Coconuts in the Rose Garden

...or why god, devil, soulreaper or whoever is in charge about life and death *REALLY* doesn't like me, at all.

As if it was not enough to lose Robin Williams unexpectedly less than a year ago, no, now we also get punished with further deaths of people who did make an impact on our lives in one way or another.

On June 7th, 2015 we lost Sir Christopher Lee, one of Britains most talented actors. To the older people he may be known as Dracula, for the younger Generation he is Count Dooku and Saruman the White. He played in over 300 movies (Including James Bond - The Man With the Golden Gun, Gremlins 2, Police Academy - Mission to Moscow and many many more, check IMDB for references, eventhough they are kind of incomplete, as they have been missing his German voice in
Walhalla for example).  He did a lot of voice work in narrations, and was even dubbing his own voice into other languages such as German and French for certain movies. And he did a damn good job at it! In his later years he also appeared on a lot of albums of the Italian Symphonic Metal Band "Rhapsody (of Fire)" and even released his own (symphonic metal) albums about one of his ancestors, Emperor Charlemagne.

On July 30th, 2015, we lost Lynn Anderson, a country singer most famous for the song and album called "Rose Garden".

"I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden
Along with the sunshine there's gotta be a little rain some time."

A *LOT* of rain followed just one day later.

On July 31st, 2015, we lost Rowdy Roddy Piper (Roderick George Toombs). One of the greatest professional wrestlers in this world, who was also a GREAT person.

It came as a huge shock to me, and his loss is the most devastating one for me since losing Johnny Cash in 2003, because without those 2 people, I would not know where I would be (or how I would be) now.

He was the nicest person you could ever meet. Two years ago I met him at the "Movie Days" event in Germany where he sat longer than any of the other guests, patiently signing autographs, answering questions and posing for photos. And just being in the same event hall as he was, gave me a feeling of invincibility, safety, and happiness.

Some of the coolest memories in Wrestling include:

 His epic battles with Hulk Hogan

Him fighting against Victor the Bear (and no, that was not some "hairy russian guy".... that was an actual wrestling bear!)

And last but not least, him smashing a coconut over Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka's head (after offering Bananas first! lol) 

Losing him is something I would have never expected. Especially not of something like a heart attack. I mean come on, he survived the craziness that is pro wrestling, he survived cancer, he survived being stabbed, he survived car wrecks and even a plane crash. It's not fucking fair. :(

Aside from his Wrestling career, he also had his own podcast, appeared in a lot of movies ("They Live" being the most famous one), TV series, and he even did voice work for cartoons!

I will miss you forever, Roddy, you made the world a  better place. I'm glad I was able to meet you 2 years ago! You've been my hero since I started watching wrestling at age 6! I love you!

And even someone who was always on the opposite side of Roddy seems to miss him quite a lot!

Results, some answers, more questions...

...and another "fuck, I miss Robin Williams"post. (Why did it have to be him in the first place, couldn't this stuff have happened to Justin Bieber or someone else we wouldn't notice if they were gone?)

To Robin McLaurin Williams: I know you can't read this anymore on your own, so I am hoping that the angels up in heaven or the fish down in the San Francisco Bay (depending on who is faster) will read this to you.

I miss you. I didn't even know you in person, but I still miss you. You have been a part that has been omnipresent in my life for the past 30 years. I loved your movies. I haven't seen every single one yet. But I'm working on it. I didn't know you spoke the Genie in Aladdin, I live in Germany and people are dubbing everything into German here, which sucks, as you can imagine! I didn't check out Mork & Mindy until after your death, but I have to say it is an amazing TV series. Kudos for mentioning Johnny Cash in it. Nanu nanu. I also did not know that you were playing World of Warcraft, that's cool! I'm sure it would have been a pleasure to play with you, shame I started playing on US servers way late. (We even named a World of Warcraft guild after your "Nanu Nanu" in your honor. Even Blizzard bowed down before you adding cool tributes to you on an island in the new Warlords of Draenor expansion).

Eventhough I knew about your drug and alcohol struggles in the past, I did not know that you were suffering from depression and Parkinson's. If I had known, I would have tried to show you that you are still loved, wanted and needed in this world. I also did not know about your DLB, but hey, people loved you as an absentminded professor in "Flubber", surely they would have forgiven you for being absentminded here and there because of your illness.

