I like how things feel…

Posted on by Live & Learn

“Self-examination? I’m ripe for it, always. As much now as ever. I’m sure there’s never an end to it. No full closure.” […]

What sort of “Goldblum mania”?

“I don’t think I’ve ever said to anybody out loud. If anything, most everybody would get the impression that I’m doing well, that I’m comparatively stable, full of purpose and focus. But just between me and me? Let me see. Garden variety moments of anxiety, possibly.” He goes on to talk about sometimes running out of patience with his young sons and his frustration with himself about that. “They are primal. They’re experiencing raw, unexpurgated life. And in proximity to it, at least I find, I don’t know about you, things come up in me more readily and fully. Including temper.” […]

I ask Goldblum how he talks to his boys about masculinity and their behaviour as men in the world.
He thinks, pouting. “Off the top of my head, masculinity overlaps into good humanity, no matter what gender. Which is an ethical, honest and authentic morality; a contributive, caring kindness; a loving navigation through the world.” He prefers to ask a different question of his sons: “How do you be a good person?”

He’ll say to them, “‘Listen. I don’t want to step on your spirit, or suppress you, or hog-tie you. But you’re in this world. Don’t hurt each other. Take care of yourselves. Have regard for the gift of your own human life. Have regard and respect for the lives of others.’” He says he has a general approach to life that he cribbed from a book of philosophy by Sam Harris: “Always tell the truth. Don’t even go, ‘Hey! I love your sweater!’ Or don’t go backstage and say, ‘You were great, you were spectacular!’ Graciousness and elegance demand that sometimes you need to not tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, all the time, to everybody. You have to honour kindness over cruelty and be sensitive to somebody’s feelings. But don’t lie.” […]

You’re tactile, I say to Goldblum. Is it that you think you need to feel things to understand things?

“Probably so. Human beings do. I like to. I’m glad I have my vision. I certainly like to hear. Smelling is very important to me. I’m a big taster. And then last, I believe, is … Yes, I like how things feel. I do like to feel things.”

— Tom Lamont, excerpts from an interview with Jeff Goldblum titled “‘It’s foolish to mask your age. Accept it. Present it’: Jeff Goldblum on vanity, mortality and becoming a father in his 60s.” (The Guardian, August 3, 2024)

Photograph: Jeff Goldblum (71) with his wife Emilie Livingston and their two sons, Charlie and River. (Photo by David Vintiner/The Guardian)

52 thoughts on “I like how things feel…”

  1. As a mother of 3 (she boasts) pretty great, empathetic & sensitive young men…. I loved all of this. Especially “Don’t hurt each other. Take care of yourselves. Have regard for the gift of your own human life. Have regard and respect for the lives of others”

    All this. Yes. Thank you for the share DK.

          3. Feels like a big brush off. I agree Dale. Unfortunately, I am getting used to it by DK.

          5. I would say that a Thumbs-up from dk is a step up from no like no comment. The benefits outweighs the annoyances. So, we stay.

          7. See? My point stands. One in every 10 dodges, one accidentally gets your nice side.

          8. Meh. I cannot stand the thumbs up. But you’re right, usually, there is only a like, so it’s a step up. I stick around coz there’s too much good stuff here.

          10. Puh-leeze. You’ve never thumbs up me. For me, it was the first time to witness such a response 😉

          14. Thiught of you, after reading this beautiful passage:

            There are many sounds, and everything is too bright and I feel like I’m not fully baked, as if my skin is too thin and sensitive. I’ll always feel this way. I try to get used to the feeling of using my lungs, gasping to make sense of everything. But I never will. This is the only thing I’m sure is true from the story of my birth.

            — Cory Richards, The Color of Everything: A Journey to Quiet the Chaos Within (Random House, July 9,

  2. This is beautiful!

    I feel that it is a tough time to be A Man.
    With the change in what the woman’s role in the world is, at all levels, men took a step back to allow us to step forward.
    But the men need to step forward now that we, women, have found our place.

    It’s a century, maybe a century and a half, of change taking place. There’s volatility. And I think only males from his generation are capable of bringing the rest of them forward.

    Sorry if I’m off topic.

      2. Your generation is the last generation that can bring them forward. I see the suffering as men try to step forward again. We need them. Very much so.

  3. I love his thought process – and definitely agree with the life lessons he tries to impart to his littles. But if his boys are the same age as they appear in the photo, it may be a bit much for them to absorb? Maybe start with ‘don’t hurt your brother’? Subtlety didn’t enter our dialogue until some basic ground rules were set…😉

    2. Mimi, here is an update in earlier 2024 :

      https://people.com/all-about-jeff-goldblum-kids-8634141

      I also had wondered at what age his boys were when he spoke these words:

      “Have regard for the gift of your own human life.” as well as the rest of the excerpt in DK’s share…

      I think he may have said this when his sons were older, like now. I think JB is very intelligent, kind and caring…I like what he said about “the gift of human life”

  4. I’ve always found Jeff to be an interesting person, and nice to hear the thoughts that loom inside him – makes him more human

  5. I first saw Goldblum on tv in “Tenspeed and Brownshoe.” His comedic timing is just about perfect! (Wow, a dad of littles at 71? If anyone can pull that off, it’s Jeff!)

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  7. I always liked Goldblum, a great guy with oodles of charm, wit, intelligence – and now a lovely wife and two small kids…. boy I‘m exhausted just looking at that photo!
    And I loved the quotes….. until I started reading the comments. All the beauty got lost in translation – or is it transition?
    btw, Goldblum translates to golden flower in German – maybe just saying his name makes it such a warm experience 😉

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