Mine is JRR Tolkien who I share a birthday with. Jan 3. I remember the moment I found out. I read it in this giant birthday book at my Nahnah’s house. We’d already read the hobbit together so I was thrilled by that
I have to mute this now. 95% of you are excellent and entertaining but the 5% of people who see every post as an opportunity to show the world they’re a super edgy unique human has arrived
I think it's the way her work reached you that matters. I'm not especially familiar with her writing but I've gotten the sense that she was a person who thought a lot about compassion and communication, and might like to be remembered as fallible and capable of learning from past mistakes
She was lovely. Used to cross paths with her often, while walking my dog. I figured she got enough fan attention so beyond "good morning", I never really intruded on her. I waited in line at a book signing to tell her I loved her work, & she asked about my dog. She was kind & very humorous. Miss her
Very good. Mine is my paternal grandpa, who though not famous was similarly afflicted by war as Tolkien. Broken and battered, the lesson I have taken from him is that when you cannot find beauty, or joy, or love, it is our solemn duty to create these things.
I don't know if "emotional support" would be the right description. But I agree about Tolkien. As a passionate fantasy fan I estimate I read the Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion >15 times times each in my youth. Great stories, deep dive, one of my favorite writers.
Not "all people", but "most". At least in America.
"The WHO currently estimates that four in ten adults in Europe and six in ten adults in North America have survived at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE) in childhood."
Well, I'd say mine is a woman and that would be Willa Cather. She got me back into reading again from well over a year ago and I've been grateful ever since. Would that count?
If not, then I'd say Gene Wilder probably (Willy Wonka was the shit for me growing up). It's hard to choose I think.
Anthony Bourdain was a meathead (complimentary) who could meet other meatheads where they were and talk sense into them. My brother loves him, and I hope he picks up on Tony’s humanitarianism.
crocodile hunter, carl sagan, jim henson, mr. rogers and bob ross for me lol. crocodile hunter was the first though, I've adored him since I was very little.
People thought I was weird af because I was a teenage Black girl from the inner city who thought Bob Newhart was arguably the funniest comedian who ever lived. I still stand by that at age 46.
Gilda Radner. It was like watching someone who totally got how my mind worked and I connected w her when I was like 6? I saw Emily Litila and I was like- that woman would totally get me. There are others- Robin Williams, Carrie Fischer, George Carlin…
And I feel like if she had lived- she would have been an amazing voice for mental health, reproductive care bc she was so easy to relate to and she cared! I’m tearing up now thinking about that- lol. I cried when Gene Wilder passed happy they might be stars together again.
Carrie fisher, spent my younger years hearing how she was a drug addicted, made to feel ashamed at the time for looking up to her but then I developed extreme mental health issues and just hearing her talk about life and that she was still fighting keep me going as well how much she protected others
Made me realize even people with chronic extreme mental illness deserved love and that we could be protectors and accomplish great things. As well that hate our selfs isn’t helpful so why do it
A portrait of the great John Coltrane I did years ago. A Love Supreme had a profound impact on me and so did Coltrane’s idea of pushing his art as far as he could. I also share a birthday with Paul Newman, and that’s about all I share with him.
May I commend to you the composer Alexander Borodin? Of illegitimate birth, wonderful tunesmith, eminent chemistry Prof, advocate for women's education, reliable friend. And he loved cats. Good bloke, admirable droopy moustache.
He's taken up the whole building actually. My only regret is, I've never seen him perform live, although he used to frequent a local after hours bar near my house, which the song Closing Time was about.
I have a lot of thoughts about how important Ashman’s work is to an entire generation, most of which don’t know his name, but they all boil down to: yes.
Yup, in high school he was the imaginary person in my head I bounced conversation ideas off of. You know, to turn my inner monologue into a dialogue. (This was after the cocaine phase, so he was starting to make sense in real life.)
Freddie Mercury! I even named a cat after him (which I found out later had a compromised immune system because of feline herpes), and got a tattoo of the furry little drama queen when he passed. Freddie Mercury the cat wearing the harlequin onesie, with FM roses (an actual breed) and the planet.
I love it! I am a lifelong lover of freddie as well. I had a boycat named freddie mercury, he was all white, so more the white satin era. I would love to be able to buy a fm rose bush. you're right up my alley 🤍🖤🌹
Something I only realised once I was in India (I lived there for a few months because of work) was how much inspiration FM got from his parents' country.
I used to have a coworker whose enclosed office was filled with Freddie Mercury memorabilia. She had a dog named after him. Another coworker was at the show that threw razors at the stage because they didn't like the stash. Sadly, I was 5 when he died.
