There’s a time when all I want to do is speak my mind, many circulating thoughts flying, and then a time to listen. It is time to partake in the simple pleasures of our world and live life. Time to sit in, and a time to be active. Time to be surrounded and a time to be alone. Right now I have simply been in a state of listening.

Toward the end of last week, I haven’t really had much to say. There are quite a few clues and paths that I got to that I may revisit in my notebook, but at this current moment, I have nothing to say, so I don’t want to say it. I recognized that if I was to try and say something when I didn’t have something to say, it would be similar to the daily postings of influencers on social media, countless nothings, or meanderings, and I guess I want to challenge myself against that. But I do wish to offer you something today as I usually do so how about an update? Not having social media keeps people from knowing what I’m doing, great! But also I do like offering those who are following along in my journey a snippet every once in a while of my work. This isn’t called my Artistic and Spiritual Journey Toward Freedom for nothing, let’s cite what I’ve been working on for future retrospective study.

My Current Motion

At this current time, everything feels so slow. I still feel like I’m coming off the social media high that I had been living in for what… 8-9-10 or more years of my life? More predominantly supplanting itself for about 4 years of my life. Time has slowed, and now I answer to the many anxieties that lay hidden from me after years of subconscious and expert misdirection. I couldn’t be more gracious for this gift.

Now Enrolled

To keep myself busy, I’ve enrolled in a course for modern journalism online through NYU. I got accepted and am beginning right away to complete the program in about a year. Here’s my logic:

• I love writing and am constantly looking to improve.

• I believe a considerable weakness of mine is research, I’d like to really delve into an investigative journalist’s brain to improve and rebalance my skillset.

• It all applies to acting:

  • Strength in research is necessary for greater character development.

  • Further study on human life and behavior; anthropology, and biology as topics to explore.

  • Learning how to be somewhat imposing, and less “well mannered”: I always aim for kindness, but I miss out on many things like meeting new people because I don’t want to impose.

• I want to, as much as possible, create story that is, in foundation, connected to the truth. If that’s me directly reporting the truth, I would like to portray it with story, and if it’s fiction, I would like to find the truth. Thus, with all of this, it takes research.

• There’s also something I’m currently working on that this certificate would be uniquely helpful.

My False Promises

I’m highly ambitious, but a lot of these things I like to keep to myself from now on, and then when I get to a good place I’ll actually let you know how things are turning up.

Let’s talk about the book centered around archetypes… I lost interest. I think archetypes are very interesting, but it’s interesting, just as self-study to see why I delved into it so hard. Here’s the fact, I want to write a book eventually. I just don’t know if my writing is necessarily a research style form of writing, I think anything I do would be similar probably to Greenlights, by Matthew McConaughey. Reflective in retrospect, a gathering of notes and bumper stickers, poems, songs, haikus, and lessons learned in travel toward something. Something I’ll either write later or now, uncertain as to when.

But the topic wasn’t the focus that I wanted. My focus is continuing my journey toward being an actor and becoming a master in my craft. Happily bringing writing along on the journey with me, especially to offer what I can to allow you all to follow along as well.

Acting

There’s a light at the end of the tunnel for the SAG strike, the plan right now is to begin reaching out to agencies and managers both in NYC and LA, seeking representation on both coasts.

It’s time for me to begin auditioning again and getting myself ready to do so.

There’s also a few classes online I’m debating between

• Ivanna Chubbuck

• Fay Simpson

• Warner Loughlin

Truly, all I’d like to do is be obsessed with a character again. That’s what makes everything come easy to me, servicing a character for the purposes of TV, Film, or Stage. While working on a character, life just seems so much simpler. I’ve been quite silent working on other things that I don’t feel I’ve given proper energy toward chasing the thing that ignites that fire within me. Writing it down in admittance is hopefully the catalyst to make the steps I need to in life.

The only other thing that I’ve been working on with acting is finding out more about what I like and what I don’t like. Where I would like to move toward my acting career, and the performance on stage and film that I enjoy and trust, to those that I don’t enjoy and trust. I’m always an actor, I’m always living in my vocation and everything I do is to service this vocation. I’m just beginning to get ancy because I want to actually do the thing.

About time I probably get up off my ass and start doing the thing.

Watchlist - Favorites

• I Love You, Man Dir. John Hamburg - My favorite “bromcom” (bromance comedy) I need a good comedy, or romcom after every couple of days because the movies I tend to watch are deeply nihilistic, and a lot of the times very harsh. This movie was a rebalancing of my energy after I watched the series…

• Chernobyl Johan Renck - A series I had been putting off for far too long, and after watching it I realized that it was the right time in that moment for me to watch it. Astounding storytelling and portrayal of the events of the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster. Remembering the story brings tears to my eyes, and I find it almost difficult for me to talk about it. Probably a good point to note that as maybe I’ll dive even deeper into my feelings toward it.

• Angel’s Egg Dir. Mamoru Oshii - Deeply theistic in theme, meditative, and contemplative in tone. A thought experiment as a concept: what if the dove never came back to Noah in the story of Noah’s Ark? This movie is hard to find, and unfortunately you might have to find a remade edition on YouTube, people are trying to enhance the quality, but you gain clarity in understanding that you're missing a bit of the original artwork from Mamoru Oshii back in 1985. Either way, it’s beautiful and is fairly short. When this movie came out people hated it, they did not appreciate the tone of the movie as many do now. Another case of when art is “before its time.”

• Tár Dir. Todd Field - I empathize with a good fall-from-grace story, along with an honestly brutal, contemplative performance from Cate Blanchett, this movie was fantastic. I was leaning into the screen to watch the subtlety of her anthropological study of a character, which serviced this story to the maximum extent. I’ll probably be watching this movie over and over to watch Cate Blanchett’s performance. Just like I do with Phantom Thread watching the subtlety of Daniel-Day Lewis’s performance.

My Playlist

• Fujiyama - The Dave Brubeck Quartet

• Betty et Zorg - Gabriel Yared

• Sonny Boy Rhapsody - Toe

Some harder stuff

• Eye Contact - Ocean Wisdom

• Infinite Limousine Pile Up - Dabbla, Dead Players, Ghost Town, ILLAMAN, Jam Baxter, Ocean Wisdom, Orifice Vulgatron, Sox

Audible and Podcasts

If you have read all the way through, I thank you. This was definitely off the cusp, and a bit of a rambled digression and musing, but I’m glad I got to write it and share it with you! Hopefully, it’s as informative to you as it is to me. I can’t wait to share more updates as I continue.

That’s all for now!

Much love today and every day,

Matt Piper 🐅🌱

mattpiper.org