Dustin Milligan - Official Website

	May 25, 2008 - Guest Blogger - Sarah Ramos!!!
	Holla! Welcome to the first ever guest-entry in a blog...I promised myself I wouldn't cry... Ok I'm good let's do this. Things are pretty nuts out there. How do we help each other find ourselves and not compare, not live up to an imagined ideals, risking our self respect and even our health? My good buddy and fellow-actor, Sarah Ramos, wrote a research paper recently discussing the effects that the media has on youth. Here's an excerpt that I think is worth checking out and, if you are so inclined, discussing with your friends or family or animals or imaginary friends or family or animals: … today's youth look to celebrities…and other products of the mass media for guidance. While this media claims to be representative of reality and real people, the depictions of characters and people in mainstream television, film, and magazines [do not represent] actual Americans. Because most young viewers are inexperienced and impressionable, the media often produces “screenagers” (Boyd 1) with warped self-images and unrealistic, harmful world views. … The success of women's fashion magazines spurred the appearance of various magazines aimed at teen and tween girls... The magazines create likeable escapes for teens who need them, but can also inspire odd goals and ideals for teens who do not. The editor of one of these magazines explains her purpose: "We wanted to create a world. The kind of world we wanted to live in but couldn't seem to find…The real version of our daydream. A place where we're all accepted. All beautiful…” (Brown 3). These intentions are lovely, primarily idealistic, and essentially dangerous, for the magazines do not acknowledge this false reality to their readers. It should be empowering to read a “magazine [that] is giving a girl a chance to dress the way she wants, think the way she wants, not be a lemming" , but the publications [show] a dichotomy between their intentions and presentations. Glaringly embedded between articles supposedly about self-love are ads “for breast enhancement tablets” (3), “advice on how to 'look like Gwen Stefani' and 'five ways to look thinner without dieting'” (4). Headlines such as “282 Tips For Looking Hot This Summer” and “725 Ways to Look Hot and have fun!” and “Get Your Best Beach Body” support the implication that its readers are pleading for it to “MAKE [THEM] OVER! Update [their] hair, room, makeup”. The magazines, which supposedly do not support lemmings, advocate emulating celebrities and aspiring [to] 'perfect' bodies. The headlines and articles convey that their audience is missing something, and that audience will lust for improvement because they read that it is expected; as new aspects of improvement are unveiled so are dissatisfactions with one's own self. These readers are unfairly punished for reading something precisely as it is presented: as fact when it is opinion and as reality when it is a “daydream”(3). Boyd, Danah. (2007) “Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life.” MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Learning - Youth, Identity, and Digital Media Volume (ed. David Buckingham). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Brown, Janelle. Trash mags With Training Wheels. Salon Media Group, Inc (Sept, 2001), pp (2-5). Not bad, right? Yeah, and Sarah just turned 17. Anyway, like I said, just something I thought was worth checking out and thinking about, if you haven't already. There's a lot of pressure out there to be thin or ripped or glamorous or debonair or in rehab or headed to rehab or whatever, and when we stop looking for role-models outside of Hollywood we begin to forget that it's all meant to be a fantasy. One which, as we all know, can get pretty ugly if you're not careful. So let's all just be careful, eh? -Dustin AND Sarah Ramos P.S. Thanks for the suggestions RE the new site, keep them coming or else.
	May 11, 2008 - The Blog Blog, or: A Tall Order...
	Alright, so some of you-all have been whining about where all my old blogs went, and I've only lightly addressed that so far, so, here's the deal: Although I love writing my journal-like blogs, and love to hear what you guys think about them, and love pineapple juice, I couldn't help but look at them all lined up there on my site, 14 times a day, and think "Yo Dustin! Stop talking about yourself so much!" You know? Like I said, I love writing about myself, and love reading your guys' writing about me writing about myself, but, after like, 15 blogs or something, it quite simply got old. And lame. And pineapple juice. SO, as I stated in the last blog, I'm going to change things up on here, allowing more INTERACTION with YOU (the lustful and kinda crazy person reading this right now), as well as GUEST BLOG ENTRIES from some of my many many friend. "But Dustin," you query, "How will we, the lustful and kinda crazy reader, be able to interact with you on this so called, supposed, rumored, alleged, new site you seemingly claim to be creating?" Well, Lusty, I'm thinking that I'd like to know what YOU'RE thinking, (keep it outta the gutter!) How would you like to interact on my site? Any ideas? Anyone? Send them to me! Send any ideas you have about what YOU think the new Dustinmilligan.com could be! Also, we're also going to try for a guest-book that doesn't have ads also. And I'm going to be able to post crazy photos/videos from events/set(s) and stuff, featuring myself OR one of my friends. But don't worry, they're pretty chill, so, you guys should be cool. Basically, you'll get all the Dusty you can handle, with half the reading! Which is pretty cool, since we all know reading is for nerds. (oooh only people who read the old blogs get that joke, privilege much?) If all goes right, and if I can pump enough cash into it, the new site is gonna be sick, slick, and kick...butt! "Dustin wait!" You cry desperately into the night, "When can we expect these radical changes?" I'm thinking like, by summertime? IMPORTANT: Hey! I used to be 5' 10 + 1/2", now I'm 5' 11"!!! Sadly, my left arm is still 18cm shorter than my right. Peace, Dustin P.S. Remember, when thinking of ideas for the site, don't be constricted by the lay-out we're currently using. We're going for a whole new thang up in this ma!
