I assume you mean the actual dead, and not just the quickly departed (those whose impending – and unsubstantiated – departures from Meh have been announced after each IRK sale…)
Craig Breedlove, an American professional race car driver and a five-time world land speed record holder, passed away on April 4th 2023.
Breedlove was the first person in the world to achieve 500, and 600 mile per hour land speed records. He created several jet powered land speed cars to achieve these records. He also worked with AMC to test and set records with their then upcoming muscle cars, the Javelin and the AMX.
@ircon96 I was going for the Simpsons gif, but John Goodman actually in Barton Fink is, well, not exactly appropriate or good, but I love that movie so much I can’t change it.
/image michael Lerner Barton fink
Ah, where will I get my snappy answers to stupid questions now? Al Jaffee, Mad Magazine illustrator extraordinaire and creator of the back page fold-in, has died at 102. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jaffee
/image mad magazine fold-in
@mossygreen I love the quote in that article,
Jaffee said, “Serious people my age are dead.”
(Sums up my attitude, though my age is nowhere near to his yet.)
Jerry Springer was much more than a talk show host who redefined television.
Note the article says “redefined” and not “refined”.
On days when I felt like maybe punching somebody, I could just tune in to his show and watch someone else do it.
But Springer was definitely an interesting character.
(He’ll probably be provoking fights between those interred on either side of himself.)
My father was convinced he was going to live to 100. But he didn’t quite make it to 89.
My goal is to not feel like I’m 100 when and if I make it to 89 (and I’ve got several more presidential election campaigns to suffer through before then).
@Cerridwyn I am so sorry. It doesn’t matter how old are parents are. It hurts. My uncle, when his 92 year old mother died, sadly said, “I’m an orphan”.
@chienfou I read she died at home in child birth as she didn’t want to give birth in a hospital as she didn’t trust hospitals. (disclaimer: reputable news source but that doesn’t mean it’s true).
A note for those who like Gordon Lightfoot &/or music documentaries, there’s one about him on a few of the free streaming channels (like Tubi & Freevee) called, “Of You Could Read My Mind.” Here’s more about it:
@Kyeh I’ve been a Dallas Cowboys fan since my family moved there the year the Cowboys organized as a franchise. There is an iconic clip of Jim Brown breaking tackles and running through the Dallas “Doomsday Defense” that is shown as part of most tributes to Brown. I used to hate seeing that clip; now I just recognize it as acknowledging how great a running back he was.
(Also, he was a better actor than most athletes who take up that calling.)
Brian flew 212 Close Air Support missions in Vietnam, then was shot down. Unable to eject he rode the plane in and was severely burned when it exploded, crawling out of the fireball, and managed to survive in the jungle until rescued by a special forces team.
He was not expected to survive. After over a year of intensive care including 15 major surgeries and being told he would never fly again, he passed flight physicals and was reinstated as a pilot. Two days after his release from the hospital he was piloting jet fighters.
He went on to be one of the first A-10 pilots, and then an instructor on those aircraft, becoming the lead instructor for air-ground academics.
As his final task he volunteered for the SR-71 program, whose astronaut-based requirements exceeded those for fighter pilots, and passed with no waivers.
His experience with the SR-71 and his missions led to the authoring of what have become the most popular books on that plane and its missions. He also authored books on the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels demonstration flight teams
Brian retired in 1990 to pursue writing and photography and ran his own studio while continuing to do speaking engagements.
@mossygreen My favorite thing is his cursing Gloria Swanson for suing him and sending her a green coffin full of sugar. https://sites.utexas.edu/ransomcentermagazine/2015/04/28/here-lies-gloria/
My other favorite thing is his unexpectedly (to me) showing up in the volume of G. Legman’s autobiography that suddenly showed up as a kindle book. He came to one of Legman’s anti-hippie/anti-New Freedom lectures in San Francisco in '68 or '69 (published as The Fake Revolt) when he found out that Legman was inaccurately claiming there were gilded-jockstrap-clad bikers in his movies. Legman apparently conceded the point.
Also, this 6 or so minute version of Rabbit’s Moon is a little easier to watch because it’s sped up, and the inappropriate-feeling glam soundtrack song is going directly into my Halloween playlist.
