The Final Episode of Serial, Season One (Spoiler)

To sum up my feelings: I loved it.  See, the premise of the podcast wasn’t “based on a true story”. It was a real life story, with an unscripted plot line and an ever open ended conclusion.  Like life.  

If you were let down by the conclusion of the podcast, you’ve spent too much time watching Hollywood movies and TV dramas, enjoying the nice little bow at the end. 

Real life doesn’t fit into your script, your box, your expectations.  And certainly doesn’t provide the endings and outcomes you usually desire.  Sarah Koenig didn’t take liberty with the finale and didn’t succumb to giving listers anything that wasn’t authentic and true.  

Maybe Sarah’s the real story here, not Adnan, for providing a magnetic podcast, getting under people’s skin, developing her own “isms” and then having to live out her newly found fame in real time, right before our ears, while the expectations of her built and built each week from the outside world.

She didn’t buckle. She didn’t fabricate.  She gave all that she genuinely could while staying true to the very thing that roped us all in to begin with.  Herself.

I feel satisfied with episode 12, like I listened to, digested, and discussed with my friends something that was worth while.

The strangest feeling I have from the finale is coming to the conclusion that even if Adnan is guilty, he should’t be in jail.  

Because our justice system has nothing to do with the truth.  At it’s best, it only concerns itself with what you can prove.  Is that messed up? Is it the way it should be? Is there a better way?

The other little side note I thought of during this episode is…just because Jay knew where Hae’s car was when the officers interviewed him, doesn’t mean that’s where the car was since the day Hae disappeared.  What if someone put it there after the fact?  Or what if Jay only knew the car was there cause he just happened to be doing a drug deal there at some point in the month after Hae disappeared?

Cause if you can call into question the car thing from Jay’s story, it all falls apart…if it hadn’t already.

I know there will be a follow up article or podcast once the DNA testing is complete.  

I won’t be refreshing the Serial website, holding my breath for an official update (and neither will you, cause the truth is, we care more about entertainment than justice), but when when Sarah Koenig asks for my attention again, I’ll give it to her. She earned it.

A Few Good Books

A good friend of mine threw out the challenge at the beginning of 2014 to read one non-fiction book per month.  A pretty common challenge probably, but this was the first time I’d decided to commit to it.

I won’t bore you with my entire reading list, cause I did complete the challenge’s parameters, but wanted to pass along a few books that I think will help you and could make life better…

Boundaries- the only book I took time to read twice this year.  Henry Cloud does an excellent job of showing you that its ok to draw lines in your relationships.  Not out of spite or arrogance, but love and compassion for both yourself and others.  If you don’t read any other book in 2015, read this one.  I’m serious, just read it.

15 Invaluable Laws Of Growth- this book does an amazing job of speaking into many areas of life (personal, business, spiritual, etc), and encourages you to make a plan.  You can wander into the wilderness but you can’t wander out.  The mistake I made with this book was not reading it with a partner, talking and writing out the thoughts and questions that come at the end of each chapter.  I think that could be pretty huge.  I’ll probably try to do that in 2015.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad- this was the book that got me into and paying attention to personal finance six or seven years ago.  Going back and reading it again, I don’t agree with all the principals but does a great job of robbing you of excuses and redefining what real education is, where you can get it and what it’s worth.  Maybe this could be your introduction to getting interested in your own finances too.

So now I’ll pass along the challenge to you.  Reading a book per month really helped me in lots of ways, furthering thoughts and ideas I already had and also introducing new ones.  Will you commit to reading one non-fiction book per month in 2015?

Inspired To Find Inspiration

I spend too much time clicking around.  You do too.  I’m not a junkie for the funny videos or the crazy ones or the fail videos…I’m looking for inspiration.  In the form of a video, a song, an article, a tweet. I’ll take it anyway I can get it.

But I’ve realized that finding an inspiring video only makes me hungry for more inspiration.

I just want more of that phycological and emotional pop.

So the end result is the same as being a junkie for any other type of material.  If you love funny videos, you find one and then you want more so you click on the next one.  It’s hilarious so you keep clicking and clicking. Till when? Till they’re not funny anymore.  And then you walk away feeling a little let down.  Definitely not as elated as the beginning of your journey.

It’s the same thing with inspiration.  Instead of putting inspiration into action, I put inspiration into finding inspiration, and I’m always let down when that happens.

When I was a kid I was inspired by the Mighty Ducks movie.  I would watch it and immediately go to the pond out back and put on my ice skates and try to improve my 8yr old hockey skills.

I want to do that more.  Not the hockey part. The DOING part. 

30 Seconds To Mars Documentary: Artifact

I’m killing a bunch of time at a hotel in Valdosta, GA and just finished watching the 30 Seconds To Mars documentary called Artifact.  I’m a couple years behind.  Should you watch it? Yes, it’s worth your time.

A few of the most interesting things about it:

1. Jared Leto- I’ve never really liked him.  I think he’s a good actor but every time I’ve seen him interviews, awards shows, or in person, he’s always comes off as a self indulgent narcissist who is trying so incredibly hard to be thought of as creative and artsy.  I can just feel it.  And your vibe is important.

