Ah Fred, that really made me smile!

I had a similiar conversation with a good friend of mine who unfortunately feels disappointed with his life. The more we talked, the more it became obvious to me that his expectations as a young man were pretty inflated. When I asked why he wanted to be an actor, he admitted that it was to be rich and famous. Not that he felt compelled to act, or that he had a "calling", but just for the acclaim and bucks. Therein to me lay the root of his problem. In a profession where less than 1% can actually live on what they make, how on earth did he think he would be the one to beat the odds? And not only beat the odds, (I have a friend who is a "working actor" which as far as he's concerned means he is successful, and I'm in complete agreement) but reach that unreal and stratospheric place of fame and fortune?

The other thing I kept thinking about while he spoke was something another friend in the profession said to me...someone older, and wiser. He said the hardest thing for most people to accept was their own mediocrity. When I first heard him say that, I was quite upset. I thought it was pretty offensive an attitude and counter-productive. I now realize the truth of it.

Another aspect of what we're talking about on this thread seems to be when ART becomes FART. For me, a good example is what my first friend was striving for. It had so little to do with the craft, and everything to do with the ego, and not the creative ego, which can be a compelling and effective instrument, but the ego/id of the child wanting the approval of the parent, and the security of the breast, and the satisfaction of the fondle.

The FART in and of itself can feel great, and there's an old Icelandic saying that "Every man loves the smell of his own farts". But the ART is something outside oneself, a lasting "odor" as it were that must affect others (even if they think you stink) as much, if not more than oneself.

..xx..e