@mossygreen I went ahead and searched for the scene in Legman’s bio and am pasting it here, even though I’m almost definitely the only person here interested in this and I already know about it:
The next night at the smaller hall in San Francisco was not the same. There was the usual mild scattered applause of total incomprehension ― which is why I’ve spelled it all out again, above ― and I would have been very disappointed with the audience except for one guy that had interrupted me violently at a certain point to claim that the motorcycle-riders in the Kenneth Anger movie I cited did not wear gilt jockstraps, and he challenged me whether I had ever seen his god-damned movie at all. He proudly identified himself as the maker of the film. He was very upset, and seemed to have been primed that I was going to mention him by someone who had heard me talk at Berkeley the night before. I wondered if he had his motorcycle gang outside, waiting to smear me afterward. He looked like a handsome young Aryan traffic cop gone to seed, and as he was very insistent on the gilt jockstrap matter I conceded the point. No jockstraps. He then stumped out angrily, which saddened me: he seemed a lot more attentive than the rest of the audience. He also came back during the question period after the lecture to argue some more, giving me killing glances of hatred. It seemed very S. & M.
Barry Newman, actor on stage, screen, and television, passed away May 11, 2023 at the age of 92. Newman was perhaps best known for playing Kowalski, the driver in the 1971 cult classic (and Mopar lovers favorite) “Vanishing Point”, and the lead in the TV drama “Petrocelli” but acted in many other movies and roles throughout a career extending from 1960 until 2022.
“Paul Ricci, a collaborator with Gilberto, confirmed the news on social media, writing that he had been asked to announce it by Gilberto’s son Marcelo. “She was an important part of ALL that is Brazilian music in the world and she changed many lives with her energy,” he added.”
Ted Kaczynski, math prodigy who became best known as the Unabomber, killing three people and injuring 23 more with mail bombs, passed away, reportedly by suicide
on June 10th at the age of 81.
Cormac McCarthy, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who endured decades of obscurity and poverty before film versions of “All the Pretty Horses,” “No Country for Old Men” and “The Road” brought him a wide readership and financial security, died Tuesday in Santa Fe, N.M. His publisher, Penguin Random House, said his son John McCarthy announced his death from natural causes. He was 89.
@Kyeh Though he was great in many films afterward, I still mainly think of him for Wait Until Dark (suspense, 1967) where he was totally creepy and Catch-22 (war satire, 1970) where he seemed to be the only sane person in the bunch. I recommend both, if you can watch them.
@Kyeh@phendrick Yeah, Wait Until Dark was a little bit of a revelation when I mostly knew him from The In-Laws and The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming.
@ExtraMedium
Tuskegee is just a few exits away from here and I have had the distinct honor of meeting a handful of the RedTails over the years… both here in the ER and at other venues/events.
(Posting a little late, but not too late:) Glenda Jackson, star of big screen, little screen, and stage, and activist and politician, died 15 June at the age of 87. She was nominated for many acting awards, and won, including two Best Actress Oscars, two Emmys, and a Tony. Later she was a member of the UK House of Commons for 23 years, and still continued some acting.
Joseph Pedott, the marketing guru behind the Chia Pet plant sensation and its memorable TV jingle “ch-ch-ch-Chia!”, died on June 22 at the age of 91. Pedott is also credited with making popular the light-switch gizmo The Clapper.
“Evelyn Boyd Granville (May 1, 1924 – June 27, 2023) was the second African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics from an American university; she earned it in 1949 from Yale University. She graduated from Smith College in 1945. She performed pioneering work in the field of computing.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Boyd_Granville
(Very accompished and intelligent lady.) “She majored in mathematics and physics, but also took a keen interest in astronomy.”
I assume you mean the actual dead, and not just the quickly departed (those whose impending – and unsubstantiated – departures from Meh have been announced after each IRK sale…)
@phendrick
yes
Judy Farrell, 84, TV actress & writer, best known as Nurse Able on MAS*H
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/judy-farrell-dead-mash-nurse-able-1235367444/
Craig Breedlove, an American professional race car driver and a five-time world land speed record holder, passed away on April 4th 2023.
Breedlove was the first person in the world to achieve 500, and 600 mile per hour land speed records. He created several jet powered land speed cars to achieve these records. He also worked with AMC to test and set records with their then upcoming muscle cars, the Javelin and the AMX.
@duodec I was hoping the Gremlin would be on the list.
