2025 RIPs in Peace

[Aslanna]

The end of the year sure has had some unexpected deaths.

Rob Reiner - Whatever you thought about his politics this was just messed up.

Greg Biffle - I'm no Nascar fan, and only recently saw a few of his videos, but him and his whole family just recently died in a plane crash which is also messed up.

Vince Zampella - Word is it was a 2026 Ferrari so I imagine he was showing off to his passenger and didn't know what he was doing with a new car. Unfortunately that passenger also died. However if it turns out that the car belonged to, and was being driven by the other person, then that's also messed up. Either way I imagine it was too much car for the experience level of the driver.

A bunch of other notable deaths. I know at least half of the names on that list. And out of that half I didn't even know half of them had died.

[Funkmasterr]

D'Angelo was the first celebrity passing that I've cared about in longer than I can think. I really love his music, his Voodoo album is usually in my top 5 most played albums every year. It's a shame we didn't get to hear more from him. Too young for sure.

[Winnow]

Some off that list I took note of:

Jay North:

Played Dennis in Dennis the menace 1959 TV series. I recently started watching the first season of it. It feels strange watching shows where you know everyone has passed away. It is nice to have a glimpse back into the era where kids could be kids. (See Jane Goodall entry)

Val Kilmer:

I watched his documentary. He wasn't a great guy. I respect his early acting though.

Jane Goodall:

The chimp lady. I watch random shows. I watched Jane, An Apple TV kids show about a girl with a vivid imagination that pretends to save rare species with Jane Goodall as her hero. The girl is really annoying. I compare her to Dennis the menace from 1959. It's interesting to see what's considered good/bad behavior between 1959 and 2020's. As bad a Dennis is, I think I'd take him over this whacked out girl Jane thinking she's saving the planet while annoying everyone around her.

[Aslanna]

From the list:

Tom Stoppard. I don't know a lot of his work but I did enjoy Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. Pretty clever stuff.

Ozzy Osbourne _ I wasn't a huge fan but as someone who grew up in the 70s/80s it always sucks to lose someone from that time. Not sure why they reference him as Ozzy Ozbourne in the article. Seems poor proofreading.

James Watson - We had to read that book in High School (Double Helix?), which was a long time ago, so I was surprised to know he was still alive. 97 years is a pretty fucking good run though. Assuming he had quality of life for the past ~10 years.

Dick Cheney - No comment. He did vote for Harris in 2024 so there's that.

June Lockhart - I watched a lot of Lassie growing up but couldn't say I knew anything about her.

Ace Frehley - I wasn't a Kiss fan.

Robert Redford - Not familiar with a lot of his work. Sort of thought he had died previously.

James Lovell - I only know of him from Apollo 13, the Tom Hanks movie.

Malcom-Jamal Warner - Bill Cosby really fucked all of those people out of a lot of money.

Loretta Swift - My dad watched a lot of MASH growing up but other than that I couldn't tell you anything about her.

George Foreman - I only know about the grills. I still have one but I can't remember the last time I used it.

Gene Hackman - Although he was retired from acting it's still messed up how him and his wife died.

Bob Uecker - I only know him from the Miller Lite commercials in the 80s.. "I must be in the front row!"

[Winnow]

Dick Cheney - No comment. He did vote for Harris in 2024 so there's that.

One of the most evil vice presidents in history and basically was the president for most of the time Bush Jr was in office. It's crazy that Harris thought an endorsement from Cheney's wife would be a good thing.

If you're not familiar with his history, it's pretty well portrayed in the movie, "Vice" 2018 with Christian Bale playing Cheney which is odd but it worked. Good movie.

I thought about commenting on Ozzy. Listened to Crazy train quite a bit. I can vividly remember listening to it while playing tennis at night in 1982. It was the first sport I lettered in High School as a freshman and then got an MVP trophy later in Switzerland. It's a good memory as my body is broken down now. I can't even bend over. It's a struggle just to get out of bed in the morning.

Crazy, but that's how it goes
Millions of people living as foes
Maybe it's not too late
To learn how to love and forget how to hate

I've listened to preachers, I've listened to fools
I've watched all the dropouts, who make their own rules
One person conditioned to rule and control
The media sells it and you live the role

Heirs of a cold war, that's what we've become
Inheriting troubles, I'm mentally numb
Crazy, I just cannot bear
I'm living with something that just isn't fair

Those are some good lyrics that stand the test of time. Props to Ozzy and the band for adding some thoughtful lyrics to their song.