WHY I LOVE HARVEY PEKAR: The film based on his lifelong work American Splendor wins at Sundance and his comment is:

"I don't know about awards," Pekar continued. "I mean, if a film like 'Forrest Gump' can win the Academy Award, how much can they mean?"

Which is funnier out of context than in context:

"I don't know about awards," Pekar continued. "I mean, if a film like 'Forrest Gump' can win the Academy Award, how much can they mean? But I'm happy for the people who made it. They're very, very nice, they're bright, they're talented. If I had contact with people like that every day, I wouldn't be depressed and everything."

Via Dirk Deppey. The film itself sounds so meta:

Last night, Pekar brought home the gold to Cleveland. "American Splendor," the film based on his comic books and shot entirely in Cleveland, won the grand jury prize, the top dramatic award, at the Sundance Film Festival.

"I'm real happy," said Pekar, who had already returned to Cleveland from Park City, Utah, where he had helped promote the film earlier in the week with his wife and co-writer, Joyce Brabner, and their foster daughter, Danielle Batone. All three appear in the film as themselves, with actors Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis and Madalyn Sweeten portraying them as fictional characters.

I want to see this. American Splendor has gotten me through so many times when I felt like crap for working as a hospital office flunky--which is Harvey's life and what he writes about. I could look at that and think, "See? He's in the same boat as you, and he's writing freakin' American Splendor." So there you go.