Searchlab Lecture: Richard Linklater talking about being at peace with your art

VIDEO: Richard Linklater - Searchlab Lecture (Part 2)

RICHARD LINKLATER: (17m 30s) Sometimes it connects and sometimes it doesn't but you have to make your peace. If you're not doing it for that reason anyway you can look at it philosophically if it doesn't... I made it for a $100, 000. I had a good experience and I want it to be a hit too. Your reward is the work, you've got to make peace with your movie. The last time you watch it on your own... inevitably you'll be with your whole film alone. That's your best screening. Right then, right there. Make your peace with it before anyone else sees it. Know what you think about it. This is what I got out of it. This is what I learnt, here's I'm a better person for this. I met so many great people. I articulated this story I've been thinking about for 10 years, 20 years or 3 months or whatever. This is a gift... Just be thankful that you gotta to do it and if it hooks up with the public, you can move forward and incorporate it in your life. If it made a lot of money it doesn't make it a better movie, and if it doesn't make money its doesn't make it a worse movie. But Hollywood will always judge it that way, at least for a three year period I've found.

I've made movies that tank and I've noticed people treating it like it was a success years later. That's good, that just means they liked it or that its real life has emerged. That it was quality or there was something that people ultimately responded to...

Find other posts that reference Richard Linklater
- 'Loz in Transit' on the radio: Talking 'Waking Life' and existentialism
- Searchlab Lecture: Richard Linklater talking about being at peace with your art
- Home Movies: 'Before Sunrise' - "I've never been anywhere" quote
- Anticipation for 'Before Midnight' and why 'Before Sunrise' is my favorite movie (No Spoilers)
- Anticipation for 'Boyhood' and why Richard Linklater is my favorite director
- How the Movie of our life ends: Linklater's film 'BoyHood' and Duncan Watts' book 'Everything is Obvious'

Sylvester Stallone on Rocky's celebration: Freezing the moment of ecstacy

VIDEO: The Rocky Story by Sly Stallone (3 of 4)

SYLVESTER STALLONE: (4m 22s) Wouldn't it be interesting to catch a man's moment, a man's life at the quintessential, seminal moment... I thought wouldn't it be interesting, the first thing Rocky says when she [love interest, Adrian] comes into the ring is "Where's your hat?". I mean he's so into her and the way she looks that he doesn't care that he's eyes are swollen shut, he's hands are smashed and he's done the greatest thing in his life. He doesn't say "look at me"...

The visuals are working, the sound is working the body movement is coming together at this absolute peak and right there when I embrace her... we froze right at the single frame where he is looking elated and has her in his arms. There's this look of ecstasy and the next frame it just deflated. There it is from that moment on its all downhill, how we all hit this absolute maximum of elation and celebration and it can only be sustained for an infinitesimal moment in time. And if you can just imagine how great it would be to freeze that moment...

Sylvester Stallone is unfairly maligned as an oaf. Betrayed by his beefcake appearance and slurred speech, he's overlooked as the artist he truly is. Which only makes 'Rocky', the film he wrote and starred in, 'Rocky' (1976) all the more poetic as it mirrors his own underdog life.

'Rocky' (1979): Leading Actor and Writer, Sylvester Stallone. Directed by John G. Avildsen

In this talking heads special feature found in the Rocky Box set, Sly talks about the pinnacle of life, the moments of glory that forever define us and our future potential.

- When fireworks underwhelm: Returned Soldier Kyle Wilson and Comedian Pete Holmes "feel nothing"

Comedians Jack Druce and Michael Hing talk about "Life as a movie"

As a movie buff and someone who revels in imagination, I'm an advocate for viewing life through the prism of Movies or Video Games. I've related travel feelings through Movie Tropes and have often used Cinema as a measuring stick for my life. Joseph Campbell articulated this best but its worth noting that we've been bombarded by more engrossing media since his time.

VIDEO: Joseph Campbell - Myth As the Mirror for the Ego

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: Well the ego can't reflect upon itself unless it has a mirror against which to read itself and that mirror would be the Mythological schedule that lets it know where it is...

Australian Comedians Jack Druce and Michael Hing touch on the idea of 'Life as a Movie' and the issue of Reality Inversion.

The Druce and Hing Podcast: 54 - Wolf The Movie 3D!
MICHAEL HING: (1h 3m) Presumably a lot of screenwriters and stuff are themselves dorky writer nerds who are writing stories about themselves as we all would. And in the film of the life that they're writing of course they get the girl. And so you grow up thinking that people will find this thing charming... the thing is that's not how life works. Because if that was how life worked then that movie would be very boring and their would be no element of interest or intrigue to it.

