Monday, February 21, 2005
necropolis... adieu... adieu l'amour
Never heard that song before...? Okay, in actuality it is "Acropolis Adieu..." - but he who sang it has passed on himself... career-wise if not otherwise...
Yes folks... tis another instance of the luminous blog... turning into the lugubrious blog - yet again! *LOL* Run for your lives! Or for your... joie de vivre at the very least...?!? *lol*
Aw - come on folks - LIVE WITH THE TIMES! And they are bleak... especially weather-wise, where I'm at...! :(
Although I assure you that this is NOT just winter blues... so, read on... comments section...
Blessings!
Yes folks... tis another instance of the luminous blog... turning into the lugubrious blog - yet again! *LOL* Run for your lives! Or for your... joie de vivre at the very least...?!? *lol*
Aw - come on folks - LIVE WITH THE TIMES! And they are bleak... especially weather-wise, where I'm at...! :(
Although I assure you that this is NOT just winter blues... so, read on... comments section...
Blessings!
Comments:
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Actress Sandra Dee dies
Last Updated Mon, 21 Feb 2005 12:01:53 EST
CBC Arts
LOS ANGELES - Sandra Dee, the actress who brought teenage life to the silver screen in the 1960s and was married to pop singer Bobby Darin, died early Sunday morning, at age 62.
Dee died of complications from kidney disease after nearly two weeks in a California hospital, a family friend told the Associated Press. Steve Blauner said Dee had been on dialysis for about four years.
Dee starred in such movies as Gidget, the story of a bubbly young girl's adventures in California, and Tammy and the Doctor.
The Gidget role helped her gain a huge teen following, as did her marriage to Darin in 1960. However, after they broke up in 1965, Dee began to lose her fans and Universal Studios dropped her. She went into a depression that was to affect her for the rest of her life.
Dee made her last movie in 1981.
The 1978 movie Grease mocked her clean-cut image with the song Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee.
In last year's film about Darin, Beyond the Sea, Dee was portrayed by Kate Bosworth.
Dee was born Alexandra Zuck in New Jersey in 1942. Her parents soon divorced and she took her stepfather's name, Douvan.
She was discovered at 12 while attending a school in Manhattan that catered to child performers, and took the stage name Sandra Dee.
Her family asked that no details be released, other than the time of death, said Cynthia Mead, nursing supervisor at the hospital.
Last Updated Mon, 21 Feb 2005 12:01:53 EST
CBC Arts
LOS ANGELES - Sandra Dee, the actress who brought teenage life to the silver screen in the 1960s and was married to pop singer Bobby Darin, died early Sunday morning, at age 62.
Dee died of complications from kidney disease after nearly two weeks in a California hospital, a family friend told the Associated Press. Steve Blauner said Dee had been on dialysis for about four years.
Dee starred in such movies as Gidget, the story of a bubbly young girl's adventures in California, and Tammy and the Doctor.
The Gidget role helped her gain a huge teen following, as did her marriage to Darin in 1960. However, after they broke up in 1965, Dee began to lose her fans and Universal Studios dropped her. She went into a depression that was to affect her for the rest of her life.
Dee made her last movie in 1981.
The 1978 movie Grease mocked her clean-cut image with the song Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee.
In last year's film about Darin, Beyond the Sea, Dee was portrayed by Kate Bosworth.
Dee was born Alexandra Zuck in New Jersey in 1942. Her parents soon divorced and she took her stepfather's name, Douvan.
She was discovered at 12 while attending a school in Manhattan that catered to child performers, and took the stage name Sandra Dee.
Her family asked that no details be released, other than the time of death, said Cynthia Mead, nursing supervisor at the hospital.
'Gonzo' writer Hunter S. Thompson kills himself
CTV.ca News Staff
Hunter S. Thompson, the prominent countercultural writer who personified "gonzo journalism," has been found dead.
Thompson, 67, fatally shot himself Sunday night at his Aspen-area home, his only son Juan Thompson said. His wife Anita was not home at the time. Juan found the body.
"Hunter prized his privacy and we ask that his friends and admirers respect that privacy as well as that of his family," Juan said in a statement released to the Aspen Daily News.
