Comments on: You die. She dies. Everybody dies.

You die. She dies. Everybody dies.

loquacious — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:40:47 -0800

You're going to die.

By: flipyourwig

flipyourwig — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:44:03 -0800

Well thanks a lot Debbie Downer.

By: Optamystic

Optamystic — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:48:41 -0800

Tom Waits has really gone downhill lately.

By: pianomover

pianomover — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:50:10 -0800

I know that lion! Yeah that's Vinnie from the zoo. FuckinA Vinnie from the zoo on Youtube. What the fucks his problem?

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:50:17 -0800

Been there, done that. Got the box.

By: esmerelda_jenkins

esmerelda_jenkins — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:52:36 -0800

Dude, that was so not what I needed right now.

By: swift

swift — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:53:28 -0800

No shit, Sherlock.

By: Spatch

Spatch — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:54:05 -0800

MementoMoriFilter

By: scarabic

scarabic — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:54:25 -0800

You are indeed going to die, but you're in inseparable part of larger, grander processes which have been in motion since long before you popped out of nothing, and will continue long after you return. Actually, the fact that you ever popped out of nothing at all is pretty much more miracle than anyone could ever ask for. What's the big deal about dying when you might never have lived at all? Be glad.

By: HuronBob

HuronBob — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:55:28 -0800

Well, that sort of makes working the rest of the day pointless... eh?

By: DU

DU — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:55:47 -0800

I love the world

By: rand

rand — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:56:11 -0800

No, I'm actually going to live forever. I don't care what you say.

By: Lacking Subtlety

Lacking Subtlety — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:56:15 -0800

Death is the same as going to sleep after a really long day. The second I thought about that way I felt most of my anxieties on the issue simply melt away.

By: Joe Beese

Joe Beese — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:57:26 -0800

Meanwhile...

By: binturong

binturong — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:57:42 -0800

What a curious film. I wonder why it was made? Who is it intended for? Death (and taxes) is about the only thing we can be certain of so not much worth losing sleep over. The philosopher Epicurus said it 2000 years ago: we never experience death. When we're alive, we're not dead; and when we're dead, we experience nothing. Many religions are preoccupied with fear of death and the hope for an "afterlife" and the desire never to die. I think eternity would be appalling. Of course religions also exploit the afterlife idea to get people to accept their miserable lives. Enjoy life while you have it because it comes with an expiry date. That is a positive philosophy, not a cause for weeping and gnashing of teeth.

By: marxchivist

marxchivist — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:59:44 -0800

Great! Who wants to go get coffee?

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:00:07 -0800

As Raymond Smullyan says: "Why should I be worried about dying? It's not going to happen in my lifetime!"

By: jnaps

jnaps — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:00:16 -0800

That video made me wish I was already dead. The youtube comments though -- surprisingly somewhat readable. I read the debate about atheism vs. faeries in the garden while that lion thing droned on and on and on. Uh. But thanks for this? Really. I hadn't contemplated my mortality in a couple of days, and now I'm back on track. Gotta keep this shit in mind. Who else thinks this is Dawkins' idea of a bedtime story?

By: doctorschlock

doctorschlock — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:01:18 -0800

I learned in my teens that I was going to die. That's why I enjoy life to the fullest with game consoles, drugs, sex, and good friends.

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:01:48 -0800

Reminds me of a lullaby my mom used to sing me when I was a child. "You're going to die," she'd sing. "Probably tonight."

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:03:50 -0800

Thanks to that kickin' talking-lion animation trick, though, I"m going to die happy.

By: markkraft

markkraft — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:04:55 -0800

You first.

By: ob

ob — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:06:51 -0800

The best thing about this is reading youtube posters discuss religious beliefs and empiricism.

By: Bageena

Bageena — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:08:45 -0800

Can I get an amen for doctorschlock?

By: washburn

washburn — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:09:24 -0800

Well, that's your theory.

By: designbot

designbot — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:09:46 -0800

That lion died. He's in my great-great-grandfather's bedroom now.

By: peep

peep — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:09:59 -0800

That was surprisingly delightful! I think it was supposed to be serious (?) but it filled me with a weird glee.

By: empath

empath — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:10:32 -0800

That's why I enjoy life to the fullest with game consoles, drugs, sex, and good friends. WORD.

