Rip 2022 q1

@heartny
I love his music! So many of the great musicians from the 70 & 80’s will be passing, along with so many people I know.

@heartny Somehow I thought he was younger than that.

@heartny @Kyeh
Aw, shit! Not meatloaf again!
/youtube Meatloaf Rocky Horror Picture Show

@heartny @Kyeh
Meatloaf was the Boomer version of Jack Black.

Apparently, he may have died due to COVID, making this song a bit poignant and ironic.
Rest In Power, Meat.

Like a bat outta Hell,
I’ll be gone when the mornin’ comes

I totally see Jack Black doing a biopic.

@Kyeh My (thankfully) progressive sister took me to see a lot of his movies when I was a kid - Lilies of the Field, Raisin in the Sun, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night, and I dragged her to see To Sir, With Love (cuz, y’know, Lulu). I loved them all!

@stolicat Wow, that’s great - I haven’t seen all of them. I should!

@Dakini Fascinating - I’d never heard of him before; it must have been so interesting to know him.

@Dakini I read that book; it was a good read overall.

@duodec Hatchet was his “hit” book though he was a prolific writer, with over 200 books under his belt. He loved kids and loved reaching out to them through his writing.

@heartny

Hesseman enjoyed swimming and gardening in his spare time — “although not simultaneously,” reads Kass’ statement on his death.

He would have loved that line!

@heartny
WKRP was on during my first hiatus from sitcoms (I was utterly sick of most of them) but his character got me watching WKRP more often than any other show.

@duodec @heartny loved him, he was great

@heartny RIP Dr. Johnny Fever!

From Engadget

Trumbull’s father worked on the special effects for films including The Wizard of Oz and Star Wars: A New Hope. The younger Trumbull worked as an illustrator and airbrush artist in Hollywood for many years. His career really took off after he cold-called Stanley Kubrick, a conversation which led to a job working on 2001: A Space Odyssey.

One of his most significant contributions to 2001 was creating the film’s Star Gate, a ground-breaking scene where astronaut Dave Bowman hurtles through an illuminated tunnel transcending space and time.

Trumbull earned visual effects Oscar nominations for his work on Close Encounters, Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Blade Runner. He also received the President’s Award from the American Society of Cinematographers in 1996.

@FreePasta Whoa! That’s a shock!

@FreePasta @Kyeh
Bob Saget, IMO, told the absolutely most filthy version of The Aristocats, besting versions by George Carlin, Gilbert Godfrey, and Martin Mull, and was a legendary comedian.
Rest in Laughter, he was one funny motherfucker.

FYI, the Aristocats is a joke for comedians told by comedians to each other. The joke is the “walk” to the punch line, not the punch line itself, because all of the comedians already know the joke. And Bob Saget was known for working “blue”, meaning his jokes were often filled with profanity, offensive, and in bad taste, with the humor to be found in the juxtaposition and its absurdity. Much like the humor of South Park, Beavis and Butthead, Phylis Diller, Don Rickles, Eddie Murphy, Dave Chappelle, George Carlin, and more.

The selfie above was from a tweet by Bob Saget himself, just this morning.

@mike808 I loved “The Aristocrats,” great movie for diehard fans of comedy! That being said, you might want to be sure to include that 2nd “r” before Disney sends its legal dept goons after you!

@ircon96 Arrrgh, matey. It’s me favorite letter!

Preliminary reports are that he came up with a joke so funny he died laughing. I’m gonna go with that.

@FreePasta
Cause of death was recently revealed to be an accidental head injury.

@chienfou Such a freak thing! So sad.

@ircon96 Paywalled.

@OldCatLady Oops, my bad, i thought they still allowed a few free articles a month. Here’s a good (& free) one!

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/peter-bogdanovich-dead-last-picture-show-1235070769/

@chienfou Whoa, I scrolled down this thread fast and saw that picture and thought Joni Mitchell had died!

@Kyeh
sorry to panic you!

@chienfou Not that Mr. Lang’s death isn’t sad too, he just isn’t nearly as famous. That was an interesting read, for sure.

@heartny

this is beyond sad.

