Alright, alright, alright, welcome to the Phile for a Monday. How are you, kids? Six days into 2021 on January 6th radicalized Trump supporters including white supremacists, white nationalists and QAnon adherents attacked the United States Capitol complex in an attempt to stop the certification of the presidential election results. The crowd was told by President Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump at a rally staged in front of the White House to march on the Capitol to send Congress a message among other incitements. Leaving directly from that rally, many of the participants followed Trump’s orders and stormed the Capitol grounds causing destruction and five deaths, including a Capitol police officer. Despite the seriousness of the violent insurrection... in true Internet fashion... people couldn’t stop themselves from noticing the “unique” outfit choice of one of the rioters. Jake Angeli... one of the extremists... attacked the building shirtless, furry, horned and face painted. Angeli is a well known QAnon fanatic based in Arizona who showed up to several Black Lives Matter events as counterprotester with a “Q sent me” sign. Right-wing pundits and Trump supporters mistook Angeli’s self-professed neo-Viking garb as Indigenous regalia and falsely claimed he was an Indigenous Antifa member to support false claims the Capitol rioters were really Antifa members in disguise. Angeli... the so-called QShaman... told several news outlets his neo-Viking garb is designed to gain attention at events so people will approach him and he can spread the message of the Q online conspiracy theories. But the neo-Viking ensemble was also dubbed the “Chewbacca bikini.” Chewie fans were not happy having the beloved character associated with a domestic terrorist, they even told jokes about it on Twitter. However, amongst the humor was acknowledgement joking and comparing Chewbacca to an insurgent who was part of the Capitol riot that killed five people is not entirely appropriate. Since the attack, right-wing media sources have also been trying to blame Antifa and undercover liberals for the seditious attack. The actual participants, Angeli included, have vocally pushed back against the attempt to blame another group for their violence. Instead the radicals are proud of their violent interruption of the democratic process. The FBI is compiling the names of those who participated. Certainly they’ll know Jake Angeli and not Chewbacca needs to be front and center on that list. My heart go out to all those affected by this violent attack. BTW, According to the Department of Justice, Jacob Anthony Chansley, 33, of Arizona... longtime QAnon supporter known as Jake Angeli... was arrested Saturday. He faces charges of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
The fallout from Wednesday’s coup attempt at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. has been shocking in many ways, including giving us a glimpse into just how far some supporters of President Trump will go to disinform the public. Count "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" star Kevin Sorbo among them, who has taken to Twitter to regurgitate several times the preposterous lie that the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol were actually leftist protestors in costume. And Sorbo’s former costar Lucy Lawless... "Xena: Warrior Princess" herself... absolutely wasn’t having, dragging him in a epic Twitter response.
In her searing takedown of her former co-star, Lawless placed part of the blame for the riots squarely on Sorbo’s shoulders. “They are the douchebags that go out and do the evil bidding of people like you who like to wind them up like toys and let them do their worst.” “Peanut” is a nice touch, don’t you think? Lawless and Sorbo were frequent costars in the 1990s, appearing on "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" and "Xena: Warrior Princess" in their respective characters. Sorbo has been an outspoken proponent of the baseless claims of election fraud that incited the violence at the Capitol. And the tweet to which Lawless replied is but one of several that Sorbo has posted that traffic in ridiculous conspiracy theories about the Capitol insurrection itself, which began ricocheting through social and right-wing media almost immediately. Right-wing figures have repeatedly claimed that the rioters were members of Antifa, including Congressmen Matt Gaetz and Paul Gosar, two of Trump’s most ardent supporters, who made such claims on the House floor immediately following the riots. And far-right social media platforms and messaging boards like Parler have been full of incredibly bizarre conspiracy theories, including one that claims that Ashli Babbitt, the rioter who was killed by police during the insurrection, is still alive and that her killing was staged as part of a psy-ops stunt by the so-called “Deep State.” Many have been left enraged by these efforts by Trump’s supporters to blame the left for a deadly riot that Trump himself instigated on Twitter and at the rally that preceded it. And there was no shortage of appreciation for Lawless speaking out about it. Lawless may have won the Twitter war, but Sorbo is not backing down... the actor was still claiming the riot was faked as recently as yesterday evening.
