Category: movie

art, creativity, film, movie, war

Inspired: How the Monuments Men Saved Italy’s Artistic Heritage

Christa Avampato
The cast of The Monument Men
The cast of The Monument Men

While generals were in war rooms plotting and re-plotting ways to defeat Hitler and the Nazi forces, a small band of brothers thought of art. Specifically, they thought of Italian art. Next month, the movie The Monuments Men and its star-studded cast will pay tribute to these soldiers who thought of art in a time of war. During World War II, Italy was at risk for being pillaged and pummeled beyond hope. Supported by President Roosevelt, the Monuments Men made it their business and risked their lives to make sure that didn’t happen. Today, Italians and tourists alike can delight in the glory of Italian art because of these brave soldiers.

Smithsonian Magazine did a marvelous and in-depth article on the Monuments Men in their January issue. You can view that article online by clicking here. It is an emotional, riveting read. It made me want to run out and buy my tickets to the movie right now. We owe so much to these men who had the foresight and courage to save priceless and inspiring treasures for future generations.

Trailer for The Monuments Men:

family, Life, movie, travel

Leap: The Importance of Pilgrimage

Christa Avampato
A scene from the movie The Way

I recently saw The Way, a movie that records the trek of a grieving father, played by Martin Sheen, along the Camino de Santiago through the Pyrenees from France to Spain taken in honor of his son, played by Emilio Estevez, who died along the trail. It’s a beautiful story of love and loss, misunderstanding and faith, harm and healing. It made me think about the motivations behind pilgrimage and the importance of a purposeful journey. A pilgrimage provides a bridge that carries us from the life we live to the life we choose.

In a way, my trip to India was a bit of a pilgrimage in that I went there with a purpose – to better understand the practice of yoga by seeing its roots. I didn’t have a specific place I was trying to go, just a feeling I was trying to capture, a thread I was trying to find and weave into my living.

I would like to take an actual pilgrimage as illustrated in The Way, some kind of trek through the natural world that leads to a specific destination for a specific purpose. I’ve got some loose ideas but I’m taking suggestions, too. In this time of great change in my life, a true pilgrimage seems apropos.

art, career, choices, courage, discovery, film, movie

Leap: Thinking of Dustin Hoffman as I Head To SXSW 2012

Christa Avampato
Hoffman was photographed at his home in Los Angeles in January by Hedi Slimane.

“And just how long have we got the magic?” ~ Dustin Hoffman to his cinematographer regarding the last hour of daylight for filming

Today I’m off to SXSW 2012. I’m excited to be teaching and speaking about the benefits of yoga and meditation for the start-up / tech community. This will be my second year attending as a presenter, and I’m so honored to be a part of the celebration. While many people are sent on behalf of their companies, I’ll be there independently and ready to be inspired by anything and anyone who crosses my path. I feel so much excitement and anticipation of good, good things to come from this experience.

And all the while I’ll be thinking about Dustin Hoffman.

The New York Times featured this mammoth film figure last weekend as he hit the beginner button again. At 74, he is making his directorial debut with Quartet. Termed “a joyful movie about old age”, it explores how four once-famous opera singers have one last opening night by putting together a concert at their retirement home. Is Hoffman scared about starting over, taking this kind of turn in his career at 74?

“I do believe in luck myself,” he says, “but also in fate — it’s a duality. They had been working on ‘The Graduate’ for two years or something. They had a script and were casting, and I was at the end of the list. They had been through the Redfords and all those people. So in a sense, it has all been an accident.”

So if it’s all an accident any way, then what is there to lose? It’s like every win is just gravy and every loss is just another way to learn. And this is a wonderful reminder as I head for Austin and SXSW, a gathering of people who are taking on the role of beginner every day, exploring, experimenting, and with every action trying to make the world a little bit better than it was yesterday. This is the Tao of Hoffman in action – the magic is only going to be around for just so long and it’s our responsibility to make the best of it while we have it.

creativity, movie, technology, women, work

Leap: Plan B for Technology’s Unsung Hero, Hedy Lamarr

Christa Avampato
Hedy Lamarr

“All creative people want to do the unexpected.” ~ Hedy Lamarr

We look down on Plan B, as if its accomplishment is not as worthy of our time and attention as Plan A. I’m glad Hedy Lamarr, a stunning actress of the golden age of Hollywood, had a Plan B, and so are you. Of course Hedy Lamarr didn’t need a Plan B to survive and thrive, but she had one and she worked on it diligently, seeing to it that it was as successful than her movie career.

In 1942, with the world immersed in war, Hedy did her part to help the efforts of the Allies. Along with her friend and collaborator, composer George Antheil, she developed and patented frequency-hopping spread-spectrum. In short, it was meant to encrypt communication messages to prevent them from slipping into enemy hands. The technology of the time was not sophisticated enough to take full advantage of Hedy’s invention, but she pushed on. Today, this technology is still hard at work within Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. We use it every day.

