The passing of an artist who drew dreams

On Mar 3 2012, at the age of 82, another icon slipped away from us. Ralph McQuarrie was a technical illustrator who worked on animating CBS’s coverage of the Apollo space program. He helped to make George Lucas’ vision of a space serial understandable to a lot of people who couldn’t follow what George wanted to do. His images form the backbone of the entire Star Wars saga, as well as many other movies from our youth – ET, Cocoon, Indiana Jones, and Jurassic Park, as well as Battlestar Galactica.

I never had the chance to meet him but always felt an affinity towards him – having taking drafting and art. He set a high mark to strive for.
The world is a little more empty due to his passing. His impact while he was here touched so many of us in so many ways that you would have thought that his passing would have been a major news item.

http://www.ralphmcquarrie.com/

A maritime flower puts down roots in prairie soil

It’s hard to believe that’s it’s only been a week since Shan’s mom passed away. She had been in the hospital for a little over a week following stomach cancer surgery and it had been looking like she was making a good recovery. She had progressed to solid foods and was walking around. She seemed to be almost back to her old self even though it still hurt to laugh.

She had an infection but was being treated for it. Shan’s sister had come in for the week and had left on the Friday. We had seen her on the Sunday and she was doing well. The infection had delayed her release but she was expected to be out by the end of the next week.
Then we got the call on Tuesday that she had been sick and they took her in to surgery and that the family should come see her. She did well in surgery and she was expected to recover well. Instead of being out that week, they then expected to hold on to her until the end of the month for recovery.
However, we got another call that night saying that she had taken a turn for the worse. It looked grim. Another surgery was done early Wednesday morning. She had not been expected to survive this surgery, but she did. Again, it was looking promising but she was still expected to be out for the day and we were sent home to get some rest.
We got a call from the hospital at 8 recommending that we come in to see her that morning by 10. Then we got another call telling us to come in right away. We got there and her organs were shutting down. They took her off the life support and she died shortly afterwards.



She was a great lady. I remember her as having a good sense of humor and being quite ‘crafty’. She helped with the costumes we made, and also made photo collages of the families. She was always skinny and had lost even more weight this last year. She had suffered a stroke a few years ago and still hadn’t fully recovered.

The kids will deeply miss the time they used to spend with her during spring break and during the summer. I will miss her deeply. I cannot imagine how hard it must be for Shan or her dad. We were over at their house last week to help clear up matters – it was easier as they had preplanned a lot of it but it was still hard to go through things. In going through her computer files, she had been working on a book of her life and memories - up to about 2005 - the title is above.

We will miss her dearly. Words cannot properly express the loss we feel.

oh, and another thing

Peter Falk died.

He will be known forever as the rumpled detective Columbo. I remember watching him when I was young and watched the movies when they brought him back. As Colombo, he was always underestimated and yet kept plugging away at the inconsistencies until he revealed the killer. Even with the glass eye and gravelly voice, he was a true star. I will miss both him and his character.

William – destiny fulfilled

On December 23, 2010, our pet cavy, William passed away. He has been sick for the last week and finally gave in. He leaves behind his cagemate Peter, who currently seems to be in fine health. I expect he is enjoying the extra space but is probably missing the companionship.

It was a bit of a trauma for the kids – being the first pet they have lost in recent years. On the plus side, it was while we were home to deal with it and before Christmas eve or Christmas.


Arguably, pets provide companionship and help teach responsibility. However, their greatest contribution is often exposing kids to mortality. In giving their all, they help to explain the finiteness of life. William has fulfilled all these destinies.

Life move pretty fast - if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it

John Hughes died on Aug 6. He had been the writer for a bunch of formative movies from my youth. While I wasn’t a big fan of Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, or the Home Alone movies, the Vacation movies, Mr Mom, Uncle Buck, the Great Outdoors and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles all were great fun.

