Consummate actor, and liberal-turned-conservative-because-of-9/11 One of his finest moments on The West Wing:
How Many Times Is James Whitmore Going To Die?
Didn't he die a couple of years ago? I mean, obviously not, but it seems like he did. Anyway, it's sad…. again.
Almost Alanis
From Ironic: An old man turned ninety-eight. He won the lottery and died the next day. Well, close. The guy, Donald Peters of Connecticut, was 79, and died the day he bought the tickets: Peters bought two Connecticut Lottery tickets at a local 7-Eleven store on Nov. 1 as part of a 20-year tradition he shared with his wife Charlotte. … Read More
“In Passing” 2008 Roll Call
2008 dead celebrities I really felt kinda bad about upon hearing that they had died: Suzanne Pleshette (died Jan 19 at age 70) Roy Scheider (died Feb 10 at age 75) Paul Scofield (died March 20 at age 86) Sydney Pollack (died May 26 at age 73) Harvey Korman (died May 29 at age 81) Cyd Charisse (died June 17 at age … Read More
VHS Is Dead
There is only one company in American still supplying VHS videos. And they're closing their doors. "It's dead, this is it, this is the last Christmas, without a doubt," said Kugler, 34, a Burbank businessman. "I was the last one buying VHS and the last one selling it, and I'm done. Anything left in warehouse we'll just give away or … Read More
RIP Majel Barrett Roddenberry
Better known as Nurse Chapel in the original Star Trek, the mother of Troi in Star Trek – The Next Generation, the voice of virtually all the computers in all of the Star Trek iterations (including the soon-to-be-released film), and the wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. All of which earned her the moniker "The First Lady of Star … Read More
RIP Madelyn Dunham
Sad, and sad timing. Obama's ailing grandmother died. Obama addressed this tonight in Charlotte: The morons at the Free Republic question the timing, some suggesting that she died last week, and the news was released now so that Obama could get the last minute "sympathy vote". Pretty ugly, huh? Well, ugly is as ugly does. Incidentially, the RNC, through the … Read More
RIP Estelle Reiner
Mother of actor-director Rob Reiner, wife of writer-actor Carl Reiner, Estelle was best known for utterance of a single movie line, which appears at the end of this clip:
RIP Don LaFontaine
You know him as the voice-over guy who does movie trailers. "In a world…." CNN reports: Don LaFontaine, the voiceover king whose "In a world …" phrase on movie trailers was much copied — and much parodied — has died, according to media reports. He was 68. LaFontaine died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, according to … Read More
RIP Randy Pausch
Last year, Carnegie Mellon University ran a series of lectures entitled "The Last Lecture", where professors were asked to think about what matters to them most and give a hypothetical final talk to students. One of the professors who spoke was Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist. Unlike the other lecturers in the series, Randy knew it was … Read More
Jesse Helms — Leader Against HIV?
What is Elizabeth Dole smoking? From the Congressional Record dated July 14, 2008: SA 5074. Mrs. DOLE submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 2731, to authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2009 through 2013 to provide assistance to foreign countries to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie … Read More
RIP Olive Riley
At 108, she was unofficially recognized as the world’s older blogger. Her blog — The Life of Riley She died this past weekend from, well, from being 108 years old.
Jesse’s Grill
You might wonder why I havent opined on the passing of Jesse Helms and his bigoted foul legacy. It’s because I was taught not to speak ill of the dead. Besides, we all know he’s in hell. UPDATE: But here’s a column from David Broder written in 2001 (when Helms was still alive), which pretty much sums it up with … Read More