I am being a good citizen by tacitly greeting our new President. I didn’t vote for him and frankly everything about him- his campaign, his troubling personal and professional history, his poorly chosen (or in some cases, not chosen at all) cabinet members, his abrasive personality, underhanded tactics, and the petulant Tweets– terrifies me about the future. But, into the future we must go, so Hello, new Mr. President. Please don’t get us nuked.
So, that’s over with.
While reading the other news, I saw that Miguel Ferrar, one of my favorite character actors, had passed away from throat cancer at the age of 61. So young! And from such a talented person with a razor-sharp comedic timing, even while playing a tough guy. I viewed this supercut of some of his best moments as Agent Albert Rosenfeld, probably one of the best characters ever, on Twin Peaks.
In Allan Moore’s brilliant work The Killing Joke, the Joker posits that all of us, Batman and even the saintly Commissioner Gordon included, are only one bad day away from going completely mad, and that madness might actually be a haven. It is implied that the Joker himself went utterly batshit crazy on his bad day in order to cope with its horrific events, and is the generally accepted canon for the Joker’s backstory (or was, I haven’t kept up with Joker-related things much lately and that may have changed).
I would like to imagine that at some point, Agent Rosenfeld had his bad day. He lost his marbles in a big way on that bad day, but that didn’t stop him. OH NO. He pulled himself together, focused on the shit that really mattered, and now is 100% committed to getting the job done. Sure, he has the social graces of a chainsaw with no safety guard, but he’s got miles and miles of heart. He’s there to fix the broken shit and not to make any friends.
So today, I will honor the memory of this fantastic actor by letting my madness keep me sane, and putting in The Work. I just don’t know what else to do.
My favorite Miguel Ferrar character would have to be from Robocop as Bob Morton. That was the first time I actually really noticed him. Since then he’s played a succession of sleazy bad guys in suits and I’ve lovehated all of them. He was just so good at making you hate his characters. I’m gonna miss his sleazy, suit wearing, ass.
Oh he was SO GOOD as that guy! Forgot about him, thank you for reminding me! Lovehate- YES. Great word!