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Lessons From Failure Of Burning Barn Productions Unlock Success Rules That Drive You Forward (Part II)

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success rule

Inspired by such classic films as The Battle of the Bulge, Burning Barn Products reached its peak with the release of The Battle of Dortmund Circle. Still from the movie.

As revealed previously, (see “Lessons From Failure Of Burning Barn Productions Unlock Success Rules That Drive You Forward (Part I),” Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel, April 10, 2025), we couldn’t move forward towards success without understanding the initial lesson. After learning our first success rule—get one ally before rallying the group—we were ready to turn dreams into movies. Convincing your peers to jump into the unknown isn’t easy. That’s what my brother Kenny and I faced when our neighborhood film making ambitions took off.

With my brother backing me, it was easy to convince the other boys to go along.

Hmm, maybe not that easy. There were initially too many objections. Remember, we were Continue Reading “Lessons From Failure Of Burning Barn Productions Unlock Success Rules That Drive You Forward (Part II)”

Lessons From Failure Of Burning Barn Productions Unlock Success Rules That Drive You Forward (Part I)

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The sun shone brightly in this opening still from 1973’s surprise hit Operation Sandtrap

Admit it. You’ve never heard of Burning Barn Productions—and frankly, why would you? It never made the Oscars. Heck, it never even made VHS. But its epic failure holds the keys to your next big win—because sometimes the lessons hidden in our disasters burn brighter than our successes ever could.

More likely, you looked at the title and instantly thought, “What is Burning Barn Productions?” You couldn’t care less about it failing—companies fail all the time—you just wanted to know if it produced movies or television shows. You were curious if you’d ever seen one of their productions.

Chances are, and I can almost guarantee this, you never saw either of the two movies that made it out of the production room. Yes, they were shown to live audiences, but if you’re Continue Reading “Lessons From Failure Of Burning Barn Productions Unlock Success Rules That Drive You Forward (Part I)”

Film Vs. TV: A M*A*S*H Revelation

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M*A*S*H 1970 Film Poster Distributed by 20th Century Fox. Source: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A while back, a friend asked to borrow our copy of the movie M*A*S*H. He was so excited. He watched the TV series diligently and remains a fan of it to this day. He was so excited to see the movie.

Now, normally I don’t lend things from my library. I’ve learned that’s the quickest way to create a permanent hole in my shelf. But I trusted this guy, so I lent him the movie.

He returned the movie with no expression on his face. I asked him what he thought. He answered, “It was… different.”

Yes. Yes, it was.

The movie M*A*S*H feels more like Animal House. The TV series “M*A*S*H” may have started out like the movie, but it ended with a sense of “Little House On The Prairie.” Between the two, we saw our culture shift.

But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.

We’ll start with the TV series. The television viewing world buzzed with anticipation when Continue Reading “Film Vs. TV: A M*A*S*H Revelation”

Day 29 – December 12, 2009 (Sat): Find Followers on Your New Timeline

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Start of Day Twitter Stats: Follow: 165 Followers: 160 Listed: 10

Missed yesterday? Go here to read what happened on Day 28 – December 11, 2009 (Fri): Create a Second Timeline

twitter_power_joel_comm_150Here we sit with less than 48 hours to go in this experiment. We (my daughters and I) started a new timeline – @MightyMovie, a classic movie quote Twitter account meant to direct followers to my daughter’s classic movie teen review site. Cesidia takes care of the reviews and Catarina takes care of the quotes. I did this most of the day with my daughters. The going was slow at first, but I think I created a monster in Catarina.

And then @mikegastin asks me something that takes me back to my newspaper days:

@ChrisCarosa Did you break the @chrisbrogan story?

Continue Reading “Day 29 – December 12, 2009 (Sat): Find Followers on Your New Timeline”

Day 28 – December 11, 2009 (Fri): Create a Second Timeline

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Start of Day Twitter Stats: Follow: 156 Followers: 147 Listed: 9

Missed yesterday? Go here to read what happened on Day 27 – December 10, 2009 (Thu): Have Fun!

twitter_power_joel_comm_150Do you love watching classic movies? I mean movies that have withstood the test of time. Made more than 25 years ago (that would be 1984 for all you Orwellians in cyberspace), you can still view them in their entirety to this day and still not notice the ravages of time. Perhaps you’ve seen a particular magical scene over and over, but its message resonates as if eyed for the very first time. Wouldn’t it be great to pass these moments on to the next generation? After all, whether we admit it or not, these cinematic features have framed our lives. They’ve become a legacy for us to will to our young.

But, what do adolescents think of classic movies? Without the benefit of our years of living, will they take away the same meaning? Will the aged reels of celluloid unwind the same emotional response in them? I’ve finally figured out a way to discover this once and for all. Would you like to me to share it with you?

Continue Reading “Day 28 – December 11, 2009 (Fri): Create a Second Timeline”

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