I forever find it amusing how people want to snuggle up to those who are in a position of fame, of power, of wealth, of whatever. They hope that some of that may rub off on them. Or maybe, they dream they can get a seat at the table sitting next to that individual and embark on their own journey to grandeur.
 
I used to see it so many times on the sets of movies I was working on as an actor and even on my sets when I would cast someone of noted notoriety. The actors and actresses would all be so flattering and so nicey-nice trying to get access to that person’s inner circle or maybe get an intro to their agent or their whatever… It was really quite amusing.
 
There’s also the other side of his issue, at least here in places like L.A, which I think is even more telling/amusing. There are some people, no matter where they find themselves of the totem pole of life, that feel that they are way too cool to even bother with a celebrity because they are sure they will be on that level any day now.
 
It’s really amusing when you watch the reality that takes place out here.
 
For me, I never had any of that idol worship mentality. I saw celebrities my whole life. Some were even friends with my father. So, it was no big deal.
 
I do remember being cast in one of my first films in the Indie Market and the actor Don Stroud was on the set. Don has had a great career. Especially in the 60’s, 70s’ and into the 80s his face was seen all the time on-screen. He’s one of those guys that most people probably didn’t know his name, but they certainly knew his face.
 
Ever since I saw the movie, Angel Unchained, that he starred in, he was one of my favorite actors. So, meeting him was probably the only time I got kind of excited. We, of course, later cast him in Roller Blade Seven. He was just a joy to work with. He lived around me in the South Bay and I used to bump into him all the time. He invited me to his place a couple of times, but it was just so weird for me. It was hard for me to be his friend. Kind of like, what do I do with this situation? There was nothing I wanted from him and there was certainly nothing I had to offer him. So???
 
The reason I mention this is that so many see someone or something off there in the far-off reality that they wish they could live but they most probably never will ever live it. I see that in on-line reviewers and Keyboard Warriors, (I believe they are called), all the time. They speak of a world that they have never truly experienced. Yet, they talk as if they know.
 
The film industry, it’s really a different game than anyone can imagine. But, you don’t know until you know. Yet, you can only know it if you truly live it.
 
And, this goes across all areas of life. For example, I know when I was teaching the martial arts on a full-time basis, I taught a number of police officers. The stories they would tell me and the emotions they reveled. I knew no one could understand what they lived on a daily basis unless they lived it, which very few ever do. And, this goes all across the spectrum of life. You can’t really know it, unless you live it.
 
Moving on from this, (just a little bit), and letting me get back to the film game… I have recently been thinking about the fact of how there are certain films that I have made that are on the tongues of a lot of people out. The known one. The ones that are talked about. Though I may have made those films thirty or more years ago, people still discuss them. But, they discuss them, without knowing or understanding the reality that went into making them. What they say is more often wrong than not. Though I have tried to document some of the reality of the reality of these film projects in the essays I have written via my, The Story of the Product(s), still if a person doesn’t dive deep into those treatises, they truly cannot understand the simple basis of anything. Yet, even if you read those, can you truly understand the feeling(s), the ideas, the creativity, the tolls, and the inner realities that went into making those film?
 
But, even more than the ones that are spoken about and discussed, there are the other film creations that I have created. A least some of them are on YouTube. But, no one seeks them out. Some, I consider, are important pieces of cinema. But, did you watch them? Some I made before the more noted pieces of cinema I created. But, if you do not study the basis of a filmmaker or a whatever how can you truly ever know anything about them? And, if you don't know them, how can you, with any level conscience, proclaim to have any knowledge about anything that they do?
 
What I am saying here is that people seek out and gravitate towards the people, the projects, the Life Stuff that is known. Some, even though they know nothing about the truth of the person or the creation decide that they do and speak and speak about it. Some stalk the people who were involved in that whatever. But, if you do not truly dissect the essence of that Something than what do you really know? And, on an even deeper level, if you can get to know that person, that Whomever that is that Whatever that you want to suck the life energy from to grow your own game, truly who and what are you at the essence of your being? Are you the true you that you were designed to become or are you just trying the grab the illusion that someone else has had the ability to emulate?