Friday LinkFrogging

: RIP

Welcome back boys and girls.

All the Geeks are back from Austin and, in my case, points further south. Thanks to Matt for holding down the fort whilst I was in sunny Naples, Florida working as arm candy and dancing with the blue agave (which is quite different than Dancing at the Blue Iguana).

I didn’t go to SXSW, but I did manage to squeeze in an MLB Spring Training Game between the Red Sox and the Mets. The baseball gods and StubHub smiled down on me as it was the annual St. Patrick’s Day game in Fort Myers. Much green was worn. Many pasty Chowds where burnt and I learned, to my surprise, that in Boston they sing “Sweet Caroline” during the seventh inning stretch.

Things are weird out there kids, just the way we like it.

So it was surreal this week when it was announced that Elizabeth Taylor had died at the age of 79. I also knew that this enduring Hollywood legend was a shoo-in for this week’s cheesecake.

Ms. Taylor has been a part of the pop culture landscape for my entire life. Granted, it was the back end of her career. The Michael Jackson-White Diamonds part of her career, but still.

After debuting at nine in There’s One Born Every Minute, she went on to spend her entire life in the spotlight. I suggested to Stephe yesterday that Ms. Taylor may have been the first movie star to go wire-to-wire as a celebrity.

It also occurred to me that, had Ms. Taylor risen to fame in the age of the internet, she would have been a tabloid darling that left Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton in the dust. Between winning a pair of Oscars, she managed eight marriages (including two consecutive ones to Richard Burton), a friendship with Michael Jackson, five broken backs, a benign brain tumor and a USO tour with Bob Hope.

They don’t make ’em like that anymore kids.

Rest in Peace Ms. Taylor.

On to the links.