Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Elodie Lauten aka Genevieve Schecroun

Composer -- via the New York Times.







Don Davis

Steven H. Scheuer

Film and TV historian and critic; as creator of "Movies on TV," pioneered the concept of capsule previews and listings to aid viewers, a miniaturist art form in itself -- via the Hollywood Reporter.

James McNair aka Jimmy Mack

Comedian and writer -- via the Huffington Post.

Karl Schanzer

Hollywood story analyst; his real-life experience inspired Coppola's "The Conversation" -- via the Hollywood Reporter. Started his career as an actor in gems such as "Dementia 13" and "Spider Baby"; Karl, the central character in "Sling Blade," is jokingly named for him.

READER: Weekly roundup of end-of-life stories

Bosnian war dead -- photo by Paolo Pellegrini/Magnum, for the New York Times
John Tuohy of Indy Star on the reclamation of a cemetery on the grounds of a hospital for the mentally ill

Rabbi Micah Peltz in Haaretz asks: is the Jewish calendar obsessed with mourning?

In the Toronto Star, Nancy J. White profiles a funeral director

Via NPR, a funeral for a home in Philadelphia

From the Toronto Star, Stephanie MacLellan discusses virtual mourning

From Scott Anderson in the New York Times magazine, the ongoing mission of finding and burying the Bosnian war dead

In the drug-war landscape, a business in repatriating corpses of the slain -- from Karla Cornejo Villavicenio in The New Inquiry

Agnes Chew in Live Learn Evolve equates mortality and motivation

Yikes! A Massachusetts funeral home has its license suspended for letting its clients waste away -- via the Miami Herald

And Jason Kotowski of the Bakersfield Examiner reports many irregularities in area funeral homes, including inaccurate death certificates, overcharges, fraud, and negligence

Kentaro Koyama reports in the Asahu Shimbun that Chinese officials are suppressing the public mourning at a tragic death site

And at Tiananmen Square, another crackdown on mourners at the 25th anniversary of the infamous massacre

Conflict over funerary rules in Australia, per AP

According to Allison Quinn in the Moscow Times, in Russia funeral services have a gangsterish tinge

On YouTube, a unique Ghanian funeral dance



Sunday, June 15, 2014

Ultra Violet aka Isabelle Collin Dufresne

Artist, author, and Warhol "superstar" -- via the New York Times.

Casey Kasem aka Kemal Amin Kasem

Radio host, voice actor, producer, and actor; long-time host of "American Top 40" -- via ABC News. An essential part of American pop culture, his distinctive voice was the template for the cheery, earnest, crisp "puke voice" used in AM radio for decades. His cheesy "American Top 40" was a show we loved to hate.





He shone in early Roger Corman biker films ("The Glory Stompers," "Wild Wheels") and "The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant"; was the voice of Robin in the animated "Batman/Superman Hour" and lead role in the Rankin/Bass stop-motion classic (?) "Here Comes Peter Cottontail."









Most of all, though, he was Shaggy Rogers, the perpetually scared, perpetually hungry hippie/beatnik/slacker of "Scooby Doo."



Thanks, Casey. "Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars!"






Rashid Rehman Khan

Human rights activist -- via dawn.com.

Judy Young

Astronomer -- via UMassAmherst.

Joseph "Jay" Lake Jr.

Writer -- via wilhelmportlandmemorial.com.


Vince Davis aka James Vincent Davis

Actor -- via the Dallas Morning News.

Dragoljub Velimirović

Chess grandmaster -- via chess.com.

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Anjan Das

Film director -- via ibnlive.in.com.




Victor Agnello

Drummer -- via Loudwire.

Svyatoslav Belza

Scholar, critic, essayist and TV host -- via direct-beauty.ru. He did much to popularize the arts in his region!


Yuri Kochiyama

Human rights activist -- via the Independent. After being interned as a Japanese-American during World War II, she went on to aid other movements such as black nationalism, Puerto Rican independence, and the anti-Vietnam War protests. Most memorably, she held Malcom X's head in her hands as he died.







Harry H. Novak aka The Sultan of Sexploitation

Film producer and distributor -- via the Independent.


Friday, June 13, 2014