The blog for aspiring & established filmmakers of independent films. by ted hope.

Rube Goldberg: grandaddy of chain reactions

Why do something in a simple way?  People always say “build a better mousetrap”, but one of my heroes did just the opposite.  His machines were hilariously complicated.  Now when something is overly elaborate, people say its “Goldberg-ian”.  Makes you wonder what your last name might represent years from now…

This is his Self-Operating Napkin.  No more wiping needed.  As you raise spoon of soup (A) to your mouth it pulls string (B), thereby jerking ladle (C) which throws cracker (D) past parrot (E). Parrot jumps after cracker and perch (F) tilts, upsetting seeds (G) into pail (H). Extra weight in pail pulls cord (I), which opens and lights automatic cigar lighter (J), setting off sky-rocket (K) which causes sickle (L) to cut string (M) and allow pendulum with attached napkin to swing back and forth thereby wiping off your chin.

Well, so in the old days, the foolish grown ups were still smoking cigars — but at least he put his to work.  Check this out; there’s a book of a bunch of Goldberg’s Inventions here.

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Hope offers his unique perspective on how to make movies while keeping your integrity intact and how to create a sustainable business enterprise out of that art while staying true to yourself.

Meet Ted

Ted Hope is a “holistic film producer”: he aims to be there from the beginning and then forever after, involved in every aspect of a film’s life cycle and ecosystem, as committed to engineering serendipity as preventing problems, as obsessed with lifting the good into the great, as he is…

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