Dr. Morbius (Bill Weber) RIP

oh no! not morbz. I don't know what to say....this is so sad

fuck

This is such terrible news... all kinds of tears reading this goddamn thread
Only met him once (the same time treeship met him, when wins was in NYC. Dr C was there too)
Motherfucker was alive

oh man, RIP legend.

i only really know him from the movie threads. his posts usually pissed me off. for whatever reason, i'm really affected by this news. i know very few ilx people irl but it's somehow helpful for me to have occasional remote anonymous conversation, specifically on here, and it's all much appreciated.

his very un-American trait of freely expressing his loathing of shite US politicians and political parties

Until our current era I thought Morbs' dogmatic rage about, and cutesy nicknames for, Democratic Party politicians was as tedious and ill-directed as general US poster consensus held. When I became aware of how general US poster consensus also treats politicians as a murmuration of Tinkerbells, all requiring baseless faith to be vocally expressed lest we cause them to let us down, I realised he had been OTM all along.



Except about the nicknames.

Toady Blair is pretty good, though.

it's true, the nicknames were terrible

also fitting

Why is Morbs dead

Morbs and I never tangled over anything directly. I'd be surprised if he even knew me on ilx, but we all knew him. Endlessly infuriating and, in retrospect, one of the pillars of this entire place. Cancer is a fucking menace.

ha i remember really getting into it
with him on here once then he said something
to the effect of i know you dont really mean it
just like i dont and we both clocked out
like the loony tunes wolf and sheep dog

― lag∞n, Wednesday, October 21, 2020

<3

ILX has its "the day lady died" now is how i break it down to an extent

Multiple Myeloma

I met Bill at a fap in Chicago one time, he seemed like a gracious person and I appreciated his commitment to his political points of view. I hope he and his family and loved ones find peace.

i remember yelling at him on the Ken Burns’ Vietnam War doc series thread, I called him
Jacob Marley’s ghost bc he kept showing up randomly to shit on Burns & the series & of course never watched a second of it bc why would he lol

and he drove me round the bend with those fkn Dick Nixon tweets he always posted

but i’d welcome all of that bullshit again in a heartbear right now ;_;

*heartbeat

:(

I never did and never will meet Dr Morbius but his determination to live precisely as he pleased, harming none, outside of making all of us furious at his unwavering ideas of justice, will stay with me. I never did figure out how old he was.

Appreciated your write-up Alfred, that was lovely. I never really interacted with him much on here, other than maybe absorbing a few of his glancing blows, I am far too ignorant in film and not nearly as observant in baseball as he was to even attempt genuine sparring, but I always appreciated his passion and grit.

this sucks, RIP

I didn't want to know what Morbs looked like but that's somehow exactly what I imagined.

but i’d welcome all of that bullshit again in a heartbear right now ;_;

Morbs really was a heartbear tbh

Fuck cancer, over and over again. I’ll remember him with genuine love.

I didn't know him well. I got drinks with him maybe a dozen times. A great guy. Unbelievably smart as much as anything.

I once asked him for recommendations for Broadway, and his suggestion seemed fine so I got tickets for myself and my then gf now wife. A couple of months later we sat down for the show and he was in the seat next to us. It was honestly kind of awkward! And then we realized we were getting the same long slow weeknight train home. Oof! But he was such a kind, social, quiet person. We chatted (well, he spoke extemporaneously and wittily) about Off Broadway in the 1980s all the way home. I wish I could remember any of the things he told me that night or any other. He was so full of knowledge and he loved to share it, but he was never overbearing about it.

Jordan put it better than me, but an example of a New York life lived well. It's so sad he's gone, but the main thing I feel right now is that I miss New York and if I ever go back I want to be more like he was.

Also 100% otm about US politics always.

So nice to see retired/infrequent posters here.

