1689 Zap & Troy.
Thomas is referencing my particular favorite episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000; The Final Sacrifice. The gentleman who played Zap Rowsdower in said film said in an interview I once saw that he thought the reason for his newfound notoriety was odd, but he enjoyed it and the fans seemed to genuinely love the movie and it’s insanity. It’s an episode from the end of Mike Nelson’s run as the test subject and well worth the time you spend finding it. It’s on DVD and I think it might be on the Netflix season.
When I was young I didn’t want to show people anything if I didn’t think it was going to be “perfect”. So I didn’t do much of anything. Jo has said similar things to John and she is very wise in some ways because she realizes that trying is much more important than people give it credit for. In many ways she is the best person to be a director because she isn’t worried about possibly making something terrible. Being shy is a weakness, but George Lucas could barely make eye contact with people when he started and look what he did… just look at it Anakin…
Some of you might have noticed that the blogs have been much shorter than in previous times. Well, I’ve been avoiding talking about what’s been going on with me for a number of reasons. I do pop in to the discord server from time to time to vent, but I dunno, I just haven’t felt like reliving things via text. If you feel like joining the chat the link is right in front of you. It’s active almost all day long.
Anyway, I’m tired and I want to rest. I hope you guys have a good weekend.
15 Comments
I mean, that’s true about Final Sacrifice, but the thing about Tommy Wiseau, is that once you get past the outer layer, his sincerity is… terrifying. The Room has some really screwed-up undertones once you get past the silly outer layer.
No kidding. I’ve only seen bits of it and it’s… something.
Now I’m genuinely curious. I haven’t got around to watching the movie, but would you care to explain this impression a little better? All I can find about it points just to typical bad movie fare, but nothiing creepy in itself.
Please don’t go fight Canadian cultists, Jo. Our Maple Syrup cult is actually quite tolerant so long as you respect our desire for global economic domination and a monopoly on all maple syrup.
I perfer my cultests nurgley
Honestly I’ve never seen this Tommy Wiseau movie, but the whole “Canadian cultists” thing reminds me of Kevin Smith’s Yoga Hosers. Another silly movie, but awesome in it’s silliness.
WUUUUUUUUUNDERBAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR !!!!!
I like Jo’s lines about making something wonderful.
Yoda said – “Do or do not, there is no try.”
Maxim 70 – “Failure is not an option – it is mandatory. The option is whether or not to let failure be the last thing you do.”
I think Maxim 70 is much more true to life than Yoda’s babble.
Heck, the scientific method is based on documented, repeatable, failure.
Hmm, if I do this then bad things happen.
Hey if I do it the same thing the same bad things happen.
Now we know not do this because those bad things will happen.
Let us do something else.
SCIENCE!
If you follow Yoda then you end up being Homer Simpson.
-“Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.” which leads to “If at first you don’t succeed, give up.”
Something important to remember about Yoda and his comment, is that he was saying it as a martial arts instructor, of sorts, to his student, one who he knew the capacity of. Yoda knew that Luke had the training and the capacity, as well as the trained instinct to do what he was trying to do, at that point, it’s either do or don’t. From what I can tell, this is eastern philosophy and martial tradition: once you know the thing, you don’t do it with the thought of not succeeding, you know it, you do it, it gets done. Fits with trained military as well, you don’t TRY to beat the enemy, you figure out how to beat them, and then you beat them. Meanwhile they are doing the same thing. Best and luckiest wins.
That is NOT advice you give to an amateur, or a scientist, or most other people, failure is the single best way to learn something, the trick is to still be around after the failure.
I had a religious leader who tried using ‘Do or Do Not’, but honestly, I don’t think it really works in Christian theology: I do my best(try), I fail, I get up and try again and fail again, God picks me up when I am still trying but can’t move, and WE do the thing.
Success is the child of failure and persistence. So sayeth Jado.
Edison knew – he said “I didn’t fail 900 times to make a good light bulb; I succeeded 900 times in making a bad light bulb.” And then he made a good one.
Churchill said “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense..” and he said this while bombs were falling on his cities.
It doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down; it matters how many times you get back up.
And all that sounds pretty and trite, but what it boils down to is that the past is past. What you do today echos toward tomorrow, not yesterday. Take a step, take a shot, give it a chance. There is plenty of time to give up later. Today, try one more time.
There are a lot of things you really only have to do once, and that achievement is yours forever. Surrender tomorrow; for today, fight on just one more day.
I would simply say that people loved Ed Wood even more than Tommy Wiseau for many of the same reasons. There is something to clear earnestness adding charm to the cinematic clusters.
I’ve always liked the view of the great American philosopher, W.C. Fields (may be paraphrasing here):
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then, give up. No sense making a damn fool of yourself.”
I really love the details with Jo’s hands in the first 2 panels. It’s either in perfect keeping with her tone or puts her words in the right tone (chicken/egg?). Anyway, I love how a small detail can make such a big impact. Well done.
I kind of understand Jo’s idea.
Such as- Benny Hill’s TV show was a big hit in the 1980s + after.
His type of humor, that had a lot of slapstick + innuendo stuff, isn’t really my thing, but- I admire that [this show was his baby, and his most important project to him]. I admire the detail + eagerness that he applied to his work.