One of my favorite movies ever, which I just saw recently after many years, is The Mission. Like all great movies, its power to entertain and its message stand the test of time…
I am taking a minute to blog about the loss of Heath Ledger, not because he was a famous actor that so many of us found exceptionally talented, but because the one time I randomly met him at the lobby of a hotel in NYC I was struck by how sweet, warm, playful, funny, and down-to-earth he was. Our world lost a very gentle soul, and I suspect the news of his loss struck so many of us not just because he was famous, but because you could sense his natural goodness. May his family be comforted by knowing he was a noble human being.
A revolution inside the human brain is taking place far beyond our capacity to understand.
What we call "A.D.D." or attention-deficit-disorder will become the norm rather than the exception, if it hasn’t already.
Our brains used to de-construct and decompress during leisurely walks between work and home, but if you see people walking nowadays, odds are they are speaking on a cell phone. No time to waste: we crave more input.
Email processing makes us "efficient" (though it can also invade our management time) but changes the very way we organize ourselves and communicate. The constant feedback mechanism turns us into creatures desiring a flow of data and messages.
Instant-messaging, social network platforms, the way we seek news over the internet, and email reminders, are all transforming the way we think, process, relate to other human beings, and relate to our brains.
The impact of this constant-feedback/short-span model of communications is already felt in entertainment platforms, where Youtube’s short-clips are becoming more the rage than long-format movies.
When we design a video presentation for OneVoice or PeaceWorks, of course we forget about the 1 hour or 20 minute pieces, but now even the 5 minute piece which was acceptable a few years ago is a total eternity. You have 1 minute max to convey your message, no matter how deep or complex. After that you’ve lost your audience.
I will not be surprised if the next generation of human beings is radically different in the way people relate to one another. We have no idea what we are going to become.
And I have a fleeting feeling (as feelings and thoughts increasingly are) that it is not going to be pretty.
[Jason Alexander, who everyone knows for his acting but few know is exceptionally knowledgeable about international affairs and an exceptionally kind and loyal friend, wrote me a note that was very strong; I asked and received his permission to post]
Danny, my friend –
I am so sorry to hear of this postponement and to read your blog and hear the travails that you have all been going through.
i am also encouraged by the 600,000 signatures and the fact that One Voice is now a threat to those who only wish to hold to a false sense of power by manipulating the hate of those who struggle.
several years ago i befriended an amazing man named tom leyden. tom spent 15 years of his life as a working, prosthelytizing neo-nazi white supremacist. once he had his epiphany and realized there was no value to his life, he removed himself from that movement and has dedicated his life to educating those people he previously would have targeted in order to warn them against the hatemongers.
i once asked him how he targeted people when bringing them into the hate movement. he said, "If they hated anything, i could make them hate what I wanted them to hate. If they feared or were wronged by anyone, i could turn that to hate, too".
those who manipulate hate have an all-too-easy job. but those, like you and your staff and colleagues, have an enormously difficult job. but it is god’s job.
people ask me, how do you know which side in any conflict truly serve god?
I have a simple answer – god is a creator, the universe and all in it being acts of creation. Therefore any cause that moves forward by positive energy, creation, truth, trust, peace, harmony, building, understanding… these are the movements of god.
any cause that moves forward by violence, destruction, limitations of rights or freedoms, vengeance, the suppression of knowledge, isolation… these are the movements of… well, not of god. it is actually easy to see the difference.
just know that your efforts and those of your co-workers are blessed. they are vital. and they will lead to the only possible solution. your "one voice" is being heard. and it is being echoed. and it will prevail. and i am so very proud of you.
the amazing thing is, tomorrow you get to try again. keep going.
your work will prevail.
with much love,
jason
Antonio Soave, a producer and director who heads Capistrano Productions, helped us put together a filming session to record PSAs from Danny DeVito, Jason Alexander, Annie Cusack, and Elliot Gould.
Doug Deluca from the Kimmel show helped us do this at Kimmel Studios in Hollywood, and Barry Meier was the DP. If you want to see some pics of the filming, click here.
Here are the type of people I really like and admire: doers with a heart and a purpose, without inflated egos, with a can-do attitude and the resourcefulness and creativity to get things done and not allow anyone to stop them. Imagine all of this and you get Laura Ziskin.
Laura produced the 3 Spider-man movies (with Avi Arad), as well as last year’s Oscars, among other things.
But as of yesterday she is now to be best known as a new member of the OneVoice Movement’s Trustee Advisory Board.
Adee and I were impressed at her level of commitment and resourcefulness yesterday. My favorite part was when she brainstormed that Larry King should cover the OneVoice Summit, and she just picked up the phone and cold-called to pitch the story to the producer, who she did not know. She did not even mention who she was or throw her weight around. And when the producer somewhat roughly indicated he was on deadline and didn’t have time, she matter-of-factly took a pen and agreed to just drop him an email. Please understand she is a very powerful producer, but she is successful because she is Laura, the doer, and instead of wearing her accomplishments on her sleeves, she just continues to get things done.
