The Heart of Man

1. Wealth without work

2. Pleasure without conscience

3. Knowledge without character

4. Commerce without morality

5. Science without humanity

6. Worship without sacrifice

7. Politics without principle

—Mahatma Gandhi

The gloss on life gets rubbed off for me when I'm reminded how humanity is prepetually struggling to adjust to the realilty that the heart of man currupts easily and the accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference (Bess Myerson).

Enjoy your weekend!

Forgotten Silver

I love film and movies. I love going to the theater to see a blockbuster that I've been anticipating its arrival for some time. I love how the smell of buttered popcorn hits you as near the confectionery stand. I love being able to buy a ridiculously big soft drink and I love to gripe at how expensive it is. When I'm actually in the treater I love watching the trailers and telling my friends inside info about them. When the movie starts, I love being engulfed by the soundtrack. And when the movie ends, I love the feeling of satisfaction I get when the it was just how I imagine it should have been. I always stay to the end of the credits as you never know what parting gift a director may leave.

For me, a great movie experience is timeless. If I hear a particular soundtrack, I'm flooded with the feelings I had when I watched the movie. And, you might see the trend emerging, I love those feelings.

But there's a lot that informs my perceptions and expectations of films. One major influence is following the movie industry and the dynamics and idiosyncrasies of viewing audiences. I am intrigued and fascinated by how different films are marketed and the tension and compromises made between the art form and the money machine. Just the other night I sat down with my brother and we worked out that only 46 of the top 100 grossing films are original ideas, that is, not an adaptation, remake or prequel/sequel. Most of these originals make up the bottom half of the list.

These various info-streams feed my opinions on a particular film. And this is what struck me the other day. No one is going to think or feel the exact same way about a film as I do. We will interpret metaphors differently, we may not even look for them. We will appreciate the cinematography, directing, script, plot and score on numerous levels different form one another. The filters and background information I have will differ to yours and therefore a different results will come out once the same film has been viewed.

But do you know what, it really doesn't matter that we have nuances and peculiarities because that is what makes dialogging about opinions so interesting. It adds a level of unpredictability to life. It adds colour and flavour. Even though I wish people would just see things my way, in reality I know that their insights and perspectives make my life richer.

I'm aware that this might not seem a revelation for some, but for me, I now really get it. It actually reflects something that has been surfacing in my life for sometime. A life truth trying to brake through my stubborn head maybe.

In order to truly maximise our experience of life and to discover and realise our potential, we need to be living in many different worlds of opinions and spheres of culture. We need to dialogue and communicate the differences in order to see new things, things we wound have never seen before had we not had our eyes opened by someone else.

I want to make the best decisions I can. Its important to me that I get things right with the least amount of tries at it as necessary. I now appreciate in a new way how other people help me to do this, and that my friends, is a beautiful thing.

What's in a name?

Seth Godin points to a blogger who stated that "Podcasting" is a bad name on the account that it is not immediately evident what it means.

I know few people under the age of 25 who would have not at least heard of Podcasting been bandied about by a friend. I would also guess that I would know virtually no one who, upon being explained Podcasting in reference to an iPod and iTunes, would not intuitively make the connection.

Podcasting is a next generation media. A new generation requires a new set of words and terms; a new language by which it will use to carve out a new iteration of culture.

As with medium, language should be made appropriate to the audience, and in this case a new word had to be made up.

The Day After Yesterday

I watched Sideways finally today. It impresses the point that the medium and mode of a message completely matters when communicating something that people either:

1. Hear frequently and grow indifferent to receiving it one more time; or,

2. Subconsciously know it but don't want to hear it.

In my mind, the movie portrays two a-type personalities of today's age, you know the people who have a pretty good grasp of their life and the lifestyle they lead and are throughly depressed by the meaninglessness and insignificance that they have created for themselves. And then the one who strip away meaning from the very things that define and give life meaning in the pursuit of striking the formula for a happy life.

What does this have to do with anything? Well that movie won two Golden Globes and earned five Academy nominations in light of the fact it told the story of people who I believe are in an abundances in our society, a coy self examination stark-naked in the mirror.

Change is hard for people to accept, except for those instigating the change and maybe those who saw the change coming (though that doesn't always help). Even the worst things can be accepted and even celebrated when pitch perfect medium and mode are selected.

How much pain would we save if we really applied attention to delivery that an important message needs?