J.J. Abrams On The Mystery Box

This vid is actually from a talk that Lost dood J.J. Abrams gave at TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) in March last year, but it cropped up at BoingBoing and I thought it worth sharing - J.J. does a great job as a public speaker, winning laughs from the audience as he explains a bit about his creative process and how central the notion of mystery is to that process.

Abrams brings out a "Magic Box" he bought at Tannen's Magic Shop in New York as a young man - he's never opened the box. Why? Because the mystery of what's in the box is far more interesting than the reality of whatever could be in the box. Sound familiar?

I'm a big, big, big fan of mystery - and of protecting it, both personally and creatively. It's important to leave some questions unanswered, whether you're telling a story or going on a first date - most fans of Lost, however, are probably ready to look inside the box already.