The Why

Good morning! Happy Opening Weekend, Baseball fans!

Fun show! I felt a little like a 3rd grade teacher some of the time but that's fun too!

My business... my trade... is strange: During the show, my agent wrote me and asked me to call him so I dipped out during the break and called him back - The show "Industry" on HBO was circling around and I was on a short list to play a character. I loved the show and binged through it... My agent wanted to check with me first to see if i'd be interested because it would mean me getting on a plane right after TimFest and basically being in Cardiff, Wales for most of April... I said yea I get it, that's not IDEAL, but i'd love to do it and me and the family know that this is just our reality. Sadly (or gratefully) a few hours later he texted that they went in a different direction. Oh well...

But for a few hours, I was thinking, shit... I am gonna be stuck in Wales, alone with lots of time off probably, and I'll be sitting around and missing my family, eating too many English Breakfasts while giving The Worm Dude an ulcer trying to schedule shows... and will also be stressing about nailing the part and all the quick paced, well written but technically specific lines they write for that show... I want it! I want to do it... but I also DON'T!

The reshoots I did in Albuquerque were fun though, despite the weather (forgot to mention how bitter cold it was too... I still feel a chill from it) - and my part got a bit bigger with the rewrite of the ending... so you'll get a nice, angry Tim performance to check out on the big screen later this year.

On my walk after lunch, while I waited for word from my agent, I gave Kyle's new record a listen. Man, it really made me laugh and feel good. It's so dumb and fun and east to enjoy. it's listed under Kyle M.  

I've been thinking about why I post things like this lately:

 It went up on Instagram the other day and got a lot of attention. It's funny how things like this click... as opposed to something I actually care about like a live show I'm doing, office hours or on cinema or my music... it also brings out a fair amount of Trump supporters or people critical of me... here's a breakdown of how it happens and what I think the reason why is: 

Vic sent us this picture. It's just something we do throughout the day... a link or a picture or something that one of us finds amusing or infuriating... I was sitting on set wasting time on the movie this week and when I saw that picture it just felt like all those people were helping him make a BM! Made me laugh and within seconds I had put the post together with that headline. I like the way it read, like an Onion headline - it actually looks like a news post that Jessica Yellin would post (do you know her? I think she's doing pretty good work!)

I post it because I personally think it's funny, I also don't really think about it too much because it's Instagram and I have very little respect or concern for the quality of the work. It's fleeting, it's disposable and it's free. I hope that's people think it's funny of course, why not? But i'm more interested in putting effort into work that I am compensated for, as I would do it no matter what, it's is in fact my vocation and I think it has value! why would I want to constantly just give away the good stuff?

Who is it for? Well, I think mostly it's for people that think like me already. It's a little lightness and a bit of disrespectfulness towards someone I think is a true existential threat to our country. Heavy stuff that should be taken seriously, but at the same time I think it's important to laugh at him and possibly a little deflating to his supporters if there's always this nagging reminder out there that he is what they secretly know he is: An oaf, with a dying brain.

As I get older, The Why is becoming more interesting to me, and I spend a lot of time thinking about it. I think it's a really important part of the creative process: You may not get an answer all the time, but it's good to stop and think every once in a while: Why am I doing THIS?

PS, was there a band called The Why? doesn't look like it!

A few plugs before I go: Today at 1pm I'm hosting a Q&A for Eephus at the Los Feliz 3! (oops it's sold out) but SEEEEEE EEPHUS!

Kasey Johansing is doing a show at Healing Force of the Universe tomorrow night where she's asked songwriters to show up with some new songs to try out and workshop. I'm bringing a new sad country song I wrote on the road.

Hei Network just launched the Tip Center! No, it's not a place where you can leave tips on who killed Matt Newman, it's another way to help financially support what we do... Getting coffee on the road, I was bombarded each day with the familiar touch screen asking to tip and I thought, well this season of On Cinema is really good and people are really digging it... why not give them a way to throw us a few bucks as a tip, just like everyone else is doing... I can't tell you how much a little goes a long way with this operation. One day, I'd like to get everything under one banner... on Tim Streaming Site... One monthly charge to you all... But it's not easy to sort out... the good news it's we have an APP on the way... and the tip center is really helping us get there... give what you can!