Monthly Archives: June 2017

Diane Paulus was thinking about mounting a production of Peter Pan.

Then, a viewing of Finding Neverland, the movie explaining Peters creation, sent her in a new direction. The Tony-winning director was captivated by the 2004 film starring Johnny Depp as Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie.

Its about the power of imagination, she says. Its about J.M Barrie as a writer breaking rules which I love in the theater.

Plus, she was inspired by a couple of other fans.

I watched it with my two girls, Paulus recalls. I saw their faces light up.

The rest, as they say, is history. The touring production of Broadway musical Finding Neverland, directed by Paulus, opens Tuesday, June 6, at Orlandos Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

The musical explains how playwright Barrie came to create Peter Pan through his involvement with an unusual family.

Her daughters, Paulus says, would dance to the shows pop-flavored music while it was in development. It opened in 2014 at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass., where Paulus is artistic director.

Now 10 and 12, her girls have grown up with the show, Paulus says. Finding Neverland debuted on Broadway in March 2015, with Matthew Morrison (Glee) and Kelsey Grammer (Frasier) in leading roles. It ran for more than a year.

I just always felt it was a show that could be shared across generations, says Paulus, who is based on New York. I saw the potential of kids coming to Finding Neverland and seeing the puzzle of how Captain Hook came to be, how did Tinker Bell happen?

Paulus, whose Tony came for the 2013 revival of Pippin, knows all-ages entertainment. She created Amaluna, a touring Cirque du Soleil show, and in 2003 directed The Golden Mickeys show for Disney Cruise Line. It would later also play at Hong Kong Disneyland, where it ran for more than a decade.

More people have seen The Golden Mickeys than any other show Ive created, she acknowledges with a chuckle.

Peter Pan wasnt part of that show He hadnt entered my life yet but Paulus has a theory on his storys enduring appeal.

Its about immortality, an immortality connected to the idea of a child, she says. A child inside us, the child we once were that maybe weve lost and that maybe we want to capture again.

mpalm@orlandosentinel.com

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Diane Paulus sees immortality in 'Finding Neverland' - Orlando Sentinel

The 2006 FIFA World Cup final between Italy and France in Berlin was delicately poised at 1-1 with 10 minutes to go in extra time when Zidane, after taking exception to remarks made by his opponent Marco Materazzi, sensationally head butted the defender and was sent off.

As France captain Zidane walked off the fieId, his glorious international career came to a stunning end.

Many fans around the world sympathised with the Frenchman who was clearly baited but the reality is that most of them will probably overlook his sublime contribution to the world game and will always remember him for his brain explosion in Berlin.

In much the same way as the little Argentine Diego Maradona will never be better known for his extraordinary exploits at the highest level than for his 'Hand of God' goal against England in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

Zidane's bewitching dribbling that got him out of impossible situations, his jaw-dropping free kicks that defied gravity, his two headers that gave France the 1998 World Cup and his special volley that helped Madrid win the 2002 Champions League will be overshadowed by the 'Materazzi moment'.

It's ridiculous, unfortunate, unfair and cruel but that's the way it is: we do live in an unappreciative and unforgiving world, after all.

Zidane has an opportunity to reach the peak of the coaching ranks by leading Madrid to their 12th European title when they face Juventus of Italy in Cardiff on Sunday (AEST).

This clash, involving two of his former clubs, gives him a chance to become one of only four people to win the competition as a player and a coach for a second time. The others are Miguel Munoz (1960, 1966), Pep Guardiola (2009, 2011) and Carlo Ancelotti (2003, 2007, 2014).

Victory over the 'Old Lady' would also make him the first coach since AC Milan's Arrigo Sacchi in 1990 to win the Champions League two years in a row and of course make Madrid the first team to retain the title since the 'Rossoneri' 27 years ago.

Zidane took over the Madrid job midway through last season and in the space of a few months moulded a team of high-profile stars into an unbeatable unit that went on to win the UCL.

This season they beat old rivals Barcelona and Atletico Madrid to the Spanish championship and are one match away from a notable double.

It is not unusual but certainly very hard to play entertaining winning football but Madrid under 44-year-old Zizou have managed to do this with deadly effect.

Zidane, arguably France's greatest ever footballer, will no doubt become the country's finest player and manager if he pulls off the Cardiff coup.