It'd just be like "Here's 90 minutes that have been directly captured from how things happen" as opposed to "This is an actual Million Dollar fantasy, not only could we not find this anywhere in the world. We had to hire actors and pay people to write this story where this series of events happened because it would never happen in real life. And now you will pay money to experience this because you know it would never happen as well"

Jack makes a great point that no matter how visceral an experience is delivered, we can never truly embody the feeling and thoughts of another person.

JACK DRUCE: (55m 50s) People in movies they're just doing stuff, you don't know what they're thinking. So when you're doing stuff you're thinking "this sucks I'm really bad at this". You don't know if people in movies are thinking like that or not. They could be. You don't know if that's in stories, you don't know whats in their heads at that time so you think you're doing it wrong. Because well I'm doing this thing and I'm in my head thinking it sucks and that's not how culture and stories have told me how people do stuff.

- Find the 'Druce and Hing Podcast' on iTunes or on Michael Hing's Libsyn page

Duncan Trussell and Natasha Leggero talk about "Knowing" and "feeling what others feel"

Episode 68: Natasha Leggero with Duncan Trussell

Former Romantic and Podcast partners Natasha Leggero and Duncan Trussell discuss empathy. Duncan has been through some trying times with a Cancer diagnosis and the passing of his mother in recent months.

Duncan Trussell Family Hour - Episode 68: Natasha Leggero
DUNCAN TRUSSELL: It makes you feel human that's for sure. Yeah it makes you feel like you're a part of something. Like it makes you feel real. That feels good. Feeling real feels good and then it makes you feel like everything you've said before it was stupid. Like ugghh what was I even talking about? You don't even know and then you feel all judgmental because now you're saying that anyone who's parents haven't died "They don't know". But in a way you don't. Its kinda the same thing people say about having a baby. They're like "You just don't know".
NATASHA LEGGERO: I would just like to know that feeling for two seconds. Is it really that great?
TRUSSELL: Having a baby?
LEGGERO: Yeah you know like when everyone's saying "You don't know". We'll I'd like to feel what you feel cuz I probably already feel that from doing my thing

Other posts on empathy and knowing
- Traveling, living the dream and remembering it - The nostalgia for Wonderland and Muscle memory
- Actor, Writer and Traveler Mike White speaks to Marc Maron about Adventure

Skateboarders GoPro Train Derailment aftermath - 'Strange Days' visceral experience

VIDEO: 'Strange Days' (1995) Theatrical Trailer

'Strange Days' (1995)
LENNY NERO: Have you ever jacked in. Have you ever wire-tripped?... This is not "like TV only better". This is life, this is a piece of somebody's life. It's about the stuff you can't have right? The forbidden fruit. Straight from the cerebral cortex, you're there, you're doing it. You're feeling it.... Are you beginning to see the possibilities here? 

I mentioned Kathryn Bigelow's 'Strange Days' featuring a Badass GoPro short film. This is dramatically realer as some Skateboard kids stumble on a massive train derailment in Bridgeport, Connecticut. They walk through the aftermath and film their reactions as it unfolds. Thankfully there were no fatalities. The scene recalls another movie, J.J Abrams' 'Super 8'. In fact if that movie were set in modern times it would no doubt be called 'Go Pro'.

Super 8 (2011)
In the summer of 1979, a group of friends in a small Ohio town witness a catastrophic train crash
while making a super 8 movie and soon suspect that it was not an accident.

Passengers bloodied after trains derail, collide in southwest Connecticut
(CNN) -- Two Metro-North passenger trains heading in opposite directions collided during rush hour Friday evening in southwestern Connecticut, damaging both trains and leaving dozens injured -- some of them critically -- authorities said.

A train heading from New Haven to New York City derailed around 6:10 p.m., hitting the other train in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Metro-North spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said. That caused some cars on the second train, which was destined for New Haven, to likewise leave the tracks.

