Sad news. Hopefully, people will think about how much we've benefited from going into space & want to go back.

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/OxCfQRyrsE/
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Elisabeth Sladen/Sarah Jane Smith RIP

Ugh—this stung my fanboy heart something fierce.  Elisabeth Sladen, who played The Doctor’s companion off and on for 40 years, has passed away from cancer.  Very sad.



source



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Apparently, she worked up until quite recently, so I think we have more of Sarah Jane Smith to see, which is both wonderful and sad.  64 is too young for anyone, but especially so for someone who was still bringing good things into the world.

Read more about her passing on BBC News.

Thank you so much for your work, Elisabeth!

You will definitely be missed!!

Satoshi Kon art. (RIP)

Satoshi Kon art. > sniff <



From error888:

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RIP Satoshi Kon

I know I already posted a RIP for Kon-san on my lifestream, but it’s still too sad to not reblog…



error888:

fukumatsu:

uiuixxxx:

babypanda:

sugarlessbunnie:

I want to cry.. R.I.P Satoshi Kon!!!!

(via killjackie)

Yeah, so sad…

Lest we forget, Ted Stevens was a dodgy man at best. Mind you, this is me doing my job as Devil’s Advocate.Ted certainly didn’t deserve to die, but let’s try to remember why we knew who this guy was in the first place. He was one of the main guys behind the Bridge to Nowhere. He once said the Internet was a series of tubes. He would wear an Incredible Hulk necktie on days he faced tough fights on the Senate floor (that’s cool, actually) and lost his last reelection campaign after being convicted of ethics violations (only to be unconvicted before being sentenced). Sure, sure, Ted Stevens was never caught slaughtering puppies, but let’s remember he wasn’t a saint, either.

Rest in peace, Mr. Jack Parnell

From sierrarein:

RT @hensoncompany: Rest in peace, Mr. Jack Parnell, musical director of The Muppet Show, who passed away on Sunday http://bit.ly/aQG0Lq

RIP Peter Fernandez, the voice of the first anime character I was ever a fan of, Speed Racer

RIP Peter Fernandez, the voice of the first anime character I was ever a fan of, Speed Racer

While I refuse to watch dubbed anime as an adult, as a kid, my first exposure to anime was this man’s work. It looks like his work might have exposed a lot of other kids to anime, too—here’re a couple cuttings from the above-linked article:

Peter Fernandez, best known as the title character’s voice in the animated “Speed Racer” TV series, died Thursday from lung cancer at age 83, Anime News Network reported.

Fernandez not only voiced Speed himself, but also his brother Racer X and several other characters in the English-dubbed adaptation of Tatsunoko’s “Mach Go Go Go” anime series, the Internet site said. He also directed the voice cast and even wrote the lyrics to the signature theme song used in the show imported from Japan in 1967. He later played Lupin III, Daisuke Jigen, and President Jimmy Carter in a dubbed version of “Lupin III: The Secret of Mamo.”

RIP Fellow-Pete, Pete Fernandez! Your influence will not be forgotten! (I still keep a Mach 5 Matchbox car on my desk to this day!)

Harvey Pekar RIP

comicallyvintage:

…although we’re here for such a short time… maybe it doesn’t even matter that much.

—via electronicalrattlebag:flngs:RIP Harvey

You’ll be missed, Harvey!!

The Story of @Megapixel or How Social Media Allows Us to Remember Those We Never Knew

The content of this post was first published on my TwitWall but under a different title.

So, I was just minding my own business today when I saw a Tweet from @bsimi explaining that today at the @RSHotel dirty martinis would cost $7 in memory of Megapixel. I didn't know her, and my instinct is to double check before I assume things I read online reflect reality.  Some people have dry, even invisible, senses of humor, so it pays to confirm stuff.  Sadly, it's true--Meg Porter, aka Megapixel on Twitter, died in a car accident a week ago yesterday.  Seems she may have been on a single-lane road when a big-rig was going the other way.  Regardless, it was sad--she was just 24 years-old. 

What makes her death even more poignant is that while she had over 3000 followers on Twitter, she let everyone follow her life via her vlog posts on MegPorter.com.  I haven't had a chance to look at many of them, but in the few I watched she seemed like a pretty normal 24 year-old woman--her whole life ahead of her.  Life is funny this way--some of us go away early, some of us stick around, while others can't decide what to do.

