10. Celestine Prophecy
9. What the Bleep do We Know
8. The Secret
7. Forrest Gump
6. City of Angels
5. Gandhi
4. What Dreams May Come
3. Peaceful Warrior
2. It’s a Wonderful Life
1. Field of Dreams
Did I miss any? What are your favorite spiritual cinema movies?
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly comes out on DVD tomorrow April 29. This movie is based on the true story of a French man, Jean Dominque Bauby, who suffers a massive stroke at age 43 leaving him to experience locked-in syndrome, a condition that paralyzes all of Bauby except his eyelids. His only form of communication is blinking with his left eye. Prior to his stroke, Bauby was an editor of a popular French fashion magazine, Elle, and had a book deal. The movie shows Bauby writing his book using an exhausting form of communication that requires him to blink his left eye when his nurse speaks a particular letter. The cinematography for the film is quite ambitious as it depicts Bauby remembering what his life use to be like. Some scenes give the viewer the perspective of the main character as he sees his eyelid opening and closing. Then, it switches to a scene of Bauby imaging a mountain, feast or past social occasions.
This movie achieved great critical acclaim. It was a four-time Academy Award nominated 2007 film. The director Julian Schnabel won best director at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. Many critics listed it as their top ten favorite films of 2007. One small downside is that the movie is spoken in French and has English subtitles.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly shows that we are far greater than our bodies and the human Spirit is capable of filling our life with meaning, joy and purpose even if our body is in a debilitated state.
CNN has launched a websites devoted to people making a difference in the world. This website has news stories about people making a real difference in their community. The participants in CNN’s ground-breaking program come from different backgrounds, but hold common values, beliefs and goals. They all want to effect change in our world by helping others.
They have sections devoted to people working for refugees, poverty, health, natural disaster, children, and the environment. Each of these sections lists major news stories related to the cause and also examples of specific individuals working on the issue.
You can visit the homepage at: http://www.cnn.com/impact
What once started out as a grass-roots campaign, Earth Day, to celebrate the environment, has now become a marketing bonanza. April 22, Earth Day, may become the next Christmas for brands looking for a way to stand out in the market place. Companies such as Wal-Mart, Banana Republic, and News Week all offered special discounts for the weeks surrounding Earth Day. The entertainment industry also jumped on the bandwagon with green logos and environmental campaigns seen on the major television networks.
To be fair, some of the companies genuinely do care about raising environmental awareness and increasing their own sustainability. But, others are simply touting their environmentally friendly company policies and marketing efforts to raise their profits and increase commerce. Their intentions are not exactly consistent with the 1970 grass-roots campaign for a national holiday honoring our planet. Even the FTC has stepped in by saying it will be stricter in monitoring the validity of companies’ claims that their practices and policies are “green” or environmentally friendly. Does the intention to make more money really matter if the company is helping raise awareness for the environment or changing their companies’ policies to increase sustainability?
The ultimate decider of whether green marketing is effective is the consumer and many of the consumers are starting to be skeptical. “Consumers can see through messaging that is not backed with a longer-term commitment to green,” said David Wigder, senior VP-Digitas and author of the blog Marketing Green. “Moreover, if consumers are bombarded with too much messaging, they may simply tune it out.”
Consumers often voice their concerns and criticism in the blogosphere. Bloggers are known for meticulously checking facts and companies’ claims. Thus, a good source for whether a company is truly green or environmentally sound is the blogosphere. According to Nielsen Online, Tree Hugger, World Changing, The Oil Drum and Alternative Consumer are among the most popular sustainability blogs on the web. Tree Hugger is the largest environmental blog with 10 regular staffers and 50 contributors from around the world. The staffers include advocates, scholars and experts. David Binkowski, senior VP-director of word-of-mouth marketing at Manning Selvage & Lee explains, “[It] better not just be window dressing, because bloggers fact-check everything.”
So whether or not green marketing is just the latest fad or a legitimate platform to raise awareness for both brands and the environment remains to be seen. However, companies that advertise their environmental claims are sure to face more scrutiny and will need to deliver a product that meets the consumer’s expectations.
Powerful Intentions is a unique, online community of people who believe in the power of their intentions, the Law of Attraction and living a life of inspiration.
The website includes personal pages similar to ones that you can set up on MySpace. Additionally, there are sections for members to upload photos and videos for the community. There is also an online forum where members can discuss various topics such as the Law of Attaction or the power of their intentions. The site is easy to navigate through and some of the graphics and videos are great.
