Ace is So Sad. How Sad Is He?

If that title seems really random to you, that makes it clear that you didn't watch one of the greatest game shows of all time: Match Game. While it had multiple versions (they changed the year number and incorporated a night version), two things were pretty constant about the show: Brett Somers and Charles Nelson Reilly held down the top row.

While Richard Dawson was on the lower road and loved by all of the women, Brett and Charles pretty much delivered all of the comic relief. Their detachment from the actual show as well as the fact that Charles Nelson Reilly smoked a pipe made the show an enjoyment to watch. If you are asking how I watched a show that ended before I was born, I only have three words for you: Game Show Network.

But, this is not about my television habits, this is a mourning post. Charles Nelson Reilly passed a few years ago. Now, Brett Somers has passed too. It's a sad, sad day indeed.

Photo Source

A Final Pound

This past weekend, the 4th to be exact, Lee Hazlewood succumbed to cancer at the age of 78. Lee Hazlewood is best known for being huge in Sweden and writing one of the most popular songs of the sixties, Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Were Made For Walking". Hazlewood was also huge amongst the alternative community. I can't tell you how many versions I've heard of Some Velvet Morning, his duet with Nancy Sinatra. But, with due reason of course as it is an amazing song. As he rides out on his horse into the sunset, I say peace to Lee Hazlewood.

Post 500: Another Important Death

So, apparently this week, all of my favorite people have decided to die. The innovator of the West Coast Offense in Bill Walsh. The Swedish filmmaking genius Ingmar Bergman. Now, I have another personally tragic death to report. Michelangelo Antonioni, one of the filmmakers of the 1960's along with Federico Fellini who made Italian film relevant again on the international stage, has passed on. He was 94 years old.

I think along with Bergman, Antonioni is one of my favorite directors of all-time. His movies were always deep, penetrating studies on the culture around us and how we exist within it and within ourselves. His pace was always slow, but that was the beauty of it. The slowness gives the viewer time to think about decisions the characters would make and work themselves into their positions. If anything, the pace made for better films. The picture above is from the last film in his early 60's trilogy L'Eclisse (The Eclipse). This trilogy also includes one of my all-time favorite films in L'Avventura, a study about how one finds love and what love can do to the heart.

While Antonioni was not one of the strongest writers in film history, he was without question one of the best, if not the best, aesthetes in the industry. His crisp frames, tracking techniques, and perfectly lethargic style with the camera have influenced many filmmakers since him. He was amongst the best to draw out emotions from pure aesthetics. The traces of his influence can be seen, most obviously, in the work of Sofia Coppola and Mike Mills. And traces of his aesthetics can be seen in many other films as well. While he has not made a film in a while, his films are already considered classics and will continue to be such for years and years to come. And, with that, I say Ciao! to Signor Antonioni.

A Final Pound

This pound goes out to football legend Bill Walsh. Winner and innovator, Walsh introduced the now-popular West Coast Offense to an unsuspecting NFL. He also took a chance on an unknown prospect from Mississippi Valley State named Jerry Rice. I don't know what happened to that guy. Anyway, he will be missed. He is a legend of the game.

A Death in the Film World

I have sad news. Ingmar Bergman, the Swedish master of the Cinema, has passed away at the age of 89. For some, this might have no resonance or importance at all. For those people, all I have to say is watch The Seventh Seal, a deeply provocative and pondering film about the meaning of life, sacrifice, and death. It is one of the few films that consistently sticks with me as a film viewer. Its images were evocative and the infamous chess game is a fitting visual metaphor for the struggles that we all face as humans in this transient life.

Bergman is best known for the work that he has done in examining the human spirit. While many of the filmmakers of his time are also known for this, Bergman's films stand out for their raw, visceral intensity and their powerful beauty. Working with his longtime collaborator cinematographer Sven Nykvist, Bergman produced some of my favorite movies on the human condition in Scenes from a Marriage, which, in painstaking detail, shows the utter collapse of an otherwise happy marriage, and Cries and Whispers, a film that shows the effects of death on a familial relationship. Bergman's impact can be seen in the work of Woody Allen, who was greatly influenced by Bergman and, in particular, Husbands and Wives, which shares thematic elements with Scenes from a Marriage.

While he has not been active in film making for a long period now, his works are internationally and infinitely significant. Some will call him obtuse and with fair cause. But, those who are willing to look deeply within the films will come out with greater understanding of their own lives and a grand appreciation for the work done by Bergman. Now that he and Sven are playing chess elsewhere, I have to say goodbye to the man who influenced me a lot as an aesthetician and say that he will be greatly missed.

Death To A Lady Bird

Lady Bird Johnson passed today. She was 94 years old. She passed peacefully in her own home in Austin. She brought environmentalism to the forefront and was one of the best women to ever call 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW home. She will be missed. One.

R.I.P. AND PSA

This is Hi-Five. If you didn't grow up listening to Black urban radio, this song might lost upon you. Anyway, this is I like the way. This song was the jam. They were like the replacement New Edition or Boyz II Men or Jodeci, but I'm getting away from my point. Today, it was reported that the lead member of the group Tony Thompson died. Thompson, age 31, died from huffing freon. This is not a joke. This dude seriously huffed freon. Kids, I hope this serves as a valuable lesson for not huffing. While 7th Heaven might have tried to tell you this, the WB was alarmist and had a clear, right-wing agenda*. This is real shit. Don't do it.

*7th Heaven always struck me as having a right wing agenda, along with a lot of the other shows. This is clearly refuted by the support given to Gilmore Girls, a show that revolves around a single mother and her daughter. But, I need an inflammatory comment to end on. I think I achieved that.

Yet Another RIP

RIP Bobby "Boris" Pickett, writer of "Monster Mash." This blog has become a list of deaths for some reason. That's vaguely morbid, but seemingly appropriate. Anyway, I'm pouring out for him.

Pour Another One

David Halberstam. Fantastic Writer. Pulitzer Prize Winner. VIPs always die in 3s.

Pouring a Little Out

Boris Yeltsin. Kicked the Bucket. He was the first Russian President following the Fall of the Soviet Union. He did a lot of funny things, and I have no real idea about what he did as I'm not an international relations person. I studied Black people in college; Russians are a bit out of my range. An example of one funny thing that he did:



I'm pouring a little out for you, Boris.

R.I.P.

Kirk Vonnegut. American Author. Died at age 84. He will be missed.