Michael Lerner, 81, Oscar-nominated actor, known for Elf, Barton Fink, Eight Men Out
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/michael-lerner-dead-actor-barton-fink-harlem-nights-eight-men-out-dies-1235369893/
@ircon96 Aw!
/giphy simpsons barton fink chant
@ircon96 I was going for the Simpsons gif, but John Goodman actually in Barton Fink is, well, not exactly appropriate or good, but I love that movie so much I can’t change it.
/image michael Lerner Barton fink
@mossygreen
@ircon96 THIS IS HOW I FEEL ABOUT BARTON FINK ALL THE TIME:
@ircon96 Aw, he’s on the episode of The Rockford Files I’m watching right now. A fine actor!
Ah, where will I get my snappy answers to stupid questions now? Al Jaffee, Mad Magazine illustrator extraordinaire and creator of the back page fold-in, has died at 102.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jaffee
/image mad magazine fold-in
@mossygreen I love the quote in that article,
Jaffee said, “Serious people my age are dead.”
(Sums up my attitude, though my age is nowhere near to his yet.)
@phendrick It’s best to start young.
Len Goodman, 78, former “Dancing With the Stars” & “Strictly Come Dancing” judge
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/len-goodman-dead-dancing-with-the-stars-1235399964/
@ircon96
Harry Belafonte, the civil rights and entertainment giant who began as an actor and singer and became an activist, has died. He was 96.
@macromeh
/youtube belafonte day o
@macromeh I listened to this when I was a kid. Gee, I must be old.
Jerry Springer, 79
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/jerry-springer-talk-show-host-1235403813/amp/
@tinamarie1974
Note the article says “redefined” and not “refined”.
On days when I felt like maybe punching somebody, I could just tune in to his show and watch someone else do it.
But Springer was definitely an interesting character.
(He’ll probably be provoking fights between those interred on either side of himself.)
Tim Bachman, the guitarist and vocalist of Canadian rock band Bachman-Turner Overdrive, has died at 71.
@macromeh Tell us about the afterlife, Tim.
/youtube You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet
My dad. His goal was to live to 100. He made it to 93. RIP daddy
So sorry @Cerridwyn . Big hugs
/giphy ghost hug
@Cerridwyn
Condolences to you and your family.
My father was convinced he was going to live to 100. But he didn’t quite make it to 89.
My goal is to not feel like I’m 100 when and if I make it to 89 (and I’ve got several more presidential election campaigns to suffer through before then).
@Cerridwyn I’m sorry.
@Cerridwyn I’m so sorry
.
@Cerridwyn I am so sorry. It doesn’t matter how old are parents are. It hurts. My uncle, when his 92 year old mother died, sadly said, “I’m an orphan”.
@Cerridwyn
@Cerridwyn
: (
Gordon Lightfoot at 84. He wrote so many great songs.
And some more
@Kidsandliz
So sad. What a talented musical storyteller!
Former 3-time U.S. Olympic medalist Tori Bowie dead at the age of 32. (No cause of death reported yet)
@chienfou
Cause of death released after autopsy: Tori died in childbirth of undetermined adverse consequences.
@chienfou I read she died at home in child birth as she didn’t want to give birth in a hospital as she didn’t trust hospitals. (disclaimer: reputable news source but that doesn’t mean it’s true).
A note for those who like Gordon Lightfoot &/or music documentaries, there’s one about him on a few of the free streaming channels (like Tubi & Freevee) called, “Of You Could Read My Mind.” Here’s more about it:
https://decider.com/what-to-watch/gordon-lightfoot-if-you-could-read-my-mind-2/
Jacklyn Zeman, 70, actress, best known for role of Bobbie Spencer on General Hospital.
https://ew.com/celebrity/jacklyn-zeman-dead-general-hospital-star/
A few days late…
Vida Blue pitching ace for the 3 year straight world series winning Oakland athletics died May 7th.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/07/obituaries/vida-blue-dead.html
Barbara Walters, a first among TV newswomen, is dead at 93.
@macromeh …Walters died on December 30, 2022. She was 93 years old.
@OldCatLady Huh, I just saw the headline and thought it was current. My bad.
@macromeh @OldCatLady I had the same “news” in the Microsoft Start news feed.
Jim Brown, football great:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/jim-brown-legendary-nfl-hall-famer-civil-rights-activist-dies-87-rcna85359
@Kyeh I’ve been a Dallas Cowboys fan since my family moved there the year the Cowboys organized as a franchise. There is an iconic clip of Jim Brown breaking tackles and running through the Dallas “Doomsday Defense” that is shown as part of most tributes to Brown. I used to hate seeing that clip; now I just recognize it as acknowledging how great a running back he was.
