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Dan Gordon-Levitt, brother to Joseph Gordon-Levitt, onetime boyfriend to you, has died. R.I.P. Dan Gordon-Levitt. You are in heaven now, teaching the angels how to flow.
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This week's five highest rated comments as voted on by you, the lowest rated comment as voted on by you, and the editor's choice.
'Sup, pogs!
Let's all go to the movies, and let's all see the same movie, and let's discuss it here.
Gabe loves fan fiction. You Can Make It Up features his own personal alternate adventures starring some of our favorite characters.
After watching Death Sentence, a terrible movie starring Kevin Bacon as a father in search of vigilante justice directed by Saw's James Wan, Gabe embarked on The Hunt For The Worst Movie of All Time. This is his sad journey.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCRPpJ-IC0
Add Dan to the list of people I can’t wait to meet in heaven. Right next to Grandma and Tupac.
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Gonna be a lot of those “Coexist” bumper stickers at that funeral.
DUDE…..How did this chill bro die?
See what’s going on here is that Googling will take too much out of me (I am really fatigued today), so I am asking one of you to do it for me.
He was so chill that God wanted do mushrooms with him.
Maybe this means more double (maybe even triple) rainbows for us down here on Earth?
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“You see the salt on this pretzel? Look at the stars. Some people, they say the stars are billions and billions of tons of hot gas. But I think maybe, maybe it’s just God’s salt. And God’s just waiting to eat us.”
What can only hope…all the way.
Awwww….I’m sorry Monsters. I was genuinely saddened when I read Gabe’s post. I have poor coping mechanisms, so I have to joke about it. I will go to my room of shame now…
I upvoted for the Can’t Hardly Wait reference.
Aw, c’mon guys. This seems genuinely sad to me. He was more than a hippie lover of The Matrix — he was, for example, someone’s brother.
(*I have a Coexist bumper sticker)
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I have one too. The “Visualize Whirled Peas” came undone and my “Funkengruven” couldn’t support my bumper from falling off by itself.
Well behaved Gordon-Levitt’s rarely make history.
This is really a bummer, we had only been on a few dates, but things were going really well! ;(
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Hey wait, this is really sad, why are we all taking a half “let’s mock the dead” tone in our comments?
Yeah. I’m actually sad about this. Poor Burning Dan. Poor JGL.
I upvoted all the “This is sad” comments and nothing-voted everything else. I’m all for comedy but I’m also all for feeling things.
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With more than half a year behind this joke, I’m surprised this many people knew what a viking funeral was enough to be offended.
Bye from the future!
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facetaco wins my own private MB here.
Me and you against the world here, Powlsy!
I was apparently upset enough by this that when I went to Google it, I typed “burning dan gordon levitt died!” verbatim, exclamation point and all.
I wasn’t upset because I had no idea this guy even existed until today but after i googled him then i felt bad.
This is really sad. I wish the best to his family.
Oh, Gabe. Really?
How about we all stop trying to be pithy for two seconds and just think about how nice this quote is?
JGL: “It’s wonderful to be mistaken for him. He taught me to question the relationships other people have with their siblings because he would be my favorite person in the world even if I wasn’t lucky enough to know him as my brother. He’s just awesome in every way that I pay attention to. I ask myself, ‘Do I love him because he’s my brother or is he really that awesome?’ He’s really, really awesome… It’s rare that I don’t feel really proud of him.”
Actually Dan said that about JGL, which makes it better.
You’re correct, my apologies, but you’re right, it makes it even sweeter.
If either of these two facts are true than I won’t believe someone actually died
1) No one will say how the person died or
2) They died on April 1st.
*fingers crossed* Burning Dan!
…and Mitch Hedberg.
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No cause listed =
- not our business
That One, you’re really bringing the integrity today. Thanks.
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II was apparently correct: http://thecelebritycafe.com/feature/joseph-gordon-levitts-brother-dies-suspected-overdose-10-07-2010
A neighbor of the deceased told RadarOnline.com that Dan and his friends had been having a party when they were awoken by a girl screaming.
The witness said: “She came running out to the front garden of their apartment and some people went out to help her… The paramedics were called, but he was found dead surrounded by needles and syringes…”
The neighbor went on to tell how the 36-year-old, also known as Burning Dan, and his friends were not popular in the neighborhood, recalling a time when they set a car on fire in front of the building.
The witness continued: “I’m sorry that he died, but I’m honestly not that surprised either.”
