Welcome to my world of baby and cat

There is nothing novel or surprising about the fact that after seeing David Sedaris last night I have only good things to say. I’m sure many people would consider him too big now, too mainstream, which is an attitude I reject. Like most reading people, I’ve read all his stuff and find it hilarious and moving. He spoke last night for over an hour, to an almost packed house at the Dallas Winspear Opera House. He read from his new collection, (which includes essays he has written specifically for teenagers participating in Forensics, after being told by many of them that they perform his work all the time. This delighted Justin) some new stories he’s working on, and musings from his diary. The audience was was great, an often tough feat here in Dallas. After the show he stayed for over 4 hours signing each and every book put before him. He stayed so long because he spent a good five minutes talking with each person who came up. Justin and I brought a book from home and purchased the new book there. When it came for our turn, he opened my book to discover that I had left my niece’s “Flat Stanley” (which I had brought to take a picture in front of the Opera House). His fatigued eyes lit up, “Oh this is so cute!” he said. I explained what it was and he signed my book accordingly.

I can’t say enough good about this author known by the entire world. His tour is putting him in a different city each night, and he brings such a genuine, gracious attitude with him. His anecdotes between stories were clearly off the cuff, which made it seem like a conversation with close friends. The time he spent chatting with us during the signing was endearing and kind. He seemed genuinely impressed when I mentioned Justin was starting SMU’s MFA acting program in the fall during our discussion of Forensics and theater. He asked what our plan was, what I would do, and laughed at story I told about our daughter.

To engage with an artist that has no monetary incentive to visit with fans in this way is remarkable. I’ve been reading Sedaris since college. His work is so personal that I feel like I know him, and the genuineness translates so palpably. Even though he is widely read and known, it is restorative to see so many people delighted by an author. In this age of smart phones and dearth of human interaction, it was wonderful to see so many people waiting hours just to engage with an artitst whose work means something to them.

nprfreshair:

In 2007, filmmaker Werner Herzog dedicated his documentary Encounters at the End of the Worldto Roger Ebert. At one point during Herzog’s commentary track, he calls Ebert “a warrior of the cinema.” Ebert responded to the compliment in a letter to Herzog.

My favorite part of Ebert’s letter:

I believe you have never made a film depending on sex, violence or chase scenes…You have avoided this content, I suspect, because it lends itself so seductively to formulas, and you want every film to be absolutely original.

You have also avoided all “obligatory scenes,” including artificial happy endings… And you don’t use musical scores that tell us how to feel about the content. Instead, you prefer free-standing music that evokes a mood: You use classical music, opera, oratorios, requiems, aboriginal music, the sounds of the sea, bird cries, and of course Popol Vuh.

All of these decisions proceed from your belief that the audience must be able to believe what it sees. Not its “truth,” but its actuality, its ecstatic truth.

You can read all of Ebert’s letter to Herzog here.

- Heidi

Still from Encounters at the End of the World

(via cinephilearchive)

This is really beautiful.

nprfreshair:

David Sheff on why we shouldn’t wait for a person to hit rock bottom before getting them help —

“I’ve heard over and over again, we’re told that they had to let their kids, you know, their husbands, their wives, whoever it was, they had to stand back, not to intervene, let them hit bottom so they would crawl into a treatment and say, ‘Please help me.’ That idea, it is so dangerous. It has killed so many people. The other problem with it is that this is a progressive disease, which means that as long as it’s not being treated, it gets worse. So the longer we stand back and allow this to happen and allow the drug use to continue and allow the behavior that is caused by the drug use to worsen so that someone is going to use more drugs and it’s just a cycle, the harder it is to treat them. So addiction is a disease like anything else. It’s like cancer, like heart disease, like diabetes. And we know that at the first signs of serious illness, we want to seek treatment. If someone in our families had early warning signs of any of those diseases, we would bring them to a doctor to figure out what is going on. We would not wait until the disease progressed.”

Photo credit: istockphoto.com

tylercoates:

Magnolia Electric Co. Frontman Jason Molina Has Died

I am incredibly devastated about this. 

I want so badly to know what is going on in this situation.

bg5000:

shittyexgirlfriend:

I’M LAUGHING SO HARD?????

Hope everybody is cool with greeting this Valentine from me this year.

Yep.

(Source: tacowitch)