Also I remember standing in front of the fridge in a bodega at Ft Greene and Fulton with my wife after got off the train home and telling her "I was reading that guy post stuff on a thread called 'I Lost A Coughdrop in His Asshole' earlier today".

omg lol
I frequent that bodega
crazy to think how long I’ve been crossing paths with Bill
He had a special place in my heart

RIP

I *believe* that the second-to-last time I saw Bill (before the poetry reading Brad mentioned upthread) was when we spotted each other on the street as the Pinefox and I were leaving a free Mountain Goats gig in East River Park. The amount of board representation there makes me happy; wish we'd been able to say hi to J0hn.

I never had much in the way of interaction with him, but have been missing his posts over the last several months. RIP, Dr Morbius.

Last time I saw bill was five seats down on the train at rush hour. I let him be because no proper New Yorker wants to be talked to on a train at rush hour. I got annoyed at The morbs character in the way you get annoyed with someone who is doing your shit but better. The last time I went to the real Shea stadium was with bill and mook.

This is horrible, I never interacted with him much but I saw his posts all the time and I hoped, like everyone else, his treatment would work. Really horrible. RIP, i am so sorry for his family.

RIP Morbz

Fuck! Never got to meet the good Dr but he's always been one of my favorite posters and I've definitely missed his presence lately. Deep condolences to those who knew him well. Will be sure to watch some Keaton and talk shit about the Dems this weekend.

RIP, i love morbs

Me too. <3 x x x

such a beautiful photo up there^

Visiting friends in NYC in 2015 to see Complete play at Union Pool. I’m in my very early years of posting here and a friend points to this fellow clad in Mets apparel and says that’s Dr. Morbs. To this day, I don’t know if that’s true or not but I always liked to believe it was. RIP yr work is done

It’s been years since I’ve seen Bill or logged in here, but this is obviously the place to be tonight. He was my favorite curmudgeon, and also a caring and thoughtful friend. I’m flooded with memories of derby parties, films, and nyc hangs. Of waiting to meet up while he made his way to a pay phone to check messages and find out where we were. Of the autographed 8x10 headshot from his stand up days he gifted me for my birthday one year. I enjoyed watching him get under others’ skin although I somehow never managed to tangle with him. I’m so sorry I didn’t get to see him in recent years but I will remember him fondly. Rest well, Morbs.

Just seeing all these old names again wow

RIP - among many other things, Morbs' commitment to seeing new films was inspirational, and definitely motivated me to 'keep up' with modern film culture too.

it’s lovely to read that so many of you hung out with him irl frequently, going to baseball games and movies and bars. im sure he appreciated your company tremendously.

it’s nice to hear that he was a sweetheart irl. im not surprised; i always saw his whole persona on here as an incredible extended bit and was in awe of his ability to always be locked and loaded with a barbed witty reply. dude was genuinely funny in a way that very few people alive are anymore

Horrible news, rest in peace bill. I have v fond memories of that ny fap, he was such a sweet guy. I know we made fun of him for being an old* but surely way too young

* haha is it true that he didn’t actually have a twitter account but just went there every day to check Dennis Perrin, Doug henwood and that terrible Richard Nixon account?

horrible news to wake up to, rip morbs - absolutely one of the cornerstones of this place, it won’t be the same without his uniquely irascible style

So sad to hear. RIP.

I think our only direct interaction was him calling me "boringly anti-canonical" on the horror poll thread but he was a reassuring and strong presence. Such sad news - RIP

Waking up to this , fuck. I’d sometimes post in the movie threads and at back of my mind I’m wondering what would Morbs think. Loved to hear him talk about Bill Forsyth or Jerry Lewis. Such a prescence here, just wish I could have met him irl as he sounds utterly charming.

shit. this is fucking awful. i teared up when i saw this. deeply sorry i never got to meet him.

Such a loved member of this community and often equally right, interesting and funny. So sorry for the loss. RIP

Fuck, one of the only ones with any real sense here. A lovely and gentle man with a sharp and furious sense of fairness. I'll miss his great knowledge of films, his passionate politics and confusing taste in hot guys.

I will miss his trenchant opinions and articulate, caustic discourse. Won’t be the same without him. Fuck cancer.

God if there was one thing I was on the exact same page as Dr Morbius on it was Adam Driver being hot

No

But bless you both