But I’ll say this. After watching the documentary, while he still comes off as arrogant and self important, I totally get his deal.  I get why so many people all around the world love him and his band.  He’s willing to be a thing, speak a certain way, do things in a consistent manor that draws people in enough to have an opinion one way or the other.  Gotta give him credit.

The very essence of Jared Leto that drives me away from him is the same thing that makes him magnetic to so many others.  If every artist could have such vision.

2.  Artists want a record deal/label because they think the label is going to provide leadership and a plan.  And 99% of artists can’t come up with this on their own or within their team.  

It’s funny watching this documentary even 2 years after the fact, hearing people like Irving Azoff, Jason Flom and Bob Lefsetz talk about the state of the music business and where it’s headed.  Most of their commentary is already incredibly outdated.  

So, why does 30 Seconds To Mars and their management team end up resigning with EMI?  Because they believed that EMI would provide channels of success via a plan, money and leadership to make the band more successful

If the artist is the owner of their own company, why aren’t the artists doing the leading?  Taking ownership of their team?  Keeping their rough edges that make them an artist but hiring enough good and talented people to have a team that is rounded out?

3. The borrower is always slave to the lender.  The older I get the more I realize nearly every cliche I’ve heard is true.  Do you want to be in the drivers seat? Don’t borrow money from a record label.  

Do you want to be a band that breaks the mold?  Keeps creative control?  Revolutionizes the music industry all over again?  Maintains freedom?  Are you willing to truly be a leader of your team? Are you willing to point the finger at yourself for both the success and the failure of your career? Don’t borrow money from anyone.

I didn’t say don’t work with a record label. I didn’t say don’t work with others.  I didn’t say you could do it all on your own.  You can’t.

But this idea that an artist can borrow $10,000 or $100,000 or $5,000,000 and think they still hold the reigns of their band. Ha!

Your band borrowing money changes the entire landscape of your business structure. For the worse.  A structure that YOU are the leader of, because they’re YOUR songs and if you/your band “step down”, the entire entity ceases to exist.  

Find a better way.

The most inspiring thought in Artifact comes right near the end…

“Some kid is going to write a song, and he’s gonng figure it out, and he’s gonna sell a hundred million copies of his single, by himself.  He’s going to make a billion dollars…and that’s going to be the new beginning”

I’ll refine it a little and say this:

Some kid is going to write a really great song and a relatively small team, with revolutionary leadership, is going to make that song heard and known by the majority of the people on the planet and they’re gonna make a billion dollars.  And that’s going to be the new beginning.

If You're Not Listening To Serial

You need to be.

The season one finale is next Thursday and you need to be on board when it either comes together or falls apart.

People say that the public doesn’t have an attention span anymore, that we need explosions, special effects, sex or at least a visual medium to stay engaged.  I can’t tell you how many musicians boo-hoo about that fact that they can’t get anyone to listen to their 40 min album.  

They would if it was as good as Serial.

The success of Serial literally harkens back the days (which I wasn’t around for) of sitting around the radio set listening to a Sunday night murder mystery.

Only this story is real. And there’s 12 episodes of 30-50 mins each.  It has millions and millions of downloads/listens!  Don’t tell me people don’t have time for your album. They do! It just has to be really really great.

And I’ll tell you this too, Serial is even better when you listen to it a second time through.  I picked up on more details.  I kept the details of everyone’s timelines better.  There were alternate moments from the first listen that I thought different characters were more guilty and less guilty. (Jen knows much more than she’s telling, obviously)  

This thing is worth getting in to.

Is your album or show worth getting in to? Is it as good as Serial? Is it as riveting as Interstellar?  Is there as much visible passion as the Alabama/Auburn game?

Your competing for people’s time and you’re competing with all the platforms for that time.  That’s the new system.  The internet.

If Sarah Koenig can pull off a climactic season finale next week, she will be knighted and ushered in as The Beatles of 2014.  She will be the queen of the castle.  Everyone’s hero.  Everyone’s champion.  Everyone’s personal storyteller that everyone else found out about.

Go and listen: http://serialpodcast.org

Your Band Has Problems

Every step you climb on the ladder of success, you will be handing off one set of problems for another.

The second you leave your bedroom with your guitar and decide to play for more than your pillows, there will be problems that take you to the edge.  And have the power to push you over it.

When you start out, you lose sleep over the fact that no one will email you back to book a show.  It’s enraging.  I’ve been there. Don’t they know how good your band is? You worked so hard on your Facebook page and everything.

You think “man if we could just get these shows booked, THEN things would really be happening”.

If you’re not careful, you will repeat the previous sentence everyday of your career with a different stress/problem/anxiety ridden thought replacing the first part.

Remember, the only reason you’re dealing with the problems you have today is because you’ve achieved the level of success you have.  Appreciate it.  

Katy Perry doesn’t worry about booking shows.  You don’t worry about putting your reputation on the line at the SuperBowl. 

There’s a long line of monsters waiting for you. One at a time. Bring your slingshot.