To the greatest drummer rest in peace. You have brought great joy to my family and many of my friends. Your talent and musicianship inspired myself and my family. My son became the drummer he is today because of you. Thank you for all the music and lyrics you have left us.
Many fans recognize Kirsch for his portrayal of Richie Ryan on Highlander, starring in 107 of the show's 119 episodes, airing from 1992 to 1998. He also appeared on multiple seasons of JAG, as both Lieutenant Ferrari and Ensign Frank Cody.
Oh yes - I've already lost a few friends & family this year
Anyhow -
TheOneRing.net wrote:Christopher Tolkien, son of J.R.R. Tolkien, longtime steward of the Middle-earth Legendarium and accomplished author in his own right, has passed away at 95.
First reported by Tolkien Society. Full remembrance coming soon.
Oh man. His work expanding his father’s stories was exemplary. Gave me a real anti-Cat’s I the Cradle vibe. My son and I were planning to read the Fall of Gondolin after we finished the book we’re currently reading.
To lose Stan to suicide is heavy news. He was one of the many highlights of the Highlander series and made it fashionable to walk into a GW establishment in an American TV show.
Terry Jones was a magnificent comedic talent. A legend for sure.
Christoper Tolkien went to great lengths to ensure his father's legacy was upheld and for generations yet to come.
May we also spare a thought for Basil Brush as Derek Fowlds was indeed a great co star.
Rest in peace Gentlemen for you shall not be forgotten.
I’m going to start asking noblemen how much they know about birds. Swallows, to be specific. He was informed that you should know these things when you’re a king.
timetowaste85 wrote: I’m going to start asking noblemen how much they know about birds. Swallows, to be specific. He was informed that you should know these things when you’re a king.
timetowaste85 wrote: On the radio station as well. Seems his daughter was with him.
Yeah, learning that, I think, is the worst part. Leaving behind the wife and the remaining kids (from what I've been seeing, it was only the 1 kid with him) has got to be rough.
So...Kobe demanded the flight happen despite air control grounding flights. He’s responsible for all those deaths. And he gets a free pass to the hall of fame post-mortem for it. Sigh. I think a lot of people forgot he was a rapist, and now he’s a murderer too; and he gets remembered in the NBA hall of fame. Jeez.
Do you have a source for that? I'm not seeing anything saying he pressured the pilot to fly in bad weather, only the opposite (from a regular pilot who flew him until 2017):
Deetz said he often flew Bryant to games at Staples Center, and never remembered Bryant or his assistants pressing him to fly in bad weather.
"There was never any pressure Kobe put on any pilot to get somewhere -- never, never," Deetz said. "I think he really understood professionalism. 'You do your job. I trust you.'"
RiTides wrote: Do you have a source for that? I'm not seeing anything saying he pressured the pilot to fly in bad weather, only the opposite (from a regular pilot who flew him until 2017):
What I'd seen was that one of California's famous "marine layers" blew in, so its likely they could've taken off in decent weather, and been caught out in a bad situation.
Radio 4 fan here. Really the passing of a legend. He's been hosting Just a Minute for about the same time as I've been alive! He'll be missed. 'Not just here....but around the world!'
RiTides wrote: Do you have a source for that? I'm not seeing anything saying he pressured the pilot to fly in bad weather, only the opposite (from a regular pilot who flew him until 2017):
Deetz said he often flew Bryant to games at Staples Center, and never remembered Bryant or his assistants pressing him to fly in bad weather.
"There was never any pressure Kobe put on any pilot to get somewhere -- never, never," Deetz said. "I think he really understood professionalism. 'You do your job. I trust you.'"
Really sad about him and his daughter, along with the other families on board
Sadly, the source is "television news" playing the black box recording (which has now gone "missing"). The black box had Kobe clearly saying "take off anyway": they're in cover-up mode, getting his old pilot in speaking SPECIFICALLY that he didn't pressure people (very quickly thrown in after the news of the black box was leaked and pulled). They're also dropping all the rape charges that had been laid against him from years before that hadn't been finalized. Basically...guy gets away with rape, forces this pilot to go, chopper goes down and everything gets swept under the rug so the NBA can have a posthumous hero. I feel bad for his daughter and the others who were on the chopper.
