So, so honored to have co-directed today’s Doodle celebrating Mr. Rogers with Melissa Crowton, and all the amazing, and extremely talented people at Bix Pix Entertainment! Truly one of my favorite projects, for one of the best and kindest humans.
We met so many kind and thoughtful people along the way. Getting to meet with Fred Rogers Productions, and visit the Fred Rogers Center in his hometown Latrobe, PA was really cool. We got to see the archive there, which is filled with things from all 912 episodes, boxes full of letters from kids, and his handwritten scripts on plain yellow legal paper. His thoughts on children’s education, development, and entertainment are really touching.
Bix Pix was also amazing to work with! Nancy, Drew, Matt, and Kelli were so nice, and such geniuses at considering how to make things look and move in a way that captures the spirit of the Fred, and still have a handmade but polished appeal.
When he says “No following”, it means also that he’s – it’s kinda a funny line, kinda a funny, sweet line, but it also means The Giant is repeating a line that Hogarth said. And, it also means The Giant has a feeling that he’s not coming back, and that where he’s going you can’t follow. – Brad Bird
So I just went with my buddy while he got a rib tattoo, and they hurt like a lot, so he’s over there grimacing and being a huge manbaby so I just reach over and grab his hand so he can squeeze it because I’m a good person who helps others
And he’s clinging to my hand like it’s a life preserver and I’m being me and talking about nonsense like Grimace from the McDonalds commercials and how R2D2 is always ready to throw hands, and whatever, and the artist keeps glancing over at me and I’m like do your tattoo bro I’ve got my buddy handled
But then I realize he’s like, looking over because he can’t tell if he’s seeing something or not, and I glance down and I see my rainbow scalemail bracelet, and how I’m talking to my buddy all fondly and I’m like stroking his arm like he’s a wounded animal, and right as it clicks in my head the tattoo artist asks in his most nonchalant voice possible, like intentionally bland, I’m just talking about the weather haha what do you mean voice:
“So, are you guys close?”
And my gay ass is over to the side internally screaming because yeah, I am gay, but like this is just me being a good bro and my buddy is COMPLETELY OBLVIOUS TO WHAT IS HAPPENING BECAUSE HE’S A GARBAGE STRAIGHT PERSON AND HE SAYS
“Yeah of course, that’s why I asked him to come”
SO NOW THE TATTOO ARTIST THINKS HE’S RIGHT AND HE HAS A GAY COUPLE GETTING A TATTOO AND MY BUDDY HAS NO IDEA AND I’M AWKWARDLY SITTING HERE LIKE SHOULD I STOP HOLDING HIS HAND??? SHOULD I CORRECT THIS TATTOO ARTIST??? SHOULD I LET MY BUDDY KNOW??? MY GAY ASS DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO HANDLE BEING INCORRECTLY ACCUSED OF BEING GAY, WHAT DO YOU DO
So that tattoo artist is like “Cool man, that’s great. Good for you.”
So then my buddy is like can I get some water, and the guy comes back with one bottle of water and my buddy takes a drink and then hands it to me, and I’m like obviously he has to lay down and needs me to hold his water so I just hold it in my hand, but turns out he was offering me water, so he turns to me and is like Colton, drink some water, and I take a drink and my garbage lizard brain is like “You’re drink sharing in front of the tattoo artist, now he KNOWS he’s right”
So we’re talking about tattoos with the artist and I mention that I’m getting a tattoo in September and my buddy is like “Yeah I’m gonna go and hold HIS hand for that one haha” and the tattoo artist FUCKING SAYS “I mean, I should hope so”
I MEAN, I SHOULD HOPE SO
I MEAN, I SHOULD HOPE SO
AND NO ONE ACTUALLY BROUGHT IT UP. I KNEW WHAT THE TATTOO ARTIST WAS THINKING BUT DIDN’T SAY ANYTHING TO CORRECT HIM. NOW WHEN MY BUDDY GOES BACK AND GETS HIS NEXT TATTOO IN THE FUTURE AND I’M NOT THERE HE’S GOING TO GO “OH WHERE’S YOUR BOYFRIEND”
one time a stranger on neopets years ago told me “school makes you think you have to be good at everything but sometimes it’s ok to just be good at one thing. even if it’s not something you get a grade for. they don’t grade you for being a good person” and tbh i still think about it little did i know all i needed this whole time was in glowing purple text and that icon of the goth fairy
hugging your friends is so nice….like i was hugging my one friend from behind this one time and then like my other friend who’s like the Epitome of Toxic Masculinity (but he’s working on fixing that) saw that and asked for a hug too so i hugged him and he was like “oh…oh shit, this feels so nice, i haven’t actually hugged anyone besides my girlfriend in the past ten years i think” and now i hug him everyday
unrelated but he also really wanted to change his phone background to this really cute fanart of the teenage mutant ninja turtles but didnt because he also wanted to keep of a picture of his girlfriend as his background. like i used to hate this boy but like HOW can i when all he wants out of life is nice hugs and to love his girlfriend and to change all the internalized negative lessons his father taught him about what it means to be a man. he’s trying.
I'm Still Kicking 