Losing a legend

I was caught off guard this morning when I heard on the radio during the ride to work that George Carlin had died.

Mainly I couldn't believe that was the first I was hearing about it. I get all kinds of breaking news alerts on my phone from NBC News, often for things I could care less about. You mean to tell me the death of George Carlin doesn't merit a text alert? C'mon NBC!

I loved Carlin. I remember when he came to Plattsburgh when I was in college. I psyched myself up for his show by listening to every George Carlin album I could get my hands on over and over again. Unfortunately, when I saw the actual show he had very little new material and I could recite verbatim most of his routine that night. But it was still great to see him live.

One of the most memorable bits from that night is one of the routines that everyone is trotting out today as they pay tribute to George -- his hilarious comparison between football and baseball. That and his legendary "Seven Words You Can't Say on TV" are showing up embedded on blogs left and right today.

I decided to go old school. My dad wasn't the biggest George Carlin fan. His counter-culture humor wasn't always dad's style. But dad did always get a kick out of the Hippy Dippy Weatherman (perhaps the forerunner to his "Cars" character)...



Also left out of most of the tributes today is any mention of the underrated "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure."

And of course, we won't mention to Thomas that Mr. Conductor #2 is dead.

Leona's legacy

How would you like to be remembered? The obit for Leona Helmsley on Forbes.com begins like this:

Leona Helmsley, the "Queen of Mean," has died of heart failure at the age of 87, surprising since many thought her heart had stopped working long ago.

'X-Men' artist Dave Cockrum dies

Wow. I just read some very sad news. Dave Cockrum, one of the comic book artists who put “X-Men” on the map, passed away on Sunday.

Cockrum was 63 years old. He died at his home in South Carolina after a long battle with diabetes and related complications.

Cockrum worked on many books during his career at both Marvel and DC, but he’ll be best remembered for his stints penciling “X-Men” in the 1970s and early 80s.

“X-Men” had failed to find an audience when it was first published in the 1960s. It was on the verge of cancellation when Cockrum took over the book in 1975 with writer Len Wein and later Chris Claremont. The rest is comic book history as the book became one of the most popular titles in the industry.

I have very fond memories of Cockrum’s work from my comic book collecting youth. He created one of my favorite characters, Nightcrawler, and helped create or shape many of the other characters that would later be featured in the “X-Men” movies.

Cockrum, who served in the Navy during Vietnam, never saw a dime from the three X-Men movies.

"Dave saw the movie and he cried -- not because he was bitter," family friend Clifford Meth said. "He cried because his characters were on screen and they were living."

There is a nice tribute to Cockrum on the Marvel Comics site.

Sad death downunder

Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin killed
(AP): "AP - Steve Irwin, the hugely popular Australian television personality and conservationist known as the 'Crocodile Hunter,' was killed Monday by a stingray while filming off the Great Barrier Reef. He was 44."

This is truly sad news. Steve Irwin was very entertaining and had a very likable TV personality. I remember when Nolan was about 3 years old, we used to wake up on Saturday mornings and watch "Croc Files," the Discovery Kids version of his show "The Crocodile Hunter."

He wil surely be missed by many.