Dr. Morbius (Bill Weber) RIP

making a half-past midnight offering to the avatars of NYC countercultural comedy

https://i.imgur.com/2tMMbTm.jpg

I do not usually have this amount of maple syrup https://i.imgur.com/W01NkXe.jpg

Never met him (or anyone else here) in real life, never interacted that much (other than a stretch where I’d fp every Nixon/Perrin tweet) but it’s always sad and endearing to see people memorializing someone they knew and loved / respected.

Fuck cancer - a former colleague, a former colleague’s husband, a good friend’s wife, and my dog have all died this year from it. Pointless and stupid and brutal.

We often make pancakes on the weekends, but I don't usually partake. Made an exception this morning. I'm not slurping down the leftover syrup, though. (Sorry Morbs.)

https://i.imgur.com/FVMJsZt.jpg

spaced out and forgot to take my picture but did join the pancake session.

re: Morbs walking out of threads: it plays better if you imagine him knowing that some variation on "i'm out" was the catchphrase for his vaudeville comedy character

https://i.imgur.com/GzAEYpL.jpg

I don't understand pancakes, so I'm glad my and Morbs' differences persist.

what’s to understand? carb & maple syrup delivery system

Eating dessert for breakfast.

I don't understand waffles, blintzes, or French toast either. I do like jam!

I made my kids French toast and took a little slug of syrup myself in Morbs' memory.

xpost What about donuts, scones and muffins?

https://accordionuprising.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/6b11f26b9c7e0e5e63ce24edccd589b4.jpg

dessert for breakfast is one of my top 5 reaons for living

shortly i will be making buttermilk pancakes for breakfast to honor the great Morbs

What about donuts, scones and muffins?

― Josh in Chicago,

No go on donuts or muffins. I might have a scone with coffee at night.

https://imgur.com/gallery/lEIDrkL
Pancakes Sunday. Real maple syrup only ever.

I am bad at ilx now
https://imgur.com/gallery/lEIDrkL

i made pancakes for dessert last night, just because i was craving pancakes and hadn't made them in ages. didn't realize i was paying tribute!

Pancakes for Morbs <3

https://imgur.com/gallery/SL8O17h

https://scontent.fphl1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/p180x540/122791707_10158573219684000_7584295452374846400_o.jpg?_nc_cat=101&ccb=2&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=Xg-ePArvTw8AX-SbjeW&_nc_ht=scontent.fphl1-2.fna&tp=6&oh=0ffbaf3655c98e2d5116e65ebef6d159&oe=5FBC31B6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BNOfL2ArR4

In the meantime, this week's The Silent Comedy Watch Party (URL above) will feature Buster Keaton's The Haunted House (1921). I'm sure Morbs had already seen it, but it should be a good show.

https://i.imgur.com/EtMg50i.jpg

RIP Morbs, I owe a lot to him.

didn't have pancakes today but am about to watch a film that he gave 5 stars to on letterboxd (that list is here: https://letterboxd.com/wjweber/films/diary/rated/5/)

thanks for that link!

that's a brilliant list and I'm glad he considered City Of Sadness a ***** movie.

indeed, thanks for posting that! several people have noted how rare it was for bill to call something good. that list is something of a stand-in, although i'm sure he never intended for it to be definitive or comprehensive or anything. but it's a little glimpse, at least. <3

handy to sort it by the year of the film, too, for a chronological view

Great list...and to think, I always thought we had somewhat opposite tastes. Nope-- I love every film I've seen on that list. I do remember speaking with him in person about Andrei Rublev, one of my favorite films.

i think i annoyed him a bit while watching it with him, because i kept muttering "damn...that's beautiful" and stuff like that

"sick icon", "wait until the iconoclasts get a load of this" etc

All those pancake pictures made me think Dan Lacey had returned.

all things in time

I keep trying to remember some scene in the Little Rascals in which they make some crazy homebrew pancakes. I can hear the line, I am sure he would have been familiar with it.

Found it.

For the last 5 years, Bill Weber was my cinematic North Star. We never met, and we never corresponded privately, but through ILX, I learned more about film history from him than almost anyone else in my life. https://t.co/P0LdAhPubM

— Nicky Smith (@nickyotissmith) October 26, 2020

thanks for writing that, it's great.

good job keeping the masses away frm ILX with a fake url, too

flappy you are a good writer

i feel weird even posting in this thread given how little i interacted with Morbs on the board (we shared threads but i so rarely take a stance on anything that he didn't have reason to tell me why i was wrong!) but i can't put into words how formative his unrelenting criticism of democrats (partic thru 08-16) was for my own political imagination; "how is this guy angry at the best option?" i'd wonder to myself. it'd take me a few years to realize that you're allowed to want something beyond what seems possible at this moment, and you're allowed to be angry about it.

i feel like there's a really insidious, ubiquitous public shaming about being loud and angry online--why aren't you out there doing something instead of posting, you slacktivist?-- but Morbs's posts DID do something. they taught a young hibernating leftist to wake the fuck up and get involved. i'm angry at myself for never telling him this myself. i would have enjoyed his curmudgeonly retort.

great piece flappy!

I'm quite moved.

great piece, flappy bird

Good stuff, flappy.

yes, thank you

Will M. u are very otm with that post, I agree

Here's Bill's epic obituary which includes a shout-out to ILX.

“I was bullied as a kid. The moments I shared during recess and lunch with Bill were a refuge. I was safe with him. During a time when I felt like an outcast, he welcomed me. That was everything then. It still is.” Andy Parker

<33333

That was very beautiful KJB, thanks for posting.

really nice

lovely

wow. I think anyone would aspire to have an obit like that. a life well lived.