Something that's become one of my favourite things over the last year or so: the absolutely deranged acronyms computer science people come up with for tools and languages
J.K. Simmons did not appear in a film until he was 39. He did not win an Oscar until he was 60. And for the last 30 years, every time you have heard the Yellow M&M talk in a commercial, that voice has been him.
He grew up wanting to write classical music. He got a music degree from the University of Montana in 1978, spent six summers acting at a small playhouse on a lake in Montana, then eventually drove a broken-down Fiat across the country to New York with $400 in his pocket.
For the next decade he was a musical theater actor, scraping by in regional theaters before finally making it to Broadway in 1990. He played Captain Hook in a Peter Pan revival, a fast-talking hustler in Guys and Dolls, and dozens of smaller stage roles.
His first big break came at age 42. He played a frightening neo-Nazi inmate named Vern Schillinger on Oz, HBO's first hour-long drama series. Five years later he was J. Jonah Jameson, the bellowing flat-topped newspaper editor with the cigar, in the 2002 Spider-Man with Tobey Maguire. He fit the role so completely that whenever Jameson has appeared on the big screen since, in Tobey Maguire's films, in Tom Holland's films, in the animated Spider-Verse, the voice and face have been Simmons. Twenty-four years on, no other actor has ever been cast as Jameson in a Spider-Man movie.
Then came Whiplash in 2014. The whole film was shot in 19 days on a budget of $3.3 million. Simmons played a brutal jazz teacher who breaks his student to try and make him great. The movie made $50 million at the box office, and Simmons walked away with the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. He was 60. Up to that moment, he had spent 30 years on screen as the guy you recognized but couldn't name.
The Oscar did not slow him down. At 61, he hired a personal trainer and started lifting weights, until people on the internet were posting photos of his arms. He also kept showing up everywhere as a voice actor. He played Mayor Lionheart in Zootopia, Kai in Kung Fu Panda 3, and Omni-Man in Amazon Prime's Invincible. He was also Stanford Pines on Disney's Gravity Falls, Tenzin on Nickelodeon's The Legend of Korra, Cave Johnson in the Portal video games, and the main villain in Baldur's Gate 3, which won Game of the Year in 2023. Six films on his resume have been nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars: The Cider House Rules, Juno, Up in the Air, True Grit, Whiplash, and La La Land. And he is still the Yellow M&M.
He turns 72 in January. The work keeps coming.
Scrolled on here during the beginning of this month and saw this post by @millerjoestar, was such a funny idea I had to take the challenge
Think Ill shade it at some point
#invincible#JoJo
@LudwigAhgren Congratulations on RoA2 securing the 4th spot at EVO! We recognize the passion of the RoA2 community and the drive that made this possible. See you at EVO!
Hey all!
I have made some big updates to the offline EMEA map for Guilty Gear Strive!
The categories for some of events have been changed and some events have updated information.
🟥= AWT Gold/Platinum events
🟨= Majors
🟩= Regional
🟦= Locals
(1/4)🧵
https://t.co/9n5PAfTEmg
🇮🇪 IGM Summer Showdown is the COMMUNITY NATIONAL for Northern Europe!
🇪🇺 Thousands of series points on the line for players from all regions
💸 Up to €1000 in CASH prizes across Top 8
🆓 2XKO merch for all players
🎟️ Early Bird ends THIS WEEKEND
🔗Reg Link is in our bio!!!🔗
Super grateful to the people at Cygames for helping us make this happen, and it's not even the last partnership announcement we have coming up👀
Stay tuned, and don't miss out on the Early Bird tickets, sales end this Sunday!
FGC Truths - Gandido Edition
During my time in the FGC, I was proverbially known as a labbing maniac, having written many detail-rich guides. I think that gives me a particular POV on things.
Here's some thoughts for those who want to compete at a higher level (thread)
I know it’s already been a week since #EvoJapan, but I had to prioritize commissions (and work) first 😭 SORRY
I still wanted to congratulate @TK_iKARi for the win, along with all the other players who made it into Top 8
GGs everyone 💙
#Tekken8#TWT2026