So no...I didn't record the TV news article and they've quickly removed it. So you can call it "conspiracy theory" if you want, because I have no way to back it up. But it's the kind of thing that money covers up quickly.
I'm fairly certain I'd read that the 'Kobe Helicopter' in question did not have a flight recorder or a cockpit voice recorder, so, I'd question your news source a bit on that one.
Alpharius wrote: I'm fairly certain I'd read that the 'Kobe Helicopter' in question did not have a flight recorder or a cockpit voice recorder, so, I'd question your news source a bit on that one.
That’s certainly easier than believing Kobe Bryant was the kind of person who put satisfying his impulsive wants above the well-being of others.
I think a good rule of thumb would be that if a source of news you follow has you publicly posting some ridiculous nonsense that embarrasses you when it turns out to be ridiculous nonsense, you should re-evaluate your source of news - specifically consider what level of contempt they view their target audience with, and if you are comfortable falling into that demographic.
It certainly most likely that a vehicle that is not legally required to have a recording device will not (for reasons of profit) have that device. And therefore it is easier to believe.
I just heard about this earlier today. Pretty sad, but like you said 103 is a good long life. My personal favorite Kirk Douglas role is still Ned Land in 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.
"February 19, 2020: The Passing Of RPG Legend Scott Palter
Scott Palter, best known for his studio West End Games, passed away on Monday, February 17. Many knew him as a legend of the roleplaying and wargame world, producing seminal titles such as Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game and the DC Universe Roleplaying Game. Growing up in the 90s, West End's Star Wars lines of RPG and miniature products were a constant source of inspiration; I wanted squads and squads of Stormtroopers to put on a home-made Endor map.
Scott will be missed by many, and his impact on the gaming community will be remembered. Here's an interview with Scott in Pyramid from way back in 1999, concerning the "new West End Games" heading into the new millennium.
-- Hunter Shelburne"
Shepherds Crown is good, better than Raising Steam in my opinion, but suffers from the same "Cram all the characters in there so they can have a last hurrah" feeling..
I think that both Crown and Steam could have easily had a couple hundred pages added without damaging them..
RIP Lyle Waggoner, known for playing Steve Trevor on the classic Wonder Woman TV series and his performances on the Carol Burnett show. He was 84 years old.
Albert Uderzo, co-creator of Asterix and Obelix passed away last night of a heart-attack at 92 years of age.
The whole village, surrounded by Roman camps, will mourn you.
Now that sucks...Dagon and The Dentist hold a special place in my callous heart.
Looking at his credits I never realised he wrote Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Brian Blume passed away at a the age of 70 on Friday. He was a business partner of Gary Gygax back in the early days of TSR, and co-founder of the company. He played the wizard Rary, and created Vecna.
While the fallout between Gygax and the Blume family - and its effects on the company - are well documented, Blume's investment is what got D&D started with its first print run of 1,000 copies. He left the company in 1985.
He passed away on Friday March 27, 2020 at the Lakeland Nursing Home in Elkhorn WI from Lewy Body Dementia and Parkinson's disease.
... Thanks for doing what you did fells, changed a lot of people's lives.
A proper English eccentric, partly responsible for possibly wee Turnips best day out ever when I got to go to the Dr Who exhibition at his country pile Longleat House, yeah yeah Lions and that, pfft, there's Tom Baker props and a proper Tardis console to be seen
Also subject of my favourite Bill Bailey sketch ever
The's gak, got utterly schooled in the game of Mornington Crescent played with my fellow Radio 4 nerds we held in memorium,, 73rd edition rules really need a trim, that whole diagonals wild thing is broken
Tannhauser42 wrote: Brian Dennehy has passed, at the age of 81.
Silverado is the first movie I can think of that he was in, but I haven't seen it in ages.
Not a celeb....
