Who's Next To Croak?

[mogwai]

'Star Wars' conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrie dies

Artist behind Darth Vader and Chewbacca passed away at age of 82

Ralph McQuarrie, the man who brought George Lucas' vision of Star Wars to the big screen, has died at the age of 82. McQuarrie designed some of the film franchise's most iconic characters and is credited with creating the look of Darth Vader, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3P0.

A statement was posted on McQuarrie's official website yesterday (Saturday, March 3], following his death.

It read:

It is with the deepest sadness that we announce the passing of Ralph McQuarrie. His influence on design will be felt forever. There's no doubt in our hearts that centuries from now, amazing spaceships will soar, future cities will rise and someone, somewhere will say 'that looks like something Ralph McQuarrie painted'

Leading the tributes was Star Wars director George Lucas, who said he was saddened by the passing of McQuarrie, calling him a "visionary artist and humble man".

Ralph McQuarrie began his career as a technical illustrator for Boeing and provided animation for CBS News coverage of the Apollo space program.

He was then asked by Lucas to work on designs for Star Wars, before the movie had been given the title, and subsequently worked on The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi. He turned down an offer to work on the prequels.

Outside of the Star Wars franchise, he contributed designs for Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Raiders Of The Lost Ark and he won an Oscar for his work on Cocoon.

[wilder]

French comic artist Jean Giraud aka Moebius

[mogwai]

Yoda, the ugliest dog in the world, dies at 15 in California



THE world's ugliest dog – a mutt so unattractive that its American owner mistook it for a rat when they first met – has died at the age of 15. Yoda, a Chinese crested and Chihuahua mix, died in her sleep, according to Terry Schumacher.

With her protruding tongue, skinny legs and ratty hair, Yoda was a dead cert to win the World Ugliest Dog contest in California last June. She picked up a $1,000 prize and enjoyed fame and fortune, even featuring in a television makeover show.

But her best years were behind her by the time Ms Schumacher entered her in the annual contest, and when she died at the weekend she weighed only 0.8 kilos.

As Schumacher's local paper the Hanford Sentinel remarked, normally one thinks of something nice to say when man's best friend passes away. But in Yoda's case, it's all right to say "She sure was ugly".

Vicki DeArmon, producer of the World's Ugliest Dog contest, said Yoda will keep her title until a new ugliest dog is crowned in June.

Terry Schumacher told the Sentinel she would miss Yoda's "funny little ways" but is comforted "knowing she will be joining my Mom and Dad who loved her so much. Her memories will live on forever."

[ono]

Dick Clark

[Reinhold]

Amos Vogel

[mogwai]

Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch dies aged 47

Beastie Boys member Adam Yauch has passed away at the age of 47, according to online reports today (May 4).

According to US website TMZ, Yauch's death was first reported by hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons' website GlobalGrind.com, and has since been verified by people independently connected to the rapper who also say he is dead.

Yauch, who also known as MCA, was diagnosed with cancer of the preaortic gland and lymph node in July 2009 and has been fighting the disease ever since. There is no official word on his cause of death as yet.

Although his bandmates had said that Yauch has responded well to his treatment, he hadn't appeared publically with the band for some time and did not attend the band's induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame last month as he was too unwell.

Yauch co-founded Beastie Boys in 1979 with Mike D, Mix Master Mike, and Ad Roc and contributed to each of their eight studio albums. He is survived by his wife Dechen and his daughter, Tenzin Losel Yauch.

[Stefen]

No 

[72teeth]

 

[MacGuffin]

Maurice Sendak Dies at 83-Years Old
The famed children's books author and illustrator suffered a stroke on Friday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Maurice Sendak, the children's book author and illustrator who saw the sometimes-dark side of childhood in books like Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen, died early Tuesday. He was 83.

Longtime friend and caretaker Lynn Caponera said she was with him when Sendak died at a hospital in Danbury, Conn. She said he had a stroke on Friday.

Where the Wild Things Are earned Sendak a prestigious Caldecott Medal for the best children's book of 1964 and became a hit movie in 2009. President Bill Clinton awarded Sendak a National Medal of the Arts in 1996 for his vast portfolio of work.

Sendak didn't limit his career to a safe and successful formula of conventional children's books, though it was the pictures he did for wholesome works such as Ruth Krauss' A Hole Is To Dig and Else Holmelund Minarik's Little Bear that launched his career.

