Child stars need to chill out

Dude, what is going on with child stars? The other day, Haley Joel Osment (the kid from The Sixth Sense who is now 18) crashed his 1995 Saturn at 1 a.m. on his way home. The L.A. County Sheriff's Department took blood tests because, yup, they suspect it was an alcohol-related car accident. The results on his blood alcohol content will be known in three weeks. He's okay and everything, so I think it's cool for me to laugh at the fact that he drives a 1995 Saturn. He always seemed so wise, I never expected him to go all drunken and crazy on us. Damn you, Osment -- giving kid actors a bad name!

And if that wasn't enough, how about little Dakota Fanning. You know her from I Am Sam, War of the Worlds, and The Cat in the Hat -- and you know her because she's taken over the Hollywood's Child Prodigy spot from that other driving-impaired kid. It turns out her mother and agent are apparently frustrated by her lack of Oscar nominations after her staggering half decade-long career. To rectify this, her next role is in a movie called Hounddog, which IMDB.com describes as "a drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl (Fanning) finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley." To the more common folk, Hounddog is being talked about as the movie in which little Dakota Fanning does partial nudity and has an explicit rape scene. Who the (F word) in their right mind thinks a potential Oscar nomination is more important than a 13-year-old girl's mental health? I'm sure Fanning is professional and mature beyond her years, but really... why push the envelope this far? What they're risking is traumatizing a little girl, but I guess to her agent and mother, that coveted Oscar nomination is what matters most. I hope she doesn't get nominated, so her business team and mother will realize stunts like this don't work.

Ask Fanning's agent and she acts like it's no big deal. Look at these quotes she gave reporters and judge for yourself:
- "It's not just the rape scene - the whole story is challenging Dakota as an actress."
- "And I've never been so proud of her in my life. In every scene she gets better and better."