In Atlas Shrugged, the world’s most important invention was abandoned to rust in a factory. No one recognized what it was, so it sat there for years, invisible to everyone.

Thoreau said:

“The works of the great poets have never yet been read by mankind, for only great poets can read them.”

Yesterday, I posted what I think was my most important blog entry. It wasn’t my own idea… it was something I read back in 2001 in a book called Good To Great by Jim Collins. The knowledge contained in that post could save people and companies incredible amounts of time, energy, and money.

I’ve gotten a stronger reaction out of Facebook updates about my low-class neighbors arguing. In almost 24 hours, my Jim Collins post received only one comment: “Good stuff.”

It’s been almost A DECADE since 100+ ex-military, scientists, and other government employees appeared at the National Press Club, willing to testify and share physical evidence in front of Congress that Extra-Terrestrials have been here, and that we have access to their technology.

If that happened, wouldn’t you want to know about it? I guess not.

Above my desk, I have a framed “blueprint” of an Alien Reproduction Vehicle, a hand-made copy of one of the pieces of evidence used in that presentation. No one even asks what it is.

Oh, and it’s been a year since Nano-Thermite was discovered in the dust of the WTC. Can you make it through 12 videos?

If you’re going to riot, at least make it about something more important than basketball.

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I get jealous when I see people praising Derek Sivers.

Not because his ideas are bad, not because he hasn’t worked hard, not because he doesn’t deserve it… but because of the pretense that everything he says is brilliant because he created and sold CDBaby.

But it’s just the way storytelling works. Derek has a Backdrop.

Disclaimer: I’ve hung out with Derek and he’s every bit as smart and weird as the hype says he is. Back in 2000, when my friends and I were in New York City marketing a revolutionary music compression format that didn’t exist, he listed it on CDBaby for millions of dollars.

Well, I haven’t made millions of dollars (yet)… so until then, my ideas will be taken seriously by about 12 teenagers in the Netherlands who like progressive rock.

For those who weren’t around, I spent the first ten years of my original music career being completely ignored by everyone. I did everything I could think of and got nowhere. I learned every skill I could, read every book on the subject, but still heard the following phrase probably every single day:

“You’re a genius, but it’s too bad that the world is too stupid to appreciate what you do.”

I couldn’t take that paradox seriously. What people said about me, good or bad, didn’t matter. I knew that what I was doing wasn’t working. I was trapped in a small retirement town in Florida. I didn’t want to be rich and famous, I just wanted my artistic machine to sustain itself. And it wasn’t. The subtext I couldn’t deny was “Failure.”

At the same time, I was getting the attention of people like Steve Vai, Trey Spruance, and Devin Townsend. My heroes. I was obviously doing something right if they were listening, right? Isn’t that logical? If they like it, shouldn’t everyone else like it, too? What’s wrong here? Why isn’t this working?

I went on, living a mundane life, working stupid jobs and living with my mom, haunted by the boos from audiences, the bad reviews from John Chedsey, and the confusing praise from my heroes.

At some point I figured out that I should get those guys involved with my creative projects.

I felt self-conscious about making that kind of move. Would everyone see through it? Would my heroes think I was just trying to ride their coat tails? I got over it and decided that’s just the way “breaks” work. Someone gives you an endorsement, and off you go. Then you have the honor of living up to it. No problem, right?

It was magic. As soon as their names were attached, people started listening to me. It didn’t matter how small their contribution was. I pulled in fans of each of those named artists and suddenly I was taken seriously, too. I used that energy to get into magazines, signed autographs, and attracted a loyal cult following who bought my weird stuff. I was doing interviews that got printed in languages I couldn’t read, getting fan mail from all over the world every single day, and I made enough money to quit my day job.

That all sounds great, but I immediately wanted to start over and do something else. Once I figured out “the trick” I became bored. It kinda felt like a scam to me. Thinking like a programmer, I knew that as I matured, Sir Millard Mulch was a Y2K bug in my career. I wanted to take everything I had learned and do it the right way. I wanted to move to Los Angeles and recreate myself — as me.

