Getting older and Joseph Gordon-Levitt...

As a Father, you see time pass quickly.  You have a child growing and learning rapidly before your eyes.  It gives you a great ability to enjoy the smaller, seemingly less significant things in life.  Ask an 18 year old to sit and watch a child playing at playground for an hour, and you will probably be met with a roll of the eyes and a sharp tongued quip about it being an amazingly boring way to spend an hour.  Yet I in fact spent such an hour (several in fact), just last week when I took my children to an adventure park.
Another ability, imparted by age, is the use of the phrase, "when I was a lad/lass" (delete as appropriate, and spoken with a broad yorkshire accent).  And I'm finding with the rapidly changing world we live in today, courtesy of the technological advances of our time, the use of this phrase comes to us all the sooner.

Now, you're probably thinking what the hell this has to do with Joseph Gordon-Levitt (JGL).  It all started when I was looking for information on upcoming releases for this year, finding that 3 bigs one star none other than JGL (Looper, Lincoln, and of course TDKR).  JGL is, quite rightly, on the up and up with regards to his big screen career.  A rise that started when he played the role of Arthur in Inception (a role that was originally meant for James Franco before he pulled out).  Here's how he looked when he hit out screens in 2010.

Inception was a 12A, meaning that people old enough to see the film, may not have been old enough to know JGL from his earlier career success in television.  Between 1996 and 2001, JGL starred in TV sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun.  Here's how he looked back then:

This is how I remembered JGL.  Needless to say, when he hit the big screen in 2010 for Inception I was amazed at the transformation.  Made all the more profound by the fact that we are very similar in age.  Looking at his filmography, it's clear to see that JGL has had a slow burning, and successful career.  One that leads him to his position now, one of the most talented actors of his generation, with a very busy 2012 on the cards.

I'm really looking forward to JGL's contribution to the coming year.  I'm off to watch some 3rd Rock from the Sun.

Why not go watch some yourself?