2008 Obits - A Picture A Day #1

A picture a day 001

I've decided, a day late, to post a phone picture every day in 2009. I'll probably include some background for the photo. Let's see if I can make it interesting.

I spent New Year's Day totally chillin'. We ate leftover party treats for lunch. For me it was a total Pajama Day! The wife went to bed after Penn State lost to USC, and I fired up the Wii, checked the Nintendo Channel and promptly fell asleep while viewing the Top 30 most watched Nintendo promos of 2008. [Why was I watching these things?] I woke up a couple of hours later with a warm cat in my lap and checked AP News feed (on the Wii), where I learned that Donald Westlake had passed away (One last big name for the series of tragedies that made up 2008).

A huge chunk of American culture died in '08. 2008 was especially bad if you were a 'geek' and/or fan of esoteric Americana or Exotica. Here's a partial list of those we lost. Feel free to add anyone I may have missed.

Donald E. Westlake, Bettie Page, Yma Sumac, Gary Gygax, Dave Stevens, Forrest J. Ackerman, Maila Nurmi (Vampira), Eartha Kitt, Isaac Hayes, Bernie Mac, George Carlin, Arthur C. Clarke, Bo Diddley, Paul Newman, Charlton Heston, Heath Ledger, Roy Scheider, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and many more.

Everybody on this list has had a key role in our entertainment history. These people were not idols, they were icons. Every one of them changed the game, and I thank them for it.