Experimenting with disaster: Even rising stars can become supernovas too soon and too immensely!

What is it about disaster that attracts us?  Why do car crashes or train wrecks almost always get our attention?  Why do we stare at impending fights between people over the silliest things?  There must be some twisted allure in all of our human personalities that gets attracted to bad things happening.  Yet, when all is said and done, sometimes, if not most times, when people ask for help, the masses always wander away, or just look and stare.  Now, say the accident is the self-destruction of a celebrity’s social life or life in general?  It’s interesting what you can see or hear from those who observe it.  One would say that, like most disasters, people can’t stop watching.  It’s always a sight to behold.  And yet, no one is around to help after the damage is done.  This time, it’s not because people don’t have the will to help or even the care.  It’s because the celebrity doesn’t want help, because nothing is wrong.  This blog, however, will cover a celebrity, of some kind, that may join the Mel Gibsons and Charlie Sheens of this world.  Only this star was supposed to be on the rise, as a person ushering in the new form of entertainment through web media. 

Noah Antwiler is known as “The Spoony One”.  His website is known as The Spoony Experiment.  For about 5 years, Noah was on track to becoming one of the more, if not the most, prolific internet reviewers and personalities in the world today.  If you wanted to mention famous internet personalities, his name would come up in conversations, along with the likes of the Angry Video Game Nerd, Keith Apicary, The Nostalgia Critic, Screwattack.com, Machinima.com, among others.  He’s been a programmer, a stand-up comic, and even wrote scripts and made head-shots for a possible acting career.  But, his true strength lied in his ability to film reviews for various forms of pop culture that appealed to him, be it science fiction, video games, computer games, or even film and television.  His reviews were littered with lots of energy, humor, irreverent commentary, and the like.  As far as his popularity is concerned, he received a Mashable award in 2009 for his series.  The Mashable awards are primarily the most prolific award you can receive for your work on the internet, next to the Telly awards.  The only other entity to win a Mashable award was the WWE for WWE.com.  So, yes, you know it’s a pretty important award.  Things were looking good for Spoony, to say the least.  But, alas, problems can ensue, with stardom on any level. 

Over the past year or so, Noah has had his share of problems in his personal life.  He wasn’t shy about making any of them public, either.   For starters, he has had a variety of health issues, including very bad colds and flu, and severe heart problems due to stress.  Then, his relationship with his girlfriend, Scarlette, had ended, and not very positively.  Scarlette wasn’t just his girlfriend, either.  She was the webmaster of his website and handled various other things of Spoony’s.  Never let it be said that nerds don’t fall in love or deal with relationship issues.  Unfortunately, this was a severe blow to Spoony’s life as it has been said that he is still feeling the effects of the break-up as he has not taken it well.  Stories have come out that Spoony has been seen bothering Scarlette on the internet in various instances.  To make matters worse, some fans found out Spoony’s address and tried to force themselves into his house.  His very privacy was threatened, along with his brother, who is a police officer.  Is there any good that has come out of this year or so?  Well, he got a dog, named her Oreo, and has loved every second of being with her.  It’s a shame that it wasn’t enough to keep from the inevitable happening: his self-destruction and breakdown, all done on Twitter.

A month ago, Spoony made a rather rude and obscene comment to one of his fellow producers that worked with him on the website, That Guy with the Glasses.  In not too many words, he said he’d have no problem raping (and possibly torturing) her if things didn’t work out with her current boyfriend.  This was done via Twitter.  Once this got out, chaos followed, with some producers and many fans crying foul.  Even if it couldn’t be construed as a comment about rape, it was or could be easily perceived as such.  Spoony apologized about it to the producer in question.  However, the apology seemed and sounded half-hearted and a bit sarcastic to some.  This prompted another female producer to stand up for the victim and various fans to speak out against Spoony’s actions, along with this.  As Spoony continued on Twitter, various comments were made that was disturbing, abrasive, and brutal.  These were not just aimed at people who lambasted his actions, but also towards producers and fans who offered comments of support or help in any way towards his person.  The results could not have been worse, as he lashed out violently, threatening fans with violence and dismissing fans and producers who offered advice or help in the right direction.  Upon seeing this, the administrative staff of That Guy with the Glasses suspended Spoony for one month.  Spoony agreed to this and the decision, possibly in an attempt to try and get back on track.  However, that couldn’t be further from the truth.  As more comments came in from others, he lashed out even worse, stating that he was done apologizing for what he said and wasn’t going to change or get help because he didn’t need to or need it.  Spoony was subsequently removed from his position with conflicting reports abound.  One side states that Spoony quit his job at That Guy with the Glasses, while another is more than certain that they fired him for his actions.  His comments following this leans towards the latter, but no one is truly sure yet, as he could have been doing this for the express purpose to rally support for him and rally hate towards the people he lashed out against.  Nonetheless, the damage had been done and Spoony is now an entity to himself working on his own website, making his own money, and now adamantly against those he verbally sparred with on Twitter.  And, in no surprise, he still has a strong legion of followers, who then took it upon themselves to verbally abuse the producers that Spoony lashed out at, specifically the female producers involved.  To think that this all happened over a span of a month and a few weeks.  Years of support and fame, flushed down the toilet over a Twitter battle.  And yet, I get the feeling that this is something he wants, or has wanted, or just now wants. 

