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Teddy Radiator ([personal profile] teddy_radiator) wrote2016-01-12 07:52 pm
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Some Thoughts on The Past Few Days

It's been lovely having tons of work at the beginning of the year - normally January is dead slow for us, but this January we can hardly catch our breath. I'm determined not to let it overwhelm me. I had a moment earlier this evening when they piled MORE work on us, but as TheHubs™ says in his sagely British way, "We'll get through it and get it done. It'll be fine." And he's right, of course. But I've always believed the squeaky wheel gets the grease, so I tend to squeak a bit when I' m stressed.

It's very strange how David Bowie's death has affected us. We have both been very emotional the past few days, and have talked a lot about why David Bowie affected so many people. For me, it was his ability to be a man for all seasons. It's like he invented the phrase 'reinventing oneself'. And yet he never looked out of place in any era or genre. Who can forget Ziggy Stardust, the beautifully strange Alladin Sane, or the elegent Thin White Duke? He also grew into himself with grace and style and wit, and could be both touching and charming and silly and profound.

I realise I'm babbling, but I can't seem to express myself to myself about my grief. Part of it, I know, is the shock - that gut-punching feeling I experienced while sleepily checking my emails and having TheHubs™ announce in a stunned, hurt voice, "David Bowie died." We both kind of clung to one another and wept sporadically all yesterday, even while working, and neither of us minded that the other got emotional.

I am going to write a little now, and put in my 100 words for this week's GS100 drabble. I don't want to fall at the first hurdle - I'm already behind on the Fandom Snowflake Challenge, but the lovely thing about it is that you can finish it whenever.

 

[identity profile] gelsey.livejournal.com 2016-01-13 01:09 am (UTC)(link)

Yes that is the lovely thing about the snowflake challenge.


Hugs to you

[identity profile] kellychambliss.livejournal.com 2016-01-13 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I'm rather surprised by how bereft I feel about Bowie. I mean, whole years when by when I never really thought about him unless something came up in the news. I haven't followed his music for at least a decade. But. . .he's Bowie. A true genius. And so much a part of my youth and adulthood, a constant. I think part of it is how deaths like his (and so many of the people who were fixtures of my world and who were young[ish] when I was young) make me realize just how quickly everything is passing.

[identity profile] deslea.livejournal.com 2016-01-13 02:25 am (UTC)(link)
I know exactly what you mean about David Bowie. That man...

I loved bits and pieces of his work, and more admired others (you know, the "this one doesn't speak my language but I admire its mastery" feeling). But mostly my admiration was for just-him, the odd duck who never tried to make the world accept and love him, but somehow managed it anyway. I read a quote the other day to the effect that if David Bowie could make being David Bowie cool, you could make being you cool. I loved that. It summed up the feeling of kinship I had about him.
Edited 2016-01-13 02:26 (UTC)

[identity profile] lemonade8.livejournal.com 2016-01-13 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
Terrible news. It's sad to see his biggest fans destroyed by this. ((hugs)) He truly was a generation-chameleon and always held a relevant place in every one of them.

I know of two people irl who are HUGE fans and always have been. They are practically SILENT on my fb feed, while people I've known for years who I never even realized knew his name are posting nonstop Bowie footage. I have to work at keeping ugly thoughts about this at bay. I seem to be a worse person than I thought I was. And I have no right to this attitude. I enjoy his music and respect his influence and talent, but I'm not a devoted fangirl.

But posturing aside, it's good to see his work celebrated universally, so I'll leave it at that. If we have to see a creative talent go, at least we have some great stuff to play on repeat.

[identity profile] dharkapparition.livejournal.com 2016-01-13 04:14 am (UTC)(link)
*hugs

I've been weepy at odd moments. between my Mom and Bowie it's a weepfest over here. I went and watched his final music video from his new release. Epic chills

[identity profile] dickgloucester.livejournal.com 2016-01-13 07:24 am (UTC)(link)
*hugs you*

Squeak away, dearest.

And I too have been knocked rather by Bowie's death. I'm not sure why, really, as I was never a huge fan (that said, I liked his music well enough) - perhaps it's because he was such a constant and vivid presence in my childhood and adolescent landscape.

[identity profile] sandlappershell.livejournal.com 2016-01-13 08:13 am (UTC)(link)
Maybe it is our age and our own mortality. Maybe he just had that much impact on everyone. Maybe it is a result if him keeping his illness so secret that his death was such a shock, but I have felt the past couple of days that I have lost a family member. And I am no fangirl by any stretch of the imagination. I like some stuff, and appreciate him in general, but I don't own anything he did, not even the duet with Bing. It is soooo odd! Hugs to you! And here's to a successful January!

[identity profile] mimimanderly.livejournal.com 2016-01-13 02:18 pm (UTC)(link)
He was a class act. In this age of being privy to every drama of every celebrity, he was essentially a private man. He did not milk his imminent demise, the way others would. That he was brave is a given; whereas most performers, once they achieve fame, never change for fear of losing their fan base, he would change his entire identity, like an earthbound, performing Doctor Who. He took a big chance doing this, and I think that his frequent metamorphoses garnered him more fans than staying constant would have done. I admired him greatly for many reasons.
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[personal profile] keladry_lupin 2016-01-14 06:30 am (UTC)(link)
I am also surprised by my reaction to his death. I'm not weepy like I was when Robin Williams died, but it's David Bowie. He was an integral part of my life and the music I heard as I grew up, though I was a kid during the decade of "Let's Dance" and Labyrinth, so the Bowie I knew was not the Bowie that children of the 60s knew. He was creative in ways that no one was, he embraced the weird and made it a little easier on everyone else who had any kind of weirdness, too.