Pitkin County Sheriff Bob Braudis, who was a personal friend of Thompson, confirmed the death to the local newspaper.
Thompson was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1937. After a delinquent youth, he joined the Air Force (as a condition of parole) where he became exposed to writing by working for an airbase paper.
A man with an appetite for alcohol, drugs and life, he left this as his signature quote: "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."
Thompson is credited with pioneering a new form of journalism which he dubbed, "gonzo journalism," in which the writer was a central character.
Many of Thompson's non-fiction stories and books were based on his own adventures. In Hells Angels, published in 1966, he recounted how he was "stomped" by members of the infamous motorcycle gang that he had been living and riding with.
"Fiction is based on reality unless you're a fairy-tale artist," Thompson told the Associated Press in 2003.
"You have to get your knowledge of life from somewhere. You have to know the material you're writing about before you alter it."
Much of his earlier work appeared in Rolling Stone Magazine, a distinctly countercultural publication in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Titles such as Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas were considered classics of the gonzo genre.
The latter was made into a 1998 movie starring Johnny Depp. Thompson was also immortalized in the film Where The Buffalo Roam, starring Bill Murray.
Thompson was also the basis for the "Uncle Duke" character in the Doonesbury comic strip drawn by Garry Trudeau.
The veteran radical journalist, Paul Krassner, who was also one of Thompson's former editors told AP that: "he may have died relatively young but he made up for it in quality if not quantity of years."
"It was hard to say sometimes whether he was being provocative for its own sake or if he was just being drunk and stoned and irresponsible,'' said Krassner.
"But every editor that I know, myself included, was willing to accept a certain prima donna journalism in the demands he would make to cover a particular story,'' he said. "They were willing to risk all of his irresponsible behaviour in order to share his talent with their readers."
His most recent efforts were Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness.
In 1970, he ran for sheriff of Pitkin County in Colorado on the Freak Power ticket and almost won.
With files from The Associated Press
CTV.ca News Staff
Hunter S. Thompson, the prominent countercultural writer who personified "gonzo journalism," has been found dead.
Thompson, 67, fatally shot himself Sunday night at his Aspen-area home, his only son Juan Thompson said. His wife Anita was not home at the time. Juan found the body.
"Hunter prized his privacy and we ask that his friends and admirers respect that privacy as well as that of his family," Juan said in a statement released to the Aspen Daily News.
Pitkin County Sheriff Bob Braudis, who was a personal friend of Thompson, confirmed the death to the local newspaper.
Thompson was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1937. After a delinquent youth, he joined the Air Force (as a condition of parole) where he became exposed to writing by working for an airbase paper.
A man with an appetite for alcohol, drugs and life, he left this as his signature quote: "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."
Thompson is credited with pioneering a new form of journalism which he dubbed, "gonzo journalism," in which the writer was a central character.
Many of Thompson's non-fiction stories and books were based on his own adventures. In Hells Angels, published in 1966, he recounted how he was "stomped" by members of the infamous motorcycle gang that he had been living and riding with.
"Fiction is based on reality unless you're a fairy-tale artist," Thompson told the Associated Press in 2003.
"You have to get your knowledge of life from somewhere. You have to know the material you're writing about before you alter it."
Much of his earlier work appeared in Rolling Stone Magazine, a distinctly countercultural publication in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Titles such as Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas were considered classics of the gonzo genre.
The latter was made into a 1998 movie starring Johnny Depp. Thompson was also immortalized in the film Where The Buffalo Roam, starring Bill Murray.
Thompson was also the basis for the "Uncle Duke" character in the Doonesbury comic strip drawn by Garry Trudeau.
The veteran radical journalist, Paul Krassner, who was also one of Thompson's former editors told AP that: "he may have died relatively young but he made up for it in quality if not quantity of years."
"It was hard to say sometimes whether he was being provocative for its own sake or if he was just being drunk and stoned and irresponsible,'' said Krassner.
"But every editor that I know, myself included, was willing to accept a certain prima donna journalism in the demands he would make to cover a particular story,'' he said. "They were willing to risk all of his irresponsible behaviour in order to share his talent with their readers."
