unintended consequences

Last night, I saw a column at Newsarama that infuriated me. It’s been taken offline, so I can’t quote it, but the basic premise was that Wesley Crusher was playing Ted Kord, so Ted Kord was a Redshirt, because Wesley was a Redshirt, so now you know how lame that episode is going to be ha ha ha.

I tried to post a comment on the article, but it wouldn’t let me. Here’s what I wanted to say. It applies not only to this article, but to all the articles that start from the same premise. I’m putting it here because it’s the most successful I’ve ever been in attempting to explain why I’m so fed up with this sort of thing:

Wow, this is so profoundly insulting and so profoundly wrong, I don’t even know where to begin. You know that Wesley Crusher is a fictional character and I’m a professional actor, right? And do you even know what a Redshirt is? They don’t survive more than one episode, and rarely have any dialog. So … yeah, you’re pretty much as wrong as you can be about that.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, of course, but this whole thing is based on a premise that couldn’t be more ignorant of my work, Star Trek history, and the work we’ve all done together on Batman: the Brave and the Bold. I am offended on behalf of all of us who worked on Fall of the Blue Beetle, but what I find so personally insulting is your belittling suggestion that any work that I do now – as a 36 year-old actor – should just be discarded and disparaged because of some badly-written episodes and a sometimes-badly-written character that I played two decades ago.

I am not Wesley Crusher, and when someone says, “Wesley Crusher is playing [Some Character], so, you know, go hate [That Character] without even watching him,” it is both unfair and profoundly insulting to me. Imagine having something you’ve worked so hard to create being dismissed out of hand, because of completely unrelated work you did when you were a teenager – work that you had no control over – and you may understand why this is so upsetting to me. This has happened to me for years, and when I read it tonight – especially related to something like Batman, that I’m so proud of, that I know has a big crossover audience – It infuriated me. I’ve been subjected to this same tired line for 15 years, and I’ve really had enough of it. Live in the now, man!

I think we can all agree that Wesley wasn’t always badly-written, but my whole point isn’t to defend Wesley anyway – as I said, people are entitled to their own opinions – but to point out that Wesley is pretend and I am real. Wesley is forever a nerdy teenager, and I am an adult. If you didn’t like Wesley, that’s fine, but just give me a chance to disappoint you on my own merits, now, instead of deciding that my current work is not even worth watching, because of something you didn’t like twenty years ago.

On Twitter, I said: Urge to kill … rising. Someone needs to tell this guy that his “joke” is about 15 years out of date.

Apparently, some very stupid people thought I was suggesting that someone should hurt the guy who wrote the lame post. People: are you serious? Ever watch The Simpsons? Check out Treehouse of Horror V, particularly The Shinning, which gave us such memorable lines as “No TV and no beer make Homer something something …” and “Urge to kill … rising.” A different segment also has one of my favorite moments in Simpsons history, where Homer keeps getting his hand stuck in the toaster, but that’s not really relevant to this post.

Anyway, a lot of people spoke up on my behalf before they yanked the article, which was very kind, and not something I was expecting, but I guess should have been. Not everyone was polite and civil, though, so I also learned something about unintended consequences last night: choose your words carefully, because someone in the 30000 people who follow you on Twitter may be missing a d6 or two in their mental dice bag.

To be absolutely clear about the whole thing, I also said: Final thought before sleepy-time, where I am a viking: “urge to kill…” is a Simpsons reference, not an actual threat. Sheesh.

While I obviously can’t control what people decide to do on their own, I wanted to publicly apologize to the guy who wrote the column, even though he insulted the hell out of me. I didn’t intend to do anything more than speak up on my own behalf, but that’s why they call it unintended consequences.

