Divine Unions

I stumbled upon Season Two of Iconoclasts last year on the Sundance Channel and thank goodness.

I have to be honest I had never heard of an Iconoclast, it certainly had never entered my vocabulary. According to Wikipedia- an iconoclast is a

* A person who performs iconoclasm, destruction of a culture's religious symbols.
* An innovator.
* One who attacks cherished beliefs.

For the sake of this distinguished series we are choosing the idea of an innovator. Although some may argue the guests on the series have from time to time destructed a culture’s religious symbols or attacked cherished beliefs. Anyway, the series pairs up two innovators or visionaries in separate fields of industry or worlds and allows us a pretty deep look into their lives.

Last year I caught the Laird Hamilton and Eddie Vedder episode. As some friends know, I went through a big grunge phase (that unfortunately lasted way too long) so of course I was drawn to this episode. And I mean, Laird Hamilton, he is a dreamy surfer and I am a California girl. So I was hooked. I think I watched the episode 4 times. I loved how the show let me into these men’s lives, I was able to meet their families, meet their politics and their creative process. Sometimes with the pairings it can be somewhat of a collision but most of the time it’s a beautiful union.

Other episodes of highlight were Quentin Tarantino and Fiona Apple. They journeyed through Austin, TX together in the episode, one of my favorite American cities. And even though Tarantino is one of my favorite directors but not one of my favorite people I loved every minute. Another good one was Paul Simon and Lorne Michaels.

So I have embraced Season Three this fall. I recorded about 3 episodes and had a marathon the other night. If you haven’t tuned in to this fabulous series please do. You can watch some clips here.

The Mike Meyers and Deepak Chopra episode was enlightening. Or so they think they are enlightened- which Chopra says “is lightening up.” In that case I’m going to work on this. Anyway I don’t necessarily adopt all the spiritual laws that Chopra dictates in his books but I loved the way that Meyers and Chopra connected humor to the soul.

Then I watched the Ashley Judd and Madeleine Albright episode and I was deeply saddened. This episode was disjointed and I think Judd was overacting or something. I didn’t understand why these two women should or were connect/ed. I think they were trying to hard and I think Angelina Jolie must have been their first choice.

Thankfully, the Norman Lear (TV Producer) and Howard Shultz (Starbucks CEO) was amazing. Lear is inspiring, this man is in his eighties, fit and trim and still making television. And I even admired Shultz. Even though I only go to Starbucks when someone gives me a gift card.

I didn’t get to watch the Sean Penn and Jon Krakauer episode. I hope Seanny boy doesn’t smoke the entire episode or I’ll beat him with a stick! I’ll record that and let you know how Penn behaved. Probably not well but that’s why I like to watch him.