All posts tagged: RIP

James Earl Jones (RIP) Reads Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” and Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”

James Earl Jones (RIP) Reads Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” and Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”

Published by José

Note: With the sad pass­ing of James Earl Jones, at age 93, we’re bring­ing back a post from our archive–one fea­tur­ing Jones read­ing two great Amer­i­can poets, Edgar Allan Poe and Walt Whit­man. These read­ings first appeared on our site in 2014. For all its many flaws the orig­i­nal Star Wars tril­o­gy nev­er strayed too far afield because of the deep well of grav­i­tas in James Earl Jones’ voice. The omi­nous breath­ing, the echo effect, and that arrest­ing baritone—no amount of danc­ing Ewoks could take away from his vocal per­for­mance. And though Jones’ expres­sive face has also car­ried many a film, his unmis­tak­able voice can give even the sil­li­est of mate­r­i­al the weight of an oil tanker’s anchor. So then imag­ine the effect when Jones reads from already weighty lit­er­a­ture by Edgar Allan Poe and Walt Whit­man? “Chills” only begins to describe it. Just above, hear him read Poe’s “The Raven,” a poem whose rhymes and sing-song cadences con­jure up the mad obses­sion that mate­ri­al­izes as that most por­ten­tous and intel­li­gent of all the winged …

Matthew Perry’s Assistant and Doctors Charged With Providing Him Ketamine

Matthew Perry’s Assistant and Doctors Charged With Providing Him Ketamine

Published by skeptic

Five arrests have been made in connection with Friends star Matthew Perry’s death from the acute effects of ketamine in October of last year. According to The New York Times, Perry’s personal assistant, two doctors, and two other individuals have been indicted and charged. Perry died on October 28, 2023 after being found floating face down in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home. An autopsy conducted by the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office found that Perry’s death was caused primarily by ketamine. The autopsy also found that drowning, coronary artery disease, and buprenorphine—used to treat opioid disorder—contributed to Perry’s death. He was 54 years old. According to documents filed in California federal court, prosecutors say that Perry’s personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, and an acquaintance collaborated with two doctors as well as a drug dealer to allegedly procure thousands of dollars worth of ketamine for the Friends star. On Wednesday, a grand jury filed charges against urgent care physician Salvador Plasencia, also known as “Dr. P.,” and Jasveen Sangha, whom prosecutors claimed was …

Gold, Bonds, & Stocks Rip After ‘Bad’ Data On ‘Quietest Day Of The Year’

Gold, Bonds, & Stocks Rip After ‘Bad’ Data On ‘Quietest Day Of The Year’

Published by skeptic

An ugly jobless claims print was the day’s early catalyst sending yields significantly lower, stocks, gold, oil, and crypto higher and the dollar down with rate-cut expectations re-ignited… Source: Bloomberg A dovish shift supported stocks – which had a “squeezey feel” amid very low liquidity… Source: Bloomberg Goldman’s trading desk noted that while yesterday was the lightest notional session all year in the US, today is looking to be even slower (tracking down -2% vs. yesterday), which probably helped the liftathon… The Dow and Small Caps led the way – up almost 1%, and Nasdaq lagged on the day – barely holding on to green… This was The Dow’s seventh straight daily gain – the longest win streak since July 2023. And both Hedge Funds and Long-Onlys were sellers today (which leaves buybacks – as we predicted – to save the market)… HFs are -7% for sale and lean better for sale in every sector ex- Cons Disc & Macro Products.  Supply is most pronounced in Info Tech & Utes which when combined, make up …

Read the Uncompromising Letter That Steve Albini (RIP) Wrote to Nirvana Before Producing In Utero (1993)

Read the Uncompromising Letter That Steve Albini (RIP) Wrote to Nirvana Before Producing In Utero (1993)

Published by José

Today, Steve Albi­ni, the musi­cian and pro­duc­er of impor­tant albums by Nir­vana, PJ Har­vey, the Pix­ies and many oth­ers, passed away in Chica­go, at the all-too-ear­ly age of 61. In trib­ute, we’re bring­ing you this clas­sic 2013 post from our archive.  Jour­ney­man record pro­duc­er Steve Albi­ni (he prefers to be called a “record­ing engi­neer”) is per­haps the cranki­est man in rock. This is not an effect of age. He’s always been that way, since the emer­gence of his scary, no-frills post-punk band Big Black and lat­er projects Rape­man and Shel­lac. In his cur­rent role as elder states­man of indie rock and more, Chicago’s Albi­ni has devel­oped a rep­u­ta­tion as kind of a hardass. He’s also a con­sum­mate pro­fes­sion­al who musi­cians want to know and work with. From the sound of the Pix­ies’ Surfer Rosa to Joan­na Newsom’s Ys, Albi­ni has had a hand in some of the defin­ing albums of the last thir­ty plus years, and there is good rea­son for that: noth­ing sounds like an Albi­ni record. His method is all his own, and his …

