Here's something you might be interested in.
I guess the Mark Twain quoted doesn't fit the theme of this blog. I just always got a kick out of it. Nowdays, we can Google everything. So if we hear about a celebrity dying and aren't sure, we'll go right for the computer. Back in Twains day...he just showed up at a party, and that's the first someone finds out that the info they previously received was wrong.
I don't always read the obituaries. If I have a lot going that day, I skip them. But, when the mechanics are working on your car, and you've read every other section, even the classifieds, you start to read. And, you find out how fascinating they can be. And on rare occasion, that person you knew, unfortunately pops up.
You glance at the small photo, see an attractive woman in her 20s...only to see that she was born in 1923 and it's an old photo used.
The ones I read are about people that had a small degree of fame, but that I've never heard of. There's something fascinating about a cinematographer that worked in Hollywood for 60 years, and had an interesting life. Yet we know so much more about the actors in his films.
In yesterdays obituaries in the Union-Tribune, there was a Milton Katselas. He was 75, and the acting coach for George Clooney. Heck, I never knew he had one. Bill Walton had Wooden. Clooney had Katselas! He also had students that included Michelle Pfeiffer and Gene Hackman. I'm guessing Gene didn't thank him when he won the Oscar, though.
A 95-year-old actress passed away. Dina Cocea. It says she was well-known in Romania.
An 88-year-old writer named Es'kia Mphahlele passed. She was well known in South Africa.
Another that was more popular somewhere else...Gianni Raimondi. Guess where he's from? Yep, Italy. The 85-year-old sang with Maria Callas numerous times.
I have to admit, I always got a chuckle out of people in work doing a "death pool", where they guess which celebrities will die next. It's just fun to hear the names (they either go with the young party animals like Lohan, or the old guys like Wilfred Brimley; although he's been costing people pools for the last 17 years!)
The first obituary listed yesterday, was John Daly. I immediately thought it was the pro golfer. Because, a few days ago, he was passed out in the parking lot of a Hooter's. I think I recall, that ambulances had to be called when they found it difficult to wake him up.
Hooter's was a sponsor of his at one point. They aren't enjoying the kind of press that Subway got from Jared.
Daly has admitted he's got addictions. He once showed up to golf without a shirt. Other times he's golfed with beer and cigarettes in his hand.
But, this Daly was an Oscar-winning producer, who worked on Platoon, The Last Emperor, and one of his first big name films, Tommy (Ann-Margret in baked beans...that almost killed the fantasies I had after seeing her rock out with Elvis).
But, this Daly lived to be 71. My mom would say "That's so young." She thinks if you die before the age of 90, that you died too young.
Let's just hope the golfer can get his life together, and not become one of those celebrities that dies too young.
I guess the Mark Twain quoted doesn't fit the theme of this blog. I just always got a kick out of it. Nowdays, we can Google everything. So if we hear about a celebrity dying and aren't sure, we'll go right for the computer. Back in Twains day...he just showed up at a party, and that's the first someone finds out that the info they previously received was wrong.
I don't always read the obituaries. If I have a lot going that day, I skip them. But, when the mechanics are working on your car, and you've read every other section, even the classifieds, you start to read. And, you find out how fascinating they can be. And on rare occasion, that person you knew, unfortunately pops up.
You glance at the small photo, see an attractive woman in her 20s...only to see that she was born in 1923 and it's an old photo used.
The ones I read are about people that had a small degree of fame, but that I've never heard of. There's something fascinating about a cinematographer that worked in Hollywood for 60 years, and had an interesting life. Yet we know so much more about the actors in his films.
In yesterdays obituaries in the Union-Tribune, there was a Milton Katselas. He was 75, and the acting coach for George Clooney. Heck, I never knew he had one. Bill Walton had Wooden. Clooney had Katselas! He also had students that included Michelle Pfeiffer and Gene Hackman. I'm guessing Gene didn't thank him when he won the Oscar, though.
A 95-year-old actress passed away. Dina Cocea. It says she was well-known in Romania.
An 88-year-old writer named Es'kia Mphahlele passed. She was well known in South Africa.
Another that was more popular somewhere else...Gianni Raimondi. Guess where he's from? Yep, Italy. The 85-year-old sang with Maria Callas numerous times.
I have to admit, I always got a chuckle out of people in work doing a "death pool", where they guess which celebrities will die next. It's just fun to hear the names (they either go with the young party animals like Lohan, or the old guys like Wilfred Brimley; although he's been costing people pools for the last 17 years!)
The first obituary listed yesterday, was John Daly. I immediately thought it was the pro golfer. Because, a few days ago, he was passed out in the parking lot of a Hooter's. I think I recall, that ambulances had to be called when they found it difficult to wake him up.
Hooter's was a sponsor of his at one point. They aren't enjoying the kind of press that Subway got from Jared.
Daly has admitted he's got addictions. He once showed up to golf without a shirt. Other times he's golfed with beer and cigarettes in his hand.
But, this Daly was an Oscar-winning producer, who worked on Platoon, The Last Emperor, and one of his first big name films, Tommy (Ann-Margret in baked beans...that almost killed the fantasies I had after seeing her rock out with Elvis).
But, this Daly lived to be 71. My mom would say "That's so young." She thinks if you die before the age of 90, that you died too young.
Let's just hope the golfer can get his life together, and not become one of those celebrities that dies too young.