His most recent efforts were Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness.
In 1970, he ran for sheriff of Pitkin County in Colorado on the Freak Power ticket and almost won.
With files from The Associated Press
Dee lived on to see her image mocked by Grease of all things... but also to see Kate Bosworth portray her fairly.
Thompson... like Hemingway and others... was ultimately yet another tormented scribe... hmm... so sad but yes... there are a lot of us out there... :(
I promise though to consider pesticide before ever, ever, EVER considering suicide, folks...!
Thompson... like Hemingway and others... was ultimately yet another tormented scribe... hmm... so sad but yes... there are a lot of us out there... :(
I promise though to consider pesticide before ever, ever, EVER considering suicide, folks...!
LOL
You may yell at me in the here and now then... but no, as morbid as the blog gets, I have never had thoughts of suicide... murder -of a few noisy neighbours- sure... but never suicide... *LOL*
The preceding was luminous-yet-dark humor... ;)
You may yell at me in the here and now then... but no, as morbid as the blog gets, I have never had thoughts of suicide... murder -of a few noisy neighbours- sure... but never suicide... *LOL*
The preceding was luminous-yet-dark humor... ;)
Oops - another one...
Ça vire à l'hécatombe là...!!! as some frenchies might be tempted to say at this time...
:(
=================================
Writer Guillermo Cabrera Infante dies
Last Updated Tue, 22 Feb 2005 10:07:50 EST
CBC Arts
LONDON - Cuban-born novelist Guillermo Cabrera Infante, the acclaimed Spanish-language writer and critic of the Castro government, has died at the age of 75.
Cabrera Infante died in hospital Monday of a blood infection and had suffered a series of illnesses over the past few years, according to a spokesperson for his Spanish literary agent, the Balcells agency in Barcelona.
Guillermo Cabrera Infante has died. In 1997, the exiled Cuban writer won the Miguel de Cervantes prize for literature, the Spanish-speaking world's most prestigious literary honour. (AP photo)
Celebrated for an experimental use of language in his writing, Cabrera Infante worked as a literary and film critic, translator, essayist and novelist. In 1997, he won the Miguel de Cervantes prize for literature, the Spanish-speaking world's most prestigious literary prize.
His best-known work is the 1967 novel Three Trapped Tigers, the success of which surprised the author since half of it is written in Cuban slang. The novel captured the lush, boozy, exciting pre-Revolutionary nightlife of Havana in the 1950s and has become a classic of Cuban literature.
Other works include the novel Infante's Inferno, the political writing collection Mea Cuba and A 20th Century Job, a collection of his film criticism. In addition to novels and essays, Cabrera Infante also wrote screenplays, including John Huston's film adaptation of Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano.
Born in Gibara, eastern Cuba, in 1929, the writer studied journalism and became one of Latin America's most acclaimed film critics. He was also a founding member of Revolucion magazine and an early supporter of Fidel Castro, serving as a government liaison to Brussels in the early 1960s. However, by 1965, he became disillusioned with the totalitarian direction of the government and became a harsh critic of the Castro regime. He eventually left his home country and in 1966 settled in London, where he took British citizenship.
"I have not been back [to Cuba] since I left in 1965 and I will not until Fidel Castro leaves power," he said in a 1997 interview.
Ça vire à l'hécatombe là...!!! as some frenchies might be tempted to say at this time...
:(
=================================
Writer Guillermo Cabrera Infante dies
Last Updated Tue, 22 Feb 2005 10:07:50 EST
CBC Arts
LONDON - Cuban-born novelist Guillermo Cabrera Infante, the acclaimed Spanish-language writer and critic of the Castro government, has died at the age of 75.
Cabrera Infante died in hospital Monday of a blood infection and had suffered a series of illnesses over the past few years, according to a spokesperson for his Spanish literary agent, the Balcells agency in Barcelona.
Guillermo Cabrera Infante has died. In 1997, the exiled Cuban writer won the Miguel de Cervantes prize for literature, the Spanish-speaking world's most prestigious literary honour. (AP photo)
Celebrated for an experimental use of language in his writing, Cabrera Infante worked as a literary and film critic, translator, essayist and novelist. In 1997, he won the Miguel de Cervantes prize for literature, the Spanish-speaking world's most prestigious literary prize.
