On Death and Celebrity

I can't say that I was a fan of Natasha Richardson. In fact, I'm pretty certain I didn't really know who she was, most likely confusing her with Natasha Henstridge. However, I find myself thinking about her death.

I think its just the randomness of her death. It wasn't like she was rocketing down a tree-lined slope way above her skill level. She died from a seemingly innocuous bump on the head on a frigging bunny slope. One minute she was conscious and joking around, just hours later she was unconscious. The randomness of it makes me think far too much about it, and become unnecessarily worried that I might just trip outside my apartment and die.

Obviously its not something that is likely to happen, and the randomness is just something you have to accept. But it still makes me nervous.

The two most recent celebrity deaths I've thought as much about were Heath Ledger and Tim Russert. Ledger's death wasn't a random incident (unless an overdose is considered random), but the fact that a seemingly healthy person not much older than myself died at what seemed the peak of his life hit far too close to home. Russert seemed like such a nice guy, and certainly loved what he did. The fact he couldn't see the result of the 2008 election (in this life at least) just seemed unfair. In addition, he was pretty close to the age of my dad, and made me think about the mortality of both my parents and myself.

I suppose that there might not be any real meaning to why we pay so much attention to the deaths of celebrities. It might just be part of our society's over obsession with famous people. However, I do believe that it also can be a way for people to ruminate on one of the few things that unifies all humans, without having to deal with the nearness of a loved-one dieing.

Let the Games Begin

Today is the start of one of the greatest 4 day spans of American sports. Yes, my friends, it is the start of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take these days off, so I can't enjoy it as much as I would like. However, I still can enjoy the evening games, and keep up with the scores from work.

My brackets are set, and I apologize to the teams I picked. You will likely be going home sooner than you would like.

So if you can, sit back, enjoy some cold beverages and salty snacks, and get ready for the madness.

R.I.P., Ron Silver

Some more sad news today, as Ron Silver has died of esophageal cancer. Although prolific in both movies and TV, to me he will always be Bruno Gianelli. It was always a treat whenever he appeared on The West Wing, and somehow made the profession of Mark Penn and Dick Morris look somewhat noble. He will be missed.

Here is a small clip of one of my favorite scenes involving Ron Silver.

NOOOOOO!!!!

Unfortunate news out of Chicago.

I honestly never considered some company would have the balls to enact a name change to a landmark like that. This isn't some non-descript tower sitting off of State Street, its the Sears Tower, a symbol of Chicago and Illinois.

Don't expect to see the tower called by anything other than the Sears Tower on this august blog.

How Dare you Don't Like that Movie I Like

For many mediums of entertainment, I'm not one to get defensive. Don't like South Park or Arrested Development? There's no accounting for taste. Not fond of the movie scores of John Williams. Well, I can understand that. You found War & Peace to be too long? Yeah, I can see that.

Only when it comes to movies to I tend to get defensive, especially if it is a movie I really like. It isn't that I can't rationally grasp the idea that somebody doesn't see the movie the way I see it, because I certainly can. Its more of a emotional response that is built from a deep sense of insecurity about my personal tastes.

Although movies such as Little Miss Sunshine, Juno, and Stranger than Fiction* elicit this response from me, the three biggest movies that cause me to become overly defensive are Episodes I-III of Star Wars.

Yeah, I'm an apologist for lil' Ani's big Adventure. Big deal, you wanna fight about it? Its so bad I tense up and get snippy when watching any episode of South Park that defames The Phantom Menace, or that episode of The Simpsons where they break into a Lucas-like director's compound to pontificate on the value of a good story. I know its childish, and I get crap for it from my friends and siblings. But the fact remains that I still like the films.

I think its a desire to see these Star Wars films as my Star Wars, considering I wasn't born until a year after The Empire Strikes Back came out. I also think it is because people went overboard in their criticism (much of the problems with Episodes I-III are also present in the earlier films), and were unrealistic in their expectations. Most of all, I think The Phantom Menace, Jar-Jar and camel farts excepted, is a very solid film. **

As I get older, I do think I've mellowed somewhat on this issue. I mostly keep my mouth shut when I hear or see criticisms of the prequels, and I can certainly agree that maybe Lucas could have used some people who weren't afraid to challenge him on some of his decisions***. Besides, I think we all can agree that The Clone Wars movie was a forgettable piece of mediocrity.


* Pixar films can be included here as well, but I am sure that anybody who doesn't like Pixar are either Dreamworks plants or soul-less automatons (or both).
** Most of my defensiveness is about Episode I. I've come down a bit on Episode II (especially Natalie Portman's performance and some of the effects), and Episode III is well liked enough that I don't feel the need to defend it.
*** Like damnit, George, Jar-Jar? Really?

Announcing a New Blog

No, not the one I promised in a previous post. My sister has blog titled "Sooner or Later Everybody goes to the Zoo", a blog about her life as an intern at the St. Louis Zoo. She's already been hard at work over there, so I hope you go check it out.