I don't really care how much the latest superhero film took at the box office, although I'd probably know if you asked me. When I watch a film the main thing I am looking for is a good story. I like it when I look up at the big screen and can see a part of me staring back at me. More than anything, I am still looking for Jimmy Stewart and Jack Lemmon and Billy Wilder in every film I see.
Adventureland reminds me of when I was alive. When the glances meant something. When hanging out was the world. When your heart soared or crumbled on any given day. Adventureland captures youth and lust and love and dead end jobs perfectly. Takes me back to those days when just as you were about to tell the girl you like her she'd say "oh, I have a boyfriend now" and break your heart. When you're old and in a dead end job it's a rut. But when you're young, it's the only work you can find. You're all educated and talented and your big brains are confined to small spaces. What do you do when you're stuck in a bad job? You make a community. Hearts fly and hearts fall. And you clock in and you clock out.
You hate your job but that's where it's at. You bitch about the bad pay and the same song they keep playing on the fucking radio and the only reason you stick it out is because of Tuesdays. Because she works on Tuesdays. 'Adventureland' takes me back to those days, those feelings, those moments. We took chances and stayed up late and had a crowd. Nothing would come between us.
I need 'Adventureland' because those days are gone now. I'm numb. I don't take those chances. We're all grown up. The days of "I'll wait for you after work" are gone. Now it's a Facebook poke and a quick how are you. And you're not even missing out because you just don't care as much anymore. 'Adventureland' reminds you that you still have it in you. The mistakes. The naivety. The romance. The giant ass pandas. I love this movie.
Days are passing. But you say you wanna write, say you wanna act, say you wanna be a photographer.
The very best aren't born the best. They print that legend, but the truth is they suck at first. But they keep working at it and working at it.
When did you last put words on the page? When did you last pick up your guitar? When did you last get a group together and act?
Expertise is in your hands. Nuance is waiting. Experience is the prize.
Experience and knowledge just kind of show up one day as long as you keep turning up. People ask me for blogging advice. They see me as an expert. Why? Because I show up day after day and write.
Not everything I write is great. But when I nail it I nail it better than I did three years ago.
Bloggers are writers who don't wait around to get hired. The best actors, when not working, are creating their own stuff.
It's hard to do the work, hard to succeed. But experience and knowledge about failure and rejection help too. It's all part of it.
I know this girl who used to absolutely rip my work to pieces. And everyone else's too. She'd have all the reasons why our work was awful. She was a film director too but she'd never made anything. Said she was waiting because she wanted it to be perfect.
Ten years went by. I'm still waiting. It's only her that suffers.
Take your blocks and obstacles and impossibilities and turn them into something. You can be in prison yet still put on a one man show, even if only for yourself. You could be three out of work actors and put on a sketch show in a local school or in the street where you live. I know an actor who is doing one man plays in retirement homes. It's not the dream, but he's learning so much. He has an audience that, on the first sign of boredom, falls asleep (literally).
You learn more about yourself as an actor and person dealing with sleeping audiences than you do in two years of drama school.
You have a talent, a skill, right? I mean-- you have some kind of gift? Don't wait for Spielberg to call or Simon Cowell to spot you. Just get to work honing the unique brilliance of all that is you. It's not about shortcuts, it's not about getting rich quick. It's about creativity. When you focus on it, it breeds longevity. That's what a career is.
People who worry about the paycheck and bitch about how their genius is undiscovered -- these people tend to stop practicing, learning and discovering. Don't let it be you. Explore the infinite abyss!
I was searching after a feeling tonight. Music is the quickest way to get there, it points you home. But it's hard on those nights when you don't quite know where the destination is.
I finally landed.
Not only is this a great song, but this is a wonderful video with Ryan Adams talking about his collaboration with Norah Jones. They talk about how different their styles of creativity are.
Adams invited Norah to record the track with him. They did one pass at it, and he was happy. Done.
That's what Ryan Adams is. He's prolific. He doesn't want to fit all the pieces of the puzzle, he just picks out the parts that feel right and capture the moment. The rest can stay in the box.
