Passages

[mfunk9786]

Arlen Specter

[MichaelB]

Eduardo de Gregorio

(The link is to a personal reminiscence by Jonathan Rosenbaum)

[admira]

Břetislav Pojar

[otis]

Marcel Hanoun

[Ged Parsons]

I've just read the sad news that the wonderful Czech animator, Břetislav Pojar, has died. It was a few days ago, on the 12th. of October, 2012 - just five days after his 89th. birthday.

There are people on this forum much better qualified than me to talk about the man and his work - I was lucky enough to meet him at a retrospective of his work at the London Barbican last year. Several of his beautiful, and beautifully-made, films were screened, and he then took part in an enlightening, informative, witty - and lengthy! - Q&A session. He had the look, and the manner, of someone 25 years younger than he actually was. Afterwards, he was kind enough to pose for a photo, and give me an autograph. He came across as a man dedicated to perfecting his art - polite, modest, charming, and intelligent. All in all, a lovely guy.

R.I.P.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretislav_Pojar" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[antnield]

British character actor John Clive (The Italian Job, A Clockwork Orange, the voice of John Lennon in Yellow Submarine).

[andyli]

Kôji Wakamatsu died after the car accident several days ago. Cannot find any English news yet. But the news has spread on Japanese and Chinese web sites.

[MichaelB]

Jasper Sharp is a Facebook friend, so I've just passed it on - I suspect he'll be in a position to find out more.

UPDATE: ...and he's just confirmed it on his Facebook page:

Koji Wakamatsu RIP. After such an amazing whirlwind of a life, we can honestly say that your death was most definitely premature.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Norman "Woo Woo" Grabowski

[antnield]

Sylvia Kristel.

[bamwc2]

Sylvia Kristel.

How sad. Like many men my age, I was introduced to her during late night Cinemax rebroadcasts of the original Emmanuelle films in the early to mid 90s. She was a big part of my budding sexuality at the time, and I'll always remember her fondly for it. It's also worth noting that the original Emmanuelle transcends some of the limitations of the soft core genre while falling prey to others (soft focus, etc.). It's no masterpiece, but definitely worth watching at least once. Beaver has a review of the UK disc. Maybe it's worth a purchase.

[domino harvey]

Newsweek Magazine

[dx23]

Sylvia Kristel.

As some have mention here, she was really beautiful and a big part of every male with access to Cinemax in the late 80's and 90's. Back then we saw natural women like her in the late night movies while now is just plastic porn stars.

Newsweek Magazine

I remember when they use to be a respectable news magazine... over 20 years ago. The worst thing that could have happened is that a shitty corporation with a website called The Daily Beast bought them. That was the final nail in the coffin and I truly don't see them lasting long in the digital age as they are too late to the party.

[telamonides]

Koji Wakamatsu

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20121019b5.html

[Drucker]

George McGovern

[antnield]

Yash Chopra.

[dadaistnun]

Russell Means

[bamwc2]

Paul Kurtz. While he wasn't a filmmaker, this hero of mine does have an imdb page from a few interviews. He's one of the inspirations the critical thinking text that I'm working on right now. Hopefully we'll have The Amazing Randi for a good many years to come.

[antnield]

Jasper Sharp is a Facebook friend, so I've just passed it on - I suspect he'll be in a position to find out more.

UPDATE: ...and he's just confirmed it on his Facebook page:

Koji Wakamatsu RIP. After such an amazing whirlwind of a life, we can honestly say that your death was most definitely premature.

Jasper Sharp has written the obituary for Sight & Sound.

[flyonthewall2983]

Russell Means

Brief Wall Street Journal interview with Michael Mann about working with Means on Last Of The Mohicans. I really ought to revisit that movie, with Lincoln coming up soon.

[ola t]

Anita Björk, 89, star of Alf Sjöberg's Miss Julie.

[RagingNoodles]

Olympic Gold Medalist Jeff Blatnick passes away. He was a good commentator and he always seemed like a genuinely great guy. Sad, he was still very young.

EDIT: Great moment of Blatnick winning the gold medal at the 1984 Olympics

[dx23]

HBO Commentator and boxing icon Emanuel Steward

["membrillo"]

HBO Commentator and boxing icon Emanuel Steward

My favorite trainer since Eddie Futch and he was really good boxer. This one really, really, really, hurts...

Emanuel was one of the nicest people one could ever meet.

[RagingNoodles]

An article on some of Emanuel Steward's best HBO boxing calls. He was a great guy, very sad that he passed away.