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Topic: Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead today

Justin Hamaker
Film God

Posts: 2253
From: Lakeport, CA USA
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 02-02-2014 12:59 PM

CNN.com has a headline saying Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead of an apparent drug overdose.

Edited to correct spelling of PSH

[ 02-04-2014, 01:48 AM: Message edited by: Brad Miller ]

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 02-02-2014 01:24 PM

I saw the news a little while ago. Pretty sad. The guy was a great actor. Too bad he had to wind up as yet another substance abuse death.

It kind of a funny thing how overdose deaths only make the news when a celebrity is involved. They're actually very commonplace. When people think of deaths involving drug use they usually think of street violence. The truth is far more people die by their own hand through substance abuse than are killed in violence related to drugs.

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Pravin Ratnam
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 844
From: Atlanta, GA,USA
Registered: Sep 2002

posted 02-02-2014 02:08 PM

wow, I didn't think he was the type to be the type to OD.

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Robert E. Allen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1078
From: Checotah, Oklahoma
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 02-02-2014 02:39 PM

That's a talent I'll miss. RIP Phillip.

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Martin McCaffery
Film God

Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99

posted 02-02-2014 02:42 PM

Totally sucks. A great actor who was fun to watch even in bad movies. I always looked forward to whatever he was doing next. We've had the Capote banner hanging in and watching over our lobby for years. Damn, damn, damn.

Oh, and it is Philip Seymour Hoffman (one "L" in Philip and no "e" in Seymour).

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Steve Matz
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 672
From: Billings, Montana, USA
Registered: Sep 2003

posted 02-02-2014 05:23 PM

When are these Dumb-A$$ Actors/Celebrities gonna finally get the Message that they aren't Smarter than DRUGS. [puke]

They all give the same excuse that they have control of their Drug Habit. Well go down the List of Celebs that ever said that and you'll either find them in Prison or the Graveyard. [Mad]

Excuse my insensitivity, but these People have Lives that most People can only Dream of and they FLUSH it all down the TOILET with these F**KEN Drugs that they seem to not be able to get through Life without. Lots of ordinary People out there with tradgedies in their Family and Lives and they don't all run to the Booze Bottle or the Drug Dealers for a way out [thumbsdown]

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Victor Liorentas
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 800
From: london ontario canada
Registered: May 2009

posted 02-02-2014 06:18 PM

He was 22 years on the wagon and only 2 years ago went into rehab because he felt he was gonna lose the battle.
Talents like him usually have big demons.
His character in Punch Drunk Love actually scared me out of my seat for a moment!
Kinda thing Joe Pesci did for me in Casino and Goodfellas!

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 02-02-2014 07:23 PM

quote: Steve Matz
Lots of ordinary People out there with tradgedies in their Family and Lives and they don't all run to the Booze Bottle or the Drug Dealers for a way out

Most of them don't, but some do. As Bobby points out, we hear all about the celebs who get into substance abuse problems, but if you're not Hoffman (or Bieber, or Winehouse, or whoever), you won't end up on the front page of a news site. Although the fact that the cost of these drugs isn't an issue for millionaire celebs possibly puts tham at greater risk than the general population.

Returning to topic, he was amazing as Truman Capote. In fact, the film made such an impression on me that pretty much the first thing I did after getting home from seeing it was to go on Amazon and order a copy of In Cold Blood. From what I've read in Hoffman's obituaries, they strike me as similar characters: a lot of raw talent, able to understand people in a very different background and setting to their own, but constrained by a lack of interpersonal skills - and in Capote's case, the ability to make enemies easily.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 02-02-2014 09:29 PM

I won't be too judgmental against anyone who has actually fought a battle with hard core drug addiction, other than perhaps saying they should have known better. I mean, we've been seeing people drop dead from this shit in a high profile manner for more than half a century now. Anyone just starting a junk habit now is a fucking moron and I absolutely will not be sorry for saying that.

Hoffman's death is precisely the thing I think of first when I hear some people cry out that all drugs no matter how hard should be legalized. They ALWAYS approach the issue from the very narrow prism of stopping street violence. The problem is street violence is very small compared to the far larger problem of substance abuse deaths. Far more people die from drug abuse than die from being involved in bad drug deals.

Just take legal drugs in consideration. Last year the United States had around 13,000 homicides. That's nowhere near half the homicide level for the US in 1980. Nearly 17,000 Americans died of liver failure from long term alcoholism the same year. Tens of thousands of Americans die from drug overdoses every year.

