RIP Ace Frehley

I stopped doing memorials and tributes a long time ago due to my age, but this one was special because KISS was so important to my childhood. Take that FWIW, but I felt bad that his passing was overshadowed by the holidays and wanted to be sure to remember it.

On a positive note, I read that Peter Criss is releasing his first new album in 18 years. It will be available on Bandcamp (at least), if I read correctly. 

© The Weirding, 2025  

Buffy Alum, Michelle Trachtenberg, Dead at 39

Buffy the Vampire Slayer alumnus, Michelle Trachtenberg, has died from a botched medical procedure at age 39. The tragic news comes to us weeks after a new Buffy revival series slated for Hulu was announced. It is unknown as to whether or not Trachtenberg's character, Dawn, was to be a part of the reboot.

Trachtenberg began her acting career at an extremely early age and followed in Sarah Michelle Gellar's footsteps to some degree, finding success on the long-running ABC soap, All My Children, as well as kids' shows on Nickelodeon. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is likely her best known work, though she appeared in numerous TV shows and at least one movie.

Michelle Trachtenberg played Buffy Summers' "little sister," Dawn, who turned out to be nothing anyone expected, and whose character arc drove an entire season. Although the storyline was not to my personal taste, as I felt it simply retrod the same ground Buffy Summers' character had already walked, Trachtenberg did a fine job and her addition to the series was a pleasant shock in the way it was handled.

Our condolences to her friends and family.

© The Weirding, 2025

No Apologies (*)

In going through old posts, I realize that I have, at times, been particularly hard on some people (mostly celebrities) and projects (mostly shit).  No, it's true.

My views on a lot of things, especially political and social issues, have changed a lot, too -- some entirely. But I'm not taking down those posts and I'm not "updating" or whitewashing them to reflect the changes in my opinions.  I'm only updating them to cash-in on recent developments and popular opinion.

Those posts were written by a different person in a different time; a time which, in retrospect, may have been Big Media's Last Gasp:

MySpace was bigger than Facebook, which wasn't even available to the public until 2008 or so; YouTube had only been online for one or two years; I don't think Twitter had even launched yet.  Hulu didn't launch until 2008 or 2009 and Netflix still sent DVDs to your house because DVDs were still A Thing.  Blockbuster was still bigger than Netflix back then!

The 24-hour cable news cycle was in full-swing; streaming media wasn't even A Thing until at least 2008-2009 and didn't become a serious contender until 2015 or so; tabloid blogs were all the rage (remember Perez Hilton?); people still went to the movies because Hollywood made more than just superhero films; and chicks like Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, and (the real) Paris Hilton were fucking crazy!

I'd forgotten how nucking futs Britney went!  It wasn't just an off-color, or "tone-deaf," remark or two -- like the ones that kill careers today; she went off the rails for a while there.  Remember when they sent a chopper to Paris Hilton's house -- and broke into regular programming to show it in real-time?  Like it was an earthquake or 9/11.  They're Impeaching the sitting "President" right now and I don't think they've interrupted regular programming for that!

I don't feel bad for reacting to those things like they were the end of the world -- that's how they were presented!  TV, movies, and even cable TV were huge parts of American pop-culture, and our daily lives, which is how (and why) tabloids and sensationalized news stories about famous people got started in the first place.  I still largely believed things the talking heads on TV told me about war, politics, health, and other important issues, and few of those outlets had a notable online presence (and none of them should).

Those posts were written 10+ years ago and everything was different then -- including me.  I can't apologize for those things.  I started to apologize for piling-on to Britney Spears, for example, but I'd entirely forgotten about her skipping court appearances for custody of her children and serving her mom with papers on the set of her little sister's TV show.  Shit, I'd forgotten her little sister ever had a career (in entertainment)!

The things I felt, thought, and said back then were shaped, not only by the events themselves, but by the media, the constant coverage, the proliferation of tabloid websites, the mainstreaming of it all, and a thousand other things -- most of which I've all but forgotten!

I certainly did go too far sometimes, but who didn't?  That's not an excuse, that's just the way things were back then.  Remember Perez Hilton?  I was in competition with major players who had major backing from major corporations, all of whom went much further.  And, again, a lot of that was some unprecedented shit and the drama was ramped-up by the traditional media by at least 1,000-fold.

Hell, I sometimes go too far today and I'm okay with that.  The world's a fucked-up place and the morons running it are War Criminals with zero oversight.  Most days I wake up, I'm (pleasantly) surprised that people aren't running wild in the streets -- which would hardly be an "overreaction," should they start.

