Mercury would be 78 today.
Some icons have truly left this world too early. It’s a tragedy when anyone doesn’t make it to see old age, but when it happens to a well-known public figure, a bit of their art and legacy dies with them. What more might Freddie Mercury have accomplished if he were granted the gift of long life? Bruce Lee? Princess Diana?
Their futures might be mere musings of our imagination, but thanks to a lot of creativity (and a little tech) we can now get a glimpse into what these celebrities might have looked like when they were older.
Alper Yesiltas, an Istanbul-based lawyer and photographer, created a photography series titled “As If Nothing Happened,” which features eerily realistic portraits of long gone celebrities in their golden years. To make the images as real looking as possible, Yesiltas incorporated various photo editing programs such as Adobe Lightroom and VSCO, as well as the AI photo-enhancing software Remini.
“The hardest part of the creative process for me is making the image feel ‘real’ to me,” Yesiltas wrote about his passion project. “The moment I like the most is when I think the image in front of me looks as if it was taken by a photographer.”
Yesiltas’ meticulousness paid off, because the results are uncanny. Along with each photo, Yesiltas writes a bittersweet message “wishing” how things might have gone differently…as if nothing happened.
“I wish he hadn't got that disease.”
There are plenty of amazing Freddie Mercury tributes and impersonators out there, but there will only ever be ONE Freddie Mercury.
“I wish he hadn't been affected by the exhaustion of his role.”
One of Ledger's most notable roles is queer cowboy Ennis Del Mar in Ang Lee's iconic 2005 romantic western drama Brokeback Mountain. In a time when queer storytelling was still taboo, Ledger's honest and compassionate portrayal broke down a lot of barriers for future stories.
Though Ledger officially died due to an overdose, many believe it was his role of The Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight that pushed him over the edge.
Joplin would be 81.
“I wish she hadn't sought the inspiration she needed elsewhere.”
The powerful singer with electric stage presence is still one of the greatest female rock stars of all time. Scratch that—one of the greatest rock stars of all time, period.
Hendrix would be 82.
“I wish he hadn't sought the inspiration he needed elsewhere.”
Like Joplin and Ledger, Hendrix died due to an overdose—though many have speculated that it was instead the result of foul play.
“I wish he hadn't faced vitiligo.”
However questionable his personal life was, the King of Pop made some of the biggest contributions to music of all time. People continue to sing his songs, and likely will for a very, very long time.
Cobain would be 57.
“I wish he had decided to stay.”
The insightful, poetic and troubled Cobain took his life at 27. His story is a cautionary tale that success does not help thwart struggles with mental health. in fact, it can worsen it.
Lee would be 83.
“I wish he hadn't taken that painkiller that day.”
The actor and martial-arts expert died at 32, officially due to a harmful reaction to a painkiller. His philosophies around kung fu, however, are eternal.
“I wish he hadn't been in New York that day.”
Legendary artist and activist John Lennon was fatally wounded by a gunshot in December 1980. The last thing he talked about, revealed ex-wife Yoko Ono in an interview, was the desire to see his son before he went to sleep.
Presley would be 89.
“I wish he decided to live a life where he paid more attention to the health of his heart.”
Had Presley not died of cardiac arrest, he would be 89 this year.
“I wish he hadn't been involved in that event that would cause him to face the mafia.”
The cause of Tupac’s untimely death is also one of debate and speculation. According to some, he never died at all. What we can all agree on—he was one of hip-hop's most iconic figures.
This one seems to be a new addition to the collection, so no wistful message. Although I’m sure the general sentiment is “I wish she were still here.”
AI-generated art is a controversial topic, to be sure. Some consider it a new, innovative medium. Others see it as devoid of any real creativity at all, as it’s produced by a machine, rather than a human. Many are concerned that, as is the case with many jobs that get machine automated, it will threaten the livelihood of actual illustrators.
Those concerns are certainly valid, but perhaps there’s a balance to be found here, as Yesiltas seems to have accomplished. Previously, another artist similarly created stunningly lifelike portraits of cartoon characters from Encanto and The Simpsons. These works still required the human touch, and were carefully crafted over time rather than cracked out in mere seconds, as is the case with a lot of AI art.
At its best, AI art helps remind us, as Yesiltas puts it, that "anything imaginable can be shown in reality.” Which, at the end of the day, could be said for any art.
