Rant #993: Big Deal?

This past week was pretty consequential for some people.

Gays got the right to marry, the voting rights act was thrown out the window ...

And my son started his summer job.

But there is one story that really rubs me the wrong way, creating a media circus that proves that in this age of the Internet, we as a civilization have really gone off the deep end.

Can someone please tell me what all the fuss is about revolving around the life, and death, of actor James Gandolfini?

The star of the the popular show "The Sopranos" died last week of a heart attack. He was just 51 years old.

That should have been the end of the story, but the media has made his passing almost akin to that of the death of a head of state.

At least in my neck of the woods, they have covered every nuance of his passing. Why he died, when, what he ate before he died, and, of course, his wake, funeral and burial.

Heck, New Jersey, the state that had flags lowered when Whitney Houston drugged herself to death, did the same for Gandolfini, who, according to reports, ate himself to death.

I swear that I watched this one incident that truly demonstrates how we have gone off the deep end with his death.

One local news outlet covered some nuance of his death in a piece that probably lasted about three minutes, then went right into the current state of Nelson Mandela's health, a report which lasted maybe 30 seconds.

Don't you think that should have been, at the very least, the other way around?

Heck, there were actual funeral groupies who met across the street from the funeral home where his wake was held.

They couldn't get in, because it was an "invitation only" wake, which I have never heard of.

Heck, if I could get a hold of a ticket, think of what it could have gone for on eBay.

These poor fools met across the street from the wake, and wept together over his death.

I mean, was he Rudolph Valentino or what?

Sorry, I don't get this.

Anyway, the weekend is almost here, thank goodness, and maybe this coverage will just fade away, like it should.

I need time to cool off. Speak to you on Monday.