His best-known work is the 1967 novel Three Trapped Tigers, the success of which surprised the author since half of it is written in Cuban slang. The novel captured the lush, boozy, exciting pre-Revolutionary nightlife of Havana in the 1950s and has become a classic of Cuban literature.
Other works include the novel Infante's Inferno, the political writing collection Mea Cuba and A 20th Century Job, a collection of his film criticism. In addition to novels and essays, Cabrera Infante also wrote screenplays, including John Huston's film adaptation of Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano.
Born in Gibara, eastern Cuba, in 1929, the writer studied journalism and became one of Latin America's most acclaimed film critics. He was also a founding member of Revolucion magazine and an early supporter of Fidel Castro, serving as a government liaison to Brussels in the early 1960s. However, by 1965, he became disillusioned with the totalitarian direction of the government and became a harsh critic of the Castro regime. He eventually left his home country and in 1966 settled in London, where he took British citizenship.
"I have not been back [to Cuba] since I left in 1965 and I will not until Fidel Castro leaves power," he said in a 1997 interview.
Had to mention Guillermo - a fellow wordsmith AND his name rhymes with Luciano!
But I digress...
Another one... for the mystery of it...
Polish artist found dead
Last Updated Tue, 22 Feb 2005 11:26:00 EST
CBC Arts
WARSAW - Contemporary Polish painter Zdzislaw Beksinski has been found dead at his home in Warsaw, police announced Tuesday.
When relatives of the 75-year-old artist were unable to reach him by phone, they alerted the authorities. Police discovered his body overnight, police spokesperson Mariusz Sokolowski told a local TV station.
According to Sokolowki, Beksinski's body had more than 10 knife wounds; there was no sign the artist's home had been broken into. No other details were released.
Born in the southeastern Polish town of Sanok in 1929, Beksinski studied architecture at university in Krakow. His father urged him to become a construction site supervisor, a job that he hated and eventually left behind as he threw himself into the visual arts.
Beginning with photography in the 1950s, Beksinski later moved into sculpture and drawing. He is best known, however, for his paintings, which he began in the 1970s.
Beksinski progressed from realism to a more abstract style that often depicted glowing scenes of skeletons and other images evocative of death. The hazy use of light in his paintings was indicative of the artists who influenced him: Swiss painter Arnold Boecklin and British painter J.M.W. Turner. More recently, he had experimented with computer-created art.
Though the subject of exhibitions throughout Poland and across Europe, Beksinski rarely attended any of them. His work is in the collections of national museums in Warsaw, Sanok and Krakow, as well as the Museum of Fine Art in Goteborgs, Sweden.
But I digress...
Another one... for the mystery of it...
Polish artist found dead
Last Updated Tue, 22 Feb 2005 11:26:00 EST
CBC Arts
WARSAW - Contemporary Polish painter Zdzislaw Beksinski has been found dead at his home in Warsaw, police announced Tuesday.
When relatives of the 75-year-old artist were unable to reach him by phone, they alerted the authorities. Police discovered his body overnight, police spokesperson Mariusz Sokolowski told a local TV station.
According to Sokolowki, Beksinski's body had more than 10 knife wounds; there was no sign the artist's home had been broken into. No other details were released.
Born in the southeastern Polish town of Sanok in 1929, Beksinski studied architecture at university in Krakow. His father urged him to become a construction site supervisor, a job that he hated and eventually left behind as he threw himself into the visual arts.
Beginning with photography in the 1950s, Beksinski later moved into sculpture and drawing. He is best known, however, for his paintings, which he began in the 1970s.
Beksinski progressed from realism to a more abstract style that often depicted glowing scenes of skeletons and other images evocative of death. The hazy use of light in his paintings was indicative of the artists who influenced him: Swiss painter Arnold Boecklin and British painter J.M.W. Turner. More recently, he had experimented with computer-created art.
