Farewell, Robin Williams (1951-2014) · 2:01am Aug 12th, 2014
Where were you when you heard that Robin Williams was dead? I was at a sports bar when his death was announced on the news.
I can't believe that Robin Williams is gone. According to reports, Williams committed suicide via asphyxiation. He had been dealing with depression and had a history of drug and alcohol abuse. It's quite timely that my recent Rule 34 blog post dealt with Charles Schulz and his search for love. Unsuccessful marriages played a major role in Williams depression.
Robin Williams was on his third marriage when he died. In 2013, Williams returned to TV for the first time in 30 years because he "needed the money." His divorces cost him $20 million in alimony. He was also trying to sell his $30 million California ranch due to his alimony payments. "Divorce is expensive. I used to joke they were going to call it 'all the money,' but they changed it to 'alimony,'" Williams said, "It’s ripping your heart out through your wallet."
This further proves my point about marriage and the effect it has on society. Half of all marriages end in divorce. When that happens, alimony and child support can garnish wages for years, if not decades. I knew an elderly couple who had been together for 50 years. They divorced after 48 years of marriage but were still living together. They explained that due to new government regulations, it was too expensive to stay married. Any married couple that earns more than 400% of the federal poverty level—that is $62,040—for a family of two earns too much for subsidies under Obamacare. But if that same couple lived together unmarried, they could earn up to $45,960 each—$91,920 total—and still be eligible for subsidies. Why are people fighting so hard for gay marriage? Who needs the headache? But I digress...
Words cannot express how I feel right now. If America's Funny Man can die from depression, then no one is immune. (I realize that Williams technically didn't "die from depression," but it definitely played a role in his death.) I keep thinking about the scene from the 2009 film World's Greatest Dad in which Robin Williams discovers that his son has accidentally died from auto-erotic asphyxiation.
Williams makes it look like a suicide and eventually confesses the truth.
My heart is moved to sympathy for his family, especially his daughter, Zelda.
I'd like to share one of my favorite things that Robin Williams ever did. Many of you may never even have heard of this. Robin Williams tells the story of the Fool and the Flying Ship. So push play, close your eyes and listen to Robin Williams work his magic.
When I saw the articles on google, I literally fell down. I was walking in through Sears and just fell. Robin Williams, suicide... it just doesn't even feel right saying those words together.
I heard the news on the radio on my way home from work. When I got home, I told my roommate to find something with Robin Williams to watch on Netflix.
Fare thee well, o King of Improv.
2363007
I just found out. On facebook. Just woke up and saw the news.
I have no words to say how I feel.
I found out when I got to my hotel and the TV in the lobby said remembering Robin Williams. I couldn't believe it so once I got on the free wifi I searched it up and I found it was true. RIP Robin Williams, you wi
ll always be in our hearts. ;_;7
He didn't become the Bicentennial Man.
x4.fjcdn.com/thumbnails/comments/kingofunnyjunk+rolls+44+too+late+_ff7b06336bfab1935150e1b3e99f2c6e.gif
This is literally the first time that I have saw something as moumental as this just now, here on this very site.
Damn.....never know that he was desperate enough to off himself....
I have no words either.
I logged on to Twitter and saw it instantly. I switched to CNN that moment and read about the details. And it's been haunting me all night since. I'm about to do a blog about it myself.
Rest in peace mister Williams
As much as I have an opinion on government involvement in marriage and marriage-like structures, I understand that the digression should not subtract from the purpose of this blog.
I thought Bicentennial Man was his best movie, and no amount of whinging from other people has ever dissuaded me from that position. He was always hilarious and full of energy in your roles that spoke to his dedication to making people laugh.
I too have been fighting my own depression for a long while now. To hear stories like this and JewWario continue to happen just crushes and frightens me to think those that look so happy can fall to such tragedies.
2363791
These seem appropriate in light of recent blogs.
celebratemondays.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/depressed-stance-charlie-brown-large-msg-117606476445.jpg
2.media.tumblr.com/WNuN0UxClkjcs4gvlrCzDb9Vo1_400.jpg
If you even need to talk for any reason, I'm here.
Also, is it weird that JewWario's death hit me harder than Robin Williams? I was sick for days after Justin's suicide.
2363809 It could be because Justin was one of us. Just a guy on the internet doing what he loved and trying to make it out there.
A friend of mine called me this early morning to tell me since he knew I am a great fan of Williams....
Suicide of all things. Its actually kind of fitting. What I loved most about his acting was always the bittersweet tone that never seemed to leave, no matter how funny the role was he was playing.
I'm going to miss him so much and I got "Toys" playing right now to revive some childhood memories.
I hope he is finally happy wherever he is now...
Regarding the gay marriage thing: Its mostly about equality, I guess.
I really care about traditions and so I would like to later be able to marry a man I love. Not because I care for the christian ritual but because I care about the act itself, the bond and promise it stands for and, yeah, equality to other couples.
2363918
I see your point. All I'm saying is that marriage is currently set up as a means for the government to have more control over our lives.
Speaking of which, have you heard about the census going on in New York where they want people to report their sexual orientation to the government? They say it's related to healthcare. Personally, it's not the government's business what goes on in people's bedrooms... unless you put the government in charge of one-sixth of the US economy, ie healthcare. Then they have carte blanche to regulate every aspect of our lives because they control our healthcare.
If I were LGBT, I wouldn't want to participate. The most frightening sentence in any language is "I'm from the government and I'm here to help." When the government knows your sexual orientation, they can regulate your life based on that. Engaging in "risky behavior" can result in higher health cost premiums. It's a mess.
2363938
I cannot really relate to that since I don't live in the US and here in Germany marriage is rather a big financial advantage (mostly regarding taxes) for couples than a means to control their lives.
The governmental LGBT data-collection is ridiculous, though. To even try something like that seems utterly impossible.
Their point of view is understandable though... kinda... LGBT are still seen as a high-risk-group.
Question is how they would later act in this regard with the new info. Do they want LGBT to pay more into the health-care-system?
Edit:
"“70 percent of all new [H.I.V.] infections are among men who have sex with men. We need to be able to track this population.”"
I guess that's one answer... doesn't really make it any better though...
The actual video may not suit the situation but I believe the song can.
Never saw World's Greatest Dad before. Now I plan to. Those two scenes made me just realize that he is just now gone. Its just weird how I had just checked Facebook yesterday and thought it was a hoax until I saw the news an hour later.
And I was skeptical at first because of the very common practice of death hoaxes nowadays.
But that scene in World's Greatest Dad just made me start crying uncontrollably because it just felt so real and then with his death- just hit me hard. I never was one for his comedies but when he got in his serious roles, they just bowled me over.
Robin Williams was a great man. Rest in peace.
Bizarrely, i was in a hospital, recovering after having just had an appendectomy. My dad was with me, bored and looking through his phone, and he said, out of nowhere...
"Oh. I... I think Robin Williams just died? Somebody just posted 'RIP Robin Williams' on facebook..."
Hell of a shock. I'll miss the guy, that's for sure.