Daily Inspiration: On Being Uncool

On February 2, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, one of the greatest character actors of all time, was found dead in his New York City apartment of an apparent drug overdose.

Hoffman brought a disheveled, sad sack intensity to every role he stepped into, elevating each performance to high art. Hoffman shined so brightly in “The Master,” Synecdoche, New York,” “Boogie Nights,” “Capote,” “Punch Drunk Love,” and so many other great films that it’s hard to pick one performance that stood out. But the above scene, from Cameron Crowe’s ode to ’70s rock journalism, “Almost Famous,” is not only a prime example of the heavy-hearted gravitas of Phillip Seymour Hoffman, but it’s also a great piece of creative and artistic advice — it’s okay to be uncool. Don’t worry if you’re not cool, you don’t have to be. You’re creative, you’re an artist, you’re special. The great artists will always be uncool. They should be. They need to be. It’s the uncool ones who who make an uncool world cool. Be uncool and stay uncool. The world needs you.