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Memorable wedding proposals are becoming almost as common as hot summer days, but one man in Brooklyn, New York, figured out a way to stand out. Armed with a film degree from the University of Texas, 24-year-old Anthony Pinder created a stop-motion video using Lego blocks to ask his girlfriend of six years, Ariana Gomez, to marry him.
The video required a week of editing and several thousand photos, but Pinder found a way to pull it off without his girlfriend knowing. Gomez has a Tumblr blog where she posts one photo a day, and Pinder told her that he was inspired to take a photo a day of Lego toys and put it on his Flickr page. Whenever she left the apartment, he would work on the video. When it came time to pop the question, Pinder had to get her in front of the computer, so he told her that he wanted to show her a "cool video." As Gomez watched and "started freaking out in a good way," Pinder got down on one knee to formally propose. Gomez was completely taken by surprise by the video proposal, and she happily said yes.
Commenters on YouTube love the proposal, with people calling it romantic and saying it gave them goose bumps.
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Playing video games is not normally a charitable activity, but since 2008, a dozen Mario Bros. fans have brought together giving and gaming in a fun way. As part of the annual Mario Marathon 5 fundraiser, the young men completed almost every Mario game over the span of five days.
The event, which took place in a living room in Lafayette, Indiana, was also live-streamed so fans could check out their progress. Last year, the team raised more than $112,000 for Child's Play, a charity that provides games and toys to hospitalized children.
On their website, the gamers say they are "a group of people who love video games and wanted to use this love to give back." How do they stay awake for the marathon? Easy: "The pure excitement of Mario saving all those princesses should keep us going." Since the group started the fundraiser in 2008, they have raised more than $236,000 for charity.