For those who weren't around then or haven't noticed, the "news" cartels have simply replaced pop-culture celebrities with politicians.  And blogs have largely been replaced by social networks.  Traditional media is still as toxic as it ever was and its effect on viewers is evident on social networks today.

Keep this in mind when, five or 10 years from now, you re-read people railing on "Cancel Culture" and "#[everything]SoWhite," because these things, too, will be forgotten.  Not the events or people, but the context in which they are taking place, and the things that are said in the midst of the fray will read entirely different once removed from that context.

So, if I hurt anyone's feelings or upset them, I didn't get their Twitter account removed or break into regular programming to show my chopper hovering over their mansion.  That's an important distinction.  Blogging, the Internet, TV -- everything was entirely different in 2008, 2010, 2012, et. al., and the context in which those things were written and those events took place matters.

I take full responsibility for the things I have said but I feel no responsibility to apologize for being fooled, swept-up by current events or my emotions, nor anything like that.  All of that just makes me human, and I can't really change that.

© The Weirding, 2020

Rose McGowan - Planet 9

Rose McGowan - Planet 9

© The Weirding, 2018

Molly Ringwald and the Moral Majority

Typical Hollywood Actress Reaction

If you're under 45, you're probably asking yourself, "Who the fuck is Molly Ringwald?"  

That's a fair question.  

She was an actress who appeared in almost every John Hughes movie there ever was in the far away land called "The 1980s."  A pretty redhead, she portrayed the emblematic "Princess" of those flicks -- a role she had no problem playing for a decade, and even reprised for a cameo in a terrible 2001 film -- but now (that all the checks have cleared) she finds them highly offensive.

Now you're probably asking yourself, "Who the fuck is John Hughes?"  Again, fair question:

John Hughes had a stranglehold on the teen, "coming of age" films of the 1980s; from Sixteen Candles to Ferris Bueller's Day Off to what many consider to be his magnum opus, The Breakfast Club, and well beyond, Hughes managed, more often than not, to nail teenaged archetypes of the period --

That's... that's not what I mean, #MeFirstToo-ers.

But, in a scathing screed of hate speech, Ringwald lobbed every bigoted, pop-culture label her pretty little head could muster at The Breakfast Club -- the film which made her a bonafide movie star, and part of what was known as "The Brat Pack."  Not unusual for a Hollywood actress, she had no idea what she was saying, and was unlikely to have ever read the entire script (just her lines and queues) or seen the finished product before watching it with her daughter.  That her reactionary finger-wagging typified the character for which she became famous is a level of irony that can be missed only by people in Carson City and NYC.

Yes, Way Back When, there were jocks, and gearheads, and princesses, and outcasts, and nerds -- in every classroom in every public school across the nation -- and John Hughes' movies accurately captured those archetypes.  That those stereotypes still exist today is no surprise -- that's why stereotypes exist.

The overprivileged whitefolk (got to point that out, since it's problematic) of the 1980s indulged their self-inflicted ennui by wearing all black, smoking clove cigarettes, reading Interview with a Vampire, and listening to whiny, "Alternative" music like Morrissey.  They became Goths in the 1990s - 2000s, and pierced everything because they weren't old enough to become strippers.  And listened to Morrissey.  Now, they vape and dye their hair blue (if they're girls) and pink (if they're boys -- no one's sure), because it's politically incorrect to teach gradeschool-level Biology. *

Through these stereotypes, elevated to archetype in John Hughes' talking heads The Breakfast Club, teenagers of the time were forced to confront some very ugly truths about ourselves, while also seeing other stereotypes face their own.  The characters said things that we didn't have the opportunity to, much less the nerve.  And while their situations were not ours, and their behavior over the top (it's a fucking movie -- a moving picture, or motion of picture), they and their situations were relatable to our own.

That's what made John Hughes' movies so popular: They presented human teenagers and young adults as we were -- as ridiculous and politically incorrect as that is -- whereas most movies sidelined us as minor characters with overblown adolescent issues, or made us react to the situation (Back to the Future, Weird Science).  While highly stylized, John Hughes' movies presented a more realistic, in-depth character study of the teenage stereotypes to which most of us relate at that age.

Popular culture relies heavily on stereotypes, especially for shorthand, and this is never more obvious than in movies, due to the limited playing time.

