"The artist takes in the world, but instead of being oppressed by it, he reworks it in his own personality and recreates it in the work of art." Ernest Becker

You know that feeling of pure bliss when listening to that indie rock song in your car with the windows rolled down, the sheer awe experienced when gazing at a landscape so vast you're not sure where the horizon starts and where the land begins?

It's an eternally brief emotion and we all know that's what we're looking for in our mundane days – that ephemeral feeling of joy and pure ecstasy. We should be continually consciously trying to blow our own brains.

Figuratively.

There are actual correlations between experiencing awe and being generous, empathetic. Momentary experiences of awe stimulate wonder and curiosity. Awe drives people to paradigm-shifting discoveries and new technologies. So that's what I want to do; what we try to do. Induce awe and wonder. And let me tell you, it's hard. I’d say I’m okay with words, but film is harder. To create something out of nothing, to invent something that makes people laugh, cry and ponder the world and its cultures, perversions and ideologies; that's honorable because of how hard it is. "The screen is a magic medium. It has such power that it can retain interest as it conveys emotions and moods that no other art form can hope to tackle." -Kubrick

For the first time in human history, the majority of the world’s population is not only literate, but also able to actively participate in written and recorded culture, courtesy of the connected devices pervading almost every country on earth. We are on at the brink of a technological revolution, staring up at Moore's exponential curve like Galileo staring up at the stars through his telescope. What comes next is unknown, but what will always be there is art. The instrument for new forms of human expression.

There's got to be more in life than self-preservation in a nine-to-five commercial, materialistic society. At least, I hope there is. But I'm just a 17-year-old living an incredibly lucky life thinking about some things.