Sean Penn: Holywood's Dangerous Angel

First off, I know some people think its somehow "cool" to dislike Sean Penn (which is fine, people with something to say and aren't shy about saying it generally do come under some heavy fire) but I have a confession: I like the guy. And always have ever since seeing him in 1988's Bad Boys movie.
I will probably get a few negatives from my fellow Brits by admitting this (he rubbed more than a few up the wrong way after what he said about the Falkland Islands but hey ho, we have free speech yes?) but as a force for creativity goes, Penn is quite...awesome and excuse me while I blow my own trumpet but the "Dangerous Angel" in my title took no thought, came in an instant and suits the actor perfectly. I'm not a big film fan these days (poetry and videogames have a bigger place in my heart) but if I see Sean Penn's name in the credits, its an easier sell for me.
The man is a walking stick of TnT, oozing with charisma and I adore that danger which plays around his eyes. The silver screen does more than fairly crackle when he gets his acting chops on. British actors have always been rightly celebrated with giants like Sir Lawrence Olivier, Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole and Richard Harris but its always bugged me when some folk think American actors are less good. Perhaps today they are, like I said, I don't watch much movies these days, but Pacino, De Niro, Eastwood, Freeman and damn it yes Sean Penn? That's some heavyweight clout right there.
A local journalist once asked me which actor I would choose to recite my poetry. Obviously my first choice being Welsh was Richard Burton but when she said, I had to choose a living actor I could tell my reply surprised her a tad. "Sean Penn>?" She asked checking to see if she'd heard right. "Sean f**king Penn" I said, the F word used to emphasise how highly I rate his talent if that makes sense.

And the sad thing is? From the few movies I have watched recently featuring what the tabloids call, "hot young actors", I don't see a Burton or Penn in sight.

Again The Likes We Never See

A great Briton

Charles Burgess Fry Born: April 25th, 1872 Died: September 7th, 1956
Even in his youth C.B was recogniesed as an all round exceptionally gifted person. A poster boy for the term 'clever clogs'. He excelled at a number of sports (seen above playing cricket) but not content with sport, C.B was also a brilliant teacher, politician, writer, editor and publisher. Like I said, clever clogs but a truly great Briton.
We'll never see the like of C.B. Fry again. The earth has moved, ambition shifted and all the people now are clowns. In our rush to step into the future, in our thirst to make evrything easier (mostly via internet, apps, Kindle, iTunes, etc), we have discarded real adventure and sold our soul to convenience.
It was all so different in Fry's time. You had to work and push both muscle and mind to a much greater level if you wanted to make an impact back then. Even hobbies required more spirit to pursue them. And it created character, a type on Man that could never exist today. Now its mostly copy and paste, and lily livered downloads. Convenient yes, but not very exciting.