You should have talked to Michael J. Fox about Parkinson's. Could have worked on finding a cure together. Granted, he is more of a "Lucky Man" in terms of his marriage (since the same wife he married in 1988 is actually still with him) than you were, but I'm certain he would have helped you in any way possible with your battle against Parkinson's.

A lot of things still make no sense to me. Why were you cremated one day after your death? Why did your wife tell the public about your Parkinson's shortly after your death. What if you wanted to keep it secret? Why did your wife not check in on you in the morning, before going shopping? How were you feeling the past months, and why did you not tell people about your feelings and troubles? (And if you did, why did those people not react?) What caused you to lose so much weight in the time-span of just a couple of months? What caused you to lose...your life, or your will to live? (I know these questions may never be answered, but here's hoping).

Some of my initial questions have been answered in the 35-page Autopsy Report (eventhough the answers may or may not seem appropriate). 

First of all, I'm glad that neither drugs nor alcohol were found in his system.

1) Why did they sleep in different bedrooms?

"The subject had been having a hard time sleeping and was restless due to his Parkinson's and anxiety issues, which is why he was sleeping in a separate bedroom."

"The subject had been having a difficult time sleeping and would sometimes move around a lot in bed or talk loudly in his sleep, which is why he was sleeping in a separate bedroom from Mrs. Williams."

Comment: While this may seem an answer for some people, to me it is just an unimaginable amount of bollocks. For one thing, you don't call a person "subject". Subject always reminds me of "test subject", "school subject", the subject in a "subject-verb-object" sentence structure and other bad subjects like that!

Don't you think it could be beneficial for the person who suffers from depression and anxiety to have someone nearby to calm them down if they 'freak out' and to re-affirm them that they are still wanted and needed in this world, even if they are going through a rough time.

If you absolutely have to sleep in a different bedroom, at least have the decency to check up on your depressed loved one once in a while. (Most people probably don't, because they get scared off by the 'leave me alone-mood' the person might be in; but trust me, it's better to be safe than sorry).

Sure, occasionally it does happen that the person might get pissed off at you for disturbing them in their 'alone-time', but if the choice is between that and losing them forever, I know for sure which option I'd pick.

2) Did he really have Parkinson's?

The 'Surgical Pathology Report' section mentions it as follows:

"The patient is a 63-year-old man. According to the provided information, the patient developed Parkinsonian signs since approximately 2011. Symptoms included a left arm tremor, and slowing of the left hand movements. The patient was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in November 2013. Treatment with pramipexole in May 2014 led to some improvement, and levodopa was recently added to his medication regimen."

Comment: Thank god, atleast the people from the Surgical Pathology Report refer to him as a "patient"; that already sounds much better than the above "subject"!

About the Parkinson's diagnosis, he should have gotten in contact with Michael J. Fox, who has been suffering from it since 1991, to share experiences and to look for cures together.

Some questions have remained unanswered.

1) Why did his wife - knowing about his severe depression - not check in on him in the morning? (She mentioned that she thought he was still asleep, but I don't take that for an answer at all, more like a joke, a bad one).

Comment: Trust me, if you know someone with depression, you'll usually want to make SURE they are OK 24/7. Even more so if you have ever encountered people with suicidal thoughts.

2) Why was he cremated 1 day after his death?
  
Comment: I don't know about the USA, but there were I live, even for cremations the funeral arrangements take up to a week, if not longer. Apparently all the scans and blood that was necessary for the autopsy were gotten on the day of his passing, but yet and still, a cremation that's being done this quickly just smells foul.

3) Was there a "trigger" for his suicide? 

4) Was it even suicide?

Comment: Did they check for fingerprints of other people on specific parts of his body?

Some new questions have appeared.

1) What's the story behind the wrist watches?

"The subject secured several watches in a sock and drove them to [X] house. [X] received the watches and said the subject asked [X] to take care of them."

Comment: Who is the mysterious person, whom I will refer to as "Timekeeper" for lack of a better word? Were the watches of value?

2) What in the world happened that Robin Williams wasn't reading or watching TV in over 6 months?

"She said he grabbed his iPad and she recalled thinking it was a good thing he grabbed it, because she assumed he was in a good mood and was going to take some time to do some reading; he hadn't read or watched TV in about 6-months."

Comment: Umm...I would have asked long ago why he isn't doing those things anymore.

3) Why did neither his wife nor the ominous other person react when he complained about the way that some of his meds made him feel?

"[Y] and Mrs. Williams said the subject had complained in the past about not liking the way some of his medications made him feel, but they believed he was taking them as prescribed."

