Comments on: So it goes: Kurt Vonnegut, 1922 – 2007

By: Becky

Becky — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 04:14:14 +0000

For more on Kurt Vonnegut’s battle with depression, visit http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/kurt-vonnegut.html.
Leaders from the mental health community pay tribute to Vonnegut, and discuss the profound social impact of Kurt Vonnegut’s writing and the significance of public figures opening up about depression.

By: Storey

Storey — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 06:49:12 +0000

So it goes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atABhlMLYvU

By: Patrick Haugen

Patrick Haugen — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:31:30 +0000

“Same as it ever was.”
Talking Heads

By: dennis trainor

dennis trainor — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:18:51 +0000

great post.

thought you might like this short video tribute to Vonnegut
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9QvC9vE9uI

more info @ http://www.thehermitwithdavisfleetwood.com

By: Falkor7

Falkor7 — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 12:12:35 +0000

Oh a sleeping drunkard Up in Central Park
Or the lion hunter In the jungle dark

Or the Chinese dentist Or the British Queen
They all fit together In the same machine

Nice, nice, very nice
Nice, nice, very nice
So many people in the same device

Oh a whirling dervish And a dancing bear
Or a Ginger Rogers and a Fred Astaire

Or a teenage rocker Or the girls in France
Yes, we all are partners in this cosmic dance

Nice, nice, very nice
Nice, nice, very nice
So many people in the same device

I wanted all things to make sense
So we’d be happy instead of tense

Oh a sleeping drunkard Up in Central Park
Or the lion hunter In the jungle dark

Or the Chinese dentist Or the British Queen
They all fit together In the same machine

Nice, nice, very nice
Nice, nice, very nice
So many people in the same device
So many people in the same device

Kilgore Trout, you will be missed…….

By: Kurt is up in heaven now" Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) « Stupid Reality

Kurt is up in heaven now" Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) « Stupid Reality — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 23:17:46 +0000

[...] of the hat to the Bad Astronomer for the [...]

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 23:09:41 +0000

A very sad day.

He wrote his own epitath many times, but I always liked this one, from Man Without A Country:

“I am, incidentally, Honorary President of the American Humanist Association, having succeeded the late, great science fiction writer Isaac Asimov in that totally functionless capacity. We had a memorial service for Isaac a few years back, and I spoke and said at one point, “Isaac is up in heaven now.” It was the funniest thing I could have said to an audience of humanists. I rolled them in the aisles. It was several minutes before order could be restored. And if I should ever die, God forbid, I hope you will say, “Kurt is up in heaven now.” That’s my favorite joke.”

And so, Kurt is up in heaven now.

By: Alas, a blog » Blog Archive » Lucky Mud: Kurt Vonnegut, 1922-2007

Alas, a blog » Blog Archive » Lucky Mud: Kurt Vonnegut, 1922-2007 — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 21:40:51 +0000

[...] blog posts on Vonnegut’s passing then I could possibly link to, but here’s a few links: Bad Astronomy, Pandagon, Chris Abraham has but together a brief biography, Because I Say So, Critical Mass, Lisa [...]

By: Christian Burnham

Christian Burnham — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 18:41:31 +0000

Thanny, do a search for ‘David Irving’ and ‘Kurt Vonnegut’.

And I agree with the rest of what you wrote.

By: Thanny

Thanny — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 18:11:24 +0000

Re: Burnham

You are aware, are you not, that Vonnegut was in Dresden at the time of the bombing, in an underground bunker?

I don’t know what details you’re referring to that allegedly came from a Holocaust denier (keep in mind that even a broken clock is right twice a day), but what he writes about that happened afterword on the ground came from his own experience.

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 17:47:26 +0000

I first read Vonnegut at 21….thus started my road to being a skeptic.

I have Kurt to thank as much as anyone for my journey to becoming a skeptical atheistic humanist. Even more so, I have Kurt to thank for enjoying life and laughter.

We’ll miss him, but we can always re-read him. I think he would have liked that.

By: OtherRob

OtherRob — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 17:21:46 +0000

There was a great version of Mother Night done about 10 years ago with Nick Nolte as Howard Campbell. A fantastic movie that doesn’t seem to have gotten much notice at all. Which is just too bad.

By: Kullat Nunu

Kullat Nunu — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 16:21:50 +0000

Wow, I had no idea he was that popular. His death has been noted across the blogosphere and the news media. Apparently there’s still some hope left.