Now, let us all bask in television’s warm, glowing, warming glow…

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96 thoughts on “unintended consequences”

  1. Ok, I know a certain actor who portrayed a teenage doctor in the same time frame as Wil appeared on TNG. Said other actor has recently appeared in a couple of commericals where the joke is that he’s a doctor, again it’s 20 year old joke. Personally, I found the teenage doctor far more annoying than Wesley Crusher- I will also admit my bias as some of the other ladies here that I had a huge crush on the actor playing him- I was 13 and I knew the difference. Wil Wheaton posters were all over my bedroom walls not Wesley posters. Wil you have been very open about the trauma you went through because Wes was so hated; for this guy to write an article which was clearly poorly researched shows just how unprofessional he is. I read a part of the article(I stopped when my brain hit the WTF wall) and found it not only insulting to Wil, but to anyone able to read it. Trekkies and Batmaniacs alike, I know there is some overlap- I’m guilty, know their stuff. Wil you were perfectly right to vent your frustion in the way all pop culture loving geeks do- with a HUMOUROUS quote posted online to your fellow pop culture loving geeks. Wil you’re one of a very few actors to have found success in childhood and managed to grow up into a normal, healthy well- adjusted guy. You’re even besting the “TREK Curse” having been cast in some very strong guest parts that are against type. You’ve accopmlished so much, don’t let those who refuse to see the man you’ve become bother you too much. It’s their loss.
    On a personal note- I’m off work due to an accident at the first of the month, which capped off six really bad months. I stumbled onto this site, and read your TNG reviews and had a good laugh for the first time in six months. You took my mind off my problems, even if it was just for a few minutes, and I can’t thank you enough for that.

  2. An alternate take…

    Perhaps it’s because you were so memorable AS someone who made him believe there was a Wesley Crusher? That, sir, is good acting. You’re not Wesley Crusher in every role… in any role except Wesley Crusher. You, sir, are no Ben Afflec (though arguably you might like his paychecks). Your comic book guy in Numb3rs wasn’t Wesley Crusher.

    Gordie Lachance wasn’t Wesley Crusher.

    There’s a part of you in Wesley Crusher, and a part of Wesley Crusher in you, but people who look at you and only see Wesley Crusher are as bigoted as people who prejudge based on skin color.

    That’s my 1/50th of a dollar.

  3. I have to admit, reading this post left me stricken with a sharp pang of guilt. I feel that it is now my duty to stand here, resolute in my course to redeem myself, by publicly admitting I have in the past made disparaging comments to friends or others about Wil, using similar illogic as that employed by the asshat poster of the article in question. I have always loved and respected the work Wil did in the film Stand By Me but there was a time, way back in the dawning days of the ’90s, where the character of Wesley Crusher on TNG so irritated me that it was hard to divorce that character from the actor Wil Wheaton. I’m not saying I castigated the poor bastard every chance I got, or that I defamed him on a daily basis but things were most likely said in round-table discussions with fellow geek boys and girls from my past that probably were none too flattering to our Mr. Wheaton. Somewhere along the way, Crusher and Wheaton became sinisterly conjoined in my callous, clueless reasonings. Well, I am here to rectify the situation and say that I was way off (moon)base about Wil.
    From hearing the name “Wil Wheaton” bandied about the internet years later, I decided to find out what sort of man young Mr. Crusher had grown into. Tracking down the infamous Hooters Incident story, I followed the virtual breadcrumbs back to his official blog and began to realize for once that, hey shitbird, there is actually a person behind the star of big and little screen who was all I knew up to that point. A person with, it turns out, quite a compelling point of view. I read Wil’s first two books and was (crossbows and) catapulted into a state of complete stupefaction over how wonderful his PAX 2007 keynote address went down. “This dude is like me!” “Scratch that, this dude IS me,” responded my stupefied mind. I’m barely a year older than Wil and, even though I grew up a few counties over in Southern California, I felt at that moment like we had grown up in the same household.
    The understanding, and more importantly, the compassion began to blossom and seep into me. I was truly moved by how hard Wil had to struggle to scrape out a living, providing for his new family, in the soul-scouring, celebrity-centric circus world that is Hollywood in the 21st Century. It was also clear to me then that the root of my ill regard for Wesley Crusher stemmed from poor character development on the writers’ part, and not squarely on the shoulders of the actor who played him. No longer would I regard Wil as a whiny teenaged wannabe. I had been humbled to the quick to realize that there was such a kindred spirit lurking underneath. Calumny was tranmutated into a kinship. Ridicule replaced with a rapport.
    Do not think me a simple sycophant either. I write this simply as a means of apologizing to someone whom I direspected, whom I had never even met, for no other reason than because I didn’t like a stupid fictional character he portrayed on a popular sci-fi television show. With age comes wisdom. I stand duly corrected. Only the penitent man shall pass.
    For every one cowardly codpiece of a messageboard correspondent, who measures his manhood by demeaning Wil’s character, real or fictional, from the comfort and security of his own clever anonymity, there are probably a dozen decent denizens of the interweb out there that would gladly buy one Wil Wheaton a meal and engage him in long conversations, swapping stories and reminiscing over the happiest days of their lives growing up geek. Count me among the latter, sir. Hopefully one day I will be fortunate enough to meet Wil face-to-face at a convention, and in an act of contrition for past slanders on my part, shake his hand and tell him “You are a good man, Wil Wheaton. Not a dick at all.”

