It seems actor Ryan Gosling is taking a break from acting. After he announced this, the Interwebs went wild at the prospect of no more Ryan Gosling and some sort of web site/help line was set up that started playing “The Notebook” 24 hours.
I’ve always been a fan of his, but I don’t think I’ll need the helpline. The article I’m linking to below gets into Gosling’s decision to take a break, and gives example of other actors who’ve done this in the past, too. If you follow pop culture like I do, you’ll always see the same pattern. Nowadays it seems the top stars get a window of opportunity…a timeline of sorts. And after they build a certain number of film credits, they usually tend to disappear. Sometimes it’s when they reach the Oscar stage…if they are lucky enough to get there. If you’re only in it for the money, it’s a good thing. If you’re in this for the love of the craft, I can’t imagine anything worse for an actor.
I’m actually not a subscriber to the theory that we get tired of looking at film stars…overexposure. I’ve never tired of Meryl Streep and she’s been around as long as I’ve been alive. I’ve never tired of Sally Field, or even Tom Cruise for that matter. So I’m not sure that theory works in all cases, but I do understand the need for personal change. Actors, like a lot of authors these days, have to find ways to reinvent themselves more than ever before. And if you can’t figure out how to do that, taking a short break might not be a bad idea at all.
Of course, actors are responsible for their own careers, and they deserve blame for accepting too many roles. But they’re also victims of an industry in which studios seek to capitalize on the latest and brightest talents by shoehorning the most marketable names into all kinds of movies — a trend to which Ryan Gosling was fast becoming the latest victim, with starring roles in everything from political drama The Ides of March to rom-com Crazy, Stupid, Love.
You can read more here. It’s an interesting article that can also be applied to genre authors now, too. I can’t tell you how many publishers do this all the time to authors who sell well. And the secret is learning when to step back and take a short breather from it all, and yet still hang around enough to not become the forgotten one. The publisher doesn’t always give the author the best advice in the world. Unfortunately, actors don’t have the ability to do things authors do. They don’t have the freedom to make complete changes. We can change our genres, change our names, and start from scratch any time we want. But there’s only one Ryan Gosling and there will never be another.
This excellent Image of Mr. Gosling gets credit here.
Paul Ryan’s Intern Cyberstalking
As I’ve been claiming for a while now, all things related to Internet crime are becoming more pronounced in the mainstream more than ever before. We’ve learned new words like catfishing, sockpuppet, doc-dropping, and doxxing…all of which relate to something creepy and seedy most of the time. So it’s no surprise to me that Paul Ryan’s intern has been indicted for cyberstalking in a general sense. I think we’ll be seeing more and hearing more on topics just like this in the future.
In other words, the Internet isn’t going to remain the old wild west forever. So you socks and catfishers should take advantage of what little time you have left so you don’t wind up like Paul Ryan’s intern.
With my free giveaway you’ll have a choice between one of the following e-books below. Please note that I stated e-books, not print books.
Chase of a Lifetime
Chase of a Dream (Abridged or Unabridged version)
Jonah Sweet of Delancey Street