Comment: Especially in terms of anti-depressant and anti-psychotic medications, it needs to be said that no brain equals the brain of another person. So medications that may work well for one person don't necessarily have to work for another person, in fact they could eve make things WORSE for that person. There is a lot of "trial and error" involved in finding the correct medication that atleast helps the depressed person to feel "normal", so if someone complains about how the meds make him feel, it SHOULD be taken seriously, and should be looked into and should be addressed by his doctor.

It is also worth noting that abruptly stopping a medication on your own can be dangerous. So do NOT do it, no matter who you are. If you don't like how certain meds make you feel, TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR, ASK to be switched to different meds.

4) What was the reason for the massive weight-loss?

Compare the pics from January 2014 with the pics from August 2014 and then tell me what the hell happened? I mean it's not unusual for people to gain or lose a few pounds here and there, but in the August picture he barely looks half his usual weight.

Unsolved Riddles  

And then there was this post over at IGN...date of posting August 8th.

What
The
Fuck?

Anyway, I'm done for the moment and I will let you off with a mean (but in a lot of ways justified) joke and some of the coolest tributes I came across on the internet:

"What's the difference between Susan Schneider and Osama Bin Laden?"
- "At least Bin Laden cared about the people he was married to!"

Tributes below:

O Captain! My Captain!

Nanu nanu, this is Kryptos from Earth reporting in...

...the sad news of the passing of a man who - throughout his career as an actor - put a smile on our faces. A man who many of you know as the friendly (yet a little bit weird) Alien "Mork" from the TV series "Mork & Mindy", as Teacher "John Keating" in "The Dead Poets Society", as "Professor Philip Brainard" in Disney's "Flubber", as "Dr. Sean Maguire" in "Good Will Hunting", as "Mrs. Doubtfire" or as " Airman Second Class Adrian Cronauer" (DJ for the Armed Forces Radio Service) in "Good Morning, Vietnam".

ROBIN WILLIAMS

 

According to news sources, he was found dead in his house on Monday, 11th of August 2014. As cause of death, they assume suicide. (News sources also tell that, besides his battles against alcohol and cocaine addictions, he also suffered from severe depression). A toxicology report is yet to be published.

Depression is a topic that is difficult for us "healthy" people to understand. We don't know what it means to be suffering from this "chemical imbalance in the brain" (which often times seems to be at the very least co-created by *other* chemicals) which makes people think badly about life, and even about themselves (even though they are usually some of the coolest people on this planet - and on other planets as well!)

Healthy people don't know what crazy, scary, weird, worrysome and lonely thoughts and feelings someone with depression goes through, unless someone they love suffers from it. But even then, they only understand a fraction. But if they take warning signs seriously, they might still be able to save their loved ones. Sometimes it takes as little as a few nice words and a hug to make people change their mind.

One of Robin Williams' quotes was:

"I used to think that the worst thing in life was to end up alone. It's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel alone."

It's sad that someone, who made millions of people around the planet happy, wasn't happy himself in the end. And we wonder, is there something we could have done or said to change his mind? (Fuck, I would have tried, if I had known about him suffering from depression). 

In 2009 I was equally shocked about the suicide of the German soccer goalkeeper Robert Enke, who ended his life dramatically by jumping in front of a train. Who - by the looks of people from the outside - had everything going for him, including a nomination for the German national team.

***WARNING***

Alcohol is bad as it is due to the various health issues it can cause.

Coupled with depression and anti-depressants it can be even worse, as it is known to worsen an existing depression, as well as it can make anti-depressants not work properly, or even cause some of their severe side effects to happen, suicide being one of them. If you are suffering from depression and think death is your only way out, think again. GET HELP. Open up to people you love and care about, and start your fight AGAINST depression today. Your loved ones will thank you. If you have no loved ones, e-mail me and I will give you some goddamn good reasons to stay in this world: kryptos973281@googlemail.com

 PS: Maybe a lot of people who suffer from depression should have had lessons with some of the teachers I had in my early school days. I remember one time when each of us got a mirror from the teacher, on which was written "Du bist kostbar, wertvoll und geliebt!" (English: You are precious, valuable and loved") I'm sure reading that when looking into the mirror (and knowing it is true) could cheer up and help a lot of people. 

 

Happy New Year 2014....or is it?

God clearly doesn't listen to Sex Pistols songs.
Nor to people's requests.