@heartny I had no idea what ever became of the boy who was the Charlie Brown of my childhood. https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/01/27/before-suicide-charlie-brown-actor-endured-solitary-confinement-beatings-in-prison/amp/

@heartny

She starred in one of the early episodes of Star Trek TOS that I found memorable, viewing it at first broadcast:

Where No Man Has Gone Before

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_No_Man_Has_Gone_Before
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061027/

/image sally kellerman star trek

Great actor. From Altered States to Kiss of the Spider Woman to The Big Chill to Goliath (with Billy Bob Thornton). RIP.

@katbyter Oh!

One of the biggest crushes of my adolescent years & a great talent. Transitioned into brilliant character/supporting roles, like his work in the intense series “Damages” with Glenn Close. He’ll be missed.

@ircon96 @katbyter @Kyeh @mike808

One of my fav actors. I also remember him from a film that kinda went nowhere, but I saw it because I liked the book.
Gorky Park (1983)

Lee Marvin, Brian Dennehy, Ian Bannen, Joanna Pacula, Ian McDiarmid: are great in this also.

(If I remember the film well enough to say.)

The sad part about that film: a decent police prpcedural set in Moscow during the Cold War, with no natives of Russia in top roles.
Oh well.

---

Wish we hadn’t lost Mr Hurt.

@f00l That was a good one, i had forgotten what a great cast it had. Of course, I liked him in just about everything, I could have watched him read the phone book, as they say! Another book-based one that i liked was The Accidental Tourist. And, so true about the casting back then, it’s good that filmmakers are becoming more aware of those decisions, it’s strange to look back at many of the older films from the modern perspective.

@katbyter Holy shit. I just today found out watching Oscar Isaac on Colbert’s show. He was at one time my favorite actor, largely because of Altered States which was then my favorite movie—and in so many things, including in Dune as Leto. His apocalyptic vision goat from Altered States was in fact my avatar when I was goat. God damn. Fuck.

@Kyeh One of my heroes. RIP, Madame Secretary.

@Kyeh

PJ O’Rourke already got a brief mention above, but I’m not sorry to see him mentioned again.

I’m no expert on the mass of his books/writings, but I did terribly enjoy some of his essays along the way.

@f00l Oh, woops; there were so many I missed it. I didn’t read much of his work either, and disagreed with a lot of what he said. But I respected him, thought he was a terrific writer and damn funny!

@Kyeh

Always had the feeling he would have been an incredible dinner or conversational companion.

@ircon96 Looks like the Guardian is paying their respects by teaching people how to count.

You have 6 FREE articles remaining in your FREE trial

This message for the Guardian has been brought to you today by the letters F and U.

@mike808 Lol, that’s strange, maybe it’s personal, cuz i got their usual gentle & totally optional request for contributions at the end of the article, as follows:

"… we have a small favour to ask. We’d like to thank you for putting your trust in our journalism last year - and invite you to join the million-plus people in 180 countries who have recently taken the step to support us financially, keeping us open to all, and fiercely independent.

With no shareholders or billionaire owner, we can set our own agenda and provide trustworthy journalism that’s free from commercial and political influence, offering a counterweight to the spread of misinformation. When it’s never mattered more, we can investigate and challenge without fear or favour.

Unlike many other media organisations, Guardian journalism is available for everyone to read, regardless of what they can afford to pay. We do this because we believe in information equality. Greater numbers of people can keep track of global events, understand their impact on people and communities, and become inspired to take meaningful action.

If there were ever a time to join us, it is now. Every contribution, however big or small, powers our journalism and sustains our future. Support the Guardian from as little as $1 – it only takes a minute. Thank you."

@ircon96 I get the upscrolling subscribe now “6 free views left” blocking overlay that covers up the article as you scroll down, effectively making it impossible to read the article, and then closing the ad means that after a while another popover ad blocks the screen again, ad nauseum.

Guardian isn’t the only offender in this, and why all articles from the guardian are blocked from my newsfeed. The NYT and WSJ are another “news” ransomware site. This was a link, so I didn’t expect it and forgot how obnoxious those kinds of “ads” were. By no means is the Guardian a slouch of a news site, I just won’t agree to view their content because they chose to treat all readers as hostile content scraper-bots and all the blocking games are ways to stop that and “drive revenue for shareholders”. If that means I miss out on Guardian content, I can live with that.