The thing is, thanks to social media, no one goes away fully.  We've all heard the phrase "they'll live on in our hearts" and it's true but now, those who have passed on can live on through their own words, their own voice, their own face through social media--in a tiny tiny, but significant way, it's like they're immortal. 

So, when I found Meg's blog I saw the YouTube video she recorded back on the 21st and immediately thought "Oh, @bsimi is just kidding or something."  If I hadn't Googled any further, I'd have never known the difference. 

I'm not sure what I'm getting at, really.  I think maybe I'm hoping stories like this one will encourage us all to blog/vlog/record/document/whatever our lives more. 

As scary as it is to contemplate, we may check out before we expect to.  Best to make sure there's something people can remember us by.

Just my ¥2, of course.

Totally forgot to add this link:

http://megan-porter.gonetoosoon.org/

Julius Carry RIP

What with race being an integral part of just about any political discussion these days, I find it ironic that one of my favorite black actors passed away two months ago and I barely noticed. About a week after Julius Carry died I stumbled across a post about him on a black-issues blog. The post (which I can't find again, sorry) remembered Carry as "Sho'nuff, The Shogun of Harlem," the bad guy in the kung-fu-movie homage/parody "The Last Dragon".

Now, don't get me wrong, that movie was fun, but Carry was a good actor. He was best known for playing handsome black men. He played Murphy Brown's love interest for a while. He was on one of my favorite underrated sitcoms, "Doctor, Doctor" as a doctor (duh). He also appeared in dozens of other productions starting in 1979 with "Disco Godfather" (he played someone called "Bucky") and worked regularly up until 2006.

However, the role I'll always remember him for was his turn as Lord Bowler along side Bruce Campbell in one of my favorite shows of all time "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr." Yep, the show was a western and one of the leads was a black guy who wasn't an ex-slave or any other stereotype. He was a hero (sometimes an anti-hero) in his own right. I was kind of hoping to see Bowler get his own spin-off series. Sadly, the series, itself, didn't last long.

"Brisco" was a show that didn't require acting "brilliance" from its actors, but it did require them to be able to master humor, drama, duplicity, deception, irony and honor all while maintaining likability. Julius Carry was a man I had hoped to write for one day.

I don't say that about just anyone. He was one of those guys like Jimmy Stewart or Carry Grant--not necessarily known for their "brilliant" acting, but their performances were brilliant nonetheless--brilliant and memorable.

Julius Carry III died on August 19, 2008 of pancreatic cancer. He was just 56 years old.

If you haven't seen "Brisco" I highly recommend you check it out on DVD. Carry is really wonderful in it and because that show I'll always remember him.

Julius Carry III RIP. You will be missed!

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RIP: My Uncle Jay

What follows are my personal feelings about my uncle. You don't need to read it, but I needed to write it.

RIP Arthur C. Clarke

No scifi fan can exist without knowing who Clarke was. No scifi writer can exist without knowing who Clarke will always be.

He had a good run, but, man--still--he will be missed. The guy predicted so much and was apparently still completely together mentally. The guy invented the communication satellite. Who knows what he would have predicted next?

And in case you are, some how, reading this in the afterlife, Arthur, yeah, I still want to know what those glass-wormy-looking things on Mars are, too.

http://www.enterprisemission.com/…arthur.jpg

http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/…-worm.html
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Al Mancini, My Wife's Acting Teacher, RIP

I should have posted on this earlier today, but I just didn't think about it. Al was my wife's acting teacher for something like 4 years and he really helped her grow and become a better actor. He passed away last night in his sleep, at home, with his family, which was the best place for him to go. I'd heard a lot about him over the years but only managed to meet him in person twice. I was slowly developing a script with a role specifically for him in mind. It wasn't science fiction so it never got a high priority. I'll get to it eventually and it'll still have a role specifically designed for him.

To me, he was that ethnicky guy who shows up from time-to-time in movies and TV shows. Most notably, he was one of the golfers in one of my favorite films Falling Down. Al played the golfer who didn't have the heart attack when Michael Douglas fired a shot gun into their golf cart. He was also in two episodes of one of my favorite cheesy 1970s scifi shows UFO. He was in a lot more, too. You can check out Al's IMDB page to see all of his credits.

