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Help as many people as you can…
Help as many people as you can… this is my current networking strategy. Of course this is not a sustainable practice if the only reason you are helping is in the hope that you will “get” some help back.
It’s all about cultivating an attitude of servant-hood. Getting your value out of giving rather than getting. Switching your attitude from what I you can do for me, to what I can do for you?
That’s why I want to read as many of my fellow writers scripts as possible and help them in anyway that I can. My grandmother believed that it is better to give than receive, it’s surprising how some things never change.
Why preaching has no place in creativity?
This topic is rather dear to my heart. Those people close to me know that I consider the pursuit of faith, the number one reason for living; however it really irks me when people use the medium of film and cinema to preach their particular message. But please do not think that it is simply the religious right who fall into this trap…
You could argue for example that Woody Allen preaches his particular brand of “fatalism.”
I would argue that if you want to say something truly significant, you don’t have to “try” and say anything at all. The only thing you have to do is seek to be as truthful as possible in the imaginary “creative” circumstances. To do this you must honestly know yourself and you must really seek to “know” the people next to you.
Artist of the week…
Imagine me, thirteen years old, tight little school shorts and big thick glasses attempting to play the guitar. Next me is another small boy in equally tight shorts, both of us are trying to play G. This is a memory from third form music at Papatoetoe High school.
Fast forward three weeks and I am still trying to play a G, but the small boy next me has constructed something which sounds vaguely like a song. Fast forward twenty years and that small boy has released a “rock n’ roll” single that is ready to take on the world.
My acting teacher used to say that it took twenty years to become a great actor, my friend Huz has been playing music for twenty years and I think when you hear his band “Junipah’s” single you will agree that he is indeed a great musician. Download his single from I-Tunes it’s worth every cent.
I’m going to murder a turkey…
Thanksgiving is a great time to be in America… unless you are a Turkey. Pretty much everyone buys their own 20 pound Turkey and the secret methods on how you best cook the big bird have been handed down through the generations. In New Zealand we don’t celebrate thanksgiving, and I know for a fact from my previous work with animals that New Zealand Turkeys are indeed very grateful. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if after reading this blog, several families of American Turkey’s attempted to emigrate to our fine southern shores.
Of-course thanksgiving is as much about Turkeys as Christmas is about Santa Claus… not much at all really. Traditions are great when they serve to connect and remind us about what we truly value. Otherwise it’s just like eating a much bigger chicken.
