The R.I.P. Thread

[rtpoe]

The NY Post had a number of comments from people on Joe Pa. The one that really sticks in my mind is from a college football player:

"[During recruting], Joe Paterno called me and talked to me not about football, but about life. And what Penn State had to offer my life. Even though I wound up going to Michigan State, he was the only coach to call me afterwards and wish me luck."

[Palomine]

I find the deification of a college football coach a bit hard to understand... and it's nothing to do with his admitted failure to stop a serial chi1d r@pist. Even if that had never happened at Penn State I'd still find all this over-the-top hyping of his career bordering on absurd and unseemly. JMHO... I know the game is practically a religion to some... sadly, I think that does more to diminish actual sincere religious devotion than it does to elevate sporting pursuits. But whatever.

On a different subject, here's some new entries for the R.I.P. thread... all recently/effectively ceased within the past week or two for the most part:

Megaupload
Filesonic
Wupload (not quite fully deceased yet, but getting there)
Uploaded.to (dead to U.S. users)
Ultrafiles
Uploadstore.net
 

[Robin_K]

RIP Dick Tufeld, voice of the robot in "Lost in Space."

[pedonbio]

Robert Hegyes, who played "Epstein" on "Welcome Back, Kotter", died Thursday at 60:

[solvegas]

With the exception of Travolta, none of the others from the " Welcome back Kotter " series did any good.

[DruulEmpire]

"Juan Epstein does what!?  To who!?"

[SamV]

I find the deification of a college football coach a bit hard to understand... and it's nothing to do with his admitted failure to stop a serial chi1d r@pist. Even if that had never happened at Penn State I'd still find all this over-the-top hyping of his career bordering on absurd and unseemly. JMHO... I know the game is practically a religion to some... sadly, I think that does more to diminish actual sincere religious devotion than it does to elevate sporting pursuits. But whatever.

It wasn't simple because JoePa was the football coach that earned him such respect. It was everything else the man did during his life, like his overwhelming support for the Penn State University, and how he advanced both academics and athletics at the school, the way he conducted himself, and much much more that resulted in the high regard so many had for the man. Consider it a bit of the George Bailay "no man is a failure if he has friends" effect, which is especially true at the end of a person's life as all those he touched or helped in some way are willing to come and honor this person. That's who all these people are there for, and not just the coach of a college football team, though he was that too. We should all be so fortunate to have that kind of positive affect on so many others in our lives.  

[Palomine]

It wasn't simple because JoePa was the football coach that earned him such respect. It was everything else the man did during his life, like his overwhelming support for the Penn State University, and how he advanced both academics and athletics at the school, the way he conducted himself, and much much more that resulted in the high regard so many had for the man. Consider it a bit of the George Bailay "no man is a failure if he has friends" effect, which is especially true at the end of a person's life as all those he touched or helped in some way are willing to come and honor this person. That's who all these people are there for, and not just the coach of a college football team, though he was that too. We should all be so fortunate to have that kind of positive affect on so many others in our lives.  

I don't doubt for a moment that he had a positive effect on folks at Penn State over his career... the public gnashing of teeth following his dismissal made it clear how strongly students, etc... there feel about college football in general and him in particular. I just find the degree to which he's being lauded unseemly: it's college sports, not a curing cancer or even just making empowering technology accessible to millions (i.e.: Steve Jobs... the public mourning in his case also seemed over the top, but at least his work affected/influenced millions, so maybe the scale of his impact justified it). And not to be a hard-ass, but no matter how good Joe's 'character' seems to have been, it doesn't change the fact that he knew someone was r@ping y0ung b0ys and did very little to get it stopped. To me, that indicates questionable character... for some personal reason of his own, he effectively chose inaction and as a result, more chi1dren were severely damaged.

[pedonbio]

Can anyone, including Penn State graduates, name a professor at, or graduate of Penn State who has won a Nobel?

--Note: There was one alum from 1948, if that helps.

[TheZookie007]

LA Times: "Dick Tufeld dies at 85; actor who intoned 'Danger, Will Robinson!'

[gOOber]

Don Cornelius, who with the creation of "Soul Train" helped break down racial barriers with cutting edge style, died early Wednesday of an apparent suicide. He was 75.