At first, I never figured Noah (Spoony) to be an abrasive, mean-spirited, spiteful, and hateful individual.  In fact, the worst that has been said about him was that he was just a jerk.  That, of course, came from people who were almost as bad as he was, but never to the point where they would go on a tirade like he has.  Apparently, it was much worse than initially stated.  Or perhaps, it got steadily worse as time passed.  The pressures of life can change a person, and not for the better.  This has happened to many people, but we never point it out only because it’s not as pronounced, unlike with celebrities or known people.  Then, it has no choice but to become public, either by the hands of the known, or by the snooping of the unknown (hope that makes sense).  As his tweets continued, Spoony stated he was calm and feeling much better now that he lashed out at others.  It seems he found catharsis in being hateful and distant.  It’s more than obvious that this is not the right path to take.  However, you can only do so much to help someone. 

As of right now, Spoony continues tweeting, making references to changes that will be made on his website.  But, the most important set of things to cover for Spoony is his bitterness and distaste of no longer being on That Guy with the Glasses.  More and more each day, he makes bitter jabs to the website, the administration, and to the people who stood against him or tried to help and he rejected.  And, not surprisingly, a slew of Spoony’s fans have supported him to the point where they take it upon themselves to harass those other producers and the website administrators as well.  Spoony could not be any more content with the situation, as he continues to badmouth whatever fans he has. 

I can’t really give an opinion on the situation, or at least not a full one, as I am not close to the situation, and I was not there to see it all unfold.  All I know is what I hear.  And, truth be told, after reading what I read and hearing what I heard, I can say that Spoony was out of line with the comment.  And, although the victim did not overreact and might have brushed it off to avoid any further issues, it should have been addressed to some effect.  You can’t make a reference that may or may not sound like rape and act like it’s not something to overreact over.  So, to the person who stood up and defended the victim, I give kudos.  It’s just a shame that she has to deal with the backlash from fans who don’t really understand the gravity of what is going on.  Also, with Spoony’s constant comments on the issue in the negative, it is becoming clearer and clearer that there was no amicable parting of the ways.  I’m more than sure that he was fired, either because he was out of line, or because it would have made the website look very bad.  In this day and age, when social media is an open window to reality, you can’t say everything you want to say because you can. 

The saddest part of all this is that Spoony doesn’t think he is wrong anymore and doesn’t think his apology was half-hearted.  Along with this, his fans still support him tremendously, to the point where they themselves cause more trouble on his behalf.  How is this possible?  Well, fandom these days and every day knows no bounds.  People will defend whomever they truly support no matter what has or hasn’t happened.  Chris Brown still has female fans who even mentioned that they’d have no problem with Chris beating them up if it meant to stay with him.   Mel Gibson still has supporters despite his very prejudice epithets against Hebrews and his angrily charged phone call toward his girlfriends, berating her for her choice of wear.  And, let’s not forget Charlie Sheen, who has been the poster boy of self-destructive behavior in recent memory, showcasing anger, arrogance, and abuse to not only his former lovers, but to those who feel he needs help.  He’s been rewarded with a new television show, after the show he helped build (Two and a half men) sent him away for his behavior off-screen.  And, as luck would have it, he’s more popular than ever.  To top all of these cases off, they were either leading people to believe they were somewhat sorry when they weren’t, or never truly apologized for what they have done.   Spoony has joined the ranks of these individuals, even if it is not on a major scale as they are.  And, according to him, this is how he likes it.

It’s tough to see someone with great potential waste it on the most foolish of things.  Spoony was one of the top internet reviewers for TGWTG, to the point where some wouldn’t mind having him appear in cameos on their videos or even act as a character in a film.  He is still slated to appear in whatever projects he is participating in and it will seem very awkward to see him there, knowing what we know.  In fact, one would say that whatever conventions he is invited too will make for a very difficult environment to get through.  So far, the easiest way to avoid any problems with Spoony is to ignore him and to keep your distance from him.  However, in these public settings, can it be accomplished?

Even the youngest of stars that rise to their apex may go critical, reach supernova, and burn out before they reach a certain age.  Spoony had it all, including the problems.  To have it end like this, to some, is a cowardly move, but a game-changing move, nonetheless.  The future for him lies in his hands.  He has to be able to deal with whatever comes his way.  But, some say that the reason it has gotten harder for him is that he doesn’t know how to deal with things of this nature and doesn’t hold accountability of any kind.  Perhaps, all he needs to do is grow up and accept the consequences of his actions.  Now, that’s one experiment that won’t have “disaster” written all over it.  Until then, Spoony has found his niche, which is an island all to him, where fans can visit when they can.  I’d say to send lifeboats, but he’d probably destroy them.  Best to leave it be, I guess.

UPDATE:

According to Spoony's twitter, he has seen a doctor and was told he has Bipolar Disorder 2.  Initially, he joked about it, and continued his rants and such.  Then, in no time at all, he started speaking about how it would be too soon to return to TGWTG and that more time would be needed to heal.  If they wanted him back, it would be on them to bring him back.  This came out when the trailer for the 4th Anniversary video of TGWTG was released, in which Spoony play's a major role in.  He told various fans to be civil when leaving comments and that he has no ill will towards the website or Channel Awesome, its parent company.  If this prognosis is true, Spoony needs more help than one would imagine.  But, again, it's best to leave it be.