Paul Newman Dies at 83
Confirmed Paul Newman Dead at 83
Legendary actor Paul Newman dies at age 83
13 minutes ago
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A spokeswoman for screen legend Paul Newman says the actor has died at age 83.
Spokeswoman Marni Tomljanovic says Newman died Friday of cancer. No other details were immediately available.
Obituary: Paul Newman (1925 – 2008) « Fataculture
A confirmed Awards Daily report says that one of Hollywood’s true icons in every sense of the word who had been fighting a losing battle to cancer for a while now, Paul Newman, has finally lost the fight at the age of 83. This is the most devastating news ever, even though it has been a long time coming, it is still a huge blow for his family, friends, his enormous amount of fans and film lovers who idolise him and his unsurpassed contribution to the world of film, from his all time greats that I regard highly, “Cool Hand Luke,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “Rachel, Rachel,” “Hud,” “The Verdict,” “The Hustler” and even “The Sting,” and the official end of an era when Hollywood was at its peak.
i know we are all in shock and saddened, but the above blogger needs to stop, take a breath and insert period pauses.
Paul Newman dies at 83 - updated
Italian websites www.corriere.it and www.repubblica.it - respectively from noted newspapers Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica - are currently reporting the death of actor Paul Newman.
Paul Newman, 1925-2008 - Mad About Movies - The Oregonian - OregonLive.com
Fast Eddie Felson. Hud Bannon. Cool Hand Luke. Butch Cassidy. The guy in the race car. The guy on the salad dressing bottle. The blue-eyed dreamboat. The committed public citizen. The husband of a half-century. The father of six.
According to press releases from his his charitable organizations, Newman’s Own Foundation and the Hole in the Wall Gang Camps, Paul Newman died Friday at age 83 at his long-time home in Westport, Connecticut, and with his passing, more has been lost than just a good and fine man.
This was a good tribute and written by someone who remembers their English class lessons.
Spokeswoman Marni Tomljanovic said Newman died yesterday.
Newman finished chemotherapy treatment for cancer in August and it was widely reported in the US that he had only weeks to live.
In June this year, a neighbour and business partner said the actor told him about the disease the previous year.
In May, Newman pulled out of directing John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men for unspecified health reasons.
The actor’s representative Toni Howard had previously dismissed the cancer claims as simply “not true”.
Newman retired from acting in 2006 after a 50-year career that included Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969), The Sting (1971), The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963) and Cool Hand Luke (1967).
Newman was nominated for 10 Oscars, winning best actor for his role in The Color Of Money in 1986.
This is a moment of personal sadness too, but something many of us who follow Hollywood have seen coming for a long time. it looks to be a crappy Saturday weatherwise in many parts of the country, so I suggest taking the afternoon or this evening to sit back and relax with any number of great Paul Newman films. I have Butch and Sundance lined up for my afternoon.
Bo Knows
Like many thirty something white guys I got my first taste of Bo Diddley from Nike’s Bo Knows campaign. I had of course heard of his name being into music, but I didn’t know who he was. Bo Diddley has left this world this afternoon and it saddens me that my son isn’t old enough to know or really appreciate the music that I will no doubt be playing for the next several days non stop. Thankfully Katy understands and will be commisserating along with me. Bo Diddley, Bo Diddley Where have you gone?
As a performer with a sound all his own I can really describe how that music makes you feel. But I can tell you where we would be without that sound, a place that lacks good music. I think Father Guido once said it best Hell is a place with no music at all. That is what the industry would be without Bo.
Even if you aren’t a blues or Bo Diddley fan, the Bo Beat is no doubt part of at least one of your favorites songs. Just take a look at the partial list collected at Diddley Beat.
Tribute To Sydney Pollack
I woke up this morning to another Hollywood legend having left the world. The Talented Mr. Pollack has forever changed Lanes.
His greatest moment in film in my opinion is without a doubt Tootsie. Even twenty six years later, the film still stands. Not only is the direction wonderful, but Sydney’s role as Dustin Hoffman’s agent was fabulously played. Not only is the movie great, but without Hoffman in drag could we have ever accepted Bobby De Niro as Captain Shakespeare.
He never been one of my favorites, but his accomplishments deserve every firm honor we’ve paid him. There may be a mountain of film greats, but without Sydney Pollack, it has become a little colder.
Farewell To Another Pop Culture Icon
Though most of you don’t know the Edward Lorenz from Victor Lazlo he is just as much a figure in many of our modern movies and fiction. Edward Lorenz is now the late father of Chaos Theory, which is also better known to most of the world as the butterfly effect. it is hard to say how the 90 year olds death will spiral out into our world, but his life has changed many of us more than we know.
