infamous

The AP reported the death of Estelle Getty today.  She was best known for her role on The Golden Girls as Sophia.  She died on Tuesday.

Is it odd that as a young man I actually watched the Golden Girls?  I don’t know what it was about that show that attracted me as a kid, but I actually found it to be quite funny.  I do not believe that a thirteen year old boy was the target audience, but they had me. The character of Sophia was my favorite, with Blanche as a close second.  It was not until recently that I learned, Estelle was the youngest of the group.  Although she played the not always lovable matriarch of the bunch, she was considerable younger than the rest of the actresses.  I guess that speaks to her great character work.

So long to another great performer this year.  Thanks for the laughs.

A great man died yesterday. After an amazing career, chronicled in the NYT this morning and inspirational routines bringing to mind our faults as a society, George Carlin’s dead. Now you might think “dead” to strong and that it might be more appropriate to say, “he’s no longer with us” or “passed on” or “deceased”, but if you are a Carlin fan, you know he would just prefer dead. Remove the bullshit and see what’s left. From the NYT:

George Carlin, the Grammy-Award winning standup comedian and actor who was hailed for his irreverent social commentary, poignant observations of the absurdities of everyday life and language, and groundbreaking routines like “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” died in Santa Monica, Calif., on Sunday, according to his publicist, Jeff Abraham. He was 71.

The first time I heard Carlin was in a buddy of mine’s car on a road trip to Hot Springs, AR. We listened to Class Clown while driving down the pine tree lined two lane southern highway. It was a beautiful sunny day without a cloud in the sky. We were sixteen, newly licensed, and felt free for one of the first times in our lives. A hundred miles away from home by ourselves for the first time Seven Words You can Never Say on Television comes on and I’m hooked. It occurs to this sixteen year old how silly it is that we regiment our language, which then is translated in my growing mind, how we regiment or society. In a grand chorus that only a group of sixteen year old boys a couple hundred miles away from home can muster, we screamed a salute of, “Fuck Yeah!” and went and scored some cigarettes.

Although some criticized parts of his later work as too contentious, Mr. Carlin defended the material, insisting that his comedy had always been driven by an intolerance for the shortcomings of humanity and society. “Scratch any cynic,” he said, “and you’ll find a disappointed idealist.”

Still, when pushed to explain the pessimism and overt spleen that had crept into his act, he quickly reaffirmed the zeal that inspired his lists of complaints and grievances. “I don’t have pet peeves,” he said, correcting the interviewer. And with a mischievous glint in his eyes, he added, “I have major, psychotic hatreds.”

Thanks. Thanks for giving for giving us exactly what we deserve.
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