Aaron Denius's Blog, page 2
March 16, 2015
Motivation Monday: Some Quotes
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” - Confucius
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” - Thomas Edison
“If you can dream it, you can do it.” - Walt Disney
“Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.” - Sam Levenson
March 13, 2015
Free Form Friday: The Artist’s Way
One of my favorite books to fall back on when I haven’t been creative is a book called “The Artist’s Way”.
This book is intended to help all who read it become more creative in their life. One of the exercises in the book is something called the “Morning Pages”. Simply put, when you wake up in the morning, the first thing you do is write three pages of whatever. You don’t think, you just write.
Today I feel like sharing the first half page of my very first morning page. this is unedited:
“Cold feet, squeaky toenails living comfortably in a home full of fury mamals. Put the socks on one foot at a time dont let the cereal drown. Yummy, yummy, yummy. cinamomy oops I put an m instead of an n o well. I like the sound that sounds make, they taste like oatmeal you know then we can see how life changes when the people around you believe in you. seven teen hours and still no blanket. Im going for the record mrs muffin man, dont try to stop me, I’m on a roll, dinner roll, dinner plate, plate, metal, in my head, vietnam ninjas!!!”
March 9, 2015
Motivation Monday: Don't Waste Time
I often find myself thinking about time. It seems like it is slowly becoming an obsession. The worst part is that I always feel like I am wasting it. As much as I love sleep, I wish it wasn’t necessary.
We all spend too much time on menial things when we should be spending it on the things we truly love. How many artists out there have put off creating their next masterpiece because the got sucked into the hole of social media. I often get mad at myself that I am not spending every waking moment pursuing my dreams. The irony of spending the time to write this post is not lost on me.
The truth is, that our time on earth is so insignificant, that it is a complete waste to be spending it doing anything but what you love. Whether you die tomorrow or when you are 100, when compared to the time of the universe, the difference is minute. It’s like the difference between a centimeter and an inch when comparing it to a mile.
So use the little time you have wisely. Do what you can to follow your dream and make your one grain of sand shine a little brighter on this beach called life.
March 4, 2015
Work It Wednesday: March 4, 2015
These last couple of weeks have been pretty interesting I suppose. Though I haven’t done much writing, I have done some soul searching and have found myself back on the precipice of writing.
I helped two friends, who had interest from a producer in a story they had, learn to write a screenplay. I also took care of a lot of other things that I had been putting off. Like my taxes and organizing my place.
My manager also set me up with a meeting next monday with an executive from TNT. Hopefully this will be the start of a successful staffing season for me.
The most important thing I did however was to take a weekend to myself to recharge. It did wonders to my creativity and drive. I realized that I am not currently living the life I want to live and worse, I was not doing things or taking the steps that I need to be doing to attain that life. It’s amazing how that one thought has changed the way I wake up in the morning.
So onward and upward!
March 2, 2015
Motivation Monday: #TheDress, Facebook & the Downfall of Society
So last Thursday I logged on to facebook only to find that my entire feed was filled with arguments over the color of a fucking dress. For some reason this really upset me, to the point of actually deactivating my facebook account. I felt that this was a microcosm of how dumb society has become. Arguing over the color of a dress. I knew that people were wasting precious time looking at the dress, commenting on the dress, and reading counter arguments on the stupid dress.
This made me realize just how much time I myself waste on menial things like facebook. So for the last weekend I lived my life without it. Sure, the first day I felt like a junkie going through withdrawal. It was hard not picking up my phone at Starbucks and opening the app. But then I realized that I didn’t care. I didn’t care about what my friends were eating or what political occurrence had them outraged or what buzzfeed article they thought was funny. I really didn’t care. If I wanted to reach out to someone, I could call or text them.
The best part, was that as I sat at the starbucks, I spent more time looking up instead of looking down. It felt great.
The other thing I noticed throughout the weekend was that I was getting more work done. I didn’t have facebook to distract me and send me down the rabbit hole of ADD. I was reaching for my phone less and less and I was living in the moment. I played with my dog more and instead of seeing another picture of someone’s dog, I picked up a book and fell into the story of a young shepherd searching for his personal legend.
I think the most telling part about this whole experience is that no one has noticed that I’m gone. Or at least they haven’t said anything. It just proves that Facebook is nothing more that a superficial community where we all do our best to share and post things to feel validated by the number of likes our opinions get.
So I challenge you to step away, if just for a couple of days and instead of constantly going back to stare at a wall every hour, read a book, go outside, be active and enjoy something that has depth.
February 27, 2015
Free Form Friday: When An Icon Dies
With today’s death of Leonard Nimoy, I, along with everyone else have suddenly been thrust back into reflecting on the career of a great actor and the iconic character he brought to life, Spock.
It is without a doubt that it takes the death of an artist to appreciate the art he or she created. Of course we experience their genius as they live it, as was the case with Robin Williams, Michael Jackson and many others. But I don’t truly believe we understand the scope until the artist is no longer with us.
