How Organizing Principles Guide Your Life
What movies, magicians, and a legendary writer taught me about finding a clear path to success
Movie season is like Christmas in the Brison household.
Every year, we line up the best picture nominees, grab a pile of snacks, and sit down for waves of spine-tingling inspiration and gut-wrenching despair.
The Sound of Metal took both of those emotions to a new level. The story of a musician going deaf coupled with exquisite sound design made the movie hard to watch in the best possible way.
The story behind the story is even more fascinating.
Riz Ahmed’s — the film’s lead — wore custom inserts that emitted a constant high-frequency pitch. When you see him in character shaking his head and pulling his ears, it wasn’t him faking deafness.
He could feel it.
“[The inserts] don’t even allow him to hear his own voice,” the film’s director reported in the New York Times. “He’s reacting to a very physical process…it’s what gives rise to a loss of balance and real loss of control.”
Secrets like this make movie magic seem like simple smoke and mirrors, and similar legends are littered throughout Hollywood. Hugh Jackman disobeys doctor’s orders and…
