Per THIS.
(You can actually see the little business card holder where these were placed on the desk behind me and Gillian.)
I shall see you on the COMMUNITY television series at 8PM TOMORROW NIGHT.
That is all.
Goodbye, Maurice, id of children, uncompromisingly beautiful, strange, mean, sweet, deep, dark, and true.
Via “N222011,” this is from “Tell Them Anything You Want,” a beautiful film by Lance Bangs and Spike Jonze.
(Double-heart-rendingly, it was and is distributed by Adam Yauch’s company Oscilloscope.)
That is all.
Something in the future (a show or an audition or a meeting or a dreaded cup of coffee or scary doctor’s appointment) is causing me some amount of anxiety.
I think: THIS THING (whatever it is) IS GOING TO HAPPEN.
AND THEN IT WILL BE OVER.
I try not to focus on the outcome of the thing. The…
Completely this.
Good morning! Here now is the first episode of Speakeasy, with my guest Ty Burrell.
Ty is as nice and friendly as he is funny. That is to say, he is very nice and friendly and also very funny. I was not trying to be slippery and intimate that Ty Burrell runs a dogfighting ring. He doesn’t! But if he did, I bet it’d be a really nice one, with passed hors d’oeuvres at each fight!
I would not blame you if you subscribed to this channel.
Ruben Bolling asks you to support TOM THE DANCING BUG by joining the Inner Hive for 20 bucks a year.
A YEAR.
My only argument with Ruben B. here is his apologetic tone for asking you to pay money for early access to his very good comics—that is to say, something that YOU LIKE AND WANT.
DO NOT APOLOGIZE, RUBEN, because:
While the internet DOES make it harder for talented cartoonists* to support themselves via licensing their work to traditional media distributors…
IT MAKES IT EASIER for YOU to buy work directly from the creator, and what’s more, to ENJOY the fact that almost all of the money you give them goes directly TO THE THING YOU LIKE.
WHICH IS TO SAY: If you like a thing, supporting it financially is not an obligation. IT IS A PRIVILEGE.
For the first time in culture, we may all become patrons of the arts that we love, at a comparatively low cost to us, and at a comparatively INCREDIBLY HIGH BOON to the creator.
This new relationship is worth celebrating, and not apologizing for. It not only helps you get the thing you like into your own hands, it helps the thing you like to CONTINUE, and it ensures that your taste is reflected and relevant in the culture at large.
SO DIG DEEP, FANS OF GOOD THINGS, especially those you can pay for directly. You have nothing to lose but mediocrity.
That is all.
* (and writers, singers, comedians, filmmakers, magicians, etc.)
I mentioned this tumbl-essay on twitter last night, but I think it’s worth reposting in a more semi-permanent form.
As much as I love tumblr, it’s sometimes hard to track down who wrote the words, who provided the re-tumbl, and who made the animated gif (the three parts to any successful tumbl).
So as best I can tell, credit goes to theumbrellaseller for adding words to hemsworthss’s moving images, and that it came to my attention via ashleeta.
But I concur with all of them: the comparative $1 worth of good writing and acting in the talkin’ quadrants of the gif make the $100,000 and <30 seconds of CGI in the action quadrant actually meaningful, and suddenly NOT a total waste of time and money.
science bros.
There are no words to describe my feelings about this relationship. But I’m going to try.
First of all, their parallels. Both geniuses, top of their field. Both suffered an accident that physically changed them, forever, and not in a wholesome Spider-Man kind of way. Both try to do what they can to help others despite their own issues; Banner heals people, Tony works on developing clean energy. And both struggle, in their own way, with duality; Tony and Iron Man, Bruce and the Hulk. Two identities, one body. Only difference is Iron Man’s bad side is Tony.
I mentioned somewhere that Tony sees a bit of himself in Banner because they both have a monster inside them that they can’t control, a creature that springs fully formed from the id, the base impulses and the nasty stuff at the back of the mind. Bruce’s is a giant green rage monster. Tony’s trashed a party in Iron Man 2. Banner has a control over his that Tony hasn’t quite achieved yet; don’t think I didn’t notice Tony pouring himself a whiskey when confronting Loki. Tony is envious, fascinated, and most of all, impressed by Bruce’s control.
So he doesn’t walk on eggshells around Bruce like the others, because that’s not what Bruce needs. Tony sees Bruce’s restraint, sees the quiet, brilliant man making self-deprecating jokes in the corner of the room, sees the way people look at him like he’s going to snap any second, and thinks “nope”. Tony does what no-one else aboard that Helicarrier does. He trusts him. He makes jokes and jabs him and teases him and above all, treats him exactly how he would treat anyone else— he has a great regard for Bruce’s brilliance, and tells him so, but he doesn’t try to ignore the Hulk in the room. When he says “wow, you’ve really got a handle on this, haven’t you?” he’s not saying “gosh, it’s incredible you haven’t snapped yet and killed everyone on board” he’s saying “I know you have a handle on this, you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t, so I’m gonna poke you with this sharp object to prove it”. And you can see Bruce relax, and smile, and trust him back.
But then Tony goes even further, and invites Bruce to come to his R&D department. I’m pretty sure the two of them drive off together in Tony’s car at the end of the movie to do just that. And, okay, sure, Bruce is smart, but Tony’s tech is his baby. How many people get invitations to come and see his work? He invites Bruce because he recognises his brilliance, yes, but there’s another reason. He’s inviting Bruce to come down and work with him after this is over. He’s giving Bruce something to do next, a purpose, an alternative to disappearing into the ether to be alone with his monster. Tony knows from experience that being alone with your issues doesn’t end well, so for what’s only the third time in his life he extends the hand of friendship to a guy he’s known barely an hour.
And then, he tells Bruce to let the beast loose. Not just because they need him to fight, but because it will help him. If Bruce can take this thing that he sees as a curse and turn it into a gift, well, that’s going to lift him out of a very dark place. I’m not saying Tony knew about Bruce’s attempted suicide, but I think he had a suspicion that Bruce had been, in his words, “low”. So he encourages Bruce to take all that crap and pain and the Other Guy and use him to help people; after all, that’s what he did.
And it pays off. Nobody— nobody— thinks Bruce is going to turn up for that final battle. You can see the look on Natasha and Steve’s faces when Tony asks if Bruce turned up yet. They’ve counted Bruce out. Guy’s a mess, right? He’s too volatile. Doesn’t play well with others. He could never work as part of a team. No-one thinks he’ll come through when it matters. Except Tony. He has faith in him, and that faith is rewarded. It’s no wonder the Hulk is the one to catch Tony. Tony’s the one who helped let him out. He’s just returning the favor.