It may end up being one of the most indelible images of Wednesday’s violent insurrection at the Capitol building... a photo that will be instantly identifiable to future generations. A man with a white beard reclined in Nancy Pelosi’s office, his boots up on her assistant’s desk.
But perhaps it shouldn’t be, because he was just looking for a bathroom, you see. No sedition here.
That’s the story the man is telling, anyway, now that he’s been identified by a news station in his hometown.
The man has been identified as Richard Barnett, also known by his nickname, “Bigo.”
Barnett gave an interview to 5News in the Fort Smith/Fayetteville area of Arkansas. Barnett is from the nearby town of Gravette.
Speaking with 5News, Barnett explained he just happened upon Pelosi’s office while searching for a bathroom.
“As I’m looking for the bathroom I walk by and there’s doors open to offices. I looked in and saw… it was Nancy Pelosi’s office.” Barnett then told 5News he considers himself to be the rightful owner of what he thought was Pelosi’s desk (the desk is her assistant’s) because he’s a tax-payer.
“So I sat down there at MY desk. I’m a tax-payer.”
“I’m a patriot, that ain’t her desk! We loaned her that desk!”
“And she ain’t appreciating the desk so I thought I’d sit down and appreciate the desk.”
Barnett was the subject of a second viral image as well... a photograph of him holding a piece of Pelosi’s mail he’d taken out of the Capitol... a federal felony.
Barnett explained he took it because he bled on it following an injury presumably sustained while vandalizing the Capitol building.
But he insisted it wasn’t theft because he left a quarter in its place, presumably to pay for the postage.
“I put a quarter on the desk, cuz I’m not a thief.”
“She ain’t worth a quarter, but I paid for the envelope, I didn’t steal anything or tear anything up.”
“Cuz we don’t do that, we’re patriots.”
Barnett admitted to 5News he is likely to face legal repercussions, but said he wasn’t worried about the outcome since he ended up in the Capitol by accident.
“I didn’t do anything. I didn’t breach the doors!”
“I got shoved in! I didn’t even mean to be in there!”
“Hell, I was just walking around looking for a bathroom!”
On Twitter, people were definitely not buying his story. As for the violence and vandalism that erupted at the Capitol... which resulted in five deaths... Barnett characterized the incident as “peacefully protesting.” According to a Department of Justice official, Richard Barnett, 60, of Gravette, Arkansas was taken into federal custody in his home state on Friday. He faces federal charges of entering and remaining on restricted grounds, violent entry and theft of public property.
Amongst the other things done to vandalize the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C., the rioters not only broke windows, fought with law enforcement, and scared lawmakers into taking shelter, they also took a massive dump on American democracy. And I mean, literally.
According to a source close to Senator Chuck Schumer, as staffers were cleaning up the mess that the pro-Trump mob left in its violent wake, they discovered that the Trump supporters left poop tracked down several hallways. If you thought the Capitol riot was insane, it got even more ridiculous as feces were found smeared all over the Capitol building, along with “brownish footprints” that probably reeked of disgusting excrement. Apparently, some of those who had stormed Capitol Hill to protest in the name of Republican President Donald Trump against the certification of electoral college votes that indicated Democrat President-Elect Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election, had gone No. 2 in the bathroom and instead of flushing, proceeded to take the dung and spread it around the government building. This was just a small part of what had happened to the U.S. Capitol and those inside. The lawmakers within were forced to take shelter and also given gas masks in fear of possible tear gas being used in the building. Five people reportedly lost their lives, including a Capitol police officer. Many have called for the enactment of the 25th amendment, and for a small amount of time, President Trump’s account was censored and flagged on popular social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Twitch.
It’s been a dark time for the United States as violence continues to plague upon the transfer of power in the White House. Inauguration Day is coming up faster than ever, but we must not forget that COVID-19 is still a very real issue. However, if we can grab a few laughs from this whole incident, it would be at the ridiculousness of the idea that spreading your poop along hallways will send a message. A very smelly one at that.
There is little doubt that Cara Dune is one of the fan-favorite characters in "The Mandalorian." However, people haven't been pleased with the woman who plays the character. Gina Carano is currently getting backlash for her comments on social media that have led to the Twitter hashtag #FireGinaCarano from the Star Wars series but it looks like the actress isn't bothered by all the attention.
Carano was recently interviewed for the YouTube channel "Drunk 3PO" where she opened up about sharing a scene with Luke Skywalker. In addition to that, the Deadpool star was asked about the Twitter outrage over her online presence.