Guess I'll have to keep trying to save the world manually.

The Last 2 Weeks, condensed.

Now, I usually don't complain (a lot). If I do complain, then usually about the weather, the GEMA, or other injustices that run rampant on this planet.

But the last 2 weeks are definitely worth to be complained about.

Firstly, my job center decided to put me into a course for the next 6 months, that apparently has the aim to aid me in finding work at some point in the future (yeah, as if...).

I don't mind so much the getting up every morning to go to the course, because the other participants are actually decent people (from whom I've already learned more about life than I probably will learn in the entire 6 months of the course about anything else), but I do mind going there to listen to weird women talking about good food, bad food, eating habits, concentration, meditation and god-knows-what-else! If I want to find my inner peace, I'll bring up YouTube and watch one of the Dalai Lama's speeches!

Furthermore, I totally dislike the way those people treat us there. They do not listen when we say stuff. (But hey, I guess most of us are already used to that, seeing as our job centers never listen to us either!) They complain about our hair, clothes, teeth, weight, skills, education and what-not-all and tell us to change those things if we want to be successful in finding a job.

My response to that was: "I'm an assistant for foreign languages and business studies, I'd prefer work in the field of translation, ideally in some office. I'm not intending to apply as an actress in Hollywood or something."

Although the other people in the course said, I could also settle for that, the way I "act" in the classroom. ;)

A lot of people there already told me, on different occasions, that they think I am over-qualified for both this course and for our job center. (I've got to agree with that!)

Mondays and Wednesdays are our "working" days, where we spend our time in the area of work that we chose. (There were only 3 options, wood working, painting and warehouse, so being the upcoming Picasso that I am, I settled for the painter's workshop - mostly also because all the cool people are there).

If you want a little insight as to what we do there, have a look at those:

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/3328/foto0135a.jpg
http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/3359/bluelj.jpg
http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/2285/redzk.jpg

COMING TO A WALL IN YOUR HOUSE SOON!

Anyway, if you think this is already terrible, then try Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. lol

On Tuesdays we have 2 different women "teaching" us about food and health related stuff. Last week we learned that Coca-Cola with sugar is healthier (for the pancreas, atleast) than Coca-Cola with artificial sweeteners. We also learned that Butter is healthier than Margarine, because Margarine is produced synthetically. This week we learned for 2.5 hours that coffee is good, and for the next 2.5 hours we got told by the second woman the reasons why coffee is bad.

Thursdays and Fridays are even worse, those are spent with one and the same woman, who usually does nothing but diss us for the clothes we wear, the way we wear our hair, how overweight we are, and makes us look as if we are all generally "too dumb to live".

So far, I haven't been insulted (yet) by that "teacher" (who, if I may add, totally fails at her job, being as incapable of working with human beings as she is) but one person she likes to pick on is our illiterate person that we have there. (Who is actually a pretty smart guy, always has good ideas, works well in a team, has a driver's license, can write a little bit, can identify numbers enough to tell the teacher that she wrote something wrong on the board, when she wrote numbers like this on there: 1, 2, 4, 4, 5, 6).

He also told her that he cannot read and write (well) on Thursday last week (he doesn't like to tell it in front of the entire course, because he's afraid that people laugh about it), but Friday last week she complained that he wasn't writing anything down during lessons...

Last Thursday she sent him outside the classroom, because he was apparently "interrupting" the lessons with his talking, even though he was talking about the topic we were discussing right then and there. I told him that, if she sends him out again like that, I'll just come along. Because I see no use in sitting in a room where a so-called "teacher" doesn't respect her "students".

I wonder if those teachers even know what goes on in the mind of a person who cannot read and write, and how much it hurts them to be insulted as dumb. :(  (And also if they know how much it hurts the self-confidence of an illiterate person).

I can only recommend those teachers to watch the movie "The Pride of Jesse Hallam" to see what problems illiterate people have to deal with every day - and even more so nowadays where computers dominate nearly every work place (the movie has, of course, a happy ending, but that isn't always given in the real world because -a lot of times- the right motivation is missing).

A Dream come true.. meeting the Hot Rod!

Just about a month ago I heard about the Movie Days/Dark Zone Event that is happening this weekend in the Westfalenhallen in Dortmund, Germany.

It was announced on their flyer, that my all-time favorite Wrestler - Rowdy Roddy Piper - would also be there.

