Hello, bros and welcome to Twitter in Focus, where media comes to die. We have an unusual tweet this week. It’s those of the late Henry Gibson, character actor and comedian best known for his role in the Blues Brothers as an “Illinois Nazi”. What will be your last tweet? What is a last tweet like? We’re about to find out.
He looks good for 74 doesn’t he?
July 30th, 3:34am: “Announcing the release of my lighter than air, radioactive, hyperbolic, turbocharged personal webiste in color ”
What a bummer. He just started exploiting the Internet. That reminds me, I still can’t convince my mom to get an email address. What old school thing will we resist in the future I wonder? t-mail? (Mail sent by telepathy.)
July 30th, 6:04pm: “Just read Jason Epstein’s rave for Anthony Flint’s book on Jane Jacobs NYRB 8.13 what a woman! without her there’d be no wash. sq. park! Wow”
*google-google-google* Interesting. Henry was no dummy.
August 2nd, 7:15am: “Supermkt in-house bagels r not real no matter how much time they spend in the makeup room. They r counterfeits! Call Treasury Dept. now! PLZ”
I know. It’s just like a roll shaped like a donut. I had the most awesome bagels in North Jersey this weekend. Unbelievable stuff. Can’t go anywhere but the NYC/NJ area for bagels.
August 3rd, 2:50am: “My banker was broke so I loaned him a 100 bucks. He charged me double to borrow it back. Gift-handling fee? Chutzpah! The American Way. Oy!”
I don’t get it. Oh, well.
August 8th, 2:22am: “A bottle washed ashore today with a message inside. It read “postage due, return to sender.” I complied. Thank God for forever stamps.”
Yeah, who would buy the other ones?
August 9th, 6:43am: “The best way not to repeat yourself is to forget what you’ve said as soon as you’ve said it. Or just before.”
Or, start every conversation in a different language.
August 10th, 2:18pm: “My pal’s dog is a minimalist. It’s old age. Saves energy. One raised brow means “hungry.” Two: “starving.” He doesn’t pant. He pockets.”
Hey, want to hear a minimalist joke? Fish.
August 12th, 8:24am: “Cars aren’t the biggest clunkers. Closed minds are. They rust, sputter, spew toxins & stop the traffic of ideas. Scrap ’em! $4500? Worth it.”
I guess, but I need my brain to breathe.
August 13th, 5:02pm: “Fame is fleeting Whole fleets sink every day. Plop. Plop. Who?”
Ladies and gentlemen, the tweet from the dadaist school.
August 16th, 5:21am: “e-Books must have some intrinsic value because God allowed Amazon & Sony & Adobe & Steve Jobs to invent them. Guess who gets top billing?”
Sony?
August 17th, 7:27am: “Bonuses are now the reward for failure. No wonder they attract so many screw ups. Never you. Never me. i guess we’re too good to fail!”
More like too good to get a reward. Thinking the big thoughts, Henry was.
August 17th, 7:36am: “Tweets are the new poetry! Haiku? Less words, more time. Economy winds up costing more! I’ll stay home today and practice this new art form.”
I thought you were doing fine.
August 17th, 11:13pm: “Funny how dialogue we’ve said in movies pops up. Scanning a shelf of German beers at Vons a woman turned and said I hate Illinois Nazis!”
Ha!
August 18th, 1:23pm: “After a 5 yr feud w/Denny Crane & tossing him in the clinker, ever-kind William Shatner tweeted a ton of praise 4 my ringtones. What a man!”
Nice. The Shat comes through again!
August 19th, 4:15am: “@ Thanks Bill, good suggestion. I feel validated already!”
Look at this, talking with the big dog.
August 19th, 5:56pm: “Happiness moves in a circular motion but I am perpendicular and so I am sad”
Interesting. Trying to art up the twitter. Tough gig.
August 24th, 5:21am: “Healthcare reform, stimulus packages & all other government involvement bring to mind an age old problem: who will police the police?”
I know, I’ve never trusted Sting.
August 25th, 3:10am: “People are saying that the spelling of “Inglorious Basterds” is meant to get better Google search results. This is Hinrie Gebzun.”
Heh.
August 26th, 1:06am: “About shots. Nurses says I have great veins. Is it vain to be vain about your veins at my age, or is my vanity in vain?”
Something that vein.
August 26th, 11:20pm: “See’s Candies r the ultimate. Creams, chewies, crunches put Belgians 2 shame. Warren Buffet was wrong on hedge funds but not on buying See’s”
*google-google-google* You mean these?
September 8th, 1:07pm: “I labored all day 2 come up w/ a clever labor day tweet but fear I’ve now belabored it, so true 2 the spirit of this day, I’ll labor no more”
Yeah, don’t over think it.
September 9th, 3:36am: “Lots of talk about 09 09 09, nine nine nine. Today is the day, 09/09/09. Or is it $9.99? Is it significant? Nein nein nein!”
Denied!
September 11th, 4:27am: “Grammarian H. W. Fowler stated: “Welsh Rabbit is amusing & right. Welsh Rarebit is stupid & wrong.” He understood grammar but not comedy!”
Or rabbits.
September 11th, 6:13pm: “No one M*A*S*H*E*D together a script or a screenplay or a Broadway hit like Larry Gelbart. R*I*P old friend.”
And that’s his last tweet. It ends with a thank you from the family. Interesting. He was charging ahead with projects right until the end. Gotta admire that. Illinois Nazis are nothing if not industrious.
Let’s rate the last tweets of Henry Gibson. For Insanity, I give him a 4, he’s very level headed. For Mustness, well, let’s call that a push and go right to Style. Henry had lots, so I give him a 10. That’s an overall score of 7. You will be missed Henry.
And if you have a twitter you’d like to see picked apart here, send us the link.
with Chris Moreno