My aunt Clementine passed yesterday. Current reports say it was Covid-19. As yet, there is to be no memorial.
Perhaps when this is over.
helgrenze wrote: Not a celeb....
My aunt Clementine passed yesterday. Current reports say it was Covid-19. As yet, there is to be no memorial.
Perhaps when this is over.
Sorry for your loss.
The inability to say the traditional goodby to the parted is one of the sadder aspects of this tragedy. Social Distancing at a time when people really need to be together.
helgrenze wrote: Not a celeb....
My aunt Clementine passed yesterday. Current reports say it was Covid-19. As yet, there is to be no memorial.
Perhaps when this is over.
Sorry for your loss.
The inability to say the traditional goodby to the parted is one of the sadder aspects of this tragedy. Social Distancing at a time when people really need to be together.
First! Thank you for the thoughts.. ALL of you.
A couple things that make this worse: one: Distance, Both her son and I live in Oklahoma, she died in Pennsylvania. Two: my other cousin is in quarantine now because she had to deal with the nursing home in person.
Bad Company Singer Brian Howe died. Heart attack. He was largely responsible for “Holy Water”, which was my introduction to the band. Stole my dad’s copy of the disc and played it until it was so scratched it didn’t work anymore. RIP
Shad Gaspard, ex-WWE wrestler, went missing at Venice Beach on Sunday thanks to a riptide, having ensured that rescuers saved his son. I believe his body was recovered yesterday. He was 39.
Betty Wright "Grammy-winning R&B, funk and soul singer Betty Wright passed away on May 10 at the age of 66. She died peacefully in her home after being diagnosed with cancer last year. Her top songs included “Mother Wit” and “Where is the Love.”
Betty Wright - Where Is The Love
Bruce Jay Friedman: Filmography
The Heartbreak Kid (1972) (screenplay by Neil Simon) (based on the short story "A Change of Plan")
The Ted Bessell Show (1973) (TV)
Fore Play (1975) (Story)
Stir Crazy (1980)
Doctor Detroit (with Robert Boris and Carl Gottlieb) (1983)
Splash (with Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel) (1984)
The Lonely Guy (1984) (screenplay by Neil Simon, Ed. Weinberger and Stan Daniels) (based on his book The Lonely Guy's Book of Life)
Brazzaville Teen-Ager (2013) (screenplay with Michael Cera; based on the short story)
Mary Pat Gleason, 70, American actress (Guiding Light, A Cinderella Story, Mom), Emmy winner (1986), cancer.
Joey Image, 63, American drummer (Misfits), liver cancer.
Francis Megahy, 85, British film director (The Great Riviera Bank Robbery, Taffin [starring Pierce Brosnan]), cancer.
Eelke Bakker, 109, Dutch centenarian. Hey.. 109 is an accomplishment!
John Ericson, 93, German-born American actor (Honey West, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Bad Day at Black Rock), pneumonia.
Sweet Pea Atkinson, 74, American singer (Was (Not Was)), heart attack.
Walk the Dinosaur
Alfred "Uganda" Roberts, 77, American percussionist (Professor Longhair, Dr. John), lung cancer.
Brian Howe, 66, English rock singer (Bad Company), heart attack.
Andre Harrell, 59, American record producer, founder of Uptown Records, heart failure.
Ty, 47, British rapper, complications from COVID-19.
Mark Barkan, 85, American songwriter ("Pretty Flamingo", "The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana)", "She's a Fool"). Hey.. I grew up on the Splits.
The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana)
Roy Horn, 75, German-American magician (Siegfried & Roy), COVID-19(yeah, right.. getting mauled by a tiger didn't help much either.)
Geno Silva, 72, American actor (Scarface, Amistad, Key West), complications from frontotemporal degeneration.
There were MANY others, some not so famous. If this list seems Musician heavy... I know a bunch of people in that industry. Almost all of the ones included were people I listen to.
While widely known for Mythbusters, Grant also played Sulu in a fan made star trek production.
