It never ceases to amaze me how powerful a well-told story can be. We are living in such a unique era – seeing the transition from print to digital and witnessing the power and influence of social media alongside the emergence of new forms of technology that have come to shape our mind and culture.
Having been behind and in front of the screen, not to mention in the hot seat at times, I am afforded a very unique perspective on the power of storytelling and the impact it can have on our viewpoints.
I want to specifically shine a light on the power of documentaries.
They have the ability to open our eyes to unfamiliar stories.
They can inspire us to discover topics that we may never have been interested in.
They give us the opportunity to educate ourselves about information that we may not have otherwise discovered.
They expand our knowledge base and encourage us to see things from a unique perspective.
They might even have us questioning our own understanding of our world.
I personally find that documentaries make hard subjects easier to understand and boring subjects more entertaining!
(Can you tell, we love documentaries over here…?)
At 8Shades we believe that starting the conversation around lesser-known topics encourages expansion and innovation to emerge.
It’s for this reason that I’ve invited my friend Patrick Lee, the co-founder of Rotten Tomatoes, to start a monthly blog at 8Shades.com called “Green Tomatoes”. Each month he will personally recommend and review the best documentaries and new releases in the hope that we expand our knowledge and open our eyes to the world around us.
So find a friend, crack open a bottle of wine and grab your popcorn. Join us on the sofa and let’s make the world a shade greener.
In case you don’t know how awesome Patrick Lee is, here’s a short bio on why we should listen to what he’s got to say.
Patrick is an entrepreneur focused on the intersection of tech & entertainment best known for being a co-founder and the founding CEO of Rotten Tomatoes (rottentomatoes.com), a leading entertainment website focused on movie reviews and news.
He is part of the Founding Team and a Board Member of the Gold House Collective and is an active advisor to a number of startups. He has also mentored and/or supported programs at SOSV, Berkeley SkyDeck, Mozilla Builders, Blue Startups, Founder Institute, and more. Patrick holds a BA in Cognitive Science from the University of California at Berkeley.
Read Patrick Lee’s latest Green Tomatoes reviews:
