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Winnie the Pooh is…True?
Sort of.
(Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin, Disney)
Warning: Naming your stuffed animals can be life-changing.
Creativity is not something that can be memorized from a textbook. In its purest and most imapctful sense, creativity is a reaction or a feeling someone has to something or someone that few (if anyone else) sees. It happens when it happens. And creativity can be a truly wonderul thing when it rises from the normal everyday.
While we’ve all watched and enjoyed the adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh, including his best human friend Christopher Robin, it’s a safe bet that most of us don’t know the story-behind-the-story. Well, later this year, moviegoers will discover the former that inspired the latter.
To think it all started when British author A.A. Milne was casually introduced to some wonderfully named stuffed animals…
There is just something magical about England of yesteryear (or the days of yore, if you’re like Rachel Green) with its picturesque architecture and dreamlike parks. Maybe that special feeling we have is the result of so many creative people before who have subtly transformed these pleasant thoughts from England into our illustrious reality over the course of many generations? Cheers, either way. And it looks like Goodbye Christopher Robin aims to showcase one of those delightfully impressionable chapters in that evolving lineage of happy thoughts from that place across the pond.
A.A. Milne, his son and his cast of characters are not rock stars like the Beatles. However, their tale of heartwarming imagination continues to “top the charts” (of sorts) with children and parents alike, spanning multiple generations…like the Beatles.
Also like the Beatles, Winnie the Pooh wants to hold your hand.
Weather’s Wonder Woman
If you want your heart warmed, you’re in the right place. I discovered this story because of a recent tweet by Gal Gadot, the actress currently playing Wonder Woman.
Mélanie Ségard is a 21-year-old with Down Syndrome and she is an inspiring role model for men and women with Down Syndrome. Put more truthfully, Mélanie Ségard is an inspiring role model for all men, women and children. Her dream was to be a weather girl. And, thanks to a French nonprofit, something special was set-up for Ms. Ségard in the middle of last month.
But her lifelong wish was picked up by Unapei, a French nonprofit that advocates for “an inclusive and supportive society.” It asked: Why couldn’t a woman with Down syndrome present the weather on TV?
–Amy B. Wang, The Washington Post
There are countless variables in the world, yet one of the greatest constants is the surprisingly uplifting spirit and support from people we’ve never met before in our life. Mélanie Ségard’s story is proof of this touching act from strangers.
Not one, but two, television networks invited Ségard to do the weather. She went with the national public network France 2, and trained for four days with the station’s weather team. One presenter, Chloé Nabédian, gave her tips on how to present in front of a green screen.
–Amy B. Wang, The Washington Post
Get ready to have your heart melt while smiling wide.
Magnifique.
Keep This Song in Your Back Pocket
If only there was a device that could enable a bunch of your favorite songs to be placed in your back pocket?
Somehow, someway, Steve Jobs will forever be present in our minds…front or back.
The 2015 film Steve Jobs, directed by Danny Boyle, was a fascinating cinematic exercise. Put simply, Aaron Sorkin adapted a screenplay from the leading book about Steve Jobs with a title of the same name by Walter Isaacson into three scenes. That was it. And the three scenes took place before a major product launch by the Apple co-founder in a behind-the-scenes kind of fashion with rapid fire conversations.
Interestingly, there were many new truthful revelations (some minor, some surprising and one absolutely mind-blowing) that occurred before the conductor took the stage in front of the spotlight to introduce his NeXT innovation.
In that same spirit, let’s take a moment this Tuesday to challenge ourselves to think different. Not to think differently, which is grammatically correct. But to “think different” as Steve Jobs charged we do (which actually is thinking differently, when you think about it). There is a song in the film that feels like the only music Steve Jobs would have listened to before a life-altering idea that wasn’t by Bob Dylan. Whether you work in an office and are allowed to listen to music (perhaps with headphones) or if you choose to listen to this song before or after work, please give the following song a try.
Who knows what inspiration this musical wonder (“Grew Up At Midnight” by The Maccabees) may spark?
Watching the movie Steve Jobs in the theater and again just recently, the one thing that’s crystal clear is that Steve Jobs was a masterfully innovative storyteller above all else. Say what you want about him (good or bad), but he changed the world.
And that is insanely great.
The Stellar Sound of the Space Around Us
They say that “tails never fails.” Except for, you know, roughly 50% of the time. Anyways, how about this:
The ear can hear what we fear, and cheer.
Be kind, it’s a first draft with rough edges galore.
This blog has made the case that orchestral numbers can strike something profoundly powerful inside us that doesn’t necessarily offer confirmations to our myriad of questions, but stirs a wonderful mixture of mystery, caution and, incredibly, an unyielding pursuit of discovery. Once again, Christopher Nolan’s space operatic epic Interstellar is the focus of yet another blog post. This time, the form is the music from the film’s long past third trailer from late 2014 (with admittedly the faintest hint of audible lyrics at the end).
To quote a line from a fellow Nolan cinematic achievement, “And here we go.”
So, where will that music take you?
Wherever it leads you, just know that attempting to save the human race is always a crowd-pleaser. However, I myself may start with something slightly less grand…for the moment anyways.
Jimmy's Daily Planet 