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Tamir Moscovici: Filmmaker Mar 08, 2017

Show notes

Tamir Moscovici can’t wait to get up in the morning and go to work. He’s a gifted storyteller and telling stories on film is what he gets to do for a living. The most important benefit of loving his work the way he does? Perhaps surprisingly, he says it’s because he gets to show his two young children that it’s possible to love what you do for a living while still looking after your family. It seems that if he can convey that life lesson, it’s more important than any accolade or award he wins for his films — and he has won plenty.

To understand what makes this talented filmmaker tick, we chose three of his films as a means of exploring his remarkable career in this in-depth interview:

We start with Urban Outlaw, Moscovici’s profile of Magnus Walker, an iconoclast of the Porsche world and a legend in his own right. Moscovici knew he had the subject for his next project the instant he saw Walker profiled on the pages of Total 911, a Porsche magazine based in the UK. Tamir was instantly drawn to the fact that Walker didn’t look like any Porsche guy he had ever seen before — he was more like somebody he would find on the set of one of his films rather than restoring highly sought after sports cars in downtown Los Angeles. The resulting film has wide audience appeal, well beyond the usual gear-heads you would expect. It’s what Moscovici intended — a mere car film was too easy. The result illustrates Walker’s philosophy which mirrors the filmmaker’s: you can do what you love and still put bread on the table. And then some.

Kaz: Pushing the Virtual Divide is Moscovici’s feature-length documentary about Kazunori Yamauchi, the ghost-like genius behind the Gran Turismo driving simulator franchise. As with Walker, the appeal of this film goes well beyond the video game community that is was largely intended to attract. Kaz is the story of a beautiful obsession and quest for perfection in a digital world, bringing the same zen-like qualities and dedication to craftsmanship usually reserved for more traditional Japanese arts. Moscovici knits together a dazzling array of diverse elements for a finished film which is mesmerizing, thought provoking and highly entertaining. And Moscovici returns to the theme of work that goes beyond a mere means of earning money and paying the bills — it can be a calling.

We complete our study with the curiously named Painting Coconuts the film about David Beattie who, at mid-life, was forced to re-think his whole life plan after being laid-off from his conventional Detroit desk job. Once again, Moscovici focuses on the passion that Beattie infused into the next chapter of his life, which was to return to a boyhood obsession of his own: slot car racing. But these are not the usual, snap together, black plastic variety from our Christmases as kids. Rather Beattie’s tracks are superbly detailed, entirely bespoke works of art that are simply stunning to behold. Beattie can’t keep up with demand from a global customer base. He also talks about the importance of finding a vocation as opposed to just a job. Do what you love and the rewards — monetary and otherwise — will eventually come.

Watching these films and in talking with Moscovici about them, we finally had that ‘ah-ha’ moment — Tamir consistently returns to the theme of a passion for craft as a way of life and as a way of making a living. Moscovici’s philosophy, as articulated by the subjects of his films and his making of them, is that you can do both in a seemingly effortless manner.

Dr. Sean Morrison: Stem Cell Researcher Feb 03, 2017

Show notes

$150-million over 10 years. It could easily have been an announcement about the signing of the latest phenom in the NHL, NBA or NFL. Dr. Sean Morrison even jokes that if had won the genetic lottery for size, strength and speed, playing centre for the Montreal Canadiens would have been high on his list of his dreams as a kid. But it turned out that he had other talents into which he could channel his fiercely competitive nature and relentless curiosity about the world around him.

Dr. Sean Morrison at the Children’s Medical Research Insitute in Dallas, Texas. In his case, the one-hundred-and-fifty large ones— and two empty floors of an office tower — were the resources he received to start an entirely new organization, the Children’s Medical Research Institute at UT Southwestern in Dallas, Texas. It was one of the largest offers in the history of academia. More importantly, it was an entirely blank canvas onto which he could paint the research institute of his remarkable imagination. When asked what he thought about the enormity of the challenge that lay before him at that time, he remembers coming up with just one word:

“Cool!”

