Composer -- via the New York Classical Review. Best known for his operatic version of "Mourning Becomes Electra," the 1998 revision of which is beginning to enter the repertoire.
Interesting, overlooked, and significant obituaries from around the world, as they happen, emphasizing the positive achievements of those who have died. Member, Society of Professional Obituary Writers.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Melanie Tem
Writer of horror and fantasy; playwright, and poet -- via locusmag.com. AKA Melanie Kubachko.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Ed Sabol
Filmmaker; founder of NFL films -- via the Washington Post. A champion swimmer, he was selected for the 1936 Olympic team but refused to participate due to them taking place in Hitler's Germany. After stints as an actor and a salesman, he picked up a 16mm camera and convinced the NFL to let him chronicle its activities. The hyperbolic, slow-motion sagas he crafted out of the footage are now regarded as innovative and iconic.
Monday, February 9, 2015
Deathcetera: The week in mortality and mourning
DEATH
Is he dead or just
meditating? – via TIME magazine
The
hard part about hiring a mortician? Weeding out the necrophiliacs – from Lizette
Borelli at Medical Daily
Dying
– the checklist – from Thorin Klosowski at Lifehacker (from 2013)
‘Death
with Dignity’ bill debated, defeated in Colorado House – via Megan Verlee
at Colorado Public Radio
At
the end of life, people seek the company of those in their birth culture –
via Lulu Miller at NPR
Trying to reduce iatrogenic
(doctor-caused) deaths – via the BBC
Life
after death? The fable of the twin fetuses – via WND Fatih
MOURNING
Closure:
man kills crocodile that ate his wife – from Sean Levinson in Elite Daily
‘My
Dad the Pornographer’-- by Chris Offut in the New York Times
A
review of ‘Mourning Lincoln’ and ‘Lincoln’s Body’ – by Jill LePore at the
New York Times
Ways
to protect your digital info after death – Kimberly Palmer at U.S. News
& World Report
Your
last photo before death maybe a selfie – via Sophia Sleigh at the Daly
Mirror
FUNERALS
Interview
with alternative mortician Caitlin Doughty – from intheframe
Woman
shows up at funeral to honor modest man who saved her life – via Janet
Boyle at the Sunday Post
‘Inspection
Backlog, Complaints Trouble Funeral Homes’ – from AP via CBS Minnesota
Ohio
has problems with hydrolysis – via Alan Johnson at the Columbus Dispatch
Lincoln
funeral rail car recreated for 150th anniversary of his death –
via Frank Mathie at ABC News Chicago
Indicted
undertakers still working on the sly – via Mireya Villareal at CBS Dallas-Ft.
Worth
Bumps
in the road for those who opt for prepaid funeral plans – via Nancy Hicks
at the Lincoln Journal Star
OBITS
‘Obituary
surfing’ – hackers steal from the recently deceased – via Michelle Boudin
at WCNC
Woman
writes her own somewhat humorous obit – via Adam Rifkin at Elite Daily
Kenji Ekuan
Industrial designer -- via the Times of India. Best known for his cretion of the iconic Kikkoman soy sauce bottle and the bullet train. He started out as a monk, taking the place of his father at the Hiroshima temple after his father died of radiation poisoning in the wake of the atomic bomb attack. He stated that he was originally inspired to design after "hearing the voices" of the decimated and abandoned streetcars, bicycles, and other machinery that littered the Hiroshima area, all wishing that they had been used more before their destruction.
Anne Moody
Writer best known for her memoir "Coming of Age in Mississippi" -- via the Jackson, MS Clarion-Ledger. AKA Essie Mae Moody.
Joe B. Mauldin
Bassist, songwriter, and recording engineer; best known for his work as one of Buddy Holly's Chirpin' Crickets -- via the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
Rene Lavand
Magician -- via eleco.com.ar. AKA Hector Rene Lavandera. His accomplishments are all the more impressive when you take into account the fact that he lost his right hand at the age of 9.
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Dean Smith
Basketball coach -- via ESPN. A brilliant coach with integrity, he mentored some of the greatest players in history at North Carolina, including Jordan, Worthy, Stackhouse, and McAdoo, and coaches such as Karl, Moe, and Larry Brown (all Nuggets leaders later). He taught his players how to act with dignity, intelligence, and mutual respect. And he cared about his players' lives and character than about what he could get out of them on the court. He graduated about 96% of his players, an amazing statistic. A good, classy guy.
Anita Darian
Singer and actress -- via Broadway World. AKA Anita Esgandarian, "the American Yma Sumac." You have all heard her voice -- I'll tell you where in a minute. Possessed of a four-octave range, she sang with the New York City Opera and the New York Philharmonic. She sang Julie on the 1962 "Show Boat" recording. So where have you heard her before? She sings the extremely high vocalese on the Tokens' hit version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"!
Stewart Stern
Screenwriter -- via the New York Times. He wrote films such as "Rebel without A Cause," "Rachel, Rachel," and "The Ugly American"; for TV, he wrote such movies as "Sybil."
Albert Weinstein
Engineer and inventor -- via the Washington Post. He worked on many highly advanced technological systems, but will retain popular posterity for inventing the remote-controlled toy car.
Friday, February 6, 2015
Lizabeth Scott
Actress -- via the L.A. Times. AKA Emma Matzo. Largely identified with her roles in film noir, Scott's strong eyebrows and husky voice were her trademarks. She excelled in such films as "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers," "Dead Reckoning," "I Walk Alone," and "Dark City." usually a femme fatale and/or a cabaret singer with a murky past. One of her last films was a late Allan Dwan Western, "Silver Lode," that was slyly coded as an anti-McCarthyism statement.
Richard Bonehill
Fencing champion, sword master, stuntman, and actor -- via Variety. Best known for his work on- and off-camera in the "Star Wars" films.
Robert Blees
Writer and producer -- via Variety. He wrote some great and not-so-great fare -- "Magnificent Obsession," "High School Confidential," "Dr. Phibes Rises Again," "cattel Queen of Montana," and "Frogs," among others.
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Walter Liedtke
Art curator -- via Artnet News. Died in the recent Metro crash -- what a loss! A fine mind for understanding and sharing insights about art.
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