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[optimistic-host]

I can’t decide what my favorite part of meeting this dude was, but some highlights:

1. WE WENT TO THE SAME RAGE CONCERT?!

2. His soliloquy about relating to Odysseus was some next-level Lit Nerdiness.

3. That time he went IN on police brutality and how fucked up it is that people are critiquing the Black protest method vs. the message.

4. Him giving the low-down on *that* relay decision and how his godmother told him to focus on goodness vs. greatness.

OKAY I WILL STOP FREAKING OUT ON ALL SOCIAL MEDIA NOW.

*bows down to the GOAT*

#Anthony Ervin #Swimming #love me some good swimming gossip #Olympic bae

[optimistic-host]

The Most Wonderful Day of the Year: Jack’s Mannequin Day 2016

Hello tumblr fam! My tumblr activity has been pretty lacking recently, especially in the AM world, but I’m back to tell y’all about one of my favorite days of the year: Jack’s Mannequin Day. 

As many of you know, August 23rd represents a very important day for Andrew McMahon. On that very day back in 2005, Andrew released the debut Jack’s Mannequin album Everything in Transit. He also received a stem cell transplant from his sister, Katie. This stem cell transplant saved his life and led him down the road to remission from leukemia. Needless to say, these two events have had an immense impact on Andrew and his fans, and while Andrew has moved past his illness and continues to create beautiful music, it seems only right to honor this day somehow. So a few years ago, I got the idea for Jack’s Mannequin Day. Over the past 5 years, it’s blossomed into a beautiful thing that’s been embraced by Andrew and his Foundation. If you’re unfamiliar with Jack’s Mannequin Day, here’s the gist: First and foremost, Jack’s Mannequin Day is a day of celebration. A celebration of music. A celebration of community. A celebration of life. You can choose to celebrate any way you choose. You could:

Blast Everything in Transit and the rest of the Jack’s Mannequin/Andrew discography in your car or at your workplace.

Share Andrew’s story and his music with people in your life who have never heard of him. Make your very own mixed tape for them with all your favorite songs!

Share a movie night with friends/family and watch “Dear Jack." Post Jack’s Mannequin/Andrew-related stuff (Andrew’s story, a JM song, etc…) on Facebook, Twitter, Insta, Snapchat, or Tumblr. If you see other fans doing it, message them and make a new friend!

Jack’s Mannequin Day is also a day of action. This can be accomplished in a multitude of ways.

In honor of Andrew being in remission for 11 FREAKING YEARS, donate $11 to the Dear Jack Foundation or another charity of your choice. While $11 might not seem like a lot, the smallest donation can make the biggest difference, especially if a lot of people do it! Andrew’s The Dear Jack Foundation supports the UCLA Daltrey/Townshend YA Cancer Program (the only YA cancer treatment program in the country), Cancer For College, and Stupid Cancer, among others. You could also donate to any number of teams participating in the Dear Jack 100K Challenge. There’s also the Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation, which I’m partial to. Those who’ve been around the Andrew fandom for awhile remember Matt as an amazing member of our tribe, and his family have done some incredible work keeping his memory alive and helping other young adult cancer patients via the power of music.

If you don’t have the money to donate (or even if you do), spend the day volunteering. Go visit with pediatric cancer patients at your local hospital. Ask your friends for gently used toys. Whatever you end up doing, make sure to share Andrew’s story and let people know what you’re doing for your community and why.

Become a bone marrow donor. Andrew was lucky enough to find a successful donor in his sister, but not everybody is. Every year, 10,000 patients with leukemia and other life-threatening diseases need a marrow transplant from an unrelated donor, but only half receive one. By registering as a bone marrow donor, you can help change that.

That’s about it from me! To wrap things up, I’ll leave you with a quote from the man himself: "With each new day it becomes more and more apparent to me that everything and everyone in this world is connected in some beautiful and inexplicable way, and the more I accept that, the more my world seems to come together.” -Andrew McMahon, August 23rd, 2005

#Andrew McMahon #Jack's Mannequin Day #Jack's Mannequin #Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness #YA Cancer

[optimistic-host]

My Emotional State: Olympics Edition

Pre-Olympics: Man Anthony Ervin is a hella hot nerd and that Vice interview was woke as fuck.

Day One of Swimming: Oh damn he won gold as part of the relay team! That’s shitty that they didn’t let him swim in the finals…

Last Friday: HOLY SHIT MY TRASH OLYMPIC SON WON GOLD IN THE 50 FREE. LOOK AT SWIM GRANDPA OUTRACING THESE FUCKING TEENS.

Today: *Finds out Anthony Ervin is doing a book signing in Berkeley next month*

#Anthony Ervin #swim grandpa #my Anthony Ervin thirst will never truly be quenched

[optimistic-host]

Senator Elizabeth Warren on The Late Show, July 21, 2016

#YAAAAS QUEEN #GOD BLESS ELIZABETH GODDAMN WARREN

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PROTECT THIS PRECIOUS CINNAMON ROLL AT ALL COSTS.

#Andrew McMahon #Cecilia Kate McMahon #garage band motherfucker

[optimistic-host]

Hey remember that time Hank Green mocked a song written by a cancer survivor for his baby daughter because it wasn't ~SCIENTIFICALLY ACCURATE!~ Because I do.

