Tuesday, April 1, 2008

A Non-Joke

News has reached SFMB and PPMB from Kristen Bealer that Milderbeast passed away today from a heart attack. He was the author of several extremely funny Daria fanfics, including "Moon over Daytona," "Something about Amanda," and "Final Vision." His good humor and cheery tale-telling will be missed.

9 comments:

E. A. Smith said...

That's horrible to hear. My condolences to his family and friends.

Greybird said...

Nothing personal, TAG, but I don't trust ANY such report today. (Yes, I've been burned by people lying to me, on this date, about someone I cared about having died.)

I absolutely LOATHE April first. (And it's still that date in L.A.)

I'll try one of those links tomorrow to see if it's still being taken seriously.

Greybird said...

My comment above, by the way, wasn't meant to cast aspersions on Kristen Bealer as such. She's as susceptible to being taken in as anybody is — if this is not true.

Before some others chime in, I wasn't kidding about the hoaxing above. Some of it didn't even happen on April first. One such hoax about my own "demise," back in the days of Bulletin Board Systems, got back to my parents and wholly terrified them before I put a stop to it.

Daria, I daresay, is an extreme optimist about human nature.

I'll conclude this hogging of another message slot by saying that IF this is true, I also feel the loss and extend what empathy I can. Milderbeast, fitting his name, was among the more gentlemanly folk at PPMB while I was there.

Anonymous said...

@greybird: Why didn't you simply wait before making any sort of comment, then? In circumstances like these, it is appropriate to express one's personal sense of loss and to share things that honor the memory of the one lost and/or bring comfort to those grieving. Very little of what you said can be construed as doing any of those things, and as such, I find your comments vastly inappropriate.

For myself, I always enjoyed Milderbeast's sense of humor, and will miss him. My deepest sympathies to his family.

The Angst Guy said...

While I well appreciate the need to exercise caution and skepticism with most things we read online, I have no reason to believe this news was anything other than factual. It is probably naive of me to say this, but this isn't the sort of fandom prone to dreadful practical jokes. Skepticism is best combined with silent waiting until more news is available.

Anonymous said...

Of all the people...of all the topics...Kristen is the last person, and this is the last subject that she, or anyone else, would joke about. >:(

Anonymous said...

Wow Greybird, you really don't know when to quit, do ya? Is it possible for you not to be a pompous ass? Are you really that desperate to be smart/right/psychic that you would say such a thing on the off chance that it was a sick joke, just so you could say "I told you so"?

I thought you were too good for this fandom anyway, why are you even still around?

Anonymous said...

I absolutely assure everyone that Brandy was serious. She had already dealt with this kind of reaction before speaking to us, which only made things worse. I hope this will be the end of any speculation that this could be a hoax.

The Angst Guy said...

Please keep us informed of what you hear from Brandy, and give her a hug from us when you next see her.