It succinctly and yet accurately sums up both the man and his work. It all started, when he was just a kid, with an award-winning high school science project catalyzed with a summer science program called SHAD. That eventually resulted in the agricultural biotech startup Endogro Systems which Sean co-founded with his friend Brent Walker. They were so young that while they had signed a shareholders agreement, they were too young to be legally bound by it. Endogro’s promise was enormous — to change agriculture by replacing chemical fertilizers with a biological equivalent to increase crop yields. He continued with that work as he entered Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia to study biology and chemistry. However, Endogro was eventually dealt a cruel blow by the 1987 stock market crash. With that, there was no way to raise the necessary capital to take Endogro to the next stage of growth.

This inflection point gave Sean the opportunity to think deliberately about where he wanted to take his career next. He came to a startling conclusion: if he was going to devote his life to being the best he could be at something, it was going to be in a field that engendered a truly “visceral” reaction in the public it served. For him, that meant just one thing: medical research. If that wasn’t a sufficiently hard target, he decided to focus on the most intractable problems of cancer therapies and in particular the groundbreaking use of stem cells in that fight. After Dalhousie, he studied first at Stanford with Dr. Irv Weissman and then at Caltech with Professor David Anderson, both world-renowned experts in the field. He spent more than a decade at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor continuing the work as a member of the faculty. He was happy there not only in the work he was undertaking and its impact but, as he half-jokingly says, “there is more hockey in Ann Arbor than there is anywhere else in the world.”

Then the call from UT Southwestern came and eventually the dream offer to start his own lab — from scratch. We sat down with Dr. Sean Morrison at his now up-and-running, built-out lab. The interview is a highly engaging story of a remarkable career. What’s more, you get a strong sense that you’re catching Sean mid-arc; that there is so much of the story yet to be told.
Sean Morrison is endowed with many talents but it’s the intersection of three that make him unique: he’s a gifted scientist endowed with amazing technical skills coupled with an ability to attract top talent to form teams “optimized for discovery and innovation.” Add to that a lifelong history of entrepreneurship rooted in the belief that science for its own sake doesn’t help humanity; discoveries have to get out into the public and solve real, human problems. Finally, Sean is an extraordinarily articulate communicator. Not only is he able to take his enormously complex field of study and make it understandable for anybody, he does it was an enthusiasm you can almost feel.
Join us for our in-depth interview with Dr. Sean Morrison. He makes science, well, as he says…“Cool!”

Wayne Thomas Yorke: Actor Jan 19, 2017

Show notes

From the time he donned the robes of Friar Tuck in a fourth grade staging of Robin Hood, Wayne Thomas Yorke knew he had found his home. It was on the stage, a passion which he is not able to easily explain other than it was a place where he felt comfortable “goofing around” because everybody else was doing exactly the same thing. It was in ninth grade, when he appeared in a high school play, when he first realized that acting was a viable option for a future career. For him, it was pretty simple: it was the only thing he really ever wanted to do.

In a serendipitous turning point at the end of high school, he was first accepted to Canada’s National Theatre School which would have likely put him on the path to more formal live theatre. In a seemingly cruel turn of events at the time, he was contacted a week later and told the coveted spot had been eliminated due to budget cuts. In a move that was to become a hallmark of his highly successful career, he did not dwell on the disappointment but rather made a quick, positive pivot to attend Studio 58 in Vancouver. It was to lead him to a decade of steady work on stage and screen in his home town.

In a second turn of seemingly random events, Yorke headed to Los Angeles — Hollywood — not with a dewey-eyed dream of stardom but rather just the simple need to get away for a while after a heartrending breakup. A few months in the California sun seemed to be the right prescription to get him back on track. More than twenty-five years later, he’s still there, married with two kids and a veteran of feature films, hit television shows, over 150 television commercials and many projects on the stage. By every conceivable definition, Wayne Yorke is a true rarity — somebody who went to Hollywood and made it.