Though the subject of exhibitions throughout Poland and across Europe, Beksinski rarely attended any of them. His work is in the collections of national museums in Warsaw, Sanok and Krakow, as well as the Museum of Fine Art in Goteborgs, Sweden.
LOS ANGELES - Musical theatre star John Raitt dies
John Raitt, the musical theatre star and father of singer Bonnie Raitt, has died at the age of 88.
Raitt died at his Pacific Palisades home Sunday from complications from pneumonia, said his manager, James Fitzgerald.
In his later years, Raitt joked that his fame had been overshadowed by that of his daughter. "She used to be known as John Raitt's daughter; now I'm known as Bonnie Raitt's father," he observed.
During the 1980s, Raitt sometimes performed with his daughter, who once praised her father for treating "every show with equal thrill and passion ... no matter whether it's a charity breakfast for 50 people or opening night of a Broadway show."
Born Jan. 10, 1917, Raitt studied at the University of Southern California and the University of Redlands. His deep voice developed early and after performing at service clubs and churches, he made his professional debut as an opera chorus singer in 1940.
Though he had little operatic training, he was soon singing lead roles in The Barber of Seville and Carmen, which eventually led to his fateful meeting with Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II in 1944. Impressed with the tall, handsome baritone, the famed duo cast him for the Chicago company of Oklahoma and later as the doomed hero Billy Bigelow in Carousel.
Raitt went on to roles in musicals like Annie Get Your Gun, Man of La Mancha, Kismet and Zorba. He also had a star turn in the film The Pajama Game, a Doris Day vehicle with choreography by Bob Fosse. It would be his only starring role in a movie.
==============================
Wow - a Doris Day connection... didn't I reference her recently here...?
Okay - I can't stop posting here!!! LOL
Last one - promised!
And no mentions of the Iran earthquake victims (although I am worried - I do know some CHRISTIAN Iranians... yep) nor the ferry accidental loss of life in Bangladesh...
John Raitt, the musical theatre star and father of singer Bonnie Raitt, has died at the age of 88.
Raitt died at his Pacific Palisades home Sunday from complications from pneumonia, said his manager, James Fitzgerald.
In his later years, Raitt joked that his fame had been overshadowed by that of his daughter. "She used to be known as John Raitt's daughter; now I'm known as Bonnie Raitt's father," he observed.
During the 1980s, Raitt sometimes performed with his daughter, who once praised her father for treating "every show with equal thrill and passion ... no matter whether it's a charity breakfast for 50 people or opening night of a Broadway show."
Born Jan. 10, 1917, Raitt studied at the University of Southern California and the University of Redlands. His deep voice developed early and after performing at service clubs and churches, he made his professional debut as an opera chorus singer in 1940.
Though he had little operatic training, he was soon singing lead roles in The Barber of Seville and Carmen, which eventually led to his fateful meeting with Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II in 1944. Impressed with the tall, handsome baritone, the famed duo cast him for the Chicago company of Oklahoma and later as the doomed hero Billy Bigelow in Carousel.
Raitt went on to roles in musicals like Annie Get Your Gun, Man of La Mancha, Kismet and Zorba. He also had a star turn in the film The Pajama Game, a Doris Day vehicle with choreography by Bob Fosse. It would be his only starring role in a movie.
==============================
Wow - a Doris Day connection... didn't I reference her recently here...?
Okay - I can't stop posting here!!! LOL
Last one - promised!
And no mentions of the Iran earthquake victims (although I am worried - I do know some CHRISTIAN Iranians... yep) nor the ferry accidental loss of life in Bangladesh...
Just to tell you - even this blog is nearly keeling over dead... LOL
It no longer allows anonymous comments - yet it produced a duplicate of MY OWN POST and labeled THAT as "anonymous"...?!?
Sheesh...
And what's with the italics massacre?!?
"Ça vire à l'h é catombe là...!!!"
Maybe this time it will be READABLE...
SHEESH!
Post a Comment
It no longer allows anonymous comments - yet it produced a duplicate of MY OWN POST and labeled THAT as "anonymous"...?!?
Sheesh...
And what's with the italics massacre?!?
"Ça vire à l'h é catombe là...!!!"
Maybe this time it will be READABLE...
SHEESH!
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