Charlie Sheen was in the news recently for all the wrong reasons. I haven’t being paying too much attention, no interest really, but I think he has a couple of addiction issues and then was there talk of domestic violence? Bold. But in 2010, Sheen was the highest paid actor on television, earning $1.8 million per episode in Two and a Half Men. OK, it’s funny, but $1.8m… WTF? On Monday this week he was fired from the same show by CBS and Warner Brothers. Now there’s all this stuff on poor old Charlie – I came across this quote and it got me thinking of Samuel Beckett. Here’s Charlie…

“As kids we’re not taught how to deal with success; we’re taught how to deal with failure. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. If at first you succeed, then what?”

So I suppose if you’re the son of Mr Sheen (or even Mr Estevez) you’re guaranteed a seat at the Hollywood table – and you get to enjoy all the stuff that goes with it. Charlie tried acting and he succeeded  – then what? – so he tried to get his own act together, but he failed. Why might that remind me of Beckett? Well, our Sam is suppose to have said Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. Which probably suits our temperament and pretty much sums up our national identity.

And who in their right mind, would want to go near the Hollywood table or go down the Charlie Sheen Road? Here’s a great shot of the old Charlie (when he was young) playing Chris Taylor in the 1986 Vietnam War movie Platoon.