  4. It has always amazed me that people can’t tell the Actor from the Character. I didn’t grow up in LA, so that’s not it – but I knew from when I was *very* little the difference between a character and the actor that portrayed him or her. I knew before the ’60’s were over that Spock and Leonard Nimoy were not the same person (and that Nimoy was fun as Paris, but I digress) – and I was like 7 or 8 when I figured that out (I suspect my mom of making sure I knew the difference as well — I can’t remember a time I didn’t know that). To accuse any actor of being no different than he was 20 years ago is ridiculous, but to do so of a man who was a teenager at the time is doubly so.
    Wesley was an interesting concept — and sometimes it didn’t work so well, but most of the time it worked just fine. And I’ve enjoyed your more recent work in a completely different vein and look forward to more.
    That someone was so shortsighted as to never see anyone outside of the 1st role they see them in is *their* shortcoming, not yours.
    I look forward to more of your good work. As does my brand new teenage daughter (yes, we’ve just entered that phase ;>).
    You do good work, man.

  5. “…just give me a chance to disappoint you on my own merits, now, instead of deciding that my current work is not even worth watching….”
    Wil, for the record, there are a lot of us whom you impressed on your own merits twenty-some years ago in spite of a “sometimes-badly-written-character”….and you continue to impress us today on your own merits. I like the adult Wil. Noli nothis permittere te terere. ;o)

  6. How dare you say Wesley Crusher is a fictional character. He’s going to use his traveler ability to go back in time and go all Captain Kirk on your arse. 😉

  7. I am honest. I don’t like Wesley Crusher. Never did. Never will. I am not saying that this is because of poor acting or any other made up reason. No, it’s just because i don’t like the character. It’s that easy.
    However, Wesley is not real. It’s a fictional character that i don’t like. Period.
    I like Wil Wheaton though. Because by what i can see and read here, he seems to be a fun and intelligent person. And i like some of the characters he played. And i like reading about his thoughts in this blog.
    There are lot’s of actors out there, some of them played characters that i think are awesome. Some of them played characters that i think they suck. Either way, it’s still a character though, not the actor. But unfortunately it seems that some people can’t tell the difference.

  8. Statistically, you can expect that one of your 30000 twitter followers is 4 standard deviations more crazy than the average fan.
    The downside is that they take you way too seriously.
    The upside is that they are basically your slave. Well, at least until they can get your DNA and clone you.
    On a completely unrelated topic, if I asked for autographed photo, would you lick the stamp you use to mail it?

