these days i flip through the newspaper from the back, progressing to the frontpage. why, you might ask? it's because i need to scan the sports section for any news pertaining to equestrian and certain subjects which may be beneficial for a certain endorser. so, right before the sports section is the obituary pages.
i'm not sure why, but i always glance through the obituary (some people just plain avoid this section out of superstition or dislike of morbidity...). today, i spotted an interesting obituary which span the vertical half of a newsprint page. it featured a photo of a bare-chested man spotting sunglasses with angel wings behind him (i'm not sure whether this is a picture of the deceased as the face looked relatively young and he had a muscled body, but according to the date of birth, the guy was about 50 years old). the epitaph was titled "Pete the magic maker", followed by a torrent of verses describing how he lived his life to the fullest and the magic he brought to those around him. i'm guessing he was some sort of a performer - maybe a musician or magician... what first struck me was the photo featured, the dude looked cool (not like the conventional obituaries where a studio-taken picture of the deceased is featured...) and that they had photoshoped a pair of realistic wings into the picture (making him look like a real angel... like those in 'constantine'). the fonts used were also interesting... serifs... making the article look chic and not morbid or solemn.
overall, the obituary felt more like a tribute or celebration of the deceased's life rather than a solemn notice or obligatory announcement in the newspaper. his friends and family must have really loved him to be able to come up with such a personal epitaph, capturing the essence of his being and not just the externals or superficial qualities.
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