By: designbot

designbot — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:10:56 -0800

Sorry, that link died.

By: ob

ob — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:13:27 -0800

If anyone's a bit depressed after watching that, this will make you feel a whole lot better.

By: I Foody

I Foody — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:14:02 -0800

People treat being reminded that they're going to die like a bring down. But people treat actually almost dying like it's a really awesome way to be much happier and helps remind you that life is precious. Funny how that works. I guess the abstraction of death is what makes people scared and depressed.

By: LooseFilter

LooseFilter — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:14:37 -0800

I found that oddly refreshing and centering. I needed to hear that guy drone 'you are going to die' for five minutes before the shift in perspective set in, apparently. It sure does make going to coffee with friends seem a lot more important priority. (And what doctorschlock said too.)

By: dawson

dawson — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:14:51 -0800

yeah, well.

By: slimepuppy

slimepuppy — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:15:32 -0800

My friend has an interesting (yet theoretical, obviously) view about dying. He wants his own demise to be messy, painful and traumatic. He figures that since you only get to do it once you might as well do it properly. None of this 'going to sleep and not waking up'. He wants to be wide awake and preferrably screaming when it happens. This video also feels timely as I am nursing the beginnings of a man-flu and know that I might not see another dawn.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:20:41 -0800

Some people think this is mediocre. But that is okay.

By: DreamerFi

DreamerFi — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:22:33 -0800

None of this 'going to sleep and not waking up'. Like my grandpa. He wants to be wide awake and preferrably screaming when it happens. Like my grandpa's passengers at the time.

By: FatherDagon

FatherDagon — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:22:59 -0800

How would I go? Jumping from the top of the Washington Monument, strapped with dynamite timed to go off halfway down, and huge bags of confetti. It's like scattering the ashes without the cremation, and with a whole crowd of gore-and-confetti-spattered participants.

By: ElvisJesus

ElvisJesus — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:23:20 -0800

If death means you no longer exist, then in a sense you do live forever. Its just forever looked a lot longer in the demo. Go figure. In other news, did you ever look at the back of your hand. No. I meant really look at the back of your hand?

By: everichon

everichon — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:25:05 -0800

Non fui, fui. Non sum, non curo.

By: LooseFilter

LooseFilter — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:26:20 -0800

dawson, that was so awesome, thanks.

By: everichon

everichon — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:31:52 -0800

I WANT MY DEATH TO SPEAK IN ALL CAPS.

By: Bookhouse

Bookhouse — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:31:52 -0800

Yip-yip-yip-yip-yip ...

By: Salvor Hardin

Salvor Hardin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:32:00 -0800

Strangely compelling. If you didn't watch all the way to the end, you missed the happy part.

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:32:41 -0800

Ha. You can't die for the life of you, because you don't exist. You only think you do.

By: Chuffy

Chuffy — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:33:06 -0800

I have even worse news for you....You're going to LIVE, too!

By: Chuffy

Chuffy — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:34:12 -0800

or as Steven Wright says, "I intend to live forever - so far, so good."

By: Avenger

Avenger — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:41:30 -0800

Everyone on Metafilter is terminally ill right now. Whoa.

By: everichon

everichon — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:41:37 -0800

I want my death to look a little bit like Siouxsie.

By: skwt

skwt — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:42:42 -0800

I'm at work right now, so I'll try to make this brief. I thought that was a great video. I mean, I'm a fan of mementing mori in general, and I liked the general message. But the really interesting part of it is who was talking. It's the MGM lion! Can you fathom the things he has seen. I thought it was so interesting, whether it was intended or not, that the speech thing, which I guess was lifted from some book, had a particularly strong focus on 'the stories we tell ourselves.' This is the MGM lion! Can you understand the insane, omniscient-like grasp the MGM lion has of the stories we tell ourselves. The MGM lion has introduced us to a such an incredible range and proportion of stories we have told ourselves in the last 80 years or whatever it is. The MGM lion has sat quietly behind the veil, watching as we allow all manner of flickering narrative to seep into our brains. The MGM lion has watched us laugh, cry and be stunned, all while nestled in the ribbons of ars gratia artis, a slogan which itself laughs at the very idea that we might find any escape or human comfort from film in this life. And now he's finally saying his piece! And he has all the stock footage he needs to illustrate it nicely! I love this thing.

