I don't find that particularly impressive. My girlfriend got on 5 papers without even having had a Master's degree. Just seeing how things work in labs through her I can't be that amazed by it. It's cool but not THAT special.Originally Posted by OrphanPip
I'm more impressed by a book of short stories because I know I probably can't do that.
Last edited by Armel P; 04-15-2011 at 03:18 PM.
Well, I guess most don't know how hard it is to get your name on a published studies. I just find it more odd than impressive. Odd in a good way, though.
If you mean the numbers in brackets, those are just the citation numbers from Wikipedia. They are hyperlinked on Wiki ... I was just too lazy to delete them.
Looking at the reviews of his book on Amazon, it's pretty evenly split, a bit more negative than positive. I'm tempted to read it just to make up my own mind. It's only 208 pages. Has anyone here read it? I'd love to know a lit-netter's thoughts.
You kind of make it sound like, because he is an actor,.. what he is doing is somehow remarkable and other-worldly. I'm sure there are a lot of actors and actresses who share the same interests as he does, as well as people from all walks of life. It's really not that amazing or commendable.
I guess one could say it's commendable.
Because inspite of the fact that he's very wealthy, due to the many successful movies he's acted in, he still finds himself in need of pursuing an accomplishment that requires him to put out personal effort. And that, in many of the wealthy actors and actresses today, is a scarcity. For you and I who are regular joes, it doesn't seem remarkable, because we may still be looking for our little time in the spotlight, but for him, who's been there, and yet still to search for something deeper, is to me commendable.
Viggo Mortensen is also an accomplised artist. He paints and plays the violin, if I'm not mistaken.
Franco's published short stories is a great feat though, to me writing fiction is very difficult. It's easier for me to write truth in poetry than fiction in prose. I've never read Franco's stories though, to say whether they're good or not.
"My warm hands have made the paper limp,
So that its feel reminds me of slept-in sheets: comfortable and safe"
"All these things I say... I say them because I want you to know, I don't ever want to regret afterwards that I didn't say enough, I would rather say too much." ~ Samuel Selvon
I've been thinking about this lately and I've come to the conclusion that I find I just can't sincerely like James Franco for his 'modern renaiisance man’ achievements. I don’t really even admire or respect him that much. For one, although he has been in several movies (and I really like Tristan and Isolde the film, but not as much as the Diana L. Paxton written interpretation) I’ve always thought he was a very average actor. I mean, he does a passable and convincing enough job but nothing that suggests to me that he puts his entire being into his roles, like Christian Bale or Leonardo DiCaprio.
I found this short story of his, Just before the Black, http://www.esquire.com/fiction/james...fiction-0410-2 (assuming it is him) and I have to say I found it very average. It’s good enough to be considered publishable quality but similar to his acting, it seems to lack him. Despite what some critics may say about his work being raw (this is only short story I’ve read of his and I don’t find it raw, it’s polished enough) I feel it’s more like he is holding the real part of him back because – as everyone knows – it’s very vulnerable to reveal to the public what you are and what you really want.
When I say average, I don’t mean in talent, he is clearly clever. I mean average in an artistic sense, I think he lacks a style, an individual writing voice… but then again, I am not too fond of the style of writing he writes in (considering all his stories are written in the same style and voice as Just before the Black) so it could be my personal bias.
You know, I'd have more respect for Franco if he chose to publish his short stories under a pseudonym… and I don’t think being clever or smart is enough to make a good role model. Obedience and honesty are preferable qualities in a person…
I wouldn’t be surprised if his paintings are very average too. I hope I am not coming across as having tall poppy syndrome, I just don’t think he deserves special treatment just because he is famous. Anyway I can’t help it, we don’t have much of a celebrity-worship culture in Australia…
His paintings are laughably horrible.
http://james-franco.com/james/art-gallery/
Oh I just know he's going to look back on them in thirty years time and cringe...
(or perhaps I just know nothing about painting art, I can accept that too)
Yeah. I've lost a little respect for him after looking at those.
Woo, those are really, really awful.
I mean, even I could do better than that... and I find stickmen hard...
"I should only believe in a God that would know how to dance. And when I saw my devil, I found him serious, thorough, profound, solemn: he was the spirit of gravity- through him all things fall. Not by wrath, but by laughter, do we slay. Come, let us slay the spirit of gravity!" - Nietzsche
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What on earth are those paintings??
I'm all for openmindedness and no expert on painting by any means, but christ they look horrendous.
Can we get StLukes in here to tear them apart?
Gosh... something untrue on the internet? Whodathunkit?
"I should only believe in a God that would know how to dance. And when I saw my devil, I found him serious, thorough, profound, solemn: he was the spirit of gravity- through him all things fall. Not by wrath, but by laughter, do we slay. Come, let us slay the spirit of gravity!" - Nietzsche
OK, for starters, I have to recall one time in my childhood:
I was about 6 yrs old, and I had done an interpretation of cinderella, with her long braid hanging out of the tower window, and the prince sitting on his horse below, looking up at her. I kid you not when I say that that drawing that I had done when I was 6, is WAY, WAY better than any of those things that Franco calls art.
OMG, I'm sorry, but...did he close his eyes while painting those things? Isn't he ashamed of torturing the world with such childish depictions of nightmares?!
"My warm hands have made the paper limp,
So that its feel reminds me of slept-in sheets: comfortable and safe"
"All these things I say... I say them because I want you to know, I don't ever want to regret afterwards that I didn't say enough, I would rather say too much." ~ Samuel Selvon
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