The media always likes to let us know how many people in Mexico died over the past 5 years in drug cartel violence. They will never let it be known that in 1 year substance abuse deaths in the US would outweigh those 5 year homicide totals in Mexico. They're biased. They want all drugs legal and uncontrolled. Never mind how many people the open policy might kill.
[Roll Eyes]

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 02-03-2014 12:41 PM

quote: Bobby Henderson
... people cry out that all drugs no matter how hard should be legalized. They ALWAYS approach the issue from the very narrow prism of stopping street violence.

Agreed completely. Having just finished watching a re-run of Ken Burns's prohibition documentaries on PBS, the concluding show made the interesting point that prohibition has gone down in the mainstream history books as a failed social engineering experiment, because it caused and sustained a big growth in organized crime. However, deaths from alcohol-related liver disease fell between half and two-thirds during the period the Eighteenth Amendment was in force, and deaths from people doing stupid things while drunk (to themselves and/or others) probably fell by a similar amount. So seen as a public health experiment, prohibition was a huge success. It would be interesting to compare the number of lives saved and improved by the public health benefits of prohibition to those ended and damaged by the organized crime that came with it.

The other assumption of those who argue for the legalization of currently banned drugs I'm a bit dubious about is that if that legalization takes place, the crime gangs that currently produce and distribute this stuff will all throw away their guns, set up shop in some legitimate business, do their tax returns like good citizens each year and live happily ever after. I suspect that they would find some other illicit business activity that offers much higher profit margins than any legal one.

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Jim Cassedy
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1661
From: San Francisco, CA
Registered: Dec 2006

posted 02-03-2014 01:03 PM

Celebrity deaths usually happen in threes.
I was waiting for the other two (or four) shoes to drop, but a friend who
is an expert in these metaphysical superstitions tells me that in this case,
there is an exception because of the "Three Name Rule" which says that
when a celebrity who is known by three names dies, it counts as 3 deaths.
Middle initials don't count. It must be 3 names. (So Michael J. Fox or
Francis X. Bushman would be exceptions to the three name rule execption)

I've confirmed this on the internet, so it must be true. [Roll Eyes]

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Alan Plester
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 209
From: great yarmouth england
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 02-03-2014 01:11 PM

Total agreement with Mr H people who do drugs, I have no time for whatsoever, if they go, they go, I don't care, and yes, my family was taken to hell and back by one of my family members, he nearly caused my brother to take suicide, I told him what I thought of him, haven't seen him for yrs.

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Steve Matz
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 672
From: Billings, Montana, USA
Registered: Sep 2003

posted 02-03-2014 01:29 PM

Well the internet through no fault of its own has helped Drug Addiction to probably its highest point in modern history. You can buy almost anything you want from MEXICAN PHARMACIES with anything that remotely looks like a Prescription Real or Bogus.
Also because of the Greed of Pharmacutical Companies, many people with legitimate needs for prescription medicine have to go to Canada or Mexico for a Generic Version.

I grew up in 50's and 60's when Barbituates,LSD,etc was going Strong. Maybe my decision to stay away from these Type drugs was my Mother as a Registered Nurse working in the local ST.Vincents
hospital telling me countless times of young teenagers dying in front of her in the Emergency Room from overdoses. She would come home Crying sometimes probably seeing these kids that were my age Die so needlessly from this Garbage.

We all make choices in our Lives and many of those choices if acted on at the spur of the moment rather than thought out will always come back eventually to bite us. Not a matter of if; but when!

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Martin McCaffery
Film God

Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99

posted 02-03-2014 03:12 PM

quote: Jim Cassedy
Celebrity deaths usually happen in threes.

Depends on when you start and stop counting, of course [Wink]

Pete Seeger, Maxmilian Schell, PSH makes three within a week. If someone else dies tomorrow, do you just start counting over?

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Terry Lynn-Stevens
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1081
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2012

posted 02-03-2014 03:35 PM

quote: Leo Enticknap
The other assumption of those who argue for the legalization of currently banned drugs I'm a bit dubious about is that if that legalization takes place, the crime gangs that currently produce and distribute this stuff will all throw away their guns, set up shop in some legitimate business, do their tax returns like good citizens each year and live happily ever after.

I am all for legalizing most drugs, right now the fact that drugs are illegal makes it big and very profitable. The high price of drugs is led by demand and there a lot of people who want/demand drugs. If drugs were simply regulated and the price was reduced it would benefit everyone. There is so much crime involved with drugs and that crime is caused by the high price it takes to obtain/distribute and use these illicit drugs.

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