Celebrity Deaths

I thought you guys were talking about Robert Pattinson.

  On 6/8/2023 at 4:42 PM, ignatius said:

finally!  

too soon? 

r.i.p. ted kaczynski

  On 6/10/2023 at 7:24 PM, Nebraska said:

r.i.p. ted kaczynski

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dubious rip for that guy. he hurt a lot of people. but he was tortured at harvard w/the CIA LSD experiments.

also, recently Pat Casey died. epic dude in the world of BMX, X-games. he was doing some kind of jump on motorcycle and bailed nad the bike landed on top of him. super sad. 29yrs old. 

this vid is 2 years old..

RIP Cormac McCarthy

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/tributes-pour-in-for-author-cormac-mccarthy-a-loss-beyond-measure/ar-AA1cvnbI

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McCarthy was a highly acclaimed and awarded author perhaps best known for works including "All the Pretty Horses," his commercial breakthrough in 1992, and "The Road," which won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His books, which often incorporated dark themes and apocalyptic landscapes, helped propel him to the status of one of the greatest modern American writers.

Publisher Penguin Random House confirmed his death in a statement to Newsweek, describing McCarthy as "one of the world's most influential and renowned writers."

"His career spanned nearly six decades and several genres, including fiction and drama. His work has entered the modern canon and won several prestigious literary awards," the statement reads.

Nihar Malaviya, CEO of Penguin Random House, wrote in the statement that McCarthy "changed the course of literature."

"For sixty years, he demonstrated an unwavering dedication to his craft, and to exploring the infinite possibilities and power of the written word. Millions of readers around the world embraced his characters, his mythic themes, and the intimate emotional truths he laid bare on every page, in brilliant novels that will remain both timely and timeless, for generations to come," Malaviya wrote.

Author Stephen King tweeted, "Cormac McCarthy, maybe the greatest American novelist of my time, has passed away at 89. He was full of years and created a fine body of work, but I still mourn his passing."

 

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  On 6/14/2023 at 12:48 AM, ignatius said:

RIP Cormac McCarthy

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/tributes-pour-in-for-author-cormac-mccarthy-a-loss-beyond-measure/ar-AA1cvnbI

 

 

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damn

The Crossing is one of the most moving pieces of writing i've ever laid my eyes on.

i've been telling myself i'd read Blood Meridian one day, it's considered his pinnacle by some, so i guess maybe that's in the cards for this year now.

edit:

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 The vocal problems were eventually handled evolutionarily—and apparently in fairly short order—by turning our throat over largely to the manufacture of speech. Not without cost, as it turns out. The larynx has moved down in the throat in such a way as to make us as a species highly vulnerable to choking on our food—a not uncommon cause of death. It’s also left us as the only mammal incapable of swallowing and vocalizing at the same time.

The sort of isolation that gave us tall and short and light and dark and other variations in our species was no protection against the advance of language. It crossed mountains and oceans as if they werent there. Did it meet some need? No. The other five thousand plus mammals among us do fine without it. But useful? Oh yes. We might further point out that when it arrived it had no place to go. The brain was not expecting it and had made no plans for its arrival. It simply invaded those areas of the brain that were the least dedicated. I suggested once in conversation at the Santa Fe Institute that language had acted very much like a parasitic invasion and David Krakauer—our president—said that the same idea had occurred to him.

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https://web.archive.org/web/20170421071206/http://nautil.us/issue/47/consciousness/the-kekul-problem

  On 6/14/2023 at 1:17 AM, auxien said:

i've been telling myself i'd read Blood Meridian one day, it's considered his pinnacle by some, so i guess maybe that's in the cards for this year now.

after i saw the road someone described blood meridian as "like the road.. . but without all the feelings" (might've been someone here) which seems accurate. meridian is pure horror show vibes.  i liked it but after i said to myself.. "wtf" and shook my head because wow. 

the real question is

  On 6/14/2023 at 12:48 AM, ignatius said:

RIP Cormac McCarthy

Blood Meridian is one of the best books I’ve ever read. I’ve got The Road on my shelf to read.

RIP

That's very strange, something just made me think of The Road just yesterday. More specifically I was thinking about the time in my life when I read it. I think of the story/setting a lot. It's probably the most deeply unsettling book I've ever read. And I remember choosing to read it during a time when life was good, because I'd been warned how disturbing it would be. It was a good idea and I did enjoy it. Well "enjoy" isn't really the right word for a book like that. But it was a good read. And otherwise it probably would have really messed me up if I read it when I'm unwell. It has certainly made an impact in my mind. Haven't seen the movie, and haven't read any of his other books. I started No Country for Old Men at one point but couldn't get into it. He's generally not an easy read. A few years ago a friend of mine, a writer and huge Cormac McCarthy fan, actually had access to his archives, notes and all that kind of stuff. Can't remember how that came about but he was pretty thrilled. Anyway maybe I'll pick up No Country again, I still have it. RIP.

