Asleep on the job guys...

[miles]

TOUAMB is the obituary page of the internet.

If this is the case, we've missed two big ones.

Well, a smaller one maybe with Gary Coleman's recent passing.

So I partied with a cousin of Coleman's widow last night, and my friend had some interesting theories on the events leading to his death due to some recent interactions with the widow. Like, CSI: Santaquin interesting. (Coleman has been living in Utah County for a while now and died in the same hospital in Provo in which I was born, apparently).

I linked to that article because I saw Avenue Q only recently and wondered if current/future productions could really go on without him (not that he played the character Gary Coleman obviously, but the joked hinged on him being alive and mostly out of the spotlight, generally in situations inspiring schadenfreude in all of us).

But shit, Dennis Hopper. Regardless of his tumultuous personal life, how you may have felt about him shilling for financial services companies, among other companies (personally I don't give a fuck), or whatever, Dennis Hopper, man. Dude's an icon. Well, I saw him at a Q&A after a screening of Hell Ride, a fun at times but pretty atrocious biker movie released a couple years back, featuring Hopper, Michael Madsen and David Carradine. A much younger person asked him how it felt to be an icon, and I think Madsen asked whether an icon is just an old Russian painting, so Hopper really isn't one. But still, Dennis Hopper.

My favorite Hopper scene that immediately comes to mind is him facing off with Christopher Walken in True Romance.

[wombat]

A much younger person asked him how it felt to be an icon, and I think Madsen asked whether an icon is just an old Russian painting

I am unmoved by the loss of either of these people, but I like that bit.

[side_show]

Oh man, Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet:  "Daddy loves blue velvet!"  (Hiss, hiss, breath, breath).  That is like, burned into my mind forever.  Brilliant performance.  Dude brought all his demons to the table for that role. 

As for Gary Coleman...  Some of my foggy early memories are of watching that show, and thinking how my mom was also adopted, just like those kids.  I don't really remember anything about that show otherwise, apart from the obvious catch phrase, which I suppose is burned into our collective consciousness at this point.

[lprkn]

I'm kind of happy for Gary Coleman, actually. He seemed like a pretty unhappy guy.

I need to see more movies with Dennis Hopper, though.

[miles]

Oh man, Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet:  "Daddy loves blue velvet!"  (Hiss, hiss, breath, breath).  That is like, burned into my mind forever.  Brilliant performance.  Dude brought all his demons to the table for that role.

Oh Jesus, totally blanked on that one even though I just watched it again like two weeks ago. Yes, it does not get much better.

[miles]

I'm kind of happy for Gary Coleman, actually. He seemed like a pretty unhappy guy.

My aforementioned friend said virtually the same thing last night. Apparently the widow's family is crazy.

I need to see more movies with Dennis Hopper, though.

Yes. And Blue Velvet is a good place to start if you haven't seen it yet. I'm going to watch Easy Rider today or tomorrow in memoriam.

[Carlos del Vaca]

Pet peeve:  people announcing celebrity deaths on Facebook.  This wasn't quite as bad as Michael Jackson's, which absolutely everyone felt compelled to announce.  But I saw at least a half-doze statuses of "Whatchoo talkin bout Willis?" or some variation thereon.  YOU ARE NOT AS ORIGINAL AS YOU THINK YOU ARE

[lprkn]

I didn't comment on Coleman's death on facebook, but only 'cause I thought it was too short.

[side_show]

Pet peeve:  people announcing celebrity deaths on Facebook.  This wasn't quite as bad as Michael Jackson's, which absolutely everyone felt compelled to announce.  But I saw at least a half-doze statuses of "Whatchoo talkin bout Willis?" or some variation thereon.  YOU ARE NOT AS ORIGINAL AS YOU THINK YOU ARE

Facebook isn't about being original.  It just isn't. 

[miles]

Yeah, not usually. But one of my friends posted this: "Gary Coleman, like the hopes and aspirations of many young men and women, has died in Provo, Utah." Which made me laugh, out loud.