No. I refuse to accept this. I refuse to accept that the celebrities I idolized in junior high school are old enough to fatally self-destruct.

First River Phoenix, then Jonathan Brandis, now Brad Renfro. Boys, it does not get easier to handle your tragic deaths each time one of you kicks.

I’ll admit it - I hadn’t really followed Brad Renfro’s work since "Tom and Huck," which means I missed out on the bulk of his career. I really liked "Ghost World," but I didn’t realize he was in it until I checked IMDB just now. But that’s kind of how it is with the celebrities you admire growing up, isn’t it? You pay attention to their first few big moments, then they fall off your radar when the next "It" guy or girl comes along.

You don’t think of them again until their name shows up in the headlines because of a drug arrest, suicide, or drug overdose. Then you sit there utterly stupefied and wonder, "Wow. What happened? He was such a cute kid."

Even though we may forget them for a time, we’re still very attached to these people, partly because of how they come across to us as individuals and partly because of the characters they play.

I mean, he played Huckleberry Finn - Huck never gave into anyone or anything. It’s so strange to think of someone who played a character like that dying under unfortunate circumstances. The cause of death has yet to be determined, but seeing as he was found dead in his apartment, chances are there were unfortunate circumstances of one kind or another.

Rest in peace, Brad. I’ll miss you. Tell River and Jonathan I said hello, and that "I Love You To Death" and "Ride With The Devil" are still awesome movies. You can tell Jonathan I originally saw "Ride With The Devil" because I knew Jonathan Rhys Meyers was in it as long as you make sure to tell him I was very happy to discover he was in it too. Let’s not go making the dead feel unappreciated.

Hopefully Max Elliot Slade (Colt in the Three Ninjas movies), Macaulay Culkin, and Noah Hathaway (Atreyu in "The Neverending Story") will all live long, happy, healthy lives. I’m keeping an eye on the headlines, though, just in case.