VIDEO: MTA (Metro North) Crash, RAW Footage 

Other posts on "Life as a Video Game"
- Dan Harmon and Duncan Trussell: We are in a simulation echo. God was originally a mortal programmer who "sacrificed himself as a player"
- Exploring Worlds in life and in Video Games - The Indoor Kids #59: Why we Play, with Pete Holmes
- Onnit Blog: Self Improvement in Video Games VS the "Real World"
- Kumail Nanjiani and Pete Holmes talk about "affecting the world TODAY"
- Skateboarders GoPro Train Derailment aftermath - 'Strange Days' visceral experience
- On being a Badass: Comedians Harland Williams and Pete Holmes featuring band 'Biting Elbows'

Transcript: Daft Punk Collaborator Pharrell Williams on connections and multiverses

VIDEO: Daft Punk | Random Access Memories | The Collaborators: Pharrell Williams

On Connections

PHARRELL WILLIAMS: When I heard 'Get Lucky' it just reminded me of some kind of exotic island. I don't know if it was on this planet or not. It just felt like this place where it was forever 4 in the morning...
It's like being in that world, the only thing that matters is that you've met this girl at this party. Getting lucky is not just sleeping with her but meeting someone for the first time and it just clicking. There's no better fortune than this existence to me...

Pharrell Williams: Exotic island forever 4 am

On multiverses

Somewhere outside the ether we exist in is a multitude of realms of possibility and alternate directions and I think they went into those libraries and dusted off those things. Its kinda like mid 70s, early 80s of a different universe and dimension. Not of this one. It couldn't have come in a better year. Its 2013 where everything is completely different.

Things are not in a box in the way that they used to be and if they are its kinda like the corniest thing ever "Please don't talk to me. I don't want to catch your mentality". That's what this music is to me. This music represents the freedom of all human beings

When fireworks underwhelm: Returned Soldier Kyle Wilson and Comedian Pete Holmes "feel nothing"

A friend of mine was explaining the closing scenes of movie 'Blue Valentine' (2010) on the theme "Love ends". She described how the final shot was of the lead couple enjoying a fireworks display with a montage of the early stages of their relationship overlayed.
The friend she watched it with posed the question "Why do you think the filmmaker did that?". Stumped, he replied "Its a metaphor for love".
Cue awkward collar pulls.

aaaawkward 

Its part of the human experience for feelings to wane, guess the trick is not be defeated by it. Below are two pieces I've enjoyed in past weeks which touch on fireworks and passion.

'Hack' is a Current Affairs show on National Youth Broadcaster, Triple J. During ANZAC week they covered several stories on the human toll of War. Featured heavily was 22 year old Kyle Wilson, a returned soldier returning from the Afghan theatre. He explains to Alex Mann his feelings of ennui at home after so much adrenalin abroad.

Hack: Wednesday 24th April
KYLE WILSON: (6m 40s) When I got back people used to be like, let's go watch the fireworks but fireworks bore me to tell you the truth
ALEX MANN (voiceover): The common theme for all three guys is the intensity of the experience and the emotion they shared with their mates when serving. Kyle says that now he's home, nothing else seems to measure up
WILSON: I miss Afghanistan so much. I miss the mates I was with and I miss the fighting aspect of it. But it also comes with a lot of downers as well but I'll always miss that feeling. I'm sure every soldier who's been through that experience listening right now will be saying the exact same thing. They miss that Adrenalin rush.

I had the pleasure of trekking south to Melbourne to see Pete Holmes perform in Australia for the first time. I got to hear this joke live. In conversation with running mate Comedian Eddie Pepitone he explains the origin of the fireworks joke during a joint day at the zoo.

'You Made it Weird' with Pete Holmes: Episode 143 - Eddie Pepitone
HOLMES: (11m 30s) ... Sometimes you'll have the greatest day in the world and you'll just be like "But I just don't feel great"
PEPITONE: Its like what you said in Australia which I love. Pete did this thing in Australia where he went to see Koalas and he told the audience that night - "I saw Koalas, I felt nothing".
room laughs
and I found that the funniest thing because my wife was all over me - "You gotta see the Koalas, You gotta see the Koalas".
HOLMES: The actual line which you loved so much was, I do say "I felt nothing". But the opener was "You ever look at something and wish that it meant more". And that's how I feel when I look at fireworks
PEPITONE: Haha fireworks too
HOLMES: Fireworks are one of those things that when you look at the colors in the sky and you're like eerrrrrrr...
PEPITONE: Its just a great metaphor, its just a a great way to talk about what I'm talking about. I thought that success (not that I'm a major success), I thought success would be - End of all Problems! but that never ends...

Watch Pete deliver the observation at the 'Festival Club' for the Melbourne Comedy Festival

VIDEO: Pete Holmes - ABC2 Comedy Up Late

Find more posts on "losing a feeling":
- Read more about the "Hero's Journey" (aka The Monomyth)
- Coming Home from a year abroad. Reverse Culture shock and beating the travel Blues: The Hurt Locker (2008)
- Comedian Pete Holmes on adjacent experiences: Conversations relating to Travel, dreams and life
- Argentina observations: Do you really want to live forever young?