Feels Good Man: The Movie

[ecosophia]

I have to say that being a bit part player in an award-winning movie was never something on my to-do list. Still, odder things have happened. Something like two years ago now, I fielded an email from a filmmaker named Arthur Jones who wanted to talk to me about Pepe the Frog and his magical metamorphoses during the 2016 presidential election. That conversation eventually landed me in the Providence Athenaeum after hours, with film cameras rolling as I talked about the chans, the alt-right, the Egyptian god Kek, and topics of that sort -- and the footage ended up in Feels Good Man, a documentary about cartoon artist Matt Furie's creation of Pepe the Frog, and what happened next. 

Apparently critics and audiences like the result -- my few minutes on the screen certainly didn't keep Feels Good Man from winning a slew of awards, including best US documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. Now it's on its way to the little screen, at the 10 pm time slot on Monday the 19th on your local PBS channel -- https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/feels-good-man/. 

The weird thing is that this isn't even my first appearance on the screen. I've appeared on a TV movie, American Collapse, and a documentary about a Pennsylvania faerie festival, Glen Rock Fae -- I even have my own IMDB page, of all things, though they don't have a photo, and didn't have a bio until I sent them one. Kind of an odd experience for someone who doesn't take in much visual media...

Comments

[troyjonesiii]

Ha, that's pretty cool. One is even tempted to say that it... feels good, man. [insert Pepe meme].

The Pepe thing is a really interesting phenomenon. I remember last year there was a professional Overwatch player (Overwatch is a video game) who got suspended from the pro Overwatch League for a few games, fined several thousand dollars, and made to publicly apologize for the harm he caused because he posted "feels birthday man" on his personal Twitter on his birthday.

[peristaltor]

Excellent! I've been hearing your voice on podcasts for years now; it will be a boon to see your mouth (well, beard, I suspect) move at the same time. I'll put the show on the DVR tonight.

That way, I'll be able to point to the screen and say to the wife, "See that guy? He's been writing all those books I'm constantly yapping about!"

[(Anonymous)]

Do you know if all of it ended up in the film? If it didn't, do you know if there's somewhere we could find it all?

[(Anonymous)]

Just watched it and I thought it was good. The interviews with you and Matt Braynard were essential to understanding the story, in my opinion, I'm glad it happened. A couple of my friends had shared the trailer with me a few months back and were quite excited about it.

Pepe is a sensation on the live streaming website twitch (twitch.tv) now. Majority of the popular emotes are based on Pepe and used incessantly. (here (https://betterttv.com/emotes/top) and here (https://www.frankerfacez.com/emoticons/)). I'm thinking a huge number of people (especially younger) are going to be privy to what little you had to share in the documentary.

- Nomad

[ecosophia]

That doesn't surprise me at all. Well, actually, one thing does -- I was unaware that there were professional video game players!

[ecosophia]

Too funny. Yes, it may just be a moving beard.

[ecosophia]

I have no idea. If it's like most movies, most of what I said ended up on the cutting room floor.

[ecosophia]

Thank you! I hope some of them will be interested in my book The King in Orange, which will be out next June and goes into much more detail about the same business.

[ecosophia]

Oh, I forgot the Pepe meme:

[(Anonymous)]

Just saw the film, Im impressed by how well it was put together ! Also, couldn't stop busting a laugh when they made a book fly in your hand. Was it their idea ? an advanced manipulation of the etheric force only taught in the long lineage of archdruids ? Maybe a miracle from the grace of the great old one kek ?

[grandswamperman]

Oddly, I had a dream a few nights ago that you made an appearance on a TV special, though I think in the dream it was a nature documentary of some sort. Also you had shaved your beard - which seems even less likely than you being on TV! I won't be able to watch this film when it airs tomorrow, but hopefully it will be available to watch elsewhere at some point.

[(Anonymous)]

You're right on that one! I'd say about 2 mins ended on the movie, split between important junctures in the movie. I'm not sure if you're already aware of this, but a quote from your interview is in the trailer as a voiceover. https://youtu.be/ZEiqZWw5vYs?t=126 (released in July).

- Nomad

Frog the God of Plenty

[(Anonymous)]

Congrats and looking forward to watching it!

May the Kek God bring the plenty ( of votes) in the upcoming election for our King in Orange!

Pepe The Movie

[(Anonymous)]

John,

Congratulations for being in the documentary about Pepe that actually got made!!

Looking forward to your book. Hope it comes in a plain brown wrapper.

All the best,

John B

Re: Pepe The Movie

[ecosophia]

Thank you. As for the book, nope:

[ecosophia]

No, I wasn't aware of that at all. Funny!

[ecosophia]

That was their idea. We shot it eight or nine times to make it work; yes, somebody was shoving the book out from the other side of the shelf unit.

[ecosophia]

I'm not sure what they have in mind for distribution, but it should be available somewhere.

Re: Frog the God of Plenty

[ecosophia]

The thing that interests me just now is that literally the only evidence that Biden is doing well comes from polls that oversample Democrats by 10-15%. Every other indication suggests that Trump will win relatively easily. Still, we'll see...

Re: Pepe The Movie

[avalterra]

Ohhhhhh... must have the pretty!

[seasidehermit]

Huh. All I'd heard about this movie was a critic's review I came across a few weeks ago, who portrayed it as a tragic story of a cartoonist who made something innocent and good, and then had to watch as his intellectual property was stolen by evil alt-right nazi white supremacists and made into a symbol of hate and terrorism. The critic himself has had a raging case of TDS (among many other things) for the past four years, so I'm not too surprised to see from comments here that the movie he saw doesn't bear much resemblance to the one that was made.

Maybe I'll see it after all. The real story is much more interesting than the one the TDS crowd pushes (I'm very much looking forward to your book).

Re: Pepe The Movie

[(Anonymous)]

Wowza, that is quite a cover. 10/10--exceeded expectations.

[(Anonymous)]

I watched an interview of the co-creators. They look like a fun bunch of people to be working with...im curious also, is that what it feels like to peruse an astral library ?

[esingletary]

I may have to watch this. Incidentally, how much of The King in Orange are you holding in reserve to finish until after the election next month? Do you plan on including an epilogue exploring how the themes of the book played out similarly (or didn’t as the case may be) in 2020 and what that may mean for the future?

Brek-kek-kek-kek! connection connection

[(Anonymous)]

"...And all the little frogs look out at the world from ponds, gardens, and trees alike and chuckle satisfyingly 'Brek-kek-kek-kek! Brek-kek-kek-kek!' while the good people lie awake the in beds they have made."

Here I have made indiscreet allusion to many things, not the least of which was Aristophanes and the lyrics of Stephen Sondheim's 'The Frogs'.

I would believe that you are familiar with both, but just in case here are the (1974) lyrics.

https://genius.com/Stephen-sondheim-the-frogs-lyrics

What do you make of this? Is there a relevant connection with 'The Frogs', the chans, the alt-right, the Egyptian god Kek -- or am I simply seeing the omens I want to envision in the cake of the last queen of France?

Black Tuna and Hand