Original article link here:
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/06/comedian-george.html

By Lewis Wallace
Published: June 23, 2008

George Carlin, a searing comic who pushed the boundaries of language and culture with his classic "Seven Words You Can Never Say On TV" routine, died Sunday of heart failure. He was 71.

Carlin's colorful "Seven Words" riff got him arrested on a disturbing-the-peace rap in 1972, and the words remain radioactive on broadcast TV and radio to this day. But the rant seems almost quaint, in a way, at a time when cable and satellite TV channels serve up round-the-clock cursing. And then there's the internet, where anybody can say anything they want, anytime they want.

Despite his bad-boy reputation, the stand-up comic hosted Saturday Night Live and made more than 100 appearances on The Tonight Show. His counterculture take on the world's sorry state of affairs filled 23 comedy albums, 14 HBO specials and three books. Carlin won four Grammy Awards for best spoken comedy album, and it was announced Tuesday that he would be awarded the 11th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

A rock icon known for his trademark glasses, hat, his square guitar and unique guitar sound, influenced generations of musicians including Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and George Harrison. Diddley wrote such classics as "Hey! Bo Diddley", "I'm a Man" and "Who Do You Love?".

My mom's dog, Snickers, after complications with her liver and other problems, had to be put down this morning. I think she was 13 years old. We're all going to miss her barking welcome at the door. :)

May she rest in a better place.

Godspeed, little Nikki. We'll miss you.

Original article link(s) here:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/TV/05/29/korman.obit/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/celebrity/la-me-korman30-2008may30,0,923405,full.story

Published: May 30, 2008

With a knack for physical humor and oddball accents, Korman was a master sketch comic who did his best-known work on Burnett's variety show beginning in 1967 in an ensemble that included Tim Conway.

Korman was a regular on "The Carol Burnett Show" from 1967 through 1978, for which he won Emmy awards in 1969, 1971, 1972 and 1974. He also won a Golden Globe for his work on the series.

He made dozens of appearances in other television shows and movies during his lengthy show-business career, including providing voices for several animated productions. Among those was The Great Gazoo, a helmeted space man who appeared in some episodes of "The Flintstones."

"You could get rock-solid comedy out of him. He could lift the material. He always made it real, always made it work, always believed in characters he was doing," said Mel Brooks.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Korman is survived by three other adult children -- Laura, Maria and Chris -- and three grandchildren.

I also finished the game Beowulf today. I have to say... it didn't live up to what I thought it was going to be.

AND... I went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Great movie, but I'm still trying to get around one aspect of the movie which I won't show directly here because it's a spoiler. Spoiler Warning!:⇒ Ugh. Aliens? Why did it have to be aliens? LOL …I know that the Indiana Jones movies deal with the supernatural and the occult, but to me… aliens might have gone a bit too far. BUT it's still a great movie. Lots of action too. I've loved the Indiana Jones franchise since it started. Grew up on it. :)

Original article link here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/movies/06heston.html?ref=movies

By ROBERT BERKVIST
Published: April 6, 2008

Charlton Heston, who appeared in some 100 films in his 60-year acting career but who is remembered chiefly for his monumental, jut-jawed portrayals of Moses, Ben-Hur, Colonel George Taylor (Planet of the Apes) and Michelangelo, died Saturday night at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 84.

His death was confirmed by a spokesman for the family, Bill Powers, who did not specify a cause.

He had always hated the thought of retirement and once explained his relentless drive as an actor. "You never get it right," he said in a 1986 interview. "Never once was it the way I imagined it lying awake at 4 o’clock in the morning thinking about it the next day."

His goal remained, he said, "to get it right one time."

Original article link here: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080304/entertainment/obit_gygax

Tue Mar 4, 2008
By Emily Fredrix, The Associated Press


MILWAUKEE - Gary Gygax, the man who co-created Dungeons & Dragons and is widely seen as the father of the role-playing games, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva. He was 69.

He had been suffering from health problems for several years, including an abdominal aneurysm, said his wife, Gail Gygax.

