Young Talent

I want to know where the hell all of this young talent is coming from. It's crazy to me that there are kids writing movie scripts at 13 years old. I mean, of course these scripts are silly, but the fact that 13-year-olds have the creative gumption to invent a script, even if it's ridiculous, is just amazing to me. You know what I was doing at 13? Writing notes to my BFFs with Gelly-Roll pens and going ice skating on Fridays.

Let's take Michael Cera, for example. He started acting very young, doing random spots on Disney shows and such, then he landed a role on Arrested Development when he was 15. That role was like a launching pad for his career. This summer, he starred in the comedy of the year, Superbad. He also became famous in the online world for his short, comical webisodes which he wrote, produced and directed with his buddy Clark Duke. The "Clark and Michael" chapters came out before Superbad, but didn't really get noticed until after the movie released and people started wondering who the fuck Michael Cera was. Now, thanks to Superbad, Clark and Michael's site is getting a hell of a lot of hits. Pretty good timing for Duke-despite his role as an extra in Superbad, he was an otherwise unknown before "Clark and Michael" - props to Cera for attracting attention (and for bringin' in the bacon). And now Duke's booked a lead role on the ABC Family drama "Greek."

So I'm not sure if these guys got really lucky, or if they're super talented, or if it's a little bit of both. Probably the latter. The point is, Michael Cera is 19 YEARS OLD. He's younger than me. And he's acting, writing, producing...it just seems extraordinary to me. On the other hand, I feel a know a couple of Michael Cera-like individuals. He reminds me of the guys I knew in high school who were always making goof-off short films, music videos, funny websites, etc. Those were the cool guys at my high school. Correction - not necessarily "cool" in the chick magnet kind of way, but these guys were definitely the class clowns. I also knew a couple girls like this. Frankly, it's the computer-electronic media-dorks who can do all this cool shit. One of my friends from high school now has her own weekly radio show and works for the radio station at her university. WTF? 20 years old.

Maybe our generation is useless in a lot of ways. There's a lot of dead weight, unquestionably. But when I hear about people my age who have accomplished so much, it's like damn, some of us really are clever sons of bitches. The fact that there are people my age, even younger, like Cera, who have shown so much promise and have already made names for themselves, well, it makes me think that we can do a whole lot more than we think we can, if we just put forth a lil' bit of effort.

And goddammit, that Cera is a funny bastard. So if you're one of 3 people in the country who still hasn't seen Superbad, go see it. And if you haven't checked out Clark and Michael, here's the link:

Clark and Michael

So go watch it. And go do something productive, for the love of God. If these kids can do it, surely you can.