  9. Hey Wil,
    Clearly this ‘dude’ was in the weeds, but chill man. Yeah, I know your alleged threat was a joke, it is still poignant about how sensitive this topic is for you.
    You are a great actor. I watched the terribad episode of CM you were in. You did a great job, but the overall show was a joke, and like ST:TNG it wasn’t your fault man.
    I’m not an expert on TV or acting, but the facts are you have to ignore this kind of nonsense. You have turned into a great celebrity. You are honest, sober, and able to make the most of your fame.
    I’m about your age. I watched you on ST:TNG wishing to be you (actor wise) and Stand By Me and all that nonsense. Your a great writer (I actually have bought some of your books), don’t let some wannabe critic spin you up. Who cares. Look at WFS and see your future. He’s a huge success story, although different, he has made soup of what is otherwise bad acting.

  10. Wow. One hopes that with the piece being pulled, they realised they’d engaged in doucherie. Be even nicer if they were decent enough to say “Ahhh, actually we screwed up – sorry Wil”.
    Still, what can ya do? Someone being a moron on the Internet is hardly news, even if I do understand you anger, irritation and URGE TO SMASH REND DESTROY BURN!!!!! …. I’m fine. *koff*
    Regarding actually visiting the hurty on this guy? Someone needs to walk away from the computer, and experience flowers and kittens and their gender of preference for a bit.

  11. If you’d like to read the entirety of the original article, along with many comments, Google “Mr. Crusher will be playing Ted Kord” and go to the cached version.
    I used it mostly so I could find out the full name of the “writer” (I use “writer” because the entire thing wasn’t plagiarized, but must use the quotes so as to differentiate him from people that actually work at the craft in any real sense).
    Check out the words of moderator “Troy” and author “David” in the comments if you should Google cache. They still don’t get it, probably even now.
    The most bizarre part to me wasn’t even the article. It was a comment from a contributor named “Corey”: “If it makes you feel any better, David, you’ve probably given Wheaton more press with this article than he’s had in the last 15 years.” Really?

  12. I’ve never understood the Wesley Crusher hate, much less the “Wil Wheaton Because He Played Wesley Crusher” Hate. I’m not a Star Trek fan beyond a few of the movies and three seasons of DS9, but I’m a huge geek, so I’ve had to listen to The Hate for 20 years. Even from my closest friends, though my roommate has learned that “Wesley Crusher sucks” comments get him mocked for hours, so he’s stopped. At least in earshot.
    I dunno, it seems like there’s so much conformity and group-think in the anti-Wesley meme that any validity it *might* have had, *many* years ago, would be buried under the idiocy of geeks-hewing-to-geeks as if their lock-step nerd-rage proved their independence from mainstream thought. “Dude, I’m way too counter-culture to have an opinion on Gil Grissom leaving CSI, but *man* does Wesley Crusher suck ass.”
    On the other hand, I do a kick-ass impression of Frakes knocking down walls with his forehead, so who am I to bitch?

  14. Wil, your mighty pen and keyboard have changed many Wesley haters to Wil fans. And Wil collectors! Your episode reviews have also made it easier for us to go back to certain TNG episodes, whether on rerun or on DVD, by giving us another reason to love them, or the perspective to factor out the bad screenwriting etc. which were the bads of others. Even helped us to appreciate and enjoy e.g. Patrick’s and Jonathan’s work a little more, for exactly the same reason!
    However.
    I can’t help thinking today, that all the pain you have suffered at the nibs of these ignorant critics, might have helped to make you such a good writer.
    Don’t you ever pause just before serving the burrito, thinking “I’ll show them”, and then unwrap it, reorganise the filling and add another generous bead of salsa, guacamole, cheese and cream?
    No?
    OK, I’m outa here, sorry, bye bye.

  16. I’ve seen people make comments like that on-line elsewhere and, having been an avid reader of your blog, it never fails to annoy me when they assume that you are Wesley Crusher.
    You’re a good actor. I squeed when I found out you were going to guest on Criminal Minds. I’m glad to see you stand up for yourself. It’s too bad Newsarama didn’t let you post the message there.

  18. You shouldn’t give this guy the satisfaction of letting him know he’s gotten to you. Just brush it off and walk away knowing you’re the better man. If you feed the trolls they’ll just keep coming back.
    Wesley is behind you, remember?

