Motivational Speakers
Notes on the end of the award tour.
In the historical text known as Dipset In London, UK radio legend Tim Westwood chauffeurs Cam’ron, Juelz Santana and Jim Jones around his city while the Dips pontificate.
Once Killa explains that he’s drinking Cristal to celebrate going platinum (IBS be damned), Jim pops out like a Gremlin to add, “and we got the Grammy!” Cam shakes his head — “no, we don’t have the Grammy” — before Jim shouts even louder, almost as a battle cry:
“NOMINATED!”
I yell it myself every single time an awards show is on.
Something shiny has been handed out on television every weekend for the past few months. I’m typing this while ABC struggles through an Oscars red carpet without any of the chaotic, lightly bitchy glee of E!’s longtime coverage (they have been forced to air a random Harry Potter for some reason).
The looks are (mostly) snoozy. My mind is wandering.
“NOMINATED!”
It’s been a solid, low-key surprising movie year. No real snubs (my beloved Babygirl notwithstanding) and a lot of love for flicks that deserve it. I have enjoyed watching the major awards get volleyed back and forth amongst the various films / people who brought them to life.
“That shit was aiiight, it was cool, but my shit is more John Blaze than that,” yes yes of course; everything is merely aiiight to one person or another. I am deeply uninterested in litigating relative merits or personal preferences.
Or even the concept of awards themselves!
Francis accepting the Razzie for Megalopolis with his whole chest says it all.
Focus on the fact that he made his movie.
Art — especially at scale — requires so much emotional and literal labor that you can understand why people just opt out at a certain point. I know many wildly talented people who are also professional underachievers. It’s never a skill issue, IMO, but a motivational one.
You’ll never lose if you don’t go hard.
But you can’t win either…
Timmy’s SAG Awards speech was a standout this season. Not for the bolo or the stache or the Chrome (he’s freaking all of it TBH) but my man’s absolute comfort in talking that shit.
“I can’t downplay the significance of this award because it means the most to me. I know we’re in a subjective business, but the truth is, I’m really in pursuit of greatness. I know people don’t usually talk like that, but I want to be one of the greats.”
Shouting out Michael Jordan? Game recognize game psycho. “You know what I call an athlete with good mental health? An assistant coach.”
I respect it!
Motivation comes in many forms.
It doesn’t have to be positive. I’m not the biggest fan of revenge as an animating force — “dig two graves” and all that — but a friend once called spite “terrible fuel, great nitrous,” and I tend to agree with him.
Whatever gets you over the hump, right?
Do I personally think it’s better to enjoy the process instead of thinking about the response? Sure. But something’s gotta put the battery in your back.
Stop being chill. Stop being fake humble. You should be so psyched about what you make and what you do that even getting it to the finish line feels like a reward in itself.
“NOMINATED!”
You don’t need validation to make art.
You definitely don’t need a red carpet to get a fit off.
But there’s nothing wrong with keeping a vision board…
Henry’s Film Corner — speaking of movies, IFC gave Rollins a motion picture show for a year in the early ‘00s and I am now on a mission to track down all ten episodes.
Petey DeAbreu standup — hilariously specific (and Victory Light-adjacent) NYC tee hees. His Don’t Tell set is great too!
EZ Company, S/T — synth pop candy necklace from Ezra of Shallowhalo.
The Hardest Working Font In Manhattan — deep dive on the freaky keys and engraved quirks of GORTON. Note the phrase hardest working font, because straight up hardest font in Manhattan still belongs to Hunter College subway sign.
Will Oldham video games — the Stereogum “We’ve Got A File On You” series tosses an Oops! All Anecdotes curveball into the press tours of legacy artists and I love ‘em all. This bit from multifaceted kook Oldham (re: Kentucky Route Zero) is a recent fav.
I’ve gotten such terrific feedback over the years from the freaks who are aware of that game and then who further have made the connection that that was my voice in there. It’s the gratitude that comes from those people, I think probably because if we disappear into video games, there’s a great deal of guilt in some of us when we disappear into a video game as a player. And so to have some sort of lifeline saying, “Oh, we didn’t disappear into it, we’re actually still connected to a shared reality with other people,” is rare and rewarding. I think people are like, “Oh, I know that voice! I’m not a crazy weird pervert lonely person spending hours by myself with my TV and video game interface!”
Escuela Grind, “Planned Obsolescence” — some bruja-core to get you through the day!
Playlists updated…