Obituaries

[Thad]

For clarification: puppeteer and son of Jim, not the guy who used to host Talk Soup.

Too young in either case.

[Büge]

Harold Ramis

He was my favorite Ghostbuster. ;n;

[Mongrel]

Bob Casale of DEVO

[TedBelmont]

Harold Ramis

He was my favorite Ghostbuster. ;n;

;_;

[Thad]

Harold Ramis

My first reaction was "Oh shit."

Then, after reading about how much he'd been suffering for the past several years, my reaction changed to relief. It's good that he's free of pain now.

Rest in peace -- not merely a Ghostbuster, but one of the greatest comedy writers in the history of American film.

[McDohl]

Fred Phelps.

Biting my fucking tongue here.

[nosimpleway]

Why? The man was some sort of shambling fungus-creature wearing human skin.

[Blossom]

He devoted his life to making the world a worse place, heaping hate and misery on people already at their most down. Good fucking riddance.

[Büge]

Why? The man was some sort of shambling fungus-creature wearing human skin.

Hey now, let's be realistic here.

Fungus plays an important role in nature.

[Thad]

He devoted his life to making the world a worse place, heaping hate and misery on people already at their most down.

As usual, people are a bit more complex than being put in a simple box. Some sympathy for the devil here: he was actually a strong advocate for the rights of racial minorities before he started devoting his life to being a terrible person.

The good doesn't redeem the bad. Especially inasmuch as the bad was the last 25 years of his life. But it sure does add some sad irony. It's always such a baffling thing to me, how someone can be so outspoken a critic of one form of discrimination and then turn around and be the single strongest voice of another form.

It's the monkey scene from Stranger in a Strange Land writ large, I think.

[Mongrel]

I think my favourite responses have been the ones along the lines of "Oh no! This is a terrible tragedy for American swimming!"

[Büge]

This happened.

[Thad]

Yet, the message meant nothing to Steve Drain a longtime Westboro member.

"I don't even know what they're saying," he said.

No, I don't suppose you would.



Meanwhile, George Takei as quoted on Popehat:

I take no solace or joy in this man's passing. We will not dance upon his grave, nor stand vigil at his funeral holding "God Hates Freds" signs, tempting as it may be.

He was a tormented soul, who tormented so many. Hate never wins out in the end. It instead goes always to its lonely, dusty end.

[Friday]

Hate never wins out in the end. It instead goes always to its lonely, dusty end.

I don't want to take the piss out of Takei's words here, because that's a great and true statement, but:

Yet the lies that Melkor, the mighty and accursed, Morgoth Bauglir, the Power of Terror and of Hate, sowed in the hearts of Elves and Men are a seed that does not die and cannot be destroyed; and ever anon it sprouts anew, and will bear dark fruit even unto the latest days.

[Mothra]

Dave Brockie, the black, abyssal heart of Gwar.

I used to see him live, every halloween, from like '05 till '10. The man would saw off the head of a big, latex George W. Bush and spray the crowd soaked with a gyser of fake blood. It was fucking awesome.

I'm going to miss that guy.

[Büge]

Ralph Wilson Jr., founder of the Buffalo Bills

[Thad]

Lorenzo Semple, Jr., who among many other credits developed Batman for TV and was the primary writer on the ('66) series.

[Büge]

Mickey Rooney.

[Mongrel]

The Ultimate Warrior

There is no D: big enough.

[Cait]

People seem to be quietly sweeping his rabid right-wing anti-homosexuality rantings under the rug. Something something don't speak ill of the dead, but seriously, fuck him.