It's been a pretty heavy past few weeks. The only escapes from talking about the sweltering heat and the poor economy have been the following:

-This rash of celebrity deaths. Nothing new really needs to be said about the lives and deaths of Michael Jackson, Farrah Faucett and Billy Mays. All deaths are tragic to someone somewhere and unfortunately millions of people dealt with the death of loved ones, coworkers, neighbors, etc. this week. It had to be hard to try and escape the sad realities of your own life and be confronted with nothing but idle chatter about the untimely passing of these celebrities.

-The weightiness of the all-too-similarly-named movies Revolutionary Road and Reservation Road. Just remember one is about Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet having a bad marriage and one is about Mark Ruffalo running over Joaquin Phoenix's child. Also, one is about bringing tragedy upon yourself and the other is about having it forced on you. Either way, stress makes people do strange things and often the result is unsettling.

-Then, of course, there's this. Why does this seem to happen roughly two out of every three years? It was still good to be there to witness some of the misery, though:


June 13, 2009