The Obituaries Thread

[Selfsurprise]

This might be a bit of a grim topic, but hopefully not disrespectful or distasteful in any way. If you know of any famous figures, personal heros or otherwise important individuals who have died recently, make a tribute to their memory here.

 

I just learned that the actor Burt Kwouk died today. The name might not mean much to you non-Brits, but he's probably most famous for the role of Inspector Clouseau's Chinese manservant Cato in the Pink Panther films. For me personally, I remember him more fondly as Major Yamauchi in the WW2 P.O.W. drama Tenko, as well as Entwistle from the long running comedy Last of the Summer Wine - "The Electrician and fortune-teller from the land of eastern wisdom, Hull". I'll certainly miss him, his slightly un-PC comedy persona that ever-so-slightly appealed to mild English racism regarding Chinese people.

He died at the age of eighty-five, according to The Independent's website "In a statement, his agent said: “Beloved actor Burt Kwouk has sadly passed peacefully away on 24 May. The family will be having a private funeral but there will be a memorial at a later date.”"

 

1930-2026

 

 

 

ryuW22MWnOU

[UndeadNecro]

I suppose this doesn't technically count but I heard on the radio about the lead singer of the band The Tragically Hip was recently diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. That's... Pretty shocking.

[BTGBullseye]

I just learned that the actor Burt Kwouk died today. The name might not mean much to you non-Brits, but he's probably most famous for the role of Inspector Clouseau's Chinese manservant Cato in the Pink Panther films.

He was also in several of the 007 movies...

 

Good actor, don't know much about the man himself though.

[AP_Pastor]

Well with so many of my music heroes dying these past months (Bowie, Glenn Frey, Keith Emerson etc.) but yeah, I guess this thread is a good place to celebrate their memory.

 

I'm sure some of you guys heard of the death of Nick Menza recently. He was the drummer for Megadeth from '89 to '04. He died while from heart failure while doing what he loves, performing live. May this man rest in peace.

[PriestOfJudas]

Not a real person, but worth an obituary anyhow.

 

Game of Thrones spoiler ahead:

 

Hodor. You were the Hodest Hodor of them all and you truly did held the damn door. The entire GOT fanbase will surely miss you now that you're gone. Rest in peace, great buddy.

 

[Selfsurprise]

Here's a bit of an obscure one, but it made me a little sad to hear of it.

 

Trevor James Constable was a writer and early researcher who posited the theory that UFO'S, rather than being the spacecraft of distant alien races, were infact hitherto unaccounted species of atmospheric life - a trope that would go on to influence many Fortean and fiction writers to this day. He set the theoretical groundwork of his ideas in books such as The Cosmic Pulse of Life and Sky Creatures: Living UFOs, utilizing a camera "fitted with an ultra-violet lens and high-speed film" (according to his Wiki page), Constable began proposing that the various distortions and strange blobs of colouration in his images were infact enormous amoeba-like entities unrecognized by science, which author Larry Arnold christened Amœbæ constablea. In a book rather inauspiciously titled UFO Religion: Inside Flying Saucer Cults and Culture by Gregory L. Reece, Constable was quoted as stating "the creatures could be the size of a coin or as large as half a mile across."

 

1925-2016

 

Edited June 5, 2016 by Guest (see edit history)

[Psychotic Ninja]

Whelp Muhammad Ali just died.

[BTGBullseye]

Honestly, that looks exactly like a lens flare with a normal lens distortion... You're seeing the impurities of the lens in the reflected light, not an amoeba floating across the sky.

[Selfsurprise]

Honestly, that looks exactly like a lens flare with a normal lens distortion... You're seeing the impurities of the lens in the reflected light, not an amoeba floating across the sky.

I was just honouring the gentleman's subtle legacy in both Fortean research and science fiction. I wasn't advocating his beliefs or interpretations.

 

EDIT: I think those two little "eyes" at the "front (???)" are adorable... :3

[AP_Pastor]

And now we lost Kimbo Slice

[Selfsurprise]

Whilst I'm pretty sure nobody here will be particularly interested, I just found out that an Italian artist I was rather fond of called Giuseppe Spagnulo died last wednesday, at 79 due to what I assume are natural causes. He made abstract sculptures and paintings that tended toward concrete literalism and a degree of conceptual rhetoric prevalent in the 60's and 70's. I've always liked his artwork because, to me, they resemble some hitherto unknown species of urban growth, undeniably and shabbily organic in appearance despite their formalist shapes. A sad day for the ever diminishing family of arte povera ("poor art") advocates.

 

 

 

 

[danielsangeo]

RIP Anton Yelchin

3/11/89 - 6/19/16

 

 

 

[BTGBullseye]

I really liked him... He was a great Chekov.

[Selfsurprise]

RIP Anton Yelchin

3/11/89 - 6/19/16

 

 

Oh no! :c

 

He's so young. I know the new Star Trek movies aren't to everyone's tastes (personally I really enjoyed them) but I think if you take the whole "alternative universe" sthick it's really not that bad, a bit blockbuster for traditional Trekkie fare actually rather enjoyable. I particularly thought the casting was very spot on, including Mr. Yelchin as Chekov. That's a real shame, thanks for letting us know Daniel.

[AP_Pastor]

RIP Elie Wiesel

[Selfsurprise]

RIP Elie Wiesel

"To forget the victims means to kill them a second time."

 

One of the most prescient observations of 20th century history.

[AP_Pastor]

^ Very true. his book "Night" will always have a special place in my small book collection. I still feel the emotions he went through with every page I read.

[Selfsurprise]

Sad to report that the author, physicist, pacifist, feminist, peace activist and generally clever lady Ursula Franklin died on the 22nd of July. I first came across her via her foreword in J.E. Rehder's The Mastery And Uses Of Fire In Antiquity and a little later came to know of her primarily through her 1985 paper Will Women Change Technology Or Will Technology Change Women?, in which she argues that the intention and employment of technology in still very much an attempt at gendering male and female labour. Best of all is the title Ursula Franklin Speaks: Thoughts and Afterthoughts, a collection of her transcribed speeches and interviews regarding her work and interests.

 

1921-2016

 

"There are things that are easier to do and say when one is old and no longer has a job or reputation to lose, and this certainly holds true for those associated with universities. Throughout the years, the vision of tenure has been a contribution to self-censorship as well as to academic freedom [...] Let me start from the premise that to remain silent on crucial issues is a conscious decision. It is therefore pointless to remain silent in order to avoid accountability. We will be held responsible for our silence, as well as for our activities, just as the university teachers of the Germany of my childhood were held responsible - morally and fraternally - for their silence and collaboration with an evil system." - Ursula Franklin, Ursula Franklin Speaks

 

~

 

EDIT: Just found out that the French painter Bernard Dufour died on the same day. This hasn't been a good week for my heroes... :c

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Psychotic Ninja]

R.I.P. Gene Wilder

[ScottD.Betson]

R.I.P. Gene Wilder

I've got a golden ticket for a trip to his Choco factory :/