John Bender -- your stereotypical, longhaired stoner -- absolutely did not "sexually harass" Claire, the hapless lass Molly Ringwald portrayed onscreen.  Nor did his onscreen antics negatively influence an entire generation of men -- or women, or transgendered people people of transgenderism the gender-impaired, or anyone else.  We were more capable of telling fact from fantasy in those days, largely due to tighter regulation on propaganda.

Not to laud my intellectual privilege, but we were just plain smarter.

Bender was wrong -- pretty much all the way around -- and he was also On Dope.  Throughout the course of the movie, we learn that he is a victim of abuse, which is why he is defiant and acts out irrationally: He craves negative attention, as it is the only attention he is accustomed to receiving.  Estevez' jock is also the victim of abuse who represses his feelings and channels his anger into athletics and bullying others.  Brian, the nerd, suffers from self-abuse (he's probably a cutter person of cutting).

Typical of abuse victims, these characters abuse themselves and others, whether they mean to or not.  They wouldn't be diagnosed as "bi-polar" until Prozac was invented -- the way Millennials weren't diagnosed as ADHD with "learning disabilities" until methamphetamine was available by prescription!

The only character who isn't completely fucked-up is Sheedy's "The Basketcase," who has isolated herself from all these self-important drama queens.  She would later be diagnosed as Off Her Meds.  That's known as "irony," and makes a point in and of itself.

But Molly Ringwald's character is an abuser, not the victim: She remains oblivious to a fault, traumatizing everyone around her through her callous behavior.  People just aren't worthy of Claire's abuse, as that would be a waste of her precious time; they are forced to prove they are worth any attention, should she so deign.  

She typifies this stereotype in Sixteen Candles, as well -- overlooking the well-meaning but goofy Ducky for the handsome hunk.  If this sounds familiar, it's because this sort of thing happens everyday -- especially to teenagers (relax, it happened to #MeToo).  Johnny Bender's character calls her out on this Holier-Than-Thou attitude and, in stereotypical fashion for girls with Daddy Issues, she falls for The Bad Boy.

Had he written a sequel starring Claire, it would have been Showgirls.

These things are not actually said aloud, so it's understandable that a Hollywood actress would miss these very relevant points -- especially if "her" character doesn't say them.  Because screenwriters are only there to clean-up actors' improvisational genius -- that's what screenwriters do.  That's the job.

I suppose, at this point, I should say that Caitlin Jenner is strong and beautiful.

It's all pretty ugly -- like life... especially adolescence.  Like teenagers and teenagers' rooms and teenagers' cars...  And an overwhelming number of people Ringwald's age identified heavily with The Breakfast Club because of this.

It's far from pleasant, but it's politically incorrect, and too often awkward (and also problematic), to discuss these very real life situations and human personalities in mixed company -- which is what makes it so refreshing to see it onscreen, or read it in a book not written by a pompous Hollywood blowhard... or an AI writing program one slaps his name on as a lazy attempt at anti-art.  

John Hughes understood that regular, everyday people can be retarded awkward and gay problematic -- and also selfish and wrong and obtuse and sometimes ugly even if they're physically very attractive.  And all of that's okay because regular people -- unlike The Hollywood People -- are far from perfect.

Especially awkward, problematic people of teen age.

She claims Bender's unwarranted sexual assault in the movie is worthy of some kind of heavy-handed police action.  Maybe.  But Claire responds by vice-locking his longhaired head with her knees -- practiced as they are at locking -- then brutally assaults him in a fit of hysterical rage before sleeping with him.  Lesson learned.  

The bigger issue is that today, had Bender been problematic gay and accosted a man same-sex non-gender-fluid sentient being in whom he was interested in a similar fashion, audiences are likely to laugh at it the way we did back then.  But then feel bad because the same-sex non-gender-fluid love interest was not consenting -- the way we felt awkward because we knew it was wrong to do things Bender, and people like him, does in the film.  That discomfort is part of what makes it funny.

That doesn't make his behavior any less acceptable in real life but -- in a fucking movie -- it's funny.  Also, in the movie, he didn't actually accost the actress.  Hollywood, like the US government it represents -- The Moral Majority, as they are known -- has never been able to tell fact from fiction, so much so that they made a law allowing them to circumvent reality, and are now working to criminalize anyone who dares question what they tell you to believe.

In fact, they have suspended our Twitter accounts, and have now locked us out of our YouTube accounts without explanation!

