BS: How Sick Is this?

Subject: How Sick Is this?
From: Alec
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 11:22 AM

rr auction.com are currently auctioning a copy of "The Catcher In The Rye" autographed by Mark Chapman.
The signature was obtained by a Prison Officer.
"Beatlology" Fanzine are trying to raise enough money to purchase this with a view to quietly destroying it.
I'm in 2 minds about that inasmuch as I believe they are inadvertently signalling that there is a market for this useless crap.
Nevertheless Catter's who think their objective merits support can contact them at http://www.beatlolo.gy.com/contibut ion html.

Subject: RE: How Sick Is this?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 11:26 AM

Bet it's a forgery. Bet there are at least a dozen such copies that will cycle through "one-of-a-kind" sales opportunities. Cuz people are not only sick, but serially so.

~S~

Subject: RE: How Sick Is this?
From: JeremyC
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 11:31 AM

Wow, no. If they feel that strongly about it, it seems to me they should be protesting the auction, not giving them money.

I'm of the opinion that it's wrong, but it's one of those things that will happen no matter how much you don't like it. There was an episode of "Cracker" where Fitz basically covers that same territory: If you look out and see someone who got famous from working hard and being talented, you can get famous just like they are through the simple expedient of putting a bullet in them.

The sad thing is, it works pretty damn well. In a perfect world, this kind of crap would be beneath people's notice, but human beings have never behaved that way and never will.

Subject: RE: How Sick Is this?
From: Scrump
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 11:36 AM

It is sad, I agree, that people would want to buy such an item. But it's just a book and as such I don't see how it could reasonably be banned from sale, however much you dislike the motives of the purchasers.

What's worse is that people who commit crimes or fraud or whatever, usually end up making a huge profit from whatever they've done wrong, by selling their story to the press, or writing their memoirs, etc.

And people buy them by the shedload.

I'm not sure what can be done about it, unless you have a law that forbids criminals from profiting directly or indirectly from their crimes. I'd like to see such a law in place.

Subject: RE: How Sick Is this?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 11:38 AM

Just tell the authorities. It is illegal to profit from the proceeds of a crime, that should also apply to whoever is selling anything for a criminal.
G.

Subject: RE: How Sick Is this?
From: Scrump
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 11:46 AM

Yes, but for instance Richard Nixon probably made a fortune after Watergate. Criminals who sell their story to newspapers or sell their memoirs in book form make a fortune, but they're not breaking the law. I'm saying the law should be expanded to include that type of activity, which seems to be legal at present (in the UK anyway).

Subject: RE: How Sick Is this?
From: Wesley S
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 11:49 AM

You DO know that there is a movie planed about Mark Chapman? And the days leading up to the murder?

Chapter 27 movie

Subject: RE: How Sick Is this?
From: catspaw49
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 11:50 AM

Like hell it is Giok! LOL.....Tell that to all the "books by crooks" folks and the resulting movie contracts! Or buying the story as many of the tabloids do.

I think it's just tacky, not criminal. But if you want such a thing and have the bucks, AND are so stupid you'd actually buy it.....have at it! Barnum knew of what he spoke. Look at all the market in religious "relics" and the like. Hellfire, why don't we all go together and stock up on Depends and get the nutso astronaut to initial them? She gets a third and we pay the expenses and pocket the rest!

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: How Sick Is this?
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 11:55 AM

I'll be of a certain age in a few days, so please pardon this question: Who the hell is Mark Chapman? I probably once knew....

Subject: RE: BS: How Sick Is this?
From: Wesley S
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 12:01 PM

Mark Chapman shot John Lennon.

Subject: RE: BS: How Sick Is this?
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 12:05 PM

that auction is not that sick. I thought Shatner's gall stone auction was kinda sick. Auction body waste and you are on a slippery slop of all kinds of shit.

Subject: RE: BS: How Sick Is this?
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 12:18 PM

Oh, okay, that's right. I was confusing him with the dude who shot Reagan.

Subject: RE: BS: How Sick Is this?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 12:47 PM

Spaw, you are tipping my hand and giving away a valuable business plan: I was gonna auction off Depends WITH her authenticated bodily waste IN THEM, but now.... it won't be any fun at ALL!

Back to the relics racket, and indulgences, I guess.....

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: How Sick Is this?
From: Wesley S
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 01:04 PM

Susan - IF the bodily waste also contains the image of Christ or the Virgin Mary you're in for some really big bucks.

Subject: RE: BS: How Sick Is this?
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 02:20 PM

Glad you asked first, Rapaire because I didn't know!

Subject: RE: BS: How Sick Is this?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 08:18 PM

Mark Chapman and John Hinckley.

Don, that was an amusing Freudian sort-of slip: slippery slop of all kinds of shit.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: How Sick Is this?
From: kendall
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 08:57 PM

What would the pistol that Booth used to kill Lincoln be worth?

Subject: RE: BS: How Sick Is this?
From: Joe_F
Date: 08 Feb 07 - 09:19 PM

A long time ago I read that a hotel had cut the sheets the Beatles had slept on into square inches & auctioned them off (I suppose, actually, there are contractual provisions to prevent that kind of thing). Then, when Lennon was shot, there was a lot of smarm in the media about how tasteless it was for people to cash in on the event. I thought, tasteless, hell -- they should freeze his body, cut it into cubic millimeters, pot them in plastic, and attach certificates of the organs of origin. A seamless continuation of celebrity life!

Subject: RE: BS: How Sick Is this?
From: Lox
Date: 09 Feb 07 - 07:58 AM

It's all about hype, and that's all about attention.

This subject has had enough of mine.

The rest of the world is free to decide how much of theirs they wish to give.

Subject: RE: BS: How Sick Is this?
From: mack/misophist
Date: 09 Feb 07 - 10:18 AM

I'm not sure what the process is. But I'm certain it's something intrinsically human. Compare it to the old trade in saint's relics. People want mementos, the more personal the better.

Subject: RE: BS: How Sick Is this?
From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh
Date: 09 Feb 07 - 11:17 AM

Donuel: in the 'eighties I wrote a juvenile little Scots skit on how "Art" was plumbing new depths, and it included a verse which went something like (the "some" people in question were, as is probably obvious, "artists"):

   Indeed, there's some hae taen delight
   In boxes filled wi' cuddies' shite             (horse's)
   That steams, the gless aa beaded bright
             Wi' condensation:
   Then some puir eedjit critics write
             An Explanation.

Those were the days of the "H" Block faecal whorls, I guess.

Subject: RE: BS: How Sick Is this?
From: Joe_F
Date: 09 Feb 07 - 08:50 PM

In "Johnnie Lad",

Samson was a michtie man,
He focht wi cuddies' jaws,

"cuddie" clearly means donkey; and the OED gives that as the primary meaning, tho it also mentions (small) horses.

Subject: RE: BS: How Sick Is this?
From: Becca72
Date: 10 Feb 07 - 11:59 AM

Just saw on the news the other evening that they are also auctioning the window (pane) they believe Oswald shot Kennedy through...