Gygax and Dave Arneson developed Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 using medieval characters and mythical creatures. The game known for its oddly shaped dice became a hit, particularly among teenage boys, and eventually was turned into video games, books and movies.

Gygax always enjoyed hearing from the game's legion of devoted fans, many of whom would stop by the family's home in Lake Geneva, about 90 kilometres southwest of Milwaukee, his wife said. Despite his declining health, he hosted weekly games of Dungeons & Dragons as recently as January, she said.

"It really meant a lot to him to hear from people from over the years about how he helped them become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, what he gave them," Gail Gygax said. "He really enjoyed that."

Dungeons & Dragons players create fictional characters and carry out their adventures with the help of complicated rules. The quintessential geek pastime, it spawned a wealth of copycat games and later inspired a whole genre of computer games that's still growing in popularity.

Born Ernest Gary Gygax, he grew up in Chicago and moved to Lake Geneva at the age of eight. Gygax's father, a Swiss immigrant who played violin in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, read fantasy books to his only son and hooked him on the genre, Gail Gygax said.

Gygax dropped out of high school but took anthropology classes at the University of Chicago for a while, she said. He was working as an insurance underwriter in the 1960s, when he began playing war-themed board games.

But Gygax wanted to create a game that involved more fantasy. To free up time to work on that, he left the insurance business and became a shoe repairman, she said.

He met Arneson, who lived in Minnesota, while playing war games, and the two struck up a correspondence that developed into Dungeons & Dragons, Gail Gygax said.

Gygax also started the gaming convention Gen Con. The event began as a tiny show in Lake Geneva in 1968, moved to Milwaukee and is now held in Indianapolis. Last year's event attracted 26,000 people, including Gygax, according to the Gen Con website.

The gamer was also a prolific writer, who produced dozens of "Gygaxian" fantasy books, including the Greyhawk series of adventure novels.

Gary Sandelin, 32, a Manhattan attorney, said his weekly Dungeons & Dragons game will be a bit sadder on Wednesday night because of Gygax's passing. The beauty of the game is that it's never quite the same, he said.

"It grows as you grow. When you're playing as a little kid it's all about killing the monsters," Sandelin said. "But when you play it as an adult, it's about developing a role, developing a character and more about telling a story, rather than just a game."

Funeral arrangements are pending. Besides his wife, Gygax is survived by six children.

Original article link here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/obit_healey

Sun Mar 2, 2008
Unknown, The Associated Press

TORONTO - Blind rock and jazz musician Jeff Healey has died after a lifelong battle against cancer. He was 41.

Healey died Sunday evening in a Toronto hospital, said bandmate Colin Bray, who was in the room with Healey's family when the guitarist died.

The Grammy-nominated Healey rose to stardom as the leader of the Jeff Healey Band, a rock-oriented trio that gained international acclaim and platinum record sales with the 1988 album "See the Light." The album included the hit single "Angel Eyes."

Healey had battled cancer since age 1, when a rare form of retinal cancer known as Retinoblastoma claimed his eyesight.

Due to his blindness, Healey taught himself to play guitar by laying the instrument across his lap.

His unique playing style, combined with his blues-oriented vocals, earned him a reputation as a teenage musical prodigy. He shared stages with George Harrison, B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Bray said he and many others expected the guitarist to rally from this latest illness.

"I don't think any of us thought this was going to happen," Bray said. "We just thought he was going to bounce back as he always does."

Healey had undergone numerous operations in recent years to remove tumors from his lungs and leg.

Bray and fellow bandmate Gary Scriven remembered their frontman as a musician of rare abilities with a generous nature and wicked sense of humor.

Healey's true love was jazz, the genre that dominated his three most recent albums.

His love of jazz led him to host radio shows in Canada where he spun long-forgotten numbers from his personal collection of over 30,000 vinyl records.

His death came weeks before the release of his first rock album in eight years.

"Mess of Blues" is slated for a North American release on April 22.

He is survived by his wife, Christie, and two children.

Please let me know if this link gets broken. ~Wolfman