DeweyFat

Scuppered = Ruined

I worked at CVS in Menlo Park Mall back in the mid 90's, and the A-1 market in Brunswick was my back yard. Sad fucking day when they tore it down to make a movie theater.

I don't have any questions; just wanted to let you know you're a hero of Jersey. A couple years ago I read that you were all depressed and doubting your abilities as a film maker, possibly unaware of the impact you've had on the kids growing up right behind you.

Well, hear this, motherfucker.

I'm 33 now, and worry a lot about finding my way. I've spent a lot of time traveling around, especially out west, where so much more emphasis is put on what you do, rather than who you are. Every once in a while I'll fade away and wonder if I should change things, maybe chase the money at the expense of my personality, envisioning the brighter days cash can buy. Then I worry if I'm too old, because every fucking movie, tv show, and advertisement clearly states that if you're not successful by 27, you never will be.

Then I'll think of your greatest character, a true constant of the Tri-State-of-mind, sharp of tongue and blue of collar, the shit spewing from his mouth reminding me of every buddy I ever had growing up in New Brunswick. Jay may be the most popular, but without a doubt Randal Graves makes me feel at home.

That's fucking important, Jack.

I'm sure the Redditors on this here IAmA love your movies for many reasons, maybe even for the ones you got into the business in the first place. For me, it's a bit different. I consider (a few of) your films sacred simply because you made them. A big kid from Red Bank defying the odds and doing his thing, his way.

So, my nigga, the next time you wonder if anyone gives a fuck about your new movie and if you'll ever make a hundred million dollar blockbuster, remember this: what you do is so much more important than that. Just like how Carlin taught me about the ridiculousness of the human condition, and Henry Rollins taught me that roughnecks can be intelligent, and the Wu showed us all that they ain't nothin' to fuck with, you taught me one of the most important things.

As you grow older things change, and along the way so do your tastes and concerns. The one thing that never wavers is your voice, and the language you speak, although possibly heard by millions and millions, will only be truly understood by members of your tribe. The greatest part of this particular lesson is most motherfuckers don't know that they're even members until they hear that voice for the first time. In this case, that voice being your movies.

In twenty years or so the world will look back and remember that Cameron's movies made 70 trillion zillion dollars and Burton made a hundred films with Depp. Your tribe will look back and remember that Kevin Smith showed us before we learned on our own that the world is a lot like Randal Graves, and absolutely nothing like fucking Forrest Gump.

TL,DR-

I have awesome weed.

In winter of 1995/1996 I lived on George St. in New Brunswick and bought a couple shirts off of you on Rutgers campus. One of them had a cop and said something like "Bad Cop. No Doughnut!" or something to that effect. It's been years, and everyone at N.B.H.S. rocked your shirts, but I haven't seen them anywhere. Was hoping you could maybe post a link or some pics of your first set of shirts.

Also, I remember seeing your stuff in Lakewood (I was in a group home in Toms River at the time), and your tag back then was spelled "Echo". I joined the Army in '97, and it was almost ten years before I came home. One day at the mall I came across some clothes in Macy's that looked like a rip off of your tag, except spelled Ecko. I took is as utterly disrespectful, and immediately went online to try and look you up in Jersey to tell you someone stole your shit and it was now mainstream. An hour later I was proud to learn it was still your label, and you had built it into a half-billion-dollar empire.

I was also responsible for informing my classmates at New Brunswick High School that, unfortunately, you were white.

No one believed me.

I fuckin' atodaso.

Stability is subjective as to who you ask.

According to some, it's stable enough to withdraw and leave them to govern themselves.

To others, it's FUBAR and will become a radicalized shitfest soonest.

Islam has a loooooong memory.

In Iraq, tough guy locals would try to impress us with stories about how their ancestors repelled Alexander the Great.

I can't even remember 1995.