Texting Tom

Eight years ago I met Tom, when I was casting a film. I disliked him immediately but we ended up great friends.

At least I thought we did.

But then I realised I haven't seen him in three years.

Although we text nearly every day.

Our texts are completely nonsensical; and are comprised almost entirely, and randomly -- out of quotes from 'Forrest Gump', 'The Cable Guy', 'Groundhog Day' and 'You've Got Mail'. It's something like this.

KID

Do you think we should meet? 

TOM

You're a very nice guy, but I just don't have any room in my life for a new friend. Okay?  

KID

But I'm in the all America ping pong team.

TOM

Is there someone else? Oh! That woman on television, Sidney-Ann!!!

KID 

F-O-X

TOM 

Needlenose Ned?

KID

Ned the head? Ned Ryerson? Needlenose Ned? F-O-X? 

TOM 

It's the cable guy.

KID 

You like boats, but not the ocean.

TOM 

I never made a slam dunk before. Thanks for the boost. Racoons. 

KID 

Those must be comfortable shoes. You can sit here if you want to.

TOM

Jenny?

KID 

Momma, what's vacation?

TOM 

F-O-X

KID

Do you think we should meet? 

TOM

You're going down Red Knight! Down, down, down., Red Knight's goin' down. Down, down, down, Red Knight goin' down.

KID

You off to see the groundhog?

TOM

Nancy?

KID

That kid may be the stupidest son of a bitch I've ever seen, but he sure is fast! 

TOM 

Yes Drill Sargeant. 

I often find myself distracted from writing, or reaching for my phone during meetings, or even waking up in the middle of the night---- purely to add to our ongoing masterpiece of quotexts. I think it's because Lieutenant Dan was always getting these funny feelings about a rock or a trail or the road, so he'd tell us to get down, shut up. And what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today.

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ADAM DURITZ On The Struggle Between Art & Real Life

Adam Duritz, lead singer of Counting Crows, on that decision every artist has to make.

"We were all in bands then and we had shitty jobs, and we'd, y'know, wash dishes or work in record stores or wash windows by day, so we could be in a rock 'n roll band by night, y'know -- and it was after college and our friends were getting on with their lives. And they had good jobs--- well, boring jobs; but they made more money than we did and they had futures and we didn't. And there comes a point in the life of everyone in a rock 'n roll band when you have to decide, am I gonna do this with my life or am I gonna go and be in one of those other jobs, cause I can't deal with washing dishes anymore and I can't dig any more holes and I can't wash another window.

And there are those that go.

And those that stay.

And you walk out on the edge of the world and you balance yourself there for a little while, and you try and figure out which one you're gonna be.

And a lot of our friends are doing other things right now, and we're up here singing on this stage."

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I Need That Record!

I just watched the documentary I Need That Record! The Death (Or Possible Survival) Of The Independent Record Store. The film was full of great insight into the music industry, and art in general. Definitely worth checking out if you're into the things I'm into. Here are a few quotes that stuck out to me.

"In the space of the time we talked today, there'll be so much music made in the world, it'd be enough for us to listen to for the rest of our lives. So, if you have such a vast pool-- if you think about the history of music, how much music has been made-- you have such a vast pool of music to select from, to listen to, why leave it to people who have only their own profits at heart, to decide what you hear. So I just turn that shit right off."
-Ian Mackaye
Dischord Records

"Art has never been about mass culture - ever!"
-Glen Branca
Composer/Guitarist

"To me, when you're dealing with art, you have to remember that some of the things that run the deepest in the human psyche are the ones that take the longest to nurture."
-Lenny Kaye
Patti Smith Group
Guitarist

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Favorite FRIENDS Quote.

"It was Summer. And it was hot. Rachel was there. A lonely grey couch. "Oh look!" cried Ned, and the Kingdom was his forever. The end."
-Chandler Bing.

...Is my favorite quote. What is yours?

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Great Advice From Tom Hanks on how to survive as an actor, using perseverance.

A few years back I was watching Tom Hanks on The Actors Studio with James Lipton. I think it's from around 1999. Hanks, as always, was funny, profound and interesting. But it was this last question, from a young actor, which really showed the most wisdom. I typed this out; and I'm glad I did, because the videos of this interview keep getting taken down from YouTube. Luckily, it's a great thing to read off the page.

Young Actor to Tom Hanks - "I was wondering if you could impart some knowledge about the nuts and bolts of the industry.. just the grey reality of what that entails, and how do you really survive?"

Tom Hanks - "Wow - well you're really talking about perseverance. Um, and it's sometimes perseverance in the face of great adversity. And the adversity always is, 'I'm not working.' That's hard, man. It's hard to get past-- look I'm not in a play, I'm not in a movie. The best I can say is I'm up for a callback on a Danone Yogurt commercial - that's hard in order to have that be the thing that is kind of like defining what you do. There's no trick getting past it, there's no magic thing you can do. But it's like a love affair with someone you're gonna live your whole life with. You have to protect what it is ----- Now, you're talking to a guy; I haven't been out of a job since 1982. I had a fallow year after 'Bosom Buddies' in which I really thought well that's it, I've had my shot. Nothing else is gonna happen for me. And a year unemployed in Los Angeles is like six years unemployed in New York. It is a long friggin' time. And you think you've got a sticker on the back of your car that says "I used to be an actor", it feels that bad some times. But since then, I'm the luckiest man in the world...... The perseverance aspect of it is something that you can define every day and that takes a little bit of discipline - and more than anything else it takes this degree of perseverance that ultimately is not your measure of who you are as an artist but it's a measure of what you are as a professional, and it's HARD - cause there's nothing greater; nothing greater than saying I am a professional actor and I will be till the day I die. So, and that's where it gets tough."

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