Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 243

“I think the peak of acting is when you’re on stage, and...

“I think the peak of acting is when you’re on stage, and completely committed to a character, and not even in the real world. That’s why I decided to be an actor. I thought there’d be a lot of those moments. Instead it’s been a lot of marketing and auditioning and rejection and very few of those moments. I knew it would be hard, and that I’d have to put in a lot of effort without anything bouncing back, but I thought that things would come along occasionally to reenergize me. There hasn’t been much of that. I’m getting close to thirty now, so I began looking hard at going back to school for a more practical degree. But then I got a role that got me excited about acting again. We’ve been rehearsing every night for the past month, and the show just opened two nights ago. Now they’re already saying that we might have to close soon because of low ticket sales.”

“I’m going to be a big sister!”

“I’m going to be a big sister!”

“We got in a car accident two weeks after we were married. We...

“We got in a car accident two weeks after we were married. We were driving to Houston in the early morning, and we hit a tractor-trailer. My entire left leg was shattered. She had twelve broken ribs and a punctured lung. I remember how weird it felt, only having been married for two weeks, having to sign papers to approve her emergency invasive surgery. We ended up having to stay in the hospital for two months. They gave us rooms side by side. We ate all our meals together, went to all our rehab together, and every evening before bedtime, we’d wheel around together and visit all the patients who didn’t have any family.”

“I tried drinking some Drano in January because I...

“I tried drinking some Drano in January because I didn’t think anyone would care. I was right about nobody caring, but I threw up the Drano before it could work.”

“They would always be in the basement, and I’d think: ‘I’m...

“They would always be in the basement, and I’d think: ‘I’m sure it’s fine, they’re my parents.’ But as I grew older, I noticed that a lot of the time, even when we were together, they weren’t ‘quite there.’ And sometimes when I knocked on the bathroom door, I’d hear my mom hurriedly cleaning something up. Then one day I found a crack pipe. I’d say we’ve probably lived in 20 or 25 states because my dad can’t keep a job. We went from houses, to small suburban apartments, to small inner city apartments. They make up for it with how much they care about me, I suppose. They always cook me dinner. They accept who I am. They always tell me they love me. But there’s never any money for art supplies, or gas, or college. And every time they tell me they’re going to do something, they never do it. They’ve told me so many times they were going to visit colleges with me. But it’s never the right time.”

“I’m under a lot of pressure right now.”

“I’m under a lot of pressure right now.”

“We met at camp. We started off as friends. We did...

“We met at camp. We started off as friends. We did archery and rock climbing and art classes together. We each went to the camp dance with a boy, but afterwards we walked around and looked at the stars. Then we joked about kissing. Then we kissed.”

“One of her teachers told me that she called one of her...

“One of her teachers told me that she called one of her friends a ‘dog,’ and I was so disappointed that I started crying. I don’t know where she got that from, but it was not from my house. We have never compared people to animals. I think she was trying to impress some other kids that don’t share her soul. We had a long talk. Then I called the other parents and apologized. And we’ve had several play dates since then, and she’s been very kind.”

“It can be tough dealing with the public every day. There’s...

“It can be tough dealing with the public every day. There’s such a sense of entitlement. So many people feel like the rules don’t apply to them, and they know that if they call up and complain loudly enough, they’ll eventually get their way.”

“I like playing basketball.”“What’s...

“I like playing basketball.”
“What’s been your greatest basketball accomplishment?”
“Five weeks ago I made a shot.”