Delivered fresh on August 2nd, 2010
Greetings!
Consider today that:
It's never too late to become who you once thought you could be.
If you start to think that way, if you are only willing to believe -
you are more than half way there...
Dana
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In INSPIRING PEOPLE: Dana talks with Oscar-nominated, award-winning documentary film producer, director & writer - Nina Rosenblum. Nina comes from a very rich background of film making and photography. Her father was the great Walter Rosenblum whom she credits with inspiring her with the passion to contribute so profoundly to humanity through her powerful documentary films. Read Dana's EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Nina Rosenblum and find out how one person can make a very big difference.
Take a minute to read DANA'S WEEKLY INSIGHT and make sure that you listen to the AUDIO VERSION as well. There may be someone who needs you to pass that along.
Check out DANA'S DAILIES for no other reason than to hopefully smile. And come back and visit the blog all week at www.danaroc.com/dailies.
The special article FROM DANA'S GUESTS: this week is Robert Kennedy : A Speech on Race. We have come a long way and yet we have such a long way to go. Read this speech.
Check out AUGUSTE ROC'S MY TWO CENTS (For Whatever It Is Worth). There is something in it for YOU! While it may be "Two Cents" but you'll find it's worth a whole lot more. Feel free to email your comments to Auguste at auguste@danaroc.com.
This week's THE GOOD LIFE : BOOKS selection is The Week-End Book by Francis Meynell. If you want some great ideas on how to maximize your time off this summer, this book is for you...
Something useful in THE GOOD LIFE : WEB SITES this week is Lemonade.com. Check it out!
And there's more so sit back, grab a cup of coffee, relax and enjoy.
As always, thanks for reading!
Stay cool. Be hungry. Never look back. Always reach back. Fear not.
Believe always,
Dana
In Case Of Emergency...
If I only had a dime for every time that exhausted, I had to entertain the power of HOPE. Waiting for its deliverance, resenting the need to have to summon up its promise, struggling to find the strength to trust in it again -- if I had a dime for every time -
I would indeed be rich.
HOPE is the lonely man's companion; the faithful man's best friend and it is, without a doubt, the luxury that no man can afford to do without. We need it when it is all we've got, and although merciful, HOPE refuses to offer a guarantee and it rarely, if ever, provides the easy way out.
HOPE - real HOPE -- will require that you boldly reach for something that you are convinced is just not there, while at the same time it will demand that you ignore the undeniable proof that the game is over, while you endure the indisputable evidence that this time there is no way that you can win.
"Houston we have a problem..."
Those sobering words, and the decisions that followed, would usher in one of the most remarkable and unlikely recoveries in modern day history.
Once upon a time, Man in Space was an unthinkable proposition; a brand new phenomenon that captured the imagination of a generation by forcing the boundaries of what we knew could or could not be. The earth was rendered spellbound as large television sets across a captivated nation transmitted the vibrations of a brave new world. Those memories reside in the collective consciousness of a generation but, with the landing of Apollo 11 on the moon, the excitement about the race to the moon was over and the world would turn its attention back to the more mundane.
In April of 1970 when Apollo 13 was preparing to go back to the moon, space travel didn't seem anymore like much of a big deal. The journey of crew members Commander James A. Lovell, Command Module pilot John L. "Jack" Swigert, and Lunar Module pilot Fred W. Haise was to be a pretty routine flight and, for the most part, anti-climatic until that somber declaration from the man in charge:
"Houston, we have a problem".
And with that the world braced itself for the absolute inevitability of a very tragic end.
Apollo 13 routinely launched on April 11, 1970. Two days after the launch, the Apollo spacecraft was crippled by an explosion, caused by a fault in the oxygen tank. The explosion damaged the Service Module, resulting in a loss of oxygen and electrical power forcing the crew to use the Lunar Module as a "lifeboat" in space. The command module systems remained functional, but were deactivated to preserve the vehicle's capability to reenter Earth's atmosphere.
