Good Ones strikes again - this time with Kevin Smith walking us through his life and career across all 3 Clerks movies, focusing on the Star Wars jokes in each. Considering I’ve referenced the joke from the first Clerks multiple times (most recently here), let’s just say this hits close to my heart. If you’re … Continue reading Podcast Of The Week: Kevin Smith on Clerks (And Star Wars Jokes)
Tag: movies
Stallone On Making “Rocky”
People really like having something to root for. Anger and rooting against something works too, but only to a degree. What we really love is an underdog we can get behind. Sylvester Stallone wasn’t getting any major roles before he wrote and acted in Rocky. His idea for the movie centered around how all of … Continue reading Stallone On Making “Rocky”
When Volunteers Beat Pros
If you don’t have buy-in, what have you really got? Barbara Bush, dropping bars: The Titanic was built by professionals. The Ark was built by volunteers. It’s all about the mission. It’s all about who wants to do the work - doing the work that needs to be done. Ps. another example - the second … Continue reading When Volunteers Beat Pros
Sunday Music: Wage Wars Get Rich Die Handsome
You may find this as relatable to your creative process as I do to mine - here’s John Darnielle explaining how the new Mountain Goats album (Bleed Out) was inspired by action movies (via Paste Magazine): “I can’t really watch a movie at home without getting some ideas about the action onscreen or getting inspired … Continue reading Sunday Music: Wage Wars Get Rich Die Handsome
Just Do It
Carl Richards (@behaviorgap) made the comment, We’re more interested in being seen as creative than being creative. We’re more interested in being seen as contrarian than being contrarian. If you want to know what it’s like to be contrarian, watch “The Big Short” up until the point where it works. It’s a lot easier to … Continue reading Just Do It
How A Lost Wallet Led To A Hit Song
The story behind the hit song “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” is better than the song itself. That’s not intended to be a hot take, but it is intended to remind us to look for silver linings, because when the world starts throwing funny twists and turns under our feet, following the path of our own … Continue reading How A Lost Wallet Led To A Hit Song
Imagine You’re Running For President (Arnold Schwarzeneggar’s Career Advice To Will Smith)
At the grand opening of Planet Hollywood, business partners Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzeneggar were hanging out alone. Poised like gods on a superhero mountaintop at a backroom table, they’re approached by a young upstart actor named Will Smith, who jumps right in with this question: What’s it take to be the biggest … Continue reading Imagine You’re Running For President (Arnold Schwarzeneggar’s Career Advice To Will Smith)
How The “Scream” Movies Perfectly Balance Customer Service And Fan Service
Sometimes, the bigger an organization gets, the worse its service becomes. The clientele they start out serving changes from people into numbers. The standards at the beginning are reduced to statistics. And it doesn’t have to be this way. Kevin Williamson, the creator of the Scream movie franchise, gives us a template for how to … Continue reading How The “Scream” Movies Perfectly Balance Customer Service And Fan Service
Breaking A Born Loser Mindset (Via “The Hustler”)
You can be a winner and still feel like a loser. Just ask Fast Eddie. The problem is staying a loser. Here’s how he worked his way out of the mindset via two great quotes from The Hustler. The first comes from Bert, the man who briefly becomes his mentor. Bert tells Eddie he didn’t … Continue reading Breaking A Born Loser Mindset (Via “The Hustler”)
How To Take A Stand (A Sidney Poitier Pep-Talk)
Here’s how you take a stand when the stakes demand it. The 1967 movie, In the Heat of the Night, is a story about a black detective from Philly who gets unexpectedly thrust into a murder investigation in a southern (and still racist) Mississippi community. In the original book and the screenplay, there’s a scene … Continue reading How To Take A Stand (A Sidney Poitier Pep-Talk)