James Fraleigh

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Tue, 23 Apr 2013 09:50:37 -0400

ourvaluedcustomers: After his friend said that George Lucas...

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 12:42:10 -0400

ourvaluedcustomers:

After his friend said that George Lucas still owed him an apology for PHANTOM MENACE…

A-friggin’-men. Let it go. Other flowers to smell.

Aaron Diaz (of Dresden Codak) on naysayers. How can you not love...

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 20:47:00 -0500

Aaron Diaz (of Dresden Codak) on naysayers. How can you not love a reference to the Skesis?

Reblogging to celebrate the fictional Baltimore Sun newsroom...

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 11:42:28 -0400

Reblogging to celebrate the fictional Baltimore Sun newsroom copy editor. From the blessed Art of the Wire Tumblr.

Best. Inflatable lawn ornament. Ever.

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 14:00:15 -0400

Best. Inflatable lawn ornament. Ever.

ourvaluedcustomers: To her boyfriend after he tried to convince...

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 11:11:46 -0400

ourvaluedcustomers:

To her boyfriend after he tried to convince her on what she should be for Halloween…

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Thu, 23 Aug 2012 20:24:12 -0400

"You might be thinking to yourself, “How do you know the fear never goes away?” It could just be me...."

Sat, 18 Aug 2012 09:38:48 -0400

“

You might be thinking to yourself, “How do you know the fear never goes away?” It could just be me. It could just be pessimism, or cynicism. The realization hit me like a ton of bricks a few years back after witnessing an eye opening conversation in the green room of the UCB Theater. I saw two very accomplished comedians talking in one of the side rooms. One of these people was a cast member on SNL. The other was a correspondent for The Daily Show….Person one said something along the lines of “I’m just not sure what I’m going to do.” Person two said, “Yeah, things have been so fucking dry lately. I’m really, really worried.” The conversation proceeded from there and sounded like the exact type of conversation I was having with my own friends who were in the trenches performing all around NYC with me….

These were two people who both had careers I would kill for. Being on SNL! Being on The Daily Show! I think for any of us whose dream it is to do comedy, those would be two crown jewel jobs. Those would be two jobs that most of us would think feel like a life-altering accomplishment. Getting those gigs would feel like grabbing on to the brass ring we’ve been chasing. Those are the types of gigs that you imagine lead to the validation, wealth, and fame that we chase so hard. You have to imagine that’s true, right? Those jobs? You will feel like you did it. You made it. Your life can have a movie ending where the sun rises and the credits roll and the hard times are over, you’ve done it. You’ve won.

But I eavesdropped on those two individuals, and realized—the fear is inside us. It’s part of why we do what we do.

The chase is the thing, and the thing is the chase.

There are no external circumstances that can erase the anxiety and fear of people like you and I—people who have this dream but also have a ton of terror regarding it. Getting that gig, getting that approval, getting that whatever your version of that dream job is—doesn’t erase the anxiety. The anxiety is internal. It’s part of us. I have never accomplished anything that made it diminish even slightly. We all wind up wondering “What’s next? How am I going to make my health insurance next year?” And even if we can get over that, the anxiety rears its head in some other form. It is part of us.

Now that might seem dismal, but I found witnessing that conversation to be one of the most incredibly liberating experiences of my entire life. If people in THAT position were still feeling that way, there was zero chance I would ever escape the constant self-doubt and self-questioning I tortured myself with every day.

So that being the case, I might as well operate with more freedom, I might as well take the chances I want to take, because apparently, I learned, even success doesn’t erase those negative, nervous, gnawing feelings—so what is the big deal if I don’t ever get it?

”

- Chris Gethard, “The Chase Is the Thing and the Thing Is the Chase: Learning to Love Failure,” Splitsider

An answer to the question, “I’ve always really wanted to get into acting and/or comedy but I’m terrified of failing at it. How do you get the courage to perform?”

Also of note from his response:

“So—the reason I wrote that novel up above is because it gives me credibility when I got to answer your actual question of ‘How do you get the courage to perform?’

“Well, the success you’re chasing isn’t going to be as good as you think it is. And I can tell you very much, with all honesty – the failure never hurts as much as you think it will, either….

“I will say it simply—the good parts of getting the show didn’t solve any of my problems. The failure didn’t create more. Not at any given point during the process did it ever feel like those things had the effects I always expected they would have.

“If I can fail that big, you can take an acting class.

“If I can fall on my face that profoundly after the New York Fucking Times writes a profile on the pressures I have as the star of that sitcom, you can do an open mic or two.

“If it doesn’t work out, trust me, you will be ok. If it does work out, the great parts will come from what you discover about yourself and the joy of doing the work. Success and failure are real things, but the effects we assume they will have are constructs we make up.

