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INPUT!

I have to admit that I love the end of the year because you start to see everyones' "Best Of..." lists. One of my favorite publications, PASTE, always does a great job of this and this morning I've been catching up on their Top 25 Music videos of the year. 

Usually when I'm sensing a lack of creativity, I know the first place to look for the problem. What's my input? If we expect to have good 'output', we need good 'input'. That principle pretty much goes across everything in life. Want to cook a cook meal? Use good ingredients. Want to be a good friend? Hang out with good friends. Want to tell good stories? Read good stories. 

It's a very simple principle that we often forget. So... as you look to whatever endeavors you are planning for next year, check out the best of what happened this year. Then practice the creative art of stealing. That's right, every artist steals. You can either be a 'dirty thief' and plagiarize or you can be a 'proper thief' and follow this pattern.

"Suck. Mimic. Innovate."

Take in good input. Process it. Then make something better. 

This is the process behind the creation of every new idea you and I have ever had. Now that you know the process, you can become better at it.

Here's some good input from 2010. Check out PASTE's top 25 music videos here, or see their complete list here.

Here are a few videos that inspired me in strange ways and made me get out my pen to start writing...

Next Steps for Francis Chan

As Flannel, Dot&Cross and David C. Cook Publishing release the Basic series, it's interesting to see Francis describe his own experience of church. As you may know, Francis has decided to leave his home church, Cornerstone Church, in Simi Valley to follow God on a new and unknown adventure. This video is an awkward, yet needed, candid discussion between Francis Chan, Joshua Harris and Mark Driscoll as they ask some really tough questions that... well, maybe we are all wondering about.

Please pray with me that Francis will use this time to learn and grow as God sees fit. To view a trailer for the entire 7-film BASIC series, click here.

 

What's Next for Francis Chan? A Conversation with Mark Driscoll and Joshua Harris from Ben Peays on Vimeo.

Earth Day 2010! A New Dot&Cross Project!

Thanks to all of you who have been keeping up with my blog. I know it has been pretty heavy lately, but today I have a special treat for you! Instead of boring you to tears with another never-ending post, I have a visual biscuit for you to nibble on!

You may have heard me talking about our new film series with Matthew Sleeth, the author of Serve God, Save the Planet. This project focuses on the relationship between spiritual and environmental sustainability.  It has been nearly 3 years since we began the developing, but I am so glad to finally present you the trailer. I highly encourage you and your church to get involved on Earth Day, April 21, and take part of this simulcast event. I know you will be blessed for getting outside of your comfort zone and starting to ask yourself some hard questions.

This issue is not a political story. This issue is not a 'crisis-induced' story. This issue stems from a very very old love story that we have forgotten about. It is time the church united together, opens their eyes and sees that God has shown us, not how to 'save the planet', but how to care for it in the first place. Somewhere along the way we just decided to ignore what He had to say about tending the garden. Why?

We can't run from this truth any more! I hope this series speaks truth into the your life and is the cause of many changes, both spiritually but also environmentally. Enjoy the trailer! (Click the four arrow icon to see it full-screen)

2010 Starts.... Now.

It's so good to be home! I have a stack of mail on my desk, a laundry list of things to catch up on (including laundry) and two needy cats who are so cuddly because they think I'm probably going to walk right back out that door. Not to mention, we've got quite a bit of work ahead of us at Dot&Cross as we're prepping to launch the "Blessed Earth" series this April and film 4 new Francis Chan films in February. Busy, Busy.

I was trying to review my calendar, but I don't think I've spent more than about 10 days at home since about October. But it looks like I'll be here for a while so I'm finally starting to settle in. I still can't quite get over the jet lag which is causing strange things to happen right now - I get tired about 8 pm. Then I wake up around midnight... wide awake. Then I quietly whisper to ask if Amy's awake (she usually is) and lay in bed coming up with crazy new business ideas or trying to figure out what time it actually is in New Zealand. Considering I am slowly returning back to Eastern Standard Time, I must be slowly flipping backwards through the time zones as my body tries to find a time-home. But right now I'm pretty sure my body thinks I'm in Romania.