There is a trend among new media and Web 2.0 to set up social networking sites that fit niche areas. MySpace was the first big social networking site. Within MySpace, a person can join various groups for their own interests. However, one downside with MySpace is that it is too big and there are too many groups scattered around. Additionally, MySpace attracts a lot of spammers. As a result there have been many social networking sites and online communities being created that serve a niche area.
Powerful Intentions is a great example of a social networking site that fits the niche for people. Additionally, it is a remedy to some of the drawbacks of MySpace because it is focused on attracting members who believe in the power of their intentions. The site is also well maintained and free from a lot of the spam that a site like MySpace gets.
You can visit it at http://www.powerfulintentions.org.
James Ray, author of Harmonic Wealth, was interviewed on the Today Show yesterday. James Ray is a true “modern man’s mystic”. I refer to him this way because he has devoted much of his life to studying ancient spiritual practices and applying them to the modern world. For example, he was a top salesman at AT&T before becoming a full time author and speaker. Yet, while at AT&T, he began to apply his spiritual practices to his work. Eventually, this led him to create his Harmonic Wealth books and programs.
On the Today Show, James spoke about how true wealth goes far beyond making money. He says that wealth occurs when a person’s spiritual, financial, relationships, physical and mental lives are all in harmony. He also responded to some of the criticism in The Secret about its emphasis on just thinking your way to success. The Secret helped launch Ray into the national spotlight with appearances on Oprah and Larry King. But, Ray did mention that one point not stressed in The Secret is that a person needs have their thoughts, feelings and actions all in alignment to create what they value in life.
You can read the first chapter of his new book is at:
Oprah’s TV show “Big Give” finale won its time slot Sunday evening. There were 10 million viewers, 3.2 rating among adults 18-49, and a 9 share. It is unclear whether Big Give will return next season. ABC will wait until its upfront presentation to advertisers next month before it makes any official announcement. But, it is likely to return.
Big Give is a reality show that defies current reality show standards because contestants are competing to give rather than to get. The show has 10 contestants who must use their creativity and resources to give back and make a difference in the lives of complete strangers. Throughout the show Oprah and many other celebrities appear to lend their support.
On Earth Day, Disney revealed that it is creating a new production house, Disneynature, that is focused on documentaries about the environment. Their first movie released in the US is ”Earth”, from Alastair Fothergill, producer of “Planet Earth” series. It will be narrated by James Earl Jones and released April 22, 2009.
Disney prexy-CEO Robert Iger explained, “Disneynature is a concept we look forward to building across the company and across the globe for years to come, and we hope these films will contribute to a greater understanding and appreciation of the beauty and fragility of our natural world.”
Disney’s emphasis on nature docs is similar to when Walt Disney was running the studio. From 1948-1960, Disney’s True-Life Adventure series won eight Oscars, including best feature documentary for 1953’s “The Living Desert.”
Last night I watched August Rush and was deeply moved. This movie is about an eleven year old orphan and music prodigy who is trying to find his parents by “listening to the music”. It stars Robin Williams and Keri Russell. One of the fundamental questions that this movie asks is where does the music come from. The musical prodigy does not believe that he creates the music, but that it just comes to him. All he is doing is listening for it and rewriting it.
This raises some very spiritual questions. For example, Where does the capacity to appreciate music come from? Where does beauty originate? Additionally, many great musicians, similar to the prodigy in the movie, say that they are not the ones who create their lyrics and musical compositions because it the music just ”comes to them”. Where is the music coming from? Who or what is creating the music?
The “music” may also be symbolic for any source of inspiration in our life such as the capacity to experience love, follow a dream, or create beauty. This movie reminds us that the “music” is always playing. All we need to do is listen.
The Opus movie is another movie in a similar vein as The Secret with many of the same teachers including Jack Canfield, Dr. John Demartini, Dr. Joe Vitale and Marci Shimoff. However, this movie is a little different than The Secret because it focuses more on taking action to achieve your goals. Additionally, its reference to The Opus serves as a reminder for us not to die with our music left inside of us. Many people will probably know most of the information in The Opus. However, the visual scenes and emotional connections that take place when a person watches a movie helps one to know and really get the information on a much deeper level. The homepage for the movie is http://www.theopusmovie.com.