By: LordSludge

LordSludge — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:43:29 -0800

Funny -- I figured out exactly how I want to die just this past week: Jump from a weather balloon 100,000 feet up, wearing a wingsuit. No parachute. Okay, maybe jet engines strapped to my boots. Also, I'll be rocking out a funky bass solo, driving an F1 car, and getting fellated by... whomever is hawt in 2050.

By: diogenes

diogenes — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:49:06 -0800

I can't understand people (like my wife) who are afraid of the idea that death is the end. I can understand being afraid of pain and suffering, but I don't get fear of Nothing. It's Nothing! It doesn't feel like anything. How can that be scary? She replies that she hates the idea of not existing. I tell her that's ok because after she dies there won't be any her to hate the idea. This doesn't console her.

By: marxchivist

marxchivist — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:01:58 -0800

This is what I want to look like right before I die. not really

By: Caduceus

Caduceus — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:05:13 -0800

Man, that sounds great. I could use some rest.

By: The World Famous

The World Famous — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:06:21 -0800

I don't get fear of Nothing. It's Nothing! It doesn't feel like anything. How can that be scary? Some of us like the something that we are, and we don't particularly like the idea of losing everything.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:06:37 -0800

Robert Sylvester jumps a highway media after waving his gun at police... A highway media photographer.

By: Alex404

Alex404 — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:06:53 -0800

I was very split about the ending of the video. I really liked the, 'If you're sad, at least you can be...' theme. That's something I try to communicate to people a lot. A certain kind of controlled masochism can be extremely liberating. On the other hand, I hate the old, 'death makes our lives worth living' theme. And this doesn't even have much to do with immortality per say. It's just that I think a great deal of human suffering is caused by people rushing around so much. 'Gotta get my career, my wife, my kids, everything in place...' Even knowing that I was going to die, if I didn't know the scale of my life (60-100 years or so) I could be so much more spontaneous... so much more free. That french girl I met on the train? Talk her up. She invites you back to paris? Go with her! Why the hell not? Drop everything for a couple years. For twenty years! Have some kids. A family. Then get back to your education. Or whatever the hell. A homeless man asks you for change, for a brief moment you connect, and you decide, for no reason other then that you can, to drop your life and help his. Buy him a meal. Talk to him. See if he wants help. Maybe hand him the keys to your car and house. Just because. Life isn't so simply finite anymore, and planning it out becomes vacuous. Accomplishment is eventually superseded simply by... living.

By: diogenes

diogenes — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:13:14 -0800

marxchivist: That's awesome! You have to respect the ability to flee and smoke at the same time.

By: diogenes

diogenes — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:15:20 -0800

Sylvester was shortly shot by police... I guess they took him off at the knees.

By: everichon

everichon — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:17:22 -0800

Two old friends.

By: neroli

neroli — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:22:17 -0800

It seems so right somehow that the voice of the lion was Vito Acconci.

By: Nonce

Nonce — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:23:27 -0800

This was a great little film. I was charmed and enthralled by it, and for some reason, I was even uplifted before it got to the mildly redemptive part at the end. I also liked how the narrator's voice reminded me of Max in Hart to Hart.

By: grapefruitmoon

grapefruitmoon — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:29:06 -0800

Narrated by Vito Acconci? This may be the best performance art ever. (Quite glad it didn't involve any footage of his more famous performances. "You should masturbate under the stairs because you are going to die!")

By: doctorschlock

doctorschlock — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:32:23 -0800

I want to die, high. Higher than a friggin kite. When or where I land, I die.

By: Devils Rancher

Devils Rancher — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:35:04 -0800

Warning: Link contains YouTube comments. Reading them could make you wish you would die.

By: fungible

fungible — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:42:52 -0800

Fantastic. Great piece. Vito Acconci! Awesomness. Wish I could make a whole TV series like that. No, really.

By: Kronos_to_Earth

Kronos_to_Earth — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:44:45 -0800

Goodbye Kitty

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:02:12 -0800

Ah, I see doctorschlock has the same idea I do: Overdosing on heroin while falling from a plane. That said, this video is weak. Is that freaking Dead Man at the beginning? Artless.

