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Unclassifiably original Czech film-essayist Karel Vachek, one of the most enthralling (and bracingly cynical) chroniclers of the vagaries of his native country's post-Communist era.

dadaistnun wrote: Tue Dec 22, 2020 4:28 pmClaude Brasseur

Interesting to note from imdb that he plays a Police Inspector in Eyes Without A Face, in which his father Pierre Brasseur plays the mad doctor!

I'm otherwise unfortunately not too familiar with Claude Brasseur's work outside of Band of Outsiders other than his roles in the late 1980s to early 90s in Godard's Détective, Dirty Like An Angel by Catherine Breillat, and the title role in Dandin based on the Molière play.

A Russian actor Boris Plotnikov who starred in Larisa Shepitko’s "Ascent" died from covid19.

Heartbreaking year for losing rock & roll legends: Leslie West, of COVID-19

James (E.) Gunn, SF writer, editor, critic and scholar, at the age of 97. The 1969 TV movie and 1970/1 TV series The Immortal was based on his novel. Not to be mistaken for other James Gunns.

Marcus D'Amico who played Michael 'Mouse' Tolliver in the first series of the show Tales of the City (1993) has passed away. Nothing has yet to be reported by the media but there have been facebook and twitter postings by friends and his sister.He was 55.

Boxer, Olympic medalist amateur wrestler and legendary professional wrestler Danny Hodge. No official reporting, but the wrestling community is writing it up on social media.

British pulp horror novelist (and Disney noveliser) Guy N Smith - https://downthetubes.net/?p=123907

Smith's Alligators (a book in which the most grusome death is caused by slugs!) was probably the first "modern" horror novel I ever read, when I was 12, and it really freaked me out!

Jesus, a terrible day in wrestling:

Jon Huber, aka Mr. Brodie Lee. He’s been a huge star in upstart All Elite Wrestling and was performing up to just a couple months ago. Apparently he fell ill with a respiratory issue (non-COVID) and declined rapidly.

CSM126 wrote: Sun Dec 27, 2020 2:04 am Jesus, a terrible day in wrestling:

Jon Huber, aka Mr. Brodie Lee. He’s been a huge star in upstart All Elite Wrestling and was performing up to just a couple months ago. Apparently he fell ill with a respiratory issue (non-COVID) and declined rapidly.

Deeply sad. So young and he was beloved across the industry.

Big Ben wrote: Mon Dec 21, 2020 10:53 pm David Giler

I liked his contributions to the docs Fox created for the Alien boxsets, mostly because of his glib bitchiness towards the business side and respect for the creative side. And his voice reminded me of the guy who did drag races on ESPN in the 90's for some reason.

flyonthewall2983 wrote: Mon Dec 28, 2020 3:52 am

Big Ben wrote: Mon Dec 21, 2020 10:53 pm David Giler

I liked his contributions to the docs Fox created for the Alien boxsets, mostly because of his glib bitchiness towards the business side and respect for the creative side. And his voice reminded me of the guy who did drag races on ESPN in the 90's for some reason.

This is where I'm most familiar with him as well. He was always pretty open about things, which was readily appreciated.

Got to admit I see Thailand as his residence and it raised some red flags, but it appears he was pretty serious about being a Buddhist, so good on him for that.

Designer Martin Lambie-Nairn, the Saul Bass of British (and quite a few international) television idents, and much else besides.

If he was never a household name (probably his most memorable onscreen credit was "Based on an original lunch with Martin Lambie-Nairn" at the end of every episode of Spitting Image, as the concept was his), it's hard to last more than five minutes in the UK over the last four decades without encountering his work at some point - indeed, you're quite likely to spot, say, O2 and HSBC ads (all sporting Lambie-Nairn logo designs) before you've even left the airport. The link is to his 1996 showreel, which alone should offer quite a few points of instant recognition, although I particularly enjoyed the bits that weren't familiar to me, such as his rebranding of New Zealand's Orange TV channel.

And he achieved instant immortality for the original Channel 4 ident back in 1982, with its 3-D rotating coloured blocks, although he pointed out that people who oohed and aahed over the animation (before copying it for their own TV channels) were missing the point: it worked so well (indeed, the basic 4 logo remains the same to this day, despite numerous tweaks to the animated version) was that it was based on such a strong concept - of "building blocks" of multiple companies coming together to create what was then a unique experiment in British television. For him, the visuals - spectacular though they often were - were much less important than the overarching conceptual vision, and it's the latter that makes his work so instantly memorable.

(On a personal note, he was just about the nicest and most disarmingly modest interviewee I've ever had the genuine pleasure of sitting down with, a decade or so ago - but sometimes one's achievements are so self-evident that they don't need to be trumpeted any more.)

Alto Reed (born Thomas Cartmell), longtime saxophone player with Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band.

Probably best-known for this recording.

Dawn Wells, from complications due to covid-19.

Composer Claude Bolling (no English obituary yet), who is probably best known for having scored many French crime films (including Borsalino and Flic Story).

MF Doom, apparently on Oct. 31. He was only 49.

Stunned. Madvillainy will always be a favorite.

Woah. His Viktor Vaughn album is unjustly slept on

That awful news also brought me to a screeching halt just now. MF Doom and his various aliases essentially scored my late teens, early 20s life soundtrack. One final parting shot from 2020.

It also says he passed away on the 31st of October. Unsure what to make of that missing two months. Not that Doom was exactly public about everything. Terrible loss.

Vaudeville Villain is my favorite. Metal Face was insanely prolific in the early 2000’s, which is the last time I kept up with new hip hop. His early albums are a go to for long drives, house cleaning. I must have seen him live 3-4 times. He always had that cool description of being your favorite rappers rapper.