The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek
Page 30
It would probably be helpful to tell you what Mythicality is (if you don’t happen to know already). Here’s a technical-sounding definition:
Myth•i•cal•i•ty (mi-thi-’ka-lə-tē) noun
1. the quality or state of being that embodies a synergistic coalescence of curiosity, creativity, and tomfoolery (sometimes referred to as curiotomfoolivity), ideally experienced in the context of friendship and intended to bring goodwill to the universe. Origin: 2009; RhettandLinkish.
You may think you can’t go around adding “-ity” to any word you want and then giving it your own meaning. But in the age of the Internet, you can—especially when there isn’t already a definition that communicates exactly what you’re trying to say. Mythicality is the word we’ve come up with that captures what’s been at the heart of our friendship from the very beginning. We’ll unpack it in layman’s terms in a moment, but first, some background might be helpful.
We met in 1984 on the first day of first grade at Buies Creek Elementary School in Buies Creek, North Carolina, when our teacher, Ms. Locklear, held us both in from recess for writing profanity on our desks (“hell” and “dam” if you’re wondering—spelling wasn’t Link’s strongest subject). She then sentenced us to coloring pictures of mythical beasts. We’ve been best friends ever since.
Over twenty years later, when YouTube was invented, we began uploading videos of questionable quality like “Cutting Strangers’ Nosehairs at the Mall” and “The Unibrow Song.” These videos are still online, although we strongly advise against watching them if you have an active cringe reflex. Surprisingly—and thankfully—enough people responded positively to these videos to encourage us to make more.
In 2009, we began to get a sense that there should be a name for this group of individuals who had collectively determined that we were more funny than obnoxious. So, we took the easy way out and asked them to name themselves. After members of the RhettandLinKommunity (an online fan site) threw around a number of suggestions including “Unicornholers” and “Rinkles,” we all eventually settled on “Mythical Beasts.”
Since then, we’ve gotten a little carried away with incorporating the term “Mythical” into our lives. In 2012, when we decided to launch a daily morning talk show, we naturally named it Good Mythical Morning. We founded Mythical Entertainment; created the Mythical Mail Boulder, the Mythical Mail Museum, and the Wheel of Mythicality; and sold a Mythical Shoe, a Good Mythical Mug, and a Mythical Pomade. It’s gotten a bit out of hand, we know.
Of course, this terminology has been a little confusing for those other than the Mythical Beasts. When we tell strangers that we have a show called Good Mythical Morning, we can sense their suspicion that the show only exists in our imaginations and that we are actually unemployed. But for us, Mythicality encompasses all of the qualities that we want our work, our friendship, and our lives to display. It’s characterized by a desire to learn and do new things, an appreciation of originality, and a tendency to not take yourself too seriously. A person who is willing to risk pursuing these values—for the purpose of making the world a better place—is a true Mythical Beast.
We firmly believe that you can approach any aspect of your life with Mythicality, from the way you comb your hair to the way you say “I love you,” and that’s what we hope to demonstrate in this book. For us, it turns out that many of the experiences throughout our lifelong friendship, including hitchhiking, eating leeches and spiders, floating in a sensory deprivation tank, and even throwing balls at each other’s balls have all helped to shape our understanding of what Mythicality is all about.
In addition to our stories, this book contains a collection of guides, charts, and activities to help you navigate a host of life situations with Mythicality, like a laughter compatibility test to take with a friend, a decision tree to consult if you get flipped off by a stranger, and step-by-step instructions on how to eat nasty foods (just to name a few). There are also Mythical merit badges at the opening of each chapter so you can track your progress (this is largely because we have a personal merit badge void that we’ve been trying to fill ever since we both dropped out of Cub Scouts after only one meeting). Of course, you can just read this book and not actually do anything we suggest. We have no way of knowing, unless you have one of the five copies of this book that has a small, imperceptible microphone and camera on the cover.
Because there are two of us, we will often write in the collective voice, just like we are doing right now. If it’s helpful for you to imagine us using some sort of “talking harmony,” feel free to do so. Also, since we are actually two distinct people, we will be speaking individually throughout the book. In those cases, it will look like this:
RHETT Hi, this is Rhett. When I’m saying something, you’ll see this. I’m not 100 percent sure what it looks like, because I wrote this before we decided how to make it look when I’m talking. But I’m sure it’s really cool.
LINK I’m Link, and this is what it will look like when I’m talking. It looks a little cooler than it does when Rhett is talking, don’t you think? That’s how you can remember that it’s me talking: when it looks a little cooler. Also, I will be talking in a slightly cooler voice, so you can imagine that while reading my parts.
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IF YOU’RE NEW to our Mythical world, welcome! (And don’t be scared.) If you already consider yourself a member of the Mythical herd, thank you. One of the most Mythical parts of our lives is being able to share our work with Beasts worldwide. Without you, we would have never been given the opportunity to write this book. By choosing to read it, you’re demonstrating that you want to be your Mythical best. If you stole the book, you can probably still return it—assuming you have not already drooled excessively on it or otherwise defaced it. If you can’t work up the courage to return it, at least finish reading it. Then, give it to someone you care about. Oh, and stop stealing.
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