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I would add Madonna, Oprah, Obama, and doctors to that list.

• ctdonath 15y ago
  Reminds me of how many greats expired when they stopped their "thing". Stanley Kubric died within a week of finishing post-production on Eyes Wide Shut. Charles Schultz ended Peanuts after exactly 50 years, and expired a week later. This alongside others who quit, sometimes repeatedly, only to return. Anthony Hopkins has sworn off acting several times. Berkley Breathed can't quit Opus after ending 3+ comic strip series. The article used the slang term "anorak" to describe Eminem - someone who is utterly focused on one activity. Attempts to engage them in any other activity (save perhaps basic family functions) fail. Eminem has rapped about often shunning the indulgences of rockstardom in favor of locking himself in a bathroom stall or dank stairwell just to scribble lyrics in a ratty notebook. They're great because it's all they do and all they can do, and greatness is a natural consequence. Take it away, and they either fight to resume it or expire in emptiness.
  • Andrew_Quentin 15y ago
    Why must they expire? It is strange to think that a man, like any other man, so becomes singular in life and work in that work is his life and life is his work, to the point that such a massive passion grows for what they do that nothing else has any meaning. That probably is simply because of a turn in life they made. If they are smart enough to be basically performing functioning humans, then the end of it would be a shock to the system, but which can be overcomed. So why must they expire?