(Also, he was a better actor than most athletes who take up that calling.)
@phendrick He certainly was a multi-talented guy.
Brian Shul, American Aviator, crash and burn survivor, A-10 and Sled (SR-71) pilot, passed away May 20th at the age of 75 at an event where he was speaking about the SR-71.
Brian flew 212 Close Air Support missions in Vietnam, then was shot down. Unable to eject he rode the plane in and was severely burned when it exploded, crawling out of the fireball, and managed to survive in the jungle until rescued by a special forces team.
He was not expected to survive. After over a year of intensive care including 15 major surgeries and being told he would never fly again, he passed flight physicals and was reinstated as a pilot. Two days after his release from the hospital he was piloting jet fighters.
He went on to be one of the first A-10 pilots, and then an instructor on those aircraft, becoming the lead instructor for air-ground academics.
As his final task he volunteered for the SR-71 program, whose astronaut-based requirements exceeded those for fighter pilots, and passed with no waivers.
His experience with the SR-71 and his missions led to the authoring of what have become the most popular books on that plane and its missions. He also authored books on the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels demonstration flight teams
Brian retired in 1990 to pursue writing and photography and ran his own studio while continuing to do speaking engagements.
===
We are diminished.
Tina Turner, Singer of Explosive Power, Is Dead at 83
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/24/arts/music/tina-turner-dead.html?smid=url-share
https://www.cnn.com/entertainment/live-news/singer-tina-turner-death-news/index.html
Kenneth Anger, 1927-2023
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Anger
/youtube inauguration of the pleasure dome
/youtube rabbit’s moon
/youtube fireworks kenneth anger
/youtube scorpio rising kenneth anger
/youtube lucifer rising kenneth anger
@mossygreen My favorite thing is his cursing Gloria Swanson for suing him and sending her a green coffin full of sugar.
https://sites.utexas.edu/ransomcentermagazine/2015/04/28/here-lies-gloria/
My other favorite thing is his unexpectedly (to me) showing up in the volume of G. Legman’s autobiography that suddenly showed up as a kindle book. He came to one of Legman’s anti-hippie/anti-New Freedom lectures in San Francisco in '68 or '69 (published as The Fake Revolt) when he found out that Legman was inaccurately claiming there were gilded-jockstrap-clad bikers in his movies. Legman apparently conceded the point.
Also, this 6 or so minute version of Rabbit’s Moon is a little easier to watch because it’s sped up, and the inappropriate-feeling glam soundtrack song is going directly into my Halloween playlist.
@mossygreen I went ahead and searched for the scene in Legman’s bio and am pasting it here, even though I’m almost definitely the only person here interested in this and I already know about it:
The next night at the smaller hall in San Francisco was not the same. There was the usual mild scattered applause of total incomprehension ― which is why I’ve spelled it all out again, above ― and I would have been very disappointed with the audience except for one guy that had interrupted me violently at a certain point to claim that the motorcycle-riders in the Kenneth Anger movie I cited did not wear gilt jockstraps, and he challenged me whether I had ever seen his god-damned movie at all. He proudly identified himself as the maker of the film. He was very upset, and seemed to have been primed that I was going to mention him by someone who had heard me talk at Berkeley the night before. I wondered if he had his motorcycle gang outside, waiting to smear me afterward. He looked like a handsome young Aryan traffic cop gone to seed, and as he was very insistent on the gilt jockstrap matter I conceded the point. No jockstraps. He then stumped out angrily, which saddened me: he seemed a lot more attentive than the rest of the audience. He also came back during the question period after the lecture to argue some more, giving me killing glances of hatred. It seemed very S. & M.
@mossygreen
I love the secret message hidden below the sugar which nobody saw until the preservationist took the sugar out!
@Kyeh Every part of the story is wonderful, with the caveat that I would feel differently had his curse worked (whatever it specifically was).
Barry Newman, actor on stage, screen, and television, passed away May 11, 2023 at the age of 92. Newman was perhaps best known for playing Kowalski, the driver in the 1971 cult classic (and Mopar lovers favorite) “Vanishing Point”, and the lead in the TV drama “Petrocelli” but acted in many other movies and roles throughout a career extending from 1960 until 2022.
