Last night, on the heels of hearing about RG Armstrong having died, I heard another legend has left us.
Norman Alden, also a prolific character actor, also died on Friday. Alden has 237 credits listed on IMDb. Incredible body of work. The roles I know him for are as Professor Frank Heflin on The Krofft Supershow Electra Woman and Dyna Girl and as Bill in Tim Burton's Ed Wood.
But he will forever and always be the voice of Aquaman, from the 70s Super Friends cartoon. He epitomized the character for so many kids.
Friday the 13th: The Series is my all-time favorite show, so it is with sadness that I read about the death of actor R.G. Armstrong, who played Uncle Lewis Vendredi on the show.
Uncle Lewis was the reason for all the trouble Micki, Ryan and Jack faced, since he was the one who originally owned the store and cursed and sold all the antiques the trio then had to hunt down and store in the vault.
Armstrong had a prolific career, his IMDb page lists 181 credits, dating back to 1954. He was a character actor who appeared in many TV series guest spots, including many westerns.
I have learned that it doesn't take long for someone or something to make its way into your heart.
For almost a year, I have been spending a few hours a week with a friend's two dogs, Diego and Eva. We have played and walked together, and I have come to enjoy spending time with both of them.
The dogs are siblings, although Diego was 7 and Eva just a puppy when I met them. He was always patient and forgiving of his younger sister, who is full of energy and excitement. When he felt like rough-housing, he would let her "attack" him, and he would fight back, but I never once heard her whine in pain. He fought gently, teaching her in his own way, I suppose.
Monday night I received a text from their owner: Diego had been hit by a car. Blood was everywhere, he had at least a broken leg and they were rushing to the local animal hospital.
The next text I received was that Diego had died.
Needless to say, I was shocked. I was just not prepared for either his sudden death or the fact that I had grown so fond of this dog. I still find myself shaking my head at the realization that he's gone.
But, I am glad I got to know him, even if it was for a brief time. He was the epitome of the old idiom "Don't judge a book by its cover." Diego was stern looking and his bark intimidating, but inside was a gentle, kind dog with a big heart.
At first I debated whether or not to re-post this. But then I thought of all the young people I know who either are driving now or will be soon enough.
I think, while this might be jarring to view, it is a lesson better learned here than the hard, horrible way in the real world.
This can be tough to watch, so be prepared.
Sad, scary, horrible.
I have to admit to being guilty of doing this in the past. But I know I will NOT be texting anymore while driving, ever.
Lesson learned here.
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This is a PSA (Public Service Announcement) from Britain.
Originally found at Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch Blog
For a blog like mine, with such an emphasis on pop culture, I have to mention his death. And also because so many of his films are things I truly enjoy.
And those are just the films of his I really love! I didn't mention others I merely like. How many filmmakers can we say this about? That have had so many movies that a generation fell in love with?
And what makes them truly great, to me, is their rewatch-ability. We can watch them time and again and still laugh and enjoy them. That says it all.
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So many other bloggers are highlighting Hughes. Here are a few:
As a side note, as a teenager, I associated most with Allison Reynolds, Ally Sheedy's character from "The Breakfast Club". She was the outcast, loner weirdo, and that is how I felt for my entire high school experience.
Was definitely cool to relate to someone else, even if it was a girl, in a movie.
And it made me think of this man and his wife, who made the news earlier this month:
A renowned British conductor and his wife have died in the assisted suicide clinic Dignitas, their family said.
Sir Edward Downes, 85, was almost blind when he and his 74-year-old wife Joan travelled to Switzerland to end their lives, a family statement released to the BBC said.
...
The statement, released by their son and daughter, Caractacus and Boudicca, said the couple died on July 10 "under circumstances of their own choosing" after a struggle with serious health problems.
It said: "After 54 happy years together they decided to end their own lives rather than continue to struggle with serious health problems.
"They died peacefully and under circumstances of their own choosing, with the help of the Swiss organisation Dignitas in Zurich."
I want to make that choice for my own life and it's end. I want to be able to decide if I have had enough. And I hope that my family is as supportive as the children mentioned above.
I want to decide when my time is up. Not someone else who wants to push their views or beliefs onto everyone else.
In the future, I hope this becomes legal in the USA and that we would have this choice in my own country.
But, if need be, I will be more than happy to take a nice, final flight to Switzerland.
I debated doing a post on Michael Jackson's death, since it has been massively covered everywhere, to say the least.
But it has been on my mind, and when I started this blog I said it would be for me, mainly, to get the 'flotsam and jetsam out of my head'. So, this may get sappy, but now you've been warned.
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I have been listening to his old music, watching old videos. Essentially, I guess I am dealing with the loss of the Michael Jackson from my childhood.
This quote from John Mayer in Time Magazine sums it up pretty well:
"There's just one Michael Jackson now. We don't have to reconcile the Michael Jackson we love with another Michael Jackson. In a way, he has returned to pristine condition in death. We can be free now for the rest of our lives to love the Michael Jackson we used to love."
I was saying something similar to my wife. I think, for many of us, we are grieving the Michael Jackson that was lost to us about 15 or 16 years ago. And we hadn't been able to do that until he died, since, obviously, it wasn't possible to mourn a man who was still alive. He was still out there, with the ever-present cloud of doubt. And wondering what would come next.
It wasn't possible to say good-bye to someone who wasn't gone.
But he is gone now. And I guess a part of me is sad for the Michael Jackson of the past. I am sad for his children, his family, his friends and even his fans. But I am also sad for the Michael Jackson who could have been.
