The Star Wars Kid Is Back 275
An anonymous reader writes "It was eight years ago that Ghyslain Raza slashed his way into our hearts with his Star Wars Kid video. Sadly, Raza suffered from severe bullying and abuse for his video and eventually ended up in a psychiatric ward for children. However, his video was seen 1 billion times and multiple thousands of geeks came immediately to his defense. While those must have been the worst years of his life, things are now looking up."
Actually... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Wow, how sad is it that (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Didn't he get an iPod? (Score:5, Insightful)
I laughed at him. I laugh my ass off. I laughed for the same reason most people laughed. We''ve all done something that turned out to be massively embarrassing.
If you say you didn't laugh, I suspect you are impaired or a liar.
Re:Didn't he get an iPod? (Score:4, Insightful)
High School Was the Worst Years for Me as Well (Score:5, Insightful)
Having been made fun of for reading Star Wars books in grade school, I sympathize with this kid though my pain was not on a global level like his. Still, I bet if you asked him now if he could go back and do things differently it would probably be better not to sue and instead milk that fifteen minutes by going on SNL or Conan O'Brien or even trying for a cameo in one of the Wayans Brothers' parody comedy flicks. Jesus, I bet he could make good money if he charged $5,000 per video and set up a site where he recorded himself doing his spiel and saying "Happy Birthday <insert your name here>" or "I only twirl around like a moron when I'm eating my <insert your food product here>!" And then just kept rerecording himself doing that. You might as well milk it and have fun with it
Anybody know how Daniel Tosh gets around these potential lawsuits when he displays videos on Comedy Central in his show Tosh.0? I mean, I'm sure he gets permission first or it comes from a country with lax copyright laws but what kind of logic do they pitch to the guys that do just outrageously stupid things? "You did something stupid by starting a gasoline can on fire but you have the chance to do something smart and let me show it?"
Re:Those who can DO (Score:5, Insightful)
"I'm sorry to hear that the Star Wars kid decided to be a blood sucking lawyer."
Yep, they're all evil until YOU need one to help you navigate the law, or until the EFF uses them to fight for your rights.
Lawyers don't sue, PLAINTIFFS sue.
Re:Slashdot is NOT helping here... (Score:3, Insightful)
And who knows, maybe this news story is coming from him. Maybe he's finally ready to get back out there.
Look at Tron Guy. He's owned it. Good lord, I would have wanted to lock myself away for a while after hearing what people were saying after seeing the pics. But he rolled with it. Of course, he was a bit more "mature" than a highschooler and that could explain the differences is how they dealed with their "fame".
Such is how things go (Score:2, Insightful)
Sure, he was a nerdy kid, but the reality is nerdy kids typically make the most money after they get older. After-all, most are relatively intelligent, and most are going to go on to college. The attributes that draw ire from your high school peers are what often translate very well into sucess in a career.
The high school girls are all swooning over that guy on the football team with a letter jacket. The 20-something girls though are swooning over the guy with the party-boat down at the marina.
Get laid more as a teenager or more when you're in you're 30's. Kind of a trade-off really.
Re:Glad things turned out well (Score:4, Insightful)
Reality vs. TV (Score:3, Insightful)
What's sad is that in the day and age where Napoleon Dynamite is a big selling movie and cool, he's only ironically cool and for anyone who actually does do something in real life that's funny or etc. they get bullied forever and there appear to be no consequences for the bullies.
Re:Slashdot is NOT helping here... (Score:3, Insightful)
Aging changes perspective. For a high school kid, appearing as a fat, awkward kid in a famous internet video is epic shame. But for an adult angling to be a lawyer and a politician, *having appeared* some years before in a famous internet video is a great advantage. I rather think he has come to terms with his fame and is using it to his advantage. Good for him.
Re:Wow, how sad is it that (Score:5, Insightful)
I used to do that all the time, but I got tired of my submissions getting passed over for days/(weeks) and then once the rest of the major online media outlets decided it was worthy to report someone else's late submission got pushed though.
