Jan 26 2024 - Obituary Pirates

 

Remember that song's lyrics - money for nothing and your chicks for free - wasn't that Dire Straits?  Isn't that the dream?  Not having to work and being admired and wanted by millions of people? I think that accounts for the bizarre industry of YouTube obituary pirates. Here's the introduction from the Wired.com in 2023: "A FEW WEEKS ago, a friend of mine found out that a childhood classmate had died unexpectedly. They hadn’t stayed in touch, but he was sad and curious about what had happened, so he did what people do when they hear that someone they know has passed away: Googled her obituary. What he found was odd—so much so that he texted to ask if I’d ever heard of such a thing. Along with pages hosting her official obit, he saw 10 separate YouTube videos of different people casually reciting information about her death." This is a continuation of a trend that's gone on for years - obituary rewriting is good business.  Piracy websites work at  search engine optimization to rise to the top of the search results, and then charge a premium for digital ads that appear next to the obituary text easily copied from funeral homes, local papers, etc.   That it has moved on to YouTube videos tells the story of how much money ice to be made from the ads. Videos get uploaded every few minutes - aligned with people dying all the time, probably at a regular and predictable rate.  So there are now YouTube obituary channels dedicated to cloning obituaries.  YouTube doesn't seem to mind - the requests for comment from the journalist were ignored.  In the meantime, other more legitimate sources have noticed how much money there is to make. Newspapers now post facebook obituaries to drive traffic to their news sites.  That's because obituaries are big business.  How many pages are published in the Globe and Mail in the Saturday edition?  I've often thought that they are mostly knock-offs of a predictable format.  The names and relationships changed for these Captains of America who ran vast companies but somehow lived  "for their families" and love of the outdoors, etc. etc. Could you guess on such an easy way to make money?  You don't have to write any songs, just republish obituaries.

Here's another bark/wood abstract - this one is driftwood on Salt Spring Island.  Or is that Salt Springs Island?   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Oct 23 2020 - He Dangled Over Niagara Falls

 

This week's obituaries are diverse.  Today I read that James Randi, Canadian-born magician has died at age 92.  He was known as the Amazing Randi. His daredevil tricks included escaping from a locked coffin submerged in water and from a straitjacket as he dangled over Niagara Falls.  There's a picture of him dangling over the Horseshoe Falls.  I would think a side-effect would be a person could go deaf from the vast sound of the Falls. He was famous for his skepticism of the paranormal and supernatural.  "Everything you have seen here is tricks," he would say. "There is nothing supernatural involved." Starting in 1964, Randi offered cash — in the form of a “$1 Million Paranormal Challenge” — to anyone who could prove supernatural or paranormal abilities. He never had any takers. He had much to say about God and Faith: We amuse Him as we flail about vainly trying to appease Him. I vote that we dump Him. I am probably right. But I'm always only probably right. Absolutes are very hard to find. Sir, there is a distinct difference between having an open mind and having a hole in your head from which your brain leaks out. Magicians are the most honest people in the world; they tell you they're gonna fool you, and then they do it. Today's picture is a composite - both taken at the Butterfly Conservatory quite a few years ago.  The beautiful flowers are Clerodendron.  Our butterfly is sitting on a Canary Island Lavender flower.

Read past POTDs at my Blog: https://marilyncornwell.blogspot.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Who was right about fashion and wrong about women?

Karl Lagerfeld, known world-wide for fashion design has died.  I had a fine wool suit with silk ribbon trim around the lapels designed by Chanel. That was before Lagerfeld took over the design in 1983. The suit was elegant, feminine and on sale at a deep discount. Otherwise, it would have been worn by someone else.   With social media, there is a swirl of coverage of his life in words and pictures.  Vogue has a stylish obituary with 40 of its own pictures through the decades of his career - famous celebrities and models photographed by famous photographers.  HERE.   Search on his name and look at the hundreds of consistent and constant image pictures - the high white collars, black jackets, black jeans and always the white pony tale and glasses.  The fingerless gloves are a curiosity that he always wore.  Included in the pictures is a Karl Lagerfeld Barbie Doll (for the adult collector) that is dressed in his iconic outfit. Look up Karl Lagerfeld quotes. Harper's Bazaar chose 9 quotes - and the first three are hilarious: 1. “Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants.” 2. "Trendy is the last stage before tacky." 3. “I remember a designer who said that intelligent women don’t wear her dresses. Obviously, she went bankrupt.” These are often repeated: "I am very much down to Earth. Just not this earth." "When I was four I asked my mother for a valet for my birthday." "A diet is the only game where you win while you're losing." But Lagerfeld's pouting mouth and dark glasses revealed the nasty side of his persona.  It isn't a surprise that one can retrieve a long list of cutting, controversial and cruel quotes.  He was called misogynistic and fat phobic many times by many famous celebrities responding to his "epic one-liners."  One obituary headline says it:  "Chanel's Karl Lagerfeld was right about fashion and wrong about women". We're looking at abstracts of the urban environment today.