I always watched that show. Peace, love and soul.

[luvdemwhoppers]

Angelo Dundee was there, at age 90

[Zorro]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Ben Gazzara, known for his brooding tough-guy presence in dozens of films, television shows and stage productions over his long career, died of pancreatic cancer on Friday at a Manhattan hospital, his lawyer said. He was 81.
A three-time Tony nominee for his stage work, Gazzara made his big break into films with his role as an accused killer in Otto Preminger's 1959 courtroom drama "Anatomy of a Murder."
He went on to work with numerous high-profile Hollywood directors, including John Cassavetes, with whom he collaborated on several films, including the 1976 gangster drama "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie."

[DruulEmpire]

Zorro, thanks.  Wild to think that nowadays he may be best recalled as the villain in the guilty pleasure that is "Road House," but of course some of us recall him as Paul Bryan, the man who was told he didn't have long to live and so turned his life into the TV adventure "Run For Your Life."  Back then people used titles more rousing than "The Bucket List."  Of course, as his TV life gained audience interest, his death was staved off.  I like to think of this as the Gazzara-Cranston principle.  (Hey, wait a minute -- Cranstons's first name is Bryan!  Freaky ... )

[Soflobro]

Last WWI vet passes away. *Taps*

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46297110/ns/world_news-europe/t/time-my-life-last-known-wwi-veteran-dies

[luvdemwhoppers]

Road house makes me think of Patrick, man was he a great actor , dancer, human beingfolk

[TheZookie007]

Unconfirmed reports say that Whitney Houston has died.

[DruulEmpire]

And I ... will always love her.

Seriously.

[CarlTL]

Unconfirmed reports say that Whitney Houston has died.

Confirmed 

[Aficianado]

Yes, from 8:30 p.m. Sat., Feb. 11, the cable tv news channels are totally devoted to this story.  Her publicist announced it, dead at age 48; no cause of death given.  Someone is quoted, the Grammy Awards show, scheduled for tomorrow night, "will probably be turned into a memorial for her" (with comments from people who get on stage).

[gOOber]

 I had no idea she was Dionne Warwick's cousin.

/like me some Dionne Warwick

[TheZookie007]

Dionne's her cousin, Cissy Houston's her mom, and her godmother is Aretha Franklin. She was gospel/R&B/pop royalty.

[luvdemwhoppers]

Life is fragile, some bend better before breaking  better than others / untimaely we all break        RIP Whitney

[solvegas]

Met Ms Houston briefly when she stayed at the Luxor about 13 years ago. She was not kind to hotel staff, acted as a total bitch and they did damage to the suite they were staying in. I had to do that report and while she and her entourage could have easily paid for the damages ( which we strictly enforce on others ) they walked away paying nothing. What struck me at the time was their super inflated sense of entitlement in which they don't expect to follow the same rules as the rest and therefore they have profound comptempt for the rest of us. Why they were allowed to trash the place and management did nothing is something which angers me to this time. Yes, she was / is a Diva and therefore I guess she has extra priviledges. But why does this type of behavior have such little consequences for these Hollyweird people ? Anyways, the person I and many of my fellow employees met was haughty and comptemptuos and I can't say, honestly, that I will miss the bitch. Gorgeous voice and incredible musical talent I do admit she had at one time years ago.

[rtpoe]

I'd be surprised if drugs *didn't* have something to do with it.

[pedonbio]

Met Ms Houston briefly when she stayed at the Luxor about 13 years ago. She was not kind to hotel staff, acted as a total bitch and they did damage to the suite they were staying in. I had to do that report and while she and her entourage could have easily paid for the damages ( which we strictly enforce on others ) they walked away paying nothing. What struck me at the time was their super inflated sense of entitlement in which they don't expect to follow the same rules as the rest and therefore they have profound comptempt for the rest of us. Why they were allowed to trash the place and management did nothing is something which angers me to this time. Yes, she was / is a Diva and therefore I guess she has extra priviledges. But why does this type of behavior have such little consequences for these Hollyweird people ? Anyways, the person I and many of my fellow employees met was haughty and comptemptuos and I can't say, honestly, that I will miss the bitch. Gorgeous voice and incredible musical talent I do admit she had at one time years ago.

solvegas, I'd heard essentially the same from some folks who have tried to work with her and make her life easier. In my humble experience, it isn't the Hollywood part, but assholes are assholes wherever they sprout. Bob Dylan is another.