Not bad for a Hollywood actress – shaping and transforming the entirety of the tech industry. We need more Plan B’s like that, and more people like Hedy Lamarr.

books, dreams, environment, film, movie

Leap: Advice on the Power of Perseverance from The Lorax

Christa Avampato

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” ~ The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

The Lorax makes its way from children’s book to the big screen today and not a moment too soon.

The end of trees
Its tale of environmental woe is all too familiar; eerily so. Written over 40 years ago, the grim future of the natural world that it lays out in sad, grey detail is the world that is unfolding around us every day.

When echoed back to us by Dr. Seuss, our excuses of the products we “need” and the lengths we are willing to go to get them – the generation of smog, pollution, deforestation, and species – seem so foolish, selfish, and reckless. And yet we continue to make them, and will continue to make them until everything’s lost. Unless…we do something else: care.

It’s always personal
It’s true for the environment, education, healthcare, foreign relations, and any other humanitarian effort imaginable. It all starts with one person who sees something they don’t like and cares enough to change it. These are enormous issues that need armies of minds and hearts to solve them, but every movement starts within one person who gets angry, just like the Lorax, and decides to do something about it rather than just sit there and let it happen.

At the very end of the book the curious child who wanted to hear the story of the Lorax is given the very last seed from the very last tree. He’s told to water it, nurture it, and see to it that its survival was not in vain. He’s told to go make good of what little hope the world, and the trees, have left.

What’s your tree?
You have a seed, too. You have within you something right now that needs nurturing. An idea, a passion, that wants so much to make its way to the surface. Don’t let it languish without getting to see the light of day. You are the only one who can breathe life into it, who can help us understand why it’s so powerful and why we should all care about its future.“Speak for the trees” as the Lorax did, whatever your trees may be, and don’t back down. Make some noise.

The world is counting on you.

business, movie, sports

Leap: What Corporate America Could Learn from Moneyball

Christa Avampato
Brand Bitt and Jonah Hill as Billy Beane and Peter Brand in Moneyball

In business schools, Moneyball is revered as a classic case in making use of old data in new ways that drive innovative management techniques. I finally saw the movie last week and was blown away by the performances as well as the underlying message: marginalize people, relegate them to being followers rather than leaders in your organization, and you’re missing out on their true value. Plus, it makes you a jackass.

Billy Beane, General Manager of the Oakland A’s, needs a better way of doing business. He needs to recruit a wining team with a fraction of the budget that other baseball franchises have. Embedded in the low-level management rungs of a rival team, Beane meets Peter Brand, a Harvard-educated economist, who is a master with numerical data and passionate about the game. Beane plucks him from that unappreciative crowd and brings him to Oakland to stage a turnaround for the A’s.

I won’t spoil the outcome for anyone who has yet to see it – it’s so good that it needs to be at the top of your queue if for no other reason than to see Jonah Hill’s incredible performance as Peter Brand. Beane recognized that Brand was special, that he had a gift and a vision that wasn’t being recognized and rewarded. Beane’s not a saint. I’m not even sure that he’s a nice guy. But he has a nose for talent and he will not watch it go to waste. He’s observant, decisive, hard-working, and unrelenting in his vision. And he pays a lot more homage to skill in any form than he does to politics and tradition.

Corporations need their own Bill Beane. There are plenty of Peter Brands inside their walls; most executives are just too dumb, jealous, and / or egotistical to recognize them. Boxes on org charts are not chess pieces to be moved around a corporate game board. They’re people who deserve respect, who have a right to their dignity. They day is coming when all the Peter Brands will no longer sit idly by, keep their heads down, and their mouths shut. They will find the Billy Beanes of the world, roll up their sleeves, and get to work to beat their former employers at their own game.

I for one am ready to see Moneyball’s lessons expanded beyond the field. Let’s play ball!

art, career, movie, New York City, work

Leap: Finding Meaning in Experiences That Are Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Christa Avampato
Thomas Horn and Tom Hanks in the film Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

“And if that’s all you learned from 9/11, if that’s all you remembered, that: My God, you could extinguish life so suddenly, so unexpectedly, and it could happen to me, and therefore I should think harder about the way I spend my life instead of just wasting it. Now, it’s not going to teach you what to do with your life, but it will teach you to do with your life, and to do it more and quicker and better. And that can be extremely valuable.” ~ Mario Cuomo

Mario Cuomo made this statement in the PBS documentary about the history of New York City. It rang powerfully in my ears when I recently went to see the movie Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. The movie centers on a family that is forever changed by the events of 9/11. And before you go thinking, “Oh great, another 9/11 movie” like I did, watch the trailer. The performances are mesmerizing. You will want to look away and you won’t be able to. You’ll want to go back home to your life as usual, and you won’t be able to shake the feeling that you need to live the life you want. Today and every day after.