In this wide ranging interview, we talk with Wayne about his career journey including his early discovery and subsequent, lifelong fascination with Hollywood’s Golden Age: the one populated with Laurel & Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle and the Marx Brothers. We go on to talk about his early days learning the craft, through to his first professional engagements and then to international recognition in television and movies. Along the way, we talk about the keys to success and happiness in Hollywood. We also talk about the changing nature of the entertainment business as it struggles to keep up with changes in technology, the business environment and consumer tastes. He also provides great advice for aspiring actors considering the same path.
Wayne is quick to credit good fortune for the amazing life he has led. But in talking with him, you get a much stronger sense that he has a vision uncluttered by competing professional ambitions. He knew what he wanted and has never lost that focus over the course of his life. Every gig, no matter how big or small, he throws himself into abandon and infectious joy and we are all the richer for it.

Join us as we talk with Wayne Thomas Yorke, and take a little bit of that journey with him.

Philip Raby: Automotive Writer Dec 29, 2016

Show notes

Porsches are sometimes called ‘bookend’ cars. You buy one at the first hint of disposable income coming your way and sell it when spouse, house and family come calling. Then a decade or two or three goes by. Just as you get a sense that life may be passing you by, you convince yourself that you’ve once again earned a Porsche. Maybe even a red one.

Now imagine a life where the Porsche obsession takes hold early, in the usual way, but then you get to indulge that passion all the time for a living. This is Phil Raby’s world.

Although Raby convincingly claims he never specifically planned his life this way, outwardly it sure looks like it. Discovering that his early, default career choice of marine electronics engineer simply wasn’t for him, he returned to art college to study photography and soon landed his first job at EOS, a photography magazine. There he was able to pursue his passion for photography, design, writing and eventually leading teams of people to produce top quality printed journals.

With a growing reputation and a body of work to which he could refer, there came a time when he knew an important personal milestone was within his grasp. He took the bold step of writing an unsolicited letter to the UK-based quarterly 911 and Porsche World with an offer to provide his services. Perhaps surprisingly, the publisher eventually wrote back with the offer of a job. Raby contributed a lot to building it into a mature, monthly publication with a robust and growing readership. He did this by routinely driving fast, fantastic cars and capturing them in artfully crafted words and pictures.

Phil was far from being done and felt that there was some creative instinct not yet satisfied. His response was to co-found, edit and publish Total 911 magazine which reflected not only his design sense for what a high end car magazine should look like, but also satisfied an entrepreneurial streak. After launching and growing it successfully, he sold Total 911 but continued to edit the magazine as it entered the digital age.

All the while he was nurturing a kernel of a new business. It turns out helping out friends buy and sell Porsches was a tidy little business as well, which ultimately became Philip Raby Porsche, a boutique, pre-owned Porsche dealership. He has not abandoned his core passion however — far from it — as he contributes a regular monthly column and other articles to GT Porsche magazine.

Most recently he has written a new book, Save Your Life, where he has tried to capture his ‘unplanned plan’ for work/life balance – or as he prefers to call it work/leisure balance. With the enviable life that Phil Raby has led so far, it’s advice we would all do well to heed.

Dr. Robert Thirsk: Astronaut | Engineer | Physician | University Chancellor Nov 29, 2016

Show notes

Dr. Robert Thirsk isn’t ready to write his autobiography – yet. You would think someone who qualified first as a mechanical engineer then as a medical doctor and then became an astronaut and is now a university chancellor there would already be lots to put in at least one book. But Bob Thirsk, at 63, believes there’s lots more life to live. He describes himself, first and foremost, as an explorer. Quite simply he says there is lots more to explore before he writes his memoire.

It would be quite easy to imagine his broad and varied qualifications represent a “scattergun” approach to career planning. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the time he was in grade three – when an inspired teacher brought a radio into class and let the students listen to John Glenn as he orbited Earth – Bob knew there was just one career destination for him: space. All of his qualifications were a carefully organized curriculum to get him there. Ultimately, it was a stay to last for a combined total of 204 days in orbit.

Bob credits his father for inspiring him to dream “big hairy audacious dreams” and, equally, his mother for instilling him the organizational skills that enabled him to achieve them. He also credits countless others who he has been “blessed” to know and who have contributed to his efforts over the years. It’s modesty and it’s not false. He truly believes that without the support of his wife, parents, family and his ‘other’ family – those that have supported him along the way – none of what he has achieved would have been so.

