WINTER EDITION 2017
A WORD FROM THE PUBLISHER LILY AMIS from nasSima design These days, thanks to social media making friends and connecting with people from across the globe has become easy. But building friendships based on honesty, loyalty, integrity and respect is the challenging part. Like in every relationship honesty, trust, love, compassion and appreciation are required to cherish one another. Our experience in 2017 has been mostly positive.
We started this magazine in spring 2017 with seven international authors/bloggers from across the globe as a sign of unity despite distance, different time zones and continents, age, mother language, level of education, lifestyle, and life stories. However, four authors are no longer part of the Read My Mind Team. Unfortunately, it is not everyone’s cup of tea to be fully engaged and committed to such a timeconsuming project, for which we have full understanding. People come and go. That’s the hard reality of life! We read a quote somewhere recently and it said: “Be willing to walk alone. Many who started with you won’t finish with you!”
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I have to say working on Read My Mind made me learn a lot about myself. I will never understand why kindness and generosity backfires on one in a hurtful way, when you least expect it and that’s fine. I won’t change my trustworthy, honest and supportive way, because that’s who I am. The most important lesson I learned in the making of each issue has been to stay truthful to myself, my values and my beliefs regardless of the consequences. I also learned not to care about jealousy. Instead, I have full compassion for people with lack of self-confidence, who throw rocks at things that shine. A flower does not think of competing to the flower next to it. It just blooms. Let me use a quote from my book “Teddy & Lily, True Friendship is Unconditional Loyalty”: “Making friends is easy, but keeping friends is the difficult part. Friendship is like a flower. It needs daily love and care to blossom. If you forget to give it water, the flower dies. It’s as simple as that!” I began with blogging in 2016 to mainly promote my books. But because of my wide field of interest in music, movies and politics my blog posts became more and more popular. With up to 15,000 blog visitors monthly on LilyAmis.blogspot.com from across the globe, it would be crazy not to continue my blogger magazine. Since March 2017 we had over 150,000 Read My Mind readers as well. As the magazine title says “Read MY Mind”. So I will continue to write about all kinds of topics like I did on my blog and from time to time we will feature guest writers/bloggers in the future. So please spread your love and make sure that everyone knows about “Read My Mind” and our future issues. We hope to be able to offer you more exciting, entertaining, educating and inspiring articles in the upcoming years. Enjoy the read! Lily & Sima from nasSimadesign.com
Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
Are you following our magazine on Twitter? Are you subscribed to our Newsletter?
FYI: The language of our magazine is English. But as readers, please keep in mind that our guest bloggers are international. Every country has its own rules regarding the English Language! As you know, two of the main themes of this magazine are diversity and tolerance, therefore, we the publishers of Read My Mind, have given our guest bloggers and interview partners the freedom to be responsible for their own article’s spelling and orthography. For us, the messages, opinions, and views of the articles are what’s important and not where the commas, dots, quotation marks, capitalized words are, or aren’t! Honestly, life is too short and time is too precious to make a big fuss about it. Read My Mind is a magazine and every article and interview is respected, in the way it is written. Thank you for respecting and appreciating our work!
Publisher, Concept, Head Writer, Layout: Lily & Sima Amis at nasSima-design.com Magazine Editor: Lily Amis and Jill C Corley Services Sponsoring & Product Placement: Contact: info@nasSima-design.com
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THE IDEA BEHIND THE TITLE “READ MY MIND” AND THE MAGAZINE COVER Our mind is the most personal and private treasure we have. We all have opinions and thoughts based on our life’s experiences. People see us and hear us talk, but they don’t always know what we really think or what we really feel!
And yet here we are naming our magazine, “Read My Mind”. Why? Because, we are here to share our honest and most personal thoughts, experiences, and knowledge with our readers. The human mind is the body’s hard disk. The human’s heart is the body’s electricity. Unfortunately, most humans take everything for granted. But, think about all the knowledge we treasure in our minds. Day by day we are overdosed with some useful, but mostly useless, information. We don’t even realize how much information collects in our brain. And we wonder why sometimes we don’t remember something. Other times we are surprised about our remarkable ability to find answers or remember stuff that we haven’t thought about for years!
Our mind is what makes us who we are. Our mind is what makes us achieve our goals, wishes, and dreams! Our mind is the key to almost everything in life. Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
If we are honest with our mind and our heart - which is not always easy - nothing and, I mean nothing and no-one, can stop us from our personal missions. None of us is perfect. We all have our strengths and weakness. We all should train our minds to focus on our strengths and our passions and not torture our minds with our weakness or things that we don’t like. We shouldn’t listen to other people’s opinions and let them brainwash our minds with negativity. The sooner we learn who we are and what we are good at, the sooner we find the right road to drive. Many of us have lost precious life time, in our twenties or even thirties, because of life’s circumstances and expectations by society. But, it is never too late to turn in the right direction. At the end of the day, we all know that nothing is permanent. And the only thing that really matters is that we have peace of mind. You cannot please everyone and you know what? You shouldn’t even try. The only person who you should please is you! For the winter issue we have chosen a Christmas decoration in gold baroque, representing the globe with the focus on the beautiful angel. We hope that our globe will be protected by God and our guardian angels through the upcoming holiday season and the years to come. Our world is in a difficult place. Watching the daily news makes it hard to find inner peace and hope. But we have faith that everything is going to be OK. Life is a precious gift that we all should treasure every single day. So remember to smile, no matter what! 4
TABLE OF MINDS THE BEST OF LILY AMIS 2017 A collection of articles and Interviews by Lily Amis from the Read My Mind spring, summer and winter issue 2017. If you like to read the full version of each issue including the articles from the guest bloggers you can order the magazines in high print quality on our website: www.nassima-design.com/RMM
A word by the publisher The idea behind the title and the Magazine Cover
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PUBLISHING What makes you think you are an author? Reviews The most inspirational Blog posts Winner 2017 Books made into Movies and TV Series From Book to Audio Books
6 8 10 16 22
LIFE STORIES Interview with Sima from nasSima design Interview with featured Swiss Author Gerold Zenoni Self-acceptance and Self-respect! The other side Chasing the wrong profession! The Teddy Project Damn Pharmacy, Damn “Pain” Killers
34 46 54 62 66 68 70
MUSIC Interview with Welsh singer James Kennedy Interview with Swedish actor and singer Carl Lindquist Last Christmas – Remembering George Michael
75 83 94
LILYWOOD The true story behind the world brands Adidas & Puma Interview with British actor Kevin Leslie Jerry Lewis - Remembering the man who made generations laugh!
97 104 114
NASSIMA DESIGN COLLECTIONS
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Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU ARE AN AUTHOR? By Lily Amis How many times have you asked yourself if what you’re doing is right? How many times did you think you would stop writing because this path is going nowhere as an Indie author? People just don’t realize how extremely challenging and sometimes emotionally exhausting it is to work as an Indie author.
Lily Amis The Mind-opening Mind
This year I joined many author groups on Facebook and almost all Indie authors I got to know better are complaining about the same problems. The lack of sale, the lack of support from readers who don’t realize how important it is to write reviews, etc. It’s a long list of complaints and disappointments. The question is: Why do we keep writing and publishing books if it only makes us miserable? Why are we taking the time to write our deepest thoughts and experiences? Why do we create fictive characters, fictive places, and fictive stories? What expectations do we have? Are we writing for the money? Are we writing it to get noticed as a creative human being? Are we writing to prove ourself to us or to others?
If someone had told me years ago that one day I would call myself an Indie author, I would have laughed loud and said: What? Me? You must be kidding! I always saw myself as a PR manager, graphic designer, but surely not as an author. Well, life always surprises us. My destiny and my personal struggles for almost three decades as a former war refugee and foreigner in Europe made me become an author. It was really kind of a self-therapy. I never had any writing classes except the few during my public relations studies a couple of years ago. But writing in PR is mainly about writing press releases, articles, etc. and not about literature and the art of writing.
Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
Last year I was seriously considering taking a literature class to bring my writing skills to a professional level.6
That’s what life is about really; self-education and making progress. I searched the internet for short and long term courses and found several interesting and promising online schools in the United Kingdom, America and Germany. I was very unsure which one I should choose because language is an issue for me. German is my second mother language, but I have to admit I enjoy writing in English more, even though it is my fourth language. I was about to sign up for a writing class in Hamburg (Germany), but then I decided not to. I felt that I wouldn’t be able to commit my time fully for a year or two. And I always say if you do something do it right or don’t do it at all. Be in it whole heartedly or leave it! To be honest, the payment was an issue as well. So, I changed my mind and asked a fellow Indie author for advice. She is studying writing for years and I have no doubt that she will be as successful with her screen writing as she is with her books. Bibiana recommended a few great books and I decided to do kind of a home-schooling without the pressure of being a part-time student again. After all, I’m an Independent author and nothing is more precious and priceless than being independent.
I take my way of seeing, feeling, and thinking things, people. and happenings for granted; that’s the way I am. I didn’t realize this until I read in this book that not everyone sees, feels, and experiences things, people and life the same way as authors do. When Natalie Goldberg explains how writers should see, feel, and write, that’s the moment when one realizes whether she or he is a writer or not. Imagine my surprise when I realized that I am actually a born writer even without taking professional writing classes. I always thought my destiny made me become an author. But in fact, I was a writer by nature from a young age. I didn’t read any chapter in this book that made me say: Oh wow, I had no idea; or, oh wow, that’s the way I should think and work. All the topics that Natalie Goldberg thematised and explained in short chapters are my daily life. The way I think, decide, feel, and act as a human being and as an author. So therefore, if you are unsure about your writing skills and your writing path, give this book a read and find out for yourself! Discover yourself and find out if you are really an author. Because if you don’t feel and see things the way she has brilliantly explained, you might be not a writer after all. You may have to re-think your path!
I began to read Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. It is a middle-sized book and has sold over one million copies. It has been translated into twelve languages. Author Natalie Goldberg has given seminars in writing for thirty years and every chapter in this book is short but on point. While I was reading the first chapters I understood that how I see and feel certain things are the way authors should see and feel things. 7
Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
REVIEWS By Lily Amis Reviews are a delicate topic for authors, especially for independent authors. Not one day goes by where I don’t see a fellow author posting on Facebook and either complaining about readers lack of reviewsupport or jumping up and down with joy because of receiving a 5 star review!
Lily Amis The mind-opening Mind
How come? Well I know that each one of us has a busy schedule and that we all have our daily responsibilities and priorities, but saying THANK YOU is the least we can do. So why not saying THANK YOU to an author, who has taken us away from our daily life for a while? We have spent hours with the author. We were either educated, inspired, encouraged, or entertained. Right? Why else do we read books? So why don’t readers say THANK YOU to us authors? My explanation so far was that readers don’t know how important and helpful it is to give a short feedback, or that they just don’t care! Short and simple. Indie authors often offer their hard work for FREE or only $0.99! Which is, in my opinion, a huge mistake and a separate topic for itself. If you get something for free you don’t appreciate it as much as if you pay for it. This speaks for all kinds of products or services and not only for books. Authors don’t value their hard work when they offer it for free. So why should the reader value it? How should readers know how extremely hard and challenging it is to keep on writing, when you feel you're getting nowhere with your books as an indie author? How should they know that it is a daily struggle for us authors? 8
Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
Our author’s mind says: Why am I doing this when no one cares? But our author’s heart says: Keep on writing. The day will come when readers appreciate your work and you will be rewarded. Well, as long as indie authors offer their work for free this won’t happen! Nothing good in life is free! So, these are my two explanations why readers don’t write a review. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not defending them. I’m just trying to explain their point of view. Me personally, I feel that not writing a review after reading an entire book is unkind and disrespectful. I believe that readers let the authors down instead of encouraging them to continue their path. My explanation for the lack of reviewsupport so far was that readers just don’t know and don’t care because they got it for free or only $0.99, until I had a wake-up call recently. Someone emailed me and said I read your book and l would like to review it, but I don’t know how! Wow! That took me by surprise! So maybe the reason why readers don’t leave a review is not because they don’t care or don’t appreciate our work, but just because they don’t know how they should do it. This would explain so much. Therefore, I have prepared a “Review Guideline” with screenshots. It explains where you should go on Amazon and Smashwords and proceed with the review process. It is very simple and fast. So, my message to my fellow authors is: Please don’t sell yourself short. You have spent hours, weeks, and months on your baby. Why do you give your baby away for free?
And my message to our readers is: Please don’t forget that the author is a person who's trying to be seen in the world. Your short review can be life changing for independent authors. Often the only way to be noticed in the book world is to have reviews and ratings! Catch 22. You don't get the reviews unless people read the reviews and take a chance on the book! Next time you download an e-book or buy a print book, please remember to say THANK YOU to the author afterwards. If you don’t have much time at least score the book with stars! But if you have the time, please leave a helpful comment for other readers. If you liked the book let the author know. Your review is your way of applauding the author. Constructive criticism is also accepted and appreciated. Speaking of criticism, if you didn’t like what you read, please don’t attack the book or the author in your review. You are entitled to have an opinion. But remember that everybody is different with different tastes. Just because you didn’t like the book it doesn’t mean that it was a bad book. Leaving negative reviews or insulting the author with a one-star review is just rude and unkind. Please respect the time and effort an author invested in his/her baby. Please remember to say THANK YOU to the author of your current book! Leave a review on the website where you purchased your book, but also on author platforms such as Goodreads and Amazon! Thank you very much for your kindness and support. Remember being kind is a God given blessing. When you give love, you get back love! When you support others, others support you! Kindness doesn’t 9cost anything!
THE MOST INSPIRATIONAL BLOG POSTS WINNER 2017
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Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
The Transformative Potential of a Whisper March 17, 2017 by Bard Azima In a world of perpetual noise, it sometimes feels as if the only way we’ll be heard is by being louder. In this environment, what place is there for a whisper? Try it for yourself and find out. Try it with a loved one, with your child, especially when you are imparting sensitive information that is sure to trigger them. Try it with someone on the opposite side of the political spectrum. They will lean in to hear you. They will be more open to your words because a whisper is much less threatening. Because they will not have the excuse to ignore your words by focusing on your aggressive directness that you justify because you are right and they are wrong.