And here I am… a writer, producer, philosopher.

Not a very impressive Backdrop, is it?

In the meantime, watch the above video presentation by Derek Sivers. Particularly from 32:06 to 36:15.

It’s a brilliant idea, regardless of the creative genius who says it.

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With all of the smarmy mind-games and riddles and crossword puzzles that people spend their time and energy on every day, why not fix real problems?

We pay almost $100 Million a year so The Lakers can stick a basketball into a net, and watch it fall out the other side.

Solve a Rubik’s Cube. What’s the outcome? Nothing. Absolutely pointless.

If you have the time and discipline to reach Level 80 in World of Warcraft, you should be able to plug a hole in the bottom of the ocean.

The mental tasks required to graduate from high school should prepare you for solving any problem in the world. How much more difficult can it be than learning Algebra?

So let’s get to work.

Here are Six Things That Need Fixing:

• The official story of September 11 still makes no sense. Coming up on 9 years, guys. Even David Lynch is confused. Let’s shut down Facebook, Google, Apple, YouTube, and TED — and dedicate those innovative freethinkers to answering some questions.
• Ban personal automobiles from major cities. Switch to buses, trains, and bicycles. Replace Hummer Limos with rickshaws, pulled by joggers. See how easy it is to get to Santa Monica, now?
• Shut down every fast food franchise in the country. Obesity kills millions of people a year.
• “Let the products sell themselves. Fuck advertising, commercial psychology. Psychological methods to sell should be destroyed.” -D. Boon.
• Deport all Republicans to Iraq, if they’re so obsessed with being there.
• Get the Disclosure Project Witnesses in front of The President and Congress.

My dad used to joke, “I buy you books and send you to school, and you’re still stupid.”

He was right. What good is Mensa?

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Maybe you don’t embrace his theory of anarchy.
Maybe you don’t have long hair and a big bushy beard.
Maybe you don’t worship a Roman snake deity named Glycon.

I believe half of the equation of enjoying art is getting to look at the world through someone else’s camera. As strange as it might be, maybe they see things you don’t.

What makes Alan Moore special isn’t necessarily his technique. Anyone can read how-to books and take classes. Anyone can buy tools. Anyone can practice. Right?

“You just try and make everything you do a little bit smarter, a little bit more sophisticated than the thing you did before… Eventually people will notice. Eventually you’ll start to move beyond what everybody else is doing… Without having to compromise anything, without having to sell out your vision. And it’s important that you don’t do that, because that’s the only thing you’ve really got, that separates you from anybody else. There’s probably lots of people who can sing, or do music, or write, or draw the way that you can. The only thing that makes you unique is that you’re you. You’ve had your experience, you’ve had your life. You’ve got your sort of knowledge. So put all of that into what you do. Make it individual, make it unique. Make it your selling point. I don’t think you’ll go far wrong.”

It took him 11 years of running the creative factory full-time before he created V For Vendetta. Until then, what remained constant? Moore’s commitment to his own identity. Even through his commercial work and gigs to pay the rent, he didn’t neglect his own lens. (Maybe he didn’t fully apply it to every project, and maybe he did — but that was his own choice.) Ultimately, he wasn’t afraid to be himself.

You ask: “Why can’t I be creative like Alan Moore?”

Because you’re not being honest like Alan Moore.

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I’m not an Earthling. I’m more interested in those personal experiences that tell me there is something else beyond business, mathematics, and survival. You can call it God or Ghosts or Aliens, but I believe that as soon as you assign a word to it, it vanishes. I’d rather keep the door open. Why not leave it undefined? It’s not ready to tell me what it is. Maybe I’m never supposed to know.

Art is one way for me to connect with The Beyond. When I listen to the song Ki by Devin Townsend, I don’t hear it in the language of music theory. I don’t know what the chords and scales are. There’s no verse, no chorus, no bridge. It takes me back to my initial sense of wonder about music… like I’m being lifted into another dimension, full of mystical beings shouting majestic gibberish at me.