I'm a huge New Year's Fan. I love goals. I love to mark out what I want to accomplish, form new habits, etc... But this year is a little bit different. I'm not going to to get too worked up over what I want to accomplish. If anything, I discovered that our human plans are nice and all, but honestly, each day is a gift and I have to quit thinking 2-3 months down the road like I usually do. I just need to, in the words of Ray LaMontagne, 'Be here now'.

4 Updates & 1 Memory

Heavens-to-Betsy...

I can't believe I haven't posted in so long. I want to take a few minutes and catch you up on a few things that have been going on.

Update 1: Dot&Cross Updates

Recently, I had the joy of meeting a good friend of mine for a business meeting on Tom Sawyer's Island in Disneyland! Thanks to Bob Goff for hands-down, the funnest meeting I've ever had. And tonight I headed back out to LA (3rd time this month) where we'll be working with Francis Chan for 3 days on some films we'll be shooting in February. Excited to spend some more time with him, yet also sad to be away from Amy for these few days before Christmas. It reminds me of 2 or 3 years ago when I was spending the days before Christmas developing films with Matthew & Nancy Sleeth in Kentucky. I flew home and was delayed in Detroit on Christmas Eve. Let's hope that doesn't happen again this year!

Update 2: Operation Hot-Box

I have an infrared sauna in my house. Yes, you read correctly. My brother-in-law built it for me. It cost $150 to build with PVC pipes, duct tape and other crazy stuff. Every time I think about my ghetto make-shift sauna in our guest bedroom, I have to laugh because it looks like those old forts I used to build in my bedroom with my star wars sheets and couch cushions. It makes me sweat like a hog which is super-important in getting toxins out of my body. I'll talk more about this later, but the general premise is that as my body fights and kills the cancer, those toxins and dead cells have to get out of the body so I don't get sick from toxemia. Sweating rids toxins from the body and this is a great way to get your lymphatic system kicking into high-gear. I have another clever strategy for ridding toxins that I'll go into later when I have more time...

Update 3: My new friend... Matt Chandler!

In regards to my last post, Matt Chandler and I have been growing closer as we have been sharing our journeys together. I've been blessed to offer information that I've learned to he and his wife, Lauren. His surgery went very well and he is determining his next steps for treatment as I type this post. Matt and I are looking forward to getting together soon which reminds me - I just got an email from him. He wants Amy and I to road-trip and meet up with he and Lauren for a Muse concert!! Now we're talking!!

"This could be the beginning of a beautiful (and much longer than 10 years) friendship."

Update 4: You're doing what?

This is crazy. Ready for this? After learning that I had cancer, Joey, a girl in my church youth group as a kid, contacted me out of the blue. (We had a really big youth group so I didn't know her at the time, but after seeing a photo of her I totally remembered her). Anyway, a few years ago, she had gotten married to a great guy named Seth. It turns out that Seth had a brain tumor rather similar to mine. He ended up going through several craniotomies followed by rounds of radiation and chemotherapy.  I am sad to say that Seth went home to be with the Lord and one of Joey's regrets is that they never had a chance to go on a honeymoon.

So Joey ordered (yes, literally ordered) me to go on a vacation / honeymoon with my wife Amy... and she was going to help pay for it. We tried to argue but she would have none of it. You'll find that arguing with wives whose husbands deal with cancer is a lost cause. They are all strong as nails... Joey said that it was very important that Amy and I have memorable times together because you never know what is going to happen next.  So, the big news is that Amy and I are going to New Zealand later this week and spending New Year's there!

(Side-note: Excuse me for speaking bluntly about Joey and Seth's story, but I am going to write more on them later. They have such as amazing story that you need to hear about.)

Memory 1: Now we're moving from updates to memories

If you'll recall, as I was undergoing surgery for my brain biopsy I was lying in my hospital bed all by myself trying to remember words of comfort from the Bible. Then, Emily, a girl doing her residency with Mayo at the time (and also the girl who asked me if my photos were recently on Jasmine Star's blog) was asking me standard questions about what my hobbies are in order to calm me down and take my mind off the fact someone what about to put a drill through my skull. I told her all sorts of things that I had no interest in at all, but it felt good to talk so I was probably saying all sorts of random things like chess, cycling, piloting dirigibles, etc... but I do remember that I said 'traveling'. She asked me where I would like to travel but I was so nerved up that I, once again, just started naming places at random, places I probably would have never said before. Rio, Iceland, Tokyo...

