19 Apr HAPPY MONDAY – with Freddy and the Corso Kino Stuttgart
Today I want to shine a light on my wonderful friend and partner-in-so-many-crimes Fredrik Andersson who has always been one of my first go-to lift-me-ups in challenging times. I have always admired his incredibly positive and optimistic attitude – something definitely worth catching. While I can easily get sucked into the downward spiral, Freddy has the ability to always stay calm, optimistic and grounded. Instead of letting the situation or crisis overwhelm and paralyzing him, he’s first taking a step back, identifying the problem and then getting a perspective and working on the solution.
Five months ago Freddy – who had been working and performing on many national and international musical stages – took a big leap of faith and bought a movie theater at the end of last year. Wait a minute, he bought not just a movie theater, he bought THE Corso Kino which has been an institution in Stuttgart for over 25 years only showing films in their original language. Although it’s rather a “small” theater (like our good ol’ charming cinemas used to be), it certainly has a huge and loyal fan base of regular moviegoers. Every time I get to hang out with Freddy, I enjoy listening to another fun theater anecdote, and was especially thrilled to learn that the one and only Alice Cooper had been visiting his cinema twice with his family just a few weeks ago.
Staying positive doesn’t mean you have to be happy all the time. It means that even on hard days you know that there are better ones coming.
One of my favorite anecdotes I love telling people on how insanely legendary Freddy’s movie theater is, is the story about the reaction when I told it my brother who has been an enthusiastic cineaste all of his life and of course knowing and loving and visiting the Corso Cinema while he was still living in Gemany.
My brother is one of those men who always keep their cool no matter what. He has been working in the TV and film industry ever since he left school. I don’t know whether there is any celebrity left he hasn’t been working with or interviewed. While our Mom and I always freaked out in delight and total suspense about his celebrity stories, for him it’s just his job and to him celebrities are people just like us.
That day when we were facetiming, my brother told me about his latest job when they were working on a project with no less than Brad Pitt. He talked about this Hollywood star in the same monotone voice as he would tell me about the L. A. weather or what he had for dinner. Of course I was beyond super excited and listening with big ears to what he had to say about him. That he wouldn’t have thought that this guy was so nice and that he seemed really down to earth etc. etc.
When it was my turn, I told my brother that Freddy is the new owner of the Corso Cinema in Stuttgart, and my brother almost literally fell off his chair in total excitement. I can’t remember the last time I saw my brother showing such emotions and delightment in something. He was definitely super impressed and intrigued. Because the Corso Cinema is legendary! 😉
Who would have thought that only three months later our world would come to a halt, and most of us would feel the heavy weight of the covid-19 outbreak. And while facing the probably biggest challenge of his business life, Freddy is still keeping his cool, and remaining optimistic. Instead of complaining (and BTW, in the last ten years I’ve never heard Freddy complain about anything ever), he rather shows up to any difficult situation, accepts it and moves beyond it. Also, Freddy has a great support group, and tells with great pride that the Corso Cinema community has been buying lots of movie gift cards so that he is able to take care of his employees and all other monthly costs. If you haven’t already, please feel free to also buy movie gift cards for better days to come. You will not only make yourself feel really good (and have something great to look forward to), but also have Freddy and his crew do a happy dance on you. Just drop him an e-mail – you’ll find all further information on the ordering process here.
If I’d only have a tenth of Freddy’s optimism, it would already make a healthy difference in my world of worries and anxiety. Another touching example of his admirable attitude and positive influence is when he told me the other day that his beloved mom had just left us. While I was in total shock and in tears, he told me in his familiar calm voice that he is so thankful that she didn’t have to suffer, but just went peacefully to sleep. That he is so proud that he had a beautiful mom like her who has always been his greatest cheerleader, always believed in him and is now leaving a huge hole on this side of heaven. And although this is all incredibly sad, he is so grateful for all the wonderful memories he got to share with her and being reminded that our time on this earth is all too short and all too precious.
Never stop believing in the wild possibility that is you and your impact. Live in purpose. On purpose.
I already apologize to you guys for today’s rambling. As if I try to make up for the last months I haven’t showed up here. Wishing you a happy Monday, everyone and a great and healthy start into this week with new possibilities! I hope I could inspire you a bit with Freddy’s story who tells us that while a lot of things are out of our control right now, there are also things we do have complete control over: our attitude and our effort. We are all in this together.
Nicole Frost
Posted at 12:42h, 20 AprilBewundernswert dieser Charakter, diese Sichtweise! Ich wollte, ich könnte das.
Das ist nicht jedem gegeben und ich denke auch nicht erlernbar. Man kann sich ein Beispiel an ihm nehmen, sich inspirieren lassen. Aber jeder ist geprägt durch seine Erlebnisse, Mitmenschen, Lebensereignisse. Und ich denke, es spielt auch der Partner eine wichtige Rolle und die Leute, auf die man zählen kann. Hat man das nicht, ist es sehr schwer das Leben so zu nehmen wie es ist. Mir geht es jedenfalls so, dass ich mich sehr schwer tue positiv zu sein, denn mir fehlen sehr viele Anreize dazu.
Ich begleite Fredrik und auch Johan durch Juvelan schon über fünf Jahre. Sie sind zwei ganz besonders liebe Menschen und ich wünsche Ihnen beiden weiterhin das allerbeste! Bleibt weiterhin so positiv und vor allem gesund! LG Nicole