[QUOTE=dplayer18;174460]Wow I didn't know that he had a book. I'll look to see if it's selling around here, would love to check it out.[/QUOTE]
Amazon seems to be the cheapest place to get it.
[QUOTE=needsalife;174246]I have wanted to read this book because I love Ryan, but I worry that it will be a hard read for me. I can't watch anything military-related without crying right now- my husband will be deploying in a two years. Should I avoid for now? I have already shelved reading Dear John until his military contract is up! And forget the Hurt Locker...[/QUOTE]
I haven't finished it yet, but from what I have read you should be okay. LOTS of complaining. I was expecting it to be about Conklin putting himself out as God's gift to the military but he doesn't. It is basically just a chronology of what happened over there for him which were a lot of near-misses with IED's and missions that went nowhere. I think if you are a big Ryan fan you would want to read it not because it gives you great insight to something the RW did not show but rather because it lets you know that his experiences were not as bad as some may have imagined while watching the show. It does not live up to the hype some have tried to create for it---not laugh out loud funny, or gripping or any of that stuff. Basically about his day to day life. Whether you read it or not is up to you, but buy it and put a few bucks in a Vet's pocket :)
[QUOTE=Lamb Chop!!!;175802]Does anyone know if Ryan tried to pursue his music career any further? He had an amazing voice![/QUOTE]
he put on his myspace music account (myspace.com/ryanaconklin) that he was working on doing so recordings of some of his songs but that was awhile back and I have not heard anything other than that.
Ryan posted a note on facebook this week asking his fans to be understanding as he tries to transform his life to what it was before brooklyn.
Isn't that next to impossible?
I like ryan..we're from the same area (gettysburg) but it bothers me that he was so quick to jump for his 15 minutes but now is asking if people will respect his privacy.
I guess I can understand that but had it not been for TRW Brooklyn we wouldn't even know he existed. As for his privacy, I guess I can understand that. But if we like his story and certain people can relate to him then not so much.
I was told that the day before he put that post up about closing his facebook fan page to focus on having a private life he went on some rant about people not respecting his copyrights and he was going to take all his sites down because of it in response to some link that was posted, but then deleted the post later the same day, and then put that explanation up instead. To me, the way that post is written, it is more like he is telling all his fans to go to H-E-Double Toothpicks. The guy definitely has more issues than the New York Times.
Look, dude, you have a book, you were on [I]The Real World[/I] and you started a video blog. What the HELL do you expect?!
That said, I don't blame him for reverting...or trying to revert his life back to the way that it was before but because of the reasons above, all I can say is good luck with that.
Nobody likes to talk more trash about Ryan than me, or at least very few people do, but I think people need to cut the guy a little bit of slack in spite of the way he is handling this period, which is pretty poorly. Yes he went on TRW, but he did so with certain expectations of it being able to help him find a career beyond the military and then he got sucked back through the IRR. His girlfriend dumped him in the middle of his deployment. As soon as he came back, he was wrapped up in getting his book out there and doing the audio version himself, which was followed by PR work, getting involved with Hope's Voice, and lobbying in Washington for vets. He is now back in school and did all this FB stuff immediately after doing 3 lectures in a row on the road just after a three-day weekend. Even though he had a financial stake in staying connected, I think all of that is impressive especially considering he is being pulled at in 100 different directions by thousands of people. He is bound to be exhausted mentally, emotionally, and physically, and he is snapping. I have never fallen for this laid-back cute facade of his and repeatedly pointed out that he was far more complex than people thought. I do not think that this is about privacy at all. He has to be able to focus on his work and his mental health, and if this is what it takes for him to be able to focus in his life, then so be it. He is lashing out at the wrong people in my opinion, but he most definitely has earned the right to a little rest and shelter from whatever toxic stuff is going on in his head right now, and a little compassion wouldn't hurt either. I think he is making a pretty big career mistake and is hurting a lot of people, but he served our country, has given a lot more to his fans than any of the MTV crowd, and has shared far more of his life than anyone else I can think of. People just need to accept that the kid is human and imperfect. If his fall from grace offends you, then you are justified in not being a fan anymore, but please at least try to put yourself in his shoes for five minutes. (Sorry about the length but this is going to get out of hand soon enough)
Not only that but I could only imagine these cast members get bothered to no end about being on the show. It is true that A LOT of fans out there just can't seem to grasp that these cast members are REAL people too with their OWN lives. It bothers me that people think these cast member's lives end with the show and then depend on them to come back for a challenge. It's ridiculous.
That may not be the case for Ryan, but it sounds like people just aren't giving the guy a break.
