Passages

[Peacock]

Mohammad Bakri - Palestinian director of Jenin, Jenin among other (banned in Israel) films.

[hearthesilence]

Woman reveals James Ransone once saved her from sexual assault:

I found out yesterday that @jamesransone died. I’m usually private but I want to publicly say I am so grateful that this man existed and don’t know if the trajectory of my life would be the same if he hadn’t.

Warning: violence and sexual assault

We were neighbors in Chinatown. Friendly, overlapping social circles. I was attacked at the threshold of our building. I screamed for help. No one came. My attacker put his hands around my throat so I would stop making noise. I couldn’t breathe. I remember the certainty that I was going to die or be raped as I was choked unconscious.

PJ heard my screams and ran to help. He came running shirtless, carrying a bat or pipe — I’m not sure which, because I never saw him in action. He scared my attacker, who ran. PJ chased him to the building he fled to. Because of the chase, the police were able to identify him, a repeat sexual offender. 

PJ saved me. I’m not sure if I would have the same life if he hadn’t run down that night. Even as an adult, I’m not sure how I would have handled the weight of what could have happened or how long it would take to heal — I was already emotionally fragile. 

What’s especially hard for me with PJ’s passing is that he lived with that kind of violence. What I was spared, he endured in a different form, at an age where there is no emotional defense, and the self is still forming. I get the sense that PJ’s life was haunted by what happened to him then. This world is rarely gentle to people who are hurt, vulnerable, acting out.

Over the years, I have thought of PJ from time to time. I wanted to reach out to him to let him know how grateful I was that he ran towards my screams. I didn’t. I regret that.

A gofundme has been set up for his children

[Maltic]

Chris Rea... of course known for the christmas song, but I will always remember him for the very early VHS-memories of 'The Road to Hell' playing while Charlie Sheen goes undercover in a biker gang in Beyond the Law.

[thirtyframesasecond]

Chris Rea... of course known for the christmas song, but I will always remember him for the very early VHS-memories of 'The Road to Hell' playing while Charlie Sheen goes undercover in a biker gang in Beyond the Law.

Fool if you think it's over and Josephine were decent tracks of his.

[okcmaxk]

Amos Poe

[hearthesilence]

Amos Poe

Reading up about him in the wake of his death, I wasn't at this screening at the Roxy, but Jesus, what an awful way to find out about the changes made to The Blank Generation.

[hearthesilence]

Robert Lindsey, a journalist whose award-winning nonfiction spy thriller The Falcon and the Snowman was adapted into a movie starring Sean Penn and Timothy Hutton (with a memorable song, "This Is Not America," by David Bowie and Pat Metheny), and who ghostwrote autobiographies for former President Ronald Reagan and Marlon Brando.

[Lowry_Sam]

Robert Lindsey[/url], a journalist whose award-winning nonfiction spy thriller The Falcon and the Snowman ….and who ghostwrote autobiographies for former President Ronald Reagan…

I never would have guessed that the same person could write both of these, talk about incongruity.

[beamish14]

Robert Lindsey, a journalist whose award-winning nonfiction spy thriller The Falcon and the Snowman was adapted into a movie starring Sean Penn and Timothy Hutton (with a memorable song, "This Is Not America," by David Bowie and Pat Metheny), and who ghostwrote autobiographies for former President Ronald Reagan and Marlon Brando.

It’s a great book. John Schlesinger/Steve Zaillian (his first screen credit!) made an unbelievable adaptation.

[hearthesilence]

Robert Lindsey, a journalist whose award-winning nonfiction spy thriller The Falcon and the Snowman ….and who ghostwrote autobiographies for former President Ronald Reagan…

I never would have guessed that the same person could write both of these, talk about incongruity.

To be fair, they were hired gigs, not passion projects, and in the case of Reagan's book, per that link he didn't have a great time writing it:

In his ruminative 2012 memoir, Mr. Lindsey recalled lamenting to Nancy Reagan, “I get the impression that the president is not especially introspective.” At another point, he brooded, “I’m trying to write the memoirs of someone who doesn’t have much memory.”

[Aunt Peg]

Director Amos Poe, 76: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amos_Poe

[MichaelB]

Reading up about him in the wake of his death, I wasn't at this screening at the Roxy, but Jesus, what an awful way to find out about the changes made to The Blank Generation.

Did you read the entire article? Poe really doesn't come out of it well.

[beamish14]

Perry Bamonte, on/off guitarist and keyboardist for The Cure over multiple decades

[hearthesilence]

Reading up about him in the wake of his death, I wasn't at this screening at the Roxy, but Jesus, what an awful way to find out about the changes made to The Blank Generation.

Did you read the entire article? Poe really doesn't come out of it well.

