1. #2951
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    Sumbitch's Avatar
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    ^ Quite a productive producer.

  2. #2952
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Ron Moody and Christopher Lee both dead. More to follow.

  3. #2953
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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda View Post
    Ron Moody and Christopher Lee both dead. More to follow.
    Yes, Harry, fair play for you, your perception knows no bounds ! Many more people are going to die. It's how it works.

  4. #2954
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by can123 View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda View Post
    Ron Moody and Christopher Lee both dead. More to follow.
    Yes, Harry, fair play for you, your perception knows no bounds ! Many more people are going to die. It's how it works.
    Fuck me nothing gets past you does it Einstein.

  5. #2955
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Sir Christopher Lee dies at 93
    The great British actor known for his roles in Dracula, The Wicker Man and The Lord of the Rings has died aged 93.
    11 June 2015



    Sir Christopher Lee, whose career in film began in the 1940s and continued into the era of the fantasy blockbuster, has died aged 93. He first became famous as a regular star in the series of gothic horror films made by Hammer in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, notably as Count Dracula in the 1958 Dracula and its sequels.

    His turn as Lord Summerisle in the cult 1973 horror film The Wicker Man is equally immortal, while as Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) Lee played one of James Bond’s most memorable adversaries.

    In later years, Lee became a favourite for a new generation of audiences after appearing as Saruman in The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies as well as Count Dooku in two Star Wars films.

    Lee was born Christopher Frank Carandini Lee on 27 May 1922. After serving in the Second World War, he got his first acting break at the Rank studio. He has a small, uncredited part in Laurence Olivier’s version of Hamlet (1948) and can be seen in supporting roles in films such as Scott of the Antarctic (1948) and The Crimson Pirate (1952).

    It was his role as the mute monster in Hammer’s The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) that sent him on the path to stardom after he subsequently landed the suave, deadly lead in the studio’s follow-up, Dracula, the following year. Among the finest of his films for Hammer is the occult thriller The Devil Rides Out (1968).

    As recently as 2014, he was seen on screen in the last of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit films, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

    He was awarded a CBE in 2001 and made a BFI Fellow in 2013, after being presented with the honour by his friend Johnny Depp.

    Sir Christopher Lee dies at 93 | BFI

  6. #2956
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Jun 11, 8:17 AM EDT

    UK ACTOR RON MOODY, BEST KNOWN AS FAGIN, DIES AGED 91



    LONDON (AP) -- British actor Ron Moody, best known for playing Fagin in the 1968 film "Oliver!" has died aged 91.

    His agent said Moody, who received an Oscar nomination for best actor for his performance in the Charles Dickens adaptation, died in the hospital Thursday.

    The actor was born Ronald Moodnick in London, the son of Jewish immigrants. He studied at the London School of Economics and did not start acting until his university years.

    Moody played Fagin in the stage version of the musical "Oliver!" in the West End and on Broadway before starring in the film.

    He continued to have a long career in TV and film, including a role in the long-running soap opera EastEnders.

    He is survived by his widow and six children.

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    Jazz legend Ornette Coleman, 'free jazz' pioneer, dies at 85
    Associated Press
    Thursday, June 11, 2015 3:35pm



    NEW YORK — Jazz legend Ornette Coleman, the visionary saxophonist and composer who pioneered "free jazz" and won a Pulitzer Prize in 2007, has died.

    Publicist Ken Weinstein says Coleman died on Thursday at 1 a.m. in Manhattan. He was 85.

    The Texas-born Coleman was only the second jazz artist to win the Pulitzer in music when he was honored for his 2006 album Sound Grammar.

    Coleman is regarded as one of the greatest innovators in jazz history along with Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker. In the late 1950s, he originated "free jazz," challenging the bebop establishment by abandoning the conventional song form and liberating musicians to freely improvise off of the melody rather than the underlying chord changes. Coleman broke down the barrier between leader and sidemen, giving his band members freedom to solo, interact and develop their ideas.

    Though largely self-taught, Coleman would create his own "harmolodic" concept of music, which also became a life philosophy. The music derived from a uniquely free interaction between the musicians, without being tethered to rigid metric or harmonic structure.

    "I want everyone to have an equal relationship to the results," Coleman told the AP in a 2007 interview. "I don't tell them what or how to play. ... Sometimes the drum is leading, sometimes the bass is leading. ... I don't think I'm the leader, I'm just paying the bills."

    In his later years, the jazz revolutionary became a respected elder statesman with the accompanying honors, including membership in the elite American Academy of Arts and Letters, a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master award, and a Grammy lifetime achievement award, even though none of his recordings ever won a Grammy.

    "With his prodigious saxophone skills, improvisational prowess and innovative compositions, Ornette Coleman was a true pioneer of jazz in America," Neil Portnow, president and CEO of the Recording Academy, said in a statement.

