Influences

Let me ask a question to whoever may be reading: who inspires or influences you? Who influenced you to bale the person you are today? There's at least one person everyone looks to and admires. There are plenty of people that inspire me, but I'll go ahead and narrow it down to just three.

James Rolfe

Bursting onto the YouTube scene back in 2006 with his character of The Angry Video Game Nerd, Rolfe grew up being a lover of cinema, with his love of video games taking over for the meantime. 

Rolfe's main video series is the nerd character; a foul mouthed specimen stuck in the past who reviews terrible games and makes humorous and vulgar comments about them. This is, naturally, how 99% of people stumble on his videos.

But what draws me to him more are his movie reviews. Back in 2009/2010, when I discovered these reviews, I had never seen someone go so in depth on, not only the movie itself, but how a movie was made, what was done to achieve a certain effect, etc. 

What exactly is it about him that inspires me? His drive. He has made several short films(his documentary video, "Cinemassacre 200" showcases this, fascinatingly) and one feature length film(this being 2014's "The Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie"). He has used the very small and limited budgets he's given to work with to the absolute fullest, and what he's able to pull off and the amount of passion he puts into his work is amazing and puts to shame movies that use $260 million to stand there and do nothing(I'm sorry, but I can't get over how almost offended I was at the monstrously heinous "Transformers: The Last Knight". If not even Mark Wahlberg can save a movie, you're far past gone). 

James is beyond humble whenever he does a video as himself. He's charming, he's very warm and he's there to let you know that if a man cursing at video games from the past was able to do it, then you should have no problem achieving whatever it is you want to accomplish. 

By the way, he set up half of his basement to emanate and resemble a video rental store, and good God, not only does it look amazing, but I want that so much.

Bob Saget

Let's set aside the fact that he played an uptighty whitey on "Full House" and focus on the Saget I wanna focus on. 

Saget is, without a doubt, the funniest comedian I've ever had the pleasure of witnessing. Is he my favorite? Maybe, definitely top three, along with Patton Oswalt and Christopher Titus.

He makes me laugh until My stomach muscles are sore, but that's why he inspires me: his brand of comedy is like a barrel rolling down a hill; it's fast, it's quick and it hits you before you know it. 

He didn't have the easiest life growing up, so he saw humor as a way of coping and dealing with it. I performed stand up for a school event(one that I should mention that, if it weren't for watching his two specials, I almost dropped out of because I have really bad anxiety and stage fright, but hey, getting a crowded auditorium to laugh at three stories you made up right there, on the spot about your dysfunctionally functional family, then I guess life is kinda cool). I had a nice time doing it, but if I used any of his material, they would've used a battering ram to shove me offstage.

Saget is the method to my madness, the reason why I have a sense of humor. 

Kevin Smith

This big, cuddly, teddy bear of a man might be the biggest reason as to why I stand before you today, the way I am. Smith is a film director, my second favorite(sorry, Tarantino just inches out), but that's not the whole reason of why he's an influence. 

He is the most amazing storyteller I've ever seen. 

His Q&A specials, which usually run about four hours long, are just filled to the brim with him telling stories about filmmaking, his life and other oddities.

His 2008 book, "My Boring Ass Life: The Uncomfortably Candid Diary Of Kevin Smith" might be my favorite book. He literally makes a day that consists of waking up, eating breakfast, checking emails, watching television, having company over and then eventually going to sleep, seem as intense as a third act betrayal. He has a beautiful way with words, so much so that he can use those words to wrap me up like a nice, soft blanket on a -15 degree day. 

In this book, he also describes the making of his 2006 film "Clerks II", his best friend, Jason Mewes' battle with drug addiction and his life with wife Jennifer and daughter Harley. Harley Quinn Smith. That's her full name. That's an amazing name.

Smith will go off on tangents. Me being someone with severe ADD, I can easily relate. His Q&A special, "Too Fat For 40" has one guy asking one question at the very beginning, which makes Smith sprout out story after story after story after story. By the time the 200 minute runtime is over, he's answered... one question. 

His television show, "Comic Book Men" and his podcast, "Smodcast" are delightful and fill me with joy whenever I watch or listen.

Smith is a master of writing dialogue, which is another big influence on me. If you've ever read a story or script I've written, you might notice that dialogue is more my thing and the strongest part, at least that's what I can whip out more of, if that makes sense. 

Usually, when life gets really difficult for me, I'll pop him on and just listen to him talk. The more and more he goes on, the happier I seem to get. For that, and that alone, he deserves my endless gratitude.

So that's me. Those are the three people who inspire me and yes, it is absolutely coincidence that they all have black hair and wear glasses. 

People usually don't wanna follow such dreams because they won't get many people to see or look at their material. I don't have many people that look at my stuff, but there's a reason why I still do what I do: the people that do are very encouraging and therefore makes it seem like anything is possible. I mean, if Chingy can do it, surely I can... right?