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A Perfect Life…

April 12, 2009 4 Comments

Possibly because it’s Easter and I am of a mild spiritual persuasion I am thinking about life and what it would it mean to have abundant life.

I guess the first question is what is abundant life? If it’s sitting in a strangers living room, in a large foreign city with not many friends and very little moo laa (money) then I pleased to say I have it! Come drink at my well and feast at my table.

Cynicism aside… I think there is a craving inside all of us to look for more life than we currently have; perhaps this is the well spring of all ambition and the source of all depression? Occasionally I catch a glimpse of what it would be like to live in a world overflowing with life and I swear it is too much for me and I am forced to look away.

My challenge to you is this… in seven sentences only describe a “perfect life” or “perfect world.”

P:S: I will post my favourite entry as next Sunday’s blog.

When people matter more…

April 11, 2009 1 Comment

It was in a cafe in Hollywood that I met her, she was beautiful and lovely, she is the actress I want desperately for our Prague film. I wrote the story with her mind, she is perfect for the role and she is also a one time friend.

I had the script in my bag and countless thoughts swirling around in my brain. We met for over a couple of hours and it was truly great to see her again, but I never mentioned the film… why?

When you are good at your job people always want to talk work and I didn’t want to rush straight in and sell the film to her, without taking stock of the human being, a friend sitting opposite me. Of course now I am left with the irrational fear that I will never get another chance to pitch the project to her… she is only in LA for two more weeks… maybe I won’t get another chance.

But I want to put people before projects, to put friends before films so I guess that “worry” is just the cost of that belief.

Good Friday

April 10, 2009 0 Comments

It’s Good Friday and I was astounded to discover that it is not a holiday in the US and that the good folk here still get up and go to work. I guess they figure that Christ did his greatest work on this day and so should they…

Personally I’m having a holiday; I need a day to plan, pray, strategize and breathe. I have new accommodation in downtown LA, an apartment in Little Korea that I am house sitting for a friend of a friend. Much to my relief she has no house plants or animals so that equates to zero responsibility.

Shifting around all the time has made me realize how important it is for me to have my own space in the world, an anchor or home. I find it hard to maintain a routine or any form of self discipline without this space; to have a whole apartment to myself really is a gift from God this Easter.

Chicken

April 9, 2009 0 Comments

Most of the time I feel very comfortable here in LA as I sample the American life and meet with film people etc. But I would be lying if I didn’t admit that from time to time I feel like a chicken in the middle of a busy intersection.

I guess that’s the country boy (I have rural roots) from little old New Zealand shining through. Sometimes when I’m standing in the middle of the street flapping my clipped wings and watching the world race by I crave the simpleness of the green grass of home. You can take the boy out of New Zealand but you can never take New Zealand out of the boy.

But occassionally in this city a very strange thing happens, the traffic stops and everyone gets out and stares at that little chicken in the middle of the busy intersection. I guess the point of the analogy is this… When you are afraid and feel like you don’t belong, you may be in the right place and you’ll probably stop traffic.

Can anyone be a hero?

April 8, 2009 2 Comments

My new buddy in LA was an actor on a major television series called The Unit. After three years on the job he took a surprise telephone call from the shows Executive Producer… he was informed that his character Hector Williams was going to die in battle at the end of that years series (the actor was being made redundant), but the upside was, he would die a good death, he would die a hero.

Hollywood is of course all about the American hero and I confessed to my friend that I have often fantasized about having a grand death. In these quirky visions of grandeur I either give my life to protect a beautiful woman’s virtue (love) or I lay down my life to protect passengers on a plane (medal of honor and lots of love).

Now that I have so willingly confessed I am now hoping there are others out there will also be brave enough to share their own heroic fantasies? What “hero” in history, film or literature most inspires you? Is it possible to be heroic in ordinary everyday life?

101 ways to skin a cat…

April 7, 2009 1 Comment

My Grandfather used to say “there are 101 ways you can skin a cat?” In anatomy class at Veterinary School I had the good fortune to discover that this statement is not just metaphoric… it’s actually, literally true.

Of course the metaphoric truth is far more transcendent and powerful than the literal truth (especially for the cat)… there are 101 (infinite) ways to do just about any task that is set before you. Advice worth remembering when you have a “superior eye” standing behind you demanding that you complete the task their way and not yours.

I am constantly reminded that there are 101 ways you can make a film, in fact if you can find a new and successful way of doing anything you will grab a lot of attention. Metaphorically I imagine I am on a beach covered in rocks, under one of those rocks someone has placed a key, there is only one way to find the key, I must start at one end of the beach and turn over every rock.

My Grandmother used to say “when there is a will there’s a way.” Whatever you want to do in life, if you keep the outcome firmly in mind, you will find yourself turning over rocks until eventually you find your way.

Life is poetry…

April 6, 2009 10 Comments

This is kind of my secret (although not anymore) but I hate personality tests.

I hate the idea of being psychoanalysed and put in a box, being guided in a certain direction and being told, you act this way because you are an “A type” personality or you tend to let people take advantage of you because you have a “Labrador” demeanor… dogsh#%t!

This may all come down to my inherent dislike of labels or maybe it sits at a much deeper level. The essense of being ‘essentially human” seems to me to be about having the ability to make choices; to be whichever, whatever or however you want to be. The fact that we fight both ourselves and others for this type of freedom further illustrates my point.

To be able to define and label something as wildly creative and unpredictable as ourselves may provide us with the safe illusion of self knowledge but it can also provide subconscious limits that prevent adventure and exploration into the unknown. No one knows what will happen next, what you will say or what you will do, you have have an unlimited array of choices… your life cannot be defined; for it is living poetry.