Back on earth the world waited with the full expectation that the astronauts aboard Apollo 13 would run out of air; would suffocate and die as heroes lost in space.
But then, HOPE.
Then HOPE, wrapped up and presented in the non-negotiable orders of mission project manager, Gene Krantz, insisted it was a force to be reckoned with and it persisted ruthlessly -- until.
Imagine.
When failure is a possibility, but definitely not an option then you've got no choice but to conjure up real HOPE. And, it is only under the severe stress of limitation and the unwillingness to abandon HOPE that the lines that define are redefined, ideas are reshaped, connections rewired, and our relationship to the reality of what is possible, shatters.
"Failure is not an option!" was his battle cry as he dared anybody not to believe that he would get those men back home alive. "Forget the flight plan," ordered Kranz. "From this moment on we are improvising a new mission. How do we get our men home?"
"Working the problem" and against the most incredible odds, Gene Krantz demanded that the wheel be re-invented. "I don't want to know what anything is for. The question now is, what can it do?"
Dealing with all of the scientific, tried and truth considerations, when nothing seemed like it could work, he forced the renegotiation of old ideas, conventional wisdom, typical talent and presumptive skill. Under his direction, his crew set out to figure out, transferring systems from one capsule to the other and adapting each operation to match the emerging demands of this mission of precious life and imminent death.
Krantz never once demonstrated resignation and as a result of his refusal to entertain the thought of giving up, he got those men back down to earth -- ALIVE.
And you?
When there is no obvious solution; when something must be created that has not yet been conceived; when the mission seems impossible and the odds aren't on your side, will you resist the temptation to just surrender and call it a day?
It's the hardest thing to do when it's the only thing you've got. When absolutely everything around you suggests it can't be done, it won't work out, there is no way, HOPE looms as its own most difficult challenge and the thing on which you must depend.
Trading on HOPE is a courageous proposition and not something that everybody will choose to do. Courage is the currency of HOPE and HOPE is the fuel that will get us through to the other side of "it can not be done".
It takes guts and the willingness to put everything you know, everything you have and everything you are -- on the line for the profound and unique opportunity to invoke the companionship of -
HOPE.
Dana
Have a great week!
Nina Rosenblum
Oscar-nominated, award-winning documentary film producer, director & writer
NINA ROSENBLUM is an Oscar-nominated, award-winning producer, director & writer of documentaries, shorts and segments. President of DAEDALUS PRODUCTIONS, INC., Nina has produced and directed for TBS, HBO, PBS, NY TIMES Television, SHOWTIME, ABC, NBC. Her co-production partners include Channel Four/UK; WDR/Germany; La Sept, France and SBS/Australia. She is a member of the Directors' Guild of America (Director), the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Women in Film, the Independent Feature Project and the International Documentary Association.
In fall 2000, Ms. Rosenblum produced and directed a Showtime/ NYT Television documentary, THE SKIN I'M IN, about the music of Jimi Hendrix and Sly and the Family Stone. In 1992, Ms. Rosenblum was nominated for an Oscar for her Denzel Washington and Louis Gossett, Jr. narrated PBS documentary, LIBERATORS: FIGHTING ON TWO FRONTS IN WORLD WAR II. This effort was followed by an Emmy Award in 1994 for the acclaimed TBS program, THE UNTOLD WEST: THE BLACK WEST, narrated by Danny Glover, which interwove documentary with dramatic segments.
These documentary achievements added to the acclaimed, Sundance Special Jury Prize-winning, AMERICA & LEWIS HINE, PBS, 1984 and Rosenblum's 1990 Susan Sarandon narrated feature documentary, THROUGH THE WIRE, PBS/POV, a graphic investigation of small group isolation and America's female political prisoners. Her 1992 feature documentary LOCK-UP: THE PRISONERS OF RIKERS ISLAND, produced for HBO's AMERICA UNDERCOVER series, further solidified Rosenblum and Daedalus Productions as major producers on the non-fiction scene. Her credits also include SLAVESHIP: THE TESTIMONY OF THE HENRIETTA MARIE, 1995, and A HISTORY OF WOMEN PHOTOGRAPHERS, 1997, shorts included in traveling exhibitions across the United States.
