Obituaries

[hngkong]

This one made me feel hollowed out pretty bad.

[Mongrel]

Aw what.

Pee Wee's big adventure is one of the first couple movies I can remember seeing in an actual theatre. Danny Elfman's Breakfast theme is a permanent part of my brain, as is Pee-Wee's trademark HAHA!

[beatbandito]

Paul Reubens hurts a bit. But at least he was able to come back from the dumb public indecency thing and get back to the spot he belongs in the media consciousness before going.

[Mongrel]

Paul Reubens hurts a bit. But at least he was able to come back from the dumb public indecency thing and get back to the spot he belongs in the media consciousness before going.

Yeah, and have at least a good few years of being in that spot to enjoy as well. That always felt like such a rough beat because that was in the very last few years where getting arrested for being at a porno theatre would ever even be a thing.

70 is still kinda young though.

Also I have a very minor peeve in that not one article mentioned Mystery Men or Buffy. >:[

[Thad]

Paul Reubens hurts a bit. But at least he was able to come back from the dumb public indecency thing and get back to the spot he belongs in the media consciousness before going.

I was just thinking he and O'Connor had something in common in that in both cases the news media got their story very wrong and they suffered unfairly for it, but the public eventually came around to their side.

Yeah, and have at least a good few years of being in that spot to enjoy as well. That always felt like such a rough beat because that was in the very last few years where getting arrested for being at a porno theatre would ever even be a thing.

By the time Fred Willard got busted in a porno theater two decades later, it was barely a story, and the only joke I remember hearing about it on a late-night talk show was "Can somebody please show this man how to use the Internet?"

Also I have a very minor peeve in that not one article mentioned Mystery Men or Buffy. >:[

He was easily the best thing about the original Buffy. The first time I saw it was on VHS at a sleepover for a friend's birthday; I wouldn't have recognized him under the makeup (which was probably the point; he was mostly avoiding on-camera roles at that point) but my friend pointed him out to everybody: "That's the guy who played Pee-Wee Herman!" We were about ten years old and didn't have a complete idea of what he'd gotten arrested for, but even at that age we still loved him and had a conception that what he'd gotten in trouble for really wasn't that big a deal and he'd been treated really unfairly.

Mystery Men felt like a comeback at the time, though in hindsight -- and given its poor critical and commercial performance -- it looks more like a blip between Murphy Brown and Blow. Still, it was great to see him back in a major role in a major motion picture after the wilderness years. I still like it, though I found I didn't like it as much the last time I watched it as I did when I saw it in the theater (like three times).

And he had a great run after that. He was prolific and beloved, both in live-action roles and vocal ones. He was perfectly cast as Bat-Mite, and did a great job against type as a villain on Tron: Uprising. Pee-Wee is the role he'll be remembered for for good reason, but he was an absolute delight in everything he did. It's a damn shame not to be able to look forward to where he'll show up next.

[Friday]

He was easily the best thing about the original Buffy.

I actually just recently watched it about 3 months ago for the first time, and boy you aren't kidding. Absolutely steals the show. God, his fucking death scene just destroyed me.

that and Stephen Root's "I think they were young republicans".

[Mongrel]

When the original Buffy comes up for any reason at all, without question, the first thing that comes to mind is Amilyn rolling around post-credits.

Ennnh
Ahhh
Ennnhh
Oohh
Ennnh
Ahhhn

[Friday]

WHAT THEY DID A POST CREDITS STINGER WITH HIM ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS

[Mongrel]

WHAT THEY DID A POST CREDITS STINGER WITH HIM ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS

Oh shit

go watch go watch go watch

[Thad]

Ennnh
Ahhh
Ennnhh
Oohh
Ennnh
Ahhhn

Yeah, after my friends and I watched it we were saying that to each other for days.

A distant second-most-quoted part was Hilary Swank's "Get out of my facial."

...that movie sure had a surprisingly impressive cast!

Including Ben Affleck, with one line, dubbed over by another actor.

[Mongrel]

It's kind of crazy how deep the Pee-Wee rabbit hole goes. Apparently Paul Reubens was an early favourite of TV producer Chuck Barris, so he had a bunch of very early appearances in the late 70's and very early 80's on The Dating Game... and The Gong Show?!



Like there's nearly a decade of Pee-Wee shows and appearances before he got his on TV program. Wild.

The Pee-Wee stage show which predated the TV series through the early 80's had a weekly music review, and oh boy.

[Thad]

James Larkin, New Times and Backpage executive who faced charges of aiding prostitution, dead at 74

CW: Suicide.

The New Times skews a bit toward sensationalism, and I haven't always agreed with its business decisions (it killed the Village Voice and independent newspaper cartoons), but it's done a lot of very important work over the years, breaking stories from the Keating Five to Colorado City to Joe Arpaio's many abuses.

The federal case against Backpage is and always has been bullshit. Puritanical nonsense under the usual "think of the children!" veneer. Yes, the site was absolutely used to facilitate prostitution, but it kept sex workers safe and cooperated with law enforcement where there was evidence of trafficking. Shutting down the site has made sex workers and victims of trafficking less safe, not more.

It's a damn shame to see Larkin's career, and life, end this way, and with that headline. His legacy is complicated, and the skeezy stuff is part of that, but it really sticks in my craw to see one of the guys responsible for putting Warren Jeffs in prison smeared as a supporter of child exploitation.

[Mongrel]

Robbie Robertson

One of my favourite demonstrations of Robbie's work, is Robbie's song sketch of The Band's 'Twilight'. Also a bit on point in this case. ;___;



The actual album version, which I won't bother posting, is maybe one of their worst songs, reworked to a horrid pop tune, but the early Band version, not released until years afterwards is one of their very best. Between the two you can see Robertson's contribution, as well as the polishing process The Band went though.



With Robbie's death, only snowy-haired Garth Hudson remains. Somewhat ironically, Hudson was the oldest of them all, originally hired as a tutor as much as he was an actual band member.

[Thad]

Johnny Hardwick, the Voice of Dale Gribble on ‘King of the Hill,’ Dies at 64

Hardwick voiced Dale — the conspiracy theorist who lives next door to his best friend, propane accessory salesman Hank Hill (co-creator Mike Judge), and uses pocket sand when necessary — from 1997-2010 and was a writer, story editor and producer on the show as well.

The animators were said to have drawn Dale to look (and smoke) just like Hardwick, and he appeared on more than 250 episodes. He shared an Emmy for outstanding animated program in 1999 and was nominated again in 2001 and ’02.

[...]

Hardwick was set to participate in a revival of King of the Hill at Hulu, it was announced in January, with other original actors Kathy Najimy, Stephen Root, Pamela Adlon and Lauren Tom signing on as well.

Sources say he had recorded a couple of new episodes but had not completed his work. It’s unclear what Disney, which owns and produces the show, will do in terms of his character.

I mean, given that King of the Hill is WGA but not SAG, I'd say it's pretty clear.

[Büge]

Terry Funk.

[Angry Beaver]

Bray Wyatt, another pro wrestler. Dude was only 36, but Covid and heart conditions don't care, do they?

[Büge]

He was closest to 100 without going over.

[Mongrel]

[beatbandito]

He was closest to 100 without going over.

Betty White won't have that stolen from her.

[Mongrel]

Oh my god, they did a charity sequel fight.