He doesn't come out well, but I don't think it's that damning either. Both he and Kral had prints they leased out, and they agreed to split the profits - Poe did not, but neither did Kral. As to what was really owed, we're never told how much Kral might've taken on his end before he initiated the lawsuit. The fact that he sued for $75,000 isn't a reliable figure, and ultimately the court decided that Kral was owed $6,500 in profits, nothing to sneeze at but not an amount that on first glance seems unworkable had they decided to take a friendlier path in settling their differences. Hell, that could've been a GoFundMe campaign. (Poe estimated that he might've owed as much as $8,000, which doesn't seem unworkable to me either.) I know Kral's widow said they had to sue because Poe didn't have money to pay anything, but Poe himself showed up for a deposition with no attorney and argued they could settle this over the phone - from a tactical standpoint, it's easy to see how he got crushed because Kral didn't pull any punches with his legal maneuvers, and that's the nature of lawsuits, they're brutal and unforgiving. Poe made things ever easier by skipping the trial date, but if he couldn't afford an attorney, he likely got scared when he realized he was going to be crushed without legal representation, which isn't unusual in these situations.

It's not right that happened, but by Poe's admission he was broke and had demons that really didn't help. At least to me, that makes a big difference - a guy who's a mess that needed to get his life straightened out isn't the same thing as a complete thief who steals out of sheer greed.

[hearthesilence]

Per Bob Mehr, soul singer and songwriter Don Bryant at the age of 83: "A Hi Records artist who penned hits for his wife Ann Peebles (including the immortal "I Can't Stand the Rain"), Bryant enjoyed a late-career comeback over the last decade."

[beamish14]

Director Amos Poe, 76: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amos_Poe

I’ve been curious about Triple Bogey on a Five Par Hole for years, as it stars a very young Philip Seymour Hoffman. Anyone seen it?

[nowhereisaplace]

I have not seen it but I used to run into Poe fairly regularly downtown about 20 years ago, I’m sad to hear he’s gone.

[DeprongMori]

Howie Klein, Top Executive at Sire and Reprise Records, DJ and Political Activist. Incredibly important in the punk, new wave, and post-punk eras. I used to read his blog Down with Tyranny! regularly.

[captveg]

Perry Bamonte, on/off guitarist and keyboardist for The Cure over multiple decades

My favorite band, so this one definitely stings.

[A Tempted Christ]

Bahram Beyzaie at 87

[Roger Ryan]

Reading up about him in the wake of his death, I wasn't at this screening at the Roxy, but Jesus, what an awful way to find out about the changes made to The Blank Generation.

Did you read the entire article? Poe really doesn't come out of it well.

He doesn't come out well, but I don't think it's that damning either. Both he and Kral had prints they leased out, and they agreed to split the profits - Poe did not, but neither did Kral. As to what was really owed, we're never told how much Kral might've taken on his end before he initiated the lawsuit. The fact that he sued for $75,000 isn't a reliable figure, and ultimately the court decided that Kral was owed $6,500 in profits, nothing to sneeze at but not an amount that on first glance seems unworkable had they decided to take a friendlier path in settling their differences. Hell, that could've been a GoFundMe campaign. (Poe estimated that he might've owed as much as $8,000, which doesn't seem unworkable to me either.) I know Kral's widow said they had to sue because Poe didn't have money to pay anything, but Poe himself showed up for a deposition with no attorney and argued they could settle this over the phone - from a tactical standpoint, it's easy to see how he got crushed because Kral didn't pull any punches with his legal maneuvers, and that's the nature of lawsuits, they're brutal and unforgiving. Poe made things ever easier by skipping the trial date, but if he couldn't afford an attorney, he likely got scared when he realized he was going to be crushed without legal representation, which isn't unusual in these situations.

It's not right that happened, but by Poe's admission he was broke and had demons that really didn't help. At least to me, that makes a big difference - a guy who's a mess that needed to get his life straightened out isn't the same thing as a complete thief who steals out of sheer greed.

I'm more annoyed that Blank Generation has been re-edited. I saw a screening in Ann Arbor in 2010 with Kral introducing the film and doing a Q & A and am almost certain it was the original version with the proper credits and no tacked-on tribute to Kral at the end. There was also plenty of non-performance footage which was some of the best material in the film.

[ynwa]

nooooo Věra Křesadlová passed in November

[therewillbeblus]

Isiah Whitlock Jr.

[Matt]

Okay, I'll be the one to say it. Sheeeeeeit.

Hell of an actor, always a pleasure to watch, and gone far too soon.

[Aunt Peg]

I've just seen a post on Facebook that Australian actress Candy Raymond, 75, has passed away.

She appeared in the infamous TV soap Number 96 as well as notable films such as Don's Party (1976) & The Getting of Wisdom (1977).