	April 15, 2008 - The "RE-USE, RE-CYCLE, RE-W" blog, or: 90210MG!!!
	Yo kiiit what's good? So the CW hired me again! I recently shot an episode of "Supernatural" here in Vancouver and I gotta (got ta) say it was really heavy on the kick-butt. And I mean that. It was the first one shot since returning from the Writer's-Strike-induced hiatus and I think everyone being so amped to work again really made the whole shoot run All-Bran-smooth: everyone wanted to get things done! And done we did get!...things. The whole cast brought in was phenomenal, bringing back Travis Wester and A.J. Buckley from Season One, and peppering in myself, Austin Basis and Brittany Ishibashi to make the sickest Ghost-Hunting team this side of Paranormal State: The GHOSTFACERS! The character I play was a real departure from anything I have done thus far which was nice as, let's face it, brooding is booring, and without giving too much of the story away, the fact that the whole cast got to improvise and create their characters so freely and with such encouragement from the director (Phil Sgriccia, you rock solid!), not to mention Jared and Jensen being as laid-back yet professional as they are, made it by far, the best shoot I've ever been on. Ever. That and being able to physically shoot some of the scenes ourselves made everyday of work fun, fresh, and pretty challenging. It was really awesome and I hope you get to see what I mean on April 24th on the CW. Soo...Watch it! Here's a trailer I found. I think there is a website going live soon also... Speaking of the CW... Looks like I'm gonna be in the new 90210 show! Ballin! Great to be back! ...But until I'm actually on set shooting my first scene, why don't we all put our hands together and pray everything works out till then, eh? Pray to whomever you want! I don't judge kiiit! Peace, Dustin P.S. I thought this blog needed some humour so I googled "the best joke you've ever heard" and found this: one boy and a girl loving each other want to run away from their home, while they were traveling girl's father sent some thugs to abort their love journey.The boy kept with him a play gun in order to keep others at bay, when thugs came this boy showed the guns in order to keep them away, but oops the girl told openly there were no bullets in the gun ha ha ha Classic. P.P.S I took down all the old blogs 'cause we're gonna try and mix things up a bit on the site... More on that later suckaaaaas!
	October 29, 2006 - G-Ma
	When my cousin Dan and I were, oooh, I dunno, say about 14 or 15 years old, we both happened to be spending part of our summer vacation at our Grandma's way down in good ol' "Not that bad" Grande Prairie (Alberta, Canada for you Yanks!). Now, like most kids our age, we would spend a lot of- Waitwaitwaitwait. Before I go any further here, I feel I should tell you something: my Grandma isn't like other Grandmas. She's a straight up G. Real talk. So G, in fact, that about 5 or 6 years ago, after her first successful liquor-store robbery, we stopped using her slave name (Grandma) and called her by her street name: G-Ma. Other Grandmas are polite, G-Ma tells a foo whaddup. Other Grandmas wear pearls on special occasions, G-Ma gots gold on every finger, everyday. Other Grandmas shake hands, G-Ma give a homie a pound and bumps fists, like this: "Hey D! Pound." "Pound, G-Ma." Real talk. Anyway, like I was saying, as did most kids our age, Dan and I would spend a lot of our time and all of our money during said visits to G-Ma's at the local mall (cleverly named "The Prairie Mall"). "Were you Shopping? Entering raffles for the newest/ugliest Mustangs?" you may ask. My heavens, no! No, we would only do two things whilst there, neither of which were shopping or lame-car-raffle related. First, after a few mandatory loser-laps around the premises, we would head to the poorly-lit, exceptionally grimy arcade to play Crazy Taxi and air hockey until our Loonies had nearly been depleted. Then, with whatever funds remained we would get some food and just hang in "Tha 'Court", flexing our biceps as we lifted our forks/drinks to our mouths just in case any ladies were watching. As one can imagine, it was never very long until we got so pathetic/sweaty from flexing that we were asked to leave. Now, having exhausted all checking-out-girls-while-flexing-during-an-arbitrary-activity opportunities, as well as cruising down the main drag only to discover it to mainly be a drag, we were eager to find entertainment of virtually any kind so long as it involved no manual labour and the possibility of even more flex-time in front of some Albertan princesses. But what to do? Being underage and moronic, our options were limited...Or were they? Turns out yes, they were, because before we knew it we were back at G-Ma's crib slammin' back President's Choice Root Beer and eating stale pretzels in front of the T.V. "Yo G-Ma! We're bored! What can we do?" we whined. "Why you axin' me?" She holla'd. "You live here." "Ok, well your Grandpa and I are playing TV Bingo tonight, y'all can come and play dat." We rolled our eyes. TV Bingo? More like TV...Lame...O...