"Mastery does not come from dabbling. We have to be prepared to pay the price. We need to have the sustained enthusiasm that motivates us to give our best."
Eknath Easwaran
I spent most of the afternoon in movie theaters. That's extremely rare for me. I don't think I've seen ten movies in ten years but two came out recently I had to see. AMELIA (the Amelia Earhart story, with Hilary Swank and Richard Gere) was terrific. But it was Michael Jackson's/Kenny Ortega's THIS IS IT that will stay with me forever.
As mentioned in earlier blogs, I was never a huge Michael Jackson fan. In fact, I never owned a song or an album by him until after he passed away, but I loved his spirit and gentleness and never believed the assertions by money-hungry kids' parents that he was a child molester. He was acquitted and I wish that aspect of the news media's "feeding frenzy" would just disappear because it dishonors a wonderful man and his memory.
What impressed me about THIS IS IT is that we get to see an artist in the act of creating a vision for his fans. It's truly a masterpiece in that way. And I was finally able to discern why he was "the greatest entertainer of all time" to my satisfaction: His body and spirit were instruments through which his musical creations (and others' music creations) were manifested. He was the embodiment of the music he created; he channeled it. It took him over and animated him when he was on stage.
People have said that in person offstage he was gentle, soft-spoken, mild, shy and loving. You see some of that even on stage -- but something else is there, too: something primal and yet sacramental.
I'm going to see it again next Saturday with Dr. Robinson, perhaps at Imax this time. And I plan to buy it when/if it comes out on DVD.
To see a creator in his element, during the moments of his creation, inspires me and informs me. It makes me recognize the same elements within my own creativity and it makes me want to reach for them every time, with all my strength and soul, so that whatever I put out there seems to be a masterpiece to onlookers. I mean in my writing, in my interactions with others, in every other creative dealings I have with others.
Michael Jackson was a genius at what he did. It is a terrible loss that he is no longer here to continue to channel love and concern to the world.
There is one very special part in the movie that will haunt me. It's where he speaks about the earth and our responsibility to protect it. There are other parts that totally blew me away as well.
Go see it, even if you aren't a Michael Jackson fan. I promise you'll be glad you did, and will thank me afterwards for "insisting."
Michael, you were a treasure, and I know you're a treasure where you are now, too.
I spent most of the afternoon in movie theaters. That's extremely rare for me. I don't think I've seen ten movies in ten years but two came out recently I had to see. AMELIA (the Amelia Earhart story, with Hilary Swank and Richard Gere) was terrific. But it was Michael Jackson's/Kenny Ortega's THIS IS IT that will stay with me forever.
As mentioned in earlier blogs, I was never a huge Michael Jackson fan. In fact, I never owned a song or an album by him until after he passed away, but I loved his spirit and gentleness and never believed the assertions by money-hungry kids' parents that he was a child molester. He was acquitted and I wish that aspect of the news media's "feeding frenzy" would just disappear because it dishonors a wonderful man and his memory.
What impressed me about THIS IS IT is that we get to see an artist in the act of creating a vision for his fans. It's truly a masterpiece in that way. And I was finally able to discern why he was "the greatest entertainer of all time" to my satisfaction: His body and spirit were instruments through which his musical creations (and others' music creations) were manifested. He was the embodiment of the music he created; he channeled it. It took him over and animated him when he was on stage.
People have said that in person offstage he was gentle, soft-spoken, mild, shy and loving. You see some of that even on stage -- but something else is there, too: something primal and yet sacramental.
I'm going to see it again next Saturday with Dr. Robinson, perhaps at Imax this time. And I plan to buy it when/if it comes out on DVD.
To see a creator in his element, during the moments of his creation, inspires me and informs me. It makes me recognize the same elements within my own creativity and it makes me want to reach for them every time, with all my strength and soul, so that whatever I put out there seems to be a masterpiece to onlookers. I mean in my writing, in my interactions with others, in every other creative dealings I have with others.
Michael Jackson was a genius at what he did. It is a terrible loss that he is no longer here to continue to channel love and concern to the world.
There is one very special part in the movie that will haunt me. It's where he speaks about the earth and our responsibility to protect it. There are other parts that totally blew me away as well.
Go see it, even if you aren't a Michael Jackson fan. I promise you'll be glad you did, and will thank me afterwards for "insisting."
Michael, you were a treasure, and I know you're a treasure where you are now, too.
"Genius is only the power of making continuous efforts."
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