RIP ‘Red vs. Blue.’ Machinima Is Gone—but Its Legacy Is Everywhere

RIP ‘Red vs. Blue.’ Machinima Is Gone—but Its Legacy Is Everywhere

Published by skeptic

Red vs. Blue is officially over. On Tuesday, Warner Bros. Discovery released Red vs. Blue: Restoration, the final installment in the long-running saga that was once at the forefront of a whole new form of entertainment: web videos created from in-game footage. Machinima signaled a new world where that footage—of Halo, in Red vs. Blue’s case—could power viral clips. That was 2003. Now it seems as if Restoration might be machinima’s swan song. “Machinima directors use game engines, which allow them to record a scene from any conceivable angle, like a Hollywood director uses a cinematographer,” WIRED wrote in a 2002 piece heralding the potential of this new filmmaking technique. When it launched a year later, Red vs. Blue exemplified those possibilities. The series was created by linking several Xboxes together and recording footage of a Halo multiplayer match, then adding voiceover. The absurdist, existential tone of the dialog was a hilarious counterpoint to (and commentary on) the run-and-gun gameplay of the first-person shooter used to create it. The show’s creators founded a production company, …

Jurgen Klopp lets rip at TNT Sports in rant about Liverpool fixtures

Jurgen Klopp lets rip at TNT Sports in rant about Liverpool fixtures

Published by skeptic

Telegraph Sport has been told a number of stakeholders and factors are taken into consideration when it comes to Premier League fixture scheduling, including fans’ travel arrangements, clubs competing in other competitions, broadcast slots and local authority matters including policing. A ban was also introduced three years ago on TNT picking teams for the Saturday 12.30pm slot if they were playing away in the Champions League the Wednesday night beforehand. TNT is also prohibited from selecting a single club for that slot on more than six occasions. Klopp still furious at VAR howler in Liverpool defeat to Tottenham Klopp says he has ‘500 reasons’ for wanting to beat Tottenham this weekend following the controversial meeting of the sides earlier this season. Liverpool were denied a legal Luis Diaz goal in their 2-1 defeat to Spurs in October, VAR failing to communicate correctly that the Colombian was onside. The PGMOL admitted ‘significant human error’ after the audio revealed a shambolic process which failed to inform referee Simon Cooper to give the goal. Klopp remains livid that …

RIP Paul Auster: Hear the Master of the Postmodern Page-Turner Discuss How He Became a Writer

RIP Paul Auster: Hear the Master of the Postmodern Page-Turner Discuss How He Became a Writer

Published by José

In the Louisiana Chan­nel inter­view clip from 2017 above, the late Paul Auster tells the sto­ry of how he became a writer. Its first episode had appeared more than twen­ty years ear­li­er, in a New York­er piece titled “Why Write?”: “I was eight years old. At that moment in my life, noth­ing was more impor­tant to me than base­ball.” After the first big-league game he ever went to see, the New York Giants ver­sus the Mil­wau­kee Braves at the Polo Grounds, he came face-to-face with a leg­end-to-be named Willie Mays. “I man­aged to keep my legs mov­ing in his direc­tion and then, mus­ter­ing every ounce of my courage, I forced some words out of my mouth. ‘Mr. Mays,’ I said, ‘could I please have your auto­graph?’ ” Mays says yes, but there was a prob­lem: “I didn’t have a pen­cil, so I asked my father if I could bor­row his. He didn’t have one, either. Nor did my moth­er. Nor, as it turned out, did any of the oth­er grownups.” Even­tu­al­ly, the young Auster’s idol “turned to …

“Farting up a storm”: “The View” airs out rumors that Trump is letting it rip in court

“Farting up a storm”: “The View” airs out rumors that Trump is letting it rip in court

Published by skeptic

In a recent segment of “The View,” cohost Sunny Hostin ripped Donald Trump for rumors that he’s been passing gas in court during his hush-money trial.  “He’s just losing it. He’s farting up a storm in the courtroom. Everyone’s writing about that,” Hostin said. “He’s probably just horrified about that. He’s sitting there falling asleep. He’s now Sleepy Don. There’s no Sleepy Joe anymore.” “They need to get him some Imodium,” Joy Behar chimed in. Cohost Sara Haines, who called Trump “crazy,” said that the image of the former president sitting peacefully in court may help his image. “But he’s sitting in a courtroom farting,” Hostin rebutted. This isn’t the first time that “The View” took up the issue of passing gas, previously installing coasters after an incident involving a fart-like sound interrupted a broadcast. “We get blamed for dropping gas, when in fact it’s a cup,” Whoopi Goldberg said in 2023, after Haines placed her cup down and made a distinctive sound. Discussing Trump’s candidacy, Hostin had harsh words for the Republican party’s choice …

Baby among at least five killed after tornadoes rip through central US

Baby among at least five killed after tornadoes rip through central US

Published by skeptic

At the Sulphur High School gym, where families took cover from the storm, Jackalyn Wright said she and her family heard what sounded like a helicopter as the tornado touched down over them. Chad Smith, 43, said people ran into the gym as the wind picked up. The rain started coming faster and the doors slammed shut. “Just give me a beer and a lawn chair and I will sit outside and watch it,” Mr Smith said. Instead, he took cover. Residents in other states were also digging out from storm damage. A tornado in suburban Omaha, Nebraska, demolished homes and businesses on Saturday as it moved for miles through farmland and into subdivisions, then slammed an Iowa town. The tornado damage began on Friday afternoon near Lincoln, Nebraska. An industrial building in Lancaster County was hit, causing it to collapse with 70 people inside. Several were trapped, but everyone was evacuated, and the three injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said. One or possibly two tornadoes then spent around an hour creeping toward Omaha, leaving behind damage consistent with an EF3 twister, …