Monday, September 22, 2008

Paul Newman, and the Upset Google Can Cause

Typing in "Paul Newman" into Google just now, the auto-complete function that somehow plucks all the most popular searches from the ether completed with: "cancer," "health," "movies," "actor," "news," "dying," [!!!!!!] "bio," "dead," [NO!], "illness," annnnd, "death."

Everyone at work who knows me whatsoever knows my infatuation, err, it runs deeper ... my admiration for him. People drop off little boxes of Newman's Own raisins (one of which still sits atop my editing box at my desk, so he can look at me as I type), people lend me his movies when I mention that I haven't seen one and I've just always loved following his life on and off screen.

Sure, it's crazy. But from the moment I saw him up there (on the screen), it hit me like a ton of bricks. He's the one and only little idol that I have. (Though I should give honorable mentions to Tim Robbins, John Cusack, Kevin Spacey and ... hmm ... perhaps that's it.)

PN isn't dead. And the day he goes, I will cry some quiet little tears -- but until then, I wish his name wouldn't be completed in search with dying, dead or death.

This is why he's someone I've enjoyed following these years: "Movie star Paul Newman has quietly turned over the entire value of his ownership in Newman’s Own — the company that makes salad dressing and cookies — to charity."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,365221,00.html



The above is what got me thinking about him. "The Color of Money," one of the best. I hadn't seen it until some time last year, when one of the aforementioned coworkers lent it to me when he couldn't bear the fact that I hadn't seen it. (An embarrassing, embarrassing moment.)

Watched it on repeat a few times.