(T)MMR: Farrah Fawcett Picked the Wrong Day to Die

This past week has been a bad week for celebrities. Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Billy Mays: all gone within a few days of one another. It's times like these I'm glad I'm not famous (well, I'm somewhat famous, but not enough that my death would make world headlines...not yet anyways). Famous people seem to be dropping dead left and right. I mean, we're only half way through the year, and we've seen the following deaths:

Billy Mays
Michael Jackson
Farrah Fawcett
Ed McMahon
David Carradine
Jack Kemp
Danny Gans
Harry Kalas
Nick Adenhart
Paul Harvey
Rocardo Montelban
Lindsay Lohan (wait, no, she's just dead on the inside)

But, seriously, that's a ton of people. And half of them were way to young to be dying. One of them died from auto-erotic asphyxiation. 3 of them were 50 year olds who dropped dead from heart something or others. One of them was 24 and was hit by a drunk driver. Like I said, not a good year to be a celebrity. Also not a good year to be hanging yourself in a closet in Thailand in an attempt to get yourself off (RIP David Carradine)...but I digress.

The last few days have been the worst. Ed McMahon died on the 23rd. He got a day and a half of coverage until Farrah Fawcett died the morning of the 25th. She got the worst of it, because a mere 3 hours after she died, Michael Jackson died and everyone forgot about the beautiful Ms. Fawcett. Billy Mays was smart enough to wait until the 28th to die...so he at least got a day of coverage along side all the MJ coverage. But man, you look around and wonder, who's next? (My money is on Elizabeth Taylor).

The person I feel the worst for is Farrah Fawcett. She had been in pretty dire straits for the last few weeks in her battle with ass cancer. Everyone saw her death coming, and it was sad. She was the sex icon of an entire generation (the generation/decade right before mine, actually). There was that one famous poster of her in that red bathing suit that everyone had on their walls. She was gorgeous, she was classy, she was the first true "girl next door." When she died, the first real celebrity of Generation X had passed away...and she deserved her time in the spotlight to be mourned. And then Michael Jackson died suddenly and unexpectedly, and being the super huge megastar that he is (I mean, shit, the dude is THE icon of the 80s), well, poor Farrah was forgotten about. She clearly picked the wrong day to die. I'll mourn her, though. I mean, I'm a huge Michael Jackson fan, but Farrah is much more appealing to look at! :)

So with all these very notable deaths happening around us these days, what can we take away from them? Well, for starters, if someone ever suggests to you that a good way to get your jollies is to hang yourself in a closet, politely decline. Second, appreciate the stars you love to watch or listen to or whatever. You never know when they may be plucked from this Earth. Also be careful of the things you say about people...you could make a child molestation joke one day about someone, and then they drop dead, and you feel like a total asshole. (I mean, honestly, how people can go, in a matter of minutes, from "haha, michael jackson touches little boys" to "OMG, MICHAEL JACKSON IS DEAD! I LOVE YOU ALWAYS JACKO!!!!!!11111!ONE" is beyond me.) But thats not really the point. What else can we take away from this? Don't be famous. Its a curse. And there's all this added stress to be great all the time. And then there's the obligatory drug addiction. Man, being a celebrity is hard work.

Finally, one last point about the recent run of celebrity deaths. The common superstitious belief has always been that famous deaths happen in threes. Look back through famous deaths, and, well, it does seem to happen a lot. However, last week there were four very notable deaths, beginning with Ed McMahon, and ending with Billy Mays. I'm not sure if Hollywood should be terrified that two more deaths are coming, or if we've now broken new ground and notable deaths will now come in fours.

Either way, these celebrities will be missed.