is exactly what I've been trying to do with my nostalgia; use it as a reminder to appreciate and fully experience the present. It's only in retrospect that we fully appreciate certain moments from our past, and to me that's what nostalgia is.
18 minutes, Van. 18 concise, beautifully told minutes. Your story telling and imagery are the best I have ever seen. Your videos and life are so intriguing. Truly a spirited man
I loved this piece and this is so relatable. I can't shake that you've admitted to have an apartment in New York City that is subsidized by the gov or the city for poor people that was there unused so you could impress your kid. Man, this isn't right!
Yea exactly…the public was subsidizing a place that could have been rented to someone that needed it and then he knew he owed and instead of paying what he owed on a subsidized place (who knows what the real cost is) he rolls over on his obligations. Not a very moral way to live or something to be proud of.
11:12 and you had me in tears. Beautiful storytelling and I could see myself with my sons.
My eyes got full of tears... being a venezuelan migrant in switzerland everything makes me nostalgic, nothing here is like home
Thank you Van. This has given me a great idea. My 16 yo son is terrified of driving and cemetery might be a calm place for him to practice. My father is buried in a very large cemetery and I have not been back to visit in almost 30 years. He died when I was not much older than my son is now.
Definitely! I learned how to drive a stick shift in The Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge Mass. Highly recommend.
Bad place to crash though.
@@Skatted I mean, there would not be a casualty tho.
@@ivan_valerian dead
I wish you can tell the more story of you and Casey in the future. People need inspiration.
Nostalgia is the refeeling of a feeling from a previous juncture as well as the pursuit of said feeling, nostalgia is mostly if not always a positive feeling
I'm the same age as you Van and I always feel that the video essays you've done in this style are an expression of exactly how I feel as well. Even the 90's and early 00's B-Roll you use looks like my memories. Wonderfully done sir. I will watch this video multiple times in the coming months as I have so many others of yours. Thank you.
Very Poignant video! My late husband had to basically give up his 80’s V8 Vaga because of being behind on the rent as well 😔 it was simply something we had to let go 😔 he died never being able to finish a lot of projects so sad
My son is about the same age as yours, and while all the playgrounds were closed due to covid... that same cemetery became our playground. It was the perfect. Not many people around, shady trees everywhere, hills to summit, monuments and castles to discover. Best of all, the mini backhoes used to dig graves would always just be left out in some random place unattended. So my son could see and touch and sit in the drivers seat of a real life construction vehicle! Pure joy. I was always surprised and amazed at how many incredible headstones we would stumble across. Walt Disney, Mary Pickford, Elizabeth Taylor, Nat King Cole, Micheal Jackson (even though his is hidden, there is a secret tribute area people a have made for him behind some bushes) and so many more. I would always end up on wikipedia learning about these men and women. Often times watching old films of the people we found later that day.
I love the story about your son's obsession with cemeteries. Over here (the Netherlands) it is not common to just visit a cemetery but I always feel kind of relaxed when I am there. Looking at old graves, reading the text on the stones is, I think, the best way to pay respect to the people who have been buried there. Even if they are complete strangers - or maybe especially for complete strangers.
I only visited my grand parents grave as a little kid. I pay respect to my grandparents and my father by remembering them in the things I do. Visiting a cemetery and reading about the people there is, for me, a way to respect what they did for all of us
As a current NYC resident, I resonate with a lot of your content. You nailed it with this one Van. Amazing.
I'm always blown away by the beautiful video documentation you have of your life. It must multiply the nostalgia when you can literally watch these moments again! Thank you for sharing.
Yep, we're inclined to agree-Secret Headquarters IS great! 💥
Well that's not somebody youd think would watch van...
Van and I really loved the movie - we went with Claudia (Rel’s mom) last Friday here in LA. Terrific!
i think you did the right thing with the apartment. my parents sold their first apartment in Albuquerque and raised me in maryland, and looking back they also regret it. but last summer on a road trip I did from MD to california we made their old place a stop on our route. Even though it was owners by someone else and i couldn't go inside, seeing the place and their old neighborhood was still very impactful for me, imagining them in that environment , ect. The same will probably happen to your son one day
😭😭😭this made me think of life as a dad, and of my dad. (He passed away recently and I still can’t wrap my head around it.) he used to take all of us kids to Cave Hill Cemetery-a truly gorgeous place in itself, but it’s also where Muhammad Ali rests. I took my girls there too when they were little. May we continue to recognize the good times while we’re still in them.