    Coleman considered himself more than a jazz player. He journeyed to Morocco to play with the Master Musicians of Joujouka, performed with Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, and composed a concerto, Skies of America, that he recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra.

    Coleman said the title of his Pulitzer-winning album Sound Grammar referred to his life-long search to decode the universal musical language that crosses all borders.

    "To me sound is eternal … and there are still some notes that haven't been heard. I don't know where to find them, but I know they are there," Coleman said in the AP interview.

  8. #2958
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    Christopher Lee owned Dracula in film. "The Wicker Man" is an old fave of mine, too. RIP.

  9. #2959
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    You will never have heard of him but you will have seen his work!



    Last week, the typeface designer and calligrapher Hermann Zapf died at home in Germany, aged 96. If there was such a thing as rock star typographer, then Zapf would be it. His fonts are everywhere, from the Estée Lauder logo to war memorials. He’s the man behind Zapfino, the calligraphy font that changes as you type so the letters join up nicely (a lifeline for my barmitzvah thank-you cards).

    Yet Zapf’s most famous work contains no letters, but a series of stars, arrows, pointing fingers and fountain pen nibs. Zapf Dingbats was one of the first symbol-based fonts to be made available on laser printers, allowing everyone to use wacky bullet points in residents association minutes for ever more. Zapf Dingbats was an unusual symbol font: it had no thumbs up or thumbs down, but four different types of scissors and moe than 20 stars. It had no frowny face, but had a smiley face and a smiley face in inverse colours (perhaps a precursor to the current debate around the ethnicity of emoticons). Yet it marked the beginning of the use of symbols in word processing, changing for ever the way we speed-message our friends telling them we’re going to be late.

    I asked Thomas Phinney, a font and typography expert and vice president of FontLab, about Dingbats. He noted that Zapf’s influence is such that while he was writing to me he was served a bottle of water with a label written in Zapfino.

    “Symbol fonts such as Zapf Dingbats were especially handy in the early days of personal computing when integrating symbols and graphics into documents was harder,” he explains. “Because Zapf Dingbats was built into the first PostScript printers by Adobe, it became a standard. Among designers it achieved a legendary status when David Carson made an entire article about Bryan Ferry unreadable by setting it in Dingbats for Ray Gun magazine.”

    Apart from making dull music interviews fun, Zapf Dingbats would go on to heavily influence the Windows’ Wingdings which in turn created the building blocks for emoji, the globally used set of symbols popular the world over because of their easy integration in messaging and social media. Indeed some emojis – such as the peace sign and the smiley face – have come to take the same keyboard shortcuts as Zapf’s original versions.

    So here’s to Zapf, yes for his timeless contribution to typography and design, but also for his cool flower symbols you could use on birthday invitations.

  10. #2960
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    Ron Clarke, Olympian and former politician, dies aged 78

    Olympian, businessman and former politician Ron Clarke has died on the Gold Coast.
    The Australian running legend, former world record holder and Olympic medallist — who was honoured with both an AO and MBE — died after a short illness in a private hospital this morning aged 78.
    He is survived by his wife Helen, two sons and grandchildren.
    His daughter, Monique, died in 2009.
    Mr Clarke's death was confirmed by the Gold Coast City Council, of which he was mayor for eight years until 2012.
    Athletics Australia's Hall of Fame notes Mr Clarke, who grew up in Victoria, was credited with 19 official world records.


    "But in fact [he] set at least one more that the bureaucrats of stats weren't prepared to recognise," according to late journalist and sports historian Harry Gordon.
    While an undisputed champion runner, Mr Clarke is arguably among the lesser known of Australia's athletes because he never managed to win a gold medal.
    He won a silver medal in the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in the three mile event, a bronze medal in the 10,000-metre event at the 1964 Olympics and two silver medals at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in the three mile and six mile races.
    Athletics Australia records that in 1965, at the peak of his career, Mr Clarke competed 18 times in eight countries during a 44-day tour of Europe, setting 12 world records.

  11. #2961
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Wow...

    Clarke never won an Olympic gold medal despite officially breaking 17 world records and at one point holding records for every distance from two miles to 20 kilometres.

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    An interesting character!



    Kirk Kerkorian, the son of poor Armenian immigrants who used his gambler’s instincts to become a multibillionaire Las Vegas casino tycoon, Hollywood mogul, airline owner and auto industry investor, died at age 98.

    Kerkorian, who founded MGM Resorts International and was its largest shareholder, died in Los Angeles on Monday night, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

    He passed away after a brief illness, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

    Kerkorian had little formal education and dropped out of school at age 16. In his youth he was known as “Rifle Right Kerkorian” for his punching power as a small-time boxer. He would become an enduring American business heavyweight with a knack for placing winning bets in the corporate world.