This article originally appeared three years ago.
What did you want to be when you grew up? A doctor? Lawyer? Firefighter or brain surgeon? Maybe you achieved those dreams (congrats!) or maybe your idea of "success" changed radically as you got older. Reality is, if you can earn a living wage doing work you don't hate, with some decent benefits and time off, you're doing pretty dang well in life.
Not too many kids would say they want to grow up to become garbage collectors — and, in fact, there's a pretty strong stigma against the job — but they might rethink that if they knew how good of a career it actually is. One garbage collector was recently interviewed on TikTok where he was asked: "Can you make like six figures with overtime?" His response: "Oh, easily man."
The man who works for CR&R, an environmental services company in California, said "Starting pay is about $29 an hour, some drivers are making like $33." He says he and the other drivers routinely pull 12 hours days, working from 5am to 5pm, with overtime kicking in after 8 hours.
60 hours a week x $33 per hour puts him over $100k in pay before taxes and before factoring in the overtime pay. Now, those are long hours (very long), and hard work, but there are plenty of careers out there that demand the same hours and hard work and don't pay nearly as well. (Try working in an Amazon warehouse for about half the salary.)
The worker was then asked if he would recommend a career as a garbage collector to others. "Honestly, I would man just cause the pay is pretty competitive and the hours, there's a lot of work here. If you're into working overtime and everything like that..." you can do really well. Plus..."Really good benefits, I can't complain."
Watch the whole interview here.
@laneape.co Spoke with @theonlymemoo, a CR&R driver making $28-$33/hr 🚛 He says the job has long hours, good benefits, and he recommends it. Crazy story? A coworker found a body in a trash enclosure right before the holidays. Could you handle this job? ⬇️ #TruckDriverLife #WasteManagement #CareerInsights #WorkLifeStories #garbagedisposal #sanitation #garbageman #garbagetruck #garbageart #dumpster #dumpsterdive #trashtalk #drivers #driverjobs #drivingjobs #wasteman #doublebubble #overtime #overtimehours #trades #tradesman #tradesmen #sixfigureincome #trucker #truckerlife #truckersoftiktok #truckers #truckertok #truckerslife #truckertiktok #truckerhat #truckergirl #truckerwife #trucking #truckinglife #truckin #truckinaround #truckingindustry #truckinglifestyle #truckingaround #truckingcompany #truckingfamily #cdl #cdllife #cdldriver #cdlschool #cdltruckdriver #classB
Some commenters pointed out that making $100k per year in California isn't much, but the one nice thing about working in sanitation is that you can do it almost anywhere, and it's a solid career pretty much everywhere you turn.
"42$ an hour in Seattle I made 155k last year lots of over time," one user wrote.
Someone commented that he makes $50/hour as a garbage collector in San Francisco. A user from Houston claimed $30/hour. A man from Illinois quotes $43/hour.
Photo by Ewoud Van den Branden on Unsplash
Garbage collectors who work for the city can also get government benefits and retirement, plus these workers can get union representation to protect their jobs, salaries, and benefits. There's also plentiful opportunity for overtime which can be worth 1.5x the usual hourly wage. But perhaps most importantly of all, what the job may lack in flash in sizzle, it more than makes up for in real-world impact.
Who wouldn't want to make our streets and communities cleaner!?
In a recent Reddit thread, a 24-year-old asked if he should be embarrassed about his job as a trash collector. The top response read: "Dude, I work for a health insurance company that makes it's profit by denying people life saving care. I'm ashamed of my job. You have nothing to be embarrassed about, you do honest work that benefits your community. I would love to tell people I worked in sanitation."
Data shows more and more young people are going directly into the workforce or trade school and foregoing volatile technology-based careers.
Working for the postal service, driving for UPS, collecting garbage, or getting into a skilled trade like electrical or plumbing may not be glamorous, wealth-making careers; but if you're willing to work hard, they can provide you a really nice standard of living.
That's how jobs should work! If working 60 hours per week isn't for you, that's OK and understandable — but if you don't mind sacrificing for long hours, there should be a solid reward at the end, and at least in the case of garbage collectors, it sounds like there is. If you're looking for a career change and the ship has sailed on you becoming a world-renown rocket scientist, it's probably not too late to get your Class B driver's license and start picking up trash.