Interestingly, Carano chose not to comment on the movement but she did state that she simply isn't backing down.
“I’m going to stick around and if my presence bothers you, okay, but also a lot of people are not bothered by my Twitter presence or my social media presence. So I focus more on those people. I bring the fire out in people. I’m not sure why,” Carano said. Carano previously made headlines when she allegedly mocked the idea of posting pronouns in Twitter bios. Although she has since removed the "pronouns" she added to her bio, people continue to call for the actress to be fired from "The Mandalorian." For now, it is unclear whether Cara will be back in "The Mandalorian" Season 3. However, there is a huge chance that Carano will continue to appear in the Star Wars series.
Instead of doing this blog I should be listening to this album...
On March 7th, 1965, 600 civil rights protesters attempted a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, the state capital, to draw attention to the voting rights issue. Led by Hosea Williams of SCLC and John Lewis of SNCC, the marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River on their way to Montgomery. There they encountered Alabama state troopers and local police officers who gave them a two-minute warning to stop and turn back. When the protesters refused, the officers tear-gassed and beat them. Over 50 people were hospitalized. Ugh. NFL teams have changed their logos this season, like this one...
So, today's guest Matthew McConaughey was in the movie Dazed and Confused, but did you know I originally had the part of David Wooderson before McConaughey had it. Don't believe me? Check this out...
Hahaha. I also had the part of Mark Hanna in The Wolf of Wall Street...
He got that pounding he chest from me. Okay, so, Valentine's Day is like a month away and cards are already out in stores. If you need an idea for a card how about this one?
Hahahaha. The death of a loved one often brings a showering of gifts.
The homes of the grieving are filled with floral arrangements, fruit baskets, and greeting cards stuffed with cash.
Sometimes, the influx can be daunting. On top of mourning, now there is the need to arrange a cluttered house.
For a Phile reader, the post-mortem gift-giving took on a whole new level.
"Am I wrong for refusing a free house on my child’s behalf? Some quick bullet points: I’m a 29-year-old male and a widower with a daughter who is a 1-year-old female. My girlfriend passed in labor. I have a relatively nice 3 bedroom apartment that we live in. I’m a professor at a university. My late girlfriend’s family is loaded, both her parents were engineers who started and sold several companies and have been retired for a couple decades now. They decided without much warning to start looking to buy us a house. By this I mean they want to buy a house my daughter and I will live in, but it will be in their names until my daughter is 18, then it’s transferred to them. I am not involved at all, my name is on nothing. They want to mortgage it and have me make monthly payments to live there. This was a plan when my late girlfriend was pregnant. They wanted to buy a house, have it in her name, then it would become the matrimonial home when we got married and I would have equal rights to it. Since this didn’t happen, they still want to go ahead with the house but the conditions are changed such that I have no right to it. I am refusing because I don’t want to pay for something I have no rights to. You can argue I do this right now by renting, but I have some rights with regards to my living conditions. I also don’t manage the property. With a house, I am on the hook for everything, and the way they want to do it is I still yet have no right to it. Am I wrong?" Sir, this was by no means a free house you were refusing. That’s not a free house they are gifting you a mortgage and I would assume it has a gazillion strings attached. If you have to pay for it, then it’s not free. It would be in their name, so if they any point during those 17 or 18 years decide to keep it, you’re pretty much screwed. If they want to do something for your daughter they can start a college fund or something in her name. Sounds like they want to control everything. Homeownership is about owning your own home. Not vaguely renting it until your daughter can "own" it. How is your relationship with them? It seems like your late girlfriends family only cares about your daughter and not in the slightest about you. If this is the case I’d stay away from living in a house under their control where all you do is pay to stay and pay more to maintain it. Sit down with them, thank them kindly for the offer, and offer instead if they are really wanting to help their grandchild in the future to set her up a college fund or mutual fund so that when she gets older she has a nice little nest egg from her grandparents. It’s quite clear that he and his daughter will be renting for at least a little while longer. If you have a problem or situation you'd like my advice on email me at thepeverettphile@gmail.com. Good luck, everyone. Now from the home office in Port Jefferson, New York here is...
