Radius Inspires My Filmmaking Juices

My Radius 2-disc set arrived on Saturday. I was able to watch it over the weekend. I must admit that although the actual movie is only 34-minutes long, I was impressed with the final result. Considering it was a first time director, with a largely unseasoned cast and crew, and a dismally low budget---the production value was high quality.

The best part was the “Making of Featurettes” which documented a lot of the behind-the- scenes-work.. The information from these segments was worth the price of the DVD set alone. It is always fun the see how movies actually get made.

The only drawback to the DVDs is that I was left wanting more, and the fact that you can’t just play the “Making of” clips as a whole. (You have to keep selecting each one as you watch them from the DVD menus.)

I think they everyone involved deserves a hand for coming together and making this short movie a reality. It is always inspiring to us aspiring filmmakers to see an example of someone who actually did it. And better yet how the did it. Thanks, Radius.

Radius Inspires my Filmmaking Juices

My Radius 2-disc set arrived on Saturday. I was able to watch it over the weekend. I must admit that although the actual movie is only 34-minutes long, I was impressed with the final result. Considering it was a first time director, with a largely unseasoned cast and crew, and a dismally low budget---the production value was high quality.

The best part was the “Making of Featurettes” which documented a lot of the behind-the- scenes-work.. The information from these segments was worth the price of the DVD set alone. It is always fun the see how movies actually get made.

The only drawback to the DVDs is that I was left wanting more, and the fact that you can’t just play the “Making of” clips as a whole. (You have to keep selecting each one as you watch them from the DVD menus.)

I think they everyone involved deserves a hand for coming together and making this short movie a reality. It is always inspiring to us aspiring filmmakers to see an example of someone who actually did it. And better yet how the did it. Thanks, Radius.

Steampunk genre of Science Fiction

I love science fiction. I grew up reading every book I could get my hands on and watching hundreds of movies and TV show. So you would think that I know a lot about the topic…and I do. But today I learned something new.

Apparently there is a subgenre of science fiction that I didn’t know existed. Oh, I had seen the movies and read the stories. I just didn’t know that there was a new title for their category of story. Steampunk.

Steampunk is a subgenre of speculative fiction, usually set in an anachronistic Victorian or quasi-Victorian alternate history setting. Fiction in the steampunk genre is set in the past, or a world resembling the past, in which modern technological developments occurred earlier in history, but were accomplished via the technology already present in that time period. The genre typically falls into the realm of science fiction.

Here is an in-depth article all about this fascinating topic. I am ever amazed by what you can learn when you are open to new ideas.

Living your Life around your Mission

This article by Rinatta Paries captures the essence and ideal of living your life mission everyday.

Living Your Life Mission: By Rinatta Paries

I totally agree with her. Living your life around your passions and mission with lead to a fulfilling life.

Waiting for my Radius DVD set

One of my other passions is Independant filmmaking. While doing research online, actually I was just browing through related sites, I stumbled onto the site for "Radius".

An independant movie production that also includes complete footage and commentaries on the DVD of how they did it. I knew I was going to have to get a copy. The 2 disc DVD set includes: The original film, Plus an entire Guerrilla Film School Documentary with over 3.5 hours of Making Of content.
Now I am eagerly waiting for my delivery of the DVDs so I can watch it. It should be here by Friday. Check out their site at http://www.radiusmovie.com

Good Motivational and Success Speaker

Like most of us that are passionate about motivational, and self-improvement programs, I can never get my fill of new information. Lately, my wife and I have been listening to a great tape program she had from a while ago. The speaker is not someone you may have heard of, but he does a great job.

His name is Steven Cates. You can visit his company's website for more information about him. The address is www.stevencates.com.

His programs are straightforward with great examples and exercises that seem to have the right touch of humility and ego to do the trick. We are enjoying listening to them and they seem to be focusing us and providing the motivation we need right now to move forward. Check him out.

“What the Bleep Do We Know?”

My wife and I just watched “What the Bleep Do We Know?” last night. I highly recommend the movie to anyone who is interested in the power and potential of people. The movie/ documentary covers such topics as reality, the meaning of life, quantum physics, thought, emotions and God.

If you are well read in the self-help, motivational genre many of these theories will feel familiar. But the movie will cover the science behind many of these truths that we know.

Visit www.whatthebleep.com for more information.

I must warn, however, that the movie is slanted toward the scientific viewpoint, so if you are religious, you could be offended. Depending on how open you are to conflicting theories.

Great ideas presented in a great format. I’m glad someone took the chance to put this movie together. I’m sure a lot of people are going to be astounded by its content.