[QUOTE=LifeAfterBMP;208528] .... It bothers me that people think these cast member's lives end with the show and then depend on them to come back for a challenge. It's ridiculous.
That may not be the case for Ryan, but it sounds like people just aren't giving the guy a break.[/QUOTE]
I am not sure if you mean people think the cast needs the fans to get onto the show or if you mean that the fans depend on the cast to come back for their entertainment. I think Ryan's career mistep is that his die-hard fans will have less notice of Iraq/book lectures since that seems to be the direction he wants to go in. The more seats a speaker can fill, regardless of why they come, the more people would hear his message and then the better his reputation would become as a speaker on the college circuit which is often about turnout. Plus, fans who might be mad at him now who previously went to Amazon and gave his book unfounded high praise might turn around and go back and trash it out of spite.
I think I'm agreeing with SeanDaniel in some way when I say that closing the FB page must have some personal symbolic meaning for RC. It makes me think of people cutting their ex out of their photos. It doesn't change anything, but it provides some kind of tangible sign for a person that they really severed the relationship.
I agree with others that obviously you can never stop being a "former reality TV star". It's not a rational belief to think you can do that. Puck Rainey's DUI was in the news earlier this year only because he had been on RW-SF (16 years ago). Literally every news story I read this month about Sean Duffy (from Real World Boston) winning his Congressional primary campaign, stated "former reality TV star Sean Duffy..." It's been 13 years after his season, and he has several years experience as a district attorney. It may seem like a strange comparison, but it's a lot like doing adult videos. You can't do a dozen episodes and then say, "I only did it for the experience and now I would like move past that and not be a 'former adult video star'". That's never going to happen. The best thing possible is to use reality TV status instead to do good works (e.g. Ethan Zohn).
I believe I differ from others concerning the impact of the closing on the people who had "liked" it. In a four month period there were only two personal updates from RC: he went to buy a concert ticket, and then later he went to that concert. There were only about a dozen or fewer active participants, who posted 95+% of all the comments. I think it made sense just to kill it. It never seemed to get off the ground and be successful like Chet's and Scott's. It would probably make more sense just to use Twitter as the main communication vehicle, considering the small amount of activity.
It's time for a bump...
Ryan's book is available at amazon.com
[url=http://www.amazon.com/Angel-Hell-Ryan-Conklin/dp/0425233944/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294573797&sr=8-1]Amazon.com: An Angel From Hell (9780425233948): Ryan A. Conklin: Books[/url]
If you want to know what Ryan's experiences were then his book is okay though not very deep. If you take away all the Amazon ratings done at each end of the spectrum by the super-fan lovers and the haters, then the few reviews on Amazon in the middle are fair. The Military/Army Times didn't like it much either. The publisher seemed to be more trying to exploit Ryan's fame quickly than develop the book into something more substantive. Nothing personal against Ryan--he was just a high school grad and first-time author. He was not served well by his publisher/editor IMO.
If you are looking to read a book about combat in Iraq then I would suggest other books--Donovan Campbell's "Joker One" is the first that comes to mind.
looks like hes starting to make more videos on his youtube, also damn his hair got long lol
[url=http://www.youtube.com/user/conkdeeznuts#p/u/1/kr4cJJcCvlM]YouTube - conkdeeznuts's Channel[/url]
[QUOTE=VevmoFan;243450]looks like hes starting to make more videos on his youtube, also damn his hair got long lol
[url=http://www.youtube.com/user/conkdeeznuts#p/u/1/kr4cJJcCvlM]YouTube - conkdeeznuts's Channel[/url][/QUOTE]
I am sure after ignoring his fans for 6 months, it has absolutely [I]nothing[/I] to do with the release of his book in paperback.
Ryan's new music video to his song "In The Woman I Love". I think he played it on one of the episodes in RW Brooklyn.
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBis7cVHzJY]In The Woman I Love (The Tampon Song) - YouTube[/url]
An article about Temple Vets with some info on Ryan
[url=http://temple-news.com/2011/11/14/from-battlefield-to-blackboard/]From battlefield to blackboard : The Temple News[/url]
Me too! Ryan was awesome on Brooklyn! I loved his friendship with Chet. I can't believe Ryan and Scott have never been on a challenge.....they would've been great.
Me too! Ryan was awesome on Brooklyn! I loved his friendship with Chet. I can't believe Ryan and Scott have never been on a challenge.....they would've been great.
I've never wanted to see someone so bad on a challenge. If only..
Me too! Ryan was awesome on Brooklyn! I loved his friendship with Chet. I can't believe Ryan and Scott have never been on a challenge.....they would've been great.
Best Real Worlder. Ever.
Easily in top 5 IMO.
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