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:03:25 -0800

Here's the source of the video: Timothy Furstnau, from TY2K. It's awesome to read that video artists appreciate a good stupid yutube comment as much as the rest of us. dorourke105 (2 years ago) Show Hide 0 Poor comment Good comment Marked as spam Reply That lion is talking to me!!! ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

By: dawson

dawson — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:08:06 -0800

"This can't be living. I drink too much Old Milwaukee and wake up in the morning and it tastes like old bread crusts in my mouth. All my underwear's dirty, I can't find my insurance policy." Larry Brown

By: jbickers

jbickers — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:10:19 -0800

Ah, film school.

By: The Light Fantastic

The Light Fantastic — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:33:01 -0800

You die. She dies. Everybody dies. What an interesting little video - it made me oddly happy - just like seeing my favorite quote from Heavy Metal as the title of the post.

By: quin

quin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:40:53 -0800

Years ago, a friend and I came up with an idea for an unusual political campaign; we wanted a candidate that simply answered all questions with the reply "They die, you die", emphasizing different words depending on the query. I'm not sure why, but it's the kind of message I can believe in.

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:02:32 -0800

I thought the video was uplifting and liked it a great deal. Thanks!

By: ob

ob — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:11:49 -0800

That said, this video is weak. Is that freaking Dead Man at the beginning? Artless. Yeah I was thinking the same thing. I found this all pretty pointless.

By: radiosig

radiosig — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:17:55 -0800

dudes, am i alone in feeling pretty uplifted by this? did everybody listen all the way to the end? i kind of feel like waking up to this every morning.

By: radiosig

radiosig — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:18:32 -0800

cool, i'm not alone. (previeeeeeeew)

By: /\/\/\/

/\/\/\/ — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:43:04 -0800

Live Life Like You're Gonna Die. (caution: Shatner)

By: yoga

yoga — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:58:46 -0800

Tom Waits has really gone downhill lately. Since when can you go downhill from the bottom?

By: bonefish

bonefish — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:09:36 -0800

I too found it very uplifting and affirming. As old Castaneda's Don Juan used to say: "death is your adviser".

By: paradoxflow

paradoxflow — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:19:21 -0800

Something is very wrong when some of the youtube comments are more profound/artful than the video. "Sometimes little babies die"? Seriously?

By: kaspen

kaspen — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:33:50 -0800

What a curious film. I wonder why it was made? Who is it intended for? At least for me, I find that knowing things doesn't prevent you from forgetting them on a day to day basis, and death and the ultimate finitude of life, more than anything else, is all too easy to shrink from or resist thinking fully about. Judging from the variety and potential disingenuousness of people's responses in this thread, I'd say it's a message that often has yet to really sink in. I never understood in movies why people always wait until they are on their very death bed before recanting or having their changes of heart... that death bed is always and already there.

By: bwg

bwg — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:03:42 -0800

For a split second I thought the voice at the beginning was Arnold Schwartzeneggar. One second later I realised it wasn't, but then I thought, "How cool would this be if Arnold Schwartzeneggar had done the voiceover?"

By: Secret Life of Gravy

Secret Life of Gravy — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:54:21 -0800

I often contemplate my own death, but I also contemplate the death of everything. Eventually this country will die. This planet will die. This universe will die. For example, there was a recent brouhaha over an untended cemetery in Raleigh. Locals didn't know who was buried there or even how many people were buried there. Money needed to be raised for preservation. Plans needed to made, etc. Meanwhile, I'm thinking, "So what?" In 10,000 years will Raleigh even exist? All cemeteries will eventually be gone so does it matter if they last a 100 years? A 1000 years? They only need to last until the last mourner is dead. If nobody knows who is buried there, the need for the cemetery is over. I'm also not so concerned about leaving my mark on the world, as I was when I was younger. I was sure that one day I would be a published author because it was important to me to leave something of myself behind. Now I think of all the writers who have been published in the last 100 years-- how many will be remembered in a 5000 years? Eventually the human race will die out and nobody will be reading. Life is for having fun now, it is not for worrying about what comes after.

By: dawson

dawson — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:44:00 -0800

SLoG, your comment brought to mind an apropos and brilliant observation by Orson Wells. Sadly I can't call it to mind and an hour of googling turns up nothing. but yeah, what he said.

