Talk:Julia Sweeney

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Astrology

In her monologue, Sweeney shared a story of when her mother told her her birthday was really October 10th instead of September 10th, and how traumatic it was to discover she was not a winsome Virgo but really a Libra, symbolized as a cosmic scale. Ironically, based on the science of astronomy instead of mythical astrology, she really was a born a Virgo due to the precession of Earth's axis over time.

That (in bold) is an incorrect statement. Based on the science of astronomy she's a virgo? Wait a minute, when do astronomy started to adress a zodiacal sign on people? Astronomy is a science, it does not adress mythical signs on people. By the way, astrology is not about constellations, astrology believes in periods of the year - it's not the signs that are based in constellations, it's the other way, constellations where named after the signs. One may argue that astrology is ridiculous (myself, for example), but we must criticize it correctly, citing astrology's beliefs, not the general misconception of astrology... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.159.252.22 (talk) 19:58, 24 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Atheism

A HUGE part of Julia's life for the past 10 years or so has been her activities in the Atheist movement. She's written a book, toured with the act on stage, done extensive interviews, attended numerous Atheist conventions (The Amaz!ng Meeting, Atheists Alliance Int'l, American Atheists, Freedom From Religion Foundation, etc.). I would think there'd be an entire section devoted to that part of her life; instead, all we have is a weak little section about the "Letting Go of God" monologue? I think you Wikipedians need to stick with subjects you know something about. You clearly don't know Julia.

If you know so much about the subject then fix it. BE BOLD. Insulting "us Wikipedians" is counterproductive. — Sandtiger 00:40, 15 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Possible copyright infringement

Large sections of this entry are taken verbatim from the bio on Sweeney's official website.—65.88.178.10 18:54, 10 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I have tidied up this article, but I agree with the above, namely that the article is more or less taken straight from the official website. Should we delete it and start again?—Laurence Boyce 19:45, 20 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Anon

Maybe we should all take a deep breath and get over ourselves? The busybodies who spend all day on Wikipedia need to stop changing my entries. I'm just going to put them back like I wrote them. 24.5.219.77 08:49, 24 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Amen to that, all over Wikipedia!

Letting go of God

what about the movie of the same title coming out later this year, is there any information about this? --voodoom 04:27, 15 February 2007 (UTC)--[reply]

It's completed, but I don't think she has a release date yet. I attended a private screening in September and it was great! She can't release it until after Sundance Film Festival (they require all submissions to be pre-release). Not sure when that is or whether it's passed already. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.4.206.132 (talk) 01:47, 29 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

her blog

her blog is here:

http://juliasweeney.blogspot.com/ --Family Guy Guy 17:30, 29 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

What about this one:

http://www.blogger.com/profile/02459682985438227986 Badagnani 18:25, 6 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

That second one is just her profile on Blogger.com. The first entry above is the URL to her blog. She doesn't use it much anymore, relying instead on her forum http://juliasweeney.eamped.com/

Missing dates and references

Missing authoritative references for dates for her cancer diagnosis and releases of It's Pat and Letting Go of God. Suggestions? --Hipgnostic 19:07, 19 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I have two suggestions. One of them is to read her books. The other is to write to her at julia@juliasweeney.com and ask her. She'll write back.

Accusation of embezzling

Can anyone provide a better cite for the embezzling bit, or verify that that cite is good enough for the claim to stand? — ciphergoth 11:56, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

I heard her talk about this on NPR, and asked her about it in person. She verfied that it happened, but it was not much money at all. Nothing more than skimming a bit off the top, like millions of waitresses do every day. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.4.206.132 (talk) 01:40, 29 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Except that elsewhere she says it isn't true, just a story she made up for This American Life. See http://www.americantowns.com/ct/ridgefield/news/julia-sweeney-appearing-at-the-ridgefield-playhouse-on-nov-11-61404 user:Anon —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.214.181.173 (talk) 05:52, 29 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

What you're using as a reference regarding her embezzlement seems to be easily shown as self-contradictory and fabricated. The timelines are wrong. Here's what americantowns.com says:

While Julia Sweeney was in Los Angeles (she had applied for an accountant’s job at Columbia Pictures), she went on a radio show, This American Life, describing herself by working as an assistant bartender and embezzling thousands from her employer—not true, of course, but it got her to thinking about the career she really wanted, which was acting. Soon Ms. Sweeney not only discovered an improvisational comedy troupe The Groundlings, she discovered her true calling. It was here she developed the character Mea, who turned into “Mea’s Big Apology,” a play that won the Best Written Play Award from L.A. Weekly in 1988. http://www.americantowns.com/ct/ridgefield/news/julia-sweeney-appearing-at-the-ridgefield-playhouse-on-nov-11-61404

It's claiming she was on This American Life (TAL) telling a nearly contemporary story, and then got interested in acting, joined the Groundlings, and then Saturday Night Live (SNL). This is untrue. The TAL story is from 1999, where she recounts something that happened "when she was 21" (circa 1980). The TAL recounting comes well after her Groundlings (1988) and SNL career. And not incidentally, through the TAL summary and story itself, it's clear that she stole "between ten and fifteen thousand dollars in cash"; this would be felony embezzlement had she ever been caught, not something every waitress does. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/135/allure-of-crime?act=1

I would think this episode in her life should be represented on her wiki page. It is notable and well-documented. --Petzl (talk) 12:33, 30 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Ambiguity of portrayal of Pat?

My recollection is that for the first few appearances, maybe even the first year, of Pat on SNL, people didn't even know who was playing the character and weren't sure if it was a male or female actor. If this can be verified with reliable sources, it would be interesting to add.Lawikitejana (talk) 04:20, 6 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I always thought it was pretty clear that Julia was playing Pat. 152.228.182.150 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 17:45, 30 October 2009 (UTC).[reply]

Birthdate

The reference says 1961, the article says 1959. 75.15.255.124 (talk) 07:59, 22 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Peer review

Julia was interviewed by "The Wikipedia Files". --Ysangkok (talk) 12:29, 18 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]