#andrew mcmahon #Cecilia kate McMahon #Hank green #THIS POPPED UP ON MY DASH AND IM ANGRY ALL OVER AGAIN

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TFW Lin-Manuel Miranda compares you to the Dread Pirate Roberts

#Lin-Manuel Miranda #LMM #Pulitzer Watch #Oscar Watch #Hamilton

[optimistic-host]

guys look at what my stupid little side blog accomplished... 

DAY 393

LIN

-

MANUEL 

MIRANDA

HAS 

W O N 

A 

PULITZER 

OUR LONG NATIONAL NIGHTMARE IS OVER 

#Lin-Manuel Miranda #Hamilton #Pulitzer #LMM

[optimistic-host]

SIGN ME THE FUCK UP Y'ALL

#Daveed Diggs #YAS YAS YAS

[optimistic-host]

Watch: Bernie Sanders teaches Ted Cruz and Donald Trump what New York values really are.

#yaaaaaaaas

[optimistic-host]

THIS IS SO SO SOOOOO IMPORTANT! THIS HIT ME LIKE A SACK OF BRICKS IN PERSON.

It's so frustrating to me that one of the big critiques of Hamilton from the social justice side of things is that it doesn't really address slavery. But it ABSOLUTELY DOES, from the first song onwards. Is it the main topic? No. But it comes up so many times in so many beautiful, subtle ways.

GIVE LIN THAT MOTHERFUCKING PULITZER FOR THIS SONG ALONE.

The part that affects me the most is one of the last lines of the show, and Eliza sings it. I step forward and I claim that she tells my story because she was instrumental in the funding and the building of the Washington Monument. (x)

#Lin-Manuel Miranda #Hamilton #WLWDWTYS #the discourse

[optimistic-host]

Oscar Isaac in Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

#fuuuuuuck

[optimistic-host]

I AM SCREAMING

Wise up. Eyes up.

I catch a glimpse of the 

Laurens leads a soldier’s chorus on the

My son is on the

He’s with my mother on the 

Washington is watching from the

TEACH ME HOW TO SAY GOODBYE!

#Lin-Manuel Miranda #Hamilton #FAVORITE

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#YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL TO MEEEEEE

[optimistic-host]

@edwardspoonhands is a smart guy so I’m assuming he already looked into this song and knows it’s about his daughter, but for everyone else…

Andrew wrote this song shortly before his daughter (Cecilia) was born. Fun fact: Cecilia is a super awesome science baby! See, the intense chemotherapy treatments Andrew went through before his transplant made it basically impossible for him and his wife to conceive naturally, so they had to do IVF. Thankfully, it worked. ~YAY SCIENCE AMIRITE~

The other really important detail you have to consider is the importance of the sky in Andrew’s music. It’s a consistent image he’s been using for the past 15+ years. Go listen to “Watch the Sky” if you wanna understand.

It’s important to consider these things when trying to understand the song. After years of pain and heartbreak and NEAR DEATH (this poor little satellite has seen a lot of shit) this little girl emerges and changes his whole life. HIS WHOLE CONCEPT OF THE SKY CHANGES.

In the grand scheme of things, he’s just a tiny part of her life, and he’ll never be able to truly understand her, just like she’ll never truly understand what he went through before she arrived. She’ll never understand how cancer almost destroyed this young satellite and made her life impossible. But dammit, he’s gonna keep and eye on her and try to protect her the best he can.

TL;DR If you criticize this song and let science get in the way of art YOU ARE GARBAGE.

#Andrew McMahon #Cecilia and the Satellite #Hank green #how many Andrew McMahon PSAs will I write in my lifetime #THE LIMIT DOES NOT EXIST.

[optimistic-host]

It's. About. His. Baby. Daughter.

OK, I’ve Got to Get This Off My Chest

“Don’t be afraid Cecilia, I’m the satellite.” is a really lovely metaphor. The guy is like, “Look, I’m a rock star and I’ve had a lot of cool stuff happen to me…but even after all this, you’re the center of my world. I am tiny and insignificant and I revolve around the planet that is you.”

And then he says

“…and you’re the sky.”

AND TOTALLY RUINS IT!

A satellite is literally just a thing that revolves around something else. What a great metaphor! Why involve the sky? The sky has nothing to do with the revolver / revolvee relationship here…

SATELLITES NEVER INTERACT WITH THE ATMOSPHERE EXCEPT WHEN BRIEFLY PUNCHING THROUGH IT OR CRASHING BACK TO EARTH TO BURN INTO OBLIVION. YOU SHOULD BE AFRAID, CECILIA!

[optimistic-host]

THE SKY IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT METAPHORS IN ANDREW'S LYRICS, IT COMES UP IN SO MUCH OF HIS MUSIC, SO OF COURSE HE WOULD MAKE CECILIA THE SKY.

OK, I’ve Got to Get This Off My Chest

“Don’t be afraid Cecilia, I’m the satellite.” is a really lovely metaphor. The guy is like, “Look, I’m a rock star and I’ve had a lot of cool stuff happen to me…but even after all this, you’re the center of my world. I am tiny and insignificant and I revolve around the planet that is you.”

And then he says

“…and you’re the sky.”

AND TOTALLY RUINS IT!

A satellite is literally just a thing that revolves around something else. What a great metaphor! Why involve the sky? The sky has nothing to do with the revolver / revolvee relationship here…

SATELLITES NEVER INTERACT WITH THE ATMOSPHERE EXCEPT WHEN BRIEFLY PUNCHING THROUGH IT OR CRASHING BACK TO EARTH TO BURN INTO OBLIVION. YOU SHOULD BE AFRAID, CECILIA!

#Andrew McMahon #I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS IS REAL