Category Archives: Bottled at source

The best things in life come from source.

Mahala Box Office

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We are coming to the end of our first cinema week on Nothing for Mahala. We started off modestly and this weekend will be the decider. We are hoping and praying for a small drop-off because that will mean the word-of-mouth is alive and kicking. By Monday afternoon, there will be a drum roll, and the numbers will be in … yup, it is all about the numbers.

We came in no. 3 for our opening weekend in Rands and no. 2 in terms of attendances (the 3D movie ahead of us in Rands has a higher ticket price because of the 3D ticket pricing). We are blessed because this coming weekend there are still no big blockbuster movies being released and our footprint is pretty much intact for our second weekend. These next few days are key …. we are in with a chance!

If you have seen the film then please vote for on IMDB : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3013148/?ref_=nm_flmg_prd_2

If we only drop off around 10 to 15% in weekend # 2 then we have a chance of a good result here – the “drop off” is always the most important measure in a movie’s cinema run.

Check out the trailer here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw8z8OqedGU&feature=youtu.be

If you are on Facebook, please go and “like” : http://www.facebook.com/NothingForMahala

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Feeding the soul

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Feeding the soul is very different to feeding the body. The body does not need much to keep going, but the soul is a different story. The soul needs magic to survive and to thrive.

We all eat “factory” pizza now and again. We all eat junk food. We all swallow our food so quickly, and chew without even thinking what we are consuming. And we survive. But life is not about survival. It is about allowing the soul to soar.

When you are hungry a cardboard sandwich will do the job, but it is not memorable. We eat it, and we are basically satisfied, and it doesn’t kill us. We eat it and we live. We are feeding our bodies at a practical and utilitarian level but feeding our souls is way more demanding. No factory anything will do when it comes to feeding the soul. An inspired soul only wants the most beautiful music, the loveliest pictures, the more stunning art, the most wonderful people, the most amazing stories, brilliant books, incredible movies, the greatest love, the best the world has to offer. Factory pizza may feed the body when you are in a hurry and just need to eat, but it does not feed the soul. Feeding the soul is about taking in the best. Like when you dine out and make a night of it – you are feeding more than just your body.

When we celebrate life, we don’t go out and eat a meal for the sake of consuming food. We are wanting to feed our souls. That is what life is about.

We have so many restaurants out there and so many eating places, and we consume and consume and consume. But we don’t feed our souls nearly enough. No wonder there are so many zombies amongst us.

Cyto

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Our stunning iPad game Cyto is having a BIG week.

Here is a snippet : Cyto’s Puzzle Adventure has been selected as a Starbucks App Store Pick Of The Week. The game will be available for free to anyone that visit any of over 15K Starbucks coffee shops in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland. Just stroll into any Starbucks, access the Starbucks Digital Network via in-store Wi-Fi, and download!

Cyto Starbucks

Demo : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unDiOzxU-pw

The secret

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“Magic” is probably the only industry where you can buy the secret to something. I mean, you can’t just sommer stroll into a kitchen and ask the chef to show you how they made it. You can’t take a car apart and try to learn the secret to how it works. But, you can purchase a magic trick and learn how the illusion is constructed. This is something I have been exploring over this past year.

Hang on though, before you go thinking that it is all about the secret then just stop and think of the car or the restaurant, as examples. Like magic, there is a lot more to it than just the secret. The presentation is the key. And this is all about storytelling. Story telling with props as Marcel Oudejans insightfully shared with me. Humour, misdirection, deception … these are all part of the equation.

One of the most powerful instruments is the “magician’s choice”. I wonder how often we fall for this conceit. Where we think we are in control, but the opposite is true. Where we are asked to make a choice, but it doesn’t really matter what we choose, because the magician is taking us down a path regardless of what we say.

Another thing about the secrets of magic are in the special props that are most often used. Sticky tape, magnets, safety pins, paper clips, and more. Yeah, there are so many magnets used in magic. But magnets themselves are magical things. How does a magnet work? They either attract or repel; but how?

I am loving learning about this special art form, and about the difference between magic and cheating. As Gus Silber pointed out to me recently, the big difference between magic and cheating is that magic allows you to suspend your disbelief, whereas cheating takes advantage of it.

There is so much to learn. So many secrets. So many different scripts and presentation ideas.

Abracadabra!

Show me the money

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There is so much media attention on rich people. The richest people. The biggest earners. Who owns what. In the new world, where Oligarchs have emerged, and the talk of billionaires is common, we see and hear of people who have suddenly got fortunes of money, but, how did they get to be so spectacularly wealthy so fast? What did they do?

Yes, people see all these new age billionaires who, for the most part, did no real work for their money. Well that is my view. I know what Henry Ford did, and Bill Gates, Philip Green, Ingvar Kamprad, William Boeing, Walt Disney, and many others who have built thriving enterprises. But seriously, ask one of these new age billionaires what they actually did – see if you can get a straight answer … you try figure it out. Yeah, right.

So now you have the youth masses thinking “I also want to be rich for doing nothing”. And this is where this non-work nonsense culture has come from – it is a global problem. The thinking is “he/she did nothing and I don’t want to do anything either – I just want to be rich”.

This is part of the inspiration behind the Heartlines mission and where the “Nothing for Mahala” film has come from. There is nothing for nothing in this world. If you don’t work hard you won’t get anywhere. But so many of the world’s youth believe that because they have a Web site that they should be billionaires. There are no short cuts in life. Success requires hard work. And as the old saying goes “an overnight success takes 20 to 30 years”.

Yes, what about the Oligarchs and all this new age money. Well, for one thing, we need to choose our words carefully. Most of these people do not make money. They take money. The real question is why no one ever stopped them. That I have no answers for. But I do know that so many people who have money have no real wealth. To feel really rich is to feel fulfilled from a job well done.