In this wide-ranging, extensive, thoughtful interview Bob Thirsk talks about the ferocious determination, drive and patience it took to get to orbit, life once he got there and how it has transformed him, and what you do after you have just climbed one of life’s biggest professional mountains. While clearly a man of science, he also brings real humanity to the endeavour. He feels a strong sense of responsibility to relate his experiences to others so they too, can dream big and achieve those dreams. He believes that the platform on which those dreams is built is advanced education for which he is a powerful, persuasive and compelling advocate.

Having seen Earth from orbit, Bob talks with great eloquence about the beauty of the planet but also the challenges it faces: from climate change to whether Earth's “seven billion astronauts” can learn to get along. However, he is ultimately an optimist. He thinks human space travel can make us think more like global citizens and collectively we can address these problems and get beyond them. After that, we’re going to Mars, and onwards. His infectious passion is irresistible and makes you believe it’s all really going to happen.

As in his own life, Bob thinks we Earthlings should dream big dreams, do our best to achieve them, think about what’s next and then dream some more.

Dave Thomas, Publisher Emeritus, The Pragmatic Bookshelf (Part 3) Sep 30, 2016

Show notes

In this third and final part of our interview, we talk with Dave about his life after retiring from his life as a publisher. We start with his thoughts on agile (both as a noun and as an adjective) as well as the use and value of spoken and written language in the digital age. We talk about society's relationship with the book and whether there is in fact a future for bookstores as we currently know them. We wrap up with what advice Dave can offer the next generation of programmers.

Dave Thomas, Publisher Emeritus, The Pragmatic Bookshelf (Part 2) Sep 13, 2016

Show notes

In this, the second part of the interview, we pick up the story when Dave first met Andy Hunt. Dave and Andy co-founded The Pragmatic Bookshelf after they had already written and published books with Addison-Wesley. We learn about Dave and Andy's motivations for starting The Bookshelf, the trials and tribulations of getting it up and running, and what the future holds for publishing in general and the printed book.Dave recently retired from The Bookshelf, but remains involved as Publisher Emeritus and is still keenly interested in the overall objective of The Bookshelf which is simply to make programmers better.

Dave Thomas, Publisher Emeritus, The Pragmatic Bookshelf (Part 1) Sep 01, 2016

Show notes

In this, part one of our interview, Dave reflects on his early influences, his formal education at Imperial College in London, making the leap into the commercial software development world and laying the foundation for both his writing and publishing careers. We also talk about that little bit of Dave that is heading for outer space. Finally in this part, Dave takes time to reflect on formal education and provides some surprising thoughts on whether or not there is still value in post-secondary studies. He even proposes a new, alternative curriculum which is more closely aligned with the times in which we now find ourselves.

PREVIEW: Dave Thomas, Publisher Emeritus, The Pragmatic Bookshelf Aug 30, 2016

Show notes

Dave Thomas is co-founder of The Pragmatic Bookshelf, co-author of the landmark books The Pragmatic Programmer, Programming Ruby and Agile Web Development with Rails as well as many other titles. Dave is also a highly sought after as a keynote speaker, an enthusiastic and popular educator and a true icon of the modern software development industry. In this preview of the groundbreaking three part interview, Dave talks about his early career influences, gives us a peek inside The Pragmatic Bookshelf, and then talks about what's next for him and the industry. Along the way, Dave provides his thoughts on the future of publishing, books and even the state of higher education and language today. It's a thought-provoking, compelling and entertaining interview.

Michael C. Smith, Olympic Decathlete Aug 16, 2016

Show notes

Our full interview with Michael C. Smith, three time Olympic Decathlete. When he was just 18 years old Canadian Olympic Coach Andy Higgins knocked on the door of Michael Smith's parents home in Kenora, Ontario. After seeing Michael at various junior meets, Andy just knew that Michael had what it took to be a world class Olympic decathlete. Just one week later, Michael was launched on a 13 year odyssey that would take him to the Seoul, Barcelona and Atlanta Olympic Games. We talk with Michael about his Olympic experiences, what it’s like to be a role model for younger athletes, his early influences and his professional life after athletics.

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