A friend of mine recently pointed to a word of advice Leonardo DiCaprio once gave Timothy Chalamet: “No hard drugs and no superhero movies.” As far as advice relating to self-control, both with regard to the pursuit of pleasure and every artist’s relentless quest for validation, this is solid gold.
Author Archives: joshua chamberlain
opening the cabinet
I recently received a notice that I’ve been running my Tumblr page, “The Beginning of Your Meaning, Friend,” for ten years. The original idea was for my Tumblr to function as an “artist’s playground,” a space to accumulate the raw materials that would inform my writing and artwork. Even the title of the blog, stolenContinue reading “opening the cabinet”
don’t dream it, be it…
For three years in college, I played Brad Majors in an annual production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The production, mounted in a seedy bar on the edge of campus, featured full-scale musical numbers and plays host to a slew of University of Dayton-specific callbacks, Easter eggs, and references. Contrary to what you mightContinue reading “don’t dream it, be it…”
steal around
In conversation with Brian Koppelman on The Moment, Paul Schrader talks about the elements he stole from a variety of films to make his 2018 film, First Reformed. “The secret of stealing is that you have to steal around,” Shrader says in reference to the various sources of his material. “You can’t go back toContinue reading “steal around”
head down. mouth shut. (or “discretion if the better part of valor”)
I’ve never liked how I worded number three on my list of rules to live by. When taken by itself, the phrase “head down, mouth shut” seems to imply looking the other way in the face of atrocity (much like the German baker in Band of Brothers, who claims not to have known there wasContinue reading “head down. mouth shut. (or “discretion if the better part of valor”)”
be fearless
A few years back, I wrote a blog post about how scary the world had become. One paragraph in particular went a little something like this: The food we eat is poison, the water we drink is laced with chemicals, and the air we breath is toxic. Every day, we’re told there are foreigners comingContinue reading “be fearless”
two new stories
visit my medium page for two new short stories: all the little things and taking flight
you are enough
I suppose there’s an irony to the fact this is first on my list of “rules to live by,” as it’s something I’ve struggled with for much of my life. We could blame parental trauma. We could blame late-stage capitalism. We could blame debilitating insecurity, creative resistance, the desire to compete, unfaithful lovers, shitty friends–youContinue reading “you are enough”
rules to live by
When I was twenty-four, I started working at a theater company. In an attempt to remind myself of where I’d been and everything I’d learned along the way, I made a list of twenty “Rules to Live By,” and taped it up inside my locker at work. While some of these rules have aged wellContinue reading “rules to live by”
on being the portal
I’ve written about how the best art acts a portal, transporting us somewhere else entirely. Be it a story that takes us on a journey with its characters or a painting that swallows us whole, we engage with these works to get outside of ourselves. But what if we’re the portals? I’m revisiting Steven Pressfield’sContinue reading “on being the portal”
joshua chamberlain 