Passages

[hearthesilence]

Don Ohlmeyer

a.k.a. The Man Who Fired Norm Macdonald from 'SNL'

Ohlmeyer was a good friend of O.J.'s and went on record objecting to Norm making O.J. jokes on Weekend Update.

[antnield]

Sir Peter Hall.

[colinr0380]

Sir Peter Hall.

I hadn't made the connection until the BBC News obituary mentioned it, but as well as his theatre and opera work he directed Akenfield (which was recently released on Blu-ray and DVD by the BFI) at weekends and with amateur actors.

[Fred Holywell]

Sir Peter Hall.

Leslie Caron on her marriage to Peter Hall... here.

[GaryC]

Australian director Cris Jones, aged just 37, cause as yet unreported.

Only two months ago I was in the audience as he did a Q&A after his film The Death and Life of Otto Bloom, the closing film of the London Oz Film Festival.

[ozufils]

Frank Vincent

[bearcuborg]

Frank Vincent

His "compromise" speech in the Sporanos is one of the best things in that show.

[hearthesilence]

Grant Hart of Husker Dü.

One of my favorite bands, I just saw Hart this summer. He looked thin and pale, but otherwise played well - would never have guessed he'd be gone so soon.

[Roger Ryan]

Grant Hart of Husker Dü.

One of my favorite bands, I just saw Hart this summer. He looked thin and pale, but otherwise played well - would never have guessed he'd be gone so soon.

I was able to hang out with him before and after his last Detroit-area shows (12 or 13 years ago now) - appearances so low-key that he asked if I could help him carry his amplifier to the car. He was greatly enthused to have found a first edition of Burroughs' "Naked Lunch" on his way to Michigan and he said that fortunate turn made the whole trip worthwhile. He got most excited when talking about the album artwork (he was responsible for the Husker Du LP covers) and went into detail about how some of the designs were achieved. His Husker Du songs were wonderfully melodic and hook-filled; he really was the "McCartney" to Bob Mould's "Lennon". But his solo work was far more diverse and ambitious; I'm pleased he was able to complete and release the epic "Paradise Lost" - inspired album "The Argument" which felt like a summation of his songwriting concerns. RIP.

[mfunk9786]

Jessi Zazu, at age 28

[ando]

Sir Peter Hall.

I hadn't made the connection until the BBC News obituary mentioned it, but as well as his theatre and opera work he directed Akenfield (which was recently released on Blu-ray and DVD by the BFI) at weekends and with amateur actors.

Well, it was monentary slip, yes? Anyone whoever appreciated Shakespeare productions from the mid twentieth century could not help but be exposed to the remarkable director.

Sir Peter Hall Remembered

[FigrinDan]

Iconic illustrator of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, Basil Gogos.

[swo17]

Harry Dean Stanton discussion moved here.

[colinr0380]

Brian Aldiss.

A huge loss, one of the key figures in post-war British Science Fiction not only as an author but as a critic, historian and anthologist. The Helliconia Trilogy was one of my favourites as a teenager, with Hothouse, Frankenstein Unbound and Non-Stop as later discoveries. His history of SF, Billion (Trillion) Year Spree, is also a great, hugely entertaining read.

Incidentally, as at last night certainly, many of his books are available on the Kindle for a very low price.

"Supertoys Last All Summer Long" can be read at Aldiss's own site. This, of course, was developed by Stanley Kubrick into A.I.: Artificial Intelligence.

The recent passing of Brian Aldiss prompted me to go back for yet another re-viewing of one of my favourite documentary series as a teenager, the three part New Nightmares series, which accompanied the "Movie Nightmares" season on Channel 4 back in 1993. This took a different topic each episode and used interviews with scientists and science fiction authors (with wonderful readings from their books), stock footage, film clips (from films in the accompanying series) and dramatised parts in a great manner. There are lots of interviews with authors who have sadly passed on over the years including Brian Aldiss, J.G. Ballard, Thomas Disch, Michael Critchton, John Brunner, Kurt Vonnegut, etc (there's even a brief clip from Robin Williams Live At The Met, when he was doing 'edgy' environmentalist stand up!)

I also did a check on YouTube and whilst the first episode "Man-Machine" isn't on there (which traces the developments of artificial intelligence in science and fiction from Alan Turing, through Crash and plastic surgery, and into virtual reality and Neuromancer), the other two episodes are. The second episode is the environmental/genetics one, "Nature Says No" which Brian Aldiss features the most in (I love his praise for Greg Bear's Blood Music, and he gets the touching final moments of the episode too). And the third episode, "Them!", is about the fear of the 'other' from other races to aliens, to political ideas and the nature of crowds.

Even 24 years on I still find myself coming back to the episodes, if just to hear the readings from the novels!

[Yakushima]

colinr0380, thank you for sharing these great documentaries!

[colinr0380]

Thanks! If I knew how to I'd try to put up the Man-Machine episode, but unfortunately I'm not that tech savvy, so I'm grateful that someone at least put these two episodes up! I can only assume that the reason why the Man-Machine episode isn't there too is because its the most film clip heavy episode of the three (Maximum Overdrive, Scanners, 2001 and so on) that might make it a problem. I note that the "Them" episode has its clips from The Day The Earth Stood Still truncated a bit, including the final one that threatens humanity with destruction if we don't learn to curb out violent ways!

[flyonthewall2983]

Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, according to Jim Ross' Twitter. There's nothing official on it, but I'd have no reason to believe he'd report something false like this.

[dx23]

Iconic illustrator of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, Basil Gogos.

Basil Gogos was a regular every year at Heroescon. It was always a pleasure to talk to him as he had some great stories of the comic book and "monsters" industry. When he missed this year's show because he was ill, I kinda felt in me that he wouldn't be around much longer. Really sad that my feelings came true as he was an amazing artist and a great person.

[Mungo]

Carlos Muñoz Portal, veteran location scout, murdered in a dangerous part of Mexico while scouting for Narcos season 4

[dx23]

Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, according to Jim Ross' Twitter. There's nothing official on it, but I'd have no reason to believe he'd report something false like this.

It's been confirmed by WWE. Heenan was the best manager of all time and the best heel commentator ever. He had been very ill for the past 10 years.

[flyonthewall2983]

Longer than that. He was diagnosed with throat cancer in around 2001-2. He recovered well enough initially but over time he started to lose the lower half of his mouth.

[CSM126]

Heenan was the all-around best at what he did. A fabulous rat-fink heel manager, a witty promo, and the best, funniest, most wildly entertaining color commentary man there will ever be. Heenan was an integral part of wrestling when I was growing up, and he's one of the biggest reasons I'm a fan. I'm glad his pain is over, but I'm terribly sad to know he's gone.

[flyonthewall2983]

One of several interviews he did with Jim Cornette, where they both talk about their experiences in the business. Cornette was considered the heir apparent to Heenan as a manager, color commentator and all-around personality, and makes no bones about how he influenced him from a young age, watching him work the Indianapolis territory owned by Dick The Bruiser.

[flyonthewall2983]

Found this online today, just to give you a good idea of how hated he was.

[colinr0380]

Jake LaMotta, whose life Robert De Niro portrayed in Raging Bull. But as well as the boxing career he also made a few acting appearances: in a small role in the Michael Winner film Firepower and in Maniac Cop.

But probably his most interesting appearances are in a couple of films from the mid to late 1960s: in the Most Dangerous Game-like exploitation film Confessions of a Psycho Cat from 1968, and especially the PTSD drama piece The Runaways from 1963 (which I'd like to see in full some time, though its a film whose original negative was apparently destroyed in a fire in the early 1980s).