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Jan. 13th, 2006
The Funeral
Jan. 13th, 2006 07:21 pmI feel kinda guilty for feeling so unemotional about this whole thing. I can tell that it's affecting me, but I have no real palpable, nameable "feeling" about it. I think that yesterday evening I felt a twinge of some small sadness, but even that was gone today as I attended his funeral with the rest of the employees from the production facility in tow (minus Hugo).
It was a pretty standard funeral, a big pile of words, some empty, vaguely religious platitudes, some self serving reminiscences. Credit to the Methodist minister, who, although a complete bore, did pull some sentiments from various religions, including quotes from a Catholic writer (about living in the moment) and a quote from some expert of the Talmud. Also credit to R***** friend Big Mike, who was a grade 'A' asshole -- which was appropriate, even his racist joke didn't make me wince too much, 'cause... remember in whose honor you meet.
This jerk-off also spoke, and probably relished making the blue-hairs gasp by saying the word "shit" from the pulpit while reading aloud a letter from one of R*****'s fans, before proceeding to recount some stories about hanging with "Eddie" and John Elway on the set of Beverly Hills Cop. gee, I wonder why he didn't recount any stories about his wonderful experience in "King Kong 2"?
So, yeah, I was relieved when the boring Methodist spoke for the rest of the service.
My lovely wife wrote a really touching post that I don't feel like I could out-do, so I'm not even going to try to write any more than this. Just go read her thoughts here
It was a pretty standard funeral, a big pile of words, some empty, vaguely religious platitudes, some self serving reminiscences. Credit to the Methodist minister, who, although a complete bore, did pull some sentiments from various religions, including quotes from a Catholic writer (about living in the moment) and a quote from some expert of the Talmud. Also credit to R***** friend Big Mike, who was a grade 'A' asshole -- which was appropriate, even his racist joke didn't make me wince too much, 'cause... remember in whose honor you meet.
This jerk-off also spoke, and probably relished making the blue-hairs gasp by saying the word "shit" from the pulpit while reading aloud a letter from one of R*****'s fans, before proceeding to recount some stories about hanging with "Eddie" and John Elway on the set of Beverly Hills Cop. gee, I wonder why he didn't recount any stories about his wonderful experience in "King Kong 2"?
So, yeah, I was relieved when the boring Methodist spoke for the rest of the service.
My lovely wife wrote a really touching post that I don't feel like I could out-do, so I'm not even going to try to write any more than this. Just go read her thoughts here
further thoughts:
So many people were very much in awe of R*****, I have seen it in people's eyes when I tell them where I work, I still see it in people's eyes, even those who work for the company currently. My opinions about his art are well documented here, but many people thought it was magical and inspiring.
In reflection about this and my lack of emotion about his dying, and lack of emotion when viewing the show that was his funeral service, I realize that I have always been on the ugly, mechanical side of R*****... I've always worked to make his illusions appeal to those who are taken with him, I know what quantity and quality of bullshit is required to prop R***** up.
At the church we sat, inadvertently, directly next to the audio/visual board op station, and during the service, the most oddly moving thing I witnessed was one of the board operators fumbling with the controls of the slideshow and accidentally stopping the slides before they were supposed to stop, instead of starting another song, which he intended to do. No one noticed because when the music and slides stopped the next speaker took his cue.
You can not be moved by magic when you know how it's done, you can only admire or critique its execution.
So many people were very much in awe of R*****, I have seen it in people's eyes when I tell them where I work, I still see it in people's eyes, even those who work for the company currently. My opinions about his art are well documented here, but many people thought it was magical and inspiring.
In reflection about this and my lack of emotion about his dying, and lack of emotion when viewing the show that was his funeral service, I realize that I have always been on the ugly, mechanical side of R*****... I've always worked to make his illusions appeal to those who are taken with him, I know what quantity and quality of bullshit is required to prop R***** up.
At the church we sat, inadvertently, directly next to the audio/visual board op station, and during the service, the most oddly moving thing I witnessed was one of the board operators fumbling with the controls of the slideshow and accidentally stopping the slides before they were supposed to stop, instead of starting another song, which he intended to do. No one noticed because when the music and slides stopped the next speaker took his cue.
You can not be moved by magic when you know how it's done, you can only admire or critique its execution.