  19. they underestimate the POWER of The Wil Wheaton.
    don’t let the idiots get you down, man. sure that’s easy for me to say but, in the end, it’s true.
    i noticed the tweet but had no clue what was going on there.
    anyway, still looking forward to the B:BaB next week. (and tonight’s as well.)

  22. Reading your blog for awhile and then reading Just a Geek, I was completely baffled by tales of people treating you like you eat puppies for breakfast over a character from a TV show. Very weird.
    Then, I walked into a comic book store for the first time in my life to buy a ticket to SuperCon so I could meet you and obtain a copy of Sunken Treasure. (Which I love, btw.) When the clerk heard I was specifically going to see you, he got all blustery and said, “Wow, I’ll have to look for that guy so I can punch him.” Not a Simpsons reference, not cool.
    One of the benefits of being a suburban housewife is that you can raise an eyebrow and make little boys of any age squirm and develop a sudden and all-consuming interest in their shoes. I don’t know if this guy was trying to be impressive or if he’s actually a lunatic. I happened to be a big fan of your portrayal of Wesley, but I was headed for the con because of your writing.
    I hate being treated like an idiot because of my interests. Especially by people who have the knowledge and experience to understand where I’m coming from. For some reason, this “I am superior because I can hate on something” crops up a lot in the arts. The difference between geekdom and, say, classical music is that the jerks are better at using technology to reach a wider audience…

  23. “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?” That, or some version of it, is what Henry muttered aloud about the Archbishop of Canterbury (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Becket#Assassination)
    And, while I personally don’t see how anyone who’s read your work or followed your blog could misinterpret your comments so grossly as to believe that you were attempting to encourage bodily harm, I have to say that it is interesting that some folks believe you have that kind of power.
    Keep on writing, keep on acting and keep on having fun.
    -J

  25. Okay so I had to go to the google cache to read this. And it was a very dumb article, written by a lameass who thought himself clever. I bet his mom tells him he’s clever.
    Anyhow – so I told my best friend Alissa that I follow you on Twitter and that you are awesome, and she quite literally turned pink. She blushed! Then she asked me if I could get her an autographed picture of you. If I send you a SASE + cost of photo, would you send one back to me?

  26. Ok… I wanna say something on this… Cause it is closed minded people like this that make me sad. If they really wanna go into specifics of your early development of actorism. I think thats a word… Lets take a look at stand by me. Amazing work for anyone at such a young age. Also every single star trek episode that i remember watching your name was in bold letters in the credits at the beginning. Well any who you are a child hood hero for me..

  27. Don’t worry about other people. Some people loved TNG just the way it is, bad or good writing…
    I grew up on it, I hold it as one of my favorite shows still to this day. I could care less about the acting or writing. The fact is, that the show inspired a lot of people and brought up an entire generation of kids that WISH they could play a “badly” written role on the show.
    You got the opportunity to be a part of something that will last in people’s hearts forever.
    Not only that, but people evolve and change. I guarantee I would be a better actress now than I was when I was younger, even though I haven’t acted in years, just do to real life experience.
    I wouldn’t worry about it, although I completely understand the angst.
    Cheers. 🙂

  28. It takes a real man (or woman, if the person in question is one) to admit something like this at all, much less to the actual person.
    You’ve slightly restored my sagging faith in humanity. Well done. 🙂

  31. I don’t think Wesley Crusher was poorly written. About two years ago, my wife and I watched the entire run of TNG (one episode each night), and our perspective, some twenty years after the fact, was that (a) some of the Wesley episodes were among the best, and (b) the series would have been stronger if his character had remained.
    That said, I think the “hate” was mainly envy on the part of geeky teenage boys. Blurring the distinction between Wesley Crusher the character, and Wil Wheaton the actor, they were jealous that this kid was living their dream. Add to that teenage girls loving the guy, and you have their “hate.” Totally understandable.
    But it’s pretty twisted when, twenty years later, a dude in his mid-30s can’t separate the character (and his pre-teen feelings for him) and the actor. I think that’s what was going on with the Newsarama writer.