As they were about to put me all the way under for surgery, she was delicately putting the anesthesia mask on me. And like a mother wishing 'sweet dreams' to her child, she told me to dream about taking a wonderful vacation during the surgery. "Dream of going to Tokyo!", she said. (pause) STOP THE DRILL! All of a sudden, I had a vision of visiting Tokyo filled with images of bright flashing lights, cars everywhere, toilets I have no idea how to flush, Hello Kitty and a language I couldn't understand, speak or read. There was absolutely nothing comforting about that dream at that moment! So as I was drifting off into la-la land, I put my hand up and asked them to take my mask off. She thought something was wrong with me! And there was...

With my final words before drifting into brain surgery, I said that I didn't want to go to Tokyo. It was too loud. I wanted to go to New Zealand.

So, away we go. From a time-zone perspective New Zealand is the furthest East land-mass on the globe and one full day ahead of the western hemisphere. So after midnight on New Year's Eve, I'm going to stay up all night long and drive to some random beach on the east side of the island. I am going to be one of the first people on the face of the planet to see the sun rise in the year 2010.

God is developing new plot-lines for His story that once again I am so blessed to be apart of. So, stay tuned - it's going to be a good year.

Help Me, Help You, Help Your Teens...

Sorry for the Jerry Maguire title... let me explain.

My company, Dot&Cross, has spent the past 2 years working with one of our partners, Josh Shipp. You may have heard me mention 'Hey Josh' before? Yes, he is the Josh of Hey Josh.

I have a favor I need to ask of you, but first... Josh deserves a brief back story: Josh was left at the hospital when he was born. Yes, left = orphan baby. He's never met anyone related to him. He went through about 15 foster care homes before he was 15 years old. He's been arrested, abused, abandoned, etc... But when he was a teenager he made a decision to take all this unfair pain he has been dealt and choose to get either bitter or better.

Well, he chose to get better and started speaking to teens helping them make better decisions about their lives. In the past 10 years Josh has spoken to over 1 million teens, been featured on MTV's Total Request Live (*RIP), Comedy Central, and been interviewed in the LA Times, Washington Post, NY Daily News, etc... and a bunch of other fancy stuff.

Dot&Cross came across Josh and immediately recognized his potential via his uncanny ability to reach and impact teens. We partnered with him to create Hey Josh, a brand focused on entertaining, educating and inspiring today's teens. We have created an interactive teen website focused on advice, 4 short films focused on issues of Identity, Career, Dealing with Parents, Money (with many more films to come). We've also shot a pilot of Josh's brilliant new television show called Jump Shipp which will be featured on a new cable channel this fall, Halogen TV. But in addition, Josh creates weekly advice shows that can be seen on HeyJosh.com. Seriously, you should check them out, they are hilarious.

In fact, let's have Josh explain what Hey Josh is:

One of the best things about Dot&Cross is getting to work directly with people who are doing everything they can to make the world a better place. Josh is no exception. From a business standpoint, he is a class-act and deserves all of the success he has received, but from a personal standpoint, he is one of the most stand-up guys I know. Honestly, he has moved from a business partner to one of my closest friends. So without any hesitation, I would ask that you would help support his cause which brings me to some VERY exciting news.

The world is finally starting to catch on! Josh is currently being featured by INC Magazine as one of America's Coolest Young Entrepreneurs in an annual vote they call, '30 Under 30'. Dot&Cross, Josh and I would be very appreciative if you would take 2 seconds and visit the voting website at Inc. Magazine to vote for Josh.

If you want to read more about Josh and '30 Under 30', click here to view his profile page.

However, click here if you would like to vote for Hey Josh.

I really appreciate it. It will seriously only take you 5 seconds and we would all love to see Josh win the contest for the sake of teens today (who we all know need some help). If you have a blog, facebook page or a Twitter account, it would be incredible if you could jump on board the Hey Josh train and do a little of your own promotion as well.

For more detail, you can go to HeyJosh.com to connect with Josh through Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, etc...

Or, if you are a parent or teacher of teens, I have a special gift for you which requires me to tell you 2 things:

1. I'm sorry. I know it's difficult. Hang in there...

2. Go here! www.grownups.HeyJosh.com You'll thank me when you're older. Enjoy.