[E]verything was much harder to do than I imagined, despite the fact that I was already imagining everything would be much harder than I imagined. I mean, I began from how hard I thought everything would be, multiplied this by the usual you-know-things-never-go-as-planned factor, then multiplied this by a no-seriously-it’s-going-to-harder-still factor, and still came nowhere close to imagining the horrors ahead.
Day: August 14, 2002
Living obituaries
obituary (əU’bItjUərI) A record or announcement of a death or deaths, esp. in a newspaper; usually comprising a brief biographical sketch of the deceased.
Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed.
Perhaps it’s just me, but the term “living obituary” seems… I don’t know, just wrong somehow, like you’re just waiting for someone to die. I came across it in the HTML source for Salon’s article on Stan Lee while I was writing my last entry, and it’s been bugging me ever since.
I don’t have a problem with preparing so-called “advance obituaries”. Everyone’s heard of the various occasions when a still-living celebrity’s obituary has been sent out over the wires—most recently, and perhaps most famously, Associated Press published Bob Hope’s obit accidentally, and the story mushroomed. What I don’t like is overloading the term (defined above) simply to refer to a profile, even if it’s one that hits “all the notes that standard profiles miss.”
“Brilliant Careers” is a perfect title for Salon’s series of profiles. But they’re not obituaries, living or otherwise.
’Nuff said
I’ve always liked the term “’Nuff said,” but never really had an origin or context for it until just recently when I was reminded that it’s a Stan Lee-ism. Which makes sense—one of the first comic books I can remember reading was an extended Spider-Man book (what these days would probably be referred to as a graphic novel) that I received from my parents when I had my tonsils removed. I’ve liked ol’ Spidey in general ever since, although I’ve really only started reading “The Amazing Spider-Man” regularly since J. Michael Straczynski started writing it.
This category is where I plan to post quotes with little or no comment. They will speak for themselves, just like Stan Lee’s line.
’Nuff said.