EVERYONE IS DYING

World's Oldest Man Dies in Japan at 114

The Associated Press
Monday, September 29, 2003; 2:58 AM

TOKYO - Yukichi Chuganji, a retired silkworm breeder documented as the world's oldest man, died at his home in Japan at age 114, his family said Monday.

too true, but they're playing Australian rules.

The reason none of them stepped up to the government and said HEY I'M A COMMUNIST was because under law, they don't have to.

True, but they had the choice taken away from them, by Kazan's actions. In the end, he shot himself in the foot, as he didn't save his own career.

Umm...he wasn't blacklisted, and he went on to do plenty of great work shortly afterwards. So how exactly does this statement work?

Okay, that was feeble even by my nonexistent standards.

i dont know, i think that (some) liberals are for outing b/c of the damage that it does when you are out of the closet, and really everyone knew the names of the reds in hollywood, and most of those reds didnt really apologize for embracing an ideology that rewarded stalin.

kazan isnt a nice fellow and what he did was unethical at best, but there were mitigating circumstances (none of which were presnted in the mawkish and apogolsit on the waterfront)

Basically the whole mass media/creation of lots of famous idol-type people that were well-known around at least part of the world began with records, right? And then movies? And from there it's gone to television and so forth. And with the whole 'the world is growing smaller' thing that the media keeps telling us about, and the instant delivery of information, we all get to hear about the deaths of people that we vaguely know as being 'celebrities' pretty darn fast, along with the tributes and so forth.

Now, basically, the people who became famous during the forties, fifties, and sixties, are reaching the age(s) where they're more likely to kick the bucket. This coincides with the time period when there was a significant increase of 'celebrity development,' so basically people that we might think of as being non-celebrityish, or minor-celebrityish, are now somehow elevated to great celebritihood through their deaths. And we're just going to see more and more reports of celebrity deaths in the coming decades, as all of these people who have become some part of the mass consciousness begin to die.

Does this make any sense?

I am saddened by Elia Kazan's passing. Fin.

Skottie, I like how you summed that up ... I was way too wordy. And I cannot think of anything close to the plane crash that killed the three musicians (and others on the plane too, though I do not know their names). I think that was more of a statistical abnormality, though, maybe. I mean, do (reasonably famous) people travel like that these days? Together, I mean? Or are they spread out over several flights? Or busses?

I keep thinking of all of the musicians from the 60s and 70s who have lived fairly, well, intense lives ... they're now coming into their 60s and 70s, coincidentally. And if statistics are anywhere close to being accurate, I imagine that lots of them will be passing on 'before their time.' I wonder if we're going to reach a point where there is what amounts to a 'celebrity passing update' on every newscast? I know that sounds morbid, but it seems to me that because of the sheer numbers of people whose names/contributions are known around the world, that at some point we will reach that critical mass. I could of course be way off.

(X-post with Chris ... if I've swiped this from something you've posted Chris, major apologies. If not, then great minds think alike *grin*)

Singer dies at 24 after fall from window

Former O.J. Simpson lawyer dies

Man charged in cathedral sex stunt dies

"Except me! Yaaahhaaaahaaaahaaaa!"

http://i.cnn.net/cnn/CNN/Programs/american.morning/images/2003/10/tz.saddam.jpg

From then on, he had to work against the movie system....rather than from within it: for every one who were willing to work with him, there were more folk that snubbed him because they remembered his actions during the Blacklist. As a micro-society that thrived on networking, he limited his own choices (of future actors, film staff, etc).

What is it about this time of year?

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=101124

Rodney Dangerfield, innit?

actress Janet Leigh
comedian Rodney Dangerfield
actor Christopher Reeve
photographer Richard Avedon
philosopher Jacques Derrida
baseball player Ken Caminiti

Now, it won't be long until we see the last WWI vet die. Weird to think that the last Civil War veteran didn't die until the late 1950's.