Alien Screenwriter Dan O'Bannon, Dead At 63 139
Dave Knott writes "The notable science fiction screenwriter and director Dan O'Bannon has died at the age of 63. O'Bannon's career began with a writing credit for John Carpenter's Dark Star and he went on the write many enduring science fiction and horror films such as Blue Thunder, Lifeforce, Screamers and Total Recall. He was also an occasional director, whose credits include The Return Of The Living Dead, the campy horror film that made popular the zombie chant of 'braaiiiinnnsss.' However, he will be best remembered as the writer of Alien, one of the all-time classics of both the science fiction and horror genres. O'Bannon died after a 30 year battle with Crohn's disease and is survived by his wife, Diane, and son, Adam."
Unfortunate (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Stephen King dies also... (Score:1, Insightful)
New is appearing that Stephen King has passed away also.
Come on, what's the point in posting something like this? You're just wasting our time making us read this crap. I'm wasting my time replying. And others will waste their time reading my reply. And so on...
Alien Influence (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:My heart goes out to him... (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously, I won't claim I know how you feel because I can't possibly fathom what it must be like to suffer that much. But I know there are some people who carry on despite terrible diseases and constant pain, so I know it must be possible somehow. Adaptation takes time, I guess, but I think it's possible.
The point is, you can never know for sure what life has in store. It may seem completely hopeless now, but what if six months after you kill yourself some researcher stumbles entirely by chance upon a new drug that works wonders for Crohn's? You won't be able to feel silly, because you'll be dead. Besides, you never know what an individual can bring to others, or just how important he can be. What if you turn out to have a child that becomes the new Gandhi? What if your friendship and example of courage prevents someone else from comitting suicide, and that person goes on help thousands of others somehow?
I don't want to appear to give you lessons, but I genuinely believe that struglling for survival is always the most logical option. Sometimes you have no power to improve your situation at all, but that possibility may come later. To take advantage of it, you have to survive long enough. You want to get rid of your suffering, and suicide will do that. But it will also rid you of the enjoyment of not suffering, making the whole thing pointless.
Re:My heart goes out to him... (Score:2, Insightful)
Nice work hijacking this article. I am glad I get to read all about you and your life. Good work!
Re:My heart goes out to him... (Score:5, Insightful)
I can't say I know how he feels. Or you feel. Obviously you feel that taking your own life is a bad idea, but - why make the choice illegal? Or rather, why make aiding it illegal.
My dad watched his dad lie hooked up to machines for about a month before passing away. Then a few years later he watched his mom in the same situation. This October he saw his youngest daughter pass away after having spent almost two weeks in an induced coma, hooked up to an ECMO [wikipedia.org] as doctors worked frantically to try to save her from dying of complications from Sharp's Syndrome [wikipedia.org], with I think ten IV-tubes running into her, breathing tube in her mouth, two massively thick tubes handling the blood flow in and out of her body as well as dialysis apparatus.
Sadly I wasn't there when she was finally let go. And my mom is pissed that the first thing my dad said after she was declared dead, was that if he ever ended up in a situation like that, he didn't want to be saved. That's where euthanasia comes into play. Even before then.
Euthanasia can be done in really simple ways as well. Doesn't even have to be expensive, messy or painful. You could go out with a huge sense of euphoria on your lips. I present to you: Nitrogen asphyxiation [wikipedia.org]. All you really need is a tight fitting face mask for ventilation and pure nitrogen. Essentially a slightly modified SCUBA kit.
It takes about 15 seconds for someone to lose conciousness and about 7 minutes until brain death sets in. The organs are, I believe, unharmed, which is a good thing if you plan on being a donor. There is a very minute risk (I think I read 1:1,000,000) of painful side effects, but these will only last until the person is unconscious, again no more than 15 to 20 seconds, and then they'll be at peace.
As for the "what ifs", they're just silly.
What if you turn out to have a child that becomes the new Hitler? Are those two lives (yours and your child's) really worth the lives and suffering of millions? If we just go by 'what if', we should never have children, as for every Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela, we also end up with a Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot [wikipedia.org] and Papa Doc [wikipedia.org]. For every Norman Borlaug [wikipedia.org], the agronomist and humanitarian who essentially saved a billion people from starvation, we also end up with a Thomas Midgley [wikipedia.org], the man behind such wonderful innovations as leaded engines and CFCs. Both were effective at what they were designed for, sure, but the man essentially made a hole in the ozone layer the size of Antarctica and gave every single child in the world lead poisoning - by himself.
Do you really want to be responsible for the next Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Papa Doc or Thomas Midgley? Those are the risk we take when we think we might be the proud parents of the next Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela or Norman Borlaug.
My point still stands. Euthanasia needs to be legal, and it needs to be a cheap and simple one at that. I'd go for nitrogen asphyxiation.
Re:My heart goes out to him... (Score:3, Insightful)
Beyond our purely thoeretical discussion about philosophy and politics, there's someone talking seriously about suicide. For real. I just don't feel like joining the apathetic lack of reaction, the "meh, whatever, he's free to do it" attitude.
Sure he's free to do it, and he should definitely be allowed to make that decision. I am merely suggesting he doesn't.
Re:Unfortunate (Score:1, Insightful)
There are only two types of stories in the world, anyway: Man Goes On A Journey, or A Stranger Comes To Town.
That's the kind of fatuous crap that unimaginative Hollywood execs say at parties to try to sound clever. The only way you can say "there are only x type of stories" is to vastly oversimplify.
Which of those two is Romeo and Juliet, hmmm?
You'd think geeks would know better, with their predilection for speculative fiction, a group of genres that have a knack for breaking out unconventional storylines. What story type is Olaf Stapledon's Star Maker? How about Lovecraft's The Doom that Came to Sarnath?
There are at least as many stories as there are good storytellers -- any good storyteller has one original story in him, at the bare minimum.