My first exposure to chaos theory came from the same source as many of had too, Jurassic Park. I remember getting the novel at Walden books when I was 16 and devouring it in a single sitting. I quickly found Ray Bradbury’s A Sound of Thunder through an insightful teacher’s pushing and nudging. Although the story came out a decade before Lorenz name the theory the principal is there. In a lesser way you could say I even experienced it before Jurassic Park, though in a very different way, from The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. Since then for me I have come to see Chaos Theory and The Butterfly Effect in a great many places. You can see it almost every Alternate History series from Eric Flint’s 1632 to most of Harry Turtledove’s work, especially in the Crosstime Series.
My personal favorite single book giving credit to the Butterfly Effect is S.M. Stirling’s Conquistador, in which which Alexander lived to a ripe old age and the World timeline played out very differently. My Favorite Series dealing with the subject is a toss up between Harry Harrison’s Hammer and Anvil in which the Vikings fair a lot better against England and the Church from the beginning. The other favorite here is Robert j Sawyers, Neanderthal Parallax in which a world where the Neanderthal survive and the humans don’t, discovers our world where it is just the opposite. This trilogy is so much more than just Chaos theory and one I whole heartedly even recommend to people say they don’t like science fiction.
The world has lost a brilliant thinker and pop culture has lost a behind the scenes icon. So in his honor pick up a book and read a little for fun to see where that little activity might take you. Please share what your life would have been without this lovely little theory that states small things over time produce big changes. For the record at the end of October I will have another little thing to spin my life in unforeseen directions.
A Farewell to Chuck
Last night at the Age of 84 we lost a fine actor, Charlton Heston. No matter what you might think of his political and religious leanings, Heston as he said so many times before was an actor first. Whether you choose to think of him parting the Red Sea, in a chariot at the Roman chariot races, or snarling at a talking ape to get their dirty damned paws off him, he was a fine actor. Though we haven’t seen much from him in recent years.
It Smelled Like Teen Spirit
April 5, 2008 by poptart
Filed under American Idol, Farewell, Music
For some the day the music died was in was in February 3, 1959, for me it was April 5, 1994. One can not make very many accurate comparisons between Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, or the Big Bopper and Kurt Cobain save to say they were musical geniuses who left us way too soon. I am sitting here listening to a crystal clean copy of bleach on mp3 instead of the hissing and popping of my long lamented lost white vinyl copy of Bleach and I some how feel dirty, I feel as if I have some how raped the music and sold the world.
I found Kurt and Nirvana much sooner than most people had. My friend Eric’s dad had brought back a copy of the Tupelo release from England which I later inherited when Jenny Harmon out for him. It was a good trade in my opinion even if I later found she put out on the first date and had a thing for me since the fourth grade. Oh well he got herpes from her and I got Bleach from him. Grunge was where it was at for me and Kurt was the leader of the band. In total I had exactly 1666 days or if you prefer 4 years 6 months and 24 days with Kurt making music for me. I was 19 and a pivotal point in my life as many 19 year olds are. I was sitting in the dining hall after a long day of classes at Ripon College. I don’t remember what I was eating when my roommate Will and his girlfriend Andrea came to the table and broke the news to a very shocked group. We spent the night getting drunk listening to Nirvana until the wee hours of the morning. Where were you?
In the past 5114 days I have tried to find a replacement for what I have lost without success. I have heard many fine musicians and a lot of awful ones, but no one fills my heart shaped box like Kurt. Be it distorted guitar riffs or something acoustic from a rocking chair, it is only a pale imitation. I know times change my parents didn’t get grunge, I know there didn’t get Zeppelin or the Doors. However 14 years later if David Archuleta is what teen spirit now smells like we need to grab these kids and scrub them raw with harsh bleach to eliminate the stink of corporate consumerism…
Arthur C Clarke Tribute
March 19, 2008 by poptart
Filed under Books & Literature, Farewell
The best tribute we can pay to Arthur C Clarke today is by not reading his own works, of which there are many, but to read the works of living authors who continue to pushing the genre into the realm of tomorrow.
These are some of my favorites Authors in the genre and links to their websites, wikis, and blogs. I hope you enjoy
- Kevin J Anderson
- Stephen Baxter
- Ben Bova
- Michael Crichton
- Ellen Datlow
- Bill Eakin
- Philip Jose Farmer
While My Dice Gently Weep
Just a little while ago I saw the news of Gary Gygax’s death and my inner geek began to cry. Gary, who helped create Dungeons and Dragons and TSR, passed today. Rolling a big blue marbled d100 he missed his saving throwing and met his end at the age of 69 against an onslaught of unseen magical attacks that had caused multiple strokes and a near heart attack.
Gary has been active in the RPG industry since the beginning and he will be greatly missed. Let us all take a moment to hold our breath, grind the die in our hand, and make one simultaneous roll to open the gates of the netherworld announcing as loudly as possible his passing into the parted but not forgotten realms of gaming history.