RIP Treat Williams. Had no idea he was in The Empire Strikes Back

  On 6/14/2023 at 1:17 AM, auxien said:

 

i've been telling myself i'd read Blood Meridian one day, it's considered his pinnacle by some, so i guess maybe that's in the cards for this year now.

yeah it's his masterpiece IMO. it is not an easy read for sure, but the imagery it conjures up is truly remarkable. some very graphic scenes in there, dark shit. I know the critics of it call it overindulgent wankery due to the way he writes without punctuation, but get past that and it's a trip. I recall it gave me some real vivid nightmares first time I read it. the Modest Mouse album Moon & Antartica and the EP after that were strongly influenced by it.

RIP Cormac McCarthy. I went through a phase in my life reading almost all his stuff. guess I need to finish Suttree at some point. I lost interest in that one mid way through. should try it again.

I liked the way he would juxtaposition the hellish nightmare of the gang of killers with serene almost elegiac descriptions of the landscape. Trippy. 

  On 6/14/2023 at 6:32 PM, beerwolf said:

I liked the way he would juxtaposition the hellish nightmare of the gang of killers with serene almost elegiac descriptions of the landscape. Trippy. 

yeah.. the title of blood meridian... "Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West"

a lot of those phrases were included as track names on the first Earth album I ever listened to (Hex), before I knew where they came from. it's a good accompanying piece to reading the book.

12 years ago, my mother-in-law died of lung cancer. The last time she was hospitalized, she started reading The Road. I guess she was bored and had read some of the great reviews. Also, she just had this brief positive "spike" that made us believe she would live for some time. At the hospital, she caught pneumonia and died after a week or so. My wife took the book home, and I was kinda puzzeled.  I knew No Country For Old Men and had the impression that The Road was kinda bleak. 

A few years ago, I started reading the book on a nice summer weekend. About 2/3rd out in the book I noticed that my wife had left a small piece of paper with the words "this is how far mum read before she died". No spoilers, but I found the vibe at that point so bleak and dark and disturbing, that I had to put the book away for a while. My mother-in-law was a happy and positive spirit, and I really wish she had chosen another book to read at her own deathbed.

I just checked the book in the shelf. The piece of paper is gone. I don't know it fell out or if I removed it. Probably for the best. Perhaps some day my wife will read it. And you don't need to add personal grief to that book.   

  On 6/15/2023 at 1:40 AM, usagi said:

a lot of those phrases were included as track names on the first Earth album I ever listened to (Hex), before I knew where they came from. it's a good accompanying piece to reading the book.

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i've been planning on doing a 'gatelamps' track/EP for years, in my head a bit of a take on some of the vibes found in the deserts in The Crossing. not actually recorded anything yet but when i saw this news i started working on some stuff. who knows if/when it'll work out but yeah....his stuff has that way of worming its way deep into the psyche.

  On 6/15/2023 at 1:41 PM, scumtron said:

12 years ago, my mother-in-law died of lung cancer. The last time she was hospitalized, she started reading The Road. I guess she was bored and had read some of the great reviews. Also, she just had this brief positive "spike" that made us believe she would live for some time. At the hospital, she caught pneumonia and died after a week or so. My wife took the book home, and I was kinda puzzeled.  I knew No Country For Old Men and had the impression that The Road was kinda bleak. 

A few years ago, I started reading the book on a nice summer weekend. About 2/3rd out in the book I noticed that my wife had left a small piece of paper with the words "this is how far mum read before she died". No spoilers, but I found the vibe at that point so bleak and dark and disturbing, that I had to put the book away for a while. My mother-in-law was a happy and positive spirit, and I really wish she had chosen another book to read at her own deathbed.

I just checked the book in the shelf. The piece of paper is gone. I don't know it fell out or if I removed it. Probably for the best. Perhaps some day my wife will read it. And you don't need to add personal grief to that book.   

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understandable feelings. no spoilers, but by the end of the book i found it quite hopeful in many ways. obv there's much, much bleakness and pain and horror in the book as a whole, tho.

Yeah. I finished it after a while. It's a great book and not like anything else I've read. I should check out his other books, but I have so little time for reading these days.

10 years without this absolute legend

RIP James Gandolfini

  On 6/19/2023 at 8:29 AM, d-a-m-o said:

10 years without this absolute legend

RIP James Gandolfini

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damn, was literally just talking to someone who is watching the Sopranos for the first time.

of course he should be remembered for other things as well:

"you're an idiot... or are you being a fake idiot?" lives in my head rent free for all time.

Though he had a minor part in True Romance he was such a powerful presence. Total evil killer who you knew would kill Alabama and enjoy every second of it.

  On 6/19/2023 at 8:50 PM, Rubin Farr said:

 

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May her memory be for a blessing. I was just about to post about this though not this exact tweet

godspeed ...