What a Week, Am I Right?

I'm turning off the nerd reviews and social criticism criticism for a few minutes here, everyone. I had a piece that I was going to do on class and money privilege being the overriding factor in most situations, and had a great example of it, but that's... that's not happening this week. This week we reflect and remember.

They say death visits us in threes, and it's always three beloved figures of pop culture that are taken from us at a time. Granted, that's merely a superstition at best, and I try my hardest to stay away from superstition, but this week it feels more real than ever. Within the space of a little over two weeks, Lemmy Kilmister, David Bowie, and Alan Rickman were taken from us by cancer, and it hardly feels real to write that.

To say that these men had a good run is an understantement. Lemmy and Bowie were both legends in their fields and easily identifiable outside. Rickman has been in at least one film that everyone's seen, whether it's Harry Potter, Dogma, or Die Hard, and is the face of several memes including the legendary table flip.

Lemmy: I really wasn't a fan of Motorhead, but Ace of Spades was a good song, and your influence on the rest of rock music has been invaluable. You've made a huge mark on any form of music that uses a guitar, and I hope you knew that before you passed. You were a stubborn old bastard, one that we thought would probably never die given what you put yourself through and survived, but I hope you feel like you didn't die with work left undone.

Bowie: I was first introduced to you, like many people, through your appearance in Labyrinth. It may have been my first real exposure (not having seen Rocky Horror until years later) to something so subversive as the Goblin King. You were beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Powerful and charismatic and cruel and something I was unable to look away from, the Goblin King was in many ways an aspect of the faces you showed to the rest of the world. I'm rewatching BBC's Life on Mars this week in tribute to you and the era that you grew in, and Little Wonder is probably one of my favourite all-time songs. Your influence was felt, and will be felt, everywhere.

Rickman: Despite your trademark sneer and singularly distinctive voice, you were truly a comedian. There are, surprisingly, a lot of people that will say "Who?" if you mention your name, but that's not because they haven't seen you; it's because you were so good at your craft. I have to admit that I honestly don't know if I've ever seen Die Hard all the way through (never a fan of Christmas, I prefer New Years and Ghostbusters II to Christmas and Die Hard) but I'll make sure to give it a watch now. Instead, my first exposure was probably the spoon scene from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and that sticks with someone. I hadn't seen a Harry Potter film until the series was done, but I knew something was off with Snape, that he wasn't *just* a badguy. And no one played the world-weary, heavily annoyed angel better than your Metatron in Dogma. But above all else, we science fiction fans will always remember and love you for Marvin the Paranoid Android.

Gentlemen, you'll be missed, but on the off-chance that you can still hear what's going on here, please know that you made a mark. A huge, indelible mark. I salute all three of you.