Define Your Dominant Need

Everyone has a dominant need that drives them in life. It provides the subconscious fuel for most of your beliefs and actions. It shapes your interactions with people. And even colors your perceptions of what is considered a reward to you and what is a punishment.

Certainly, if you are planning on making dramatic changes and progress in you life you need to identify what your dominant need is.

For some people they are driven by the need to be accepted or find acceptance. For others, the need might be for freedom. The need for status or recognition is another. Top needs continue with security, the need to raise a family, the need for money, the need for expression, the call of duty to others and the need for power.

By understanding what your dominant need is you can begin to figure out what drives you:
-what questions are you trying to solve with your life?
-how does your need define your purpose or your career?
-what do you value in life?

A good way to examine this is to make a list of all the needs that you can think or ones that resonate with you in particular. Next take that list and rank it. Find out which need is the one you strive for the most and speaks to you most deeply. Chances are that is your dominant need.

Knowing yourself and what your dominant need is will help you when it comes to defining success for you. When this need is met, you will have come a long way towards finding successes in your life that mean something. After all it is your life.

Choose Self-Talk that Empowers You

In forging a path towards success, you should pay particular attention to how you talk to yourself. Especially because how you talk to yourself represents the attitudes and beliefs that determine how you think and feel and act. For most people, their self-talk often unconsciously suggests and reinforces feelings of victimhood, burden, and resistance to authority. The images and feeling generated by such self-talk almost always halts your progress through procrastination, self-defeating behaviors, or lower self-esteem.

When you are trying to motivate yourself to get something done, you usually speak to yourself in an authoritarian voice. It is common practice to try to motivate through statements such as "I have to do it" or "I should do it". However, these statements actually communicate the message, "I don’t want to do it, but I must force myself to". By applying pressure we attempt to motivate ourselves through threats that indicate the task required of us is unpleasant, and one we would not do if we could choose to. These messages evoke anxiety and create a negative reaction toward the work. Just as a child is resentful and rebellious towards their parents’ demands. Trying to get work done in this way is exhausting. Your mind and body must provide double the amount of energy needed. Some energy to actually do the task at hand, some more to force you to do it, and still yet more to rebel against the task.

To move forward, choose to adopt a language towards yourself that is empowering. By learning to challenge and replace your negative internal dialogue, will free yourself from counterproductive attitudes. Through a language of choice, you will learn to direct all your energy towards a goal of your choice, feeling empowered, rather than victimized.

Goals--Clarity over Quantity

We all have a number of things we would like to accomplish in life. We usually turn it into a goal that generates “shoulds” for us to do. Things like—increasing our net profits, learning to play the guitar, making a million dollars, losing twenty pounds, writing a novel, getting up earlier, or spending more time with friends and family. Given our limited amount of time and energy, we must make decisions and set priorities in order to make progress. Choosing to make progress toward ONE goal might be the best course of action to ensure accomplishment of that goal and to avoid feelings of failure when you don’t get done what you think you “should” be.

I have this problem myself. Every year when looking at my goals and plans, I’ll toss out several and try to narrow my focus. It doesn’t take long for other goals and plans to sneak their way back in. While I truly do want to accomplish all of them--realistically, though—unless I focus on only a few goals, I won’t be able to accomplish most of them.

One of the best-kept talents of successful people is the ability to let go of goals that cannot be achieved or started in the near future. To set realistic goals you must be willing to fully commit to working on the path to that goal and be capable of investing the time and energy required to accomplish it. Otherwise it will just “hang” over your head and diminish your resources available for the goals you can achieve.

Remember that you are in control of your life. Choose goals and paths that empower you. Pick the ones that resonate deeply with you and that are realistic considering your current skills and learning ability. After you reach that goal, then you can set the bar higher for the next one…building on your successes, instead of beating yourself up for your long list of unfulfilled dreams.

Creating the New Theme and Style

I have just finished putting some work into the new Theme. I wanted to change the template to something more pleasing and unique. I was a little rusty at my css, so I had to do some trial and error to get it right.

Most of the links don't work right but I've got the look I wanted. Soon I be able to work on the posting.

Breaking Ground on New Blog

Welcome to Expedition: Success...featuring Gregory J Gunther. This is my first post and I am excited about the future of this blog. I plan to cover various topics that I feel very passionate about. Creativity, Motivation, Self-Esteem, Success and Passion. I also may talk about Independent Film production and Science Fiction.

If these topics interest you, please visit often and comment as well.