I, have made fire. — I have no idea what pulled me to watch the 2000 film Cast Away, staring Tom Hanks this week. The story as you are aware, is of an executive who undergoes a physical and emotional transformation after crash landing on a deserted island. …

“Big things have small beginnings” — Little things add up to big ones over time. Often “boil the ocean” projects that attempt to make huge course corrections, cultural changes, or technology shifts in an organization (or life, for that matter). …

Nobody asks to be a hero, it just sometimes turns out that way. — For no reason whatsoever, I chose to watch Ridley Scott’s 2001 film Black Hawk Down about an ill-fated U.S. military raid in 1993 in Somalia this week. In many ways, it could be overlooked as a typical war movie: good guys, bad guys. But few films have captured the sheer…

Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas — I was introduced to the concept of ‘Oblique Strategies’ several years back (a.k.a. ‘Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas’) which is a ‘card-based method for promoting creativity’ created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt back in 1975. The fifth iteration of the the physical deck, consisting of approximately 115 cards, can…

Death and honor are thought to be the same, but today I have learned that sometimes they are not. — 1992’s The Last of the Mohicans is the topic of this week’s Deep Links. Co-written and directed by Michael Mann (yes, Heat) is set in 1757 during the French and Indian War and tells the tale of a white man adopted by the dying Mohican tribe, who becomes the protector…

“I am your main connection to the switchboard of the soul. I’m the magic man… Santa Claus of the subconscious.” — A recent thread inspired me to revisit the 1995 film Strange Days this week. It was as trippy as I remembered it — the story of an ex-cop named Lenny, played by Ralph Fiennes, who hustles tech called SQUID; which is a headset that records the wearer’s experiences for others…

“Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.” — Muhammad Ali — In an earlier post, I mentioned that it’s been really important for me to keep low stress in stressful times; and that I’ve tried to carve our 30 minutes to read, 30 minutes to write and 30 minutes to play. Every. Single. Day. Another thing I have been striving towards…

Looks like I finally ran into someone that likes to play as rough as I do. — I’ve heard this movie referenced as “the best movie you never saw”: 1984’s Streets of Fire stars Michael Paré, Rick Moranis, Willem Dafoe and a then 19-year old Diane Lane. …