This will prepare you for the inevitable unconscious attack that will come your way. When that happens, because you have anticipated this, you are prepared to not be triggered. Instead of automatically returning matching fire, choose to lower your voice and be easy. It may take several occasions for this approach to shift a pattern. But often a small, yet profound, shift happens right away because every fibre of the other person is expecting to receive back what they are dishing out. What happens when they get something else? Something more kind, more gentle, more respectful, more caring?
One thing: this whisper must come from a centered place; steeped in compassion and non-judgment, understanding that the recipient’s position is always genuine, despite what we may believe. From this gentle place, it is nothing short of amazing the inroads that can be made, even with the most resistant people.
Try it and find out. At the very least, you will feel better about your own behaviour. It’s personally healing to reduce our contribution to conflict and trauma. Beyond that, you might be amazed when you witness the other person, whose expectations have been turned on their heads, wondering what is going on. Suddenly, their defenses are lowered just a little.
Try it out with someone you always butt heads with. Pretend it’s a game. Refuse to play your usual part in the dysfunctional relationship by tapping into your empathy.
Here lies the opportunity for connection. In this moment, the power of a compassionate whisper will become perfectly evident.
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Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
When things go bad… May 22, 2017 by Bard Azima In those moments when things go bad, really bad, does your mind quickly reach for the worst case scenario? A sense of abandonment, betrayal, rage, injustice, futility, utter loneliness. That is a sign of significant past trauma, likely normalized. It is an indication that those who damaged you, or stood by while it happened, have been unable to acknowledge their roles in your suffering. It is a sign that, understandably, you have been unable in your adult life to reconcile the neglect or abuse. The way forward is a kind of catch 22. It requires the recognition that those who hurt you didn’t do so purposely. Invariably, they were the actions of damaged, unconscious people who did the best they could while trying to make heads and tails of their own lives. In short, our own healing necessitates forgiving others because, despite what you may believe, they knew not what they did. However twisted their actions, they somehow managed to genuinely, rationally, justify their actions in some way. Because, if we truly felt the pain we inflict on others we wouldn’t be able to do it; it would be too devastating to our own hearts; if we actually allowed ourselves to feel it. It is this understanding that opens the door to next level healing; that lays the groundwork for arriving at that seemingly faraway place where when someone hurts you, and when you hurt yourself, that you no longer end up touching into the abyss. From this place, peace and contentment is possible.
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Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
Safeguarding Revelation March 14, 2017 by Bard Azima
Personal evolution, including the dissolving of old blockages, generates excitement and hope, connecting us to who we are.
However, it’s good to be careful when sharing these fresh and fragile revelations with others, especially those who ‘know’ us; and who likely still reside in the place you suddenly no longer inhabit. Seldom will you be understood or believed. It’s the rare person close to us who can bypass their own deep-seated biases and opinions of us in order to hear our truth – and vice versa. And that’s okay since we can plainly see from our own lives that outer truth only becomes inner truth when it comes from within. When ego comes into contact with deep truths too early, especially from the outside, the immediate reaction will invariably and unconsciously be to reject it; to protect our unready hearts. It’s understandable and beautiful that we want to share our elation with the world. But it behooves us to respect and safeguard our newly forged and tenuous connections with our hearts. It will take a while for us to integrate these new energies. Until then, if we are careless, we will allow others to unwittingly influence what they don’t see and feel; which may result in us undermining and abandoning that glorious spark from within that helps make sense of our existence; that connects us to peace and joy.
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Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
BOOKS MADE INTO MOVIES AND TV SERIES By Lily Amis As an author many of us share the desire to turn our books into movies, TV series or even musicals. But not many authors are lucky enough to achieve this goal. Traditionally published authors are probably luckier in general thanks to their publishing contracts and literary agents than independent authors.
Lily Amis The Inspirational Mind
www.LilyAmis.com
Yes, we all know it is hard and yet you never know what the future brings and that’s why we all should believe in our work and continue our passion. I had the chance to produce two short PR films from A to Z, so I know all the production steps. From writing the storyline, finding the right production team, casting the right actors, finding the perfect filming locations, organizing the production days, and budgeting the entire project. It is a lot of work and you must pay attention to many details at the same time. I doubt that many authors take the time to do all these things themselves. Usually, international production companies approach the author’s agent or publishing house and take care of everything fully. In some cases, authors are asked to be on set and to work side by side with the script writer and director. What a joyful experience this must be to see an entire filming crew bringing motions to your words on paper. Successful authors who have achieved this dream are for sure an inspiration and in this article I like to talk about three international authors that I have first discovered through movies and TV shows and not through their books.
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Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
With young actress Isabel Clifton playing Hetty Feather.
First, the English writer of children's literature, Dame Jacqueline Wilson, born in 1945. Her novels commonly deal with themes such as adoption, divorce and mental illness. She was even a UK nominee for the international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2014. Wilson is the author of many book series, but I have discovered her this year through the BBC television series “Hetty Feather”. Hetty is a lovely character, with whom you immediately fall in love with. The series, still in production, has been filmed since 2015 and I recently watched the final episode of season four. If you like stories that are based or inspired by true stories, then you surely have to check out the Hetty Feather book series or the TV Series.
I haven’t read the books, but I love every single TV episode. The story is about a young girl who is abandoned by her mother at the Foundling Hospital as a baby and follows her story as she lives in a foster home before returning to the Foundling Hospital as a curious 5-year-old. Second is another international author, California based novelist, Daniele Steel, born in 1947. She is currently the bestselling author alive and the fourth bestselling fiction author of all time, with over 800 million copies sold. Steel's novels have been translated into 28 languages and can be found in 47 countries across the globe. Twenty-two of her books have been adapted for television. 17
Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
Again, an author that I discovered from very young age through movies and not her books. Yes, some people may say her stories are cheesy. But hey, first of all I like cheese, and secondly I love cheesy movies. Life and reality are hard and painful enough. So why not escape from reality for a couple of hours? We all need to read and watch more positive and cheesy movies. Third on my list of international successful authors that I again discovered through movies and not his books is American author, Nicholas Sparks, born in 1965. I bet that you know at least one of his books that was made into a movie, because according to Nicholas Sparks website he is one of the world’s most beloved storytellers.
Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
All of his books have been New York Times bestsellers, with over 105 million copies sold worldwide, in more than 50 languages, including over 75 million copies in the United States alone. His best-known story is “The Notebook”. See, I told you! You have certainly seen or heard about the romantic movie, right? What about “Safe Haven”, “The Best of Me” or “A message in a bottle”? Nicholas Sparks has served as a producer on all of these movies. In 2012, Sparks and his publishing agent and creative partner have launched Nicholas Sparks Productions, with him as President of Production. As much as I loved “The Notebook” and “Safe Haven”, I disliked “The Best of Me” and “A message in a bottle”. 18
It is a mystery to me why some people enjoy reading or watching melodramas, where you can’t breath and get the story out of your head for days because it touches you emotionally so deeply that it actually hurts physically. If Books/movies are based or inspired by true stories I understand, but making stories up that cause nothing but pain and sorrow I don’t understand. But hey whatever Spark is doing, he’s doing it right, because he is living the dream as an Author and Film producer. In fact Sparks is so successful that he contributes to a variety of national charities, and is a major contributor to the Creative Writing Program (MFA) at the University of Notre Dame, where he provides scholarships and internships.
His Foundation, “The Nicholas Sparks Foundation” was established in 2011 and is committed to improving cultural and international understanding through global education experiences for students of all ages. I’m sure that these three examples are just a few of many worldwide successful Authors who inspire, encourage and educate us Indie Authors to work harder and believe in our work and desires as they did when they started their journey.
So keep up the great work. Be more creative and productive and spend less time on Social media activities. Time is precious. So make the best out of it. Create something that will last and leave a legacy behind. 19
Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
Available in English and German!
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FROM BOOK TO AUDIO BOOKS By Lily Amis For us authors one of the most exciting experiences is bringing our written words into life. As I mentioned in my previous article “From Book to Movies and TV Series”, it is very hard for indie authors to produce movies from books. If you have a publishing contract it is more likely possible, but for indies the journey is a little bit more complicated. Not impossible, but harder. Why?
Lily Amis The Educational Mind
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Because you need an entire production team and a lot of cash to make it happen. First you need to find an experienced and professional producer and director who believes in your story. Then you have to find an experienced screen writer who works with you on the film script based on your book script, which is, as you can guess, a completely different way of writing. Once you have the finished film script, you have to contact casting agencies, cast the actors, find the right filming locations and production team (for pre-production, filming and post production) and of course figure out the production budget and prepare the production schedule, etc. The entire process from beginning to screening can take years until you can actually watch your book on screen. To produce an audio book though, you don’t need an entire production team nor as much cash as you would for a film production. Creating audiobooks is becoming more and more popular for indie authors because the audiobook market has been experiencing an explosive growth in the last years.
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It surely is a great opportunity for us authors to find a new audience and readership for our stories, especially now in our decade where we don’t have to worry about packaging, shipping etc., like back in the days where only best-selling author’s books were published on cassette or CD.
In our modern society, anyone can listen to audiobooks. Thanks to the many online retailers a special player is no longer required. Due to modern mobile technology listening to audiobooks is a convenient pleasure for a generation that needs to be multi-tasking all the time. Listening to audiobooks is fantastic entertainment while we’re doing other activities in the household such as cooking, baking, cleaning, ironing or working out and creative activities like painting or sewing. It can be also an inspiring or educating form of entertainment while we’re commuting. Listening to audiobooks is great when your eyes are busy but your ears are not! One of the main reasons why I encourage indie authors to join this new market is when you publish a new book you’re competing with thousands of new releases in the same week, sometimes on the same day. The chances of being more visible and discovered with your audio book by a new audience are higher. Many people who never read a book listen to audiobooks.
Many authors use this new marketing and selling channel to make their dream come true. Some authors decide to narrate their books themselves. Others prefer to hire professional and experienced narrators. Either way, producing audiobooks is an entirely new adventure; it’s fun but also time-consuming.
So, when you decide to start this journey you must be focused and make sure that you make the right decision for every single story. Each book project has different requirements. You have to ask yourself, do you need a female voice or do you prefer a male’s voice? Do you need more than just one voice? Will there be any music or special effects etc.?
American, Canadian British Authors & ACX
and
For writers in America and United Kingdom with valid tax identification number Amazon is offering a great service called Audiobook Creation Exchange, which I’m sure you have already heard of. It is the only company for authors to produce high quality audiobooks with professional narrators without up-front costs.
Sounds too good to be true, right? Well the good news is: It is true BUT as we all know nothing good comes easy. Nothing good comes cheap. There is always a big fat BUT. So here we go:
The FIRST BIG con is the service is not available for authors in Europe, Australia and Asia yet!
The SECOND BIG con is that you have to sell your audio book EXCLUSIVELY on Amazon. You are not allowed to sell your audio book on any other platform, including your own website. You also won’t be able to sell it on CD, and it won’t be available to libraries. 23
The THIRD BIG con is that you have to Adding an experienced narrators fee to the share the royalty with the producer team, if you have decided to choose the no up-front cost option. This means that you have to be happy with only 20 percent of the royalties. So, if you want to keep the full royalty, you must invest money in advance. Which means you could pay the production costs up front by hiring a narrator on a per finished hour (PFH) contract, which is the buy-out option that lets the author keep all royalties. If you choose the production costs up front option, you will also be FREE from the exclusive distribution with Amazon’s Audible, which is without a doubt the best solution considering the many online retailers that you would miss working with.
International Authors Findaway Voices
and
OK, now the major question is what about writers from outside of America and United Kingdom, like me? I was feeling completely hopeless and didn’t know what to do. I decided to contact voice-over agencies and recording studios directly and make my audio book happen as an indie audio book producer. Looking for recording studios in your city is one thing, finding the right one who is also experienced in producing audiobooks, is another. Imagine my surprise when I received about ten quotes from recording studios in London. Studio time which included the record, clean/edit and final mix would have cost me £475 per book. And we’re not talking about my memoirs. We are talking about my short stories with less than 6000 words!
studio charge, one short story would have cost me around £1000! Crazy, right? For an indie author impossible, and just ridiculously expensive! And just when I had given up on the idea of producing audio books at all, I received an email from my e-book distributor, Draft2Digital, with very exciting news for international authors about a company named Findaway Voices, that is available to authors and publishers in all countries and in all languages. Wow! Findaway Voices say that they are the global leader in digital content delivery and opposite to ACX they don’t ask for EXCLUSIVE rights. They don’t offer the no up-front cost option because authors and publishers can reach customers in more than 170 countries and always own 100 percent of the rights to their works. Authors have full control to set their price and choose their distribution network. Most importantly, authors can narrate their own books and benefit from their service or ask Findaway Voices for help and find the right narrator within their budget. Watch this short video (60 seconds). It will answer many of your questions and you can estimate your production cost based on the number of your words. The price range for narrators is typically $150.00 to $400.00 per finished hour and the general estimate is every 9,000 words of text equals one finished hour of audio. For example, if your book has 72,000 words, it would be approximately 8 finished hours. 24
Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
NO LONGER ON AUDIBLE! AUDIO BOOK ON CD!
If you decide to work with a narrator with let’s say $150.00 (PFH = per finished hour) rate you have to pay 8 x $150.00 plus a onetime fee of $49.00 to cover the project management and administration. In total, you pay $1,249.00. It is a lot of money, but you can price your audio book later for $15.00 to $25.00 (from the general guideline for setting price from Findaway Voices) and as the author with 80 percent of all royalties, you will cover the investment after 104 downloads with an asking price of $15.00 and after 62 downloads with an asking price of $20.00!
Your three production options: As you can guess, I didn’t hesitate and used this new service and produced my books on audio during this summer. I decided to try out all three options. One with me being the narrator. One with booking a professional male narrator for my timeless story “Teddy & Lily” that appeals to all ages. And last but not least, I let Findaway Voices find the right female narrator for my children’s book Bon Voyage with the instruction I gave them. As I said, every book has different requirements, because each recording is custom-made. You should really give it time and deep thought. And here is my honest review:
Option 1: Do it yourself! I got myself a studio microphone with the convenience of USB connectivity to my laptop.
