The Illusionist

My wife and I had a rare and long over due "date" on Friday.

We caught a matinee of "The Illusionist" which I highly recommend. Edward Norton plays Eisenheim, an illusionist in turn of the century Vienna. Eisenheim is soon caught in not one, but two triangles - one between himself, the Prince and the Prince's fiance, who as it turns out is a long lost love from his childhood - and the second triangle between himself, the Prince who now wants to destroy him and the Prince's chief inspector, Paul Giamatti, who must reluctantly do the dirty work.

Like an angel and devil sitting on my shoulder I have been having my own internal debates - the movie lover vs. the screenwriter/filmmaker.

I am organizing all of this into a more focused entry for tomorrow but until then I pose this question to the industry people - both professional and amateur - who visit this site...

How do you study an art form in hopes of improving your craft while never losing the freshness and naivete that attracted you to the artform in the first place?

Until then...