Star Trek Continues. Probably hands-down the best fan-made Star Trek production out there. Or at least tied with Axanar. RIP Grant, you were always awesome on MythBusters!
As a personal aside, he died of a brain aneurysm at age 49. My aunt died of the same thing at basically the same age (years ago now). Not really relevant, just an interesting coincidence to me. Aneurysms suck, because they're so hard to detect that their victims usually have no idea and just suddenly drop dead.
I mostly remember him from Who Wants To Be A Millionaire way back in the day, before Meredith Viera took over as the host (don't know who the guy is who's hosting that now).
B movie star and low budget SF set piece John Saxon has died. Most people remember him from "Enter the dragon" but I remember him for a varieyt of B sci-fi films.
My favorite film of his was "Battle beyond the stars".
He was in a controversial british SF flick known as "The night caller".
Thats gak, I recall the first few RHCP albums being rather popular amongst my teen nerd herd, although knowing I have them on tape from an indie record shop makes me feel old RIP sir
Pacific wrote: Ack that is so sad.. really before his time.
Incredible that he was able to do that amount of work while undergoing treatments, I had no idea.
While vastly different in terms of the quality of the films it does remind me of Raul Julia, who persevered through filming Street Fighter despite undergoing treatment for cancer (and not only filmed the movie but apparently was a pleasure to work with according to those on set).
This is really depressing. And a big loss to movies too, he was so charismatic. While I don't think Black Panther was a masterpiece, it was a good movie and he was great in the lead.
It's gonna be hard to rewatch 'This is no place to die' scene now
Necros wrote: Totally unexpected, I had no idea he was sick. So he had cancer and carried on filming those avengers movies like a pro.
He was visiting and cheering up children with cancer while fighting cancer of his own and never revealing it publicly. I'm typically wary of levying praise upon actors for things outside of acting, but Boseman was a genuine hero and not just to the Black community. He's the rare celebrity that is a certifiable role model.
I just saw him in Da 5 Bloods, and he was electric in that performance. I can't believe he was probably sick with Cancer while filming that with Spike Lee.
Diana Rigg was a very strong woman in her own right, she didn't just play one.
When early in her time on the avengers she found out she was being paid less than the cameramen, she damn well demanded star pay and got a real raise. She was demonized in the english press, naturally, but persisted.
She was also against excesses in the feminist movement and got flak from that side too, but she was strong enough to endure being fired on from both sides and had the last laugh.
“We seem to have reached the age where life stops giving us things, and starts taking them away”
I feel ya on this. My grandfather passed away yesterday morning. He was 86 and had a good life, but it's still sad that I won't be able to visit with him anymore, at least on this earthly plane.
Don't know about Global warming.... but the world just got a little less cool.
A bit more of my dad's generation (and he was pretty upset by this), but I had a listen to some playlists and boy could that guy play a guitar.
The first line of one song I heard was "I'm gonna live like there is no tomorrow", I'm guessing that is what he did and you can't get any more hard rock metal than that.
Always impressed at how generally he went about his debunking in a polite manner. He didn't need fancy showmanship or insults or slurs or anything. Just a calm "prove it" attitude and when the person failed, well, that spoke for itself.
I think a core aspect of it was that because he was a magician he knew how many of the tricks could be or were being done. Add onto that I think he always wanted to believe in magic and mental powers and such. So he always had that "ready to believe" attitude. Even when he was also debunking those who were taking their talents and pretending they were something they were not.
Really sad, he did a lot to expose frauds who prey on the desperate and managed to entertain people as well.
Also, his comments about his cancer diagnosis in 2009 from the wiki page gave me a bit of a chuckle:
"One day, I'm gonna die. That's all there is to it. Hey, it's too bad, but I've got to make room. I'm using a lot of oxygen and such—I think it's good use of oxygen myself, but of course, I'm a little prejudiced on the matter."
From Alice Cooper: “I am so proud to say that for a brief time the greatest of them all, The Amazing Randi, was a part of our traveling troupe. He was our illusion guru and taught me everything I know about how magic could meet rock and roll. His genius helped the Billion Dollar Babies show become the spectacle no one had ever seen. He was rock and roll’s Gandalf.”
