Hollywood Podcast #36 – OVERNIGHT SUCCESS PT.2 – “THIS IS NOW”

Great shows! I just discovered your website, and listened to the last 4 shows. Keep them coming.

Hey guys (and Ling)! Thanks for the comments.

Dave – - James and I spoke for 3 hours so his “interrupting” may have actually been the results of my amateurish editing. I’m not sure but I’d rather take the blame on that one. Thanks for giving my show a shot Dave. Stay in touch!
Later,
Tim

Alex,

Yes. James is both fascinating and honest. I truly admire his honesty and willingness to share, disect, and evaluate what his past few years have been like. Him and I had a genuine rapport so I think time just flew by.

Keep up the great work Alex and thanks for the Itunes review. Much appreciated!!
Tim

Hey Tim…a friend pointed me in your direction a couple of weeks ago, and “Overnight Success” is the first Podcast I’ve had the opportunity to listen to. It was truly amazing; there were times when I found myself nodding emphatically, and times when I found myself speechless.

There is a question I’d like to ask you about the “Overnight Success” podcast, but I’d rather not post it here. I’d really appreciate it if you could email me privately, if you get a chance.

Thanks a lot, and keep up the awesome work! You’ve definitely gained a fan.

The interesting thing about this interview was James’ verbosity. He knows how to tell a story and is very articulate. Probably these are the kinda people you want to interview. Also, when you interview people, let them maintain their own flow. Sometimes, you tend to milk a moment and extract more emotion out of a story. It is very glaring and sometimes out of place.

But thanks for all your efforts. This is really good content. Please use more Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques to expose your podcasts to the community. Also, please see if you can get onto a podcast conglomerate a la gawker for podcasts.

Have you thought about filming your interviews?

Terrific show.

Loved this guy’s story. Although it was very sad, what stopped it being merely depressing was him having you to bounce it off and his ability to have perspective on it all. As a monologue it would have been just brutal, but with Tim it became more like one guy telling a mate something bad that had happened: “Jeez man, wait till you get a load of this…”
Let’s hope his other ambitions come through now. I can see him being on the radio.

What on earth do you mean by calling him a ‘sleazebag’? A sleazebag is a creepy guy who hits on girls all the time. This guy just had some bad luck. What cold-hearted people there are in the world!

On second thought, he would have been pretty sleazy back in high school too.

Strange that all of those things were incredibly cool a couple of months ago but now he’d agree that they’re not cool? Has he since done rehab or something?

hollywood – just started listening to your podcasts. great interview and i think a follow-up would be absolutely hilarious. i have $5 that says the guy’s working in retail somewhere — thinking… adult video/magazine store or burger king as a manager after doing such a good job on the frialator. either that or a used car salesman in el segundo. here’s rooting for james, posterboy of all l.a. losers!!!

tim – def feeling you but i think you and liz might be taking this a bit too seriously. rather than saying it’s really sad what happened – which it is – why is it wrong for all of us to laugh a bit in the same spirit as you two do on the recording? if he was sincerely interested in being taken seriously wouldn’t he at least man up enough to enroll at a community college or get the best job he could and begin actually doing something with his life??? i mean 4 YEARS since getting work??!?! what does it take for someone to get the picture??

he, you and liz seem to come from an entitlement school of thought where people deserve love and respect without actually having to DO anything in order to receive it. to me that’s just plain silly. i come from a perspective where someone who acts like a slimy, skeazy, cowardly mooch and treats life like a joke leaving, in jams’ words, paths of destruction behind them without ever doing anything to set those things right, deserves to be laughed at and ostracized NOT embraced and given empathy. as TLC so aptly put it, a scrub is a guy that can’t get no love from me.

Going back to what I said originally and only amending it slightly: My gosh what a complete sleazebag!!

No love here, Tim — only a group of incredibly judgmental people, apparently….

Tim: Actually, I don’t think I’m a bitch. I just wanted to point out that some people don’t have incredible luck in their lives, and yes — some people actually are forced to “mooch” off of their parents for a time before finally getting back on their feet. In my case, I ended up having to live with my parents for two and a half years before finally being able to get myself together.

