An impossible decision

Tracy Latimer died eighteen years ago today.

Do you know who she was?

The heavy metal musician Ozzy Osbourne has written a number of songs about real life people…such as Aleister Crowley, Charles Manson, and Jimmy Swaggart.

So, when I heard the song “Latimer’s Mercy” on his latest album “Scream” I suspected it was about someone named Latimer.

So I checked the internet. Sure enough, it’s a song about the case of the mercy killing of twelve-year-old Tracy Latimer by her father Robert.

Have you ever heard of Robert Latimer?
After I read about this case, the lyrics to the song suddenly made sense.

It’s a sad story. No parents should ever have to even contemplate such a decision.

Although, I can understand Robert Latimer’s motives to end his daughter’s suffering, I can’t say whether it was the “right thing to do” or not.
I could never make such a decision, though.

Tracy Latimer was born in Canada in November 1980 with Cerebral Palsy, which meant she would never be able to walk or talk or even feed herself. It also caused her to have severe muscle seizures for which she needed medication.
In addition, she often dislocated her hip which caused intense pain but she couldn’t take pain killers because of her anti-seizure medication.

In her short life, Tracy had already undergone many major surgeries and doctors had told her parents that she would need more surgeries.

While the rest of his family was at church on Sunday, 1993 October 24, one month before Tracy’s thirteenth birthday, Robert Latimer put his daughter into the cab of his truck and ran a hose from the exhaust.
Tracy Latimer died of carbon monoxide poisoning and her father went to prison for her murder.
But many people in Canada supported his decision to end his daughter’s pain and believed Robert Latimer shouldn’t have been convicted.
Robert Latimer was released on parole last year.

Here are the lyrics to “Latimer’s Mercy” by Ozzy Osbourne:

Another day, another full seizure,
Another pill, you spiral down deeper,
Another cut by a surgical butcher,
It’s just a way of prolonging the torture

*I won’t say I don’t know what I’m doing,
I won’t say that I’m sorry (I’m sorry)

I can’t bring you back,
I can’t leave you helpless (helpless),
I’ll make the pain rest in peace (rest in peace)

I’ll turn off the lights,
Swallow your last breath (last breath),
So close your eyes, fall asleep (close your eyes)

I’ll never hurt you (hurt you),
I’ll never hurt you (hurt you)

The sun shines on this deadly new morning,
The church bells ring an early warning,
Your eyes shine as I turn on the motor,
The tears fall as the mercy gets closer

(repeat *)

You can listen to it here:

Tracy Latimer, 1980 November 23 – 1993 October 24, RIP

Back To The Future 25th anniversary

In the summer of 1985 one of the greatest movies made was released.
“Back To The Future” hit the theaters when I was fifteen years old…close to the age of the lead character in the movie played by Michael J. Fox.

I’m of the generation of the ’80s (often called “Generation X”), so watching a movie about a teenager of the ’80s* going back thirty years (from 1985) to 1955 and experiencing a type of “culture shock” was fun to watch…at least pulled off by the excellent actors Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd and Crispin Glover it was.

(*Actually Michael J. Fox is nine years older than me. He wasn’t a teenager in 1985…but twenty-four years old.)

Anyways, it’s hard to believe that the first “Back To The Future” movie is already twenty-five years old!
They could make a remake of “Back To The Future” about a kid of today’s generation going back to 1985 and it could probably have just as many “generation gap” gags.

To celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of “Back To The Future“, Universal Studios is releasing the entire “Back To The Future” trilogy together in one-set on high-definition Blu-Ray discs on 2010 October 26.
This new set will contain over two hours of bonus material including sixteen deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes footage and “Tales from the Future,” a new six-part retrospective documentary.

Here’s the ad for the upcoming “Back To The Future” 25th anniversary re-release on Blu-Ray:

Compare that to the original 1985 trailer for “Back To The Future“:

And it seems that the “Scream Awards” (which recognizes the best horror, sci-fi and fantasy movies) honored the 25th anniversary of “Back To The Future” a few days ago with a reunion of the cast.
Here’s an ad for it:

Scream

From today until May 5th is Golden Week in Japan.

On the days that my kids don’t have basketball practice or guitar lessons etc, we’re gonna go to the zoo and the movies (to see 「カールじいさんの空飛ぶ家」 (“Up“)) and things like that.

Anyways, on a different note, I heard that Ozzy Osbourne‘s new album will be released this summer.
The title will be “Scream“. It was originally set to be titled “Soul Sucker“, but many Ozzy fans complained about that title…so it was changed.

I’m glad that Ozzy has decided to use his “original” logo for his name. He changed his logos for his album covers since the ’90s…but I think this original one from the ’80s is the best.

The album’s song track list is:

“Let It Die”
“Let Me Hear You Scream”
“Soul Sucker”
“Life Won’t Wait”
“Diggin’ Me Down”
“Crucify”
“Fearless”
“Time”
“I Want It More”
“Latimer’s Mercy”
“I Love You All”