Feeling 'Flinty'

This is a bummer of a day. Both Luke Perry and Keith Flint have died. Some would say it's weird of me to grieve over people whom I've not met, but it is a real thing: people do 'feel it' when a celebrity dies. Neither of these men were particularly old, Perry was 52 and Flint only 49, so I guess that's part of the disquiet people are experiencing. It's really very sad that a stroke could claim someone at a relatively tender age, as in Perry's case. 

Neither of these men graced my walls in the form of posters. I'm just outside the age-bracket to have decorated my wall with their countenances. Nay, were you to wander into my room when I was a teenybopper, you'd have seen posters of Luke Skywalker (*sighs dreamily*).

But I did become a regular viewer of Beverly Hills, 90210. I don't know why. I was in my mid-twenties when the show started, and logically a bit old to be crushing on any of the cast. If you're wondering: no, I did not crush on any of the cast. It's not like the show was in any way relatable to me; I was not a teenager in high school at the salient time, and I attended a public school in a small town in rural New South Wales, not a rich school in LA where the students were a bunch of vacuous, coked-up snots with wealthy, and in some cases - famous - parents.

But the show was my guilty viewing pleasure. I got right into it. It's not like I could understand the appeal of any of the characters. Perry's character Dylan was so broody I thought he was going to lay an egg. Steve was a dickhead. Brenda, a total goody-two-shoes, was the most annoying one of the lot. When the producers finally booted Shannon Doherty for being too much of a punchable malefactor, I did like the Brenda replacement character, Valerie Malone. She and Kellie quarrelled and sniped, but stopped short of a catfight. Kellie also got on my nerves, so I used to barrack for Valerie.

But despite my irritation at the characters, I still watched as much of the show as I could.

And along with developing a taste for this show, I also developed something of a tolerance for techno rave, which means I rather liked the oeuvre of The Prodigy, the band led by Keith Flint.

So RIP, Luke and Keith. You've both been taken too soon.