As a professional and experienced producer advised me-don’t use a cheap microphone. If you’re starting the audiobook journey with you as the narrator, it is seriously recommended that you work with a highquality studio microphone. The recording software itself can be a free program like Audacity or whatever you have. I used AVS. Findaway Voices is offering a “Narration Guideline” that you can download before you start the process. Recording your audiobooks yourself is probably the most difficult option of all. I don’t know about you, but for me listening to my own voice was a bit awkward at first. So, I had to be patient with myself and invest more time than a professional and experienced narrator would have needed. Prepare yourself for many of hours of practice, misspeaking, laughing, cursing and repeating line by line!
While you’re recording ensure that you are in a quiet room. Make sure that the input and output device is set to the microphone audio interface in your program. Put your laptop on a solid surface. Boost the microphone’s sound so you don’t have to compensate so much in the software itself. Good luck! This may be the cheapest option, but if you don’t have the nerve or time to do deal with technical issues or challenge your voice, you better leave it! Hire a professional narrator. Trust Findaway Voices and let them do it for you, while you are writing your next book! I’m still recording my books and I hope I can share my audio books in English and German with you in 26 spring 2018.
DOWNLOAD IN YOUR FAVOURITE STORE!
AUDIO BOOK ON CD!
Option 2: Hand it over to Findaway Voices! This is the second most inexpensive option. The support team is friendly, but you need to be very patient. Each of your requests during the process of making the recording, from the moment you start to produce your audio book with their help to find the right narrator, can take weeks. You can tell Findaway Voices what you wish and they will make sure that you find the right narrator for your story with their “audition option”. They offered me five female narrators, all with a British accent, in different price ranges. I could listen to their previous works in different genres, which I found very helpful. Then you either book the narrator immediately or ask for an audition tape. I asked for an audition tape first and that was actually good, because during this process I found out the following information which is important to know for you in advance. 1. The narrators working with Findaway only deliver digital format which is either mp3 or FLAC and charge you extra for a second format. In my case, I needed mp3 for online stores (downloadable audio book) and AIF for producing my audio book on a physical CD via Amazon. FYI: There is reasonable software, for less than $30.00, in which you can change the format quickly and without any problem, presumed you get the files in good quality such as FLAC from Findaway’s narrator.
2. Another issue was that I wanted to use music for the opening and closing credits.
But the narrators working with Findaway don’t do recordings with opening and closing credits, background music, special effects etc. So you have to take care of all these yourself. However I'm more than happy with my narrators work.
Listen to the sample here!
Option 3: Hire a professional narrator you know! Carl Lindquist is a Swedish actor, singer and professional narrator, who lives in London and Stockholm. Carl was featured in the first Read My Mind issue in spring. I asked him to be my Teddy and, despite his busy schedule and international travels, he made the time and recorded “Teddy & Lily” in August at Jake Waby Productions studio in London. Choosing the right narrator for your written words is based on trust and sympathy. And I'm more than happy with my choice.
Listen to the sample here! “Teddy & Lily” was easily uploaded to Findaway’s website, but it took weeks until it was available in all online stores. Also, pricing was a problem. I had absolutely no clue how much I should price the audio book. And unfortunately, there was no helpful information on Findaway’s website. So, I had to ask audio book listeners in Facebook groups for advice and figure out the pricing myself. 28
Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
Royalty Free Music for Your Audiobook
Thanks to templates that CreateSpace offers you can easily design your book (inside and outside).
Once you have the voice recorded, you’re almost done. What else do you need? Well depending on your book, you may need music and special effects. I needed an opening and ending music for all my books. I searched the internet for royalty free music and found this Swedish company Epidemic Sound that is based in Stockholm (HQ), the Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom and North America.
All you have to do is upload an AIFF audio file version to create the CD. Keep in mind, though, that an audiobook on CD will be counted as a music CD and will be categorized under the music category on Amazon.com
You can find all kinds of music in their library that is produced by professional composers. You don’t have to pay for royalties, but you do have to pay for the license which costs $0.99 per second of music. For one entire track, you pay $100.00 and you can use the song on all your personal social media sites. Every single song in their library is produced to the highest of standards. Whatever the mood of your story is, their music will help to set the stage, amplify the drama and drive the action. Once you pay for their music, your production is ready for distribution WORLDWIDE.
Your Audio Book on CD via CreateSpace While Findaway Voices is here to help you produce your audiobook for download, you still need to find a solution if you want to have your audiobook on a physical CD. I have decided to work with createspace.com, because they also publish my print books.
Gift idea! Whatever recording option you choose, the process from beginning to distribution will take about three months. That is nothing in comparison with a movie project, though. Audibooks are surely a great gift for Christmas, so why not surprise your loved ones with a CD instead of a copy of your book? Or both? For more information about Findaway Voices contact them via email and ask for the “Frequently Asked Questions” file, which they email you within a day. For more information about producing your audio books on CD, please visit this link. If you have any questions about royalty free music contact Epidemic Sound. They respond within hours! I hope this article encouraged and helped you to produce your first audio book. I wish you lots of fun during the production process and, of course, good luck with finding a new audience for your book. 29
Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
The Findaway Vocies team of experts helps you through the entire production and distribution process. This includes: • Curating a list of 5-10 recommended narrators from a vetted talent pool of world-class narrators, custom selected based on your title and preferences and presented at a range of prices. We work with you to ensure you get the right voice at the right price. • Managing production through our Voices website so you can focus on what you love: writing. • Working with our partners to make your audiobook available for sale nearly everywhere audiobooks are sold. • Registering a unique ISBN for your audiobook (if necessary). • Providing consolidated royalty statements and payment, with a report of where your audiobooks are selling.
Findaway Voices was specifically created to help authors and publishers create and sell audiobooks with more freedom than ever before. They strive to benefit authors and publishers in several critical ways: • No exclusivity: We believe in an open audiobook market with more choices for authors and publishers. With Voices, you’ll never be asked to sign an exclusivity agreement. • Full Control: You set your price and you choose where you want to sell. • 100% Ownership: You own 100% of the rights to your audiobook. • Global distribution: You’ll access a global platform that reaches listeners in more than 170 countries through retail, library, and K12 channels. • Service Commitment: Our team of audiobook experts is here to help with whatever you need. Have a question? Just ask. We’re always happy to help!
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Read Lily’s interviews with the British Daily Mirror, Female First and Frost Magazine about Destination:Freedom. Watch Lily on RickOnLife! 33
INTERVIEW WITH SIMA FROM NASSIMA DESIGN By Lily Amis I really love and enjoy my blog series and Read My Mind Column “Interview with Inspirational Personalities”. Today I’m very excited and honored to interview my multi-talented mum and best friend in the entire world, Sima.
Lily Amis The Inspirational Mind www.nasSima-design.com
My mum is the most optimistic and positive person I know. Despite our difficult life she always finds a reason to smile, to be happy and to be grateful. I have never ever heard my mother complain once about our life difficulties or health issues. One of the reasons for that is Sima’s positive attitude and artistic personality. Thanks to her encouragements and many talents I’ve learned from young age that, regardless of life’s problems and people who make your life difficult, you should find your peace and harmony at home and in you. We both find our peace of mind and peace of soul by being creative and productive. I don’t remember either of us ever saying: “I’m bored!” or “I don’t know what to do.” Such negative attitude does not exist in our world. We know time is precious and we make the best out of it. In the most hopeless situations in life Sima has found her joy in fashion design, while I have find mine in drawing and painting as a kid, and in writing today as an adult. When I was a little girl Sima sewed the most gorgeous princess dresses for me and when we moved to Switzerland she began to work successfully for worldwide known brands in exclusive department stores as a fashion and style adviser. 34
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What we both are mostly proud of is her hard work for the bestselling Swiss music artist, DJ Bobo. Sima designed beautiful costumes with different themes, for him and his ten dancers on stage, for two of his world tours. The costumes traveled around the European Countries and were also in action on huge concert stages in Asia and South America. Sima is little physically, but emotionally and personality-wise she is the most generous and strongest woman I know. Every daughter is proud of her mother and says: I have the best mother in the world. But I really do have the best and most talented mum and best friend. When I look at my mum’s hands I see hard work. In each of her tiny fingers is so much talent and love for detail. She is not only a fabulous designer, but also amazingly talented in hand-embroidery. I’m so glad and extremely proud that Sima has designed three beautiful gowns for the statue of the Black Madonna for the famous and historical abbey at the Church of Einsiedeln, in Switzerland. The small city of Einsiedeln is one of the pilgrim spots on the Jakobsweg and has up to 15,000 visitors a day. Anyway, I hope you enjoy our conversation and get inspired by Sima.
Should I say mum, mummy or Sima? It sounds strange to call you Sima so I shall say mummy. Mummy, you are such a gifted artist and have done so much in your life. What is your most precious project, except me your daughter? Haha‌ just kidding. Well, I know that you sewed two beautiful gowns for the Black Madonna. One was given to the abbey in 2005 and the second in 2011.
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The second gown, the blue one, which is a symbol for tolerance, is your masterpiece that is treasured by thousands of abbey visitors and now exhibited at the National Museum of Zurich along with seventeen other gowns. Some of them are over 100 years old. Tell me, how is it to see your handwork in a historical exhibition like this? It is always nice to feel a sense of appreciation for your hard work. It was the same feeling when I watched my handmade costumes for DJ BOBO on stage in the spotlight. And now I’m more than happy to see my work presented like this. I’m glad that I decided to make a statement for tolerance, specially these days, when the world needs more tolerance and acceptance in our elbow society. I highly recommend visitors in Zurich to visit this exhibition. It is a modern exhibition with historical, informative and educational items from the abbey. I think the museum did a great job. The location right next to Zurich main station makes it easy for visitors to stop by even during lunch break and find new inspiration. The culture and historical museum in Zurich is the most visited museum in Switzerland. The exhibition started on September 16. 2017 and is ending in January 2018 after 18 weeks. This is an unbelievable and historical exhibition because the abbey is celebrating its 1000 pilgrim year.
I do remember that you made the DJ BOBO costumes in the most difficult time in our life. And it really was like a therapy for your soul. You did it all by yourself. Three themes for eleven dancers on stage in a short matter of time. I was and still am so proud of you. I also remember the making process for the Black Madonna. The first dress for the Black Madonna was painstakingly handembroidered with white and gold beads. 36
Our sketches for DJ BOBO’s Planet Colours World Tour
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Sima proudly presenting her hard work for DJ BOBO’s Mystasia World Tour! WATCH THE VIDEO ON YOUTUBE!
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Sima & Lily presenting the gown to the abbey.
The second dress of blue and turquoise coloured satin was embroidered with many sequins symbolizes the "Miraculous Medal", which goes back to the churchrecognized Marian apparition of Catherine LabourĂŠ.
I think it is always important to make a statement when you are doing something creative. The new robe of dark green and golden velvet with many sequins, green stones, precious gold-brocade and diamonds from Persia will be given to the monastery on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Chapel of Grace in the monastery of The satin royal blue and turquoise coloured Einsiedeln. This gown symbolizes hope. Hope sections symbolize harmony, peace and for the hopeless, because the color green trust. I remember that your motivation for stands for hope.
the production of the second dress, on which you worked for over a year, was the However, what’s very special about this gown ardent desire for greater tolerance towards besides the noble gold-brocade and diamonds all religions and races in the world. from Persia are the colorful flowers in red,
orange, yellow, purple and blue, are the What is your message with the brand-new colored and golden flowers which symbolize gown in green that you’re going to give to birth and a new beginning.
the abbey soon? What is so special about it?
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Photos from the book Madonnas Fashion by Author Gerold Zenoni
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The hand embroidered colorful flowers are over ninety years old. These were made by my mother, your grandmother, Tajmah, with much love and hope for her dowry on clothes, tablecloths, hands-napkins, etc. by herself when she was only fifteen years young. That’s why I worked with much love, devotion and dedication on this gown. I know my mother would have been very touched about this timeless gift, because this dress of art by both of us will last forever.
There are always others who suffer more in the world. Remember that you never fall deeper than in God’s hands. You and only you can find hope. Don’t expect hope to come to you. Life is all about giving and sharing. Give, share and support others and God will give and support you back. Smile as often as you can and the world will smile back at you. Life is too short and nothing is permanent. Not even our worries and sorrows. Forgive, forget and move on.
What is your advice to hopeless people?
Enjoy every day of your life because what many people forget is that we all are just guests in this world. So be an example for others with kindness. Don’t be greedy, don’t be jealous. Don’t be negative and stop worrying. Everything is going to be fine, because God loves us all.
You should never forget that a higher power is always watching over you. Believe in God, never lose your hope, stay positive and keep smiling. There is always a reason to be happy and grateful.
Photos from the book Madonnas Fashion by Author Gerold Zenoni
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Brother Gerold, our featured Author in this issue, has published an illustrated book “Madonnas Fashion” about all the gowns that the Black Madonna has in the abbey of the Church of Einsiedeln in Switzerland, in which your both dresses are featured.
Do you have any plans of publishing a book about your work in design? Yes, absolutely. You and I are working on a book for a while now. While readers can see the images of some masterpieces for the Black Madonna in Brother Gerald’s lovely book, we will be publishing a book in which we will not only show the making of such a gown. But also encourage and inspire readers to find peace and satisfaction in their own field of interest and talent. The title of the book is going to be “The Colours of Hope”. We plan to release it next year. It will be a fancy and limited publication.
You also have a home collection. How and when did you start to design home accessories? Where do you find your inspiration? I find inspiration everywhere. We love traveling and enjoy sightseeing historical cities, places, museums etc. That’s where you and I get our ideas, right? We love visiting castles and palaces because we love baroque. That’s how we came up with the idea to design our MY EMPIRE COLLECTION. Designing though is one thing. Finding the right material and distribution channel is what’s challenging. We had a few bad experiences and setbacks in this area. Last year you had discovered the artist platform society6.com. For now, we are offering our products there and are happy
WATCH THE VIDEO ON YOUTUBE!
