I don't know if I necessarily agree that we ought to (or evan can) separate the real from the fictive. Especially with the cases outlined in the article. Alec Baldwin has a history of playing characters slightly divergent from the moral path. In Running With Scissors he was a crappy father, and although I haven't seen his new movie, it sounds as if his role is (once again), just a little dark and a lot less than perfect. Bruce Willis is the same situation. His characters are usually sort of assholes, and when they aren't they feel contrived.

Yes, I can still probably watch Baldwin continue as an actor... if he continues with the same sorts of roles that he has gravitated to in the past. I don't think I could watch him in a heartwarming isn't-he-just-the-nicest-guy-ever kind of role. So... this leads me to ask, is there any real separation to begin with? Baldwin is clearly a man with anger problems, and he brings this to his characers. If another actor had played his role in Running With Scissors, the same character could have potentially come off very differently.

In the end, I think the real person inherently mushes over into the character they are playing. The trick seems to be incorporating the two lives into one cohesive on-screen entity rather than trying to overwrite the off-screen personality.

It looks as though someone may have faked this. Amazon lists the page number as 784, and this pirated version advertises a 795 page book. fingers crossed?

the problem with your advice is that she didnt post her diary up for all to see. her ex did. she has no control over it.

i say, since she has told her side of the story to you MOVE ON.

forcing her to rehash her painful past (again) just so that you can feel more secure is unfair to her. she didnt cheat on you, she has no been unfaithful, she has been nothing but good to you, so leave it at that. youre lucky she even told you her side of the story. she was most certainly not obliged to, since it really has nothing to do with you. making her apologize again for past mistakes is a) something that she does not owe you and b) going to bring up all of those feelings of hurt again.

if it has nothign to do with you (it doesnt) and it doesnt affect the way she treats you (it doesnt seem to since you say its a great relationship) LEAVE IT ALONE

i suspect shes got a mental block. i know plenty of people in their 40s who still consider cell phones to be new fangled and not worth figuring out. what they dont get is that a cell phone is just a phone. yeah its got extras, but its still just a phone.

id reccomend first of all getting her a phone totally free of all said extras. get rid of the color screen, get rid of the games and internet browsing capabilities. get her one of those shitty little non-flip phones that they give you for free when you sign up for a 40 minute-a-month plan. this will reassure that hey, its just like the phone we have at home. i also second the reccomendation that you have her use the cell phone at home, when she would normally use a land line. she wants to call a friend and chat? use the cell phone. when the phone becomes something used for chatting and conversations (instead of necessity calls like "hey come pick me up") she will realize that it functions exactly like any other phone. she sounds like shes using like a walkie talkie- meaning she thinks its only useful for quick conversations and commands.

i really think shes just convinced herself that it is some sort of special technology that requires some special skill set that she is too old to learn. just stress to her that its just a phone.

just

a

phone

also, what good ever came from payphones? was it that it cost about $2.00 a call to phone home from out of state? or the constant layer of grunge covering the receiver? or how about when the one payphone within walking distance wouldn't take your last handful of nickels and you'd end up stranded? oh cary, waxing nostalgic again.

ok, so this is beyond commenting about the article i know, but oh well.

i managed to catch the premiere episode of his show and i was a little nauseated. his tactics seem a little underhanded and i was appalled that they actually worked (at least in the reality TV world of only showing us what they want us to see). from what i could ascertain they are as follows:

1. act effeminate so that the women do not perceive you as a threat (ie: JDog talking about how he spent the whole day "shopping, isn't that great?"

2. insult or push the woman away (this was particularly nauseating as the woman involved literally came bounding back after being physically shoved aside in a "joking manner")

3. doll yourself up with shiny things to attract attention to yourself

now i know this is going to spawn all sorts of discussion about how women want the bad boy and blah blah blah, but i dont think this game that he is running is anything new. i think women who go to bars generally intend to meet a guy. and i think ANYONE who goes to a bar heads there will a bag of tricks. women have their own little games that they play, and Mystery's game is really nothing innovative, despite the dopey little tags that he has come up with for everything (neg, avatar, etc...)

really, it seems to me that all these self-proclaimed former nerds haven't really left their DnD days behind. theyre just taking the strategising out of their parents basement and into the clubs. they really dont promise anything new, theyre just marketing it better.