Movies, TV, and radio were the social media of our age -- that's how the term, "Watercooler Episode" originated.  We watched them in theaters with dozens of other people (hundreds, by the Multiplex '90s) , so they were seen in a communal environment, and had a larger impact than the four or five stump speeches Hollywood churns out today.  Movies like The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire started discussions that never would have occurred otherwise -- discussions Millennials aren't allowed to have today, under penalty of Law. 

They were actually important films, not pretenders to the throne, and the insights they presented helped close the divide between groups and people who had little, if anything, in common.  These movies were what we had in common -- in many cases, just as in The Breakfast Club itself -- they were the only experiences we had in common.

They were not marketed as The Most Important Movies of Their Time, or The Most Important Shows You're Not Watching.  You weren't a racistsexistmisogynistantisemitewhitenationalist for not purchasing 100,000 tickets for schoolchildren to manipulate the Box Office results.  That they didn't have token Latinos, Blacks, and disabled persons of interest color is because that would have weakened verisimilitude, or suspension of disbelief -- something actors create all by themselves (that's why they get paid $1.3 trillion to make movies).

They had also just started busing the token kids in at that time -- yet another uncomfortable truth troublemakers choose to "overlook" -- so most of us didn't have those token friends The Hollywood People and Republican Party love to cart-out at certain events like the child survivors of Syrian bombings.  I went to a predominantly black elementary school, so I rarely hung-out with the black kids who thought I worshipped the Devil because I listened to Slayer -- I just bought Mexican dirt weed from them.

Yes, that is racist: I know they were holding them Dank Buds.

In those days, the Moral Majority -- those who knew best for all, because They had The Master Plan handed down from On High (ahem) -- pulled the very same shit they do today.  And guess who presided over the PMRC, and the hearings on what was Right and what was wrong, and who was allowed to say what?

Manbearpig and his Goddamn wife.  I swear to Christ.

Do John Hughes' movies hold-up today?  Absolutely.  Are they politically correct?  Of course not -- neither are teenagers, and neither is real life.

Well, I'm sure Molly Ringwald's teenager is, of course -- all actors' and celebrities' children are perfect.  You can tell from their mugshots.

Life, history, politics, reality -- and yes, people (especially people of teen age) -- can be ugly, and too often are.  These subjects are often separatist, racist, sexist, hateful, and demoralizing to people who deserve much better.  We should be emotionally and intellectually fit enough to observe these things as they are, and deal with them in that fashion.  But Hollywood, and its denizens, are neither -- and are far from innocent.

So, since everyone else has a soapbox for their cause celebre, and we're certainly moments away from having our little plug pulled (assuming this ever sees the light of day to begin with), I figure #MeToo:

The Truth is that every state in the US has unisex bathrooms anyone can use, and no one stands outside to monitor who is doing so... yet.

The Truth is that the KKK has every right to their little rallies, which are always attended by more Federal officers than Klansmen, and the way to end them is to not attend them -- or promote them, or glorify them, or glorify those who protest them.  Like you do Jehovah's Witnesses at the front door.

The Truth is that, if Nationalists really hated "Socialism," they'd refund all the government benefits they receive (nay, demand!) for military/defense contracts, and refuse assistance provided by programs like Medicare, SNAP, and those provided by Veterans' Affairs.

The Truth is that none of the men accused by the hostile #MeToo terrorist movement have been convicted, or even stood trial for a civil matter, yet a mere sketchy accusation is all it takes to end their careers and lives.  And -- just like the worst of the accused did -- these "activists" and "social justice warriors" use force, intimidation, and a myriad of terrorist tactics to silence all dissent, and suppress any evidence contrary to their unfounded accusations ("Their Ends Justify Their Means").

The Truth is that criminalizing every word, deed, and thought has lead to mass incarceration and the demonization of innocent people who are forced to become hardened criminals just to survive the environments in which pristine celebrities like Ringwald can't wait to place them.

The Truth is that the AIPAC/CFI-sponsored "Mainstream Media" is Guilty of innumerable War Crimes, Human Rights Abuses, and Crimes Against Humanity -- including Incitement, Defamation, Assassination of Character, Mass Murder, Sedition, and High Treason -- and no mere, fabricated "Law" (NDAA) should shield them from prosecution to the fullest extent of International Law.  This includes giant tech companies that dip in and out of the Media environment as it suits their purposes.