[rtpoe]

"Gary figured it out way before we did how to treat people. We used to make fun of him, the way he'd sign every damn autograph. We had to hold the bus for him sometimes, because he didn’t know how to say no. He didn’t want to say no. But you know what? He was right. He really loved the game." - Wally Backman, Mets teammate

Just before being inducted into the Hall of Fame, helping with the Top 10 List on Letterman

The Expos retire his number

"Gary Carter was the Expos. He was baseball. He was Montreal." - Jamie Nicholls, Canadian politician

[TheZookie007]

solvegas, I'd heard essentially the same from some folks who have tried to work with her and make her life easier. In my humble experience, it isn't the Hollywood part, but assholes are assholes wherever they sprout. Bob Dylan is another.

I just heard that Tim Allen is another.

[pedonbio]

How could I have missed this?

Barney Rosset, owner of Grove Press, died last Tuesday at 89.

Up to the 1970s the publishing business was a mine field; Barney went looking for mines and disarmed them. Prosecuted dozens of times, he published D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover and Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer. He arranged the distribution of the Swedish film, I Am Curious (Yellow) and the publication of The Autobiography of Malcolm X. He published virtually all the work of the Beat poets.

He effectively ended the prosecution of text-only publications. He had the distinction of being denounced by most politicians, Life magazine, and the Saturday Evening Post. He did his work because he loved it, he did as much as any member of his generation to redefine what we think of as free expression, and his only regret was that he never cashed in on the porn industry he made possible, and Grove Press eventually went under.

EDIT: He did all that without benefit of Bill Douglas on the SCOTUS. One of Rosset's pet projects was a literary magazine known as Evergreen Review. Douglas had had an article published in the E.R. early on and considered it a conflict of interest to vote in cases involving Rosset. As a measure of how the ethical sense of Supreme Court justices has fallen, the justice who used to work for Monsanto refuses to recuse himself from cases involving Monsanto.

[Zorro]

Singer Davy Jones of The Monkees has died of a heart attack at 66, the medical examiner's office in Martin County, Fla., has confirmed to NBC News.
A statement issued by the medical examiner's office says that Jones complained Wednesday morning that he wasn't feeling well and was having trouble breathing. He was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No suspicious circumstances surrounded his death, and his family has been notified. He is survived by his wife, Jessica, and four daughters.

[luvdemwhoppers]

Da grim reaper strikes every day, we just don't know who/ this is sad news indeed, hey hey we're the monkeys

[gOOber]

Da grim reaper strikes every day, we just don't know who

[rtpoe]

Singer Davy Jones of The Monkees has died of a heart attack at 66, the medical examiner's office in Martin County, Fla., has confirmed to NBC News.

Since they were created solely for TV, The Monkees tend not to get a great deal of respect. But they pioneered the music video, and they fought for and eventually won creative control of their music.

They may not have wrote their own songs or started out playing their own instruments, but then, how many acts do? I think it's all jealousy. Four performers of modest talent got success handed to them on a silver platter, and all the other musicians who had to work hard to achieve even a modest success can't stand that.

[solvegas]

To be honest, when this old Navy man  first heard Davy Jones was dead I thought " well, Davy Jone's locker is at the bottom of the sea. " and then it clicked. I remember the old show when it came out and my older sister thought he was so cute. He sure wasn't that old. And Goober, reminding us about Keith Richards is so topical  .

[3deroticer]

To be honest, when this old Navy man  first heard Davy Jones was dead I thought " well, Davy Jone's locker is at the bottom of the sea. " and then it clicked. I remember the old show when it came out and my older sister thought he was so cute. He sure wasn't that old. And Goober, reminding us about Keith Richards is so topical  .

I thought Keith Richard was going to die 30 years ago! But at his age it must be hell to be able to put mascara on that wrinkle face! That alone would kill me!