Drunkard's Walk Forums

A little late on the draw, but... DAMNIT...

Not that it was completely unexpected, being 83 and all. (Did he age gracefully or WHAT? I had no idea he was that old!)

I could go with another rant about how bad this year has been for stars, celebrities, scientists, authors and all things sci-fi in terms of passings. But all
of a sudden it occurs to me...

I'm beginning to think I know how my dad must've felt when he was in his 40s. All the greats of HIS youth going away.

And I wonder how many people that I converse with online (many of whom weren't even BORN until I was out of high school even!) - how many of them actually
share my sense of "it's all going away"?

Is it really that bad this year? Or is it just my perception of things?

I'm definitely feeling the loss of greatness this year.

But then again I may not be the same age group as the majority of the forum goers, I'm approaching 30 (where did that come from?).
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

Quote:Is it really that bad this year? Or is it just my perception of things?

It's partly perception. For the most part, we won't know who the greats are of this generation until we're way too old -- or dead -- to appreciate them. But right now, it's hard to tell who's going to stand the test of time. A few seem obvious to me -- Christina Ricci, Johnny Depp -- but everyone else, who knows? It won't be until they make that critical movie, or album, or discovery, and that could be ten or twenty years down the line. Or we won't know until we can look back on a body of work that only in accumulated retrospect reveals a quiet talent.

But yes, we are losing the greats of earlier generations.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

"There are two Newman's laws, you know. The first one is, 'It is useless to put on your brakes when you're upside down.' The second one
is, 'Just when things look darkest, they go black.'" -- Paul Newman, interview, 1983
-----
Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.

A quick trip to the dead people's server indicates that we lose beloved figures every year; some important to us, some of passing interest, some just
passing. I depends on how much their work has touched us.

It is nothing new; I am sure that they gathered about the agora with cries of 'Did you hear? Plato just fucking died!"

What is interesting is that it is so much simpler to share one's distress now; and find comfort from it.

"Pythagoras bought it? We'll always have right angle triangles."

Shayne

Its not just you. I'm in my fourties as well, and I'm feeling much the way you are.
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin