It’ll never fly, Orville

The final twenty years of my career was directly involved in disrupting large companies stuck with stale “we are too big to fail” thinking.  Running into a person near my age, as I did at lunch last week, espousing today’s version of “It’ll never fly, Orville Syndrome,” irritated me. Don’t… Continue reading

The Diamond as a House of Worship: A Look at the Church of Baseball

Halfway into Ron Shelton’s book “The Church of Baseball,” we were gifted tickets to the Diamondbacks/Phillies game at Chase Field on August 29.  As we drove downtown, I reflected on the book’s influence on how I may see the upcoming game. Shelton’s recounting of his minor league career revealed aspects… Continue reading

Thoughts on two films: American Folk and Don’t Look Up

By chance, I watched two movies in the same week that, upon reflection, created some remarkable and fun contrasts.  The first, AMERICAN FOLK (2017) is a movie on Amazon Prime ($0.99 rental).  You can also watch it free (with commercials) on other streaming services like Netflix.   The second, Don’t Look… Continue reading

Top TV Pick #16: Tony Robbins: I AM NOT YOUR GURU (Netflix)

It was in high school when a series of classic motivational literature found its way to me. It was after I’d begun to see there was a path for me to succeed in school. The books told me I wasn’t trapped by my circumstances. They said no one but me… Continue reading

Top TV Pic # 15: Himalaya Calling and Pedro Mota’s YouTube videos

Following my recommendation of a series of YouTube videos made by Pedro Mota, two of my friends responded with how much they liked an Amazon Prime documentary, “Himalaya Calling – Overland to the highest passes in the world.”  They were right!  I’ve watched three of the four episodes, and they… Continue reading

Top TV Pick 14:  Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Do you ever wish for a compelling but simple story having no agenda? Something that every minute you watch you just smile, and say to yourself, “OMG, this is just so good!” If so, watch “Hunt for the Wilderpeople.” The story here is funny and touching, the scenery spectacular, and… Continue reading

TV Top Picks # 13:  Engineering the Future: 3 Episode Series

The first of these 3 one-hour films is on wind power. I was instantly hooked.  In just over 50 minutes, you get amazing views into the interior workings of massively large wind turbines; learn extraordinary details on how they are made and what it takes to locate them.   At first… Continue reading

TV Top Pick #12: Dirty Money (Netflix)

I found DIRTY MONEY, a new series on Netflix, shortly after watching the amazingly funny Netflix send-off of 2020 called “Death to 2020.”  If you’ve not watched it yet, do so. Death to 2020 resulted in at least a half-dozen belly laughs and more subtle snickers than I could count. … Continue reading

TV Top Pick #11: The Trial of the Chicago 7

I finally got around to watching this after a walking buddy recommended it, saying “It’s written and directed by Aaron Sorkin – you will love it.”   He didn’t mention it also features fascinating performances by Eddie Redmayne and Sacha Baron Cohen. He was right.  It is excellent. If you were… Continue reading

TV Top Pick #10: Mars

I’m finally watching a 2016-2018 two-season television series called Mars. It’s on Netflix (and Amazon) and consists of seven 60-minute episodes in the first season and six in the second. I find it captivating. The premise is alluring but it’s the composition that makes it so stunning.  The show combines… Continue reading