The Truth is that most of these people support harboring undocumented citizens as a form of indentured servitude, and those who have lived the majority of their lives in this country without criminal incident should be considered citizens.

The Truth is that, if celebrities and banksters want to disarm the citizenry, they should lead the way by disarming themselves, disarming their security, and employing only unarmed security at their too-posh benefit events for the Syrian children they campaign tirelessly to bomb endlessly.

The Truth is that you won't hear a single celebrity -- Sarah Silverman, Susan Sarandon, Rosario Dawson, and a handful of others aside -- say any of this.  And you aren't likely to hear us saying it much longer, either...

Hearing these horrible excuses for human beings preach on nothing more than the safest bets, hopping on every speeding bandwagon that passes their way, has become sickening to the point of criminality: 

I woke up the other morning to hear Gayle King say, "We can teach Hate --" and I turned off the fucking TV.

Molly Ringwald, like the (literally) drugged, (actually) brainwashed, Millennial Generation Hollywood is so desperate to get to the voter booths (but only if they vote Democrat!), should get over herself and step out of the echo chamber for a breath of fresh, L.A. smog -- and hope she doesn't get hit by one of them drive-bys!  (Relax, racists, it would be an acid attack or machete strike from atop a moped, were she in London.)  I doubt she sees a brown face six days of any week unless it's cleaning her house, and I doubt that fact occurs to her more than once every 40 years.

Maybe one day, these talented players of the Moral Majority will reunite and make a movie about Hollywood actors who hate the movies audiences love that made them rich and famous.  Co-starring John Cusack.

---
* There are over 50 sexes in the insect kingdom.  Shamanism teaches you not to follow the insects, as they exist only to eat, breed, and die, and have no Higher Purpose.  Bees have a hivemind and live only to serve their queen.  Meditate on that shit: That's what your esteemed cult leaders think of you -- you are a means to an end, and nothing more.  They are Defense Contractors, by the way.

© The Weirding, 2018

Perfect Blue

Perfect Blue

© The Weirding, 2018

Wes Craven Eulogy

Wes Craven

Horror maven, Wes Craven, passed away on Sunday, August 30^th, after a battle with brain cancer. Known best for his magnum opus, A Nightmare on Elm Street, as well as the seminal Scream (written by Kevin Williamson), Craven shocked the scene with his debut, Last House on the Left. A brutal, down and dirty revenge flick, it set the tone for the brunt of his career.

Major success first came to Craven in 1984, with the release of A Nightmare on Elm Street. Freddy Krueger took his rightful place as one of the premiere new monsters of Hollywood, in the tradition of the Universal Monsters of the 1930s and '40s. Many were "mad slashers" with Supernatural features, such as Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers, but Freddy's concept and backstory were darker and more complex - he was more than just another mindless killer. The movie spawned numerous sequels, a syndicated TV series, video games - Freddy even had his own chatline! Freddy Krueger became an icon of 1980s' pop-culture.

He moved away from the Nightmare on Elm St. franchise but continued making mostly horror films, including The People Under the Stairs and The Serpent and the Rainbow. He returned to the Elm Street franchise for a variant take on the characters and concept, but New Nightmare was coolly received. Craven's career, along with the horror genre, was flagging when he first read the script for Scary Movie. The movie was renamed Scream and following its release, the horror film genre was forever changed.

Scream debuted low in the box office its opening weekend but remained on the charts for several weeks, eventually grossing $100mn worldwide. Although he directed all of the movies in the Scream series, Craven also branched-out into more serious, non-genre, films around this time. He returned to his horror roots for his final years of filmmaking.

Wes Craven was 74. Our condolences to his friends and family.

© The Weirding, 2015

I am Awesome

I am Awesome

Actress Garcelle Beauvais and publisher Stranger Comics are announcing the release of “I AM AWESOME,” the third installment in their “I AM” children’s book series. The street date for the hardcover book has been set for August 25, 2015, and is currently available for preorder on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The digital version is already available for download now via iBooks (iTunes), Amazon Kindle, and a variety of other platforms. 

The first two books in the series, “I AM MIXED” and “I AM LIVING IN 2 HOMES,” were released in 2013 and 2014, respectively, and have seen worldwide success with the first book selling out the initial print run prior to release and reaching a third printing within a year. The series is co-authored by Garcelle and Stranger Comics’ president, Sebastian A. Jones, and beautifully illustrated by artist James C. Webster.

