True Love is...

Nieces and Nephews that laugh at life's simplicities. The emotional spectrum a child goes through in a single day is huge. One moment they'll be crying over a cup of ketchup and the next they'll be laughing hysterically at a horse. Life is so exciting because everything is new. I've often thought of my love of travel as simply an innate, childish desire to be excited by things I've never done or seen before.

Last weekend I was able to discover my true love for these two angels, Parker and Natalie. This may sound bizarre but on Sunday afternoon, I was sitting with Natalie in the kitchen after everyone else had gone downstairs. She was basically just hanging out and babbling to me while I did dishes. A couple times she got fussy and wanted to get out of her seat but I told her I was almost done with the dishes and then I would take her out and play with her. I don't think she understood the words I said, but she must have understood the love I expressed because after I communicated these things to her, she calmed down and was happy again. While we were having these conversations, I had a horrible thought about the possibility of a natural disaster occurring right then and there. The thought came to my mind, what if I was the only one left to care for Natalie? While that would be awful and tragic, she would need me for her survival. And I realized that while it would change my life completely, I would gladly take on that responsibility. Obviously this is a horrible thought and I would never wish for it, but it made me realize the true love I have for my niece and nephew.

And now, BACK TO REALITY. Since I'm actually nowhere near ready for the responsibility of having a kid yet, I'm glad MaryClaire let me practice with hers.

Song: Stand by Me. Artist: The World.

Live music has always tugged my heartstrings. The spontaneity that results from a live performance is energizing and inspiring, and hearing a live interpretation of a recorded song that's been played in headphones or speakers over and over, sometimes for years, allows a person to feel something he never did the first 100 times he listened to it.

More so, music is universal. A person can die, but his music can last forever. Not just through recordings of a song, but through the millions of people that hum, whistle or belt its lyrics in their homes, shops and markets. All over the world.

This cover of Ben E. King's "Stand By Me" began as a recording of a street artist in Santa Monica, CA and ended as a beautiful collision of notes, beats and tones from unknown street musicians all over the world. An article from Gizmodo describes, "it just gets rock 'n' rolling bananas...the producers took the resulting mix all through Europe, Africa, and South America, adding new tracks with multiple instruments and vocals that were assembled in the final version you are seeing in this video. All done with a simple laptop and some microphones.”

Enjoy.

Playing For Change | Song Around The World "Stand By Me" from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

MVP: Most Valuable Puppet

Click here to watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6znkbMJJTyQ

There is a debate roaring right now in the world of basketball over who is the better player: Kobe Bryant or LeBron James. The season is still brewing and the championship team, which is the true measuring stick of greatness, is yet to be decided. Any competitive athlete will agree that the ultimate goal of sports is to win championships. It's not to beef up stats, garner accolades, earn endorsements or make money. It's to win championships, the ultimate crown, and leading a championship team requires the ultimate in both physical skill and team leadership. Of course LeBron is younger than Kobe, so I'm not counting him out in the slightest, but right now, Kobe has the rings!!!

The Big One

There have been two earthquakes over 4.0 in the last three days.  It reminds me of the perennial "Big One" that the city of LA is waiting for.  The Big One scientists have been warning about since my elementary school days.  The Big One that was sure to happen before the year 2000.  These mini earthquakes are a reminder that the big one could happen any day.  Or in 20 years.  Or right now.  

Thanks, Mother Nature, for keeping us on our toes.   And thanks Carol King, for providing the soundtrack.

Board Culture

McG, the director of the new movie "Terminator Salvation" spoke at my office a week ago.  While he was here, he commented on the "board culture" in our office.  Board as in surfboard.  For those of you who haven't seen the LA Chiat\Day office, there is definitely a board culture immediately felt upon entrance.  The CCO Lee Clow's daily uniform is a T-shirt, shorts and flip flops and there is a boardroom table in the middle of the building literally made of surfboards.  

Having grown up in Orange County, McG, a high school misfit turned ultra successful film director, recognized the board culture here and commented on the benefits of a wave-inspired philosophy to a productive work environment.  He mentioned the importance of "turning the tables on a static industry" and referred to a visit he took a year ago to three major car factories in Detroit as the antithesis of this thought.  One year later... um yeah.

If anything represents turning the tables on something static, waves do.  Whether looking for change personally, professionally, spiritually, economically, or politically waves offer the greatest inspiration.  Constant, beautiful change. 

Sun Chips and Earth Day

My industry gets a bad wrap. A lot. Some people feel that only fools fall for the gimmicks of advertising, and I agree. If advertising needs gimmicks, it's not worth my attention. Billions of irrelevant messages cross a person's path everyday. The trick in navigating the over-saturated world of messages is to distinguish the useful from the empty. It's like a sorting game.

Learning how to seize the attention of a large audience is the quickest way to affect change. The Obama brand did it in 4 years. Advertising's "bad wrap" is what happens when human's sorting game gets weak, when they let the empty or destructive messages enter their mind.

If you're a proponent of going green and like to eat Sun Chips, don't sort this one out.

Just A Dream...

This morning I dreamed I was in Hawaii...

 I was vacationing there with my family and friends.  We were surfing and relaxing and it was beautiful.

And then I woke up.

And eventually realized I wasn't in paradise.

So I got ready and went to work.

Happy Mothers' Day!

I love you!

Thank you, Sir Ken.

I've learned that confidence equals happiness. And confidence does not mean ego, or being the best at what you do.  It means finding a sphere of influence where your traits and qualities uniquely contribute to the greater good of a cause.  And being satisfied with your place in that sphere.  Confidence means being YOUR best and being fully satisfied with whatever that is.

Below is a fabulous 20 minute nugget of knowledge.  Sir Ken Robinson makes a statement about creativity and challenges why our world doesn't encourage more of it. 

"Far more good would come from a society of impassioned citizens, confident in themselves and their abilities, than the current status quo: a modern day workforce of dissatisfied and aimless citizenry who often don't know what is missing from their lives but keenly aware that something definitely is."

Enjoy.