⚡A historic Oscars for Everything Everywhere All at Once 🎥
✨Plus, a look at the success of Pixar with "Creativity, Inc"
Clayton Hester
March 13, 2023
- a historic Oscars, for a compelling and innovative film
- the films that didn't do as well as expected
- the principles that built Pixar
- the many words by which we say "creativity."
🎥 The 2023 Oscars awarded Everything Everywhere All at Once as the Best Picture, beating nine other nominees. The movie, directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert and produced by Jonathan Wang, also won Oscars in several other categories, including Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Best Directing. Additionally, the film was nominated for Best Original Score, Best Original Song, and Best Costume Design, with a soundtrack featuring contributions from several artists.
🎥 Tom Cruise and James Cameron's movies, Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water, received only one award each in the craft categories at the 2023 Oscars despite multiple nominations. Banshees of Inisherin was up for nine awards but left empty-handed, while All Quiet on the Western Front won four awards. Everything Everywhere All at Once dominated and won several awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Ke Huy Quan, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Jamie Lee Curtis. Some predicted Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan would win in supporting roles for Banshees, but it went to Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan instead.
Stay tuned Tuesday for a deep dive into the innovations of "Everything Everywhere All at Once."
Other Oscars headlines:
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I’ve been enjoying a flurry of inspiration in the past couple years from a treasure trove of books.
Among the books has been Ed Catmull’s Creativity Inc, written with Amy Wallace.
As readers who have been with us for a while know, I’ve assembled some of the best books I’ve read in the realm of creativity into the “Creative Thinker’s Library.”
Your purchase of any book in this collection, using the affiliate links provided in the library, helps the Spark continue its mission.
Catmull, co-founder of Pixar, is interested in sharing his insights into a productive workspace for creatives.
The book lands at a beautiful crossroads where technological innovation, artistic rigor, and dedicated storytelling take center stage.
I’ve spoken about it a bit before already, and how it inspired my idea of the “Three T’s of Edge”:
Pixar’s infrastructure was built with the intention of focusing on how to bring people together.
The bathroom, for instance, was placed in a spot specifically where people had to meet people from other departments.
The insistence that great ideas come from anyone, anywhere runs throughout Creativity, Inc.
He discusses reducing fear by getting leaders to talk about failure openly.
“If we as leaders can talk about our mistakes and our part in them, then we make it safe for others.”
The creative world must foster a sense of security, which in turn helps great ideas manifest themselves.
“Originality is fragile,” he notes.
He also notes that most new ideas come out looking like “ugly babies.”
It’s important to love them just the same.
“Our job is to protect our babies from being judged too quickly. Our job is to protect the new.“
From there the work begins, allowing the crew to tap into collective creativity just the same — members are encouraged to direct constructive criticism as the process goes along, helping the teams to hone their craft.
Our newsboy, Sparky, works hard delivering this newsletter. If you want to let Sparky know he's doing a good job, you should send it to a friend.
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When we think of living intentionally, we may imagine a life of purpose, focus, and clarity. But what if the act of making art could help us achieve these same goals? In this article, we'll explore the intersection of intention and art, and how creating art can be a form of intentional living in and of itself.
One of the key ways that art can help us live more intentionally is by requiring us to be present and engaged in the moment. When we create art, we need to be fully immersed in the process, focusing on the task at hand and letting go of distractions and worries. This kind of mindfulness can be a powerful tool for cultivating mental and emotional clarity, and can help us to approach other aspects of our lives with greater presence and focus.
Creating art can also be a form of intentional living because it requires us to set clear intentions and make deliberate choices. From choosing materials and techniques to making compositional decisions and conveying meaning through our work, every step of the creative process involves intentional decision-making. By practicing this kind of intentionality in our art, we can develop the habit of making intentional choices in other areas of our lives as well.
Another way that art can help us live more intentionally is by serving as a tool for self-reflection and personal growth. When we create art, we are often tapping into our own experiences, beliefs, and values, and using our work as a way to process and explore these aspects of ourselves. This kind of introspection can help us to gain greater self-awareness and develop a clearer sense of our own priorities and values, which in turn can inform our choices and actions in other areas of our lives.
Art can help us live more intentionally by giving us a sense of purpose and meaning. When we create art, we are often driven by a desire to express ourselves, to communicate something important to others, or simply to explore the world around us in a meaningful way. This sense of purpose and connection to something larger than ourselves can help us to approach other aspects of our lives with greater meaning and intention, and can provide us with a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction that goes beyond the act of creating art itself.
The intersection of intention and art is a rich and fertile ground for personal growth and creative expression. By engaging in the intentional act of creating art, we can cultivate greater presence, focus, and clarity, develop the habit of making intentional choices, gain self-awareness and insight, and find greater purpose and meaning in our lives. Whether you consider yourself an artist or not, exploring this intersection can be a powerful tool for living more intentionally and creating a life of purpose and fulfillment.
What’s the importance of a good synonym?
At times, it may mean being able to draw connections, comparisons, and contrasts that lead to better articulation in our own work and within the world we put out into the world.
Let’s divvy up the ideas that related to creativity:
That's it for today.
Have a great day,
and don't forget, you've got the spark you need inside you.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to spread the spark to a friend!
"Creativity is contagious, pass it on." - Albert Einstein
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