It’s why every attempt to end the most interesting sci-fi TV shows has been a personal disaster for me. Battlestar Galactica, Twin Peaks, Lost. All ruined. Why? Because Earthlings think the mysteries need to be explained.

I’d rather know that The Cylons, The Man From Another Place, and The Dharma Initiative are still out there, doing their strange work.

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Had this not happened, I imagine the audience would have fallen asleep.

Why is this video hilarious?

• In contrast to the cheesy MC / front-man who is trying really hard to entertain the crowd, this drummer is a mega-talented entertainer. There’s no doubt he can get thunderous applause, no matter where he goes or what song he plays. The other musicians, who may as well not even be anywhere near a stage without him, try to do their job in the midst of the hurricane — and only serve the purpose of the comedy straight-man.
• Despite the absurdity of this drummer’s over-the-top stick-twirling and goofing around, he doesn’t make a single mistake in four minutes. I don’t know any drummer who wouldn’t drop a stick or click on a rim under the same circumstances, and I’ve kinda worked with some good ones.
• He doesn’t break character or laugh at any point, and actually builds intensity throughout his performance, like a fireworks show. There’s an arc here! What will he do next?
• His performance is completely unexpected, and as I watch it, I imagine how the audience must have felt in the moment. Is it a prank? Did he do it for revenge? Can you feel the tension in the room? The MC / front-man doesn’t even seem to be in on the joke (even though he is), which makes it even better.
• I instantly hate the corporate vibe, with those jackets and lame cover songs. I’m rooting for the drummer the entire time. I feel his pain and want to see him win. How many times have I wanted to do this same thing? (On second thought, how many times have I done the same thing? This guy is automatically my friend, and I’ve never even met him.)

This video will outrun any legitimate music video with the same musical content. Was it contrived by a clever director? Probably. If it wasn’t, it should have been.

It tells a story. It’s full of conflict. It sells itself.

If you can make a video like this, you will have no need for reading trendy books full of clichés like “Going Viral” and spamming your friends and harassing your entire address book until they buy your widget and force-feeding your boring music to innocent people and wondering why it doesn’t work.

Figure this out, and there will be no need for active marketing of any kind… only creativity.

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[Photo from some Russian Website.]

When we are born, each of us is given one, single job on this earth.

At the center of our souls we all have a tiny candle. Becoming an adult is taking over the responsibility for keeping that candle lit. Like a pilot light, it’s the source that all self-esteem, truth, and creativity ignite from.

It has a lot of names in mythology:

• Light Without Heat
• The All Spark
• The Blue Fairy
• Birdhouse In Your Soul
• The Heart of the Island

That little spark is powerful enough to compose a magnificent film score, produce a bland TV show, and maybe even destroy the world several times over. What you do with it is up to you (unless someone stops you, whether physically or financially).

One thing is for sure: you can drive yourself insane trying to keep someone else’s candle lit.

(And I’m not talking about helpless people who live under the oppression of a totalitarian state or have no access to food and clean water. I’m talking about people who simply don’t care. Why should you?)

In this society… unless they’re a child, the elderly, or mentally-handicapped, maybe it’s best to let the candle go out.

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That’s because it is.

If you look closely enough, everything sucks.

Analogies fail. Equal temperament is inherently dissonant. Rebecca Romijn wears makeup.

Congratulations! Your keen observational skills have made it impossible to enjoy anything.

Here’s a shocker: Art isn’t How To Tell The Truth Through Mathematics.

Why treat it that way? It’s selected, edited, trimmed, tweaked, re-contextualized. Artists are liars. If you focus on the materials the fantasy is made of, you’ve missed the point.

Don’t stand so close to that painting. Stop being so analytical. Get out of the way and let your subconscious (probably the larger part of yourself) enjoy the show.

“When you’re a child, something as simple as a tree doesn’t make sense. You see it in the distance and it looks small, but as you go closer, it seems to grow — you haven’t got a handle on the rules when you’re a child. We think we understand the rules when we become adults but what we really experienced is a narrowing of the imagination.” -David Lynch

Remember how great movies were when you were eight?

