I’m still here
In 2009, Joaquin Phoenix appeared on ‘The Late Show with David Letterman’ to promote his movie Two lovers. He was wearing a black suit, white shirt and black tie. His hair was in a mess and his beard was overgrown and untamed. He was wearing sunglasses and chewing gum. He was fidgety and at times incoherent, aloof to the point of insolence and awkward to the point of stooping.
He succeeded in pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes
Phoenix’s appearance and demeanor confused his host and the audience. Was he having a nervous breakdown? Was he high? Was he playing a joke? It turns out that he completely immersed himself in the experimental film’s piece of art I’m still hereDirected by Casey Affleck. Remaining in character for 18 months, he managed to pull the wool out of everyone’s eyes, confusing first the media and later, the movie audience.
At first glance, I’m still here It may seem like a parody, dismantles the relationship between image and reference, and subverts traditional conventions of documentary film to communicate its message about fame, identity, and the nature of media representation. However, there is one very important distinction. Mockumentary requires an implicit contract with an audience familiar with the joke and the social/political criticism being expressed. instead of, I’m still here He intentionally hides information needed for the audience to be in the loop, creating confusion and uncertainty.
spaced out
I’ll admit to a similar level of confusion in recent weeks when I found my way to a number of poker Twitter spaces where a guy passing by “Eden Rox” has cultivated a strange kind of notoriety. She first learned of him from a clip circulating where he was attacking Donna Morton, a stalwart of the poker community. Then I heard a clip of him “going toe-to-toe” with Daniel Negreanu, the two drunkenly pelting each other in what was a pathetic, undignified display of a man’s ego going wild.
Against my better judgement, I actually tuned in to Space on Friday morning, hoping to get some feedback on Brian Rast’s third win at the WSOP Poker Championship. Instead, I endured thirty minutes of backlash that Eden Rooks was 86ed from Caesar Properties for his countless offenses.
I have no idea if it deserves to be banned or not. It appears there was a minor altercation that got him kicked off a $1/$3 cash game table last week. It was a little noisy on the $250,000 rail a few days ago. He’s entered a tag team event so his money’s in play. It’s possible that the WSOP has hit its stride, but it’s also possible that he’s properly considered an annoyance.
Tapping into an insane asylum
Drawing heavily on the post-documentary cultural movement, I’m still here It was uncomfortable watching. Phoenix disappeared into character, fully sticking to his lineage from famous actor to obscure rapper. Perhaps the approach he took seemed over the top, but there was a technical point that required the level of sincerity he brought to the part. When a public figure is presented as real, sinking deeper and deeper into the crisis, it ignites a critique of the public, the media, and the relationship between the two.
He threw tantrums like an abandoned teenager
Likewise, the man behind Eden Rooks seems dedicated to the segment. From flowery rhetoric to melodramatic outbursts, he relishes the spectacle, laying down teasers and creating detonators in his nocturnal bouts of verbal diarrhea. He’s pitted when challenged, throwing into tantrums like a jilted teenager and after a moment breaking the fourth wall, claiming it’s all part of the narrative.
As a viewer, I can’t help but constantly wonder about the authenticity I’m still here And I experience the same confusing feeling when I listen to Eden Rocks. As Andy Kaufman playing the foul-mouthed, smug lounge singer Tony Clifton, I don’t know what to take at face value. Aiden Rooks likens his role to that of a circus ringmaster, but after listening for half an hour I felt like I was bugged in an insane asylum.
Kaufmanisk
As I was drinking my coffee on Friday morning, I knew I was free to turn off Twitter Space, but something forced me to stay. I’ve heard others talk about FOMO in relation to these spaces, but it just wasn’t the case. There was just something that stood out to me about The Eden Rocks Show: part Howard Stern radio talk show, part audience participation in improv comedy, part Andy Kaufman performance, part Charlie Kaufman behind-the-scenes.
This may have been a fairly obvious remark to Johnny lately and in that case, my apologies to the longtime Eden Rocks faithful to what he does. I’ve done my best to resist attending these spaces because they look like dumpster fires. Having had some exposure now, I’d like to tentatively admit that besides all the gossip pedaling, name-searching, attention-seeking, and anti-bullying cumbiaeing, there is also, perhaps, something interesting going on.
Comedians are always experimenting with the format and aside from Kaufmans, various genres of meta comedy have been popularized by the likes of Woody Allen, Larry David, Garry Shandling, Tom Green and Norm MacDonald. Now I wouldn’t put Eden Rocks in this category for a moment, but I would cautiously suggest that behind the conversation, the kidnapping and the hostility and the obsession, there might be some way beyond the madness.
part of the meta
Many people assumed Phoenix was messing around at first. However, his convincingly long performance made it less likely that everything was fake and more likely that we were watching something real. At that point, it was the audience who was on trial as a mirror hung over our reactions and reactions, skewering us, challenging our preconceived notions, as a man revered for his acting becomes a juggernaut of ruin, a narcissist interested only in himself. We were the ones who unveiled a defining background that defies narrative.
How we choose to respond is suggestive
Eden Rocks, whether by accident or design, illuminates something about the character of the poker community. He was controversial, obnoxious, remorseful, and sincere in his rendition of people turning to Train Wreck. While we can never be completely sure what is made up and what is real, how we choose to respond is suggestive.
It’s quite possible that I give Eden the schtick way too much credit and that he’s actually a mutton-headed person who uses “meta” reasoning when he takes his listeners into conversational dead ends because he’s actually unable to think about more substantive issues in poker. There’s also the possibility that he’s something in between, which is Worzel Gummidge in poker: just a fit-for-purpose scarecrow that comes alive and goes on adventures in a single suit and set of interchangeable heads.
At the end of “The Late Show” interview, Letterman quipped, “Joaquin, I’m sorry you couldn’t be here tonight.” I don’t know if Eden Rooks actually exists, but I know from writing about it, I’m now part of the meta.