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with the quality. But we hope that one day we can actually produce our collections in super high quality and sell them in gift shops. We will have new interesting and inspiring columns such as “Inspiring and Historical MustC Places”, “Inspiring People in History and Literature” and “Sima’s Cook Design”. We are working on a Cookbook, which should also be available next year. One of my other passions, besides design, is cooking. We will share three of the recipes “A Touch of Persia” in the Read My Mind issues of 2018.
Another lovely little book that has been just released is an illustrated book called “Keep Smiling, No Matter What!” It is a lovely book for children and adults with positive quotes about smiling and being positive in general. It is only available in print.
Thank you Mummy for this interview. It is truly a pleasure, a blessing and honour to work with you. I love you so much!
WATCH THE VIDEO ON YOUTUBE!
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nasSima’s MUST-C PLACE IN SWITZERLAND
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INTERVIEW WITH FEATURED SWISS AUTHOR GEROLD ZENONI By Lily Amis
Lily Amis The Inspirational Mind
Today I like you to meet Swiss Author, Brother Gerold Zenoni who had entered the Benedictine monastery in Einsiedeln in Switzerland in 1980. He has been working in different areas of the monastery and is also responsible for the change of gowns of the famous Black Madonna. And that’s how we met. We know Brother Gerold for more than a decade and I’m more than happy to feature his wonderful new book “Madonna’s Fashion” in Read My Mind’s winter issue. Brother Gerold has a wide range of activities as journalist, author, publisher and exhibitor.
Brother Gerold what inspired you to write and publish a book about Madonna's robes?
Brother Gerold & Pope John Paul II
Brother Gerold & Pope Francis
Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
There was a previous book, but the new gowns were not represented there. So I was always asked when a new book about the gowns of Mother of God would appear. That went on for years, until one person from Einsiedeln was the straw that broke the camel's back, so to say. I asked Ab. Urban, the head of our monastery, whether I was allowed to write a new book and he said yes immediately. But the problem was we didn’t have the cash for it. Thankfully the "Association of the Friends of the Convent of Einsiedeln" supported my project and the book was funded generously.
One can see right away that there is much love for details on each side of this 152-page book. How long did the process take from the idea to the book release? 46
The development process took about one year. Well, besides my usual activities. I was lucky enough to have the help of excellently qualified ladies. My artistic collaborator, Michaela von Prondzynski, played a significant role in the design and the highquality appearance of the book. In congenial way, the photographer, Inge Zinsli, has implemented our illustrations. And with the distinguished Swiss writer, Eveline Hasler, I found my wish author to write the preface.
The title "Madonna's Fashion" sounds very modern and bold. As a reader, one thinks immediately about the American pop singer Madonna. Was that intended? In the creation of the title, we were clearly aware about the ambiguous sense. I always emphasize that we have the "real" Madonna, though. Actually, on the occasion of a concert by the singer Madonna in Zurich, the Swiss national TV tried to get an appointment for me with the singer.
It was planned to hand over a copy of the book to the star from America. But apparently Madonna's management has little sense of such an appointment. Madonna should not have heard of Madonna's fashion until today.
The colors of the gowns have a spiritual meaning in the Christian sense. What is your favorite color and why? The dresses are held in the liturgical colors white, red, violet and green of the Catholic Church. There are some gowns in blue color. My favorite dress is the red Pentecost gown. On the feast of the Holy Spirit the priests in the monastery wear garments of the same material as the mother god’s carry. This makes a beautiful unit.
How did the public (press and readers) react to your book? What feedback (positive and negative) have you received so far?
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The national media such as the Swiss Television and Radio station have reported about my book in several articles. Also several private radio stations have interviewed me. In addition, reports appeared also in the print media, so I was very pleased with the response that the book has found overall. In fact, the first edition was sold out within a few weeks and we were allowed to order a second edition. However, the book was not an issue for private television. People seem to enjoy "Madonna's Fashion". I haven’t had any negative feedbacks.
Brother Gerold, you had the great honor of handing the Catholic Pope Francis a copy of your book personally in Rome. How was the meeting? How did you prepare?
The preparation consisted mainly in anticipation. Through the mediation of Archbishop Georg Gänswein, our small travel group received seats for the General Audience with Pope Francis on the St. Peter's Square in Rome on April 13, 2016 in the "Prima Fila".
From these places, at the end of the audience, you have the opportunity of a small talk with the Holy Father. The Pope mainly took care of people in wheelchairs. I was sure he wouldn’t come over to us. So I prayed over and over again! And as I turned around, Pope Francis stood directly in front of me.
I was able to hand him the custom-made edition of my book. The Pope read my dedication in Spanish and we gave each other hands. However,
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I would not have been able to say that at the end. Only the photos of this meeting confirmed it. I can hardly remember our word change. The pictures taken by the Vatican TV helped me. The pictures were provided for a contribution in the broadcasting of a national magazine called “Glanz & Gloria� in Swiss television. Sometime later I received a letter from the Secretariat of the Vatican through the Nunciature in Berne, the capitol city of Switzerland. In a letter I was thanked by the Pope for handing over of the book. In the dedication, I invited the Pope to a "Spiritual Fashion show" in Einsiedeln. However, the Holy Father has not come to us yet ...
You have met many international celebrities visiting you in the abbey and seeing your spiritual Madonna Fashion show with all the gowns and jewelries of Madonna. What was the most memorable fashion show and why? I gladly remember a short not-planned "Spiritual Fashion Show" for the previous FIFA President Sepp Blatter. According to him, Blatter has always requested our place of worship before a football world championship in order to pray for a good progress of the tournament. And his first course after the return is again Einsiedeln, to thank the gracious mother. So I actually saw Sepp Blatter after the return from the Football World Cup in South Africa in the benches praying in front our Chapel of Grace.
Brother Gerold signing his Book for Sima
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I had an interview with Sepp Blatter at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich in the past, so we knew each other. I spoke to him and was allowed to show him some gowns of the Mother God in the sacristy. He was also interested in the coverage of the World Cup in the Swiss media, which he had not seen yet. On this occasion, Sepp Blatter offered me to say “you” to him, which is very special in the German language. "I am Sepp." Despite all the negative reporting about Sepp Blatter, this spiritual gesture impressed me positively.
In the upcoming years there you will surely be given more gowns for the Black Madonna. Are you thinking about a second book publication? Because of lack of space, the monastery is very reserved in accepting new gowns. A new book is not planned at the moment.
For our English-speaking readers, I have to ask you this question. The monastery of Einsiedeln has visitors from all over the world. Will "Madonna's Fashion" be published in foreign languages like English? Your thought sounds very charming in my ears (smiling). There have already been requests in this direction. However, it is a cost issue. In addition, a translation with the partial passages in old German, places very high demands on the translator. Nothing specific is planned at the moment.
Currently, until 21 January 2018, a large exhibition about the monastery of Einsiedeln is running in the Swiss National Museum in Zurich which is right next to the main train station in the center of Zurich. Are there also gowns of the Black Madonna exhibited? 51
Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
Yes, for the first time 18 gowns of Mother God are exhibited outside of our monastery. In the new building of the museum these gowns are displayed together with many precious objects from the collections of the monastery Einsiedeln. On an accompanying event, I was allowed to hold a guided tour of these gowns. Many thanks for this interesting interview and best of luck Brother Gerold! Readers, if you like to get a copy of “Madonna’s Fashion” for yourself or for a loved one, here is the link to the online store. But it would sure be more special to visit this beautiful and historical monastery and little city in the middle of Switzerland on your next trip to Europe. For us Einsiedeln is a Must-C- Place regardless of religion and beliefs. Einsiedeln is located in gorgeous scenery and the ride to this place by train is an unforgettable experience.
When you are there make sure you visit the souvenir shop in which you can also get a copy of this lovely book.
Madonna’s Fashion by Gerold Zenoni ISBN 978-3-952-4034-3-3 ORDER ONLINE Watch a docmentary about Brother Gerolds work filmed by Swiss National Television. Language: German
See how Brother Gerold is dressing up the Black Madonna with Sima’s blue gown. Minute 1:27 and 16:50
Sima standing infront of the museum in Zurich
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SELF-ACCEPTANCE AND SELF-RESPECT! by Lily Amis What is Respect? What is Self-respect? What is Tolerance? What is Acceptance? What is Honesty? Lily Amis The mind-opening Mind
www.LilyAmis.com
Simple and short questions and yet so difficult to answer! Forgotten values in our selfish, judgmental, and superficial elbow-society! Like millions of people around the world I watched the TV Reality show “I’m Cait” in 2016. Watching and listening to the American Sport Legend Bruce Jenner, today Caitlyn Jenner, is still to this date very emotional. I couldn’t stop my tears while I was watching every single episode, and I still can’t hold back my tears when I listen to Caitlyn Jenner’s interviews. Surprisingly, I can feel all her pain and struggle. Not because I feel imprisoned in my body like Bruce did. Gosh, I can’t even imagine how difficult it must have been for him to wake up daily in the wrong body. Thank God I never had his problem . But interestingly, when Caitlyn speaks about Bruce’s struggles of feeling displaced, isolated , and incomplete in this world for his entire life (65 years), I understand and feel the pain and struggle. 54
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«RESPECT YOURSELF, EXPRESS YOURSELF, MAKE A STATEMENT, MAKE A DIFFERENCE!» Lily Amis
I may not be in the wrong body, but according to society and law I was born in the wrong country and had a false nationality for over three decades. Society constantly judged and rejected me because of where I come from. I had to fight against prejudice, intolerance, discrimination, and hate towards foreigners my entire life. Regardless of how hard I tried to fit in, society made me feel unwanted and incomplete ever since I can remember. And that is the worst and most painful torture for the soul! I admire Caitlyn Jenner for her honesty and courage in opening the eyes of our clueless and judgmental world. Her mission is bringing awareness, understanding and compassion for the LGTB community, and I think everyone who fights for other people’s human rights should be appreciated and respected. 56 Read My Mind - Summer Edition 2017
A similar story that also touched my heart is the Austrian singer Conchita Wurst, the winner of Eurovision Song Contest in 2014. She has become the symbol of tolerance for many people around the globe. Music is THE universal language that not only brings joy and happiness, but also reunites all kinds of people, while politics and religion divide us. Specially these days with all the mess that is going on around the world , I feel that music has become more important than ever before. It is not only about entertainment anymore. Music heals. Music gives hope. Music reunites. Music is Love. Music is a statement. 57 Read ReadMy My Mind Mind –- Summer The BestEdition of Lily Amis 2017
Ever since Conchita made history at the ESC with her winning song, Rise like a Phoenix, the world has found hope for the future and a better world. For me personally, the top priority is freedom and primarily freedom means the ability to exercise free will, when a person can do what they want, and not what society or life’s circumstances make them do . The Eurovision Song Contest in 2014 was an event that the world will remember. The exceptional Austrian talent Conchita Wurst portrayed by Thomas Neuwirth sang into the heart of millions of viewers. She made a statement about tolerance, acceptance, peace, and human rights with a memorable performance like no one ever before. She is called the Queen of Austria and even the Queen of Europe, but she is much more than that: she is the Queen of Hearts.
Her brilliant victory was a sign for tolerance and a better and hopefully more positive future where race, gender, religion, or nationalities don’t matter. Where racism doesn’t exist in our vocabulary anymore. Everyone should live as he or she wants to live. That is the definition of freedom! It's not bad to be different, to think differently and to step out of line.
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I have learned so much from these two truly incredible human beings. Listening to their interviews makes one want to be a better person. So, all I can say is thank you, Caitlyn and thank you, Conchita for having the courage to speak out! You are an inspiration for many people around the world! I truly hope that one day soon the entire world will show compassion and respect towards each other, regardless of gender, skin color, age, nationality, and religion. I pray that the next generation will know that there is nothing more important than honesty, self-respect, and selfacceptance towards yourself and towards others.
Respect, honesty, and tolerance are the key to ultimate happiness, inner peace and harmony. I truly hope that one day soon we don’t have to explain and defend ourselves for what and who we are. We are all flesh and bones, humans - short visitors on planet Earth. We are different individuals and that’s fine. Being different is not a disease. All of us are human beings with a heart and soul with one desire: living a free and independent life, where society accepts us for who we are, especially in these hard times! So be who you are! Be honest to yourself! Be you! 59
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THE OTHER SIDE By Lily Amis I don’t know about you, but Sima and I, we do believe in an after-life! We both had an unusual experience with death and Angels.
Lily Amis The Inspirational Mind
www.LilyAmis.com
I remember when we were in Los Angeles back in 2003 and visited the graves of actors Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, Billie Wilder, Dean Martin and Walter Matthau - who are all buried in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery. We both felt as though a spirit was there watching us when we put flowers on their graves. Call us crazy, but somebody actually tapped on our shoulders and it was for sure not just our imagination. We were the only living people there at the time. We also believe in Angels and have had our own positive experiences. We do believe in spirits, so it is no surprise, we also believe in mediums, such as American TV medium Theresa Caputo on TLC and Hollywood medium Tyler Henry on E. It is understandable that many people think these mediums are nothing but charlatans, making money off people’s grief. I remember years ago, there was another famous American medium and Author Sylvia Browne, who claimed to be a medium and to have psychic abilities. She passed away in 2013. But, during her life, she made a fortune with her “ability” and her books. I, myself, read two of her books. Browne claimed she knew what it was like in Heaven, in one of her books, “The Other Side and Back “. She also declared that she could see Angels. I also read about her work, as a medium and about her experiences with death souls. She was many times on the Larry King Live Show and talked about her work with the Police when searching for missing people - possible victims of crime. And, I remember I was fascinated by her work as a medium. 62
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I totally believed her. Because why would anyone lie about life and death? Why would anyone toy with people‘s minds, feelings, and emotions, with false information? If you lie about death you must be either out of your mind or a professional, godless and fearless charlatan, without respect for God, the Universe, and people’s feelings. After Browne passed away many of her predictions were subsequently proven false. One of the most interesting facts was her own date of death and cause, which she also claimed to know for sure. So, it is understandable that now people who hear about or watch the Show “Long Island Medium” and “Hollywood Medium” have doubts about Theresa and Tyler too. Let’s face it, these two mediums are also making a fortune with their books, with their reality shows and, of course, their live appearances and readings. But! Yes, there comes a HUGE FAT BIG “BUT”, what I love about Theresa’s and Tyler’s work – besides their super bubbly and lovely personalities, positive energy, beautiful blue eyes, recognizable laugh, and don’t forget their unique facial expressions - is that both of them are doing no harm to anyone. All they do is give people, who are in deep grief, some hope, and relief. And these days, giving HOPE to the HOPELESS and emotionally broken people, is priceless.