I recently had drinks with a friend of mine who recently got a new job. I asked her how it was going and she replied, “It’s called ‘work’ for a reason.” That gave me pause and then made me feel very, very sad. Was I asking too much of my career? Could a job ever be something we jump out of bed for or was that the stuff of Hollywood and daydreams? This thought nagged at me. Was I a fool to believe in a better way to work? This question refused to go away for days, and then I saw Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, and then I had my answer. I stopped feeling sad for myself. Instead, I felt sad for my friend.

Work has to be more than work as we know it. Mario Cuomo is so damn brilliant and wise – YES, we have to do with our life. Anything less than that is just a waste. It must be meaningful, and not just in bits and pieces and once-in-a-whiles, but always. Every, single, day.

And this is just more fuel for the fire in my belly to work on Compass Yoga full-time. Here’s to people who want to jump up out of bed thankful for one more day, sink their teeth into life, and refuse to accept anything less. You are the rainmakers that this world needs and wants!

choices, movie, New York City

Beginning: Making Good of Everything That Comes Our Way

Christa Avampato
Manhattan at night. From http://www.destination360.com

I just finished watching the 8-part PBS series on the history of New York City. The PBS series on New York closes with former Governor Mario Cuomo quoting Teilhard de Chardin, a French Jesuit paleontologist and philosopher. De Chardin said that, “One of the tricks in life is to convert everything into good.” You’re a sculptor and you have a stone with a scar in it. “So now you have to sculpt around that scar,” Cuomo says. “You’ve got to use that scar to make it part of whatever it is you’re going to produce that’s beautiful, and work with what you have. Play it as it lies. So whatever the circumstance, use it for good purpose.”

I don’t believe that everything happens for a reason. I don’t believe we are destined to go through this struggle or that hardship as some sort of predetermined development. As free thinking, free feeling individuals who have a tremendous ability to adapt to new information and new circumstances, we create reason and meaning from life. We can make good, as de Chardin encourages us to do, as Cuomo encouarges us to do. Even from the most horrible, tragic circumstances, we can learn and grow and help others do the same.

This work of making good is not easy. I’m not sure that it really comes naturally to anyone. However, on the other side of anger, grief, embarrassment, and disappointment, there lies a vast expanse of possibility if we choose to see it. Every day, we have the opportunity to take a look at our lives, the good and the bad, and draw conclusions and lessons to carry forward into tomorrow. Making meaning of what happens to us and to our communities is our greatest creative act. We are literally willing meaning into being. This is where our stories are spun, where our gifts come alive, where in the act of inferring meaning in our days they become meaning-full. Go there.

movie, story, writing

Beginning: The Only Advice About Writing (and Life!) You’ll Ever Need, Courtesy of Pixar

Christa Avampato

“Find out how a character feels, and why he feels that way. That’s how we write stories.” ~ a member of Disney’s 9 Old Men

Last week I watched the documentary The Pixar Story. Their story is one of resilience and confidence, vision and courage. They are the stuff dreams are made of, and that includes plenty of doubt and failure, grueling schedules and conflict. That company fought for every success they’ve had, and against all odds. It’s better than anything they’ve ever put on screen, and what they’ve put on screen is phenomenal.

They are master storytellers. It’s the most important work they do. The effects and the artistry is groundbreaking and beautiful. It transports us to another world, and it’s all done in service of the story. They take the advice in the quote above very seriously, and it’s been a good reminder to me as I work on new writing projects and genres. All I ever have to do to create a compelling story is to find out how my characters feel, and why they feel that way.

This sentiment is so simple and powerful, not only for writing, but also for living. You seek enlightenment? Get to the bottom of your emotions and you’ll find all the wisdom you’ll ever need.

creativity, imagination, movie, story

Beginning: My Favorite Thing About Harry Potter

Christa Avampato

On Sunday afternoon I saw the final Harry Potter, just like millions of other people who helped the movie take in $168.5M on its opening weekend, the largest opening weekend in history. The special effects, the story of a hero’s journey, and the sheer beauty of the franchise, in book and movie form, have created one of the greatest franchises in storytelling history. But these aren’t the reasons why I love Harry Potter and all that he stands for.

I love the story behind the story. I love that from the mind of one single 30-something woman, a whole new world was born that captured our own imaginations. There’s a horrible misconception in our society that all of the good ideas have already been thought of. JK Rowling has proved this theory wrong beyond measure, and for that I am so grateful to her.

Watching the final movie made me wonder what magical world is waiting to be discovered and shared by you and by me. I hope, like JK Rowling, we will have the confidence, courage, and heart to tell those stories. The whole world is wanting and waiting to hear them.

Wondering what JK Rolwing is up to now? Visit http://www.pottermore.com.