A quick Google reveals that he is still just as dead as Chevy Chase’s career.
The late Generalisssimo has been driven from the grave by the unholy spells of Izglaškul Rhaoktarán, 432, a notable necromancer. Zombie Franco is currently hiding in Algeria, where he is hoping to raise an army with the aid of the Ghost of Hitler and Emperor Hirohito’s soul embodied in an arcade love-tester machine.
I know exactly what you mean. I see all these people on tv crying their eyes out over this. I know the pope is the leader of the Catholic church, but I can’t see crying about it.
Frankly, I was more upset about Mitch Hedberg’s death. He did more for me than the pope did, even if it was just making me laugh.
I would like to state that my family has a family friend, a Monsignor, who actually works inside the Vatican. I forget his exact departmentmental jobbie thingie I’ve always enteretained the idea that the preists were working out of cubicleville., but this years Christmas newsletter from him will be really cool.
Just thought I would share.
He meant a great deal to a lot of people. It’s not all that different from losing a family member to them. It was going to be a shock that he died if he lived another twenty years.
As for the glurge, I’m lucky. I only had the radio at work so no overcoverage there. I come home to my eight year old and the kids choice awards and the only glurge there is the sound of slime hitting Will Ferrell. A few episodes of Red Dwarf and off to bed.
I’ll probably keep avoiding the tv for the next week or so, just in case.
I would say the best SciFi program on TV, ever. Can’t wait to see part 2 of the season finale-- haven’t had a chance to watch my recording yet.
I disagree. What happened in Britain with Diana was truly bizarre. It was like a mass hysteria that swept the nation for bloody weeks on end over a completely unremarkable minor celebrity. The Pope has always been able to pull epic crowds.
Ah…I’d heard that he’d taken a meeting with Eisner…
Boy, I feel old. I remember the 1970s, when Popes were dropping like characters in an Agatha Christie novel. They no sooner got 'im all Poped-up when he’d be carried out feet-first.
I was 6 during that last Pope-apalooza, and I have a vague recollection that “Geez, this Pope-choosing thing takes a REALLY long time.” (It kept interrupting my afterschool cartoon watching.) It wasn’t till years later that I found out it had been TWO Pope-choosing things, and I’d conflated them in my memory. I didn’t realize there’d been another very short-lived Pope in there.
What has been bothering me in the last several months is referring to his followers as “the faithful”. As if only Catholics are “faithful” and vice-versa.
The media have never seemed able to understand that there are beliefs out there beyond Catholicism. I saw a segment on Fox News where they were interviewing one of the prominent Protestant pastors (Robert Schuller? Pat Robertson?) about the Pope, and the pastor had to remind the commentator that he knew no more about the Pope than the average viewer did.
Being raised a protestant and remaining faithful to beliefs that do not involve a “Father” outside of heaven, I don’t care any more about the Pope’s death than I do my neighbor’s down the street. It would be nice if the news media understood how many people are in my group.
Technically, while Pope John Paul I’s term in office was quite brief he wasn’t short-lived. JP I, aka Albino Luciani died at age 66.
Albino? His name was Albino? Was he very white?
Your memory is faulty. Pope Paul VI died in 1978 after a fifteen year reign. True, Pope John Paul I died after only 33 days as Pope. But with only two dying in the 1970s, and only JPI dying so quickly, it’s hardly accurate to say that Popes were dropping like characters in an Agatha Crhistie novel.
My meaning was, he was a short-lived Pope because his reign as Pope was short-lived. I’m aware he was no spring chicken. 
You have no sense of the dramatic.
And yeah, I’m getting a bit weary of all the “The World Mourns!” and “The Whole World is in Mourning!” stuff on the TV. Umm, no, Catholics are in mourning; the rest of us are only vaguely interested. And I’m sure even some Catholics are more excited about getting a new, 21st-century Pope than “mourning” the old one.
Dismiss it as you like, but there are 1.1 Billion Catholics, and he is also being mourned, or at least remembered and respected, by Jews, Muslims, and Protestants, by Israelis and Palestinians, by President and Mrs. Bush, Kofi Annan, Hilary Clinton, Fidel Castro, and the government of Red China. He also had a high level of support from the youth of the world.
May he rest in peace.
There’s a coverup going on. You KNOW not everyone is miserable about the old guy’s death. Where are the quotes from people who would say something like, "He reversed most of the progress the church had made in the decades before him. He made the church better prepared for the 19th century than the 21st. "
When I was young, you didn’t have these fancy-schmantzy 24 hour news stations on cable TV or this silly internet. You waited for news and they broke into regular programming to give it to you! Only then if it was important enough. If you missed it, that was too bad. You know what? We liked it.
Get off my damn lawn, you rotten news kids!
This media circus is truly pathetic. The local TV coverage on the pope’s death went like this:
Anchorman: “Pope gravely ill! We still can’t confirm the pope is dead but he’s about to kick it. Still can’t confirm… can’t confirm yet… not yet… (cue some sap crying in St. Peter’s Square)… nope, not yet… (cue some ignorant sap going on about how JPII “reached out” to people)… nope, not yet… (on and on and on)… still no word… damn I guess he’s taking his time, we can’t stay live for much longer, what a pity, I would cream my pants if I could break this news on a live special”.
Fuck do you really think I need to know that the pope died the moment he gives his last breath? Could you not wait until the official statement from the Vatican instead of going live because CNN heard some rumors? What’s the point of an hour-long minute to minute update? (No, I didn’t watch all of it, smartass).
The other thing I hate are the street interviews. What do I care about these comments? Nobody ever says anything remotely interesting, it’s always the same platitudes.