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This is hard to do, as a New York native, and someone who has been pretty much on the streets living life since he was a teenager — but recently, I have been trying to go out less. To go out less and stay home more is to show more mystery. It’s to talk less, and it is to make people miss you, and wonder about what you are up to. As someone who is pretty comfortable in any room, I tend to go out quite a bit. But I am beginning to retreat from public life as much as I can. This is not because I am tired of it, or because something nefarious happened, but because I think as a media figure, people start to get nervous when they see you too much. They start to wonder “what’s this guy’s deal?”New York is a city of dreams and relationships, but it is also a city of mystery. It can be big and small at the same time. So, you might want to chill out for a few months. I haven’t had a night out in the Greater Dimes Square Area in a while and I plan to keep it that way — at least until next spring. I’ve been going out in Harlem again — the neighborhood that raised me, and it has been just fine. Post less on social media, be quieter about your personal life, go out a tad bit less, and you’ll find that when you do jump back out, people will be excited to see you.
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Inspired by Billy Jones' use of oversharing in his list of what he’s into, I’m gonna put forward undersharing. I’m tired of showing my heart to people in conversation and expecting them to understand what I mean or who I really am. I’m ready to be seen and not heard, conversationally. Or maybe, not seen and not heard? Or to start speaking exclusively in riddles. Or to disappear into the ether and come back someday, in some undisclosed era, more frightening than before. After all I have indulged in this piece, I can firmly say that indulging is out, and mystery is in.
Dec 29, 2022
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acting mysterious is stupid
everyone is inherently mysterious. there is no way to ever know the innermost core of a person, even the loudest one who seems to hold nothing back
if you act mysterious it just cuts off possible connections
i understand feeling overexposed but as long as you keep a little of yourself that nobody will ever know
that's enough
1d ago
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People are so obsessed with fame- but being looked at by strangers all the time is not what its cracked up to be. move to the woods, eat a sandwich, be at peace with yourself
Jan 18, 2024
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I'm often accused of being an "old soul", a categorization I vehemently dislike because it pretends as if my taste is because of nostalgia, as opposed to what is actually cool and compelling. (If something cool comes out now, I enjoy it, but we're in a down period when it comes to culture). But, something old about me, is that I do not care at all about TikTok ending, if does happen. If Elon takes it over from the Chinese, you might as well leave anyway, but I'm just worried at why this is a huge deal for people. It's just an app. Another one will be made. TikTok is not culture, it directly flattens culture into these ten second clips that take music, movies --- things that you need to process --- into something that is now consumed by everyone at a rapid pace, not allowing for the nuances, the style, the aesthetics to sit with us.
I have never watched something on TikTok and thought that this is something in that pushing American culture to deeper heights. I am sorry. Now I am sure they're good stuff on the app, but it's not really a necessity. Whenever I hear the words "it's blowing up on TikTok", my mind immediately growls.
I understood why X becoming overrun with Elon bots and right wingers is a big deal; X actually created things, made careers, made American life, and American events available to be seen by everyone. However, TikTok is a corrupt fantasy, chopping at the wires that make physical connection important.
Read a book! Go to the movies! Go to the restaurant of a cuisine that is unheralded, go to a baseball game. Who cares about TikTok?
Jan 14, 2025
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There's something quite startling about Martin Scorsese's 1980's period compared to the rest of his decades as one of America's greatest filmmakers. In the 80's, he was weird, strange, and making weirdly manic films that feel more New York than even some of his movies about the mob. They're movies about characters who aren't glamarous people that they want to be, but rather, are losers who can't seem to correctly fucntion in normal society. They're non-violent sociopaths. I saw The King of Comedy at Metrograph recently, and it's exhilarating, hilarious, manic, and scary. With Jerry Lewis, Bobby De Niro and Sandra Bernhard, Scorsese was able to create a world where incels who are bad at comedy are wishing for fame. Sound familiar?
This is a great movie. In 1983, it was a box office flop. But in 2025, it is magical in how it's telling the future. A future of scam artists who don't want to work to get there, and don't want to sit in their mediocrity: they want to steal to get their fifteen seconds. Go watch this masterpiece.
Jan 28, 2025
It's a perfect movie. It's almost too perfect. The fashion, the look on Cate's face when Theresa (Rooney Mara) is walking to her at the end, the line reading of "ask me things, please"; the fact that men are the joke throughout the movie.
It makes me wonder about representation and the limits of it because of how womanly and queer this movie is, despite the fact that it never feels like a movie made for women. It's just a great movie.
Feb 13, 2025