Robin Williams - icon

In case you haven't heard, and you probably have because this blog is not about breaking news, Robin Williams passed away yesterday at the age of 63. Given the past history of comedians with substance abuse issues, we're lucky he was with us that long.

Too often an artist passes and the word icon is used. The word loses its impact we hear it so much. Robin Williams was an icon. A soul so monumentally talented, not one piece you read will capture it. From his stand up in the 70s to his film work beginning in the 80s his uniqueness was evident. I mean, who else did improvisational bits on stage in the manner of Shakespeare? Like Richard Pryor, he was able to take things inherently unfunny like drug use, bigotry, or as taboo as sexuality and in a near-manic delivery make us see it in a ridiculous context making it both sidesplittingly funny, and poignantly tragic. That was the genius of his stand up.

Like Steve Martin, his filmwork was memorable because he was able to bring the stand up's "just beneath the surface darkness," or "what's he gonna say next" anxiety to any role - comedic or dramatic. It made the characters he portrayed so compelling. Be it Garp, Adrian Cronauer, John Keating, Peter Pan, whomever, they were all so good. Shit, he was even funny in The Best Of Times opposite Kurt Russell. There are too many to list.

I remember watching him on an HBO Young Comedians special. His beret, tight 70s tee shirt, and the way he went from voice to voice, and idea to idea as he migrated from stage to audience - it was so captivating. The Mr Rogers voice as he would delve into drugs, or sex. The thick Shakespearean accent as he would segue way into penis references. I remember Robin Williams: Live At The Met going from Robin Leach's voice to his son Zach's kiddy voice and a "Fuck it." I remember him singing Springsteen's "Fire" in Elmer Fudd voice. It was like watching a master chef just grabbing ingredients and mixing them up without any concern at the moment of the outcome. The drunk asshole voice, the hippy voice, the dumb guy voice - I can hear them all.

I remember his pained expression on "The World According To Garp" when he discovered his wife's infidelity. I remember his hopeful countenance as he counseled troubled genius Will Hunting. The smile he shows as recounting meeting his wife to be and missing Game 6 and "Fisk's homah" without regretting - so human.

Instead of recounting them all, just go to YouTube, and search "Robin Williams." Watch them all. Use the boss's bandwidth. Hell, call your boss over to watch some of them. They're probably bummed too.

Robin Williams, such a human. We're told we're made in the image of The Creator. If that is the case, then creativity is our most divine ability. I'll miss him so much.

Why blog?

Why blog?

Many have asked, been asked, and have given or received any variation of answers.

It's not philosophical. "I blog. Therefore I am.

We blog for many reason. Among them are career. We blog to build follow-ship so we may show publishers that people like what we write when the time comes to show them why our book is worth printing. We blog to build traffic so that advertisers see up as a good spot to put cyber billboards on the information superhighway.

We blog for ego. We have an opinion, and it's really cool, and valuable. We came to it over much thought, or it incubated in our brains' subconscious till it burst out in an "Aha!!!!" It's so awesome we have to share our revelation to everyone.

We blog because we have a story to tell, and all the mental noise from randomness that our brains generate as we flutter to and from idea - to idea - to distraction - back to idea, and following the distraction must be reconciled, and put somewhere in the event we need to come back to it. Because while it seems silly on its own, it might be a part of a puzzle that will assemble into something really cool.

We blog for community because we know others like us are out there reading silly things in the ether, and the identification every person needs on some level. "Hey, I was thinking of that too!" or "Shit! I was thinking of that, and someone else wrote it first."

We blog for self-esteem. If we didn't blog, we'd keep a journal, or diary. Blogging is cooler on some level than journaling.

We blog because we see the worlds' events, and ego says we need to share our perspective so that minds may change, and we can advance the way we see things. And even though friends from time to time think we're full of shit we need to speak up.

We blog because we just discovered this really cool idea, and need to share this discovery.