Unfortunately society has evolved to a place where the definition of art has been blurred. We spend hours watching people make idiots of themselves on reality TV, we idolize these idiots and extend their 15 minutes of fame to decades. The Kardashians are a great example. There is no doubt that some, if not all have at least one talent (Sorry Kim, a big ass isn’t a talent), but that’s not why they are idolized. People idolize and watch them because deep down they know that at some point they will crash and burn, they just want to be around to witness it.
A celebrity is not an artist. An artist however, can be a star. So I encourage you to peel your eyes away from watching which actress, whose career isn’t going where she wants, might get a rose. Instead, support the actress by going to a play, watching an independent film. Support the arts. So that 50 years from now we can look back and appreciate the art their long life created instead of looking back and seeing a clip show of Honey BooBoo’s greatest hits.
May the arts live long and prosper
February 23, 2015
Motivation Monday: Priorities
I could not agree more with that quote above.
It would be naive to say that a person only has one goal, one dream. We all want success in career, love, happiness. But the truth is that it’s hard to actively chase after more than one at a time successfully. Of course certain things may be the byproduct of reaching certain goals, and a person might be able to find a balance in pursuing multiple things at once. However, when your dreams and goals are lofty, it is nearly impossible to find that happy medium.
In my pursuit of my dream, I have found that the success of career and the success of love are almost always inversely proportional. At least during the stages of pursuit. It’s hard to pay to appropriate amount of attention to both without having one pull you in, leaving the other neglected. We have become a career driven society and this is way people are getting married later in life and why the amount of divorces have increased. I don’t see that as an inherently bad thing, but what I do see is a need to compartmentalize and prioritize.
Put your energy and become successful in one discipline first, then focus on the next. It doesn’t solely pertain to love and career. It can be applied to anything in life.
Just a thought. (Mostly directed at myself)
February 20, 2015
Free Form Friday: Oscar Predictions 2015
Below are my choices on who should win the various Oscar categories, along with who I predict will actually win.
Visual Effects:
My choice: Interstellar
Who will probably win: Interstellar
Production Design:
My choice: Grand Budapest Hotel
Who will probably win: Grand Budapest Hotel
Original Song:
My Choice: “Everything is Awesome!” -The Lego Movie
Who will probably win: “Glory” -Selma
Original Score:
My Choice: Grand Budapest Hotel
Who will probably win: Interstellar
Make-Up:
My Choice: Guardians of the Galaxy
Who will probably win: Foxcatcher
Costume:
My choice: Grand Budapest Hotel
Who will probably win: Grand Budapest Hotel
Cinematography:
My choice: Birdman
Who will probably win: Birdman
Original Screenplay:
My choice: Grand Budapest Hotel
Who will probably win: Boyhood
Adapted Screenplay:
My choice: Whiplash
Who will probably win: American Sniper
Director:
My Choice: Richard Linklater - Boyhood
Who will probably win: Richard Linklater - Boyhood
Animated Feature:
My Choice: Song of the Sea
Who will probably win: How to Train Your Dragon 2
Supporting Actor:
My Choice: J.K. Simmons
Who will probably win: J.K. Simmons
Supporting Actress:
My Choice: Emma Stone
Who will probably win: Patricia Arquette
Lead Actor:
My Choice: Michael Keaton
Who will probably win: Eddie Redmayne
Lead Actress:
My Choice: Rosamund Pike
Who will probably win: Julianne Moore
Best Picture:
My Choice: Grand Budapest Hotel
Who will probably win: Boyhood
February 19, 2015
Work It Wednesday: Feb. 18, 2015 (But really Feb. 19 cuz I forgot)
I knew it would happen eventually, I would forget to post a blog and I would ruin everything!
So a quick rundown of this last week in work:
Uprising - my new pilot has begun to make itself more clear to me. The excitement is building and I am anxious to put the pen to the paper or finger to the keyboard, whichever compels me most for this project.
Hairy Carnage - The comedy duo consisting of myself and my buddy Oren Rehany has created our 3rd episode of our second season. This one tackles the Oscars, so check it out!
Be sure to subscribe as well.
That has been the bulk of my work this week. On to the next one!
February 16, 2015
Motivation Monday: Be A Kid
So for the last week I have been playing with Legos and it really has been an absolute blast. I had been struggling for a while with my creativity and couldn’t seem to get out of my slump. Then I remembered how easily it was to be creative when we were kids. Our imagination ran wild and coming up with ideas was easy.
I decided to tap in to my inner child by going into my storage unit and pulling out the old box of Legos. I began to build as I once did and found that all these ideas started filling my head. My creativity was coming back. So if you ever find yourself in a rut, be it creatively or otherwise, be a kid. Fly a kite, built a fort, play with Legos. Just allow yourself the opportunity to do something juvenile without judgement. You’ll find that you enjoy it just as much as you once did.
