Interview with Steven Spielberg (Full Length)

DAILY MUSE | Did you know that as a kid Steven Spielberg conned his way on to a movie lot, found a vacant office and and began operating as if he worked out of it? And that this led directly to him getting real work from the studio? Learn this and other new info (including discussions of his creative origins I’ve never heard him explain before) in this well done British TV documentary/interview with him. It also includes interviews about Spielberg with George Lucas and Sean Connery.

P.S. I just love how the British pronounce ‘controversy’

The Creative Power of Austin Powers

DAILY MUSE | I can never be sad when I watch the introductory sequence to “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery”. The music, the colors, the tongue-in-cheek homage to bright, shiny 60’s Pop culture– are all pure creative joy. They always lift my mood.

I already have the musical theme (the awesome Quincy Jones “Soul Bossanova”) on my Ipod. But now I can watch the intro sequence everyday! So can you. Enjoy!

Mike Myers’ account of how the idea of Austin Powers came to him is quite inspiring. While stuck in traffic a particular song (which happens to be one of my own favorites) started playing on his car radio. Myers said, “I heard the song The Look of Love by Burt Bacharach. And all the childhood memories of my father, of watching Monty Python and Benny Hill and Carry On movies and The Mouse that Roared and Strangelove, all the James Bond movies … it all came back.” (via The Canadian Encyclopedia) He began playing and experimenting with the elements of the character– right there in the car. The fundamentals of the Austin character were designed by the time he parked and got out of the car. He wrote the script in the following three weeks. Sent it off to a studio executive one morning and got a greenlight by the afternoon. Pretty cool huh?

TODAY’S MUSE: Connect With A Creative Ally

DAILY MUSE | It’s easier to be creative in community– with creative allies who will give you the permission to show up as the creative genius that you are. As allies they’ll give you the space to reinvent yourself- or the space to just show up and be great. They’ll listen to and honor your ideas. They’ll mirror them back to you. Sometimes magnifying them and expanding them. The more you surround yourself with creative allies, the more permission you will have to show up as creatively.

List all the people you know. Who among them are your creative allies? Or have the potential to be one? Connect with one today. Now, in fact. Pick up the phone. Make a lunch appointment. Or a date to go to a museum. Or to a play. Honor your current creative allies. Reach out and cultivate new ones. And also look to see who you might be a creative ally for? Reach out to that person. Be generous with them. Create and give them the space to just be great in.

Learn about TODAY’S MUSE here.
See all TODAY’S MUSE here.