"You were the best player in the world and now you are simply the best coach in the world," Madrid president Florentino Perez said of his talisman during celebrations marking the club's latest championship win, their 33rd.

Even allowing for Perez's unbridled enthusiasm, few would argue with his statement.

"Every piece of advice he gives you is like gold dust and it helps you improve on the pitch," said Madrid's playmaker Luka Modric of Zidane.

Okay, some cynics would say 'give Zidane the Malaga job and we'll see how good he is'.

But the same could be said of high-profile managers Ancelotti, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, who do not exactly work with battling teams, do they?

And besides, football is littered with stories of top coaches failing miserably with star-studded teams at national and club level.

The final showdown at the Millennium Stadium will provide us with a storybook ending.

A Madrid win would confirm Zidane as a master manager and place him up there with the best of his contemporaries and consolidate Madrid's status as the world's greatest club in history.

Victory for Juve would seal the club's rise to the top from the ashes of Serie B and crown the amazing career of goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who continues to defy the critics at the age of 39.

No one would begrudge 'Gigi' a title that has eluded him for many years and one he so richly deserves.

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Zidane on the cusp of coaching immortality | : The World Game - SBS - The World Game (blog)

Grey Advertising Agency just celebrated its 100th year anniversary. To put that in context, Mad Men looks like a young un. To kickstart the next 100, the company asked every employee to have an EEG scan of their brains while wearing a 3D-printed bio-sensing, brainwave-monitoring headset. The scans were done while the employee was solving a work problem. A series of art works called Brain Portraits were created from the colorful scans, a reminder of a companys greatest asset the diversity of its employees and the different skills they bring to problem solving. A forward-thinking notion coming from a company that named itself after the grey walls (and suits) in their office.

To amplify the theme of diversity, Grey invited a series of thought leaders, all exploring the boundaries of creativity to address their employees. I was invited to sit in and listen to a Q&A with Martine Rothblatt. Rothblatt is the extreme embodiment of creativity, diversity and a borderless future.

Born Martin Rothblatt, Martine underwent gender reassignment surgery in the 90s to become Martine. Today, she is the CEO of United Therapeutics and the highest paid woman CEO in the US. Rothblatt created the company to help find a cure for her daughters health problem, pulmonary hypertension. In the process of finding a cure she managed to get a helicopter pilots license and learn a lot about using pig organs for transplants, because it had to be done. Before United Therapeutics, Rothblatt worked on two other pioneering companies, Sirius XM and GeoStar, both based on heavy-duty satellite expertise.

But its Rothblatts almost religious belief in immortality that gave the audience the most to chew on. For Rothblatt, its an ongoing story of the difference between borders and boundaries. Claiming that we are acculturated to going with the flow, Rothblatt believes that life imposes borders and we can push them. Boundaries, she says, like the end of the universe are a bit more finite.

Death is optional, she says. In a world obsessed with borders she postulates that when we begin to question borders as finite that innovation happens.

Rothblatt pushes the borders of what it means to be human and conscious. Consciousness, she argues, is a just a border, not a boundary.

Her proof point is an ongoing experiment with porting consciousness into inanimate objects. BINA48 is its embodiment. BINA is an anthropomorphic replica of Martines spouse, whose name, not coincidently, is Bina. (Since Bina was 48 years old when the project began, the robotic head designed by Hanson Robotics is named BINA48.) The disembodied head has thirty motors beneath BINAs lifelike face that let her run through the gamut of human emotions as she holds a conversation with you. Hundreds of hours of interviews with the real Bina have allowed BINA48 to capture her essence. Rothblatt believes that its through creations like BINA we can all achieve some degree of immortality. Transcendence, she says, is breaking the border between life and death. The boundary becomes a border or, as Rothblatt likes to say, prodigy integrates pedigree as we begin to upload consciousness into cyber-consciousness.

Hanson Robotics

In the near future, we will be able to visit with the consciousness of loved ones whove left their bodily form. And, on a less sci-fi note, there may be a payoff for companies to set a little time aside to think more colorfully.

Robin Raskin is founder of Living in Digital Times (LIDT), a team of technophiles who bring together top experts and the latest innovations that intersect lifestyle and technology. LIDT produces conferences and expos at CES and throughout the year focusing on how technology enhances every aspect of our lives through the eyes of todays digital consumer.

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Pondering Creativity, Immortality and Borders with a 100 Year Old Ad Agency - HuffPost