George Carlin died today. He was someone I really admired. He stayed relevant for a long time in a very difficult field. This new book about stand up in the seventies tells his story very well. The book is about a lot of comedians, not just Carlin. I saw him perform in a small theater in New Jersey about 12 years ago. I still have the pictures somewhere. I went to a Yankee v. Mets game in Shea in 2002 and he sat close to me. I shook his hand, spoke to him briefly and he was very kind. He was also sitting up in the nosebleeds near me, which I thought a surprise.
In other news, this account of this ship that went down in the Philippines with 800 people missing is disturbing. Only 24 have been found. I was on that shipping line last year on a family trip to Boracay. It might have even been that ship, I'm not sure. I'm also not a mariner by any stretch, but I don't get why this ship didn't head to port as soon as this report of a typhoon came out. There is no answer to that in the newspaper account. The AP pictures are really disturbing. I feel terrible for those people.