Drawing on both her life experience as a mother and research on children’s issues, Beauvais’ “I AM” books address identity issues relevant to many children today. The first book, “I AM MIXED,” focuses on brother and sister Jay and Nia and explores the thoughts and emotions shared from children of mixed ethnicities. The second book in the series, "I AM LIVING IN 2 HOMES," navigates the complexities both child and parent face when dealing with separation and divorce. The upcoming release, “I AM AWESOME,” encourages self-confidence in children by highlighting the things about them that are unique and stressing that they take pride in their identity.

As an incubator and aggregator of content, Stranger Comics develops and designs franchises for multi-media platforms. Stranger Kids, the children’s division of the young publishing company, partnered with Beauvais to tackle some of the more complex and often neglected subjects that youth faces today. Sebastian A. Jones remarks, “In the first two books, we focused on very specific topics, ones we felt were important to discuss. While there are many other significant issues we could address, we felt that this book should have a broader message, one that could be helpful to all children. After all, everyone deserves to feel AWESOME.”

Garcelle Beauvais agreed, saying, “Kids these days deal with so much more than we ever had to growing up. I sometimes wish I could just sit them all down and say, ‘Look, forget about all that and just be a kid. Enjoy it, and be happy with who you are.’ That’s what this book is for me.”

© The Weirding, 2015

RIP Christopher Lee

1922 - 2015

Christopher Lee, perhaps best known for his performances in Hammer Films' Dracula movies of the 1960s and '70s, died Sunday, June 7^th, at 93. Lee was admitted to the hospital for heart failure and later pronounced dead. His wife waited to inform surviving family members before alerting the press.
Lee will be remembered by younger generations for his roles in the Harry Potter and Star Wars franchises, but older viewers knew him best for his villainous horror performances, the most notable of which occurred during his tenure under Hammer Films. As Dracula, he starred opposite Peter Cushing in a number of well-regarded films. In fact, the two became synonymous with the studio and later appeared together outside of it. Cushing died in 1994.

Lee also appeared in the Fu Manchu film series and played a Bond villain. To be sure, Lee was in a number of lesser films along the way, as well - some of which The B-Raters have mocked or are planning to. Christopher Lee also released heavy metal records.

Our condolences to his friends and family.

© The Weirding, 2015

Terry Pratchett Dead at 66

Renowned fantasy author, Terry Pratchett, has died at age 66 after an extended fight with Alzheimers. Perhaps best known for his Discworld series, Pratchett wrote more than 70 books in total. He completed his final book just last year. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages and have sold over 65 million copies worldwide. He was knighted at Buckingham Palace in 2009.

Our deepest condolences go to his friends and family.

© The Weirding, 2015

RIP, Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy, known most notably for his role as Star Trek's Spock, passed away at his home at age 83 last Friday. While Nimoy lead a successful career behind the camera, perhaps most notably as the director of Three Men and a Baby, and even wrote a book entitled I am Not Spock, he will always hold a special place in television, movie, and sci-fi history as having portrayed the pointy-eared Vulcan.

Our condolences to his friends, fans, and family.

(This post was scheduled for earlier in the week and somehow got Drafted.)

© The Weirding, 2015

RIP Marilyn Burns

We were shocked and saddened to hear of Marilyn Burns' death at age 65 today. Burns is best known for her turn as the "Survivor Girl" lead in the classic horror film, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Following that star turn, she appeared in a number of other horror B-raters as well as a handful of more "reputable" films.

Burns was found dead in her Houston home earlier today.

Our condolences to her friends and family.

© The Weirding, 2014

RIP HR Giger

Noted Swiss artist and special effects designer for movies such as Alien, HR Giger, has died at 74. According to reports, he succumbed to injuries sustained after a fall. In 1998, he opened his own art museum in Switzerland which displays his own works as well as many of those from his private collection.

Our condolences to his friends and family.

© The Weirding, 2014

Harold Ramis Dead at 69

Harold Ramis - writer, actor, producer, and director in and of such classic comedies as Stripes and Ghostbusters - died at age 69 due to complications stemming from auto-immune inflammatory vasculitis, a condition he had reportedly been battling for some time. According to press reports, Ramis passed while surrounded by friends and family.

Harold Ramis can also lay claim to being the first head writer on SCTV, a Canadian version of Saturday Night Live that featured a cavalcade of stars before their prime, including Catherine O'Hara, John Candy, Martin Short, and many more. The cast was from Chicago's Second City comedy troupe.