“Go. Fail.”

"Learning to live with the given is the great humbling educational process of life. And I’ve..."

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 18:19:18 -0400

“Learning to live with the given is the great humbling educational process of life. And I’ve had a sufficiency of education this past year.”

- —David Milch, creator of Deadwood and Luck, “The Men Behind the Curtain: A GQ Roundtable”

I could easily hear this coming out of a very weary Doc Cochran.

"Four years ago, when I started tweeting, people would say, “How do you feel about giving away..."

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 07:01:00 -0400

“Four years ago, when I started tweeting, people would say, “How do you feel about giving away material for free?” I said, “Well, no one will pay me for it, and I’ve got to get it out there.” So I would constantly churn out jokes saying, “Hey, look at me, I have a work ethic. Please, please, please world, hire me so I can afford pants, and cheese, and heat.” That was another thing, being married—my wife was not yet pregnant, but I didn’t have a choice but to succeed. It was either that or the unthinkable, a fate that I associate with death, which is not doing comedy. That was the other choice, so I just had to work furiously to get out there, with no promise of success. When I thought about other careers, I thought about death. I know that might sound morbid and not funny at all, but it is truly how I felt.”

- Rob Delaney, The AV Club interview

The Shattering Effect of a High Explosive: On a soliloquy

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 07:47:59 -0400

The Shattering Effect of a High Explosive: On a soliloquy:

slaughterhousefive:

The soliloquy considered best and most famous in cinematic history is probably the one at the end of Blade Runner. If you haven’t seen it, stop reading here and go watch it. Then come back and read this, because I’m important. I don’t feel bad about spoilers because this movie’s been out for more…

ourvaluedcustomers: To her boyfriend… As I’ve pointed...

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:31:12 -0500

ourvaluedcustomers:

To her boyfriend…

As I’ve pointed out to friends, Firefly is like Arrested Development for SF fanatics. Short show lifespan, but it conjures white-hot emotions among its adherents.

I will watch the show someday when these emotions cool.

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most...

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 08:45:13 -0400

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

—Steve Jobs

eeriewhisper: “I’ve been to Chicago, too.” - Al Swearengen,...

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:59:44 -0400

eeriewhisper:

“I’ve been to Chicago, too.” - Al Swearengen, cosmopolitan.

Every girl’s crazy ‘bout a sharp-dressed man. Except for Trixie back there, perhaps.

“Two senior citizens were stabbeded in the spree.”...

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 22:28:00 -0400

“Two senior citizens were stabbeded in the spree.” Did Ralph Wiggum write the dek? Copy editors, you are needed! (From New York City’s NBC.com)

"Being mellow is okay if you wanna be a piece of cheese. The trouble with being a piece of cheese is..."

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 13:18:21 -0400

“Being mellow is okay if you wanna be a piece of cheese. The trouble with being a piece of cheese is that someone’s gonna spread you on a cracker and eat you.”

- James Ellroy, interviewed on The Cult: The Official Chuck Palahniuk Website

As seen on Poynter’s Latest News section. Copy editors,...

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:06:00 -0400

As seen on Poynter’s Latest News section. Copy editors, you are needed!

Edited to add: The name Middletown Times Herald-Record rang a bell. Sure enough, The Proud Highway confirms that before this paper formed from mergers, its Middletown Daily Record antecedent was where a young but feisty Hunter S. Thompson once worked until he kicked in a recalcitrant candy machine and was fired.

"I was the Bruce Lee of Hearts, no joke; knew all the nerve clusters to paralyze your ass."

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 09:46:00 -0400

“I was the Bruce Lee of Hearts, no joke; knew all the nerve clusters to paralyze your ass.”

- Colson Whitehead, “Occasional Dispatches from the Republic of Anhedonia: Part 4,” on Grantland (entire series here)

"You finally have to settle down to do well the few things that your brain really can do well—the..."

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:44:14 -0400

“You finally have to settle down to do well the few things that your brain really can do well—the rest no longer seems pressing and distracting, because it is now permanently out of reach. The feeling that you are stupider than you were is what finally interests you in the really complex subjects of life….You realize that you are no prodigy, your shoulders relax, and you begin to look around you…”

- Nicholson Baker, The Mezzanine (via austinkleon)

"The difficulty of always feeling that you ought to be doing something is that you tend to undervalue..."

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:35:02 -0400

“The difficulty of always feeling that you ought to be doing something is that you tend to undervalue the times when you’re apparently doing nothing, and those are very important times. It’s the equivalent of the dream time, in your daily life, times when things get sorted out and reshuffled.”

- Brian Eno (via the mighty austinkleon)

Reminds me of my response to a friend who, upon discovering she had a complete day to herself, asked on Facebook what she should do with it: “N O T H I N G.”