I was working a shitty job in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I say shitty. For a lot of people it's not a shitty job, it's a damn fine job. But not for me. Not for me. Stuck in a room with unelected individuals forced to comply with their arbitrary worldview. I felt like Mark Zuckerberg in his dramatized deposition. "YOu do NOT have my full attention. You have the minimum amount. The rest of my sttention is back at the offices of Facebook where me and my colleagues are doing things that no one in this room including and especially your clients are intellectually or creatively capable of doing."
I've felt that way almost as long as I can remember. As a child I felt that way. I don't care that this job is paying my bills, I don't even care if its 100X better than every job I've ever had. If it's not my purpose, I don't give a shit. It's just setting my time on fire. The only upside is that it is such a searing disgraceful humiliating feeling to allow my own time to be wasted that I end up being quite creative and effective at finding unorthodox escape plans when I'm in such a position. Thus begins the story of my new life.
There was one guy who I liked to talk to at my job, because he was into movies and music. So we would talk about Bowie and shit. I would use him as a guinea pig, to express the things I'd been dying to express and couldn't because I lived in a endless groundhog day cycle of work and home. I'd given up having friends and having fun, after deciding i was going to accomplish what I dreamed of, and turn my life into what I wanted with zero compromises. After that I basically became a person who abused caffeine constantly and used all my spare time to teach myself the skills I would need to bend space and time. So I was thankful to have one guy that I could unload my thoughts about David Mamet or Coppola's Megalopolis, even if he didn't agree with me.
I came in to work one day after staying up listening to interviews with Tim League, the founder of Alamo Drafthouse. I couldn't hold in my reverance of this crazy man who built a living love letter to movies when he didn't have to. My co worker says to me something along the lines of "Yeah, Alamo Drafthouse is cool, they're always doing intersteing film series', like I heard they're playing Megalopolis on New Year's Day.
I instantly diverted my complete attention to this conversation. Megalopolis failed miserably during it's initial release. It's almost a laughingstock among the film educated crowd, who detest its focus on the lives of a few wealthy players in a story about the collapse of a civilization of millions. It needs to be said, these are the heads over which this film soars. I would kill to see this film again in a theatre. A packed theatre. At any point. And I considered, in that moment to make my 3rd road trip to Austin Texas to see it on New Year's day, after my co worker informed me of its screening.
Try to accomplish your 10-year plan in 6 months. - Elon Musk
I decided in that moment that I would not work up to my goal of moving to Texas to work in Technology and to enjoy the best cinema in the world. In that moment I refused to wait. My mind began to furiously scheme ways that I could be a resident of Austin Texas when Megalopolis graced the screen of the South Lamar Alamo Drafthouse on New Year's Day, 2026. And I found a way. I put in my two weeks and started ripping my life to pieces.
Today, I sit in my small studio apartment in South Austin. I've taken a job at a Ramen shop. My lead cook asks me, you've ever worked as a lead cook?" I recognize his aim. Of course, he has no idea I think of the job he works so hard at as the financial equivalent of a cheap floozy. That I'll move one as soon as possible, that this job is only paying enough rent that I can find some rich fucker out here that I can make some knd of hail mary Sean Parker pitch for them to bankroll my vision, or at least hire me to do something awesome. I know how much I'm worth, and the truth is, most places and people on this planet could not afford me, honey, if i wasnt young and starting out. And even that's no excuse. Zuck didn't wait. Einstein didn't wait for someone to 'let' him theorize special relativity. They had their priorities in order, and what I've realized is that I haven't gone far enough. That everytime I aim for the highest goal I can think of, I know its still limited by my own igorance and fear. So fuck it. Marty Supreme. DREAM BIG.
I completed my move from Albuquerque to Austin Texas on the 3oth of December, 2025. I saw the fireworks display with thousands of strangers while I smoked weed and listened to Paul Wall in my headphones. I saw Megalopolis, with a strange crowd. I saw Is This Thing On?, Anaconda, Blue Moon, Marty Supreme and the first 3 episodes of Twin Peaks (the rest are playing this month), all in a movie theatre. Tomorrow I'm seeing Chloe Zhao's Hamnet. and on Thursday I'm seeing The Testament of Ann Lee on 70mm, the Holy Grail.
peace and love from Texas,
-che