I remember I was at work when he died. I worked retail and I found out over the radio. I told my coworker when she came in and she didn’t know who he was. It astonished me that someone couldn’t know who he was, that you could live a life (and swear) at the same time as George Carlin and not know.
20 years ago I worked for a now-defunct animation studio that produced a movie in which George Carlin voiced a character. Some re-writes were done, which meant new recording sessions for several characters. I was in charge of the logistics for those sessions. I attended Carlin's.
This was about two years before his death. His health wasn't great, and he was having problems with back pain. He was a trouper, though, and did a great job. As he was about to walk out of the studio, he confided how tired he was, and that he couldn't wait to get home.
When the door opened, we found a small group of young comics eagerly waiting for him. They'd been taping a web-based show in another studio in the building, and had heard Carlin was on the premises. They were so excited to meet him -- he was clearly their hero (mine, too, as it happens).
Carlin chatted with them, signed autographs, and generally made their day and probably their year. He gave them his time and attention, staying another fifteen minutes to half an hour, and saying nothing about his pain or his fatigue. It was one of the loveliest acts of kindness I ever witnessed.
My father had gone to Exeter and talked about knowing this guy Gorvie Doll. I of course had no concept. This was also the era of Lily Tomlin’s Mister Veedle bits, and I didn’t know who that was, either.
In my twenties I read the novels. Julian stays with me still.
I have an emotional support dead famous lady - she was and is - the coolest in the entire galaxy. Raw. Honest. Incomparable. Of course she was a great actress but her writing…powerful and humorous and wise.
I keep trying to think of a good answer for me and all I can come up with is the famous person whose death influenced my life, at least while I was younger, a lot, and that's Kurt Cobain. Which is not a good or healthy answer and probably explains a lot about me
I was also going to pick my own grandmother. She was fiercely strong and independent and yet always so kind, gentle, and patient? I'll never know how she combined the two.
I’m not sure who my emotional support dead person is, but Mitch is definitely one of the best comedians. “Toothpicks, I’m for ‘em.” Brilliant comedy and forever missed.
Got to see him do standup for a bunch of dumb college students in Oklahoma in, like, just in a room. He was so kind, signed my journal while being whisked away to somewhere else.
I still collect Koala stuff (they’re SO FUCKING CUTE…) some 25 years later.
Comments
Sometimes a post sounds zingier as is. Of course women are included
notice who made the damn post
And thank you!
😁
"The WHO currently estimates that four in ten adults in Europe and six in ten adults in North America have survived at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE) in childhood."
https://youtu.be/t9kT1xIpZ4E?si=CbAM2wVCD33_Jw9S
If not, then I'd say Gene Wilder probably (Willy Wonka was the shit for me growing up). It's hard to choose I think.
https://bsky.app/profile/bobewise.bsky.social/post/3leaqschkss2c
(Under-appreciated shout-out to Gene Hackman!)
Sadly, in this version, there's also Margaret Fuller underwater, her hair waving.
Really though, most of my idols are dead, but at least they died before living long enough to become John Lydon.
I wanted to have a see-ance with Father Mayii✝️🔮
I wanna ask him if he wanted to join me and Satan for a night of repossession and slapstick comedy gold 🥸
Multiple souls in one body?👻
It's a movie about a clown from hell that is haunted by devils, a funny Cryptid, like Spawn
😈🤡👿
Freddie Mercury passed before I became a fan of his, he's runner-up
Unless Dwayne McDuffie is.
Definitely one of the two.
The fucking sneaky cardiopathy. If nothing else kills you, it will.
Same with Ray Stevenson, around the same time.
Hmm, I like warrior women and tech people who make incredible things and can throw lightning bolts. Hehe, maybe they do say about me.
I’ll see your Hattie and raise you an Æthelflæd.
😉😃😋
(Spoiler: not a guy, but she’s my muse)
Chicken on the hill, Wilbur.
The Scumdog who torched many planets, slew many a political figure, and made many a banger song with the band Gwar.
(Keith Haring for anyone unaware)
Approaching everything with curiosity and a deep love for others is a gift.
#Prince
#MarcBolan
#JohnEntwistle
In my twenties I read the novels. Julian stays with me still.
Thanks, Gorvie.
This was 1968. Lily Tomlin was an ensemble player on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In then.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I was also going to pick my own grandmother. She was fiercely strong and independent and yet always so kind, gentle, and patient? I'll never know how she combined the two.
Got to see him do standup for a bunch of dumb college students in Oklahoma in, like, just in a room. He was so kind, signed my journal while being whisked away to somewhere else.
I still collect Koala stuff (they’re SO FUCKING CUTE…) some 25 years later.