(dammit!) Alas, we knew nothing better would come up, so a few hours later we found ourselves (still) down in the TV room, now fully equipped with TV trays, bingo cards and dabbers, and all the snacks you could want. Plus - that sweet peas+carrot coloured shag-carpeting on the floor to keep our feet toasty! At first it was alright, nothing special. However, much like the thousands of other types of Bingo, the longer you do it, the more fun it gets, and before we knew it both Dan and I were experiencing, nay, sharing with our G-Folks the very same addictive exhilaration which has sustained and inspired senior citizens for countless millennia; the exhilaration of gambling. We were hooked. By the time we had really gotten into it, the baby games like "L" or "4 corners" were already done and we had just begun "Dead Man's Bingo of Death", more commonly known as: PICTURE FRAME (Dun-Dun-Duuunnnnn!) By this point no one had won a frickin' game yet, and Dan and I, each being 4 cans of pop and one Jelly-Belly bag in, were amped, and because we were both already close to having a full picture frame we even joined our G-Ma in viciously yelling at the TV. Needless to say, much like our blood-sugar levels, tensions were high. "B. 9." Calls the man who clearly hates his life. "Yes!" I said aloud, then continued in my head "B-9! This is kick-ass! I'm just one number away from 500 bucks! Now I'll just look over and identify exactly what that last number is and-" Then, I saw it. I start to giggle. "What?" Dan asks. I discreetly slide my card over and he see's the last remaining number I needed. He too starts to giggle. Then he starts to shake. G-Ma, noticing the girly laughter, inquires: "What? What's so funny?" "Uh nothing." I manage to squeeze out while holding my breath. "Well are you close?" "Yeah. I only need one more." "What one?" "Uhm...just ah...O-something..." "Eh?" "...O...69..." And without hesitation G-Ma turned to the T.V. And shouted: "ALRIGHT BUDDY, WE NEED A 69 HERE!!!" We lost our shit. She kept going: "O-69!!! O-69!!! C'MON, GIVE THE KID A 69!!!" At that point, Dan, trying to hold in his laughter, made the following noise (which he has done many-a-time since and it only gets funnier): AUDIO CLIP OF HONK LAUGH And I even think Grandpa's dentures slipped out for a second as he laughed about it too. I never got that last number, but never cared. It was too funny. And yeah, maybe G-Ma knew the hilarious significance of those numbers to two teenagers and didn't want to let us know that she knew, or maybe not. Maybe she just knew how funny, whatever it was, was to us and wanted to make us laugh. Either way, I will never forget the day my G-Ma, the 4 foot 10, grey-haired mother of my Dad, demanded the Bingo-caller give me a 69. On October 16th, 2006 Anna Milligan was hit by a pick-up truck and killed while crossing the street on her way home. This past weekend, the whole clan went back to her house in good ol' Grande Prairie to celebrate and remember her life. I will never forget what happened: A family unlike any other, laughed (a lot), cried, and held each other close all in the name of Grandma, a woman whom herself had always lived in the name of love. I've never known anyone who so genuinely and so dearly cared for the family and friends she had throughout the many communities she spent time in over the years. Her kind soul reached so many, and upon hearing of her passing, letter after letter from different people who's lives she had touched rushed in to us, all reflecting on how the humour, energy, and kindness of this tiny woman's spirit simply made things brighter. Everyone had a story. It was hard not to with Anna. It's difficult trying to sum up a person in a couple paragraphs. Grandma, if I had known you would be leaving so soon, I would've stopped all the flexing and just given you hugs. I miss you so much. Pound, G-Ma. Stay gangsta. Love, Dustin
	September 20, 2005 - Strong Names for Children
	Well. Here I am in my little trailer waiting, waiting, and waiting to work on DaVinci’s City Hall. It blows. The waiting, I mean. Not the show. But luckily for me there is wireless here that I am able to easily steal. Hooray for poorly secured wireless connections! So whilst on location for The Messengers just outside Indian Head in Saskatchewan this summer, I found myself with some serious downtime. Armed with a pen and a stolen notebook I climbed up onto the only hill in the valley and started a list…or maybe, the list started me...(DUN DUN DUNNNNNN!) Strong Names for Children: • Lazer • Stryker • Thunderheart • The Heat • 6000 • Brik • Scorpius • Kobra • John • Blak Magik • Tron • Dredd • Back-Draft • X • Mr.ICE • Bullit • The Horror • Bonez • Soul Kutter • The Vapourizer • T1000 • Thornak • Kronos • .35mm • Solarus • Kon-Kreet • EndgamE • Wulf Runner • Hurricane Pain Maker • Ryu • Das Death • Megaladeathatron • William Hurt You • Glock • Raw Deal • Viper Steele • Kage • TNT • KillBot-900 • The Vengance • BuzzKill • Graveson • Novaron Feel free to send me any more YOU think up. If they’re kick-butt enough they’ll be added permanently. Dustin