The other night, me and two close friends of mine went back to our high school we just graduated from to climb it. It was really cool seeing this place we knew for years in such a different angle. We attributed it to prisoners breaking out and sneaking on top of their jailhouse. After exploring a bit, one of my friends really wanted to climb the chimney. The chimney is maybe 50 meters high but looked like 100. He got a boosted to the raised ladder on the chimney from our other friend who is much taller than us. I decided to not go and instead film them from the roof. as my second friend followed up the ladder of the chimney, I knew that this was something special and started to debate what to do. My nostalgia had hit me, telling me this was one for the books. After my second friend got to the top, I quickly ran down to the base of the chimney and tried to jump for the ladder, but I couldn't reach it. I felt so cheated from this great experience right when I saw two tar buckets that were up there from a roofing job. I stacked them under the raised ladder and jumped up to it. I was able reach and climb up the ladder and join my friends on the top. It was incredible. We were on the highest point in the area which was already on a large hill, allowing us to see everything around us, most notably the glowing downtown skyline. Later on when we got down from the school, my friend said it was a life changing experience. If my nostalgia had not pushed me to climb that ladder, that beautiful moment I had with my friends from my teenage years, potentially one of the last memories with them for a while with us going to university, I would just have a video mocking me of what could have been. Van, thank you for helping me understand why I decided to climb the chimney.
So relatable. We all hold onto things... in our heads and hearts... but rarely do we consider why? Thanks for this reflection Van!
Nostalgia is one hell of a drug.
An old song or book feels like a time machine. Very powerful.
In your video, “Narcissism vs Universality” you shared a quote at the four minute mark. I feel like it sums up parenthood and the way it makes you embrace nostalgia/homesickness as a willing participant rather than one who suffers its impact.
Anytime you give fully of yourself there are elements of your old self that are dying, because a new self is in the process of emerging.
-Brother Cornell West
Never take a moment for granted when they are that young. You will spend the entire rest of your life missing it more than anything you have ever missed before.
This is one of my fav! Very well put together.
The tornado paper hot glued on the Kansas quarter. What a friggin spark brilliancy.
One of your best videos. More NYC stories!
Land cruiser motor swap update?
The land cruiser fans are begging.
I went to a place I spent summers on summers as a kid, had not been for 20 years (not as an adult), got in a car (with wife of 6 years at the age of 38) drove there with visual memory of the journey, arrived with nostalgic feeling & to share the same experience as kid with my wife without thinking as an adult driving in a car. It is amazing how you to feel about a time & place from the past.
I lived in a 185-square-foot foot apartment near Stanton and Bowery for a couple years in the early 00s. I often tell people that I miss that time in my life more than I miss the place. Like Don Draper said, nostalgia is a place where your heart aches to return. I now live in my native Kansas and think about NYC constantly.
Van, I don't know how to say this, but your videos speak to me in a way only art has spoken to me before. It's indescribable. Safe to say I'm hooked. Thank you for awakening a part of me that I didn't really know could blossom. Love.
Bravo. Wonderful. Also, from one parent to another (I have a son the same age and so similar we could probably mix them up in a rush at a grocery store), it is inspiring.
I grew up across from and next to a cemetery, we always felt the sacred nature of that space when we would walk through them. So much information to be gleaned from the simple information written on the graves, so much grief and love.
My grandparents are buried at Forest Lawn. A lot of nostalgia for my dad there in visiting.
I'm 28. I experience nostalgia almost everyday, being abroad for many years and living the best days of my life. Like your days in NYC.
What a wonderful experience. As a kid, we used to have a picnic on my sister's stone... I was only 5 and she had died at 13 months... I still visit, not as often. I am 72 and those memories are embedded in my heart. Great video!
