This really stinks. John Amato’s father has passed away. John and I have been friends going back 6-7 years, exchanging emails and IM’s about a variety of subjects (I bet the two of us have spent more time talking about BTVS than anything else, tbh), back to the days when Crooks and Liars was just getting started and leading the way with bringing newsclips to blogs and I was a foaming at the mouth right-winger, so I’m really sorry about this. John’s a great guy and this is just terrible.
You’re in our thoughts, John.
Krista
Oh, that is sad. My sympathies.
matoko_chan
We weep not for those who leave….but for those who are left behind.
My sympathies.
:(
Dork
What’s a BTV?
Notorious P.A.T.
I’m sorry to hear that (
Comrade Stuck
@Dork:
Bulgarian Teevee.
RIP Mr. Amato.
Redshirt
Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
You’re a fan, John? Awesome if so. One of the best shows ever on TV.
aimai
I am really grieving for John. I only know him through his tireless on line efforts but I know just how important our parents are to us. I hope he gets a chance to read the comments from his readers and to realize that even in this great loss he is not alone. People are thinking of him (and his family) and wishing him the best. I know what he is going through and its just a terrible thing.
aimai
smiley
John – do you know if this was sudden and/or unexpected? I noticed that he posted on the Sunday talk shows only a couple of hours before Nicole posted about his father’s death.
Condolences to John.
The Other Steve
Having just lost my mother recently, my heart goes out to him.
vince
C&L is the first blog i ever checked out. It linked me here one day long ago. grateful for all your efforts, John. deepest sympathies.
asiangrrlMN
Wow. That’s very sad. My condolences, John (A.), to you and your family.
I hope C&L will be back up and running soon. Very incisive site.
Andy K
I chat with Amato regularly, usually about- but not limited to- baseball and soccer rather than BTVS, and I’ve got to say that I can’t think of anyone I know who has a bigger heart. Like his love of the Yankees, I’m quite sure that John inherited his warmth from his dad.
I don’t think this was unexpected. John’s dad was into his 80’s, and had been suffering the infirmities that arise with age. But any of us who have lost a parent or grandparent with whom we’ve been close for our entire lives know that there’s still a sense of loss, a hole that can’t be filled when they’re gone.
Crooks and Liars wasn’t the first blog I read regularly, but it’s the first one I became addicted to. And it was a link in one of Amato’s posts that led me to a post at Balloon Juice(a post on the Intelligent Design charlatans with a comments section that took me hours to read) and hooked me to this site.
@asiangrrlMN:
C&L has been having some server problems lately. It should be up and running now.
passerby
My heart goes out to John, having just lost my mother. (It was surreal for me, waking up in a world without my mother in it.)
In trying to put things in perspective, a bazillion others before us have endured the loss of parents and I hope the life given to me has benefitted those in my realm of life as John’s has as a professional musician and as an exposer of crooks and liars.
In our humanity, may there be collective gratitude for Moms and Dads that had a view of what is Good and who put their energies towards that.
Rest is peace Mr. Amato.
passerby
@Andy K:
Ditto.
Zuzu's Petals
It’s hard to lose a parent no matter their age or infirmity; I hope he finds out how much compassion there is in the world.
Another passing worth noting:
Roger “Bill” Terry, member of Tuskegee Airmen
demimondian
RIP, Mr. Amato. I am watching my wife’s mother fade into Alheimer’s Disease, and watching FDDD deal with it has been excruciating.
Yutsano
Baruch dayan emet John Amato.