Sorry, I’m a long time visitor to the site, I just never felt compelled to post anything, and I hate for my first foray into this to be as a wet-blanket, but come on, this is genuinely sad news and should not be taken as a mid-afternoon laff. Now, I honestly don’t know ANY-thing about the guy, but in a world where everyone treated Micheal Jackson as a saint after his death, despite his checkered past (http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&safe=off&q=michael+jackson+molestation+victims&aq=f&aqi=g5&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=5a996d56de453056). I feel like it would be appropriate to mention that the guy died, as it is news and should be acknowledged, offer a genuine word of sympathy (if so inclined) and move on, without making the guy a punch line. Once again, I’m sorry that I’m entering the world of monsters as an antagonist, I’ve just seen some friends go in the day and it always affects people a lot more than you’d realize
P.S. For the record, I love the whole “That’s your …” I read that headline and I know that I’m in for a
laugh, it just strikes me as in bad taste when the guy’s recently deceast. Necrophilia jokes aside
This is completely off-topic but I must share the worst joke I ever made. Last week my friends and I were talking about the McDonalds cartoon characters, specifically the Hamburglar and after sitting silent for a long while I blurted “What? Does he BURGLE HAMS!?” Despite the utter idiocy of the joke and rendering the room very quiet I laughed so hard at my own joke I had to get up and leave the room.
Stupid story aside, I totally agree with you here.
I feel much the same way you do about all this dead but I’m giggling a bit because this is such a heavy message to come from the hamburgler.
Yeah, with an exception of a few, these comments have been pretty terrible.
Pretty glad I don’t comment all that much now. New low.
I logged in for the first time in months to say BOOO. I can’t believe monsters are actually trying to one-up each other on stupid jokes about a man’s death.
BOOOOO.
Agreed, have some respect people!
Yeah booo!
These comments are sad, people. I’m sorry.
I wish his family the best.
First of all, RIP Dan.
Second, a surprising number of you need to hit that reset button.
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Wow. It’s already been said but I did not expect these kind of comments here. Come on, this place is so much better than crappy jokes about a 36 year old guys tragic death.
This is very sad news.
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Lemminggum
By which I mean, Gabe uses the upsetting news of a young person’s death as an excuse to reference a months-old trope and dozens of commenters jump right on board, seemingly without questioning that they are mocking someone’s death merely because the tone set by the post says it’s okay to do so. Also, that sentence is a run-on, but you know what I mean. Not cool, guys.
Yeah, I expected better than this. Busch league, near 4chan-level insensitivity, and the blame definitely starts with Gabe’s post.
Really? I don’t see anything wrong with Gabes post. Some comments yes, but not the post.
I think the “that’s your boyfriend” reference set the tone for the comments section, regardless of whether that was Gabe’s intention.
Exactly. The last “your boyfriend” was Andrew Shirvell. Leave this kid alone.
The “Thats your boyfriend” reference to me I assumed was because it was the only other time on this site he had been mentioned?
I just wasn’t feeling that Gabe was being an asshole this time in the few words he posted, and most of the commenters were just fall over themselves to be the first funniest commenter and win MB without really considering the context of the story.
Yeah, I don’t feel Gabe was in the wrong with his posting. If you break it down. THis is all Gabe said:
Dan Gordon-Levitt, brother to Joseph Gordon-Levitt, onetime boyfriend to you, has died. R.I.P. Dan Gordon-Levitt. You are in heaven now, teaching the angels how to flow.
He mentions the deceased, provides a link and a context to DGL’s previous appearance on this site (the That’s Your Boyfriend segments), then makes the exact same tasteful joke about being in heaven that he made when Greg Giraldo and Tony Curtis died:
R.I.P. Greg Giraldo. You will be missed. You’re in heaven now, roasting the angels. And R.I.P. Tony Curtis. You will be missed. You’re in heaven now, dressing like an angel to fool them.
I felt Gabe’s statement was in line with being respectful to the deceased as well as in line with previous respects paid to the deceased. I do agree that the ‘That’s Your Boyfriend’ context is a jarring one once the person featured in it has passed away, but Gabe wasn’t taking the opportunity in this instance to write a post like that here. I feel the responsibility of the respect (or lack thereof) paid to DGL falls on the shoulders of the commenters.
I’m going to have to say amen to this.
(I’m agreeing with Destrucity…) Those damn reply arrows are ambiguous.
Hey look everyone: A celebrity’s relatively anonymous brother, who he loves very much, is kind of new-agey and liked The Matrix a lot. And now he’s dead! Let’s all pile on! HAHAHAHA
Ugh. Shower. Need. Now. Gross.
You know, when Gabe posted about him the first time, when he was alive, nobody was complaining. Everybody joined in the mocking. Now that he’s passed away, some of those same people are saying it’s NOT okay to make jokes about him? So it’s okay when he’s alive for the mockery, but not when he’s gone? That’s not quite hypocrisy, I don’t think, but it’s close to it. Humor is a form of memorial, appreciate it in his honor.