I've always lived about 2 minutes walk away from a huge old Victorian cemetery (which I don't think is really a thing in America) which has an old church tower and hundreds of detailed headstones. As a child, it fascinated me to think that in some strange way I can have a form of interaction with these long dead people by reading their names and accolades. Maybe in a way that’s the nostalgia’s work.
I Van, Great film.
In Portuguese we have a word that is very dear to us, which I think describes this feeling. The word "SAUDADE"... describes more than a mere feeling for the past, but also a hope in the future to relive that moment, such as seeing again a dear relative that you have not seen for a long time, or a place. A bit like you say at the end "Nostalgia is the license to surrender to the meaningful experiences in our future", it's funny that you described a word, in a language you don't know without knowing it.
I discovered your channel recently, and I've been loving your style, the ideas and themes you put in your videos. Excellent work.
This channel goes on the opposity way to the algorythm and the fast pace of the life. Thanks (a lot) for that.
Brilliant surprise (from a previous video) with the author of The Wizard of Oz. Bravo, Van
Nostalgia is about percentages, as I’ve gotten older more of my life is behind me than in front and so my future is now in my children and grandchildren and my memories are the fuel for me to help propel them into their adventures. I travelled back to the UK several years ago and had a burning need to visit my Grandmother’s grave, and I carry memories of her and now my passed mother and the passion they sowed into my life. How I wish I had created a video of that moment. Thanks Van for enabling our emotions.
You're great sir I'm watching you for so many years every video I watched I learned something new and then I applied that thing to life to become better you're an excellent mentor.😇
Man.. would have loved for you to somehow keep that place in NY, maybe transfer it to a patron or someone close to you to. That place was art in of itself
It's good to let the apartment go for no other reason than opening up the space for someone else. Not that long ago, I think I heard that NYC had anywhere from 20-40%, depending on the area, of non-occupied ownership. All these places occupied, but nobody living there. For example, rich people with "summer" places that only come to NYC for a couple days every few years. It's crazy to think of how strangled for space NYC is, but how many places have no one living in them almost all the time.
I have been experiencing a lot different things from the moment that I became father. I can feel all that you are saying, filming and sharing Van. Thanks, again.
One of your best yet. Grey set the synth on fire with this one. Beautiful story and music.
In The Glass Castle by Jeannette Wells, she mentions living in a SRO when she was younger. When they moved in, she asked her mom what SRO stood for and she said, "Special Residents Only".
Well I just had a slow cry over this one. I reckon nostalgia really is what you said.
What a truly inspiring piece of story telling this video is, In 10 years time you will wish that you could be back exploring grave stones with your son, enjoy the present, it is a gift after all.
cool. teaching the kid the utility of grave robbing early! excellent!
Hey Van! That one spoke to me, I'm approaching my 40's and discovering nostalgia, especially the time spent with my friends. Take care man.
Your movies are so satisfying to watch. Thank you for putting this stuff out for everyone to see.
i hate to say this as an artist myself but it's the practical thing to do for the apartment...I'm sure there are more treasures your kid will unravel in the future with the many wonders you continue to make
Van..............Best Dad Ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am just captivated by what you do and how you articulate it. thank you for the insight you’ve given me into art, artists to help me better understand my husband (musician) and my personal creativity.
This video for me is just great for my introspection period I am right now! Beautiful!
You bring me tears in eyes .
Thank you for all your videos !!!
Greetings from Romania !!!
This video found me at just the right time. Thanks Van
"Nostalgia is a license to surrender to the meaningful experiences in our future" wow... Van.
also on the tangible side; I lived in Germany for a bite; and discovered they have the most beautiful ceremonies in the world.
Nostalgia cuts deep like a knife sometimes . It's like man where did the time go? We used to be all here at one time and now we barely know each other. We've drifted apart and the world moved on...
I love a longer Van video … you inspire me to be a better creator Van … Thank You ❤️💯
Look for some old, abandoned cemetaries in your area, I'm sure your kid would really enjoy that. Abandonded, overgrown cemeteries are really interesting to go check out because they're not like what you normally see in a city.