That's why his fans are obsessive and dedicated. Because he's real. If you're not a fan he's boring and depressing. If you are a fan, he becomes your life. There's no inbetween.
Watch the video. It'll inspire you creative people. Will make you feel less alone. And the song is as beautiful as they come.
For years they've been feeding us bullshit, coming up with scandals or focusing our minds on irrelevant nonsense.
But now they themselves are the scandal. And they'll be finished as a publication when the week is over. They're irrelevant as a news organisation. We all knew this of course, but now the whole country is on board.
People want something real. It may take a while, but they get there.
Everyone on the good side of the fight is coming off well in this story.
These newspapers think they are invincible. They think the families of murdered children are part of a game, they think they can abuse the trust, security and stability of them.
But now they've been caught out and as a result they're immediately extinct. And any journalists mixed up in it will never work again. New Media is honest. The internet holds you accountable.
"The internet is written in ink, Mark!"
Murdoch is irrelevant now. Our tabloids, our police officers, they've been shown up for all their disgusting wrongdoings.
Let's not get too depressed about it -- a change is happening! We have power now! The News Of The World is a dinosaur. The worst parts of this story aren't out in the public yet, it'll get worse before it gets better. But a transformation is taking place.
We need to protect what the internet is. We need to keep an eye on news organisations and we need to stay aware of what the social networks are doing with our information. We need to keep everything authentic and honest. If we can do that, then bit by bit, we can overcome so much corruption in our world.
I've been listening to this song since I was eight years old. Maybe it was before that. My parents had it on CD, and on Vinyl. On casette too. It's the only song I never get tired of. Not even a little bit. I know every inch of the MTV unplugged version. I know all the moments when the crowd cheer or scream or breath.
The song means everything to me, but I don't even know what it means. Sometimes I think he loves Maggie. Sometimes I think he's bitter. What I know for sure is the guitar solo towards the end is magic.
Your favourite songs aren't just your favourite songs. They're more than that. They're something that's inside of you. Something you carry around. Everyone has that one song that will get them up at a party. Or get them singing in a car. Or get them smiling while walking through town with an iPod screaming out songs.
Whether the song is as great as I think it is or whether I'm bias because of my affection for it isn't relevant. Or at least, it doesn't matter. Sure, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' could be the best song ever, but it's not important. What is important is what matters to you. Some songs make us happy. Some songs we want played at our funerals. Some songs make everything okay.
On 3 mins 21 he sings "You stole my heart, but I love you anyway."
And then there's the solo. It steals your heart. But you feel the love. Some music just sinks into you and resonates with every bone in your body. You might only find three songs in your life that do this, but they become the soundtrack to your life. They make everything okay. They make sense of all your love, your pain, your problems.
He sings "Maggie, I wish I'd, never seen your face." But you know he doesn't mean it. Or he means it but he also means the exact opposite too.
In the unplugged version, he changes the line "You stole my heart and that's what really hurts" to "You stole my heart, but I love yous anyway."
And it makes sense. Because you can never hate Maggie. She breaks your heart, but you love her anyway. "You stole my soul but I love you anyway." What a great line.
'Maggie May' is truthful. It's honest. I say this without ever quite figuring out what the song means.
That's what great art does. Says EVERYTHING yet somehow stays open. It means something different to every person.
"You made a first class fool out of me But I'm as blind as a fool can be You stole my heart, but I love you anyway."
Why do some songs stay with you? I was just a kid, listening to whatever trash was in the top 40. But 'Maggie May' got through to me.
I guess the important thing about this song--------- it's FUN! You can turn it up and enjoy it! He's not trying to break your heart or depress you or excite you, he just sings. But by doing that, he succeeds in breaking your heart, depressing you and exciting you. I guess that's just it; in this song, Rod Stewart recorded who he was, who he is. And that's why, when I think of myself, and who I am and what I'm about, I listen to this song. It reminds me of who I am.