Yeah, we’re saying that (although I did not make fun of him initially, for the record). Making fun of someone, even someone you think is kind of lame, IMMEDIATELY after their death — specifically, at the ANNOUNCEMENT of their recent passing — is in the poorest of taste. You’re basically dancing all over the grave of someone who, while kind of new-agey, was a completely harmless guy. I mean, if it was Jerry Falwell, I’d say fine. But this is the relatively obscure brother of an medium profile actor. And don’t even give me that “humor is a form of memorial” bullshit. If I went to the funeral of someone I clearly disliked and pulled out that excuse, I’d get beaten to death.
Okay, let’s break this down. So mocking a dead person whose beliefs you strongly disagree with is okay, but mocking a dead person you didn’t really have strong feelings for either way, not so much? Can you draw me a diagram of when it is or is not okay to make jokes about the recently deceased? If you want to make jokes, fine. If you don’t, then don’t. But there’s no middle ground there, either it’s okay or it’s not.
And yes, if you went to a funeral of someone you disliked and made jokes about them, you would probably make a few enemies. I’d be willing to wager that would happen if you did that at any funeral, regardless of your feelings for the person being buried. But this is not funeralgum.com. This is a blog, one with a very active, intelligent, humorous community. It’s not as if people are crashing his wake to make jokes about how much he loved the Matrix. Making jokes about somebody is an informal way of remembering them in a positive light. Laughter can be therapeutic. Not that I particularly think anybody here needs therapy from this man’s death, but I also don’t believe anybody meant any ill will by it.
I promise you, if you die before the rest of us (2012 is coming faster than you think), I will not make any jokes about it, because you clearly would not approve. But I like to think Dan Gordon-Levitt was a nice guy who would be happy to know that people were able to find some joy even in his passing. I know I would be.
I used Falwell as an example because Christopher Hitchens famously called him out on his bigotry and reprehensible character immediately after his death. That was entirely warranted, because people were glossing over the horrible, horrible things Falwell said and did throughout his life. Falwell was very public with his intolerance, so he opened himself up to criticism that didn’t necessarily have to be tempered after his death — entirely unlike Dan Gordon-Levitt, who happened to be the brother of a somewhat famous actor, and just happened to be made fun of one time on this site.
This isn’t “funeralgum” (as if that were even an argument), but that doesn’t mean I can’t call you out. Sure, you wouldn’t show your face and do this at a funeral, but given an anonymous medium to do it, you wouldn’t think twice and are defending this kind of mean-spiritedness. How could you possibly be held accountable on the internet?
“I promise you, if you die before the rest of us (2012 is coming faster than you think), I will not make any jokes about it, because you clearly would not approve. But I like to think Dan Gordon-Levitt was a nice guy who would be happy to know that people were able to find some joy even in his passing. I know I would be.” Haha, what? Seriously? I don’t even know where to start with this shit.
Actually, I didn’t make any comments about him, you’re not calling me out. I’m merely saying, I don’t think anybody meant it in a mean-spirited way. Maybe I’m too optimistic about people, but I like to think that most people who were making comments did not do so with any sort of malice. And yes, I DO think it’s a form of honoring his memory. You don’t have to agree with it, but you shouldn’t attack them for it.
And just saying that you don’t know where to start with something isn’t a rebuttal, it’s a deflection.
Come on, facetaco. Don’t act like people making stupid jokes on this thread are honoring this guy’s memory. When Gilbert Gottfried made jokes about Greg Geraldo dying, that was a friend honoring a friend. This is a bunch of assholes mocking a recently deceased person that they didn’t know. Gently mocking him when he was alive was funny and fleeting and harmless, and he got to ignore our existence and continue living his live. Gently mocking him now is rude and insulting to his memory, because we don’t possess that memory. To us, all Dan Gordon-Levitt has ever been is a joke, but he wasn’t a joke. He was a man with a family and friends and a life. To respond to the news of his death with a rehash of the notion that he was a one-dimensional punchline is not a memorial, it’s an embarrassment.
I would say you win, but winning at eloquently explaining why it’s not appropriate to make fun of the recently deceased on a blog is not something most people aspire to.
The combo of your avatar, your response and this thread made me a little teary. :’(
i agree that these jokes are not cool. i feel for joseph gordon-levitt & his family….i can’t imagine how hard it must be for him to lose his older brother like this.
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I WISH I had been so lucky as to have Burning Dan as my boyfriend.
He is absolutely the type of guy who would tell his brother, “Aw little bro, don’t let my death bring you down. Just keep doing what you love.”
Sure, sometimes he says stuff that reminds you of your boyfriend. But he definitely wasn’t a human monster. Sad news all around.