Especially if you likes the traditional headstones.
I think the evolutionary purpose of nostalgia is to provide the ability to naturally and innately recognize ‘safety’. Being in a nostalgic place, can help us recognize what a safe place might be back in the hunter gatherer days, without having to fully recognize specific criteria that make an environment safe. Nowadays, nostalgia is more a feeling of being at ease, making us feel warm when certain situations are seemingly replicated (I.e. watching a past video or being in a familiar place).
Another beautiful video, many thanks. The graveyard trip reminded me of when my son was very young, learning to walk and I had just started my Architecture practice. He used to sit in his high chair at one end of the office while I was working and he would play with the pens and drawings. Our afternoon break was taking a walk around the local graveyard. We are in Aberdeen, Scotland and many of the graves would describe what the person did for a living, and very occasionally they would say how they died. Must be a Scottish thing. Thanks again for the films, you have captured how many men feel.
Van, an amazing place for your son is Laurel Hill cemetery in Philly. Place is massive and it’s essentially a public park. Very famous figures are buried there. The gravestones are massive and beautiful. You could get lost in there.
I think of everything I create now as making new nostalgia, because eventually it will be. Thank you for making this - the shared experience is nostalgia made exponential and common.
I heard once that nostalgia is our instinct to return to Eden, to return to paradise. It maps onto the famous line “there’s no place like home.” And the significance of Baum’s grave being under a tree is obvious.
You are so incredibly gifted at this. It's very inspiring.
The storytelling of Van is so inspiring
you're an amazing storyteller Van. I don't know if you've heard of The Moth but its where storytellers can share with the world. I'm going to recommend you to their team so they can contact you for a story.
I never thought that I would give a thumbs up and leave a comment concerning a story about graves. But here I am doing it. Thank you for discussing nostalgia.
Beautiful video Van. Cemeteries really are powerful places. I was last in a cemetery in May with family for my Dad's 10 years. Mt. Auburn, a serene, immaculately maintained spot. Before that we visited an incredible one in Charleston in November, and the previous October I walked through a small cemetery around Halloween with all the fall foliage popping. They're special and gorgeous, physical reminders of life and our limited time here.
I love this “little” channel. So good to watch. The pauses are perfect. Thank you.
That's such a great story Van. You had me glued and then when you and your kid found Baum's grave...perfect. 👌🏻
Thank for the video. I am feeling nostalgic now.
Nostalgia helps us value what we have and had. 💕💕💕
Van, thank you for letting us live vicariously through the beautiful moments you share with your son.
My grandparents are laid to rest at the Mt. Sinai Forest Lawn you and X visited. Beautiful place 🕊🌹
I'm living in NYC for the last 10 years, and feel nostalgic for every passing day over here.
“They’re not Fenway” hahaha, I love NYC, but man, I was born/raised and always come back to Cape Cod, I live here again, to this day. So, although I love going to NYC and have always wanted to live there, my heart belongs to Boston, always has, there’s something old and cool about Boston that I’ve never really seen in any other city, plus it’s home.
Thank you for sharing. It is great that you captured images before it ended. Imagine if you only described it to the boy when he is older instead of showing him the framed photo. Nostalgia sucks so good
I like X's energy. The adventurous spirit contained is inspiring. I have little doubt that has a great deal to do with the parents.
WHY DOES HE CALL HIS SON "X"?
@@Stiggsway X is short for Xavier
Incredible episode! Love it. The colors/light at the graveyard scenes were beautiful.
unbelievably beautiful. the way you craft stories gets me every single time. made me cry with this one :') thank you for creating this
Probably my favourite short movie you've done so far. The story telling in this is just astounding.
In Wales we have the word 'Hiraeth'. It roughly translate to a sadness related to longing, yearning or a pull to return home.
I've been living in England for the last 16 years and regularly get the pull to return to the motherland.
This one for the books. You are an inspiration.
Came here from Casey's video about you and I can say for sure you have earned my subscription fair and square
Beautiful. Your son has great flow🤙 The video made me think about the time I first went drawing in a cemetery. Ty