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Who else, besides these TV personalities, is giving people hope, love, and laughter? Do you know anyone? Not even the Pope is giving too much hope and comfort like these mediums do. Not even the want-to-be presidents and politicians give hope for a better life and future for the world. No one is giving hope to anyone. Because most people are selfish, self-centered, greedy, narcissistic, and calculating. Because most people are takers and not givers. At least Theresa Caputo and Tyler Henry are not saying they will change the world, with their abilities or that they know more than they do. All these two humans are doing is bringing messages of love and comfort to people who are dealing with emotional pain over the loss of their loved ones. The people on their shows always say after a reading “I have found my peace”, “I feel a weight is off my shoulder”, “I can finally find a closure and live my life 63 without feeling guilty” etc.
Ok, Of course, I have my doubts about these people on the TV shows. They could easily be paid actors. Their stories could be easily researched, in advance, by the TLC and E production team, by professional researchers, behind the camera. Especially, the ones that they seem to meet randomly, in their daily life, like Theresa does while grocery shopping, or during sports activities, vacations, Spa days, etc. BUT, again Theresa is doing no harm. Tyler is doing no harm either. I would actually love to have a reading with both of them to see what my beloved grandparents have to say. I miss them terribly and would like to know that they are looking over my Mum and me. That would be a comforting thought that every one of us needs. We all know that life is short and that none of us will live forever. So, the thought of being reunited with the people we love makes life and the daily struggles a bit more bearable!
Also, the thought that there is more to life than just what we see, gives me, personally, hope. I think one has to be extremely narrow-minded, uneducated, and clueless to only believe in things that we actually see and hear. Life is more than physical activities. It’s not only about working, sleeping, eating, and reproduction, making money, fighting for power, and fame. It’s about more than creating wars and destroying other people’s physical and emotional existence. Life is not only about toying with other people’s futures, feelings, emotions, lives, hopes, and dreams. There is more to it, spiritually, as well as emotionally. I have no doubt God has much more to offer than what we see in our reality. There is so much more and I hope that we humans, animals, and plants, on earth, are not the only living creatures on this planet. That would be very sad and disappointing. So all I say to Theresa and Tyler is: Keep up the good work of giving love, hope, and comfort, bringing a smile to people’s faces and warming up their hearts. My heart believes in you, even though my mind has its doubts sometimes! :-) But, as long as you help people, make them happy, and give them HOPE, may God bless your soul and your loved ones. 64
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Giving love, attention, and hope to others, is a precious blessing and a gift from God. Mediums do it in their own way and we should try to do it in our way. We all have it in us. We just have to learn to give more, without jealousy and expecting anything in return. The magic words are; love, caring, giving, sharing, supporting and kindness. My blogger team and I try to bring our reader's hope, comfort, and love, with our books and articles and with hopeful messages of love, honesty, faith, belief, trust, friendship, tolerance, and acceptance. As I like to say: “Try to be kind. It won’t kill you. Try to be loving. It won’t hurt you. Try to be giving. It won’t harm you!”
Life is about giving and not only about taking. We don’t have much time in our short lives, so the more we give, the better. At the end, leaving positive and precious memories of kindness, is the best legacy of all.
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CHASING THE WRONG PROFESSION! By Lily Amis For many years my mother and I used to support worldwide, recognized charities because we thought we are helping families in need. Also, for many years it has been my desire and goal to work in this field and especially help war refugees. I thought I wanted to use my experiences and skills and do something meaningful in life and what is more important than helping people in need. Right?
Lily Amis The Inspirational Mind
I applied for many years in this sector, but always got rejected. However, despite dozens of refusals, I managed to have two interviews and worked as a part-time volunteer in an international organization, in Zurich, Switzerland, for a short while. I must say spending time with people working in this sector was an eye-opener. I always believed that charity workers were Angels, with big hearts, generous, giving, selfless, openminded, religious, and compassionate. To my surprise, they weren’t. I have never met more rational-thinking people. I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help it. While working as a volunteer, I realized that it was not love and kindness that was their motivation, but mainly money!
All they think about is how to manipulate people to get donations, by doing market research and targeting clueless donors. The older the donor is the better, because, according to them, the elderly are more generous and giving. If the potential donors are over 80, well, that’s their target of opportunity. In case they don’t have any relatives to inherit, the charity sees huge potential, to see CASH, as soon as they are deceased. Professional begging is what they do and the majority of them don’t see what’s obvious to me now. What these people are mainly doing, is securing their own job positions, in their fancy offices, in good and expensive locations, rather than helping people in desperate need in crises. 66 Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
While I was working as an unpaid volunteer in one of these International organizations, a natural catastrophe happened; there was an earthquake. All I can remember is the Head of Communication from this organization was proud they had managed to collect more donations than all the other charities, at the same time. Being competitive is a good thing, but I couldn’t help it. I felt embarrassed while I was listening to their conversations. I honestly felt sick and completely out of place. I was looking at them and all I could see were hungry, corrupt and heartless humans, poised around the table. So, ever since, I prefer to help people in my own circle, rather than charities. I prefer to help the victims than financing people’s jobs in high-paid positions, from directors in marketing, market research, to fundraising officers. No offence, but in my opinion, these highly educated people, in high-paid positions, in these charities, are more likely beggars than Angels.
Now picture the Head of Communications face when I told him that I wouldn’t stay there even if he would offer me a paid-position. And imagine my surprise when I realized that I was chasing the wrong profession for so many years. My conclusion is: Our world could be a better place for everyone, with just a simple solution. If the powerful countries STOPPED War and STOPPED selling weapons, there wouldn’t be so much poverty in our world.
Also, major companies have plenty of money they can invest in humanity, rather than spending it on stupid and useless projects and worldwide media relation. For example, why does NASA have to invest billions on excursions to Mars and the moon, while planet Earth is in such a mess? Haven’t we done enough damage to one planet already? Why does Hollywood have to spend billions of dollars on blockbuster movies when they can stop poverty, save life’s, and end hunger and disease? Why do telecommunication companies and other brands, bring out more phones than we already have or need? Our world is falling apart, because of greed and corruption! The ironic thing is that everyone knows that NONE of us lives forever and we can't take anything with us! Therefore please support the people in your community, your family members and your neighbors instead of charity organizations and so called NPO’s. They get enough money from the Government. Remember that emotional support means sometimes more than financial support. And that’s how I came up with “The Teddy Project”. More information is on the next page!
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THE TEDDY CHARITY PROJECT We like to make giveaways with a print copy of Teddy & Lily along with the audiobook on CD for children in need. Especially for refugee kids, who are easily forgotten and sadly too often rejected, and for children in hospitals and children with disabilities in special schools. As you can guess, doing giveaways with printed books and pressed audiobooks on CD is costly. And that’s where you come in. You can help us in two ways. You may provide us with information about a child who’s hospitalized or in a refugee camp, or/and you may donate as much as you can to make it possible for us to cover the production and international shipping cost.
Let us put a smile on children’s faces regardless of their life story and their home country. What we adults often forget is how important and priceless emotional support is to children. And what is better and more heartwarming than a lovely and sweet book (based on a true story) that educates and inspires children and their parents? Our charity project is going to be active throughout the entire year and not only on Christmas. Thanks for supporting our campaign on GOFUNDME.com. Every little bit helps! Thank you for your kindness. Thank you for your support. Thank you for your love!
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DAMN PHARMACY, DAMN “PAIN” KILLERS! By Lily Amis When we suffer from physical conditions such as migraine, headache, tummy ache, insomnia, etc. the pain is always nothing but a reflection of our soul. Something or somebody in our life is bothering us emotionally, spiritually, or physically.
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What do most of us do? We go to a doctor or the next pharmacy on the corner! And what do they do? The first thing doctors do is write a prescription for a “healing” medicine. Because it is fast and easy money for them. Although a doctor's duty is to make time and dig deeper to find out what our actual problem is! What do we patients do? We deny the actual problem and are happy and relieved to get rid of the pain as soon as possible, as easy as possible. In the moment of desperation and pain, we don’t think about the long-term consequences of using medicine. We just want to survive the day and move on with our lives and our responsibilities. So we take a pill to function! The KING of Rock & Roll, Elvis Presley, did it. The KING of Pop, Michael Jackson, did it. The Artist Prince did it, and so many more people do it, daily. Elvis did it because that was his way of dealing with anxiety and insomnia. Michael Jackson started to take painkillers after his tragic accident, during the filming of his Pepsi commercial, where his hair caught on fire. Last year the legendary singer Prince died because he was dealing with health issues and thus took painkillers. These celebrity’s fates are just an example and reflection of our society. Helpless and suffering from pain, they choose to take the easy way of dealing with their health issues. History is repeating. Thanks to incapable, uncaring, and greedy doctors, and pharmacists, we keep losing Music Legends. We keep losing our loved ones. We keep 70 poisoning our own bodies.
What these thoughtless doctors and pharmacists are doing, is irresponsible! Using people’s weakness and desperation, for their own financial benefit, is nothing but criminal. Damn them for messing with people’s health and lives. Ever since I was fourteen years old, I’ve suffered from migraines. If you know my life story, from my book, Destination: Freedom, you totally understand why and probably say: “No wonder!” But, I remember when my doctor, back then, asked me if something was bothering me, I always answered, “No, nothing. Everything is fine!” I didn’t lie. I actually believed what I said because that was my way of emotional selfdefense and self-protection. And if you have read my second book, Definition of Freedom, you know that I struggled with depression, back in 2013.
It was such a horrible time that I had no other choice than to take anti-depressants. I was so unhappy and miserable. But, I soon realized I was getting addicted to them and immediately – literarily overnight – I put an end to it. I have to admit it was hard. The process of becoming “clean” after months was challenging. But, I succeeded and I would never ever recommend anyone to take anti-depressants, while you are suffering from depression. Never, ever! There are other ways of healing. I was able to come off from it and I truly encourage everyone else to find alternate ways to deal with life's problems - social, mental and physical issues as well. It goes without saying that you should never come straight off medication, specially if it's been prescribed for you. But the sooner you get clean the better!
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I promised myself not to take medicine anymore, except my migraine pills. Because, unfortunately, there is no healing for migraines till now. It is inevitable for you to have to take medicine, if you want and need to function as a human being, surviving life with migraine attacks!
I guess what I’m trying to say is; when you’re suffering from pain, first find out WHY you are suffering! Figure out WHAT in your life is bothering you and stressing you out. WHO is making you feel miserable? WHAT or WHO is causing your soul grief and sorrow?
But, then I fell for pills yet again, without even realizing it at first. I suffered from insomnia, in 2015 and I couldn’t sleep for months. I felt so restless, that I started to take sleeping pills. But forced sleep is not healthy sleep. It is completely fake. Your body is not relaxed and when you wake up you still feel exhausted and have no energy. I had lost my joy for life and felt miserable. So what did I do? When I realized I was once again becoming addicted to a pill, I put an end to the mess.
Try to find the solution to your problem without making the pharmacy industry richer than they already are, by destroying your body with drugs. And, if there is really absolutely NO solution to your problem, as in my case with my migraines and in my mum’s case with Fibromyalgia, then pay your doctor or the next pharmacy on the corner a visit! Remember, every pill has a side effect and before you realize it, you can end up in a vicious cycle. 72
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It really makes the whole healing process more difficult when you suffer and struggle with pain that no one else sees. Or, when people underestimate your pain, like in my case and in my mum’s case. When people say, “Oh, you are having a headache”, it drives me crazy. I really get upset, because having a headache has nothing to do with having a migraine attack. When you have a headache, it usually helps to take a light painkiller. You rest for a while and all is gone. But when you’re having a migraine attack, which I have at least three times a week, you are useless. The brain is the hard disk of our body and when your hard disk is damaged, your entire system is inoperative. You are out of order! I have no other choice, then, but to take hard painkillers, which help me to get rid of the pain, BUT the side effects make my life a living hell. I can’t see properly, I can’t concentrate. I keep forgetting things. I can’t focus and I make mistakes, etc. It is a nightmare! I’ve tried everything, starting with chiropractic, physiotherapy, acupuncture, healing sessions, different sports activities, and dietary change, but unfortunately, I have to take these damn pills as long as I live. My mum is brave. She took a medicine called “Celebrex”, for decades, to get rid of her chronic rheumatic condition and ongoing cycle of pain. Never knowing that the damn painkillers were damaging her entire body system. She is damaged so much, that now she is suffering from gastroesophageal reflux disease, internal bleeding, high blood pressure, hair loss, and much more.
Therefore, she has decided to survive life with Fibromyalgia, rather than having all of those side effects! She has no other choice. If my Mum had listened to the doctor’s, and pharmacist’s advice, she would literarily have been risking her life by continuing to take Celebrex!
So, always make sure the people working in a pharmacy are experienced and capable employees. Last year we had another incident. My Mother had an infection and was in deep pain. It was a weekend and we couldn’t contact our doctor. That’s why we went to the nearest pharmacy. This incapable Pharmacist advised my mom to take botanical medicine when she actually needed to take an antibiotic, as we found out later. This Pharmacist put my mum’s health at risk and that was absolutely, irresponsible. Someone like her should get fired immediately! And yes, I did report this to her boss because I don’t want anyone else to suffer like my mom did, for over a week, for nothing! If my Mum had taken the antibiotic straight away, she wouldn’t have had to end up in the emergency hospital, in a foreign country! Needless to say, this woman is still working in the same pharmacy! So, for heaven’s sake, take good care of your body and look after yourself. Because your body is the most precious gift you have from God. Also, keep in mind that a healthy body needs a happy soul. Your happiness and inner peace is your key to a painless body. If you are forced to take painkillers, like us, make sure the side effects don’t destroy your health and put your life at risk! Damn the greedy doctors. Damn the pharmacy industry. You are not our guardian Angels. You are greedy devils, toying and risking people’s lives and health! Remember, no one lives forever, not even you! RIP to your conscience! And keep in mind that for every medication you are taking, millions of animals had to die and suffer. Animal testing by pharmaceutical companies in their quest for profit is a crime. First, they kill animals, then later, us humans!
