I was thinking about the large amount of celebrity deaths in recent weeks, and it dawned on me that this will only get worse.
The entertainment industry has grown by leaps and bounds over the years. The amount of people in tv, movies, music, writing, etc...has been growing along with the growth in the industry itself. Because of this growing pool of celebrities to draw from, the number of possible deaths in any given week or month will continue to grow as well, especially as the population ages.
So did we just have a particularly bad month of famous people dieing? Or is this indicative of a growing and aging celebrity population?
Eventually the death announcements will inundate the main page, necessitating a "celebrity deaths" thread. Talk about an upbeat thread huh?
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
People who were famous in the late '70s and early '80s -- the onset of conscious childhood for many of us -- are going to start dying in droves over the next few years. No big deal.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
Its almost as if someone was murdering them one by one.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
Yeah, I've started to notice that with the number of deaths involved with Babylon 5 (actors portraying Zathras, Franklin, G'Kar).
But yeah, what Tom said.
Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
I didn't know Zathras was dead. Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
Its okay, he has several brothers.
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
While what Tom says is absolutely right, it's also only part of the equation. Don't forget about accidental deaths, suicides, drugs overdoses, etc...these types of deaths are also prone to happen sporadically. And with a greater percentage of people to draw from, the number of these types of deaths will go up as well.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
I'm voting for sunspots Posted by BelladonnaOrchid (Member # 188) on :
I was just mentioning to my husband yesterday that it's like Death is cleaning house in Hollywood.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
Sunspot activity has been at an all time low in recent years. I know you have astronomer friends, AJ. Is that what you're referring to?
There's speculation (I don't think it's more than that) that it could cause a cooling period. The last sunspot minimum that was extremely low predated a series of very cold winters called in Europe the little ice age.
Would it be nice to counteract some of the global warming we've been seeing? This winter/spring is the first in a long time that we've had "normal" rainfall in the southeastern US. Our average late winter / early spring is like the monsoon rains in tropical regions. It's deluge after deluge for weeks on end. The 10 years (I'm guessing) before that we had drought (for us). Back in the 1970s we had a decade of floods. So it's hard to say what's weather and what's climate.
But sunspots sound good to me. Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tatiana: Would it be nice to counteract some of the global warming we've been seeing?
Hmm. Global cooling presaged by the death of stars? There's a mixed metaphor in there somewhere.
Posted by Frisco (Member # 3765) on :
We should just make a list of all living celebrities in the original post, and just delete the names as necessary.
That way the thread doesn't get morose. We can all come on and say, "Holy carp, Pauly Shore isn't dead! What a joyous day!".
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Actually, that one would depress me.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
I hate thinking about the fact that there's a billion billion billion [/sagan] people out there who will die and it will make us sad.
Like Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer. Think about it. He is going to die like the rest of us scrubs, but he does not deserve it. He should live forever.
And oh god, James Randi? He's like eighty. NEVER DIE, RANDI. NEVER DIEEEE.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
If it helps, it'll probably be no more than seven, maybe eight billion.
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
Maybe Samp is talking about all the possible celebrities in all the possible worlds in the universe.
Frisco, thanks for volunteering. Get on it.
Posted by 0Megabyte (Member # 8624) on :
Blayne: You weren't thinking about a certain notebook, were you?
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
quote:Like Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer. Think about it. He is going to die like the rest of us scrubs, but he does not deserve it. He should live forever.
He's actually an animatronic working at the Miami Space Transit Planetarium (I've always liked that name; makes it sound like an interstellar airport).
You humans are so easily fooled...
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
CNN is reporting that Karl Malden just passed away at age 97.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Who's Karl Malden?
Posted by Leonide (Member # 4157) on :
I will miss his nose.
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: And oh god, James Randi? He's like eighty. NEVER DIE, RANDI. NEVER DIEEEE.
You know what would be ironic? If Randi tried to communicate with people after he died.
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
They're falling like dominos. Honestly, why all of a sudden? It isn't even winter.
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
quote:Originally posted by katharina: Who's Karl Malden?
I Know he won an Oscar for Streetcar, but I'll always remember him as General Omar Bradley in Patton.
Did no one here watch The Streets of San Francisco? Or are you all too young?
How about his American Express commercials?
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
Yeah, but those are kind of a given, aren't they?
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
quote:Originally posted by katharina: Who's Karl Malden?
Formerly, my father's roommate. But that was many years ago.
---
Added: My father would have turned 100 this year, were he still alive.
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by Nighthawk: Yeah, but those are kind of a given, aren't they?
quote:Originally posted by katharina: Who's Karl Malden?
Apparently not.
Posted by The White Whale (Member # 6594) on :
Isn't this just some type of selective perception? I mean, I knew of around half of the celebrities that have died recently. People (including celebrities) die all the time.
Sure, Michael Jackson was a big one, but Farrah Fawcett, Billy Mays, Karl Malden, and Alexis Arguello just seem to be getting more and more obscure.
Or maybe it's just a good indication of the time period in which I grew up.
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lisa: How about his American Express commercials?
Yeah, I mostly knew him as the "Don't carry cash, carry American Express" guy.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
quote:Originally posted by The White Whale: Isn't this just some type of selective perception? I mean, I knew of around half of the celebrities that have died recently. People (including celebrities) die all the time.
Considering that the opposite of that explanation would be that some larger effect is actually causing the premature death of a specific social class, the answer is yes, absolutely, this is a case of selective perception. There are simply more celebrities being reported on, by more news sources, than in the past. Selecting from a larger pool of people, and more often, changes one's perception of the situation. Perhaps there actually *are* more celebrity deaths in past few years, but there have been more "celebrities" than ever before.
I recall a time when I was in school in San Francisco and we started hearing on the radio news and local news, every single day, about animal attacks, especially dogs attacking children. I believe it got started when a celebrity's (believe it was an SF basketball player, or former player, maybe Tim Hardaway) daughter was mauled by a vicious dog. Outside of some exotic disease or strange weather pattern causing this behavior, which seems unlikely to me (we don't have the Santa Annas), this was simply picked up because it contained everything necessary to make news out of- it had appeal to celebrity, community, animal rights, children- no wonder it became a pet story with the local news (no pun in ten did).
I saw a list of stories in the news a week ago, and Jackson topped the list, ahead of 65 or so people dying in bombings all over Baghdad. I'm not complaining- I get why that is, but it's a very subjective thing, this relationship we have with tragedy.
Posted by natural_mystic (Member # 11760) on :
quote:Originally posted by Orincoro: (believe it was an SF basketball player, or former player, maybe Tim Hardaway) daughter was mauled by a vicious dog.
If memory serves, it was Sprewell's daughter.
Posted by The Reader (Member # 3636) on :
Former NFL star quarterback Steve McNair has apparently been murdered.
Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
McNair was apparantly killed by his girlfriend, who then killed herself. I feel bad for his wife. Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
quote:Originally posted by kmbboots: Were you Robert McNamara-ed into submission*?
No, but I was Rolling Stoned and Beatled 'till I'm blind.
Assuming I correctly got the reference to the Simon and Garfunkel song, I'll point out that I'm 22, otherwise... *slowly backs away*
Posted by kmbboots (Member # 8576) on :
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