Top Phive Things Said About President Trump Being Banned On Twitter
5. AAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!!!
4. Ummmmm, okay, why is Trump on Venmo liking everyone's transactions?
3. My therapist job is going to be so much easier now.
2. Trump violated Twitter's "42,000 strikes and you're out" policy.
And the number one said about President Trump being banned on Twitter is...
1. He's furiously Googling "how to become a TikTok teen."
Yeesh. If you spot the Mindphuck let me know. Okay, let's take a love look at Port Jefferson, shall we?
A bed is a shelf for your body when you are not using it.
This is cool. Today's guest is an American actor and producer. He first gained notice for his supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy Dazed and Confused, this was considered by many to be his breakout role. His new book Greenlights is the 143rd book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club. Please welcome to the Phile... Matthew McConaughey!
Me: Alright, alright, alright, hey there, Matthew, welcome to the Phile. How are you?
Matthew: Jason, Jason, Jason, Jason, good to be here.
Me: So, first thing before we start my friend at work, Sylinda is a HUGE fan of yours and recently lost her dad. It'll be cool if you can say hello to her.
Matthew: Hello, Sylinda, sorry about your dad.
Me: Thanks, man. So, your book Greenlights is the 143rd book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club and the first of this 15th and final year of the Phile. So, were born in Texas, right?
Matthew: Yeah, I was born in Uvalde, Texas, home of the famous Frio Bat Cave, then moved to Longview, Texas, 12,000 population up to 75,000 population.
Me: What were your parents like, Matthew?
Matthew: They were married three times and divorced twice. Always to each other.
Me: You were runner up for Little Mister Texas in 1977?
Matthew: Yeah, and I actually I held the title too not so long ago.
Me: What kind of jobs did you have growing up?
Matthew: Boat mechanic, bank teller, a photo processor, a construction worker, and an assistant golf pro, waiter at a blues bar, a hand model...
Me: Damn, man, what didn't you do?
Matthew: LOL. That's quite a few, I won't say all I did.
Me: Okay, so I first heard about you from the movie Dazed and Confused, which is so cool that Foghat's "Slow Ride" was played over the credits.
Matthew: That's a great song, man. Your dad left a cool legacy for you.
Me: Thanks. So, your new book you don't hold back, you tell a lot of stuff. Why is that?
Matthew: Because this one I wrote, produced and directed everything so its not someone else's project. I mean I wrote it and you can ask anything you want.
Me: So, tell the readers how the book starts.
Matthew: My mom and my dad in a violent fight involving a knife and a ketchup bottle.
Me: Man alive. How typical were scenes like that when you were growing up?
Matthew: They weren't that typical. My mom and dad had a very violable relationship, as I said they were divorced twice and married three times. That's a good example of they can't live and can't live without each other, but they ended up living together. So that's how they communicated. They would get into sometimes what would be a violent fight and then it'll be over and like that story they would end up making love on the kitchen floor. It always ended well, it was just rough getting there sometimes. It didn't happen that often.
Me: Then why start the book off with that story?
Matthew: Because that story really sets the table which would seem a contradiction to the title of the book, Greenlight how the hell do I see that story with my mom and dad fighting violently, a knife was pulled, blood was drawn, I'm talking about this is a "green light"? Yes! And I go on and explain how and why.
Me: So, you were going to go to law school and then decided to become an actor. What was your parents reaction to that?
Matthew: Well, I planned it out well, it would happen at 7:30 on a Tuesday night... a time when my notoriously volatile dad would be home from work, he would have had dinner, and he'd be enjoying a beer on the couch with his wife, my mom. He said, "Hey, little buddy." He would call me "little buddy." I told him straight, "I don't want to go to law school anymore. I want to go to film school." I had to catch my breath to say that. I was already sweating on the other end of the phone line. And I'm waiting for him to go, "You want to WHAT!?" But instead, real calm he goes, "Huh. Are you sure that's what you want to do?" And I immediately said, "Yes sir," There was another pause and I think he was going to yell, "Are you out of your mind?!" I was raised as a blue-collar and had to work up the ladder and I was always going to be a lawyer in the family and here I was introducing this avant garde European idea of being an artist. Ha ha ha. Then he gave me three words that changed my life. He said, "Well, don't half ass it." And I remember tearing up when he said that. It was more than approval that he gave me. He gave me rocket fuel with that line. The way he said it, he was like "Do it. Not only do I approve of you doing it, but awesome. I'm giving you privilege and freedom to do it and responsibility to do it." And it was the best thing he could have ever said to me. I did not expect it.