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Photo by Sanvean.

When you’re learning how things are made, it’s easy to get caught up in reverse engineering.

A songwriting book can tell you:

• The chorus should start on a note that is higher than the last note of the verse, preferably a major third above it.
• Your song title should be no more than seven syllables in length, and should appear in the chorus.
• The first chorus should occur within 30 seconds.

These are aspects of musical architecture. Tools for the construction process. But they don’t tell you why the house was built on the edge of a waterfall.

Sure, you can replace the heart of music, inspiration, with a mathematical formula. Get out your ruler and copy the patterns. You’ll fool a lot of people. (It worked for Rivers Cuomo.)

But without that Eureka Moment, all you’ve got is a Frankenstein Monster. It’s not actually alive.

Those who think they can outsmart the system will make post-modern, ironic arguments for the validity of disposable pop trash. What they won’t admit to themselves is that they still can’t pull it off themselves.

Unimaginative pot-boilers want the magic so badly, that they forget it’s something that just happens.

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Eman Laerton and I have spent so much time talking about Bad Music, that we get this question all the time.

This morning, I received a firm request to answer it.

First, I’ll give an Abstract philosophical answer, in two parts:

1.) Good Music combines as many Musical Elements as possible and uses them in a creative way. The Elements of music are generally accepted to be things like Melody, Harmony, Rhythm, Tempo, Dynamics, Pitch, Duration, Texture, Form, and Timbre. Music Appreciation 101. I believe that if you throw a bucket of ice water in the face of each of those at tell them to get to work, you have a chance at making Good Music.
2.) Good Music conveys a story or meaning beyond those mere Elements.

I’ve found that’s a pretty Objective way to measure it. You can argue with that all you want, but I don’t think these tools were invented to be abandoned.

Oh, you want a Subjective answer? OK.

Here’s something more Concrete, based on those Abstractions. This is my personal list of favorite rock / pop albums (in no order other than the first entry being where it belongs)…

1.) Steve Vai – Passion & Warfare
2.) System of a Down – Mezmerize / Hypnotize
3.) They Might Be Giants – Flood
4.) Victims Family – White Bread Blues
5.) Mr. Bungle – Disco Volante
6.) Kevin Gilbert – The Shaming of the True
7.) Ani DiFranco – Little Plastic Castles
8.) Devin Townsend – Infinity
9.) Ween – Pure Guava
10.) Nomeansno – Why Do They Call Me Mr. Happy?

Each of those albums has a “thing” to them that connects the pieces together. I’ve listened to each of them on repeat, feeling as if I’m pulled into a unique creative universe. They have strong character, and don’t sound to me like a bunch of songs were stuck together. They have variety and duality in their Elements. Fast-slow, loud-soft, funny-serious, long-short, big-small, complex-simple. A good album intimidates me and teases me, and I hear new things each time I listen. I get the feeling that there is always more going on that I don’t hear — maybe I’m seeing just a snapshot, or there are deep roots growing below the surface, or the album is talking about me behind my back somewhere. Who knows? It’s Seduction.

There are other candidates that could go on this list, but according to the rules, I could only pick ten that meant the most to me. You might notice that only one of those albums was released in the past 15 years. That’s because music doesn’t mean as much to me as it did when I was in my teens and twenties.

I don’t go out looking for good music anymore. For the past year, I haven’t listened to much of anything other than screenwriting podcasts… and the occasional Classical KUSC. (So please, no more technical-death-fantasy-epic-metal videos.)

When we discover music, we form a relationship with it based on Context — where we are at the time, what we’ve heard previously, what we’re ready to hear. Some music serves a temporary purpose for us, comes and goes. Some music sticks around and deserves contemplation, and it can seem to grow along with us.

As you’re developing as a musician, it’s easy to get caught up in taking things apart and focusing on only the Elements. I’ve been guilty of that, and much of the music I’ve listened to (and thought I really loved) turned out to be just an Exercise. So don’t ever forget what the personal meaning is for you.

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