I had another post planned, being a Purdue basketball fan and reacting to Robbie Hummel tear his ACL, then the game on Saturday. I'll let you google the halftime score. It was pretty bad. The upshot is, basketball games provide a good emotional source of frustration that's easier to bounce back from than just plain doldrums. I got a lot of good writing and thinking out of all that, but unfortunately for my team, none of that was review-related.
So why the post title? Well--Corey Haim died, and I overheard conversation about that at work. Of course, there are the types first with the news loud and clear, even though you will probably accidentally stumble across it in a bit. Then there are the types who have sympathy for rich person X they're sure, or are trying to, but they did have it all, even though money isn't everything. The first is annoying and the second deserves a nut-punch even if he doesn't mean to sound nasty. I'm not financially independent enough yet to do the honors and get canned, and besides, I'm more upset I didn't have a good response set to tell him to back the hell off and be happy with what he has. Perhaps I could've bored him with the below--it'd be the least he deserved.
All I could think about was Haim's strong performance in Lucas--ironically as an accelerated kid who would never touch drugs, opposite Charlie Sheen, the sympathetic HS quarterback who protects Lucas from the meaner jocks. Lucas falls in love with a girl a year older, and she falls in love with Sheen's character. The ending is one of the most real I've seen, and that's due in large part to Haim's and Sheen's acting that bust convincingly through stereotypes.
It's no secret both actors struggled with drugs. I don't know why. And I think people who say "they had it all," especially from a Smart People's Perspective, are missing the point and deserve a kick in the crotch. Because I think performances like in Lucas may only be possible from people who recognize insecurities or are willing to grab sympathetic roles that, well, are beyond someone in a state of mind to make a comment like the guy above. There's also the very real possibility that a Sheen or Haim may think "I seem to have it all and yet that's not enough," or even that people who criticise them for throwing it away fear THEY are going to.
I don't have all the answers. I can't say I've ever been a Corey Haim fan, but his death helped Robbie Hummel's injury remain in perspective. I doubt Purdue will have a Hoosiers moment this year. I sort of am dreaming for next year already. Hummel will be back. But in the meantime, I think all that really needs to be said when someone not unspeakably evil dies is the following. It's from Stephen Fry, who's also quite good at being funny, and I think it's useful to hear if we know the death of person X we never met and might not even like in person makes the world a lesser place. The computer industry does have enough "he's just an actor" sentiment, sadly.
There's some contradiction here. What if the nut punch deservee died tomorrow? Hopefully I would hold my tongue and let those who liked him have their say. But I would not feel obliged to feel any sort of loss. And the less obliged I feel to say or process the sort of platitudes Fry attacks, the more *actually* feeling loss does something for me, whether it's a favorite team's player injured or the death of an actor whose performance I admire.
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honestgamer - March 15, 2010 (01:56 PM) Corey Haim and Charlie Sheen were in "Lucas", huh? My dad bought that movie agaes ago and I forgot that I'd even seen it, but now that you named it and describe it I remember it rather vividly. I watched it so very long ago. It might be worth watching again, though in general drama and sports movies and such don't interest me all that much. At the time, "Lucas" kind of reminded me of the Steve Martin movie "Roxanne," though I'd probably feel differently if I watched them both again. |
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aschultz - March 16, 2010 (10:01 AM) Thanks for commenting--this is a weird unusual one and I want to avoid downer type stuff on the blog. I'm always on the lookout for a Martin film I haven't seen yet & if it might be like Lucas, that's a good thing--Lucas really captures awkwardness better than any film or show I know. I'm not counting The Office where it's for comedic effect--that has its place. I mean, outright awkwardness, and why it's really okay in the long run, and why people can fight through that. |
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