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Just watched his great Chow Yun-fat comedy Tiger on Beat on Sunday. An exuberant talent.

FerdinandGriffon wrote:Just watched his great Chow Yun-fat comedy Tiger on Beat on Sunday.

With its infamous Chainsaw duel! In between that, and the Kar Leung choreographed and Kar-Wing directed The Dragon Family - not to mention his legitimately breathtaking turn in Pedicab Driver - I've always been disappointed he didn't tackle more "modern" stuff. I guess his displeasure with simple bloodshed and revenge kept him away from much of the action genres of the 80s and 90s.

I'll be writing a bit about LKL in the coming months, but what really distinguishes his work is its true love and respect for martial-arts. In his films, it's not simply something to prop up an action film. In LKL's world, kung-fu is truly something that can be physically, spiritually and culturally enriching. Instead of coming off myopic or insular, his films make that passion infectious.

Nelson Mandela (Maybe. No official confirmation or other sources)

Jeff wrote:Nelson Mandela (Maybe. No official confirmation or other sources)

This looks premature for now...

Summer 1990, I was working at One Wall Street (corner of Wall St and Broadway) and watched Nelson Mandela make his way through the Canyon of Heroes in the Mandelamobile.*
The first and only time I saw a hero parade in NYC and was it was pretty moving.

After spending 27 years in prison and leaving not in great health at age 70, it's pretty amazing he had another 24 years left in him -- and used it well.

* like a more soulful Popemobile

hearthesilence wrote:

Jeff wrote:Nelson Mandela (Maybe. No official confirmation or other sources)

This looks premature for now...

Current BBC Breaking News is "Granddaughter of Nelson Mandela describes him as 'stable' as she leaves his hospital in Pretoria". And that's only just gone live.

Jim Goddard.

Kim Thompson, co-publisher of Fantagraphics Books and of The Comics Journal. The Comics Journal was instrumental in weening many a growing comics fan off of superhero fare, shaping them into cultural elitists. Fantagraphics was to comics what Criterion is to cinema. Thompson's favorite film was Contempt.

He was a great publisher whose work, like Groth's, has had a huge influence on the culture of comics. Fantagraphics Books wouldn't have existed without him.
I never really read superhero comics (and certainly wouldn't call myself an elitist, Donald!) but I was buying comics that Fantagraphics published before I was old enough for their "mature readers" stuff and two of the main series that I read obsessively were Usagi Yojimbo and Critters, both mentioned in the obit. Critters was uneven but I'll always remember the good stuff. Usagi was always amazing and primed me for Japanese cinema, in fact, because when I started watching Kurosawa films I was already familiar enough with the jidaigeki world to relate.
And as soon as I was old enough to buy it all without getting yelled at by comic shop guys, I was grabbing everything I could find by Bagge, Ware, Sacco, Los Bros Hernandez, etc. Kim's work had an indescribably great impact.

Hey, I slept on his floor once. Sad to see you go, Kim.

Thought you meant the quarterback of the Bills in the early 90s, who was supposed to have just recently been cured of some early detected cancer recently. Sad news regardless, but whew

domino harvey wrote:Jim Kelly

Damn. I'd only ever seen him in Enter the Dragon, but that movie had a huge impact on me as a kid. Let's have one more "bullshit Mr. Han Man" in his honour.

I think I honestly mostly remember him through the parody from The Boondocks which was less than flattering, but still pretty fantastic. Black Belt Jones was the only other thing I've seen him in, but he's tons of fun in it.

If you want some Jim Kelly on DVD, I recommend picking up Warner Bros. Four Film Favorites: Urban Action Collection. Three the Hard Way is an essential Blaxploitation film.

He was "Black Samurai"...

That is an interesting quadruple bill since, if I cast my mind back to the 42nd Street Forever: Blu-ray edition, the commentators there talk on the Black Samson trailer of the star of that film, Rockne Tarkington, being the original choice for the role in Enter The Dragon eventually played by Jim Kelly.

Animator John D Wilson.

Charlotte Brosnan, daughter of Pierce Brosnan, at age 41

I had no idea Pierce Brosnan had a daughter that age. She has a very short list of acting credits on imdb.

manicsounds wrote:Charlotte Brosnan, daughter of Pierce Brosnan, at age 41

I had no idea Pierce Brosnan had a daughter that age. She has a very short list of acting credits on imdb.

It's not his biological daughter - she was the daughter of Brosnan's first wife, who also died of the same disease over two decades ago.

Bengt Hallberg - great Swedish jazz pianist. Think I'll take out my Jazz At The Pawnshop tonight for a reflective listening.

Caligula wrote:Bengt Hallberg - great Swedish jazz pianist. Think I'll take out my Jazz At The Pawnshop tonight for a reflective listening.

For a film connection; Hallberg made the music for the "Madicken" series of films released in 1979-1980 by SF, based on the Astrid Lindgren books.

Anna Wing, aged 98. Some big screen work, including supporting roles in Billy Liar and Providence and others, but best known for her TV work, which began before World War II, primarily for her role in the long-running soap Eastenders.