Me: That was a tremendous risk, right?
Matthew: Yes. Indeed. Look, our family was middle class. We had a roof over our head and food on our table. I did find out later that dad was on the verge of going bankrupt for years in the 80s and then into the 90s. I didn't know he was that strapped money wise so they didn't have a big account or a lot of money to be my safety net if things didn't work out. Pretty much what I made is what I made.
Me: So, like I said I first heard about you and I guess most people did through the movie Dazed and Confused where you played David Wooderson. For the people who never saw the movie explain the character...
Matthew: Ha ha ha. David Wooderson was a guy in his 20s who still hung out with high school students and checked out the young girls as they went by.
Me: What was it like playing that character?
Matthew: These come up in a lot of different characters I played but this was the first time I had one in the very first film I was in, and the very first character. I call it a launch pad line, one of the original three lines that was written for the character was the scene where they are hanging out at the pool hall on the front curb, checking out the girls going by. Someone said I better cut it out or I'll end up in jail. And I said, "No, man, that's what I love about those high school girls, man. I get older, but they stay the same age." That line was the launch pad line. I said, "Whoa, if that character believes that... if that's really an ethos of that guy, this is not an attitude, he's not being cool to make a joke, he believes that... well, who the hell is that guy? I mean, there's an encyclopedia on that guy." This guy really believes that. I remember in the scene I didn't say that line to anyone in particular, I sort of stepped up to the curb and kind of said it to the heavens. Just throw it out there. So that's what unlocked the character for me.
Me: Was the character based on anybody?
Matthew: The character was based on and impression I had of my older brother when he was 17-years-old and I was about 10.
Me: A mental impression or an actual impression?
Matthew: A mental impression. I've really being enjoying as an artist playing on, because I always loved the definition... I'd say the last six years of my life, seven years I've really been leaning into the value of the impression and going somethings are better from a distance. Well, it's one image when I'm 10-years-old looking out the back window of our station wagon when we were pulling through the high school to pick up my older brother from school after school because his car broke down, he was not there where we were supposed to meet him, we're looking for him, we're driving by, I look out the back of the window I see this silhouetted image of this guy leaning against a wall in the smoking section, smoking a cigarette in a lazy right-handed way, left knee bent up, boot heel on the wall. And he was 10 feet tall. He was cooler than James Dean ever was. And who was he? He was my brother, Pat. He was really only five-foot-10. But in my 10-year-old eyes from that 80 yards away, he was the coolest thing in the world. I remember going, "There's Pat!" I had to immediately shut my mouth because he was smoking a cigarette and he'll get in trouble by my mom if he gets caught smoking a cigarette. But that image for whatever that three seconds was in my mind looking out the back window at Pat became who Wooderson was. So I take the line that they are staying the same age and I throw it with that three second impression that was in my mind I got that guy. I know who Wooderson is. Press record, say what they want, I ended up working three weeks because of that.
Me: The main line that people impersonate you with and quote you with is "alright, alright, alright." How did that come about?
Matthew: I wasn't even supposed to work that night, I wasn't supposed to be on set that night. I was just doing makeup and wardrobe test which is where for those that don't know, I show up on set because I'm there with the wardrobe and makeup people and their shooting other scenes with other actors. I wasn't supposed to be filmed. When the director gets free time he steps of the set, the AD says, "Can you check out McConaughey's David Wooderson?" He looks me up and down and says, "I like the hair-do..." That happens this time and Richard Linklater comes up to me in the street and says, "This is great, look at you." He says as Wooderson was possibly with all the hot chicks in high school, do I think he'd have any interest in the redheaded intellectual? I'm like, yeah, man, Wooderson likes all kind of chicks. He says, "Cool, Marissa Ribisi is over here playing the redheaded intellectual, she's parked in the drive-thru, she's got friends that are kinda nerdy in the backseat, think you can kinda pull over and try to pick her up?" I'm like yeah, man, The next thing I know I'm in the car wired with a lavalier microphone about to shoot my first scene when my nerves started to kick in. So I asked myself, "Who is Wooderson? And what is he about?" I'm like, "Wooderson's about his car. Well, I'm in my 70 Chevelle, there's one." I said, "Wooderson's about getting high." I looked to my right and see Slater's riding shotgun. "He's always got a doobie rolled up. There's two." I said, "Wooderson's about rock and roll. I got Ted Nugent "Stranglehold" in the eight track right now, and I'm rocking to it. There's three." And then I hear "action" and I looked up at Cynthia and I said, "And Wooderson's about picking up chicks. I got three out of four. Put it in drive. I'm going to get the fourth. Alright, alright, alright."