Since I didn't know him, I'm going to repost what TheWife said about him in her LJ:

A Master is gone - RIP Al Mancini
11/13/07 11:04 am

Got a call this morning from a former classmate that Al Mancini, the teacher who was instrumental in bringing me into the professional attitude and world of acting, passed away last night. No words can describe this man to the fullest - he was the epitome of the "Larger Than Life" man who went through life in an energetic and fantastically enthusiastic way. Short, Italian, loved women and cigars. Challenged us as actors to bring our own into our scenes, nay even rewrite the scenes. Oh and cook something with garlic in every scene as well. He loved food. Gave out his bruschetta recipe to us. Brought up the energy when it felt down. Pointed out to us that WE have the power to feel positive and energetic, no matter what happened to us during the day. Called my cleavage the "Valley of Indecision". Had the best voice over character demo I've ever heard.

Heard he passed away in his sleep with family in Ohio.

I wrote some quotes in my acting class notebook from Al:
"Who said that art had to be comfortable?"
"You look like I just shot your grandma."
"I want to say something about pants."
"Even when you're dead, we still gotta hear." (on being too quiet on stage)
"Primo...as they say in Nigerian...Primo."
"You didn't say 'I want my ass to shake here.'"
"It's a hot pissed!"
"Whatever you resist, you become."
"Is this the 'Yellow Brick Road' to the sack?"
"That's the worst excuse I've heard since 1812!"
"Sexual Fuckosity"

And here's Al's recipe for Bruschetta:

Get thick slices of Italian bread - toast 'em
Get a couple really great tomatoes - Smell & touch 'em. 3-4, chopped.
Basil & garlic - mix in
A little onion - not too much, otherwise it destroys it
Olive Oil
Vinegar - just a dash
Let this sit in refrigerator for 2 hours
Pile on toast.
Also can add green peppers, chopped finely.

RIP Al Mancini


Lance Percival, Millicent Martin and Al Mancini (far right) were part of the team that was responsible for the show "That Was the Week That Was," 1963

BONA SERA PROFESSORE!

That was the man that was and will still be in our memories. RIP, Al Mancini.

And it's pronounced "manCHIni." Like the Italians say it.

LA MOVIE GOING WILL NEVER BE THE SAME

Ohhhh, this is so sad.

One of us has died.

And by "us" I mean the group of people I was prominently a member of before I got all busy with politics and shit.

And by "the group of people I was prominently a member of before I got all busy with politics and shit" I mean, movie buffs.

Damn.

The guy who, since 1978, has owned, operated and programmed the New Beverly Cinema in Hollywood, just down the street from CBS Television City on Beverly Blvd, has died of a heart attack.

According to a statement at NewBevCinema.Com, Sherman Torgan died doing something he loved to do--riding his bike on the Santa Monica bike path.

I've been going to the New Bev for over ten years. I remember when he charged just $3 for a double feature. It's now $7, but it's still the best deal in town.

Oh, I'm so depressed now...

Fuck.

I think I saw him almost every time I saw a movie there and despite that, I never spoke more than a few words to him. Truth be told, he wasn't the warmest of fellows, but his love of great and diverse cinema put us in that same group. And now, he's gone and the LA movie-going landscape will never be the same.

I'll probably see a movie this weekend and as cheesy as it sounds, the picture will seem a bit less bright.

Yeah, it's corny, so what? He was one of us.

....and he will be remembered!

RIP SHERMAN TORGAN .

SCOTT CROSSFIELD, THE 2nd FASTEST MAN RIP

When considering the pioneers of flight, after the Wright Brothers, most people tend to think of Chuck Yeager, the first man to ever travel faster than the speed of sound. However, the first man to travel twice the speed of sound was Scott Crossfield whose name gets forgotten outside of those in Aeronautical circles. While he wasn't the first man to break the sound barrier, he was nonetheless an American hero for being brave enough to do it.

How did he die? Well, he died in a way I think any pilot of his ilk would want to die--in a plane. Sadly, it crashed with him at the stick, but, less sadly, he was alone on the plane and 84 years old.

Not a bad run.

He'll be missed and remembered, even if only by some of us. :)

Read more about him in [http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1867287|an April 20, 2006 article] at ABCNEWS.com.