Admiration and Inspiration and (slight) Apprehension

I was busy when I was a senior in high school. I was photo editor for our school newspaper, I was a foreman (or some similar title) for the theater departments properties section/group, I worked out daily (I miss that), I had an active social life, an active romantic life, on and on. It was a pretty good experience.

On the other hand I did not direct a feature length movie and have it debut at the age of 19, see Kris Rey-Talley above. I did not write, direct, and edit a feature length movie by the age of 18, see Matt Mitchener below.

It is, for me, an awe inspiring site. I hate hearing about all the things the youth of today have wrong with them (today's youths have always been screw-ups, it's the nature of youth and the nature of "old people" to say this crap). I love documenting and watching the amazing things the youth of today do. And the phrase "youth of today" probably isn't a phrase I should use, I should find something better, something more fair, but I can't think of anything right now, so I'm going with it.

Watching the success of these two, plus many of their friends, is a truly gratifying site, and something I admire. It also worries me a bit, to be quite honest. Maybe it's just my nature, maybe it's something of the people I've known, but I worry about talented people burning themselves out. Doing so much, so early, that later on they won't have the energy to do more. In some ways it sounds silly, but I think it happens.

Is life a marathon or sprint, or a mix? Maybe that's over the top philosophical BS, not to mention the middle ground always ends up winning these debates, but it will provide me fodder for thought while I drive around tonight.

To be fair to these two though, they're both pretty smart and I'm sure they'll end up doing just fine for themselves and it's probably more a problem with the old man doing the writing here than it is with them. Sometimes in life though you just want to see the best for good people.

Anyhow, the cast and crew, to much well earned applause, mine included, debuted Love.Blood.Kryptonite. last Tuesday. For 40K dollars, and a largely high school crew and cast, it was an impressive feat. While, it was an impressive feat all around, more so because of age. (I should also mention that I did a story on the making of the movie about a year back, which was how I got to know them.)

It makes me want to go do more with my life. And at the end of the day, if you can inspire someone isn't that a pretty good day?