She continued to brainstorm on several other BIG ways in which she was committing to help advance our efforts for October 18th.
And by that night she had cranked out six poignant emails following up on everything she promised – and more!
Adee Telem and I stopped by Danny DeVito’s home earlier today. The only sad thing about that visit is that Rhea Perlman, his better half, is in London performing in Boeing-Boeing (to rave reviews) so we missed her. But separate from that, Danny is always adorably amusing, funny and down-to-earth, so it is always fun to catch up with him.
I met Danny and Rhea through my dear friend and Board member Joel Fields, who himself learned about OneVoice (back in 2001 or so called the PeaceWorks Network) when Mohammad Darawshe and I spoke at the home of Susan Baradaran – who I met through Sepi Djavaheri – who I met through Gabriela Velasquez, who learned about this idea from a flash presentation that Rohan Nirody, back then a 19-year old college intern at my company PeaceWorks helped me create. This is a reminder of the Power of One – starting with 19-year old Rohan, every one of the above people was a critical catalyst to help us spread the word about the movement and eventually reach major influencers, and the same string of relationships has repeated and repeated with dignitaries, techies, luminaries, religious leaders and ordinary citizens to reach what is now OV…
Danny and Rhea have been extraordinary friends to OneVoice from the inception, through the thick and thin, and helped us found the Entertainment Council that now includes supporters like Jason Alexander, Natalie Portman, Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Annie Cusack, among many others who take the time and courage to advance a mission they recognize is so important even if it seems far away from home.
Danny agreed to record a PSA for the October 18th mobilization.
And he is working on some other stuff that, if it pans out, will be quite big…stay tuned.
Adee and I met with Elliott Gould at Peet’s Tea on South Beverly Drive. Benny Levy, the sculptor and artist, introduced us to him. Elliott is quite a fun and interesting guy, and he was clearly in sync with the OneVoice message. He agreed to record a PSA for the OneVoice Summit.
I have to confess I am a very big fan of his since, as a little kid in Mexico, I recall enjoying the movie Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. Can’t believe I remember that. Must have been a little nerd.
I just finished watching The Lives of Others, an extraordinary film about life in East Germany in 1984, where a totalitarian system suppressed freedom of action and thought, presumably not too differently from the way the State controls the lives of hundreds of millions of innocent human beings still today, from Iran to North Korea, and to a lesser degree also from Putin-controlled modern Russia to Venezuela.
This film offers a particularly interesting window into how peoples’ lives are impacted by the State’s intrusion and control over private lives. It is specially powerful because it details the story not just from the perspective of an artist who is being watched, but also from the point of view of a Stasi (East Germany State Secret Police) officer who, as in real life, is not a caricature of a bad man, but a complex character with a deep commitment to the socialist state and a code of ethics that leads him to unexpected realizations and choices.
Back in the mid 90′s, at Grimaldi’s (the home of the best Pizza in Brooklyn) with Jessica Hirsch, her friend Nadia, and Cem Sertoglu, we created a list of our 10 favorite films. Since then, I’ve kept polishing it almost religiously – I am a real nerd when it comes to keeping lists, and a double nerd when it comes to movies.
Friends occasionally ask me for a copy, probably so they can later tease me for daring to list the first Austin Powers movie among my top 10 (I stand by that choice, btw; if you watch several James Bond movies right before it, you will appreciate the creative parody even more).
Films are a very personal choice – perhaps the reason why the Netflix movie recommendation system is so poor. Choices often have a lot to do not just with individual taste, but also with the person’s state of mind when they see the movie. That said, for anyone curious enough, here is my list, which ONLY contains good to great movies (maybe one day I will create a list of the worst movies ever, but that may be too long a list). I will edit this blog entry sporadically when something good enough merits being added…This Entry Was First Made September 16, 2007. [Last Updated July 4, 2008]
If I missed a great movie, PLEASE share it.