  32. I still don’t get all the Wesley Crusher hate. I enjoyed the character, and I think he let the show explore some areas of humanity that would have otherwise been impractical. Besides, if not for Wesley Crusher, the show would have ended when the Crystal Entity ate the Enterprise. So, you know, cut the kid some slack.

  35. Hi Wil. “Long time reader, first time commenter” and all. I have to say that I was disappointed with teh cavalier way that your work was discarded by this person. I was at exactly the right age and mindset when TNG came out. The only thing I despised about the show was Wesley (Weasley). Not the acting, but because of the insights you yourself have pointed out about the character development. Your TV Squad review of “The Battle” pointed that out pretty well (link here: http://www.tvsquad.com/2007/02/12/star-trek-the-next-generation-the-battle/ ). (As an aside, I think the “Little Hotshot [who] flew his plane and saved the day” was the downfall of the Star Wars prequels among older fans as well). When I was younger, I despised Wesley. Until he actually turned into a compelling character around season 3 when, well, everything got compelling – and the uniforms got cooler, thank God.
    Then I came to know the man Wil – and was completely amazed. Here was a guy that I could very easily see myself having a beer with playing Guitar Hero or < insert favorite title here >. He was beyond cool – he was made of awesome! It took me a while to divorce the two concepts in my mind, but I am thankful that I am able to experience the wonderfulness that’s Wil and not bring the baggage of my earlier distaste of Wesley.
    What I’m getting at is that I think Wil is teh awesome – and Wesley’s not so bad in retrospect. 🙂 That part of my distaste was based in jealousy, perhaps, has nothing to do with it. Honest. No, seriously.
    Keep up the fantastic work, Wil!

  36. Sorry for the delayed response, Wil, I just saw this in my Google Reader.
    Well, at least now your tweets make sense put into context.
    This reminds me of a situation that arose a few months ago. I used to have a LiveJournal, and someone I knew from about 15 years ago appeared out of nowhere and left nasty, unprovoked comments on a post calling me out for being a pretentious asshole, or something to that effect. Completely having nothing to do with anything. But this person knew me from my late teens/early 20s, a time period in which, yes, I WAS a pretentious asshole. I mean, we all were, right?
    Eventually, she realized that 30-something Pj is a swell guy, and put away the claws. But I’m pretty sure that in the minds of people who knew only of my exploits “back in the day,” I’m still that smug bastard they loved to hate.
    And you’re still Wesley Crusher. 😉
    For the record, I always rooted for your character anyway, hoping one day they’d put Wesley in a real Federation uniform. Redshirt, my ass.