In 1999 Rosenblum produced and directed WALTER ROSENBLUM: IN SEARCH OF PITT STREET, a feature documentary chronicling the photographic career of her father, Walter Rosenblum, a highly decorated US Army Signal Corps cameraman who documented the D-Day landing on Omaha Beach and the liberation of the concentration camp at Dachau. WALTER ROSENBLUM: IN SEARCH OF PITT STREET premiered at the D-Day Museum and has been invited to numerous film festivals both here and abroad, winning numerous awards. Currently, Ms. Rosenblum completed UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES, a film about the "Mothers of the NY Disappeared" who are protesting the Rockefeller Mandatory Minimum Drug Laws, and CODE YELLOW: HOSPITAL AT GROUND ZERO, about the emergency response of NYU Downtown Hospital on 9/11. She is now producing ZAHIRA, LA QUE FLORECE, about the Madrid train bombing, and an homage to her films and a retrospective will be featured at Documenta, 2005 in Madrid.
It was early in the morning and I was early when I rang Nina's doorbell. As I waited for her to meet me downstairs, I was grateful for the extra minute so that I could try and finish browsing my New York Times.
Nina Rosenblum walked outside looking very much ALIVE and ready to chat. We stood on the sidewalk in front of a café debating about whether we should go in or find another place for coffee and we decided to go to another cafe so that we could walk a bit. That gave us an opportunity to connect as neighbors.
I really enjoyed our conversation. Talking to Nina was like taking a fascinating and rich walk through the history of photography and documentary film making. The places that she has been, as history was being made and recorded, is astounding. She brought photos and articles with her and as we sipped cappuccino, I wished that we had more time so that I could hear more of her wonderful stories.
I find Nina Rosenblum fascinating. She has made important films that have helped to chronicle significant issues and events. She deals with subject matters that are tough, yet meaningful and she has a genuine commitment to making a difference in the world through her pictures and films.
Her work continues to change and save many lives.
DR: Tell me about your life and your work.
NR: I love what I do!
I just love film making. I have had the most incredible times and with the most astounding people.
I always did art. At first I was a painter and I worked alone and I was very unhappy that way because I am not a solitary person.
I come from a background of art. My parents are artists. My Dad was a documentary photographer and a war camera man who, among other things, shot film at the liberation of Dachau. He was part of The Photo League. My Mom was an artist and a photographic historian, so I had the background. My parents were always teaching and talking about film. Their photographer friends were there, their historian friends were there. I feel really fortunate because the people that my parents knew when I was growing up were some of the greats.
Read the rest of the interview! Click here.
Robert Kennedy : A Speech on Race
I think that it is not only useful to point out something when it needs pointing out, but when it comes to destructive, divisive behavior and speech, I think that it is an absolute obligation to do so.
Robert Kennedy was a leader because he led. He demonstrated courage when he so often challenged, as a nation, who we were being and what we were and were not standing for.
As we are forced to deal directly with race in ways that we have never, as a nation, had to deal with race before, I am inspired to revisit the wise words and profound leadership of Robert Kennedy.
Robert Kennedy
A Speech on Race
October 22, 1966
Berkeley, California
The future does not belong to those who are content with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow man alike, timid and fearful in the face of new ideas and bold projects. Rather it will belong to those who can blend passion, reason, and courage in a personal commitment to the ideals and great enterprises of American society. It will belong to those who see that wisdom can only emerge from the clash of contending views, the passionate expression of deep and hostile beliefs. Plato said: "A life without criticism is not worth living."
This is the seminal spirit of American democracy. It is this spirit which can be found among many of you. It is this which is the hope of our nation.
For it is not enough to...
Read the rest of the article! Click here.
Do You See What I See?
"It's just two guys beating each other to a pulp, if you don't consider the details."
This was the observation of a friend, shared over dinner the other night.
"To understand and appreciate boxing you really need to get up close."
Boxing is comprised of multiple layers of detail. When you really pay attention, you'll notice that boxers make an extraordinary commitment to learn and train so that they can expertly execute in the ring.
Boxing is complex.
People don't get boxing because they don't look any further than the obvious. Moves, counter moves, figuring out what your opponent's strategy, all while being able to adjust yours, if necessary.
Boxing requires a mental discipline.
There is a lot of work that goes into the precise delivery of an effective punch. It doesn't just happen. It is the result of strict mental discipline and extraordinary physical mechanics.
It's all in the details.
Without knowing the extensive nature of the details that are required in boxing or in anything else for that matter, your view will always be limited. There is no way that you will ever see anything more than two guys just beating each other to a pulp.
Become a student of detail.
Fully appreciate something that you may have overlooked. Fully participate in something new by taking a closer look at what it's all about. Whether it's boxing or ballet, cooking or canoeing, rocket science or rocking chairs –
Details!
Understanding the details will provide you with an entirely new experience.
Open your eyes and you will open your world.
And, that's my two cent's (for whatever it's worth).
Auguste Roc
auguste@danaroc.com
Read more of Auguste's Two Cents! Click here.
Stop Talking. You Are Making It Worse.
The two words that you absolutely do not want to hear from someone:
- you've just bumped into unexpectedly
- whose name you can't remember because you need a moment to place the face
- who you kind of want to impress because they're impressive to you
And
- who you've just asked "Will I see you at Craig's party?" is -
What party?
There is just no effective way to get out of that moment. None. You just have to stand there looking stupid while you keep reminding yourself that you know that you are never ever supposed to do what you just did...
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Why I am recommending Lemonade.com:
Just when you thought that lemonade stands were just for kids...Lemonade.com offers a way for you to get paid for recommending things that people will want (kind of like offering someone a cold drink on a hot day), while at the same time building a community of online friends.
From the Website:
Recommend Stuff. Make Money.
For many of us, setting up a neighborhood lemonade stand was our introduction to entrepreneurship. It taught us life lessons in responsibility, self-reliance and hard work. In a similar way, lemonade inc. enables people to combine commerce and community in the digital neighborhood of their personal online space. Cost-free and easy to use, this is the next generation of the old-fashioned Lemonade Stand concept.
We are also committed to fostering the use of lemonade stands by people who want to raise money to support a good cause. We hope to help you promote the activities that you are passionate about. To do our part, lemonade donates a percentage of our company's revenue to several non-profit organization partners. We hope we can be a small part of creating a better world.
» Visit Lemonade.com
Browse the web sites archive! Click here.
The Week-End Book
Why I am recommending this book:
Leisure time is rare and special and The Week-End Book offers ideas about different things to do while you are enjoying some time off. From star gazing to "parlor games", this book is one for the collection...
Click here to purchase this book.
Amazon.com
The Week-End Book was first published by the Nonesuch Press in June 1924. With various editions and altercations, it was reprinted in England nineteen times. In criticism of its commercial success, Virginia Woolf once commented, "The Hogart Press may not make any money but at least we did not publish The Week-End Book."
From how to forecast the weather, make a campfire, or make your own paper cups, to suggestions for games to play in the country and the potential damages (legal and medical) that might result, The Week-End Book offers essential advice for anyone on making the most of their precious leisure time. In addition, The Week-End Book contains a thoughtful selection of poetry that can be fully enjoyed in the peace of the countryside. Portable and practical, The Week-End Book is the perfect recipe for successful weekend living.
Click here to purchase this book.
Browse the book recommendations! Click here.
Interested people are the most interesting people...
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