By: dawson

dawson — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:50:52 -0800

Youtube: It's F is for Fake, Welles' Chartres monologue...

By: dawson

dawson — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:57:28 -0800

The quote:

Now this has been standing here for centuries. The premier work of man perhaps in the whole western world and it’s without a signature. Chartres. A celebration to God’s glory and to the dignity of man. All that’s left, most artists seem to feel these days, is man. Naked, poor, forked radish. There aren’t any celebrations. Ours, the scientists keep telling us, is a universe which is disposable. You know it might be just this one anonymous glory of all things, this rich stone forest, this epic chant, this gaiety, this grand choiring shout of affirmation, which we choose when all our cities are dust; to stand intact, to mark where we have been, to testify to what we had it in us to accomplish. Our works in stone, in paint, in print are spared, some of them for a few decades, or a millennium or two, but everything must finaly fall in war or wear away into the ultimate and universal ash: the triumphs and the frauds, the treasures and the fakes. A fact of life… we’re going to die. ‘Be of good heart,’ cry the dead artists out of the living past. Our songs will all be silenced - but what of it? Go on singing. Maybe a man’s name doesn’t matter all that much.

Excerpt from F for Fake, Orson Welles.

By: Secret Life of Gravy

Secret Life of Gravy — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:18:46 -0800

More proof that every thought I have ever had has been thought before; every idea I have tried to express has been expressed before and in a more elegant fashion. Sometimes it is painful to be smart but not brilliant.

By: liza

liza — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:45:18 -0800

what! no context? heh.

By: phrontist

phrontist — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:12:51 -0800

Secret Life of Gravy: Yeah, tell me about it, I just got that lion to enunciate "die" properly, take a break to look and mefi and...

By: samsara

samsara — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:26:52 -0800

I don't get fear of Nothing. It's Nothing! It doesn't feel like anything. How can that be scary? For most, its more the fear of the unprecedented future...of nothing.

By: Monsters

Monsters — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:18:29 -0800

People tell one another 'stories' because they can't figure out what else to say. All around death, people try to make sense of something that simply does not make sense. The mind searches for things to feel guilty about, if only because blaming oneself means having someone to blame. I recently lost someone close and this little film was a welcome tonic after the procession of well-intentioned midwesterners telling me that 'he is with God now'. The deceased would have agreed with this film wholeheartedly.

By: OverlappingElvis

OverlappingElvis — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:19:30 -0800

Why would you post this?

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:06:11 -0800

I've already died. I'm back. No seriously. And I thought I'd die in combat. Far as I'm concerned it's all extended play. Still, people don't really die. It's only that time appears to move forward because how matter and consciousness interacts with entropy.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:07:25 -0800

(And I can see why they put this guy in charge)

By: Minus215Cee

Minus215Cee — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:31:33 -0800

That's funny. I was planning on out-living everyone I know, just to be cheeky. You gotta have goals, you know?

By: Pronoiac

Pronoiac — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:27:27 -0800

weapons-grade pandemonium: Robert Sylvester jumps a highway media after waving his gun at police... A highway media photographer. A highway median.

By: Rykey

Rykey — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:23:47 -0800

As someone who has just hit the wall of mortality (34, never had health problems until the doctor called the other day to tell me my cholesterol was THREE TIMES normal and that my liver is probably damaged), this was just what I wanted to hear. But yeah, pretty cool.

By: scarabic

scarabic — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:31:46 -0800

No, I'm actually going to live forever. Close. You're going to have lived. Forever.

By: scarabic

scarabic — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:32:48 -0800

someone who has just hit the wall of mortality (34 Oddly, that was the wall for me too. Not because of any health issues. Just suddenly crested the hill and got a view of the downward slope on the other side.

By: illuminatus

illuminatus — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 14:39:22 -0800

Shatner and Ben Folds did it better.

By: po

po — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 23:28:16 -0800

Am I the only one squicked out by the overly wet and squishy mouth sounds between sentences? Ew. Swallow, dude. And stop playing with your tongue. Or you're going to die a lot sooner than you thought.

By: pompomtom

pompomtom — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:04:23 -0800

Bonus points for the Max Headroom blipvert sample.