I am no actor, but I learned that when you want to convince others of something, you have to convince yourself first. In college, me and a buddy got drunk and threw a bicycle through the glass foyer of our dorm. The sound of glass shattering and debris falling went on for minutes. For weeks, an intense search for the perpetrators ensued, and we had to lie our asses of. When confronted with a bicycle stuck in the window frame, we acted shocked . With no-one around, we would still wonder out loud who was responsible for such a horrible act of vandalism. Even in our private moments, there was no giggling, or chuckling allowed.

Most people were pretty sure we were the culprits, but our facade never crumbled, and we got away with it, leaving a great story, and some reduced karma as the only consequences of our actions.

In a similar feat of character acting, Joaquin phoenix is portraying a successful actor, who retires from the movie industry to pursue a rapping career, in a Film by Casey Affleck.

Phoenix has no flow whatsoever, but that is beside the point. His mission is not to convince people that he is a talented MC, it is to convince them that he is serious in pursuing a career as one. From the comments on his first appearance, he has managed to do exactly that.

Andy Kaufman succeeded in fooling the world into believing he had gone mad and wanted to be a pro-wrestler. He proved that an absurd premise, combined with superb, skillful execution can lead to entertainment that will live forever.

I write this without fear of ruining the joke, knowing that:

1: No-one reads this blog.
2: Joaquin Phoenix’ acting skills will annihilate anything said by me.

Below is some footage of Joaquin walking off angry when a reporter questions his sincerity. The second, a youtube video of him falling off the stage already was viewed by 150,000 people in one day.