If you haven't heard about the death of Heath Ledger by now (he died in the US on January 22nd), you're not paying attention to the news. It's all over the place. It's even being discussed in the local schools here in the Philippines (I found out about it from my son after he came home from school).

I wrote one article about Heath Ledger on this blog (The New Joker) and updated it slightly when I heard the news. I'm not going to write another celebrity article in an attempt to capitalize on it.

I think it's a legitimate question: Why do we lament the loss of a celebrity? Many people die on this Earth, every single minute of every single day. The life or death of a celebrity will have very little impact on me or my family. That is, unless the celebrity is a relative or close friend.

The only thought I can express about the death of Heath Ledger is this: He was merely a year older than my older son.

Doesn't this old picture of Melissa McIntyre (from the "Degrassi: The Next Generation" TV series) kind of look like the ogre version of Princess Fiona from Shrek? I think so.

I received a message from a Commodore Users Group that Jim Butterfield (14 February 1936–29 June 2007) died on June 29, 2007, after battling cancer in many parts of his body. (Note: This is painful for me because he was 3 years younger than my mother.)

Jim was a Toronto, Canada-based author and computer programmer famous for his work with Commodore microcomputers, and a longtime contributor to many related periodicals, even long after the company declared bankruptcy. He personally taught me, via email, assembly language programming for the Commodore 64 (C64) and Commodore 128 (C128) computers many years ago. His assembly language and BASIC routines for "string thing 64" and "string thing 128" were used in many BBS programs for the Commodore line of computers during the BBS era.

He will be sorely missed.

I spotted this picture of the new Joker over at VideoETA:

That is one ugly Joker. The sequel to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, will hit theaters in July of 2008. Heath Ledger, according to this picture and other sources, will be playing the new Joker. I like Jack Nicholson but… I think he was too old to play the Joker in the first "Batman" movie. Not only that, but I think they screwed up his persona in that one too.

"Batman Begins" was so much better than "Batman", in my opinion, that I think they know what they're doing with this one. I only hope Christian Bale returns as Batman. I can't think of a better actor to fill the part.

Update 2008-01-22: News reports came in stating that Heath Ledger is dead. It looks like this will be his last movie. It's a great loss for the movie industry, as well as a great loss for his family.

Ever since the Paris Hilton sex video made its rounds on the Internet, Paris Hilton has been getting much undeserved attention from admirers, the media, and other sources. I can't stand her. If I come across a blog that talks about her in any positive light, I click away as soon as humanly possible.

Well, she continues to manipulate the media and is now trying to manipulate the legal system in California. Mick Real from Mick's World and CruftBucket turned me onto a petition to make sure she goes to jail, despite the petition she's been gathering signatures for in order to get a pardon.

The ONLY reason Paris is a celebrity is because of the nasty sex video. Sure, she comes from the family that owns the Hilton chain, but that just makes her a rich brat. The video makes her a celebrity slut, following in the footsteps of Pamela Sue whatever her name is now.

If you want to make sure she gets put in jail where she belongs, make sure you read the petition at iPetitions and submit your info. Oh, when it asks for a donation, you can close your tab or browser. The signature will still count.

It had to happen. It has to happen. It's the law of averages (whatever the heck that means). As I've gone through my short 46 years of life (short considering I plan to make it to 130), I've managed to meet or stumble into celebrities of all kinds — most of them I can't remember. These are the ones I remember:

While I was at the Kauai Surf Hotel (Hawaii) in the mid 70s, I literally bumped into Brian Keith. He's been dead a few years.

In the late 90s, I met Dan Akroyd, Marie Osmond and Tim Allen when I accompanied some Marines to the studios to be part of the studio audience. I remember them but I doubt they remember me. Dan Akroyd and Tim Allen were filming the pilot to "Soul Man", a TV show that didn't take off like "Home Improvement". I don't remember what Marie Osmond was doing.

Sometime in the last 10 years, I found out that a lady that used to come over to my house all the time in Phoenix was the aunt of Lou Diamond Philips. She used to tell us when she was headed to Oxnard, California. Apparently, that's where he lived. Anyway, he's played Mexicans and Native Americans and such in movies and on TV, but he's Filipino. In fact, he was born at the former Subic Bay Naval Station, not far from where I live now. She kept asking if I and the wife would like to go visit with her, but I was always too busy to take a trip. I'm not busy now but I don't think hobnobbing with the big dogs is worth the cost of a couple of plane tickets round-trip to the US. I have pictures of him, her and his mother somewhere around here (packed in a box I'm sure).

Back in August, I and my wife had pictures taken with Redford White, a Filipino actor, while we were at LAX. They came out really bad, or I'd post them here.

I have no doubt that I'll bump into more in the future. What have I learned? They're just like me. They get paid a hell of a lot more than me, but they're still just like me.

You remember Wil Wheaton, don't you? C'mon… you know, from Stand by Me (1986) and Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987-1994)? Well, he's a dedicated blogger like the rest of us. He's also a geek like me who reads stuff on Digg.

His blog is WWdN: In Exile – Wil Wheaton's not-so-temporary blog. and he's as human as anyone.

Do you remember the post I made called Why Getting to the Front Page of Digg Isn't Important to Me? Well, it can't even begin to compare to what he said with what happened to digg?

Hmmm… he may be 12 years younger than I, but I think he's a whole lot smarter.