@mike808 I hate that myself & tend to avoid sites that use such tactics, too, but I frequently click on Guardian links & have never once had that happen. I wonder if it’s some kind of malware or something, because they don’t have shareholders & a major part of their mission statement as mentioned in their request for contributions that i quoted is to make their stuff available to all, regardless of ability to pay.

@ircon96 Could be because I’m on Android and tend to block cookies. The site’s anti-bot logic might have routed me to that response.

Websites aren’t what they used to be. They’re now “personalized”, which tells you how much surveillance they’ve collected on everyone.

@mike808 So true about the personalization thing. Maybe that’s it, who knows what they’re up to at any given time. I use Android, too, but only have an ad/pop up blocker, i don’t usually bother blocking cookies cuz I’m a sucker for the convenience factor & if they want to track someone like me with no life, more power to them!

@ircon96 @mike808
I get the same suggestion as ircon96. I actually did contribute a small amount a couple of months ago because I appreciate that they don’t block or limit me.
NYT and Washington Post’s paywalls are a pain but I finally subscribed because I want them to continue to exist.

@ircon96 @Kyeh @mike808

I finally subscribed because I want them to continue to exist.

And THAT is precisely the correct approach. Yes, a lot of the internet is monetized. But for my money, sites like that deserve some remuneration if I expect them to survive. I am pretty sure their staff doesn’t work for free.
I would still get the local paper thrown in my yard if they did even a half-assed job of it. Unfortunately they don’t. I use the e-edition because it looks like the print copy of the newspaper and consequently I don’t have to wade thru all the clickbait shit that the website has on it.

@Kyeh I did the same exact thing recently because I feel like it’s important to support journalism, esp the independent kind, & i appreciate their approach to requesting voluntary contributions and realizing the importance of letting everyone have access to information, regardless of ability to pay. I also recently paid for digital access to the NYT because they offered a decent deal, although i much prefer the Guardian philosophy.

Update: “The Queen of Basketball” was just nominated for an Oscar in the Documentary Short category.

Jod speed.

@mike808
ISWYDT… and I like it!

@mike808 @chienfou

@Ignorant

Fuck heroin. Dammit.

here’s Taylor Hawkins as frontman singing Queen at a Foo Fighters premier party

Here’s him, also doing vocals, at the Kennedy Center Honors Concert for Led Zeppelin

@Ignorant

Here’s a Taylor Hawking masterclass on drumming. close to 50 min long.

@f00l @Ignorant I know practically nothing about the Foo Fighters but I went to see Studio 666 a couple of weeks ago. Apparently the guys played themselves. This is so sad.

@Ignorant This one hurts. Not as bad as Neil Peart, but this sucks a lot. I was supposed to see FF in Memphis while on vacation five years ago. That and two other shows were canceled due to an unexplained ’family emergency.’ Now I have tickets to see them in Philly in July. Even if that show goes on, it won’t be the same without him. I really hope the cause isn’t drugs, but even if it turns out to be a cardiac issue, odds are his heart was damaged due to prior drug use.

@ircon96

I read his Chiffon book. Interesting person, interesting life.

@f00l Yes, that’s on my endless list of books to get to! He was quite the character.

@ircon96
His fashions were interesting, although not designed for any normal human body, but I really loathed his perfume “Angel.”

@Kyeh Yes, he sure was out there & led a fascinating life. I can’t say I’ve ever had the “pleasure” of experiencing any of his fragrances, sounds like i got lucky!

The totally vibin’ song in his video is Aaron Smith - Dancin.

Someone put it up on youtube.

Just a 23-year old nerdy kid goofing off with his buddies maintaining an uninhabited island lighthouse/weather radar station. RIP.

Update. There are reports Ukraine forces have sunk/destroyed the ship that attacked Snake Island and killed Vlad Zodorin and his squad.

It is unconfirmed how many tractors were involved in the operation.