The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, and Career Opportunities were favorites and Some Kind of Wonderful and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off both are in my top films. I saw most of these in the theatre when they came out and have SKOW and FBDO as DVDs.

He had a way of writing realistic dialog that resonated with us at the time and still holds up well. He helped create the Brat Pack of actors that still hold a dear place in our hearts. We hadn’t really seen much from him lately (it seems that he had been working lately under an alias – Edmond Dantes) so we’ve been missing him for a while already. His passing just guarantees that we won’t see anything more from him – just from those that he helped inspire.

a busy week for the Grim Reaper

Ed McMahon died on June 23. Some remember him as the host of Star Search or from waiting for him to delivery the Publisher's Clearing House prize, but I remember him as the announcer from the Tonight Show when Johnny Carson was the host and from the Al Yankovich song "Here's Johnny."

Farah Fawcett died June 25. She was one of the original Charlie's Angels, replaced by Cheryl Ladd. She was also famous for her posters - most remember her from her red bathing suit one by I remember my cousin Kevin had the one of her on the bike. She was a babe who also played some pretty serious roles - like the Burning Bed and Saturn-3.

Both will probably be overshadowed by the death of Michael Jackson on June 25.
Say what you want about his plastic surgeries or his penchant for hanging out with monkeys and kids, he also played a major part in the music and entertainment of our youth. People tried to dress like him - with the red leather outfit and the one glove; tried to act like him - from the moonwalk to the crotch grab; and people tried to sing like him.
His impact on the then-fresh vidoes was immense - Bill Jean, Bad, Ebony and Ivory, not to mention Thiller. I've been trying to get a copy on DVD of Thriller - especially with the Making of Special with John Landis. As a Werewolf in London and Vincent Price fan, the Thriller video and song had a big impact on my youth.

one less David

Last week we also lost David Eddings. I did read and enjoy his novels High Hunt (the line “I always pack my .38s” still cracks me up) and the Losers, but I first encountered him through the Belgariad – a fantasy series of 5 novels. I quite enjoyed the series and thought the sequel, the Malloreon – another series of 5 novels, was a familiar visit with old friends. I think the maps were what first drew me to it. I always have a soft spot for a good map. The world was very in-depth and the different races/countries were well thought out. I’m going to have to check to ensure I have the three extra books - Belgarath the Sorcerer, Polgara the Sorceress, and The Riven Codex and read the whole lot again.

Goodbye Grasshopper

It sounds like David Carradine died last week on June 3 at the age of 72. I remember watching him in Kung Fu when I was younger. I recently picked up Season 1. It seems that there were only three seasons made. I will have to track down the other two seasons and watch them through.

I used to bear him a bit of enmity for getting the role of Kwai Chang Caine over Bruce Lee but have since relented. I also remember him in several roles from Circle of Iron – which I recommend. He also starred in Death Race 2000 (a cheesy-but-fun 70s race film), and had a small cameo in the new Death Race film (which is basically Car Wars - the movie - and also fun).

We also have one of his Tai Chi tapes that I still use from time to time.
Too bad. With Kill Bill, his career was on a solid comeback.

Blackmoor no more

I’m a bit delayed with this – so most of you might already be aware that Dave Arneson passed away on April 7, 2009. While not getting the same reaction in the gaming community as the passing of Gary Gygax, Dave’s passing was still noted.

He didn’t get the same name recognition as Gygax, but his Blackmoor campaign was the basis for Dungeons & Dragons with Gary’s Chainmail rules.

When we met him at Gencon he was very personable and friendly. We had tried to bring him up to Wincon for a few years. He cancelled twice due to his health and once because he was going to Prague to help with the Dungeons & Dragons movie. We joked that we had to stop inviting him in an effort to help keep him healthy. When we met him at Gencon after this, he was at the D&D movie booth and showing off the props.

Who is number 1? Khan!

Yesterday we lost Ricardo Montalban and Patrick McGoohan.

