Over a year ago, I picked up a book by chance.
I was walking with a friend through the side street off of Charing Cross Road, the name escapes me, but it's the Meccah of second hand book stores. About twice a year, we spend about an hour or so, mainly on the tables outside, selecting some reading material for the next few months. He has a habit of picking up poetry by dead people and my favorite selection is a biography or two.
I love learning about people before my time that perhaps I've heard a story or two about, but have no real facts on. Any REAL stories. I love learning about how perhaps their childhood shaped them into who they were at their peak, or the legend that lives today.
Some time in early 2008, I picked up A Little Boy Lost by Joe Hyams. Joe Hyams was a close friend, and confidant of James Dean.
Now, before I picked up this book, of course I'd heard of James Dean. I knew he was an actor. I knew he had died tragically at a young age, by what I thought was a car accident. But I had no facts. I knew nothing of the in between. I had never even seen a film of his. I bought the book for 2.
I sometimes struggle to get truly engorged in a book, but every now and then, I'm gripped and I spend every spare minute with my nose stuck firmly in the pages. I finished the book in just under 4 days and left it feeling strangely more complete, and with an idol. I truly have never had any one person in my life that I've adored from afar, despite a brief, and slightly homo-erotic, affection for Brian Molko of Placebo when I was 13.
James Dean was everything I want to be. He didn't let anything affect him, was almost completely emotionally detached from everything. He was dedicated to his art. He was opinionated, educated and morally corrupt. He had to overcome obstacles in the hope of gaining success and greatness. He was controversial, yet wholesome. He was shy, but also the life and soul of the party. He truly was an enigma. To the people closest to him, though, it feels like a piece of him lives on inside them all. They speak of him with such praise and admiration it's heart-breaking.
Although I hope my life doesn't end exactly like his, I hope to leave some kind of legacy. It will never be on the same scale, but I hope that people will always ask the question... "Who was he, really?".
"To me, the only success, the only greatness, is immortality." James Byron Dean
P.S. As a side note, if anyone want's to borrow this book, let me know and I'd be more than willing.
I was walking with a friend through the side street off of Charing Cross Road, the name escapes me, but it's the Meccah of second hand book stores. About twice a year, we spend about an hour or so, mainly on the tables outside, selecting some reading material for the next few months. He has a habit of picking up poetry by dead people and my favorite selection is a biography or two.
I love learning about people before my time that perhaps I've heard a story or two about, but have no real facts on. Any REAL stories. I love learning about how perhaps their childhood shaped them into who they were at their peak, or the legend that lives today.
Some time in early 2008, I picked up A Little Boy Lost by Joe Hyams. Joe Hyams was a close friend, and confidant of James Dean.
Now, before I picked up this book, of course I'd heard of James Dean. I knew he was an actor. I knew he had died tragically at a young age, by what I thought was a car accident. But I had no facts. I knew nothing of the in between. I had never even seen a film of his. I bought the book for 2.
I sometimes struggle to get truly engorged in a book, but every now and then, I'm gripped and I spend every spare minute with my nose stuck firmly in the pages. I finished the book in just under 4 days and left it feeling strangely more complete, and with an idol. I truly have never had any one person in my life that I've adored from afar, despite a brief, and slightly homo-erotic, affection for Brian Molko of Placebo when I was 13.
James Dean was everything I want to be. He didn't let anything affect him, was almost completely emotionally detached from everything. He was dedicated to his art. He was opinionated, educated and morally corrupt. He had to overcome obstacles in the hope of gaining success and greatness. He was controversial, yet wholesome. He was shy, but also the life and soul of the party. He truly was an enigma. To the people closest to him, though, it feels like a piece of him lives on inside them all. They speak of him with such praise and admiration it's heart-breaking.
Although I hope my life doesn't end exactly like his, I hope to leave some kind of legacy. It will never be on the same scale, but I hope that people will always ask the question... "Who was he, really?".
"To me, the only success, the only greatness, is immortality." James Byron Dean
P.S. As a side note, if anyone want's to borrow this book, let me know and I'd be more than willing.
VIEW 11 of 11 COMMENTS
just be thankful i haven't put the video up from that night.
have mike g and andy instead!
Im surprised we talk, Im not keen on the welsh, but you dont sound welsh so I guess ill let it slide.
Im well aware you do very manly things I would never suspect anything else from you, but stamp licking is very manly, all the famous actors did it before they became big. You have guns ay? You must point them out next time I see you haha. Sorry to hear you lost out on that flat, bummer.
Transformers is a win in any situation: dates/weddings/meetings/visiting family you can never go wrong!
xox