Where the Wild Things Are, about a boy named Max who goes on a journey — sometimes a rampage — through his own imagination after he is sent to bed without supper, was quite controversial when it was published, and his quirky and borderline scary illustrations for E.T.A. Hoffmann's Nutcracker did not have the sugar coating featured in other versions.

Sendak also created costumes for ballets and staged operas, including the Czech opera Brundibar, which he also put on paper with collaborator Pulitzer-winning playwright Tony Kushner in 2003.
He designed the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Nutcracker production that later became a movie shown on television, and he served as producer of various animated TV series based on his illustrations, including Seven Little Monsters, George and Martha and Little Bear.

But despite his varied resume, Sendak accepted — and embraced — the label "kiddie-book author."
"I write books as an old man, but in this country you have to be categorized, and I guess a little boy swimming in the nude in a bowl of milk (as in 'In the Night Kitchen') can't be called an adult book," he told The Associated Press in 2003.

"So I write books that seem more suitable for children, and that's OK with me. They are a better audience and tougher critics. Kids tell you what they think, not what they think they should think."
During that 2003 interview, Sendak also said he felt as if he were part of a dying breed of illustrators who approached their work as craftsmen. "I feel like a dinosaur. There are a few of us left. (We) worked so hard in the '50s and '60s but some have died and computers pushed others out."

Sendak, who did his work in a studio at the Ridgefield, Conn., home he moved into in the early 1960s, never embraced high-tech toys. He did, however, have a collection of Mickey Mouse and other Walt Disney toys displayed throughout the house.

When director Spike Jonze made the movie version of Where the Wild Things Are, Sendak said he urged the director to remember his view that childhood isn't all sweetness and light. And he was happy with the result.

"In plain terms, a child is a complicated creature who can drive you crazy" Sendak told the AP in 2009. "There's a cruelty to childhood, there's an anger. And I did not want to reduce Max to the trite image of the good little boy that you find in too many books."

Sendak's own life was clouded by the shadow of the Holocaust. He had said that the events of World War II were the root of his raw and honest artistic style.

Born in 1928 and raised in Brooklyn, Sendak said he remembered the tears shed by his Jewish-Polish immigrant parents as they'd get news of atrocities and the deaths of relatives and friends. "My childhood was about thinking about the kids over there (in Europe). My burden is living for those who didn't," he told the AP.

Sendak, his sister Natalie, and late brother Jack, were the last of the family on his father's side since his other relatives didn't move to the United States before the war. The only family member Sendak really knew on his mother's side was his grandmother.

Sendak didn't go to college and worked a string of odd jobs until he went to work at the famous toy store FAO Schwarz as a window dresser in 1948. But it was his childhood dream to be an illustrator and his break came in 1951 when he was commissioned to do the art for Wonderful Farm.
By 1957 he was writing his own books.

Sendak received the international Hans Christian Andersen medal for illustration in 1970. In 1983 he won the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award from the American Library Association.

But it was Brundibar, a folk tale about two children who need to earn enough money to buy milk for their sick mother that Sendak completed when he was 75, that he was most proud of. "This is the closest thing to a perfect child I've ever had."

Sendak stayed away from the book-signing bandwagon that many other authors use for publicity; he said he couldn't stand the thought of parents dragging children to wait on line for hours to see a little old man in thick glasses.

"Kids don't know about best sellers," he said. "They go for what they enjoy. They aren't star chasers and they don't suck up. It's why I like them."

[72teeth]

 


i hope im not setting up a running joke..

[polkablues]

i hope im not setting up a running joke..

Depends on how strongly you feel about Vidal Sassoon.

[72teeth]

 

[Ravi]

Ray Bradbury dies at 91

[Pwaybloe]

So young...

[MacGuffin]

EXCLUSIVE: Henry Hill Dead -- Real Life 'Goodfellas' Mobster Dies at 69

Henry Hill -- the former mobster whose life story became the basis for the movie "Goodfellas" -- died today at the age of 69 ... TMZ has learned. TMZ spoke with Hill's girlfriend Lisa ... who told us Hill passed away in an L.A. hospital Tuesday after a long battle with an undisclosed illness. Lisa tells us, "He had been sick for a long time ... his heart gave out."We're told Hill had focused on mending relationships with estranged family members in recent years ... and Lisa tells us he had made tremendous progress before he died. Hill leaves behind two children. Hill was famously portrayed by Ray Liotta in the 1990 classic "Goodfellas."Hill's exploits in the mob world were legendary -- but he prided himself on reforming later in life ... and became a frequent guest on the Howard Stern show.