Reading Can Kill Ya

Bronx resident Patrice Moore was found after two days of being buried under all the magazines, newspapers, and books he's saved. Moore had been calling for his neighbors – "I was hollering for two days, 'Let me out! Let me out!' and nobody wanted to answer" – but many neighbors, who characterized Moore as "quirky," didn't think anything of it since he was in the habit of talking to himself. His landlord even heard Moore's cries but didn't think anything of them until he decided to stop by Moore's apartment to lend him some money. His 10' x 10' room was completely filled with so much printed media, except for a small space for a bedl the Fire Department evacuated the building, fearing the weight would collapse the building. Moore claims that he makes $300 a week selling the magazines back on the street, but there's no reason to have so many (50 garbage bags of magazines were taken out before he could be moved).

Let this be a warning to you, Jason Kottke, in your effort to read a different magazine each of the 52 weeks in 2004: Recycle your magazines when you're done with them. And be very friendly and outgoing with your neighbors – you never know when you'll need them. (Of course, these are good ideas for everyone, too.)

The comparisons to the Collyer Brothers case of 1947, where one brother was buried under mounds of newspapers, leaving the blind brother to starve to death, are inescapable. And it also seems like it could have been a parable for the movie Seven.