The Weirding @ Facebook regularly posts links to episodes of The Real Ghostbusters (cartoon) on Friday nights and many of Ramis' films are available online for free on such networks as Crackle, as well as on Netflix. I refrain from posting links directly to those selections as they will change.

Other credits include Groundhog Day, Meatballs, Back to School, Analyze This and the sequel, Analyze That. But, for many of us, he will best be remembered as Dr. Egon Spengler. Our condolences to his friends and family.

© The Weirding, 2014

Shirley Temple Dead at 85

Legendary child actress, Shirley Temple, died at her home at age 85 surrounded by friends, family, and loved ones.

I hate to sound irreverent because I grew-up enjoying Shirley Temple's movies just like most kids my age - they used to run them on basic cable basically all the time when there only was "basic" cable - but I would have sworn she was pushing 100! I also thought she died a few years back - okay, I guess I assumed she'd died but I really thought it was a safe assumption.

She left a great legacy that included a stint as a US ambassador. She was awarded a special Oscar in 1935. She documented her life in her bestselling 1988 book, Child Star: An Autobiography.

© The Weirding, 2014

Lynda Carter Lands Recurring Role on Two and a Half Men

Best known for portraying Wonder Woman in the TV series "Wonder Woman," Lynda Carter has landed a recurring role on CBS' "Two and a Half Men." Carter will play herself as Jon Cryer's childhood crush, acknowledging her "Wonder Woman" fame. The number of episodes in which she will appear is unknown.

Lynda Carter also had a very minor role in Broken Lizard's cult classic "Super Troopers." It  is one of the few movies that is truly laugh out loud funny all the way through. Highly recommended!

© C Harris Lynn, 2013

Smallville Actor Commits Suicide

Lee Thompson Young, the actor who portrayed Cyborg on "Smallville," was found dead from a suicide after he failed to show up for work on Monday morning. Young was currently starring in the TNT show "Rizzoli & Isles." He started acting professionally at a tender age after appearing in a local play. His first role was on Disney Channel's "The Famous Jett Jackson." The actor appeared in several motion pictures and TV shows throughout the course of his career.

Our condolences to his friends and family.

© C Harris Lynn, 2013

RIP Karen Black

Prolific B-movie actress Karen Black has died from cancer. The actress best known for her roles in such films as Five Easy Pieces and Easy Rider was also an accomplished and critically acclaimed Broadway star. She was first diagnosed in 2010 but was announced cancer-free following an operation which removed most of her pancreas.

Black's husband announced her death on Facebook. Karen Black was 74.

© C Harris Lynn, 2013

RIP James Gandolfini

James Gandolfini, best known for his role as Tony Soprano in HBO's classic The Sopranos series, died of a heart attack while in Rome last Wednesday. Funeral plans have been made and his body was returned to the U.S. this weekend.

Gandolfini had been headed to Sicily for the Taormina Film Festival which was to honor him.

© C Harris Lynn, 2013

Jane Fonda and the POWs

I was aware of the fact that many people, especially Vietnam veterans, were angry with Jane Fonda for some of her actions during the Vietnam War. I was only aware of the fact that she posed for some propagandist pictures (including the most famous, in which she peers into a Vietnamese jet). But a friend told me all about how she had gotten five men beaten so severely that four of them died and how Barbara Walters had railed against her inclusion in some kind of women in history TV special.

Neither of these things are true.

Apparently the entire story originated online with a chain e-mail written by an unknown source and blends fact with fiction, though I was hard-pressed to find too many facts in the actual e-mail. Fonda was included in a list of 100 most influential women of the 20^th Century... in 1999. Barbara Walters never spoke about her publicly, though she did include her in a 1999 TV special focused on the 100 most important women of the 1900s.

I had never heard this version of events because it is completely false. Fonda apparently did do some pretty messed-up stuff during the Vietnam War though, including making several propagandist radio spots in which she denounced the American government. But she was not directly responsible for any American POWs' deaths or anything like that.

I think this came up this week because of Gerard Depardieu's visit to Russia to meet Premier Putin. My friend listens to a lot of talk radio and reads a lot of "news" online and though he may have come across this misinformation organically, I have a feeling it rose to the top of wherever he found it because of that. Depardieu has made statements about leaving France and met with Putin publicly to receive his Russian passport. Some have speculated on the purpose of Depardieu's visit through largely political lenses.

© C Harris Lynn, 2012