Matthew’s Blog

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Milwaukee International Film Festival.

http://www.MilwaukeeFilmFest.org

For the past seven years my folks and I have made a pilgrimage every September to the Toronto International Film Festival and had a blast. This year we opted to stay local and try out the MIFF. Much to our surprise we were quite impressed. It was well run, efficient, and high quality in choice of movies to show.

Downside to the MIFF - theatres are too spread out as Milwaukee has lost a lot of the down town movie theatres. The upside: the majority of the films are shown in three great art houses and next year if the Avalon chooses to join they’ll have four.

The majority of the films are shown at The Downer (2 screens), The Oriental (3 screens), and the Times Cinema. The Oriental is Milwaukee’s jewel of a theatre, a movie palace of old in an East Indian theme with bejeweled giant Buddhas, elephants and panthers.

I have a feeling we will be going back to Toronto next year as we discovered that our annual pilgrimage was more than about just seeing cool new movies and movies not likely to play in the Midwest. We found that being local, we were unable to escape our lives and daily responsibilities and truly enjoy each other’s company, the restaurants, culture, and the fabulous host city. MIFF might provide an opportunity to see films that we missed in Toronto as it is a month later.

Malcolm Cohan, Vision Story creator extraordinaire, is coming in from Australia to meet all of us wonderful thought leaders and change magicians! Malcolm is the Visionary who started the ViSION Statement craze on YouTube. Malcolm is helping people create POWERFUL Vision Story/ Statement videos.

I was introduced to this man when George Johnson sent me this link along the lines of “You’ve gotta see this! You’re really going to align with this guy!” Boy was he right!

At the time Malcolm’s website had three really powerful vision stories that just knocked my socks off. One was called “Think It So” and the other “Vision for Humanity. The second made me cry. He is currently redoing those two movies and will show the later at our gathering, but I found a copy of the original Vision for Humanity on google.

George was so inspired that I think he is becoming Malcolm’s business manager. George has a 2 minute talk about why he invited Malcolm to come to Minnesota. view video

Malcolm will be here for about a week where he’ll be meeting with the great thought leader energy that Minnesota attracts and keeps.

COME MEET HIM!

George and I have coordinated, well mostly George, an introduction to Malcolm evening program at Horst Rechelbacher’s (founder of Aveda) newest endeavor Intelligent Nutrients. If you haven’t been there you are in for a real treat! Amazing atmosphere, great food, and conscious business.

It will be from 5-7 Tuesday evening the 5th of June at The IN with free hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar. YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS.

Preregister with me if you want to come to the Tuesday evening event so we get a proper head count.

What is a Vision Story/Statement?
It’s an awesome little movie that you make about your future. Write down some very bold statements about what you want, combine this with powerful royalty free images, add in a music track that totally inspires you and there you have your audacious vision of the future.

Want to see some examples click on any of the movies on Malcolm’s homepage, these were all made by students, colleagues, friends of Malcolm.  They are awesome.
http://www.malcolmcohan.com.  If you come to Rocket Ship Minnesota you can learn how to make one too.

Rocket Ship Minnesota Seminar
Malcolm will also be giving on SUNDAY the 10th of June at the Holiday Inn Select (MCA’s new home) in Bloomington from 10am-6pm. Malcolm calls these seminars Rocket Ships because it will take you to a place you have never been before. In this seminar you will learn how to make a ViSION Statement Video and about Malcolm’s “Vision for Humanity.”
To register for the seminar and to learn more about Malcolm goto www.entrevis.com

I’ve just had a great two days with poet David Whyte.  We were playing with courageous conversations.   He shared with us last night one that is still ringing in my ears.

Sometimes

Sometimes
if you move carefully
through the forest,

breathing
like the ones
in the old stories,

who could cross
a shimmering bed of leaves
without a sound,

you come
to a place
whose only task

is to trouble you
with tiny
but frightening requests,

conceived out of nowhere
but in this place
beginning to lead everywhere.

Requests to stop what
you are doing right now,
and

to stop what you
are becoming
while you do it,

questions
that can make
or unmake
a life,

questions
that have patiently
waited for you,

questions
that have no right
to go away.

~David Whyte from Everything Is Waiting For You

I had a fantastic opportunity this weekend to share with people the work I have been noodling for about 10 years now about what is going on in the world and what is emerging. Its comes from a place of what I do best - integrating complex ideas and weave the common thread amongst them.

It is a speech about hope for business and all of us. I am looking for continued opportunities to present this material to a wider audience. Click on the title to go to the speech’s website.
Making the World Round Again
Speech/Presentation by Matthew Egan Rochte
While pessimism rules and hope appears scarce, a recent convergence of business, science, and spirituality is creating conscious capitalism and restoring hope to the future.

Presented at the Northland Bioneers Conference on Oct 21st 2006
Resource Sheet handed out at the Northland Bioneers Conference (pdf)
http://www.makingtheworldroundagain.com