Heath Ledger Dies....

[shamgod]

Talented, handsome, young, rich, damn...if I could have just one of those!

I mention it here because as someone who grew up in Santa Monica, and who watched his older sister making out with a 14 yearold Tony Alva in my parent's living room, Ledger's performance as "Skip", the mentor Surf Shop owner in "Lords of Dogtown" is by far, by far, the best representation I've ever seen of an LA surfer. Hollywood didn't notice, but if you're from the beach, if you know where Sorrento Trail is, or know the name "Tommy Surko", then you'd appreciate Ledger's portrayal. Ledger nailed that character--and frankly made those twerps trying to portray Tony, Jay, and Stacy look like untalented hacks.

It's too bad. The kid was really gifted.

[Surferguy80]

didn't hear about that...what happened?

[BrianSB]

Seems like it was a drug overdose.

[B Rad]

Its not right. Thats too young.

[lil' mermaid]

[QUOTE=shamgod;1174]Talented, handsome, young, rich, damn...if I could have just one of those!

I mention it here because as someone who grew up in Santa Monica, and


SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT THIS. what a loss.

and by the way, I grew up in Santa Monica...when and where were you there and when did you migrate up here? Santa Monica use to be so cool...:)

[shamgod]

[QUOTE=shamgod;1174]Talented, handsome, young, rich, damn...if I could have just one of those!

I mention it here because as someone who grew up in Santa Monica, and


SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT THIS. what a loss.

and by the way, I grew up in Santa Monica...when and where were you there and when did you migrate up here? Santa Monica use to be so cool...:)

Roosevelt-Lincoln-Samohi class of...gulp...1977.

We lived on 4th and Marguerita. When my parents bought their house ANYONE could buy a house on Marguerita. Things changed though. By the early 70's Dennis Wilson was our neighbor and Jane Fonda was on the next block (Alta). Another Samohi alumni and NPR personality Sandra Tsing Loh once referred to our generation as "Downwardly mobile". Wooohooo Sandra!!



You're the second person on this board so far with a SM connection.

[Bonzer]

I feel bad about his passing, but I feel even worse for his daughter..:(

They said they found a rolled up $20 bill next him.....

What a shame.

[validatelife]

Talented, handsome, young, rich, damn...if I could have just one of those!

I mention it here because as someone who grew up in Santa Monica, and who watched his older sister making out with a 14 yearold Tony Alva in my parent's living room, Ledger's performance as "Skip", the mentor Surf Shop owner in "Lords of Dogtown" is by far, by far, the best representation I've ever seen of an LA surfer. Hollywood didn't notice, but if you're from the beach, if you know where Sorrento Trail is, or know the name "Tommy Surko", then you'd appreciate Ledger's portrayal. Ledger nailed that character--and frankly made those twerps trying to portray Tony, Jay, and Stacy look like untalented hacks.


nice words, shamgod. I wrote a big blog entry on heath on my site. I mentioned that "Lords of Dogtown" was BY FAR my favorite performance of his talented life. I don't know Sorrento nor Surko, but I do know Venice and Santa Monica and Surf and Heath definitely nailed that role. Amazing character transformation.

Here's the blog entry (http://validatelife.blogspot.com/2008/01/tragic-loss-of-heath-profound-and-deep.html):
The Tragic Loss of Heath -- A Profound and Deep Actor

The tragic loss of Heath. This is shocking; it’s unbelievable. I feel partially mourning, partially stunned. He was an incredibly composed and immensely talented actor. My favorite role of his was in “Lords of Dogtown” as the Venice Beach “skate-boarding king”. But this, according to his father, “tragic, untimely, and accidental” incident brings with it a huge host of concerns. Did Heath become too consumed by his work? His dark projects as a heroin addict or a suicidal character? Did he ever do an emotional “check-up” after his break up with Michelle Williams? Reports say he couldn’t sleep and couldn’t “stop thinking”. Acting takes more then resilience and perseverance. It demands tremendous clarity and profound determination of the will. I’m not saying Heath didn’t possess that, at all. But what I am conveying is you have to build your foundation first.