Me: That's great! After the movie A Time to Kill you went on this big trip, am I right?
Matthew: I had this dream about floating naked on the Amazon River and I went on this 22 day solo trip. I took minimal clothing, my journal, camera and medical kit and a host of ecstasy and my favorite headband.
Me: Man, what was that like? I could not do that.
Matthew: That was the first of these many walkabouts that I've gone on. It was a time right after I've gotten very famous after A Time to Kill, the world had become a mirror, I was no longer meeting strangers, it was an awesome time. But it was an unbalancing time, at a time where I needed to fo away and was looking for a reason to go away with myself and let memory catch up and figure out what the hell mattered to me. I had this dream and it was the second time I had this dream, it was the EXACT same dream I had and it was so specific of a dream and so ironic what the outcome was. Which wait to you read the book on that part. I needed to follow it so I went to the Amazon River and took a 22 day trip there, the first 12 days were hell for me, I did not like my own company at all. I'd beaten myself up mentally and physically and didn't like it, I didn't even enjoy the trip. But I had hunch in my guy even at that time maybe it was because I already did the Australia year, but I had a hunch there was something I was going to learn from this penance I put myself through. And then I had a night of a purge, I woke up on the night of the 13th clean as a whistle and a new person and had shaken hands with myself. I had forgiven myself for stuff I had probably forgiven myself for earlier and had said enough is enough with some other things I was letting myself off the hook for. I woke up with buddy's with myself again and the rest of the trip was beautiful. I finished the first half after that dream thinking I had finished the entire dream but as you know when you read the book four years after that I had the exact same dream again and had to chase down the second half of that dream.
Me: So, about the book, what can you say about it?
Matthew: It's the most permanent true expression of me that I ever put out for sure.
Me: What do you hope people are surprised by when they read your story?
Matthew: People are surprised.
Me: What do you hope they're surprised by?
Matthew: I'm hoping they're laughing through seeing the humanity in what could be read as the ugly parts and humanity in the awesome parts like of course talking about the green light moments where I'm just rolling, winning trophies and getting married. Humor is a great through line through my life and through these stories. I hope there is some laughter in the wisdom, I hope theres some laughter in the pain. I think we can all use that and I know I have and it really comes through in this book I think.
Me: A lot of people are making big decisions now because of the pandemic, don't you agree?
Matthew: Of course since the COVID-19 pandemic began, many people are making big life changes... moving homes, quitting jobs, getting married, getting divorced, pursuing things they've always wanted to do... even though we're in a time of unprecedented uncertainty.
Me: What about you?
Matthew: I had some decisions I had made recently that I did not choose to change because why would I make such a big decision in the time of the most unknown and why would I make a big decision that won't be realized until things are known again? It's like wait, let's get out of this, but at the same time I understand it is a time for all of us to take inventory.
Me: So, what's your advice to people who are home right now?
Matthew: My advice would be this: Think long money. Make sure you're considering the outcome of the decision. How will you feel about that outcome when the world's grand again, and we're freely engaging and moving around and COVID and whatever other problems we may have are in the rearview mirror? Try to measure it. I sometimes think about what I would want my eulogy to say, and use that as a litmus test. "I love writing the headline first and then writing the story to get to the headline. Now is a good time to think, "What is the headline if I make this major change?" If your eulogy feels too far off imagine yourself in 10 years looking back at your current self. Just go 10 years out and lay this decision out there and interview yourself. Have your 10-year-in-the-future self interview yourself now and see if this big decision that you want to make comes up, and how you feel about it.
Me: That's cool, especially with me wrapping up the Phile in September. Thanks, Matthew, for being on the Phile.
Matthew: Thank you, Jason. Take care.
Give me some rope, tie me to dream, give me the hope to run out of steam, somebody said it could be here. We could be roped up, tied up, dead in a year. I can't count the reasons I should stay. One by one they all just fade away...