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Interview with Inspirational people By Lily Amis MEET SINGER JAMES KENNEDY FRONT MAN OF THE WELSH ALTERNATIVE MUSIC BAND KYHERA That’s one of the many benefits of being the publisher of your own magazine. Even though I made the rule that we don’t write about politics, I’m allowed to make the occasional exception.
Lily Amis The Inspirational Mind
I would like to introduce you to one of our music judges, the Welsh singer, songwriter, and record company owner, James Kennedy. I met James on Twitter. Actually, he followed me in the summer of 2015 when I discovered him to be not only a talented artist but more importantly, a caring human being, with a heart of gold for people in need. That’s why he was my first inspirational interview partner for my blog series. And now, almost two years later, he is supporting me in my magazine, with his professional know-how and experience. So, here we go. This interview is from 2015 and includes an update about his brand new album, “HOME”. Apart from that James Kennedy is not afraid of using his voice when it comes to his political views and opinions, which is rare and applaudable these days where our superficial society is more self-centered and selfish than ever before. Kyshera (pronounced K-eye-she-ra), the Alternative Rock Band, is an example of the great alternative rock coming out of the UK. Kyshera consists of vocalist/guitarist James Kennedy, bassist Matt Warr and drummer Glyn Bateman. 76
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James, you are one of those talented artists, who I have discovered through Twitter. What is your opinion about the Social Media as an artist? Do you think it is a blessing or a curse because people expect you to be online 24/7? I LOVE Social Media! And I love how modern technology has empowered all of us to bypass the traditional means of operation.
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I am a very passionate ambassador for Social Media and the DIY independent ethic across the board. Where the money comes from though is a different issue... When did you realise that music (especially rock music) was your passion and was something you wanted to do professionally?
I've always known really. As a child I was always obsessively recording things from the radio, making my own albums that way and drawing my own inlay cards and stuff! There was never any question really that I would end up doing music! In terms of doing it professionally, that just kind of happened gradually over time. It started out as fun and then inevitably over the years turned into 'business' so I try to keep my focus on the important part, which is the music! 77
How come that you are not a signed Solo artist or band by a major British record company and have decided to establish your own record company Konic Records? Well when I first started out I was actually approached by most of the major record labels, including Sony & Warner Bros so my initiation into the mindless bureaucracy of the music business started pretty much right away. Since then I have signed with labels and it’s never worked out well - we always ended up getting better results by ourselves, so I decided that in order to stay active as an artist (and not just be a great idea 'on the shelf') that going Independent was the best avenue for myself and the band. Konic Records is now a global company with partner companies in almost every country worldwide!
Does your Label Konic Records sign other talented and aspiring artists too? If so, how do you discover new talents? We do! But as a Publisher, not as a label because I really don’t think that artists need a label anymore until they're at a certain level. In terms of discovering artists, we get sent submissions regularly and I am also a Band Camp addict, so I've discovered a great amount of talent on there, some of whom we've worked with to great result.
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As the front man of Kyshera, you travel the world and meet a lot of different people from all kinds of nationalities, cultures, religions and mentalities. What was the most exciting experience you had on tour? Which city was your favourite place and why? Ah there's so many! I love seeing different cultures. In Europe the contrast between countries is so stark because you can be in 2 different countries in one day, so you get an immediate comparison. I think one of our best records of ours was having breakfast in Italy, doing a show in Switzerland and then having evening beers in Germany all in the same day ha ha!
You are one of the few artists who expressed his feelings and empathy for the refugees in the summer of 2015 publicly via Twitter @JamesKennedyUK, for which I’m very grateful. As a British artist living in Cardiff, what is your opinion about the refugees who have the desire and wish to leave war behind and start a new life in safety in Europe? My opinion on that is simple - everybody seeking Asylum or fleeing poverty, war, torture or disaster, should have free and assisted movement to a safer country without question. It's what I would want if I was in that situation, I would want to flee to somewhere safer with my family as fast as I could. Immigration causes NO harm of ANY kind to the host country, infact it has been proven an endless amount of times that Immigration actually has a large net benefit to the host countries’ economy and culture. 79
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“I would personally welcome as many Immigrants & Asylum seekers in to my home town as we could physically accommodate!� James Kennedy The leaders of all nations know that Capitalism isn't a durable system without a steady influx of borderline slave labour, which is why Immigration is allowed to continue but they also use the issue to gain the added perk of spreading fear, division and confusion among their population so that we focus our anger on the poor and desperate and not on the powerful. I would personally welcome as many Immigrants and Asylum seekers in to my home town as we could physically accommodate! Anyone believing the opposite should then stop mindlessly supporting policies which exacerbate war and poverty around the world so that people wouldn't have the need to flee in the first place.
For me, music is the universal language that not only brings joy and happiness but also reunites all kinds of people around the world, while Politics and Religion divides us. What is your goal as a performer except entertaining people with your voice and music? I totally agree. For me, I've always used whatever platform I may have to try and speak for those who don't have a platform - and also to share information and a perspective that's not given by the mainstream media. However, lately I've been more engaged in exploring more personal, emotional and spiritual issues, such as on the last Kyshera album 'Circle' and that's probably something which will continue for the next album. The Eurovision Song Contest (for me THE musical highlight every year, because it reunites EUROPE) will take place soon. Will you watch the show and what is your favourite Eurovision Song of all time and why? Ha ha I've never watched an entire Eurovision Song Contest, it's not really for me.
I've seen bits of it but to be honest, I don't really consume any mainstream culture at all - I don't read the newspapers and I have never owned a television in my life. It's highly doubtful that I will watch the Eurovision Song Contest this year, unless I'm locked in a hotel room somewhere and there's alcohol ha ha. As for a favourite song on there, I couldn't name a single song, let alone a favourite! I appreciate that it's good fun for people that like it though, so I'm not knocking it, it's just not for me. You have financed your previous band album 'Circle' in 2015 and your Solo album 'HOME' in 2017 exclusively through Crowd Funding. How was that experience? We did! And we're still so thankful to everyone who pledged so generously and made the 'Circle' and my Solo album 'HOME' possible! It was a great experience, having no label interference and just a direct trust between ourselves & our fanbase - another great testament to social media and the new model for artists. 80
Why did you name your new album, The video features footage shot from all 'HOME'? over Wales, as well as a live performance of me busking the song in Cardiff. When we got home after the last Kyshera tour, I found myself in a state of depression that I can’t wait to hear the song. Are there had been building for some time. The constant any concert dates in the UK or a 'one dimensional-ness' of my life had started European Tour planned for 2017? to get me down and despite all of the amazing things that were happening in my life, I was Nope! The only live performances I am unable to see the good in any of it. doing are personal concerts for people who use my Pledge Campaign. I'm really happy That’s when we decided to take a break and I being away from touring at the moment went on a bit of a personal self-exploration and spending more time at 'Home'. and reflection period from which I came out the other end of my depression a few weeks What a shame. But I understand. One later. When I was able to see the light again last question. What is your Definition of and fully appreciate all that was wonderful with Love in three words and in one my life, I felt that I had come 'Home' - after a sentence? period of being away somewhere else (in a darker place that wasn't really my natural state Love is empathy, acceptance and of being), I felt that I was finally 'back' to being thankfulness. me again. The album is pretty much a journal of that entire process. And Love is ultimately the only thing that will save us all. I'm deeply touched and very sorry to hear this James. But I'm glad that you are James, thank you for being so open, feeling better now and that you are back honest, lovely and inspirational and 'HOME'. thank you for being a Read My Mind I love the first single 'Unconditional'. It is Song Lyric Judge! I'm so glad to have one of those songs that you can’t get out you on board! God bless you. of your head. What is the second single from your album? What can we expect? What’s the song lyric message this time? Awww I'm glad you like it! The next single and video is for a song called 'Hometown'. Whereas Unconditional is a tribute to loved ones, Hometown is a tribute to...well, Hometowns! I think we're all guilty of taking for granted where we're from and thinking that it's way better elsewhere but this song is about appreciating the role our Hometowns play in our lives (for better or worse!). 81
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Interview with Inspirational People By Lily Amis MEET SWEDISH SINGER SONGWRITER AND ACTOR CARL LINDQUIST What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about Sweden or Swedish music?
Lily Amis The Inspirational Mind
What prejudices do you have towards the Swedish weather? Well brands like IKEA and H&M rule the world and music wise, ABBA and Roxette are the first names that I immediately think of. And of course worldwide known songs by Britney Spears, N’Sync and Backstreet Boys written and produced by talented Swedish songwriters. When it comes to the weather, I picture a dark, cloudy and unpleasant winter where some of the places only have just a few hours of daylight. But trust me, this is not all that Sweden has to offer. If you think you know everything about good Swedish music, you don’t! If you think Sweden means dark and unpleasant, you haven’t met my inspirational interview personality yet! Today I want you to meet the talented Swedish singer, songwriter and actor, Carl Lindquist. He’s a ray of sunshine who can light up any darkness with his smile, charisma and undeniable talent, immediately. Remember his name because I have no doubt that Carl Lindquist is about to become a Worldwide-Swedish export as well. Carl is such an inspiring and multi-talented personality. That’s the reason for the length of this interview.
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My name is Carl Lindquist. I’m an actor/singer-songwriter, based in London, originally from Stockholm, Sweden. Songwriting is something that lies very close to my heart. I love the creative side of putting together a new song - writing a good chord progression and coming up with catchy melodies, and then combine that with an interesting lyric. I think it’s a very exciting process. It’s always a special feeling when you’ve written something new. I love to express myself through my songwriting, and it makes me very happy when listeners tell me that they can relate to my stories and lyrics.
Photo credits: Melissa Sandoval
Carl, being devoted to sport, played for the Swedish Basketball National Youth Team, competing in three European Championships, and played professionally for a few years, before he was forced to stop playing basketball because of a knee injury.
“My biggest dream was unexpectedly taken away from me but music became my savior.” Carl Lindquist
You can find out more about his successful sport career as a Swedish National Basketball Team player before he got into music by watching the documentary “Living the dream” at the end of this interview. Carl takes us on a journey and shares his story as a sportsman. It might sound selfish, but as hard as it must have been for him to give up sport, for us who now enjoy his voice as a performer, it is a blessing. WATCH THE MOVIE HERE! 85
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Carl being devoted to sport is completely another story than being devoted to music and entertainment. The way you are physically and mentally challenged in sport, is different to the challenges you are faced with in the entertainment industry. You also work with different kinds of people. How did you manage to adjust to this new world? And if you could turn back time, would you have done anything different, or are you happy (from the bottom of your heart) with your current life as a stage performer?
I know that everything is relative, but this was really hard for me since basketball was my biggest passion, and it was the only thing I wanted to do at the time. My biggest dream was unexpectedly taken away from me because of the injury. After spending countless hours in the gym since the age of nine, working hard on becoming the best player I could be, my dream just disappeared in the blink of an eye. It was really tough to adjust at first but thanks to my music, I was able to move on. Music became my savior. Looking back at it now, I do still miss the game but I’m very happy with my current life and what I’m doing now. But I’m quite sure if I hadn’t been injured I would have continued to play basketball. I love the game. Well it seems as if destiny had other plans for you. Carl as a live performer on stage every night you can’t just make it with a good voice. You need to have the discipline, ambition, personality and likeability to be successful. You are blessed with all. What other gifts and talents have you got? What would have become of you, if you had not decided to work with your powerful strong voice professionally and share your talent with the world? First of all, thank you for your kind words! Well I would have loved to work as a chef, because I love to cook when I have some free time. I do think being a police officer is really cool too!
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“In regards to recent events and a dream that we should all share and strive towards, we need to love more, hate less and work towards a brighter and lighter future.” Carl Lindquist You were born and raised in Stockholm in a musical environment, your family. So where did you get your gene, from Mom or from Dad? What do they think about your incredibly successful journey so far? Both my parents are musical, so they have both inspired me. My mum used to sing, and she plays some guitar as well. My dad is like a “living music dictionary”! He knows so much about music history and we can sit for hours and just talk about different artists and bands. I know that they are proud, and they have always supported me in whatever I do. It means the world to me. I love them very much. A "living music dictionary"? I see, your father sounds like a potential inspirational interview partner for my blog series! Now back to you:
Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
After visiting the leading school of Performing Arts in Scandinavia Kulturama (with focus on Vocal: Jazz/Rock/Soul) you decided to visit the American Musical Theatre Academy in London. Why London and not New York? What was the most challenging lesson during your educational journey? I do love New York and I would love to live there one day, but I’ve always wanted to live in London as well. I wanted to pursue my dream in musical theatre, and therefore the decision of moving from Stockholm to London was quite easy, but I knew that it would be a big challenge for me. Though I was very excited about it all, and I’m very happy now that I took that step. I would probably say that the most challenging lessons for me were the dance lessons we had at the American Musical Theatre Academy (AMTA), because I’m not a dancer at all. 87
Carl with his lovely & supportive parents
Carl together with his friend, musical theatre legend Ramin Karimloo an Iranian-Canadian actor and singer recognized chiefly for his work in London's West End. He has played leading male roles in both of the West End's longest running musicals: The Phantom and Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera, Marius in Les MisĂŠrables. He also originated the role of the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies, which continues the story of The Phantom of the Opera.
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At the one-year Academic program in London you focused on subjects like audition techniques, character analysis, dance, casting workshops, speech/dialects/accents and of course acting and voice training etc. What was your favorite subject of all and why? My favorite subject was the acting lessons, and we had quite a few every week. I loved that! I’m a singer first and foremost, but I’ve always loved to act. There is something really special about musical theatre, since you get to sing, but you also need to act. It’s storytelling, and I’ve always found that very interesting. It’s also great fun to play different characters.
