Terminalcoffee discussion

The sad news about The Stooges' Ron Asheton makes me think: Why does the sudden and often-times shocking news of a celebrity death (think Heath Ledger or Kurt Cobain) have such a deep impact upon the memory? I can remember just where I was when I heard that River Phoenix had died.


Why does it have such a lasting effect upon us? Do we feel we somehow knew these people?
What about John Travolta's son? That is such a tragic, personal, private and scary anguish, especially as parents of a teenager. I feel so sad for them. Yet the very act of feeling sadness for a stranger seems so gaudy, so trite.

Last night one of those stupid shows like EXTRA! was bragging that they had exclusive interviews with the EMT who responded to the Travolta scene.

Now that's just sick, as I see it.

That is sick.

Was his son sick all these years? I never knew that, but I was wondering why he would have a nanny with him at all times when he was practically grown.

I think he had a seizure disorder.

While I feel for the Travoltas, there are kids dying all over the country, and they don't get the media attention. So I feel really weird about the Travolta thing.

He was autistic, altho, being a Thetan, John claimed he had some other disease Kawasaki (or something like that.)

The reason the Rivolta death is a big buzz is because there have been reports about Kelly and John not treating Jett for his autism since it's not approved by Scientologist, aka there is no disease of the brain it's a mental problem to be cured by the "religion".

Also there has been alot of discrepancy between what the Travolta camp says and what the medical examiners and police are saying.

Yes, unfortunately I know these kinds of things.

This is sadder than I'd intended it to be. I didn't know all that, Lori.

I wondered about that 'cause I thought that I had heard that Scientology doesn't do medicine. Assholes.

I'm a wee horrified that the child is already cremated. Isn't that fast? Is that how it is done?

They did an autopsy first.

I felt pretty bad for Travolta family. Also, RIP Ron.

Also, today the inventor of the aloha shirt passed away. RIP inventor man.


Alfred Shahen. Pioneer of Hawaiian Clothing.

I'm going to wear my favourite Hawaiian shirt tomorrow in order to honour his memory.

Good idea.

Here's his obituary.

someone actually invented the Hawaiian shirt? sure it wasn't a serendipitous experimental outcome from a Paint N' Swirl toy?

"Reynolds Price, whose novels and stories about ordinary people in rural North Carolina struggling to find their place in the world established him as one of the most important voices in modern Southern fiction, died on Thursday in Durham, N.C. He was 77."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/boo...

Oh! I think he was one of my friend John's mentors. I've read some of his stories. Sad.

Celebrities are part of our lives, our mythology. Of course we are going to care what happens to them. Some care a lot more than others.

Like when I heard about the deaths of Michael Crichton, and David Foster Wallace, and Ed McBain, I gasped and felt real pain. I've read all their books, and each of them has influenced me. I met one of them. I looked forward to their books, and now I will never enjoy anymore books from them.

Sad that Reynolds Price is gone.

I read A Long and Happy Life, and I enjoyed Kate Vaiden, from which I wrote down and kept a few memorable lines. Some men can surprise you with their knowledge of a woman's heart.

The one that really bothered me was the death of Paul Newman. It makes no sense, but I miss him.

Jack LaLanne.

I remember Jack LaLanne. He was into proper nutrition and exercise long before anyone else.

I used to watch him exercise with a chair. Today it takes treadmills, elliptical machines, stair climbers and hydraulic-assist weights.

Jack used a chair.

Someone on Slate did a survey of the history of exercise videos last week, from Jack LaLanne to Jane Fonda to Jillian Michaels. Interesting stuff.

Jack LaLanne made it to 96 and stayed pretty fit right up to the end. Must have been doing something right, and he helped a lot of other people get healthy along the way. Sorry to hear he's gone.

Phil wrote: "I used to watch him exercise with a chair. Today it takes treadmills, elliptical machines, stair climbers and hydraulic-assist weights.

Jack used a chair."
A chair and a towel. And his white German Shepherd was so cool.

I saw Jane Fonda explain an exercise where she just used a chair. It was for us senior citizens.

She's looking pretty good for herself these days, Michele. Gorgeous body.

Jonathan wrote: "Jack LaLanne made it to 96 and stayed pretty fit right up to the end. Must have been doing something right, and he helped a lot of other people get healthy along the way. Sorry to hear he's gone."

He didn't help me. That dumb juicer never worked right.

(I still give him credit for doing his thing though. He lived the dream up until the end.)

Jack Lalanne talked about eating raw foods decades before the current organic food craze. His advice was just as good as his exercises.

He could do 100 pushups well into his 70's.

He is a legend!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eB4cQ...

Jane Russell. She was 89.

I saw a quote of her earlier, something like: I am a mean-spirited, bigoted, Republican Christian. I think it was a quote from a long time ago, and it amazed me that the language is still pretty much the same.

RIP Knut, German polar bear.

Noooo! Not Knut!

August Owsley Stanley III.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owsley_S...

Not a current celeb, I know.

A hero of yours, Larry?

Supplier!?

In the days when you never really knew what you were getting (with fillers like strychnine or other such nasty stuff), he made it pure.

You know what you are getting if you never have any.

I can deny the past -- but it doesn't make it not have happened. It was a part of the formation of my worldview. I wouldn't be the me I am if I hadn't ingested.

Does it affect you that much?

It did me, yes.

I can't imagine it could really change who you are. But as I have never had the experience I guess I'll never know.

It didn't change who I was -- just changed the way I saw things.

Elizabeth Taylor.

I never did understand her fame. Now she's gone.

They say she died "peacefully." Have you ever heard a report of a famous person dying "screaming and yelling in horrible, gut wrenching pain?"

I have to agree with Phil on the "I don't get it" with Elizabeth Taylor. I know she did some stuff when she was young, but for the last couple decades all she was known for, as far as I could tell, was selling perfume and hanging out with Michael Jackson.

Sorry, uh, she's dead, though.

What? Our own Elizabeth? Awww. I must watch "National Velvet" soon.

Elizabeth Taylor died? Bummer.