In listening, really listening, to his music, I have a deeper respect for the musician he was. Some truly great songs in his catalog. He was an artist.
And his videos remind me of the time from my childhood when videos were a big deal! Not only did they showcase his dancing skills, but they also were innovative for the time. Mini-movies, sometimes.
Ah well, I don't really know where I am going with all of this. Like I said, just trying to reconcile it all in my head. Pop culture has always been a part of my life, and in the 80s, when I was a teenager, music was a big part of it. Michael Jackson wasn't my favorite, but he was heard a lot thanks to my brother and a cousin who were big fans. And really, was there any celebrity bigger than MJ in the 80s?
It helps me understand the media hoopla now a little better. Even if the King of Pop being mourned has been gone for a long time, he was called the King of Pop for a reason.
I hope his legacy is more than suspicion and doubt and bad jokes (of which I am just as guilty of). I hope it is his music, his charity and, most of all, his children. I truly hope they have the amazing life he would surely have wanted for them.
Okay, so I have been out of the "blog-loop" since Sunday, except for occasional peeks to see what was going on (and to keep my Google Reader from imploding!)
Okay, so arguably, Carradine is the recent death that kicked off this boom-boom-boom month of deaths. Carradine was someone I recall from childhood, mainly due to my mother's fondness for him and his role as Kwai Chang Caine on "Kung Fu" and "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues". To me, his best role was in the "Kill Bill" films.
But his weirdest role, and the one I will always think of now, was in "Sonny Boy", a small budget wack-a-doodle of a film from 1989 in which he played Pearl, who was either a man in drag living as the wife of another man, or just a strange, homely, lonely woman. So bizarre, I don't know what I could say to describe it other than "odd".
Out of the Angels, I was always a "Sabrina Duncan"/Kate Jackson fan. But who didn't know Farrah? She was more than just an actress, she became sort of the symbol of the 70s beauty. She was adored by millions of boys (and men) and copied by millions of girls (and women).
I was one who bought into the weird side of her, due to her appearance on Letterman a few years back. But the recent special that aired prior to her death showed a different side of Farrah. She was a woman who was battling a deadly disease with courage and a sense of humor. I am sad she is gone, but glad she is no longer suffering, as well.
Wow. Even though he had been out of the major spotlight for so long, he was such an icon that he would always be one of the "big ones". In the 80s, was there ANY celebrity bigger than Michael Jackson?
I feel bad his life went so, so far off-track towards the end, and then I have to wonder how much was damage he did to himself and how much was the end-effect of the strange path his life had been on? But, as I was shown with Farrah, maybe we will just never know the really true life of Michael Jackson.
I have been able to listen to a lot of his music over the past few days, due to the radio tributes. When he was good, he was very, very good. Sad that it all fell apart.
Not much for me to say about this. Sad he died so relatively young and full of life. I feel bad for his family. He seemed like an energetic and fun guy.
Not really too familiar with this older actress, I remember her more from a role on a episode of "Murder, She Wrote". I watch plenty of TCM, so I am sure I will come across more of her movies, and I am looking forward to it.
Not too familiar with Travalena, but he was a face I remember seeing here and there over the years, and usually always involving a laugh. I guess I probably heard him more in many of the voice-overs he did in TV and cartoons, including The Jetsons, The Smurfs and Scooby-Doo.
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So, my thoughts, not that they matter much. I think Dolly Parton summed it all up pretty well when she did this little piece about Jackson's death:
Don't believe in people "resting in peace", since I don't think you are "resting" (or anything else) after death. A fellow blogger came up with a different acronym: L.I.M. - which stands for "Live In Memory". I like that better!
What I do notice is that most people like the movie itself, even if some are not as thrilled with it's "message". That said, I liked it and don't have a problem with it. Mary's parents are not merely seeking vengeance at first. They just wanted to get away with Mary in the boat. But once they come to the realization that it's either them or the bad guys, they don't hold back.
Can't say I would, either. They are obviously dealing with some deep pain over the loss of their other child, and what happened to Mary sent them over the edge. But I don't think they even needed the other child's death to "rationalize" their actions. You will do ANYTHING for your kids, and while it may not be "PC" to say so, I can't say I wouldn't do the same for mine. Wrong I guess, but true.
I am glad they didn't overplay the gore, ala the torture porn movies of late. What we did see was realistic, but not gross-out so. A good choice, as the scenes we were witnessing were wince-inducing all on their own without it.
The final scene was not so tame, however, and I know many people don't care for it, even hating it. I wasn't as shocked by it, as it had been alluded to in the trailers for the movie and I was waiting for it to happen. Was it needed? No, I don't think so. It was over the top, even for the parents. Like one reviewer said, "How did they explain THAT to the cops?" But hey, maybe Mr. Collingwood snapped a little. Can't say I blame him. And maybe the producers or whomever thought the movie need a "what-the-fuck?" scene, like the original had (you know the one). It didn't, in my opinion, but it doesn't ruin anything for me.
In comparison to the original (which I haven't seen in about ten years), I think this was a definite improvement. At first, I was concerned it couldn't replace the gritty, realistic, awfulness of the 70s film. But, once you are confronted with the horrible actions done to Mary and her friend, you see that it is just as bad. So hard and uncomfortable to watch, you still squirm in your seat. And that is what this movie is. Horrible? yes. Realistic? I think so. For everyone? Hell, no!
I would watch it again. Now, I am not sure what THAT says about me!
