Let me assure you, The Wacko Monologues is not becoming a macabre blog. 2016 just seems insistent on starting off this way. January 1st, we lost Natalie Cole. January 10th, we lost David Bowie. And today, January 14th, we've lost Alan Rickman. They always said death comes in threes. Sucks that it usually ends up being the case.
Though these celebrities' death seem to overlap, appreciation will come to fruition for them all. First, the initial shock and awe of the death overtakes us. Soon statuses and videos will flood social media in honor of the fallen star. We'll play a song, album, or movie in remembrance of them. Works they were involved in will see a sudden spike in sales, a post-humous reward - because "people never get the flowers while they can still smell em."* And then life more-or-less returns to its normal pace.
There's nothing wrong with this riptide of events. It's the public's grieving process for people who have affected them. Though we never knew them personally, certain celebrities have a lasting effect on us. I still see crying Genie fan art. For anyone who grew up during the 90s and 00s, Robin Williams was basically our cool uncle. He would come over, make us laugh, impart a few wise words upon us, and leave us yearning for his next visit. When he died, it was an end we never saw coming.
Though, for some celebrities, we have a feeling their mortality's about to run out. The 27 Club should be more of a watchlist then anything I think. Every tortured or mischievous recording artists or actor should be closely monitored from their last day as a 26 year old til their 28th birthday. Then life can be as cruel as it wants to be to them. I think it's the sting of marvelous talent and potential gone so soon that makes the 27 Club so poignant.
Yet, the eeriest phenomenon is when recording artist predict their own deaths. David Bowie released Blackstar on his 69th birthday and meant it to be his goodbye to everyone, singing about his impending death. Michael Jackson was set to tour one last time - calling it This Is It - but died a month before it was set to begin. Biggie and Tupac's deaths bother me the most, because they both rapped and talk about life's brevity. Though, this was to be expected as their rap beef continued to grow out of hand as east and west coasts pitted themselves against each other.
I suppose when it comes down to it, even if you can predict death, you can't run from it. The Final Destination franchise proves that. All you can do is accept it as a part - or the conclusion, rather - of life, and appreciate people during their time and death. But in the meantime, someone keep close eyes on Stevie Wonder and Betty White. Ooo, I'm not ready for that.
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*A lyric taken from Kanye West's Big Brother