AAAAA – The Very Very Very Best
Like Water for Chocolate
The Mission
The Sting
Into The Wild
Not One Less
Il Postino
Austin Powers I
Cinema Paradiso
Hanna and Her Sisters
House of Games(memet)
The Bear (french movie)
Central Station
Amarcord
Born Into Brothels
AAAA – Exceptional Movies
A Beautiful Mind
Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amelie Poulin
Jagged Edge
The Verdict
The Spanish Prisoner
Ghost World
Amadeus
Best In Show
Usual Suspects
The Lives of Others
The Sixth Sense
Being John Malkovich
Liasons Dangereux
James Bond Movies
Schindler’s List
The Matrix
The Thirteenth Floor
My Life as A Dog
Le Bleu
Patch Adams
Parenthood
AAA – Excellent Films
Shawshank Redemption
Philadelphia
A River Runs Through It
Atanarjuat – The Fast Runner
The Jazz Singer
Overboard
La Mala Educacion
3:10 To Yuma
Lucia y el Sexo
Nights of Cabiria (Fellini)
Water
Lolita by Kubrick
Hable Con Ella
Forrest Gump
Life Is Beautiful
Europa Europa
Saving Private Ryan
Jean De Florette/Manon of the Spring
Atonement
The Indian Runner
Rodin/Camille Claudet
Gladiator
Chicago
Fight Club
As Good as It Gets
The Last King of Scotland
The Hoax
Talk to Me (Peety Green)
Jazz Singer
Pleasantville
A Civil Action
The Talented Mr. Ripley
When Harry Met Sally
Fargo
Mr Smith Goes to Washington
Freedom Writers
Wisdom of The Pretzel
Get Shorty
Moulin Rouge
Invincible
American History X
Camila
El Norte
Kinsey
LA Confidential
The Frisco Kid
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Ushpizin
Haleakah (the troupe)
Hair
Being There
Life As A House
Matchstick Men
Finding Forrester
American Beauty
Annie Hall
Emmanuel’s Gift
Can’t Buy Me Love
Night Hawks
Dark City
House of Fog and Sand
Enemy of the State
Spiderman II
Requiem for A Dream
Raising Victor Vargas
Training Day
AA – Very Good Films
Amores Perros
Catch Me If You Can
Finding Neverland
Godfather I and II
The Five Obstructions
Blazing Saddles
Pulp Fiction
Broadcast News
Scarface
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Virgin Suicides
Edward Scissorhands
Notes on a Scandal
Live Flesh/Carne Tremula/El Deseo
hunt for red october
primal fear
apocalypto
Baraka
Monsoon Wedding
Don Juan De Marco
The Sea of Love (al pacino movie cop/record)
Star Wars movies (I, II, III)
The Shine
Jerry McGuire
The Insider
Wall Street
There’s Something About Mary
Dead Poet’s Society
Memoirs of A Geisha
Water Boy
The Truman Show
Cruel Intentions
Rushmore
Black book
Lion King
Aux Revoir Les Enfants
October Sky
ET
Sunshine
Burnt by the Sun
Total Recall
Wayne’s World
Goodwill Hunting
Wild Thinqs; Malibu ….and Palmetto…
The Good The Bad and The Ugly
F/X
good night & good luck
Crash
Enron: Smartest Guys in the Room
Knocked Up
Spring Summer Fall Winter…& Spring
An Inconvenient Truth
Children of Heaven (Iran)
Braveheart
Fresh
Une Affaire De Gout
Lantana
20 Dates
A+: Also Good Movies
Clash of the Titans (& other greek movie)
Silence of the Lambs
Alan Alda/Cybil Shepard/ pfeiffer/kane filming re civil war
Donnie Brasco
The Shinning
The Man Who Cried
Illuminata
One True Thing
ONe Flew Over the Cooko’s Nest
Clockwork Orange
It’s a wonderful life
Hackman pentagon official frames kevin costner
Ghost
City Heat or Heat (pacino/deniro)
Basic Instinct
Pacific Heights
Gilbert Grape
Man in the Moon
Any Given Sunday
Green Mile
Election
Trading Places
A Fish Called Wanda
Groundhog Day
Love Actually
In The Bedroom
Remember The Titans
A Man For All Seasons
K-PAX
Pay It Forward
Austin Powers -II
About A Boy
Class
Jacob’s Ladder
Born on the 4th of July
A Little Princess
All About my Mother
American Pie
Fried Green Tomatoes
Leaving Las Vegas
Sleepless in Seattle
Mission Impossible I
The Never Ending Story
Wintchell
The Deer Hunter
David & Lisa
Titanic
Face/Off
Scent of A Woman
Searching for Bobby Fischer
The Game
Harold & Maude
The Opposite of Sex
Spartacus
Contact
Savior
Pacific Heights
Crazy/Beautiful
The Lord Of The Rings
CopyCat
The Gods Must be Crazy
Superman
Music Box
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Happiness
The Harvest
Jackie Brown
Deconstructing Harry
Advocate (pacino/keanu/devil)
Reservoir Dogs
Graduate
Seven
12 Monkeys
Babe
Casino
Clueless
Highland
Interview with the Vampire
Men In Black
The Cell
Gattica
X-Men
Dumb & Dumber
Freaky Friday
Stanger Than Fiction
Dancer In The Dark
The Birdcage
Arthur
Airplane
Disclosure