As a singer, actor, player of guitar and piano and songwriter you work on various projects around the world. What has been so far the most exciting and memorable project of all and why? That’s a tough question! All the projects I’ve been involved with have been real fun, but if I have to pick one then I have to say my collaboration with VRA! from Brazil. Together we recorded a cover of the Dream Theater song, “As I Am” and it had a lot of success on YouTube. We were even mentioned on National Brazilian TV. It was very exciting! The video has now over 600’000+ views! How can you stay focused, committed and passionate while being involved in so many different projects? Tell me, where do you get your energy? Do you ever sleep? Are you human or from another galaxy? I’m very passionate in everything I do, and I love to do a lot of different things. It always keeps me inspired as well. I love to work! I’m a human for sure… Though a few more hours of sleep every night would be nice!
I wonder if you ever get nervous. How do you manage to stand out at auditions and not be forgettable? And once you have the “dream” role where do you get your confidence to perform live in front of an audience? Do you ever doubt yourself? I’m still always a bit nervous before I go into the audition room or on stage, but once I start to sing and perform it all goes away. I don’t really doubt myself. I know what I can do, and what I can’t do, and therefore feel quite confident. So whenever I go on stage I usually feel relaxed and I can then enjoy my time on stage so much more. You have been on UK and European tours with musicals such as “Jesus Christ Superstar” by the master of Musical Mister Andrew Lloyd Webber. How exciting was it for you get a role in an Andrew Lloyd Webber production? Did you have the chance to meet him personally? I was thrilled! Jesus Christ Superstar has always been one of my favorite shows, so to finally be a part of it was really cool, and to also be a part of the official production makes it all even more special. I love the show, the songs, and the cast I worked with were amazing! Lovely and super-talented people! Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to meet Mr. Lloyd Webber, but I hope I will one day. When you are touring in Europe do you feel a difference between the audience in different cities and cultures? If so which audience was your favorite so far and why? Yes I do sometimes feel a difference, but I have to say that most of the audiences I’ve performed for have been great and very supportive, no matter if I’m in Sweden, the 89
Jesus Christ Superstar (The Musical) United Kingdom, Germany or even in France. The most important thing for me is that the audiences get moved in some way or another. I hope that the action on stage triggers them, whether it’s positive or negative, and makes them think and reflect about what they’ve just seen and heard on stage. When you are touring with a group of other talented artists like yourself can you actually have a private life? Can you ever relax and have a moment for yourself and your soul? If so what is your guilty pleasure? What makes Carl happy? I do have a private life! Even though I’m working all the time, I try to take some time off every now and then. Like I said before, I love to cook so if I have some free time I always do that. I love to play guitar, play video games, watch movies and TV series as well.
It really helps me to relax. I love spending time with my family and friends, and I’m happy as long as they are happy. That’s the most important thing for me. Having a job like yours means you have to function 24/7, 365 days in year. You can’t allow yourself to get sick, because many people rely on you: your team and the audience. How do you take care of yourself, your voice and your health? The key for me is to eat well, exercise when I can, drink a lot of water, take a lot of vitamins, and sleep a lot. I always do a warm-up for my voice every morning and I start drinking water as soon as I wake up. You want to stay hydrated all day long, especially if you have a show in the evening. 90
Sounds good Carl! Many people would think that being you is a dream come true. You live a desirable life. You get to meet so many interesting people and visit exciting new places. Would you say that is true or that not all that glitters is gold? I love my life and I’m very grateful that I’m able to do the things I love for a living. But it’s a lot of hard work, because as you mentioned, it’s a real 24/7 job, and it includes a lot of travelling, late working hours etc. It’s demanding, but very exciting at the same time. I love it, and I wouldn’t change it for anything else. You were born and raised in Stockholm. Now you live in London. But most of the time you live out of a suitcase. Isn’t it extremely hard to spend every week in another city, in another hotel? Don’t you ever miss home and normality? Most importantly where is your home? Stockholm or London?
Stockholm will always be my home. That’s where I’m born and raised, but London has become like my 2nd home now. I spend most of my time here because of my work. When I’m on the road, I always miss my family and friends of course, but I really love being on tour. I love to visit new places, meet new people and explore new territories. Carl if I was an Angel and would ask you right now and right here, what is your biggest professional or personal dream, desire, goal or wish, what would it be? For example is there any desirable role in a musical production that you would like to play? I could see you in my favourite Musical “The Phantom of the Opera” as the Phantom himself.
I’ve always had a lot of dreams, and new dreams keep coming up. And yes, I would love to play “Phantom” one day, since “The Phantom of the Opera” is one of my favorite shows, and it was this show that really inspired me to pursue a dream in musical theatre, after seeing the show on Broadway many years ago. But there are many roles I would love to play, and other shows I would love be a part of. Another dream of mine is to do a big tour all around the world with my debut solo album. I really hope people will enjoy my album, as much as I enjoyed making it. In regards to recent events and a dream that we should all share and strive towards, we need to love more, hate less and work towards a brighter and lighter future. As a solo artist, you released your first rock/pop solo EP entitled, “End of Our Road” in May 2012. In 2013, you signed a publishing deal with SESAC, one of three biggest performing rights organizations in the US. Joining the team of artists like Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Rush, Mariah Carey and many others. Now you are working on your second album where you also write your own song lyrics about nature, mankind, various feelings and issues. Your songs are always deep and meaningful. What can we expect from your upcoming album? Ballads or Up-tempo? What style of music? Pop or Rock? Do you know the title of your album? Will you dedicate it to someone special? My debut solo album will be a singersongwriter/acoustic album with a lot of rock/pop elements, and I think there will be something for everyone on this record. 91
Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
There will be ballads, up-tempo songs, catchy choruses and melodies. The title of the album is not yet decided, but it will be very soon, and I may dedicate the album to someone special, we’ll see. I’m very excited about it all, and I can’t wait to share the album with the world! As if that’s not enough you also have released the album “Flow” and as the Vocalist of the French/Swedish metal band Coexistence. You and your band “Coexistence” worked for a long time on your second Metal/Rock album “EVERLASTING SCARS”, which was released, WORLDWIDE on NOVEMBER 7th – 2016. What was the most exciting experience for you as the lead singer during the process of recording it in the studio?
The overall experience when creating something brand new is always exciting. I love being in the studio, and I love the recording process. But of course it’s always special for me when we start the vocal recordings. I really go into this state of mind, putting aside everything else for a moment, just focusing on what I’m going to do next and how I’m gonna deliver the vocals. Then I really just enjoy the moment. It’s always special. Coexistence is a multicultural Metal/Rock band with members from France and Sweden. So your music is representing the Europe of today. What is your message to the world with your songs? If you had to choose only one title from this album to spread your message which one would it be and why?
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As always we want our listeners to feel connected to our songs in one way or another. Our lyrics are usually about personal experiences and real life events, so we hope and we want people to be able to relate to them when listening to our music. If our songs manage to do that, then we have succeeded with our message. “Everlasting Scars” is about finding a new path in life after experiencing something really dark in your life. I do think that even through you’ve been true real pain, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. The theme we had for this album is “alienation” and it’s a big word for sure, but we wanted to write songs that could all be connected to that one word and that’s what we did. Every song is unique on this album, and every song has its own story to tell, but we could have easily named all the songs on the album “Everlasting Scars” because they are all connected to each other.
Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
If I had to choose one song from this album I would definitely choose ‘Bring Me Home‘ because musically, I think it’s the best song on the album, it’s probably one of the best songs we’ve ever written in our career. It summarizes everything we want to say with this album and as the storyline goes on, it’s really the final redemption. Even though the scars will never mend, you will still find a new path in life, no matter what - “Unlocking my past, truth be told - what I seek will Bring Me Home”. I ask all my inspirational interview partners these two last questions. What is your definition of Love in three words? What is your definition of Love in one sentence? Friendship / Passion / Respect Love is Love Thank you Carl for the interview and for being one of the Read My Mind Song Lyric Judges. 93
LAST CHRISTMAS By Lily Amis This place in the magazine was reserved for talented and passionate new comers in music with a great song lyric. Unfortunately, we didn’t receive any good material. Therefore, we have decided to dedicate these two pages to the legendary George Michael (Wham!) and his iconic Christmas song “Last Christmas”.
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Sadly the gorgeous and talented George Michael left us last Christmas. But his music will stay with us forever. I grew up with “Last Christmas” in the last decades. In our home this is THE song to play before and during the Christmas holidays. I knew the lyrics even before I could speak and understand English. George is gone but I’m sure that “Last Christmas” and his wonderful music with his beautiful voice will last for many more decades and be enjoyed by many generations.
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George Michael was special. He was lovely. He was kind. He was talented. He was one of a kind. God bless his soul that filled our hearts with joy and laughter for so many Christmases. Merry Christmas George! We love you! We miss you!
SONG LYRIC LAST CHRISTMAS Last Christmas, I gave you my heart But the very next day you gave it away This year, to save me from tears I'll give it to someone special Last Christmas, I gave you my heart But the very next day you gave it away This year, to save me from tears I'll give it to someone special Once bitten and twice shy I keep my distance But you still catch my eye Tell me, baby Do you recognize me? Well, it's been a year It doesn't surprise me (Merry Christmas!) I wrapped it up and sent it With a note saying, "I love you, " I meant it Now, I know what a fool I've been But if you kissed me now I know you'd fool me again Last Christmas, I gave you my heart But the very next day you gave it away This year, to save me from tears I'll give it to someone special
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LILYWOOD MUST-C MOVIES
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THE TRUE STORY BEHIND THE WORLD BRANDS ADIDAS & PUMA By Lily Amis
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Regardless of our nationality or mother language, some brand names, such as Nivea, Adidas, Puma, Reebok, Nike, Nutella, and for example, Kleenex, belong in our vocabulary from a young age onward. We hear the brand name and immediately recognize the product behind it. We could say hand crème or body lotion, instead of Nivea, or chocolate instead of Nutella, or tissues instead of Kleenex, but most of us don’t do that. We use the brand name without ever thinking about or questioning the story behind it. Even if we don’t use the product and don’t have a piece of it, we usually have an opinion about it. I recently watched a fascinating movie, "Duel of the Dassler Brothers" (A German TV production) and a documentary based on the true story behind the international sports brands, Adidas and Puma. Both brands are made in Germany and I can’t help it; I have to share it with you, for many reasons. This is not a typical review about a movie, but rather, a lesson in life, based on a true life story. It fascinates me because it includes: Two brothers, one shared goal, a strong belief, commitment, hard work, World War II, envy, hate between the brothers, a divided village in Bavaria, Germany, and a sad ending!
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Two brothers Adi and Rudolf Dassler started a shoe manufacturing business in the small Bavarian Village of Herzogenaurach in the 1920’s. Adi, the shoemaker, had the vision for the perfect sports shoe and Rudolf, the older brother, was the businessman and sales manager. Despite their hard work and belief in their product, the bank didn’t support them and they had to start very small, without the financial security. But passion, commitment, and hard work made the brothers successful in a short matter of time. These days it is normal for us to have sports shoes. Back then no one had extra shoes for sports activities.
Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
But the Dassler Brothers started to create, design, and produce extra shoes for Football, Tennis, and other sports activities. That’s how they created the worldwide famous brands. Unfortunately, a huge setback and disappointment for their business and personal relationship was the Second World War. With the rise of Adolf Hitler, in the 1930s, both Dassler brothers joined the Nazi Party, with Rudolf reputed to be the more ardent National Socialist. During the war, they were no longer allowed to make shoes, by Hitler’s regime and Rudolf was forced to go into war service, while Adi stayed in the shoe factory and continued his work under the eyes of the SS regime. 98
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It is not proven, but apparently, Adi was forced to use the factory for manufacturing war products for the SS. Once Rudolf was back from the war, their relationship was broken. The brothers had lost trust in each other. Envy and hate ended their business, as well as personal relationship, once and for all. The factory employees had to decide whether they wanted to continue working for Adi, or if they would leave Adidas and join Rudolf’s new brand, “Puma”. Rudolf chose the brand name Puma because he was kind of a Casanova, in his youth and women had titled him Puma.
The small Bavarian Village Herzogenaurach was divided in two because most inhabitants of the village either worked for Adidas or for Puma. It was an unspoken war between the inhabitants and the two factories, which were also divided geographically, by a river. The war between the brothers and the village continued for decades. Rudolf Dassler - also known for producing THE sports shoes for the German National Soccer Team, who won, “the Miracle of Bern” in 1954 - died of lung cancer in 1974, at the age of 76. The younger brother Adolf (Adi) Dassler died in 1978, at the age of 77. 100
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Even though buried in the same cemetery, the two brothers are even separated after death. One brother is buried at one end and the other at the other end of the same cemetery! What a shame and how ironic!
They often find that someone else – for whatsoever reason – is satisfied and believe it to be because of the things that they don’t have. Envy is just easier than self-criticism.
What remains, from the two German inventors, entrepreneurs, discoverers, and founders of the German sportswear companies are the worldwide known brands Adidas and Puma. The two brands survived World War II, but the brother’s relationship didn’t, because of envy, hate, and jealousy.
And this true story of the Dassler Brothers shows how silly, sad, immature, and stupid it is to be at war just because of envy and jealousy.
Since there has been humanity, there has been envy. Most people are dissatisfied with their lot in life and constantly compare themselves with others; be it externally, be it professionally, or in their relationships and friendships.
Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
At least, meanwhile, the small village of Herzogenaurach is at peace and the inhabitants respect each other and are grateful for the legacy the brothers have left behind. All I can say is: Adolf and Rudolf, thank you for your legacy and the joy you bring for the new generations worldwide. I hope and pray you are finally at peace with each other, on the other side. 101 RIP!
Sculpture of Dassler in the Adi Dassler Stadium
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Read My Mind - Spring Edition 2017
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INTERVIEW WITH INSPIRATIONAL PEOPLE By Lily Amis MEET AWARD-WINNING BRITISH ACTOR KEVIN LESLIE I want you to meet Award-Winning British Actor Kevin Leslie. Kevin has been involved with various British Film, TV and Theatre projects. His film credits range from small roles in features to the leading role of the internationally shot feature, “Pearls of Africa”.
