Catching Up

Okay, so I have been out of the "blog-loop" since Sunday, except for occasional peeks to see what was going on (and to keep my Google Reader from imploding!)

My thoughts on the recent "Celebrity Apocalypse":

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

David Carradine:



Okay, so arguably, Carradine is the recent death that kicked off this boom-boom-boom month of deaths. Carradine was someone I recall from childhood, mainly due to my mother's fondness for him and his role as Kwai Chang Caine on "Kung Fu" and "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues". To me, his best role was in the "Kill Bill" films.

But his weirdest role, and the one I will always think of now, was in "Sonny Boy", a small budget wack-a-doodle of a film from 1989 in which he played Pearl, who was either a man in drag living as the wife of another man, or just a strange, homely, lonely woman. So bizarre, I don't know what I could say to describe it other than "odd".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ed McMahon:



Didn't really watch him as Carson's sidekick much, I knew him more from "TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes" with Dick Clark, and also from "Star Search".

He seemed like a good enough emcee. And he seemed like a nice enough guy, from what I saw of his TV-persona. Glad he is done suffering now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Farrah Fawcett:



Out of the Angels, I was always a "Sabrina Duncan"/Kate Jackson fan. But who didn't know Farrah? She was more than just an actress, she became sort of the symbol of the 70s beauty. She was adored by millions of boys (and men) and copied by millions of girls (and women).

I was one who bought into the weird side of her, due to her appearance on Letterman a few years back. But the recent special that aired prior to her death showed a different side of Farrah. She was a woman who was battling a deadly disease with courage and a sense of humor. I am sad she is gone, but glad she is no longer suffering, as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael Jackson:



Wow. Even though he had been out of the major spotlight for so long, he was such an icon that he would always be one of the "big ones". In the 80s, was there ANY celebrity bigger than Michael Jackson?

I feel bad his life went so, so far off-track towards the end, and then I have to wonder how much was damage he did to himself and how much was the end-effect of the strange path his life had been on? But, as I was shown with Farrah, maybe we will just never know the really true life of Michael Jackson.

I have been able to listen to a lot of his music over the past few days, due to the radio tributes. When he was good, he was very, very good. Sad that it all fell apart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Billy Mays:



Not much for me to say about this. Sad he died so relatively young and full of life. I feel bad for his family. He seemed like an energetic and fun guy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gale Storm:



Not really too familiar with this older actress, I remember her more from a role on a episode of "Murder, She Wrote". I watch plenty of TCM, so I am sure I will come across more of her movies, and I am looking forward to it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fred Travalena:



Not too familiar with Travalena, but he was a face I remember seeing here and there over the years, and usually always involving a laugh. I guess I probably heard him more in many of the voice-overs he did in TV and cartoons, including The Jetsons, The Smurfs and Scooby-Doo.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, my thoughts, not that they matter much. I think Dolly Parton summed it all up pretty well when she did this little piece about Jackson's death:



Don't believe in people "resting in peace", since I don't think you are "resting" (or anything else) after death. A fellow blogger came up with a different acronym: L.I.M. - which stands for "Live In Memory". I like that better!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~