Big Ideas and All That Jazz

Nice interview with jazz sax artist Ornette Coleman in today's NYTimes. Access to the article will require free registration, but it's worth taking those extra couple steps in order to read the entire article.

Great quotes from this legendary player on music and ideas...

The music he likes is simply defined: anything that can't be summed up in a common term. Any music that is not created as part of a style. "The state of surviving in music is more like 'what music are you playing,' " he said. "But music isn't a style, it's an idea. The idea of music, without it being a style -- I don't hear that much anymore."

Then he went up a level. "I would like to have the same concept of ideas as how people believe in God," he said. "To me, an idea doesn't have any master."

Ahhh... he strings together words as well as he plays notes on his alto-saxophone.
"An idea doesn't have any master."
Brilliant and inspiring.

Great Ideas: The Movie

This has got to be one of the best ideas I've heard in the past 30 days -- you can now become an actual film producer by investing $1.00 in a film.

That's it. A buck to have your name in the credits of a movie, the right to submit your name to the Internet Movie Database as a movie producer, and to have your name listed in the Producer credits on the same film as Pierce Brosnan, Bill Pullman, Corbin Bernsen, Christina Ricci, Steve Buscemi, Alan Cumming, Woody Harrelson, and more.

Here's the kicker... the movie itself contains one-second of animation, and 90-minutes of credits -- all on 70mm film, complete with a red carpet world premiere. It's The 1-Second Film.

Before you start shaking your head and making that tsk-tsk-tsk noise -- these guys have raised over $100,000 for the Global Fund for Women, with an ultimate goal of collecting One Million Dollars for the charity. Not a bad goal for this unique experiment in merging filmmaking, viral marketing concepts, and plain ol' fun. Check them out at The1SecondFilm.com -- and maybe I'll see your name up on the silver screen (right along with mine.)

Bonus benefit?
We'll all be one-degree away from Kevin Bacon -- he's one of the other Producers of the film!

Life Path #11

Incredible insight into the pysche of DTIG, or silly web-thingy?

Your Life Path Number is 11

Your purpose in life is to inspire others Your amazing energy draws people to you, and you give them great insight in return. You hold a great amount of power over others, without even trying. You have the makings of an inventor, artist, religious leader, or prophet. In love, you are sensitive and passionate. You connect with your partner on a very deep level. You have great abilities, but you are often way too critical of yourself. You don't fit in - and instead of celebrating your differences, you dwell on them. You have high expectations of yourself. But sometimes you set them too high and don't achieve anything.

What Is Your Life Path Number?

I'd say a little of both.

Cups of Caffeinated Creativity

ChangeThis.com has posted its new update, and my favorite featured Manifesto is from BrandAutopsy.com's John Moore. He's provided a ChangeThis preview of his new book "Tribal Knowledge: Business Wisdom Brewed from the Grounds of Starbucks Corporate Culture."

The book was just released (my copy has already been ordered!), but John's Manifesto provides an electronic Cliff Notes version that can easily be shared with your "co-conspirators of cool."

AND coincidentally enough (okay, not-so-much a coincidence) I have MY OWN ChangeThis-Manifesto-in-the-making... but I can't do it without YOU!

Please visit the ChangeThis page linked below to review my Manifesto Proposal -- "The Idea Barista: Blending Coffee & Creativity to Brew New Ideas" and cast a vote to get it written. If the topic sounds interesting to enough people, I'll be invited to write a formal Manifesto for ChangeThis -- so click here to read the proposal and cast a vote to have it written.

You may recall that I've been working on the Idea Barista concept as a DTIG spin-off project. If you've got sometime to spare (perhaps during a coffee break?) I invite you to visit the new IdeaBarista.com website and click around a bit. Read the blog, learn about Beanstorming, sign-up for the free 'IDEAS2GO' text alerts, and visit the Free Refills page for overflowing cups of creative articles and resources.

As always -- let me know what you think!

Gitomer's Little Book Bonus Day

Cool!
My buddy Jeffrey Gitomer is having another of his 'Amazon bonus days' to promote the release of his latest -- "The Little Black Book of Connections." For one day only (today!) if you buy a copy of the book from Amazon.com and email a copy of your order confirmation to Jeffrey's office, he provide access to a wealth of bonus material and resources from folks like Jim Canterucci, Scott Ginsberg, Tony Allessandra, Jeff Blackman, Dan Seidman, and many more.

Here's the tiniest taste of what you'll find inside Jeffrey's latest book:
Strategies, Guidelines, and Rules of Connecting
1. Be friendly first, and everything else falls into place.
Friendly breeds likability and trust. People do business with people they like and people they trust. The twin of friendly is smiley. People who smile are 100 times more attractive than people who don't. Smiling not only sets the tone for others, it's the reflection you give them about who you are and how you think. How friendly are you? How easy is it for you to make friends?

2. Project your self-image in a way that breeds confidence in others.
Your handshake is an indicator of your self-image. So is your dress. Everything from your hair to your shoes is an indicator of who you are, and what your style may be, or not be. Projected image creates first impressions. And even though first impressions are not always correct, they are the ones that stick in the mind of the other person until corrected. What is the image that you have of yourself? What kind of image do you think you project? Is that image acceptable to those you seek to connect with?

3. Your ability to look someone in the eye as you speak to them is a tell-tale sign of your own self-respect.
Make eye contact. It's not only a display of confidence, it's a display of truth and a display of respect for the other person. Do you find it easy to make eye contact? Do you find it a sign of weakness when others do not make eye contact with you?

4. Your consistent positive attitude will breed positive responses and positive results.
Everyone knows it's important to have a positive attitude. Very few people understand how important a role it plays in the way you communicate and the way you are perceived by others. Without a positive attitude, your words become cynical and slanted. Without a positive attitude, your demeanor becomes borderline or unacceptable. Positive attitude needs to be there all the time, in the background, as fuel to run your engine of life, without toxic emissions. Do you expect to have a positive attitude if you are not doing something positive in the morning every day?

5. No connection is made without some form of risk.
Dare yourself, accept the dare, and take the risk to make the connection. My philosophy of "no risk, no nothing" is most evident in making connections. You can lower your risk tolerance and risk barrier by being prepared, having the self-confidence, and projecting the image to take a short walk out on a thick limb to make the next connection. Have you ever taken a risk and succeeded? Didn't it seem like less of a risk after the event was over than before you were willing to take it? Ask yourself why you're avoiding the risk rather than simply making an excuse about it.

If you'd like to read Jeffrey's complete list of 17.5 Strategies, Guidelines, and Rules of Connecting, you can click this link -- or you could just go ahead and buy the book from Amazon.com TODAY, and receive a TON of other great materials (including Jeffrey's exclusive ebook on LISTENING.)

I already have my copy -- how about you?

Mariachi Simpsons

A little cartoon fun for Saturday morning...



You will probably need a free GUBA.com account in order to view this video -- but there's no cost, and they've got some pretty cool videos there (not just user-generate vidoes like YouTube, but also premium like tv shows and movies) that you can download to your computer, iPod or PSP.
.