So I thought: "I simply have to go there". (Now I haven't been to Dortmund since a School trip in 1999, so I had no clue what awaited me on my travel by the S2 and U45 trains to get from the train station in my city to the Westfalenhallen in Dortmund).

During the event autographs were given, stories were told and pictures were taken.

Roddy was so nice and friendly to everyone, from the smallest children to adults who could only communicate in sign language.

He was so sweet and so down to earth, taking time to talk to everyone and not wanting to leave the stage until the promoters of the event literally dragged him away!

He sure loves his fans, and his fans love him too!

 To see some videos of the Hot Rod and other bits of the Movie Days/Dark Zone event, check out my YouTube channel in the coming days.

http://www.youtube.com/user/kryptos973281/videos

Thank you so much, Hot Rod, for an unforgettable day at the Movie Days/Dark Zone in Dortmund on March 23rd, 2013.

Here we go again...

...or how GEMA manages to piss me off 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 52 weeks a year.

Honestly, what is this company even doing other than sitting around and putting restrictions on exactly THOSE videos that I want to see. And quite a few of those videos are posted on YouTube by the ORIGINAL OWNERS of the recorded material. (cinemaforpeacegala/cinemaforpeace-foundation.com and CharlemagneMusical/Charlemagne Productions Ltd included). 

I do believe those places upload stuff on YouTube for it to be seen, and NOT to not be seen. 

How the living fuck is the  presentation of the "Cinema for Peace Honorary Award 2012" something that triggers the following message?

"Unfortunately, this UMG music-content is not available in Germany, because GEMA has not granted the respective music publishing rights." 

Seriously, no one is singing there. A Bosnian director is introducing a British actor who is giving the award to an American actress who had her debut in directing in this movie (and as far as I could view it through a cheap web proxy, no one at all was singing there).

So honestly, what the fuck. Why would you block a Cinema for Peace event, in which directors and actors want to show us (and tell us from their own experience) that War is just the same bunch of bollocks as GEMA restrictions are. (Granted, a few people will slap me now and point out that War is far worse, which I know it is, but I *do* feel at War with GEMA most of the time).

Now from a peace event to a holy roman emperor: Charlemagne.

Said British actor that appeared at the above Cinema for Peace event is also a very talented singer (and also a descendant of Charlemagne), and the YouTube channel of his Charlemagne Productions Ltd uploaded some audio clips for example "Song Rehearsal 1" from the "Charlemagne: By The Sword And The Cross" concept album. Which I also cannot view other than by means of proxy, because: 
 
"Unfortunately, this video is not available in Germany, because it may contain music for which GEMA has not granted the respective music rights" 

So honestly, what gives GEMA the right to block those videos?

1) They are official.
2) They are supposed to be seen/heard.
3) They are in this form NOT for sale on CD or DVD (else I would buy them).

But not only videos of my favorite actor are affected, also videos of my favorite singer, my favorite wrestler and my favorite criminals.

I do think there is a conspiracy going on.

Someone up in their GEMA chair (or someone who has their GEMA chair up their arse) is sitting on YouTube censoring videos with the people I admire for the sole reason to annoy the living daylights out of me.

Or those evil GEMA people don't like my favorites, or like them so much that they want to keep 'em all for themselves.

Why don't get Rap or Justin Bieber videos restricted. THOSE atleast deserve to be restricted for bad language, bad singing and generally being bad. But noo, those you can watch without GEMA restrictions. *vomits*

I wish those people would man up and tell us WHY they restrict videos. Because just sitting there and restricting them for no good or even valid reasons is just a bunch of shit, crap, bollocks or whatever else you might want to call it.

It's like giving your child a pet rabbit for birthday, then slaughtering it mercilessly, and demanding that your child eats this pet rabbit, which it already got emotionally attached to.

Now, I will not say that Censorship hasn't always been an issue in this country (because it has been) but back in the days of the Nazis you could at least see the movies that were approved by them. Nowadays, you probably couldn't even do that, considering the GEMA would find something about any video, be it the brass band in it, that they'd have to restrict.

This little poem came to my mind, after being inspired by a bunch of great people from all over the world. <3

"GEMA said I, thing of evil! - GEMA still, you heartless devil! -
 By the clouds that share above us - by the site we all adore,
tell this soul with sorrow laden, where can I watch videos now!
On this site, by GEMA haunted - tell me truly, I implore -
Is there - is there reason to restrict - tell me - tell me, I implore!
Quoth the GEMA, "Nevermore"."