I just think that, while James’ run of incredibly lousy luck combined with the fact that he’s now living with his parents at his age might make him look less than stellar — it’s not always fair to assume that you know all the facts of his life that may have contributed to his current situation.

Sorry if I came off as a bitch; that wasn’t my intention (although I do find that women who speak their opinions without apology seem to be automatically labeled ‘bitches’, and if that is indeed the case, I’m proud to be a bitch.) In any case, obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinions; I just think that people are relying too much on a two-hour podcast to form their opinions of a person they’ve never met.

I suppose I’m probably a little bit idealistic — a bit too forgiving, perhaps? I certainly don’t think that it’s really up to me (or anyone else, really) to decide whether another person is “way down on the lowest rung of evolved humans”. Then again, I am also the kind of person who feels bad for homeless people; I find myself wondering what happened to put them in that particular situation.

Maybe you can chalk my reaction to James’ story (and the resulting reactions here) up to the fact that, deep down, I still believe that people should be given a shot to redeem themselves. Despite the tough times I’ve gone through myself (or maybe *because* of them), I know that sometimes you need to have people rooting for you rather than putting you down, because the putdowns don’t help.

In response to the questions you pose, though, Tim, consider this: You ask whether he should even be given another chance in light of his track record. So I ask you this in response: How can he ever hope to pull himself up from “the lowest rung of evolved humans” and be more than a “skanky sleazebag” if everyone out there thinks the same way you do? If he is judged solely on the past events of his life, then he’ll never rise above where he is now. It’s when people are willing to take a chance on people like James (and myself, frankly) who have had really shitty experiences that they’re able to make more of themselves. If someone hadn’t taken a look at me and said, “OK, you know what? You’ve done some really shitty things, but you deserve a chance — and I’m going to give it to you”, I would not be where I am today.

Seriously? This is getting long-winded, and I know I sound sappy as all hell, but honestly, my heart goes out to people like James who find themselves in rotten situations because of the way things have gone in their lives — regardless of whether it’s due to bad fucking luck, or their own stupid choices. Because everyone deserves that chance to turn themselves around, they just need a little help sometimes.

This is tooo funny but I’ve got $0.88 to throw to the “James, get back on your feet!” scholarship fund, too.

the “bitch” conversation revisited:

liz said: “though it may make me sound like a bitch, I hope that they’re labeled “losers” because of it.”
and then i said: “yeah, you’re right up above. you do sound like a bitch. what is it you’re doing now if not judging people who make entirely valid and thoughtful points about what a skanky loser james is?”
then liz said: “Tim: Actually, I don’t think I’m a bitch. I just wanted to point out that some people don’t have incredible luck in their lives…Sorry if I came off as a bitch”
and then i said: “liz – sorry to hear about your own hard times and i’ll trust that you are in fact not a bitch. still, wishing ill on what we must assume are good people is not great testimony in your defense.”
at this point i thought it was pretty much settled that there was some QUESTION of liz’s bitchiness but nothing definitive to really work with here….

so, liz, if i “called” you a bitch and you are in fact not a bitch then i apologize. from your last comment i gather that you understood that and you came back and asked a very good question:
“In response to the questions you pose, though, Tim, consider this: You ask whether he should even be given another chance [on the frialator, etc.] in light of his track record. So I ask you this in response: How can he ever hope to pull himself up from “the lowest rung of evolved humans” and be more than a “skanky sleazebag” if everyone out there thinks the same way you do?”

i’m going to think on it for a bit, as i don’t presently have any good answer beyond that which jamie gave, pledge $1.85 into the “James, get back on your feet!” scholarship fund and will let you know my thoughts ASAP. fair ’nuff?

Tim: Apology accepted re: the “bitch” question; although I suppose it depends on what your definition of “bitch” is. I’m strongly opinionated, and don’t back down easily. This seems to be most people’s definition of the word. Besides, I’m rarely offended by the term, as it is usually a default “insult” that people fall back on when they can’t think of anything better to say.

I’m waiting to hear your thoughts on the question I posed to you. I’m sure you’ll have something fascinating to say.