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In 2015 Kevin was crowned the Best Actor at the prestigious Marbella International Film Festival and received an award for his portrayal of Reggie Kray. The film “Fall of the Krays” also won best independent movie at the UK National film awards in 2017. Since Kevin’s role as a Kray twin he has been catapulted into the limelight. Kevin’s work reveals that he honors each project (big or small) with the same raw talent and commitment that drives his career to success. In 2016 Kevin shot two beautiful short films that will both do the festival rounds in 2017: “The Doorman,” a spy thriller, and “Finding Hope,” which is about a mother who grieves the loss of her daughter with her husband, then months later is touched by a little boy she meets in the park who gives her future hope. Kevin has also completed a feature film called “The Escort” that will also hit the festival scene. “The Escort” is a film about relationships today and the intimacy which is lost in the social media age.
Read My Mind – The Best of Lily Amis
Kevin, I have discovered you through social media, and I must say that I love the quote on your Twitter account: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.” So hand on heart, how 106 many times did you try and fail in life?
Hand on heart, it’s been one of the most challenging things I've had to discover. As I've always been someone that has tried to be the best, succeed and achieve big. So learning that taking risks and perhaps not getting it right is okay as you learn from those experiences. The time when I was truly discovering this was in training, as when we were asked to get up and try out an exercise or technique I would always go around third or fourth to demonstrate, because I'd have learnt from the first couple and seen where they went wrong. So when I got up, I did it correctly but it meant I wasn’t learning for myself and I was just performing things okay, but when I started pushing myself/taking risks and going first that's when I really started to achieve bigger things.
When and why did you feel that acting is your passion and determination? Did any specific film or actor inspire you? To be honest I kind of just fell into acting. I was very sporty as a kid but got involved in school shows, which I really enjoyed. When it came to making a choice about whether to study BTEC Sport or BTEC Performing Arts, I went with my heart and chose to study what I enjoyed doing.
You have a BA in Acting from the Arts University College Bournemouth. What would you say was the most interesting lesson during your study and why? I'd say for me the most interesting moment was in my second year. I was studying Shakespeare and Greek tragedy simultaneously; this was the moment I had a real breakthrough as an actor; it was the moment I realized I was good enough to do this as a career; I discovered my vocal tone and style as an actor. Kevin I imagine being an actor can be extremely difficult, both emotionally and physically, depending on the role that you’re playing. You have to be able to switch on and off your feelings, emotions, life struggles and worries, regardless of how you feel privately. What has been so far the most challenging character for you to play and why? 107
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Firstly, that is the skill of the actor – you can't allow your own current circumstances to influence your portrayal, i.e. if you are having a bad day but your character is happy, you still need to portray happiness. Dracula is probably my most challenging character as it was both mentally and physically draining, with the added challenge of an accent. I made a decision to portray that character in a very animalistic way, seeing all beings as sustenance or sex objects.
You have been working in several short movies, TV series, and films. What has been so far the most emotionally touching experience for you during a film production and why? It has to be shooting a feature in Kenya, where I grew not only as an actor but as a person due to experiencing many fascinating moments from animals in the wild to people happily living with nothing.
This aptly brings me to my point, which was when filming I joined a group of young boys playing football with a homemade ball of plastic bags; we played for hours. I won't ever forget the smiles or enjoyment on their faces. I wanted to do something as it saddened me to see they didn’t even have a real ball to play with, something I took for granted growing up, so I went and bought them a real football.
I personally love movies that touch my heart. As I write in my monthly movie review #Lilywood, I love movies that are funny, romantic, inspiring, entertaining, historical, or educational. But most of all, films that are based on true stories. What kind of movie genres do you watch? What is your favourite film of all time and why?
I like all genres of movies as I like to have a diverse knowledge, but I agree that ones 108
which have a really good story stand out most for me. Trying to focus my answer more directly to your question is difficult as I cannot choose one favourite movie of all time.
Way to make me feel like a cliché lol, as yes, James Bond is my dream role. But it looks like Tom Hiddleston is going to pip me to the post this time.
My favourite movie for its story would be a film called 'Pay it Forward'; a young boy comes up with a beautiful concept for a school project, and if people followed it we would live in a much more peaceful world.
What I admire about inspiring people like you is your selfless support for people in need. You’re currently using your popularity and supporting “Haven House Children's Hospice” @HavenHouseCH, which provides care for children with lifelimited and life-threatened conditions. How come you have decided to support this specific charity?
I wonder, can you as an actor ever watch a film and relax? Or do you look at every scene and every detail from a professional point of view? That I imagine must be really annoying. :-) Haha, it is indeed. As soon as you're trained in this art form I don't think you can take a film completely at face value. I think you are always going to look at it and notice a good shot and wonder how they filmed it, or admire the score or filmmaker's work.
Dead or alive, who is your favourite actor/actress off all time and why? Wow, hard question – how long have you got? The female is easy – it has to be the one and only Meryl Streep purely because she is a genius performer; you never see 'Meryl' in the role, you always see the character. For male, I will go with Leonardo DiCaprio as I have always thought he is a phenomenal actor and underrated.
P.S. Shout out to Denzel Washington as he's up there.
I have to ask you this question since you’re a British actor. Can you imagine ever playing James Bond? And who is your favourite James Bond and why?
I was introduced to Haven House as they are local to me and it only took me minutes to fall in love with and admire the work that the real people are doing to help these children. Since then, I have done what little I can and hope to continue to do more in the future. It is these real people that offer support, care and raise money 365 days a year – they are the real heroes; the people that should get the accolade for the work they are doing.
Do you have any desire to ever work on a film project in America, or are you happy to be successful in United Kingdom? I was always advised to crack the UK first so that the transition to America would become easier i.e. green card, visas etc., but it is something on my radar. I do want to get involved in the bigger blockbuster movies while also still staying involved with British independent film.
Everything seems to go very well for you at the moment. But if I was an angel and would ask you right now and right here, what is your biggest professional dream, desire, goal or wish, what would it be? 109
Seeing as James Bond has gone for now :), I would love to be a lead regular in a drama series like Game of Thrones, Narcos, Peaky Blinders. Away from that, I would also love to be cast as a lead in a timeless classic like Gladiator, Goodfellas etc. Ever since I’ve worked on my book “Definition of Love”, I ask my inspirational interview partners these two questions: What is your definition of love in three words? What is your definition of love in one sentence? Love conquers all and Love knows no boundaries; it's the only thing that makes this life worth living.
Kevin, it was a pleasure to do this interview with you. I have a feeling that you will make it BIG in the international film industry and I wish you the best of luck! Some of your answers really touched my heart and inspired me. Keep up the good work and don’t let the movie industry change your caring, loving and down-to-earth personality. Because THIS will be the KEY to your success! My best wishes & God bless. Lily Amis
WWW.KEVINLESLIE.CO.UK
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MUST-C MOVIES & TV SHOWS ON CHRISTMAS By Lily Amis Christmas holidays are one of the most relaxing times of the year. No one is bothering you with business phone calls or annoying bills and mail. No distraction whatsoever! Most people are joyful, positive, and in the spirit of Christmas looking forward to spending time with their loved ones.
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One of our favourite things to do over the holidays has always been watching lovely movies or TV series. We love Hollywood classic movies such as Some Like It Hot and Roman Holiday. We love movies with the beautiful Audrey Hepburn and Doris Day, the handsome Gregory Peck, Cary Grant, James Stewart and Rock Hudson. These handsome man are NOT replaceable and completely out of stock!
God bless the real stars from Hollywood! May their souls rest in peace. They were each truly one of a kind. Those of you who know these movies totally understand me. Those who don’t, well you should definitely check out these timeless Hollywood classics on DVD. We love films that are inspired by true stories or history. Funny and romantic (yes, even cheesy). Last year we ordered the entire series of Mr. Selfridge and enjoyed watching every single episode. Ever since Netflix (God bless them for saving us from wasting precious life time on watching forced commercials!), we can even watch our favourite TV series from the 90s such as Friends and Full House. What a joy it is to watch family oriented, educational, and funny stories instead of TV shows about crime such as CSI NY, CSI Miami, CSI blah blah blah!
Also, aren’t we all sick and tired of all these
reality shows such as I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, “Big Brother” Big Brother or talent shows like Britain’s Got Talent, The Idol or The Voice filled with annoying advertisements! Sometimes the ads take so long that I forget what I was watching in the first place and I decide to turn off the TV. I’m just tired of filling my head with none-sense instead of being entertained. I often ask myself what happened to our world? Do we only feel entertained when we watch crime on TV channels such as TLC? Or when we watch people making a fool of themselves on reality shows? If TV productions and Hollywood movies represent our society…well boy I feel ashamed for living in this decade. If all we have in our minds is either crime, sex and humiliation, then I don’t want to know how the future will be in a decade from now! 112
If being a celebrity means public humiliation in cheap TV reality shows, then I wonder why anyone wants to be a celebrity in the first place?
Anyway, all I know is that film and TV makers have a huge responsibility. Unfortunately, all they care about these days is making fast and easy money with block busters. How many more Supermen, Spidermen, and Batmen do we really want to watch over and over again? God bless filmmaker and actor, Michael Landon and film producer Aaron Spelling and Billy Wilder’s soul. Where are the next Landons, Spellings, and Wilders? To all the people in the TV and film industry, please have a heart for us and our next generation! Please stop producing crap. Start producing meaningful, touching, and educational TV series and movies that will last like our favorite Hollywood productions with timeless and ageless stories! For God sake forget the special effects like movies by German Hollywood filmmaker Roland Emmerich, where his only passion and mission seems to be destroying planet Earth in his movies. Only God knows how difficult and disturbed his childhood must have been or what emotional complexes he has to deal with today. Or maybe Mister Emmerich is the Nostradamus in our century! Who knows? No wonder our young generation is violent, disrespectful, and loveless. No wonder kids become criminals by watching violent TV programs and playing violent computer games! No wonder many kids have not much love and respect for parents, family, and friends. No wonder so many young boys have no respect for girls and men no respect for women! We really need to re-think our entertainment understanding and behaviour. We have to re-think the values in our society by watching meaningful and loving movies instead of cheap, meaningless programs. Time is precious. Do we really want to waste it on trash movies and TV shows? If you agree with me check out my MustC Movies and TV Series list over Christmas and focus on the positive topics of life. Enjoy the entertainment and Merry Christmas. 113
REMEMBERING THE MAN WHO MADE GENERATIONS LAUGH! By Lily Amis
LilyWood & The Inspirational Mind
American comedian, actor, singer, producer, director, screenwriter, and humanitarian Jerry Lewis, born Joseph Levitch, entertained us for so many decades. Many generations grew up with his timeless and humorful movies he made with his comedy partner actor and singer Dean Martin. As a child, I adored Jerry Lewis and enjoyed his sense of humor in movies like Cinderfella, The Nutty Professor, The Ladies Man. etc. He was handsome, funny, and sweet. Jerry Lewis’ talent was that he entertained all kinds of people regardless of nationality, age and language. Making people laugh and forget their worries for a while is a God-given gift and Jerry had it. Few comedians have the talent to function internationally. Jerry Lewis was one of a kind and in my opinion unreplaceable. Jerry, thank you for the joyful hours you gave us! Rest in peace, you will never be forgotten.
THE LOST GENERATION! HISTORY IS REPEATING... In my book “History Reloaded, Shit happens…”, a collection of my political blog post I published a chapter where I wrote about this amazingly talented comedian and his most serious film ever. In the early 1970s Hollywood actor Jerry Lewis started working on a Holocaust film and ended up hiding all the footage to this decade. Jerry Lewis was more than a Comedian. He was a man with a big heart for people in need. He was one of a kind. God bless his soul! 114
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THE LOST GENERATION! HISTORY IS REPEATING...
The refugee kids from today are the lost generation and the victims of tomorrow.
The numbers of refugees entering Europe with false hopes, dreams, and desires is still rising every single day. And so is also, the numbers of 143,000 missing refugees that are out of sight, ever since they have registered. Only God knows where they are and where destiny has taken them to.
On the one hand Germany is paying up to nine thousand Euros for a family of five, for housing. On the other hand, refugee houses are set on fire by refugee haters in Germany. Nothing and I mean absolutely nothing of what the governments are doing, makes sense anymore. The EU is falling apart and is completely out of control. So are the futures of these innocent kids for who I don’t see any hope and brightness.
The future of these desperate and helpless families is looking very dark. And who is responsible? Who can they blame for this? It is the powerful countries that have only one interest. Greedy, selfish, thoughtless, and heartless governments, that only profit from their misery, by selling weapons, creating wars, and making a fortune, at their expense. Looking at the list of countries that are making money with weapons and the sale numbers it is no wonder that now the EU has to pay back. That’s Karma.
None. The images speak for themselves. Visit this link and you will see what I mean. These pictures of our society from today will go into history. I wonder what the next generations will think about us from today. I feel ashamed for being a witness of this misery and crime and feel completely helpless!
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Recently I was watching a very interesting and touching documentary about a 'lost' Jerry Lewis, Holocaust film. In the 1970s, Hollywood actor and director Jerry Lewis started working on a Holocaust film, which he ended up hiding until now.
Watching scenes of Jews taking the train heading towards the concentration camps reminded me of the images of this summer, where Syrian refugees tried to enter Europe by taking trains towards an uncertain final destination.
The British TV Channel BBC has now uncovered a collection of footage from the Movie “The Day the Clown Cried,” in a documentary that made me ask myself: “Why do we repeat the same mistakes over and over again and expect another outcome or result?”
Nothing has changed. Only the images of holocaust and history were in black and white and the images of refugees from today are in colour. But nothing about being a refugee is colourful. It is as black and white, dark and unpleasant, as being a victim of the holocaust.
The film has never been released, but the few scenes that were shown now prove once again that history is repeating in front of our eyes, ears, minds, and hearts. Seeing the scenes from the concentration camp gas chambers with Jerry Lewis playing a clown who is entertaining children and leading them into the concentration camp gas chamber, reminded me of the refugee camps of today.
The world has already lost a generation thanks to the Second World War back in 1945. Today, seventy years later, the world is again losing a new generation. We are in the middle of World War III and the refugee kids from today will suffer from these memories emotionally, spiritually, and physically, as the survivors of the holocaust have suffered during their entire lives. Congratulations to our politicians. Congratulations to humanity!
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