Don't Be Michael Cera

Image by Dan Coulter via Flickr

This is part movie review, part business advice.

I just watched the latest Michael Cera flick, "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World." I never read the original comic, but based on what I have heard- it is fairly faithful.

I enjoyed the movie immensely. It's original with it's throwback "pow-whams" like the 60s Batman TV show.

The story is not particularly original but the implementation is. Definitely worth the watch.

I was however disappointed to see Michael Cera (who looked more like an alien with a bad haircut in this) playing the same character.

I truly believe that Cera is not an actor now and that he just shows up to a movie set and does whatever the director tells him to do. He is not acting. He is just doing the same thing in everything he has been in.

You probably saw him first in the TV show "Arrested Development" like me. He was great as the milquetoast character trying to get with his cousin.

His next major role was the 2007 movie "Superbad." Again, another milquetoast character. The epitome (or so I thought) of this characterization came that year in Juno. His Paulie Bleeker character I thought was just him again from "Arrested Development."

Each time you see this "character" you have to wonder why any woman would have any interest in him. Some might suggest he is a lovable loser such as Charlie Brown, but most of the time there are irredeemable qualities to the character being played.

In "Arrested Development," he persists in trying to be with his cousin.

In "Superbad," he bails on his best friend.

In "Juno," he rejects the girl.

In "Scott Pilgrim," he cheats on both girls of interest.

So not only is he a beyond bland, but he isn't the best friend or boyfriend in the world.

People are human- you can forgive certain things, but being bland and boring isn't it.

Cera may not be this boring "character" in real life, but I find it hard to believe considering virtually everything you have ever seen him in he is playing the same functional person.

You may also enjoy watching this "lovable loser," but don't be him. In anything.

In business, being so one note will hurt you, not developing new ideas it will kill you, and in writing, it can hurt.

Sure, some people want the reliability of the sameness of things, but if you play in such a one note fashion, you will not grow, learn, and try new things.

Tomorrow, who should you be like- until then who is the "anti-Michael Cera" to you?

Check out my appearance on the The Toddcast Podcast

Click and watch the podcast recording of my appearance on the Toddcast Podcast Such a fun time!

New Life

It's weird, sad and slightly freeing. I've been headed towards a completely different life for a lot longer than I even knew. It took me a while to catch up to realize it was happening. Thankfully, I was cognizant enough to see it finally and mostly ready for it. It's amazing when you have the rug completely pulled out from underneath you. The adjustments are jarring. I made mistakes, but like most I learned from them, adapted, and tried my best to do better. The reason you see that truck next to a storage place? That's the sum of my life right now. Never take for granted that you will work hard for something or someone, and it will end up meaning very little. You are guaranteed nothing, owed nothing, promised nothing. Anything and everything can be taken away in a heartbeat. I wrote this to my kids a while back: I tried to be the best father I could be based on what I knew when I knew it and how I could. One of the lessons for your life needs to be: you need to b

Guiding Light

Most folk who know me, know I lost my father when I was 14 years old. However, before he passed, he shared a timeless secret with me—a practice that would shape my life in ways I could never have imagined. He didn't teach me meditation in the traditional sense, with incense and crossed legs. Instead, he showed me how to meditate by gazing at a lone light on the ceiling. When I was very young, I had night terrors that would wake me in the middle of the night. I'm sure it was terribly frustrating to calm a child from that. But my father had the way. I never understood how he came to the practice. But over the years, I've come to understand that my father's unique approach to meditation was, in fact, a profound lesson in mindfulness and presence. In a nearly pitch black room, he would tell me to find a speck of light, not unlike a star. Then focus. He would say, "Just watch the light, like you're watching a story unfold. Be the observer, not the thinker." I

Todd Lyden

Search This Blog