RIP Anthony Bourdain

Have you ever been in the kitchen at a busy restaurant? Those people work their asses off.

 

As Scout said, this fucking sucks. I’m not saying i wanted to be him or that he was a role model but of all the famous lives being lived, his seemed to be one i most envied. Eating Drinking Smoking Laughing Telling Stories Travelling. Action without exertion. Giving Respect where due, accepting respect where earned.

Damn. This is sad.

 

Living that life and being depressed might be the worst combination, though. It would convince you there's no way to fix yourself if you can't enjoy that life — when the answer might be to give up that life.

 

Seems to be a disconnect between your support for ending your life when you feel it’s “done” and your previously stated concerns about the damage it does to the loved ones left behind.

 

I see a lot of posts urging people to “reach out” because you never know if someone is hurting. Sadly, though, the process of suicide almost always involves an individual working very hard to hide their true feelings. The only way to even possibly get past that defense mechanism is to pry, and that isn’t human nature. Not sure if there’s an answer.

 

Yeah. It's a conflicting subject, isn't it? ... I also said the damage comes from suicide done in hiding. Ponder that.

A friend wrote this: "Life is hard. Life is not just a gift but a struggle. To accept one is to accept the other. It's a package deal -- and not, not ever, don't kid yourself, an easy one. There's nothing wrong with remaining keenly aware of that while loving each other all the more passionately and enjoying what we do have together to the fullest."

Then he posted this below:

Killing oneself is, anyway, a misnomer. We don't kill ourselves. We are simply defeated by the long, hard struggle to stay alive. When somebody dies after a long illness, people are apt to say, with a note of approval, "He fought so hard." And they are inclined to think, about a suicide, that no fight was involved, that somebody simply gave up. This is quite wrong.

– From Sally Brampton, "Shoot the Damn Dog"

 

Of everything he did, the Detroit episode will stick with me the longest, just because of where I grew up.

Someone will live in a smaller, tighter, no doubt hipper, much contracted new Detroit. But who will that be? Will it be the people who stuck it out here, who fought block-by-block to keep their city from burning, who struggled to defend their homes, keep up appearances as all around them their neighborhoods emptied.

What will Detroit look like in 20 years? Or 50? That's not just a Detroit question. That's an America question.

The Tokyo episode may be the most fun hour of TV I've experienced.

 

I think there’s a huge difference between a modern elderly individual facing a terminal disease and someone in their 40s, 50s, 60s in general good physical health with kids and/or other close family. I don’t think they are in the same discussion.

 

Agreed. You'll note that I also said "old or ill."

 

I learned more about Iran from his Tehran episode than I have from any other source.

Once saw him in person driving an old convertible Caddy down Route 66 in the heart of ABQ. He looked so regal.

 

Spencer Hall with an appreciation of Bourdain.

BOURDAIN

 

I'd like to know how many people went to a Waffle House for the first time because Bourdain said it was okay, even magical to do so.

That makes me smile.

Also, how swamped is Netflix going to be with people watching Parts Unknown this weekend?