Ode to Oscar
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Oscar Grimm with Tanja Andrews
Note: I apologize if you happen to stumble upon this post and have no clue what I am talking about, and I assure you this is the most difficult blog post I have ever had to write. Thank you for your patience.
Yesterday morning we awoke to find some very sad news from our friend Tanja Andrews.
Our friend and fellow blogger/vlogger Oscar Grimm has passed on to the other side due to complications from brain cancer.
In case you are not familiar with Tanja and Oscar, they are the creators of the popular video blog called Freshtopia.net. Freshtopia started in 2006, and over that span of time created literally countless videos. There are so many it makes me dizzy! Freshtopia quickly grew into one of the hottest video blogs in the entire web, and got the attention from PodTech.net.
When Oscar was surprisingly diagnosed with a brain tumor in early 2007, Freshtopia went on a wild roller coaster ride. Oscar and Tanja both started researching a wide variety of treatments for his rare form of brain cancer. Throughout the process Oscar did his best to keep people updated on his progress. There were times when the doctor visits made the prognosis look good, and there were times when things looked not so good.
In March 2008 Oscar took an experimental cancer drug, and had some very serious consequences which nearly took his life. Soon after, Oscar and Tanja moved from their home in Oakland California all the way to Michigan where Oscar’s family lives. He continued a variety of treatment, and due to where they were living they were without any sort of internet access.
Sadly, on October 1st, Oscar lost his battle with cancer. Tanja has been grieving these past few days, but has been considerate enough to let all of us know that Oscar is now on the other side, without pain, and without cancer. He is finally free.
Tanja and I had a long conversation late yesterday evening. We laughed, we shared some tears. I think both of us were trying to outdo the other in keeping our spirits up. After talking with Tanja, I have been having a wild mix of emotions swirling inside of me. I know that Oscar is now without pain and suffering, but I keep wanting him to have been a survivor of cancer. In a way, he is a survivor of cancer as he now is all around us, up there in that great big thing I call The Universe.
We in the raw food community have lost someone who had a major impact on the raw food world. Oscar didn’t always eat 100% raw food, and we know he didn’t go totally into an alternative medicine route, but he did explore a lot of different healing modalities. I know that he made all his decisions with great thought and careful contemplation.
His skills as a video director enabled Tanja to explore her passion for the raw food movement. She herself was quite new to raw food when the two of them started Freshtopia, and you can see her knowledge expand throughout all the episodes of Freshtopia. It is a beautiful unfolding, as you can see Tanja evolve into a talented video host.
Tanja always downplays her talent, but we all know she is gifted. And so was Oscar. The two of them as a team can not be replicated. At this time Tanja is unsure as to the future of Freshtopia, but right now she is working on keeping the site online. When Tanja has any updates on the future of Freshtopia we will keep you posted.
We have mentioned to Tanja that we would love to have her guest blog on Raw Food Right Now. At this time she is exploring many opportunities both in life and in the online world. We hope that Tanja will find some way to continue to make an impact on the raw food community in the unique loving way that she did with Freshtopia.
Let’s Appreciate Freshtopia
Tanja and I talked about how we could honor Oscar on Raw Food Right Now. We both agreed that Oscar wouldn’t want to talk about all the sad, tragic things that happened in his life. Instead he would want us to focus on his many accomplishments, and the happy memories we should carry with us.
So, to end on a high note, let’s honor Oscar by enjoying the past of Freshtopia. Let’s look at all the wonderful recipes, all the happy moments, all the fun times that happened in that magical world Oscar and Tanja called Freshtopia.
Fun With Freshtopia
If you would like to join us in honoring Oscar, please take a moment and watch some videos, look at some pictures, or listen to the man behind the camera:
Freshtopia on Flickr: If you thought Freshtopia videos were amazing, the photos on their Flickr stream are great too! Lots of raw food porn to drool over, and some fun snapshots of Oscar, Tanja, Barb and other friends of Freshtopia.
Raw Food Right Now Radio Interview with Oscar and Tanja: This is our podcast we recorded with Oscar and Tanja earlier this year. In the interview Oscar talks about his cancer diagnosis, as well as Tanja’s amazing story as to how she found raw food.
And most important of all…..
Browse Shows Page: If you click on this link, you will be taken to a dazzling array of videos for yummy raw food recipes, tips on eco living, random fun and nonsense, and so much more.
Here are some of our favorite episodes:
- Tanja’s Flaxploitation Flax Crackers: One of the funniest Freshtopia episodes ever! All I have to do is think about this episode and it brings a smile to my face.
- Peaches and Poppy Seeds: Tanja amazes everyone with her recipe for poppyseed dressing. It is sooooo good!
- Virgin Ginger Mojitos: Tanja helped make this drink “THE” raw drink of summer 2007!
- Honey Cream Pie: This was one of Oscar’s favorite recipes.
- Super Candy!! - Tanja is so hilarious in this episode!
- Vegan Ice Cream: When Oscar was diagnosed with cancer, he wanted to do something nice for Tanja. After he saw our first blog post on ice cream here on RFRN, he asked us for advice on an ice cream maker. He was able to totally surprise Tanja with a brand new ice cream maker as a present…and Tanja went into the kitchen and made some amazing raw ice cream for everyone in Oakland. This is some of Oscar’s finest directing work on Freshtopia. This video is so well done it’s like a little movie. This isn’t our favorite episode of Freshtopia…because all of the episodes were our favorites. Every video is so fun, and worth watching.
Please take a moment and check out the videos. We promise you won’t be dissappointed.
If you can think of any other ways to honor Oscar and Freshtopia, please leave a little note in the comments.
Also, if you want to send love to Tanja, leave a comment. She deserves some blog comment love!
Oscar, we miss you.
~ Heidi
Raw Food Right Now