We all have two choices: We can make a living or we can design a life. – Jim Rohn

Birth Day 2011

With about a month left of the calendar year it’s easy for me to do some reflection. Today starts my journey on the back side of my 30′s. While they’ve been, at least, 100x better than my 20′s - 40 feels closer than it should.

I’m incredibly blessed to rub shoulders with an amazing group of intellectuals, artists, musicians, filmmakers and the list goes on. Their creativity inspires me in a very practical way.

The quote above was something that I thought was nice but wasn’t for me. I had too much to get past  (Or so I thought) – it couldn’t be as easy as making up my mind… but it is.

Here’s a couple life lessons from this year:

• The only person holding me back is in the mirror
• Plan, plan, plan. Otherwise all of life is going to be something you do next week.
• Don’t freak out if your planning starts to come together.
• Watch the documentary “His Way”. Tenacity is an undervalued virtue.
• Family has become more important to me than ever – Much love to Ryan & Kelly, Meridyth & Patrick, Joe & Jo, Sam & Brittany.
• People set goals, successful people have systems.
• The results you’re getting are perfectly suited to the system you’ve set up. If you don’t like the results, change the system.
• Take time away from constant stimuli – it’s a great reset.

This short film is part of the Stories from Skid Row series and I just love it. It cracks me up.

Kiera lives at Union Rescue mission with her Mom and Dad. Since spending the night on Skid Row last month with Andy Bales, Richard Riordan and EDAR.org creator Peter Samuelson. I’m not looking at this issue the same. Please donate to URM this month and help families like Kiera’s have a fighting chance to a better life.

Let me know what your favorite part is.

Idea Camp finished up last night. The topics, the people, and the content is lingering a lot more this time around.

The conference started with a whoosh  - Dr. Ted Roberts melted my brain in the initial session dropping statistics about porn and pastors. His talk about neurology, synapse and how the MRI scan comparisons of a porn addict to a cocaine addict and apparently they look the same.

This was followed up with the courage of so many get up and tell their stories of heartache, betrayal, and abuse to a group of strangers. It was terrifying, it was awe inspiring and it made me want to take a nap – my brain was overloaded.

There were story of Internet safety from predators, human trafficking, sexual violence, and exploitation linked to pornography.

….. do you feel the heaviness?

I definitely did.

Honestly, it was a great time. Seeing the vulnerability, the messy reality of how we can brutalize one another but it’s a lot of emotional energy.  There was also a great session with Dawn Carter on restoration and healing. I was a fan of Dawn before she facilitated the workshop but it was so good I had to keep looking at my phone to not break down. Follow Dawn on Twitter here.

The word on the street is that the sessions are soon going to be on the Idea Camp Vimeo Channel or Ustream or MediaSocial (I’ll update the post as soon as they launch) Their were two sessions that absolutely floored me  and they were back to back. First up, Angela Ferraro tells of ritual abuse (I had a chance to meet her and she’s a lovely woman) and then Nicole Wick, David Trotter and  Tony Wood talk about both sides of affairs – the hurting and the healing.

I don’t know if I can do it justice but I was amazed at the candor and tone of their panel.  There wasn’t any deferring of blame or even awkward shifting in their seats.  Just honesty and regret.  It was glorious and terrible and beautiful.

Overarching themes that are still sticking with me:

• Being vulnerable is an invitation for vulnerability
• We have a culture that delights in tearing others down (“Just look at comments on YouTube” -Mike Foster)

Massive thanks to Charles Lee and his team for making it happen.

I’ll post the video soon

PS. We launched the NEW PortnoyMediaGroup.com while at Idea Camp – Check it out and let me know what you think!

Last week I got an email from fellow Idea Camp-er Daniel Li, Senior Developer and Web Strategist for International Justice Mission. He gave me the heads up on a campaign that’s starting this summer. So I thought I’d share it with you today…

A slew of riders from around the country and passionate about the issue of modern slavery will be traveling the underground railroad. Under the guidance of Venture Expeditions, the team is starting from Mobile, AL on June 26th and finishing in Buffalo, NY on July 30th. The tour is designed to bring you along with the riders and experience the thrill ride of emotions of 5 weeks on the road. The crew will be stopping in each city to join up with celebrities and musicians, host rally’s and talk with thousands about how they can make their communities safer against human trafficking.

Why does this matter?

In the summer of 2007 I had no idea that modern day slavery was happening and when I got the news – it was like a load of bricks on my chest. At the age of 31, I felt like I had just found out about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny in the same minute. Most likely if you’re reading this you’re already aware of trafficking and it’s prevalence around the world and specifically in the U.S. So here’s my challenge/encouragement to you – Awareness is great, and it’s important. But if you’re aware, take steps to make others aware.. and once you’ve got a group together it’s just the beginning of your journey.

What does that look like?

If you live near one of the cities where the tour is stopping make a plan to attend. Bring your friends and while you’re there you’ll meet others who are like minded. We’re doing it in my community of Pasadena and it’s very encouraging.

Make a donation – all I have to do is start to picture myself in the shoes of one of the 27 Million slaves in the world and I find it very easy to give financially. Get Connected – Sign up for email updates, or text updates. Share it with your friends and community on facebook, twitter and tell your Aunt Lorraine.

The last piece, if you’ve got questions about any of this, shoot me an email or facebook message or tweet at me. I’ll be around today and I love meeting people who are passionate about this issue.

So let’s get Active – Check out the links

IJM’s Vimeo Channel – chock full of videos and rider testimonials

Below is a quick interview I did yesterday with Amy Roth from IJM

Big high fives to powerhouses Grafik and Capital Idea Ventures (CIV) for their work on getting everything ready to go in such short order.

PS. I didn’t get paid for this… because that would be lame.

Usually the Friday Morning Meeting is a filmmaker term used for the meetings that take place the Morning that your movie comes out.  It’s important for cast and Crew to have good meeting because it ensures a good showing for their next project regardless of the box office take. This is also the pinnacle of buzz surrounding a movie.

I have a Friday Morning Meeting too.. and it’s one of my favorite things to do in Los Angeles.

Each Friday that a big blockbuster is coming out my good friends and I head to our local cinema and take it in. The group is diverse, from producers to writers and cinematographers to the an enthusiast like myself.  It’s a great time because LA movie theaters open at 10 and we can usually beat the rush and the hype to the box office while making our own opinions about that weeks movie.

There something about getting a cup of coffee and sitting in a mostly empty theater with other enthusiasts taking in the big film of the week.  The movie is usually followed by a conversation over lunch about the movie and it’s a real treat to hear about it from the different perspectives from the true film auteur to the ‘splosions guy.

We kicked off this season of fun this past weekend with Iron Man 2 and it was a great time.  It’s hard to not be a fan of guys like Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. in this movie. A great continuations

Soon we’ll be checking out the highly anticipated lineup of the summer with films like Inception, The A-Team, The Other Guys, Predators, Toy Story 3 and pretty much everything in between. I love the guys I get to experience these films with and it’s usually a lot of laughing.

Do you have any film rituals?