Astrud Gilberto, the singer made famous by the song “The Girl from Ipanema” has passed away at the age of 83.
“Paul Ricci, a collaborator with Gilberto, confirmed the news on social media, writing that he had been asked to announce it by Gilberto’s son Marcelo. “She was an important part of ALL that is Brazilian music in the world and she changed many lives with her energy,” he added.”
@duodec I always loved this song more and the RJD2 remix.
George Winston, pianist, guitarist, harmonicist, record producer, and philanthropist has passed away after a long battle with cancer.
Silvio Berlusconi Ex Italian prime minister
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/12/silvio-berlusconi-media-mogul-and-former-italian-pm-has-died.html
Ted Kaczynski, math prodigy who became best known as the Unabomber, killing three people and injuring 23 more with mail bombs, passed away, reportedly by suicide
on June 10th at the age of 81.
@duodec May he rest in pieces.
Treat Williams, Star of ‘Everwood’ and ‘Hair,’ Dead at 71 Following Motorcycle Accident
https://people.com/treat-williams-dead-at-71-7511398
@heartny
Cormac McCarthy, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who endured decades of obscurity and poverty before film versions of “All the Pretty Horses,” “No Country for Old Men” and “The Road” brought him a wide readership and financial security, died Tuesday in Santa Fe, N.M. His publisher, Penguin Random House, said his son John McCarthy announced his death from natural causes. He was 89.
John Romita Sr., 93, legendary Marvel artist, co-creator of several characters such as Wolverine & the Punisher
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/john-romita-sr-dead-marvel-artist-1235515094/
Daniel Ellsberg - Pentagon Papers whistleblower dies at 92
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65932944
Julian Sands, 65, actor
https://ew.com/celebrity/julian-sands-found-dead-after-going-missing-on-hike/
Last living sibling of MLK, Christine King Farris, (sister of Martin Luther King Jr)., dies at age 95
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/christine-king-farris-the-last-living-sibling-of-martin-luther-king-jr-dies-at-95/ar-AA1ddp1r?OCID=ansmsnnews11
Alan Arkin, Oscar-Winning Actor, Dead at 89
https://people.com/alan-arkin-dead-obituary-7502474
@Kyeh
He was a class act!
Loved, loved, loved him in The Kominsky Method
@chienfou Yes, I thought he was wonderful.
@Kyeh Though he was great in many films afterward, I still mainly think of him for Wait Until Dark (suspense, 1967) where he was totally creepy and Catch-22 (war satire, 1970) where he seemed to be the only sane person in the bunch. I recommend both, if you can watch them.
@Kyeh @phendrick Yeah, Wait Until Dark was a little bit of a revelation when I mostly knew him from The In-Laws and The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming.
@Kyeh @mossygreen @phendrick
I first remember him from the Russkie movie.
Effing awesome he was.
OWLS! TOWELS! JOWLS! AWESOME!
Homer Hogues, among the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen, dies 2 days after the death of his wife. He was 96
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/30/us/tuskegee-airmen-homer-hogues-death/index.html
@ExtraMedium
Tuskegee is just a few exits away from here and I have had the distinct honor of meeting a handful of the RedTails over the years… both here in the ER and at other venues/events.
(Posting a little late, but not too late:)
Glenda Jackson, star of big screen, little screen, and stage, and activist and politician, died 15 June at the age of 87. She was nominated for many acting awards, and won, including two Best Actress Oscars, two Emmys, and a Tony. Later she was a member of the UK House of Commons for 23 years, and still continued some acting.
https://variety.com/2023/film/global/glenda-jackson-dead-women-in-love-oscar-politician-1235645124/
Joseph Pedott, the marketing guru behind the Chia Pet plant sensation and its memorable TV jingle “ch-ch-ch-Chia!”, died on June 22 at the age of 91. Pedott is also credited with making popular the light-switch gizmo The Clapper.
Dick Biondi, 1932-2023
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Biondi
/image dick biondi
“Evelyn Boyd Granville (May 1, 1924 – June 27, 2023) was the second African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics from an American university; she earned it in 1949 from Yale University. She graduated from Smith College in 1945. She performed pioneering work in the field of computing.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Boyd_Granville
(Very accompished and intelligent lady.) “She majored in mathematics and physics, but also took a keen interest in astronomy.”