You have to focus on your spirituality, your emotional management, you have to understand your intrapersonal knowledge, and focus years on your dreams, goals, authentic likes and dislikes before committing to a profession as tidal and tortuous as acting. We must NEVER let our work and career or relationships with other people (regardless of how intimate) ever stand before or eclipse our emotional freedom and peace, spiritual identity, and mental clarity. If you commence a full-time acting career without an infinite awareness of the your own spirit, and a tried-true-and-tested system for keeping your life organized and your core values aligned, the profession will feel like a dangerous Tsunami. Any profession to which we commit must always come secondary or tertiary to understanding our spiritual place and identity, your emotional capacity and sensitivity, and your ground-level life management skills.

We should mourn Heath’s death, but use this as an opportunity to re-evaluate our life and ensure that we perpetually meet an enormously high requirement of staying inspired and emotionally, mentally, and most importantly, physically healthy. We can learn to look at death differently by appreciating life. We must also be reminded that life always has the winning hand to death. Additionally, we must demand that our social, peer, and close friend group is intuitive, nurturing, and inspiring, but all while deeply understanding that only we can create peace for ourself. Great poet and essayist, Ralph Waldo Emerson writes, “Only you can create peace for yourself. You can only create peace through the triumph of principles.”

So after so many captivating and incredible, but bleak, dark, and emotionally-testing roles, let’s hope that Heathy Boy is now exploring his “lighter and more blithe” characters in the Heavenly Theatre of an Aussie Paradisio.

[shamgod]

nice words, shamgod. I wrote a big blog entry on heath on my site. I mentioned that "Lords of Dogtown" was BY FAR my favorite performance of his talented life. I don't know Sorrento nor Surko, but I do know Venice and Santa Monica and Surf and Heath definitely nailed that role. Amazing character transformation.


Sorrento Beach is the stretch of beach roughly in line with Montana Avenue. There's nothing special about it other than that's what the people from there called it. I don't know if anyone calls it that any more. There was a beach gang on the 60's known as the "Sorrento Bulls" with a notorious rep. Sorrento "Trail" was the dirt path down to PCH that we'd (illegally) use to access the beach instead of the long and tedious California incline. There was an old ruin of some sort, maybe part of the Jonathon Club at one point that stood at the base of Sorrento Trail and for years and obscure stitch of grafitti was splattered across the one remaining wall: "TOMMY SURKO SAYS FOR MY KIND OF GIRL THERE'S ONLY ONE!" Wtf? No one ever knew what it meant, but I remember the Samohi school newspaper did a feature on that graffiti because it had become so iconic. It's all gone now. Not even Dennis Miller knows who Tommy Surko is.

About Heath Ledger, big loss. All I know is I too get into trouble when I have too much time on my hands.

[lil' mermaid]

don't we all. i remember the Sorrento trail...dusty ol' path, could pick up speed going down it fast but it beat the incline trek. (this memory is like being in a time machine)

[shamgod]

This is the ruin at the base of Sorrento Trail.

http://www.vannuys66.com/sorrento.html

[GRINDER]

Sham:

You Were So Hateful To The Kid That Died Surfing At Ghost Tree.
Now You Seem To Idolize This Hollywood Star.

Whats Up?

[shamgod]

Sham:

You Were So Hateful To The Kid That Died Surfing At Ghost Tree.
Now You Seem To Idolize This Hollywood Star.

Whats Up?

Kid? he was 45 years old!

The circumstances are totally different, Ledger died of an accidental overdose of legal drugs perscribed to treat his insomnia and depression. Davi wound himself up on meth (an illegal drug) and went out at 40' Ghostree. Then, Surfer magazine tries to make him into a folk hero. This is apples to oranges. The Davi story is the real tragedy because there was an opportunity lost to teach kids an important lesson about the folly of mixing drugs with anything, let alone extreme sports. But instead, surfer magazine decided to Geraldoize it and turn Davi into demigod. I'm sure Davi was a good guy, but he screwed up, and I bet Davi, wherever he is now, wishes the sycophants and sensationalists at Surfer magazine had decided to make his death meaningful rather than exploit it with a false myth in order to sell magazines.

Add Peter Davi's name to scrapheap of lives destroyed by Methamphetamine.

Ledger on the other hand, was a huge talent, who despite every imaginable god given gift, was taken down by his own demons.

They're both terrible stories, but in Davi's case, something positive could've come from it--but because ad revenue is more important than the welfare of our children, his life and death were rendered meaningless.