Ricardo always had a great accent and wonderful way of rolling his words. Some will remember him as Mr Roarke from Fantasy Island or even as Khan from Star Trek, some will remember his car ads touting “rich Corinthian leather”. My kids will remember him as the voice of Senor Senior Sr from Kim Possible.
To me, I remember him in Neptune’s Daughter singing one version of “Baby, it’s cold outside”.
According to wiki, he remained a Mexican citizen his entire life and received a Knighthood in the Order of St Gregory the Great.


Wiki lists Patrick McGoohan as being American born but raised in England and Ireland. He will be remembered as Danger Man/Secret Agent to most but I don’t recall seeing any of them. He was Number 6 in the Prisoner which I did see and enjoy, but to me he’ll always remain Dr Syn alias the Scarecrow from The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh. Since those first aired on Disney in 1963 before I was born, I must have seen a rerun some time later.

I have the novelization of the show and really enjoyed the nod to him in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in the paintings of the earlier Leagues. I was looking forward to having them finally released on DVD sometime but it seems that Dr Syn finally came out quietly in November 2008.

Now I just have to track down a copy. I’ll put it on my list.

Bye Bye old blue eyes

Paul Newman died on Sept 26 at the age of 83. I never met him but he was in my favorite movie – The Sting. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was a classic and always fun to watch but I usually try to watch the Sting whenever it’s on. I happened to catch it again Friday night before I had heard that he had died. It still holds up quite well.

I am too young to have actually caught it in the theatre but did see it on TV numerous times in my youth. When I used to stay up late, I would still catch it whenever I could. I still have to pick it up on DVD yet.

Time to go?

I’ve been playing around with the deathclock a bit - see http://www.deathclock.com/ . It’s been on the web for years - I’ve known about it for a while but like to check back every now and then. It came up the other day while I was explaining actuarial tables.

Even if you’re not interested in finding out statistically how long you have left, there is also a BMI or Body Mass Indicator function on the page to let you know your BMI. For my height of 6’2” and weight of 235, I have a BMI of 30 – which puts me in the obese range. If I drop a few pounds down to 225, I drop in to the prone-to-health-risks range with a BMI of 29. I stay in this range until I drop down to 190, at which point I get into the desirable range with a BMI of 24. Considering that I was 180 back when I was in university, it’s unlikely that I’ll be able to drop that much.

On the bright side, the BMI seems to have a minimal effect on the actual life expectancy. On normal level, it gives me a death date of Monday, April 8, 2041. Even by dropping down to 200 lbs, it only gives me an extra year with a date of April 8 2042. This date doesn’t change further with any change in BMI.
It also gives you the option for optimistic, pessimistic, and sadistic. With sadistic I’m already on borrowed time, pessimistic has me going on Jan 20 2019 if I keep my BMI at 30 or on Feb 3 2026 with a BMI of 25.

passing - George Carlin

On June 22, at age 71, we lost the wit and musings of George Carlin. I remember listening to his Wonderful WINO Radio on a cassette of classic comedy when I was a child. Recently, I had read some of his books. He always had an interesting view on life. I will miss his observations and word analysis. We will have to pick up some of his albums to share with the kids – when they’re a bit older.

missing Stan Winston

Another one of the f/x legends has died. Stan Winston passed away on June 15. He was responsible for many of the iconic films of my generation – The Thing, Aliens, the Terminator films, the Predator films, the Jurassic Park films, up to Iron Man. His bio also lists him as designing the Mr Roboto mask for Styx and making the Wookie costumes for the Star Wars Holiday special. His innovation and creativity will be deeply missed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Winston
http://www.stanwinston.com/

Gary Gygax gone

Gary Gygax passed away today. When we met him at Gencon, he seemed like an okay person. We'll miss him and can never really thank him enough for basically creating (with Dave Arneson) the RPG hobby that I enjoyed so much.
http://wkbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=7963395
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Gygax

We'll move your character sheet to the binder of dead PCs.