Not sure if this qualifies as in Memoriam, but today is the 5th year since my better half passed away. She gave me the best years I have had, and she is sorely missed. While it still hurts and makes me cry at times life slowly marches on. Went to her grave and laid down flowers and cleaned her gravestone, it hurt and made me shed a tear it still felt like a good moment, even if I will never get to hear her laugh, see her smile or come home and be greeted with a warm hug. Her memory lives on, and to this day I think she made me a better man than ever could have become without her,
Trondheim wrote: Not sure if this qualifies as in Memoriam, but today is the 5th year since my better half passed away. She gave me the best years I have had, and she is sorely missed. While it still hurts and makes me cry at times life slowly marches on. Went to her grave and laid down flowers and cleaned her gravestone, it hurt and made me shed a tear it still felt like a good moment, even if I will never get to hear her laugh, see her smile or come home and be greeted with a warm hug. Her memory lives on, and to this day I think she made me a better man than ever could have become without her,
You have my condolences, I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm terrified my significant other will go before me so I can't imagine what you're going through.
I was late to hear about this but I was devastated just the same. One of the most interesting people in the world. I think of him as the patron saint of thankless tasks, someone cast as a villain for doing good in the world - and with all the trappings of a stage magician.
RIP Sean Connery. My dad's from the Bahamas where quite a few James Bond novels/films were based. My dad got a job working on the set of Thunderball and met him when he was a kid.
Ah I had heard about Martin McKenna. I must confess I had to look him up, but when I did boy did the memories come flooding back from those Fighting Fantasy books. Some of those illustrations I must have looked at a hundred times as I exhausted those books and tried to find all of the different routes.
Just heard about this in a James Bond Facebook group. I always think of him as Lionel Hardcastle from the British show "As Time Goes By". I also really liked the episode of Fawlty Towers he was in. Condolences to his family.
Hugh Keays-Byrne of Mad Max and Fury Road fame has passed.
We’ve learned the sad news today that actor Hugh Keays-Byrne, known for his starring roles in both Mad Max and Mad Max: Fury Road, has passed away this week at the age of 73.
Hugh Keays-Byrne, who was born in Kashmir, India in 1947 but moved to Australia in his twenties, played the villain Toecutter in George Miller’s original Mad Max (1979) and later returned to the wasteland to play the villain Immortan Joe in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015).
Keays-Byrne also made a name for himself as an actor outside the Mad Max universe, starring in films such as Stone (1974), The Dragon Flies (1975), Mad Dog Morgan (1976), The Trespassers (1976), The Death Train (1978), The Chain Reaction (1980), Lorca and the Outlaws (1984), The Blood of Heroes (1989), as well as “Moby Dick” (1998) and “Farscape” (2000).
Fury Road ended up being Hugh Keays-Byrne’s final appearance on screen, and his performance earned him a “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” nomination at the Australian Film Critics Association Awards and a “Best Villain” nomination at the MTV Awards. Decades prior, his performance in Mad Max earned him an Australian Film Institute nom for supporting role.
Longtime friend Brian Trenchard-Smith writes, “I am sad to report that our friend Hugh Keays-Byrne passed away in hospital yesterday. He was a fine actor and a good friend to Margaret and myself for 46 years. Hugh had a generous heart, offering a helping hand to people in need, or a place to stay to a homeless teenager. He cared about social justice and preserving the environment long before these issues became fashionable. His life was governed by his sense of the oneness of humanity. We will miss his example and his friendship.”
Stuart Slade, fixture of internet spacebattle sites and author best known for military Sci fi books like The Salvation War and The Big One, died from Covid on the 10th.
Was working retail many years ago and had to call a customer about an order... the name was Mr. Gilligan. Get the machine/voice mail, "Hi, this is Mary Ann, John and I are not home right now..." So now you know both Gilligan's first name and what happened after they got off the island.