Author Archives: thevsstudioblog

“Somebody should do something.” The next time you find yourself thinking or saying those words out loud, realize that YOU are that somebody. Uncle Ben was close, but it’s actually the other way around….With great responsibility comes great power. Step up. Make it happen. Make your art. Make the world a better place.

For the actor… When working on a role, know what your character’s dream is. Assume the other characters all know what that dream is and want it desperately for you too. That way when you don’t get what you want and you don’t hear the dream response to your line, you will fight even harder.Continue reading “What’s My Dream And My Dream Response?”

“The play’s the thing.” -Shakespeare, Hamlet It’s not about you. It’s about the work, the work, the work. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is simply to avail yourself to the work at all times. Ask yourself where best can you fit in? How can you serve the piece? Be a medium. ChannelContinue reading “Mission Possible”

“Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water. Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass it.” -Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu (Stephen Mitchell translation) “Be like water my friend.” -Bruce Lee Take the most amazing, miraculous, purest element in the world–water–yet remove it’s ability to flow, and it tooContinue reading “Stagnation”

Towards the very end of the movie “Saving Private Ryan”, Captain John Miller (played by Tom Hanks) who’s about to die, tells the young Private James Ryan (played by Matt Damon) to “Earn This…Earn it.” Make no mistake, we’re here because of the sacrifices so many people made that came before us. In some cases,Continue reading “Earn This”

“I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I’m awake, you know?” -Ernest Hemingway “Sleep is the best meditation.” — Dalai Lama Put away the ice cream, turn off the television and the phone and go the f*ck to sleep. And when you wake up in the morning, read this excellentContinue reading “Go The F*ck To Sleep”

“For unless one is able to live fully in the present, the future is a hoax. There is no point whatever in making plans for a future which you will never be able to enjoy. When your plans mature, you will still be living for some other future beyond. You will never, never be ableContinue reading “Peaks & Valleys”

“It’s more than a feeling (more than a feeling)When I hear that old song they used to play (more than a feeling)I begin dreaming (more than a feeling)” -Boston, “More Than A Feeling” “That time of year thou mayst in me beholdWhen yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hangUpon those boughs which shake againstContinue reading “More Than A Feeling”

“Sal, we gotta go and never stop going ’till we get there.’‘Where we going, man?’‘I don’t know but we gotta go.”― Jack Kerouac, On the Road When it comes to making your art, either go fast or go slow. Nothing in between will do. When you go fast, you’ve got energy on your side. YouContinue reading “Fast Or Slow”

So many of the greatest books ever written from the Bible to “Meditations” to “War And Peace” to “Man’s Search For Meaning” share a common theme. That is: we can’t control our circumstances, we can only control our response. If that’s true, shouldn’t we spend far less time insulating or distracting ourselves from circumstances? AndContinue reading “Circumstances”