    Last month, Forbes magazine estimated Kerkorian’s wealth at $4.2 billion after he took a hit on his investments in 2008, when the magazine said he was worth $16 billion.

    Three different times — in 1969, 1973 and 1993 — Kerkorian built the world’s biggest hotel in Las Vegas, the desert gambling capital where he first made his fortune in the 1950s and 1960s.

    On his way to becoming a casino magnate, he befriended “Rat Pack” stars Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and other Las Vegas headliners.

    Kerkorian owned some of the biggest and best-known Las Vegas hotels and casinos, at one time owning more than half the hotel rooms on the famous Las Vegas Strip. He also was instrumental in turning Las Vegas into a family destination rather than merely a naughty pleasure spot for adults.

    Kerkorian bought and sold the venerable MGM film studio three times, acquired the United Artists studio and tried to buy Columbia Pictures.

    Yet, even as a studio chief, he would stand in line to buy movie tickets at a theater with everyone else rather than attend private screenings.

    Kerkorian mounted high-stakes pursuits of US automakers but never acquired one. He twice tried to buy Chrysler, triggering a massive legal tussle, and made big investments in General Motors and Ford.

    He was a skilled aviator who flew dangerous missions delivering warplanes from Canada to Britain during World War Two and later opened a charter flight business serving gamblers wanting to get from Los Angeles to Las Vegas more quickly than a 10-hour drive.

    He began buying property in Las Vegas in 1962 after selling his charter airline, which he later repurchased, and was on his way to becoming a Las Vegas power player.

    “When you’re a self-made man you start very early in life,” Kerkorian once told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “… You get a drive that’s a little different, maybe a little stronger, than somebody who inherited.”

    He later bought and sold airlines including Western Airlines, started the failed luxury airline MGM Grand Air and launched an unsuccessful bid for Trans World Airlines.

    In the business world, he was known more for making a deal than for nurturing a company over the long haul, often taking a major risk, reaping the benefits and getting out. For example, MGM under Kerkorian often languished artistically and even sold off such items as its studio lot and movie props including Dorothy’s ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz.”

    “He’s a born gambler with a sixth sense for sniffing out value,” former auto executive Lee Iacocca, who joined Kerkorian in the unsuccessful Chrysler takeover bid in 1995, told the Los Angeles Times in 2005. “Doing deals is what keeps him alive.”

    Kerkorian agreed. “I’m a gambler at heart,” he told the Times. “That’s my life.”

    The only other person with a resume like his — an aviator and owner of an airline, film studio and Las Vegas casinos — was fabled billionaire recluse Howard Hughes, who died in 1976.

    Las Vegas lifestyle

    Kerkorian enjoyed the Las Vegas lifestyle, and his second wife was a Las Vegas showgirl. They had two daughters, Tracy and Linda, whose names he combined to create the name of his holding company, Tracinda, and his charity, the Lincy Foundation.

    Kerkorian remained vigorous into old age. He was an avid tennis player despite not starting until age 50, and liked to play lengthy doubles matches with friends in Beverly Hills.

    Kerkorian’s third wife was former women’s professional tennis player Lisa Bonder, who was 49 years younger than him. They were married for just 28 days in 1998 and went through a nasty 2002 child support fight.

    Court papers showed Bonder falsified a DNA sample in order to claim Kerkorian was the biological father of her daughter. DNA tests later revealed Hollywood producer Steve Bing as the father. A security guard working for Kerkorian nabbed dental floss from Bing’s trash to obtain the crucial DNA sample.

    Kerkorian testified in 2008 in the trial of his lawyer, Terry Christensen, who was convicted of conspiring to wiretap Bonder during the dispute. Bonder had sought $320,000 in monthly child support for her then-3-year-old daughter, including $144,000 for travel, $14,000 for parties and play dates, and $436 for care of the girl’s bunny and other pets.

    In 2014 the Las Vegas Sun reported that at age 96 Kerkorian had married Una Davis, who was many years younger.

    Kerkorian’s charitable work has included hundreds of millions of dollars in support of Armenia. He started providing medical and other supplies following a damaging 1988 earthquake in Armenia and helped build homes and repair infrastructure.

    Kerkorian avoided public events, usually shunned publicity and rarely spoke to the media but was not a recluse.

    He was born as Kerkor Kerkorian in Fresno, California, on June 6, 1917, the youngest of four children of Armenian immigrant parents. His family lost its farmland amid financial difficulties in the 1920s and he had to work to help out.

    Kerkorian was sent to reform school and dropped out at age 16. A friend with whom he worked installing furnaces changed his life by taking him on a flight in a single-engine plane. Kerkorian then paid for flying lessons with famous woman pilot Pancho Barnes by milking cows and shoveling manure at her ranch. His love of flight launched his business career.