  41. I know this post topic has been discussed to death already and has played itself out. Sorry to keep picking away at the bones but I find myself still ruminating on it. The irony staggers me now, looking at it from my current adult perspective, that Wil, as Wesley, had to eat so much shit from the fanbase when, out of all of the actors from any of the previous Trek casts, he had to have been the biggest fan we had on the inside. He was a self-confessed fanboy who could appreciate the position he was in, getting to work as an actor in a Star Trek Universe, better than probably any of his fellow castmates, many of whom were surely completely different individuals from Joe or Jane fangeek now reading this. Most of ’em were just actors working for a wage on a show that just happened to explode in popularity. They probably could’ve given a crap that they were working on a Star Trek show and bringing it all to big bold life. Wil understood the fantastic fanboy implications of that fact, I’m sure, perfectly.
    I’m not convinced either that it was jealousy which made me malign him so unfairly back then. I think it was simply the fact that I really had no idea of the existence of the geekosaur that grew and lived inside of him then. There was no access to a public internet to gain any insights into his real-life pursuits or interests. There were probably television interviews or magazine articles available at the time, where Wil may have expounded away at great length about his geekly activities, none of which I remember being exposed to. I never attended any fan conventions either, and therefore never had any exposure to Wil in the real world, by talking to him face-to-face or hearing him speak at Q&As. And what the hell was an audio book to a kid like me in those days?
    There was no way at that time to relay to me the fact that Wil was a card-carrying, full-fledged geekfan like the rest of us. No way to receive the knowledge that he read the comics I did, went to conventions and took it all in from the fan’s side of the table, that he loved hockey as much as we did, or listened to the same bands that mattered to me and my friends. Sad as it may seem, and I applaud those people who were so progressive at that age that they could see the actors for who they were beyond the characters, I only knew Wil through Wesley Crusher and Gordie LaChance. That was all I had, and all I cared to know.
    The advent of the internet has given folks like Wil the ability to self-promote themselves online without the spin, to share their stories with people directly and undiluted, instead of relying on a puff piece in some teeny mag to do the job. That fact alone I believe is chiefly responsible for the admiration and respect that people following his work today have for the adult version of Wil Wheaton. Simply put, we can relate to him as the geeks we all are. Had I known in the ’80s about him what I’ve learned over the past few years of reading his on and offline writings, Wesley Crusher, and the actor who played him, would’ve probably been the coolest dude I knew :).
    It’s a mystery to me now how, with all the information at our disposal today, with how readily, not to mention how candidly, Wil has detailed and dissected his personal life and passions, can the detractors still hold onto the hate for the guy. I know for a fact now that, had I grown up 40 or so miles west of where I did in California, I would’ve called Wil Wheaton a friend. We just shared too many common interests to not have eventually bumped into each other. Sorry I ever doubted you, man.
    I think I’ve gotten what I needed to off my chest. Sorry if I come off sounding like crazy creepy stalker guy :). This stuff has been gnawing at me since I first read this post and the comments that followed. I’m in my happy place now. Just had to work some things out for myself.

  43. “Direspected!” ARRRRRRRRGGHH (think Charlie Brown “argh” here), another one! First “tranmutated” and now this?! She baked his…”S”es!

  44. I have to share this as my irony alarm just went off the charts, it’s kinda unrelated, kinda not. I digest a lot of blogs in google reader, and this post had the following google ad attached to it
    —
    Australian Death Records
    Find any death records online.Unlimited Access to gov. database.
    —
    Sometimes our posts have unintended consequences. LAWL!
    (Additional, type pad signing you in via google is fail 🙁 sorry about the username)

  46. The problem is that television turns into a time capsule. Especially a prominent role. While from your POV you have moved on, grown up, and have this very cool site, people spend more hours with the character and the visual then they do here. I always thought Wesley was the most realistic character on that that show. Among all the consistent, unflawed, super hero types, he showed that even the most awkward of us can be great things. Wes was truely a teen, and resonated with many of us teens at the time that we are trying to fit in when we are all knees and elbows and inexperienced. It is not the acting, it is the something resonating with people that reminds them of their awkwardness, and they can’t stand it, they want to bury it.
    Some people can’t stand watching Napoleon Dynamite because it just hits too close to home.
    I think it is a great movie just for that reason.
    This is a risk you take with acting. You have an inside view many don’t have. Most people don’t see behind the set, see the cameras, or people in regular clothes. All WE see is what is on tv. And if that character or actor does something that doesn’t resonate well with us, it usually gets stuck in that time capsule and becomes permenant.
    Alright, psychological geeky part is over.
    For some people it is hard to follow the actor and not the character. I know what your problem is,not enough bad publicity. You need to carry a chiahuahua in a designer bag, get arrested, go to jail, convert to Scientology and kaballa at the same time.Get profanely drunk at bars, do a two week stint at a five star hotel..er… rehab, hit a cameraman with your car, publicly insult the president. Get drunk in public, forget to wear your pants, and last but not least, publicly attack any assistants or coworkers you may have, and go on a realtiy show about teen star who wants to revamp your career.(actually, I really like that show so no harm intended, it makes me cry)
    THEN, everyone will defintetly know your name. XD
    I am just grateful that you have escaped relatively unscathed, because teenage acting is not easy.
    I think you are doing just great, and your a wonderful writer.You seem very balanced,educated, well rounded, you do what you want to do.
    Your site helps me stay a little more current, technically speaking. And I thank you for that.

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