Why should I waste my time with submissions that never go though when making snarky comments is infinitely more entertaining and rewarding?
Re:Didn't he get an iPod? (Score:5, Insightful)
I have an impairment called "empathy". That video made me sad, because I could imagine the position that kid was in.
Sucks to be me, I guess.
Re:Slashdot is NOT helping here... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Slashdot is NOT helping here... (Score:2, Insightful)
Why not? Another [slashdot.org] /.'er does ;)
Re:Glad things turned out well (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Those who can DO (Score:3, Insightful)
majority of them have proven themselves willing to take frivolous or evil cases
Citation???? "Majority" is a very specific word, with a specific meaning, which is not equal to "lots"
In short, this is utter bullshit. Most lawers never set foot in a courtroom and take "Cases" in the adversarial us vs them sense. They are the people who write contracts, advise clients on how to be compliant with truckloads of government regulations, etc.
Re:High School Was the Worst Years for Me as Well (Score:3, Insightful)
High School was bad for me as well... But now I realize it was because I didn't handle it well, and compared to the rest of life, it wasn't really that bad. If I knew what I know now, I'd have ruled that school.
Re:Wow, how sad is it that (Score:1, Insightful)
And thus the appeal of digg or reddit or metafilter or really any sort of site that uses user-submitted content that does it in a timely manner or has some sort of quality control -- cf also dupe stories (which are so common that they're literally a joke).
Slashdot's admin/editors take note.
Re:Wow, how sad is it that (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Slashdot is NOT helping here... (Score:3, Insightful)
I think that the guy sucks for not parlaying all that exposure into something.
Spoken like a true marketing idiot. Not everyone is a fame whore and thinks that fame == $$. Think about it: if he wanted fame, he'd have uploaded the video himself. The kid is a nerd at heart and did something that he thought was cool -- and he had fun doing it. Yeah, I laughed when I saw the video, but I also thought it was pretty cool; there's nothing wrong with a kid indulging his sci-fi fantasy. He had fun making a tape then tossed it aside. How is it that he sucks just because he didn't react to his fame with dollar signs in his eyes? The "opportunities" you speak of are not necessarily opportunities to everyone. So he sucks because he doesn't have the greedy mindset that you have? Who the hell modded this "Insightful" ?!
Re:Those who can DO (Score:2, Insightful)
majority of them have proven themselves willing to take frivolous or evil cases
Citation???? "Majority" is a very specific word, with a specific meaning, which is not equal to "lots"
In short, this is utter bullshit. Most lawers never set foot in a courtroom and take "Cases" in the adversarial us vs them sense. They are the people who write contracts, advise clients on how to be compliant with truckloads of government regulations, etc.
Mis-quote for the flipping win!
If you stand in the service of evil, expect to be rightly derided and hated.
Compared to...
They are the people who write contracts, advise clients on how to be compliant with truckloads of government regulations, etc.
Newsflash, these types can be COMPLETELY evil as well. Have you READ a contract lately? In fact, I'd challenge you to locate a completely fair contract, toward both parties, in under 24 hours. Go for it, let me know what you find. Further, how many of these attorneys would 'be compliant' in technicality only rather than with the actual intent of the law.
Evil happens. Attorneys are generally in a group with more examples both in quantity and in bastardly-ness. This is why the good ones stand out as stars burning brightly.
If this hits close to home, good. Be one of the good guys. Fight the bad guys and convince them all to retire early. Go you!
Re:Take a good look in the mirror... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Those who can DO (Score:1, Insightful)
Oh please stop apologizing for lawyers. The only reason you ever need one is because someone else has one. If you get yourself into the position where you feel like you need to sue someone I suggest taking some personal responsibility. If you get sued, you're paying protection money because someone else can't accept personal responsibility. Lawyers create nothing.
Re:Those who can DO (Score:3, Insightful)