I’ve read only the Sirens of Titan. Time to fix that oversight…

By: Blake Stacey

Blake Stacey — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 15:56:41 +0000

Dang it, the trackback cut off the punchline of the Vonnegut quote I used to start my post.

Oh, these perfidious machines. . . .

By: astropixie

astropixie — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 15:13:59 +0000

as wonderful as his novels are, i’ve read some amazing essays by KV over the last several years. here’s one of my favorite polemics, published in 2004:

http://www.ohkeepa.net/~amandab/politics.html#vonnegut

By: drbuzz0

drbuzz0 — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 15:09:45 +0000

I heard this last night. Sad. We lost a great one. His books were very good. But I saw one of his lectures once at Williams College a couple of years ago. In person he was …. the most hilarious lecture I have ever seen. It was informative and substantive, but better than the best standup commic I had ever seen. I left with my ribs hurting from laughing. But he had much to say that was very stimulating as well.

oh wait… er… actually it was the second most hilarious lecture I have ever seen… after Phill’s at the Amazing Meeting. They can’t delete these posts can they?

By: Science After Sunclipse

Science After Sunclipse — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 14:27:53 +0000

Everything Was Beautiful…

. . . and nothing hurt.
I do feel that evolution is being controlled by some sort of divine engineer. I can’t help thinking that. And this engineer knows exactly what he or she is doing and why, and where evolution is headed. That’s why we&…

By: Dean Baird

Dean Baird — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 13:07:16 +0000

Back in the early ’80s, there were films shown every night in the bigger lecture halls all over campus at The University of Michigan. It was at one such showing that I discovered Slaughterhouse Five. I had never seen such a film! I made a point to see it frequently at subsequent campus showings. I think the campus cinema died out with the increasing popularity of VHS and DVD. And that’s too bad. Few experiences could match seeing The Shining in Angell C surrounded by appropriately enthusiastic college students. You can’t get that kind of audience participation in the comfort of your living room.

Something about Pulp Fiction tells me Quentin Tarantino liked Slaughterhouse Five, too.

By: PJE

PJE — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 12:54:22 +0000

I liked several of his books, but I didn’t like Sirens of Titan. I don’t really know why, I just couldn’t get into the story.

I thought Mother Night and Breakfast of Champions were excellent. Never read Slaughterhouse 5 or Cat’s cradle

He was indeed an odd writer IMHO

Pete

By: Flying

Flying — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 10:05:44 +0000

To Crux Australis: I don’t know how you record it, but try here:
http://spacesounds.com/missions/index.html

By: Crux Australis

Crux Australis — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 09:21:52 +0000

Hey folks. I’m preparing a short video clip to show in my high school Physics class (I’m the teacher) and I’d really like a few sound clips of mike chatter during the prelaunch sequence, especially from about T-20 seconds. I’ve looked through the NASA site and through Google-MP3 and can’t really find anything. Can anyone help me out?

By: Chip

Chip — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 08:55:10 +0000

It was my late hip father, 25 years my senior who introduced me to Kurt Vonnegut’s writing. Dad pointed out that there were a lot of things in Slaughterhouse 5 that were akin to his own weird war experiences. Vonnegut was one of the bright lights in American literature.

By: Christian Burnham

Christian Burnham — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 08:17:38 +0000

This is ugly, but it bothers me that Slaughterhouse 5 relied in part on holocaust-denier David Irving’s work on the bombing of Dresden. I wish KV had issued a correction in later editions.

I love, love that novel. I’m just uneasy with that one bit.

And, oh dear, let’s forget the recent radio interview where KV expressed support for learning about creationism in schools.

By: Jack Hagerty

Jack Hagerty — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 07:53:50 +0000

One of the funniest things he ever did was a cameo in Rodney Dangerfield’s “Back to School” where he played himself.

I, too, found “Slaughterhouse 5″ to be life-changing, both the book and the film (plus giving me a life-long crush on Valerie Perrine…).

BTW, I want to add my congratulations to your decision (the previous entry got too stuffed with posts). I got tired of getting LOW (lack of work) layoffs every couple of years, so in 1986 I decided to become a contract engineer. It hasn’t been easy, but it does give you the flexibility needed for writing.

- Jack

By: csrster

csrster — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 07:24:59 +0000

I dunno,
“Kurt Vonnegut, farted around 1922-2007″ sounds like not a bad epitaph either.