I've always made a point to follow artists and actors who have amazed me at least once. When he or she ASTOUNDS me, I want to be ASTOUNDED AGAIN, so I hunt down as much of their work as I can.

"Once" CAN mean he or she was just "lucky". With actors, I believe it can also mean they have a good agent that properly directs careers, a good support system that helps prepare them for a role, a good director who knows how to bring out the best in them, a good editor who can turn a 1,000 hours of mediocre film footage into 2 hours of Art, a project with a decent budget (which allows the actor time to experiment or screw up), etc., etc..

It's MORE than luck that someone like Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, or Robert DeNiro has always found quality work. You KNOW that if you pick up a film with their name on it, it can't be all bad. If it's music, and you find Brian Eno's name somewhere on it, it will be the BEST it can be. THAT is saying something!

The last few years, I've been following the work of younger actors Dominique Swain, Joachim Phoenix, Lili Taylor, Clare Danes, Juliet Lewis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Robin Wright Penn, Jack Black, Robin Tunney, Taylor Pruitt Vince, Laura Dern, Tom Hulce, Angelina Jolie, Ashley Judd, Edward Norton, Gary Oldman, Anna Paquin, Natalie Portman, Giovanni Ribisi, Christina Ricci, Elisabeth Shue, Ben Stiller, Tilda Swinton, Liv Tyler, Emily Watson, Kate Winslet, Sean Penn, and I don't give a crap about their politics. If anything, I wish some of them would just shut up and go about doing what they do best...give THAT which they love, EVERYTHING - ALL THEIR ATTENTION - and let the other things be handled by pros in THOSE fields. (It's just SAD to see a typical actor thrown into a singing role, or musician allowed to illustrate their own album cover, etc.) I'm SURE it's a real temptation, considering the spotlight never seems to go dark, to express themselves in/on many mediums. They've ALWAYS got someone who claims to be interested - if not "amazed" - with what they have to say. There's no reason to think WE would be immune to that hype either. The Industry is in constant need of gossip snax - calorically empty, and vitamin free - to feed a shallow, hungry public. They've got publicists telling them their faces need to be seen all the time, no matter what the venue. "It's better to have something BAD written about you, than nothing at all!"

The implication is, of course, that the public has no memory, and is easily swayed from one frill to the next. Well, it's true. So what do "you" do about it? If you give the public what they want - which is usually the lowest common denominator available - they'll "love" you for a week, and tire of you anyhow. ("The Four F's" - for those of you who remember THAT phrase.)

"Flavo Flave of the Week: Millie Vanilli!"

They were here, eaten, digested, and, uh... passed down the Sewer Pipe Dream of Yesterday.