    Kirk Kerkorian, Casino Tycoon, Movie Mogul, Auto Investor Dies at 98 - The Jakarta Globe

  13. #2963
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    bobo746's Avatar
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    Good sportsman & good bloke.

  14. #2964
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    Initially I read Kervorkian!

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    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by panama hat View Post
    Initially I read Kervorkian!
    He popped his clogs in 2011.

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    Quote Originally Posted by panama hat
    Initially I read Kervorkian!
    ha, ha, same here.

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    Rick Ducommun dies at 62; actor appeared in 'The 'Burbs,' 'Groundhog Day'



    Actor and comedian Rick Ducommun, who appeared in “Groundhog Day” and “Die Hard” but was best known for his role in the 1989 film "The 'Burbs," has died at the age of 62.

    Ducommun died at a hospital in Vancouver, Canada, after suffering from complications due to diabetes, his brother said Thursday.

    After "The 'Burbs," which became a cult classic, Ducommun was featured in "Gremlins 2: The New Batch," the Bill Murray hit "Groundhog Day" and "Ghost in the Machine."

    After dropping more than 200 pounds, he landed the role of Art Weingartner, the nosy neighbor to Tom Hanks in "The 'Burbs."

    Despite positive reaction to his work, the film was not a success, and Ducommun found himself continuing to perform stand-up comedy while occasionally doing film work, including an appearance in "Blank Check." He also had roles in "Little Monsters," ''Spaceballs," ''Die Hard," ''The Hunt for Red October," ''The Experts," ''The Last Boy Scout," ''Encino Man," ''Last Action Hero" and "Scary Movie."

    HBO produced a stand-up comedy special with Ducommun in 1989 called "Rick Ducommun: Piece of Mind," which was well-received, as was the follow-up, "Hit and Run" in 1992. Ducommun was a regular performer on the Comedy Channel, later renamed Comedy Central.

    "He was funny, talented and creative," said his brother, Peter Ducommun. "I think what people admired most was his stand-up. He was a comedian's comedian. Anyone who had the opportunity to see him live, loved his material."

    Born in Prince Albert, Canada, Ducommun was an avid skateboarder in the 1960s. Skateboarding was such a big part of their lives that they created Skull Skates, a skateboarding accessories company, in 1978. Ducommun was heavily involved in the company until his stand-up career started to take off and he moved to Los Angeles, his brother said.

    Peter Ducommun told the Associated Press that his brother stepped away from show business after starting a family. At the end of his life, he was living in Vancouver.

    He is survived by four children, his ex-wife, two brothers, a sister and his father.

    Rick Ducommun dies at 62; actor appeared in 'The 'Burbs,' 'Groundhog Day' - LA Times

  18. #2968
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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
    At the end of his life, he was living in Vancouver.
    No comment.

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    Quote Originally Posted by can123 View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
    At the end of his life, he was living in Vancouver.
    No comment.
    Which is actually a comment.

  20. #2970
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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by can123 View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
    At the end of his life, he was living in Vancouver.
    No comment.
    Which is actually a comment.
    Yes, but I didn't want to say "he was dying in Vancouver" as that would have been insensitive. Technically, at the end of his life he would have actually been dead so "dying" is inappropriate.

    Now look at what you made me do !

  21. #2971
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    Quote Originally Posted by can123
    Yes, but I didn't want to say "he was dying in Vancouver" as that would have been insensitive. Technically, at the end of his life he would have actually been dead so "dying" is inappropriate.

    Now look at what you made me do !
    You way over sensitive, dude. You left me thinking what you meant by 'no comment'. Now I have you figured. You're a canuck and that's the meaning of the first 3 letters of your nic, innit?

    Peoples: canucks are insecure.

  22. #2972
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    Quote Originally Posted by can123 View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by can123 View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
    At the end of his life, he was living in Vancouver.
    No comment.
    Which is actually a comment.
    Yes, but I didn't want to say "he was dying in Vancouver" as that would have been insensitive. Technically, at the end of his life he would have actually been dead so "dying" is inappropriate.

    Now look at what you made me do !
    How much of your day do you spend thinking about these things?

    In fairness, some of them do jump out at you. The pretty young Korean actress below died while skydiving in preparation for a film role.

    The report says: "Jung In Ah had been missing since going skydiving on June 13 and police believed she died from not landing properly when her parachute failed to deploy correctly."

    I mean there's all sorts of things wrong with that.


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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
    How much of your day do you spend thinking about these things?
    It is a curse. I read literally because I once worked as a proof reader for a Q.C. It was torture. Long story. He's dead now.

  24. #2974
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    Quote Originally Posted by wjblaney
    You left me thinking what you meant by 'no comment'.
    Have you considered the possibility of you not being very bright ?

  25. #2975
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    Quote Originally Posted by can123
    Have you considered the possibility of you not being very bright ?
    Yes or no: are yu a Candyian?

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